EMUSIC-L Digest Volume 27, Number 2 This issue's topics: A D-70. Yeah. Or a WS. Hmm. Maybe a D-70... (8 messages) Sampler Information Audio Interchange File Format (AIFF) Alchemy & Krystal Computer music at colleges Your EMUSIC-D moderator is Joe McMahon. Please send articles to emusic-L@auvm.american.edu (or EMUSIC-L@AUVM.BITNET). Administrative mail should be directed to xrjdm@scfvm.nasa.gov. Digests will be distributed semi-monthly to monthly. For faster response to questions, subscribe to EMUSIC-L@AUVM.BITNET (or emusic-l@auvm.american.edu). The EMUSIC-L discussion group can alo be accessed via bit.listserv.emusic-l on Usenet. Subscribers to this list may send articles to EMUSIC-D@AUVM.BITNET (or emusic-d@auvm.american.edu); they will be reviewed and forwarded to EMUSIC-L. Back issues are available from xrjdm@scfvm.gsfc.nasa.gov. This is a manual operation, so requests for things like "all back issues" will take a long time. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 3 Apr 91 13:55:40 BST From: Nick Rothwell Subject: A D-70. Yeah. Or a WS. Hmm. Maybe a D-70... [* Boring Technotoy Alert* ] OK, let us assume, for a moment, that Nick has some money to spare (hah, money, yes, I remember that), and is thinking of buying a new synth, and wants to talk about it. Hypothetically, you understand. I've no idea how expensive this hypothetical exercise might be. But, the situation is this. I have a D-50. Nice machine, nice voice architecture, and capable of some lovely textures, so long as you ignore all the PCM sample junk. But, as a MIDI controller keyboard, it's stupid. You can select a different transmit channel for each patch, and that's it. It's bitimbral, not too much of a drawback for my purposes except that you can't select the tones independently (the MKS-70 can do that) and they share the reverb. And, the D-50 is starting to sound a little dull to my jaded ears. I'd quite something with a bit more clarity, presence and general balls. I also have a pf85 piano: "sampled" piano essentially (although very smooth - it does sample interpolation, I believe), 88 keys, lovely weighted keyboard, rather hissy sound but a nice natural quality to it. But, "weighted" is the operative word. This thing is not exactly portable (I think it slightly outweighs a Prophet T8). And without the actual keyboard, I don't get access to its sound (cf. a rack piano module and 88-key controller). It's good for piano composition at home and for fingering exercises, but far too unwieldy for live use. I'm basically interested in a streamlining exercise to get a good powerful live rig. I have a D-50 which I'm starting to outgrow, a piano which requires a fork-lift, and a live rig which requires me to leave the piano behind as well as jump through all sorts of hoops with MIDI mergers and the like to get the D-50 to do something useful as a master keyboard. (The VFX is excellent in this regard, btw.) So, I was thinking of trading in the D-50 and pf85 for a new synth/controller keyboard. I love the D-50, but the keyboard itself is underpowered and hence dead weight for live use. (I'm not into the Wakeman image, you see.) I'd probably go for a D-550 if I could find one, but they aren't to be found anywhere - I've looked - and I'd still need another controller keyboard. My real choices are the D-70 and the WaveStation, I guess (I rule out the JD-800 since it'll be trendy as hell, hence pricey, and it doesn't seem to be too powerful a synth). So, let's have a look, shall we? KEYBOARD: D-70 is 76-key, WS is 61. This is a *big* plus for the '70. Not enough keys for serious impressionistic piano work, but a reasonable number for a controller keyboard (61 has always been a bit tight). Were the '70 a 61-key board, I'd not be interested in it - that would deny me a possible master keyboard for piano parts. Regarding controller facilities: I don't know. Both are touted as excellent controller keyboards, but then they said that about the D-50, didn't they? What I need is something with the power of the VFX, viz. the ability to control outboard modules, selectable sustain/pressure/wheel routing to keyboard zones, ability to hold/sustain notes on external units while switching performances, sustain local notes (without onboard FX processor glitches) while switching performances, and so on. Without these kinds of features, a controller keyboard is just dead meat. The '70 has more (MIDI) sliders, though I don't know how programmable they are (a non-problem, I think, since I can re-map with the MRC). I should perhaps explain that if I get rid of the D-50 then I've got to have something which replaces it (or acts as a good substitute). I still want the facility for rich, textured, transparent pads and things which D-50's are famous for. GENERAL VOICE ARCHITECTURE: In terms of flexibility, the WS wins hands down. No contest. It can do wonderful wave sweep effects - but I can do that (with analogue filtering to boot) on the Waldorf. Vector mixing: well, I've lived without it so far, but it's a tempting feature. Wave sequencing - nice idea, a probably a lot of creative mileage there, but not something I absolutely require. Roland have always been weak on modulation features, but some of their instruments have tended to rise above that. The MKS-70 wins because of the oscillator sync facilities, and the superb analogue sound quality. The D-50 wins because of twin programmable choruses, good PWM facilities and plenty of LFO's (six of them). The D-70 seems a step backwards - one LFO per voice, I mean, come on guys, what use is that? It handicaps the VFX and it must handicap the D-70 as well. The D-70 architecture is based on PCM data and "tones" (a la U-20, I believe). How much flexibility is there here? Can I invent a wild sound from nowhere, or am I always tied to the tones provided? What about this Differential Loop Modulation thing? Sounds to me like a bug which turned into a feature (like PCM loops) - is it actually any use? The D-70 lacks proper PWM, I think. You can't do that with wavetables - the result is, I feel, too grainy (I've tried it on a VFX, a WS and a Waldorf). It only provides PCM material for the oscillators. PATCH ORGANISATION: I have to admit, the D-70 has me confused here. I'd like to be illuminated. It has a number of "tones", most of which are ROM-based (yucko). These are basic sound elements, filtering and all. Patches refer to these by means of "offsets" which take the tones and apply deltas to the parameters (filter cutoff and the like). Fair enough - but, if you alter a tone itself, you screw all the patches which might have been using it. Sure, I can build cross-referencing software to keep track, but it's a hassle. FILTERING: D-70 wins hands down. No contest. Selectable low/high/band-pass filtering with resonance (ballsy resonance too - I could have mistaken it for analogue). The WS has non-resonant low-pass filtering only. I suspect that this cripples it. The VFX has non-resonant filters, but at least you can do various kinds of high- and band-pass filtering with them. Why do I care about the filtering? Well, I've said that I'm after a D-50 replacement, to an extent. The fact that the D-70 can apply multimode resonant filtering to any of its PCM sample data is a boon. I'm getting sick of machines with we're-getting-there digital filtering - spoiled by the Waldorf, I expect. ONBOARD FX, AUDIO ROUTING: The WS wins here, I think - a very good FX section, and two of them, to boot, plus good routing. The D-70 is a step backwards from the D-50 (it only has one chorus, for a start). Good FX configuration is more important for multi-timbral synths; one chorus and one reverb for a 6-part multi-timbral synth is pretty mean. I believe, though, that the D-70 has two stereo output pairs, one kept dry, so it could have a dedicated FX box. EXTERNAL MIDI CONTROL: I'm sure they both work well enough when controlled by a sequencer. Now, what happens when I'm doing that and playing the thing as well? The VFX has a nice approach - the sequenced voices (12-part multitimbral) are totally independent from what's being played from the keyboard. And, it has a voice priority scheme (missing from the WS, I don't know how it works in the D-70). The onboard FX box is shared, of course, so effects selection has to be done carefully, but apart from that, it's fine. Are the D-70 and WS similar? Can I sequence the beast and select live performances as well? Oh, yes: how do you select a new effects configuration remotely? It wasn't clear that you could do this for the WS at all. The VFX has a good scheme - effects settings are attached to individual patches, and there's an escape sequence for calling up the effects when you select a new patch. I believe the D-70 has four keyboard zones but you can only play one local patch at a time. BZZT, durchgefallt. You have to program splits in the patch itself. BUGS: Hey, I use a VFX, so I should know what I'm talking about here (that reminds me, I've got to phone Ensoniq today to hassle them about my VFX failing its keyboard tests two weeks before my gigs). The WS seems pretty solid. The D-70 had numerous performance problems (slow LFO's, MIDI delays, and so on). I believe these have been sorted out now? EXPANDABILITY: The WS takes cards. The D-70 takes cards. Not too bothered here, and anyway, Metlay's law applies. I don't care about patch cards, but addition PCM sample data would be nice. The D-70 takes U-110 series cards (the U-110, well, whatever happened to that, *smirk*...) - again, I don't want patches or drumkits, but percussion PCM data would be very handy. DRUMS AND PIANOS: OK, I admit it, I'd like a good piano and some drums. I'm a pianist as much as a synthesist, but don't do much piano work because the pf85 is too heavy to gig. If the D-70 can do a good piano, that's a bonus. If the keyboard is good enough to play piano parts, then I add a Proformance or TX1P one day, no problem. Drums, now, *there's* something. I use my D-110 for percussion, and it's fine for hi-hat patterns and the like (and quite versatile - I program my own drum sounds), but it lacks presence and general balls, so I can't use it for deep classical Vangelis-style booms and crashes - this is the main thing missing from my rig, and something I've been meaning to see to for ages. The D-70 has plenty of presence and balls, so if I can program good drum sounds from PCM percussion data, then I'm over the moon, especially since individual drums can be high/low/band-pass filtered with resonance. Yeah, this is what I need. The WS doesn't provide much in terms of pianos or drums (but then, it wasn't meant to). And, a 5-octave keyboard isn't much use for piano anyway. Well, that's it. If I was after a versatile, powerful synthesiser, it would have to be the WS. But I'm not - I have a VFX, Waldorf, D-110 and MKS-70 already. Besides, I found the WS boring in terms of general sound character. It can do wonderful things, but it sounds boring. The D-70 sounds like a true Roland, a lovely sound. What I'm interested in is a more powerful, punchy, versatile replacement for my D-50 which doubles as a good master keyboard. The D-70 sounds like it, but it has several drawbacks in the voice architecture, and the arrangement of PCM data and tones seems to imply a "fast-food" U-20 heritage rather than a D-50 one. I'm drawing towards the D-70 at the moment. There's not much between them in price - both cost around $2500 at present (and both have dropped quite a lot from the initial pricing - didn't I predict this for the WS?). I hope the JD-800 will knock the D-70 prices down a bit. But, this is all rather in the future, and depends what kind of trade-in/second-hand price I can get for the D-50 (currently going new for around $1200) and the pf85 (currently going new for around $1600). My piano teacher will never forgive me for getting rid of the pf85... Nick. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 3 Apr 91 09:35:34 EST From: wbf@cbema.att.com Subject: Let's All Spend Nick's Money! Hi Nick, Sounds like you need to get a keyboard controller (like a Yamaha KX-88 or a Roland A-80 or similar) and a rack of modules. Try E-mu's Proformance+ or Roland's MKS-20 for piano and a D-110 for your D-50, until you find a D-550 or Roland comes out with a module form of the D-70 (D-770?). In MIDI as in hi-fi audio, I tend to prefer the separate box approach. Power amp, preamp, and tuner instead of an integrated receiver. Controllers, tone modules, mixer, MIDI patcher, sequencer, instead of a "workstation." (I do cheat on that a little bit by using a sequencer that inhabits my sampler, but it's a rack mount!) Bill Fox att!cbema!wbf Columbus, Ohio, USA ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 3 Apr 91 07:53:47 PST From: Brian Gaon Subject: Re: A D-70. Yeah. Or a WS. Hmm. Maybe a D-70... If you'd settle for just a controller, have you considered the A-80?? -- Brian Gaon Internet: brain@foghorn.sfsu.edu Systems Analyst Bitnet: SGSAAAA@CALSTATE.BITNET Finger: brian@foghorn.sfsu.edu San Francisco State University Department Of Facilities Operations 1600 Holloway Avenue San Francisco, Ca. 94132 USA. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 3 Apr 91 17:55:13 BST From: Nick Rothwell Subject: Let's All Spend Nick's Money! >Let's All Spend Nick's Money! Are we having fun yet?! > Sounds like you need to get a keyboard controller (like a Yamaha >KX-88 or a Roland A-80 or similar) and a rack of modules. >... >In MIDI as in hi-fi audio, I tend to prefer the separate box >approach. That's a good answer, and one which can be reasoned quite logically. Let me explain why I've (so far) rejected it. I find that I'm a lot more productive when using an instrument with a front-panel right in front of me, and real buttons, than I am with either a rack unit (with its tiny display sitting a few inches off the floor) or an editor running on the Macintosh (even if the latter shows me more information at once). There's something about having the programming parameters right in front of me that makes composition a lot easier. I bought the VFX partly for this reason, and it's paid off. OK, so I could buy an A-50/A-80 and then mount the notional sound unit directly in front of it in some kind of rack, but it's a hassle, and I'd have to keep racking/deracking stuff for live use (assuming I get a lot of gigs, which is a hope more than an expectation). If the D-70 turns out to be rather a spud, then the A-50/A-80 is another alternative, in which case I'll go this way. The WaveStation A/D rack looks like fun, but it's going to be pricey for a while yet... Nick. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 4 Apr 91 10:11:02 BST From: Nick Rothwell Subject: Re: A D-70. Yeah. Or a WS. Hmm. Maybe a D-70... >If you'd settle for just a controller, have you considered the A-80?? Yup. It's an option, although the A-80 runs to around $2000 at the moment, perhaps a little less. The drawback with it that KEYBOARD mention is that each new patch selection causes controller messages to be broadcast according to the physical position of the sliders and their programmed function. This is a problem if the sliders' controller ranges can't be programmed (for complicated reasons associated with the MKS-70 and VFX MIDI specs. which I won't go into right now...). Also, I don't know if the A-50/80 can will hold notes and sustain pedal status if you change performances under its feet. This is an important requirement. So, an option is to trade in the pf85, go for an A-80 and TX1P (say), shift the D-50 and replace it with a rack unit of some kind. I'd need to do all this at once to avoid being left with either three keyboards or no D-50 substitute. Hmm. Actually, I don't really need full master keyboard functions, since I can automate a lot from the sequencer. A decent synth with its external/midi keyboard operations sorted out (remote splits, held notes, etc.) will do. The downside is that they're attached, so if I outgrow either the synth or the keyboard, I have to keep or lose both (like with the D-50). Nick. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 4 Apr 91 07:34:33 GMT From: Commander Brett Maraldo Subject: Re: A D-70. Yeah. Or a WS. Hmm. Maybe a D-70... I have owned a D70 for 7 months now. Let me tell you about it. First, the voice architecture: first you start with a 'tone'. A tone is a PCM sample that has an associated pitch ENV, Filter and env, and amplifier and env. Once you have your tones created you assemble up to 4 of them into a patch. A patch is 1 to 4 tones layered, or plit over the keyboard. Tones can be set to vel switch or mix. Once the patches are created you can specify up to 5 of these in a multi-timbral 'performance'. A performance is a set of five patches mapped to various midi channels, volumes and effects routings. the 6th voice in a performance is for the rhythm section. The rhythm section is actually quite powerful: you can specify, for each of the 76 keys, all the parameters of a tone. that is, there are 76 tones specifically mapped to the keys in order for the rhythm section so once you have your basic kits programmed you can create other unusual sounds and use those in the rhythm section (reversed sounds, elctronic zings and zaps, etc). In my setup, I have local off set. In the past (as of a week ago) I would just play the keyboard and not care what channel the D70 was sending on because I would tell my sequencer to send all notes to a specific midi channel, controlling the performance patches or other midi devices. But I have been using the MIDI OUT page recently and now see how the D70 is a superior controller. With the MIDI OUT page you can, by a one button press, specify either LAYER, SPLIT, or ZONE mapping. You can also select which channel a zone will send on. And, you can turn out-sones on an off with the zone buttons: s s s s upper 1 ch x mode l l l l upper 2 ch y sw/mix/norm i i i i lower 1 ch z mode d d d d lower 2 ch $ sw/mix/norm e e e e r r r r ZONE LAYER SPLIT slider are physical sliders * * * * * * * * are physical buttons You use the alpha-dial (data dial to select the channels the various zones of the keyboard will send on for ch x,y,z and $). If you select LAYER (Simplest) then you will send on all of those midi channels. You can press the buttons under the sliders (each mapped to the uppers and lower zones), to turn on/off that midi out. Example: is x,y,z and $ are 1, 2, 3 and 4 and you are set to Layer and all the LEDs above the zone buttons are on then you will send to all of 1,2,3,4. If you press the 3rd zone button then you turn off the send to ch 3. If you select Split, then you can specify the split point of the upper1,2 and lower1,2 zones. so if all the sones are active (LEDSs on) and the split is at C4, then you will send on 1 and 2 on the lower and 3 and 4 on the upper. (Note: the midi channels can be set to control the internal performances patches or external midi devices. I use ch1-5 for the D70 patches, 6 is minimoog, 7 is prophet 5, 8 is MKS30, 9 is M1000, 10-14 is TX16W, 15 is XR 10, and 16 is D70 rhythm). Finally, if you slect Zone, you ca specify independent zones for uper 1, upper2, loer 1 and lower 2. You may have zone overlaps. The way you specify the zones is great: if you press the ZONE or SPLIT button twice you get a graphic diaply shwing the keyboard and the zones as lines above the keyboard. By pressing and holding the sone button below the slider and pressing the upper and lower keyboard key you can specify the length and psotion fo the zone and immediately see a graphical rep of the zones. If a zone is deselected you will see it as a dashed line. An active zone is solid. very fast. Finally, you can specify if the two voices in UPPER or LOWER will be layed (norm), vel switched (SW and approriate vel threshold) or mixed (MIX and threshold). You can also use the LEVEL and TRANSPOSE buttons with the four sliders to set volumes and pitch transposes for the MIDI output even for external devices. Sorry about the typos... I am feeling lazy. ciao, Brett L Maraldo Plexus Productions -- -------- Unit 36 Research --------- "Alien Technology Today" bmaraldo@watserv1.UWaterloo.ca {uunet!clyde!utai}!watserv1!bmaraldo ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 5 Apr 91 13:53:44 BST From: Nick Rothwell Subject: Re: A D-70. Yeah. Or a WS. Hmm. Maybe a D-70... > I have owned a D70 for 7 months now. Let me tell you about it. Good stuff, thanks for the info. According to your information, you program the tones individually and then combine them. The impression I got from the KEYBORED review was that you had a large number of tones which all the patches share; you can alter the tones but only at the risk of affecting all the patches which use them. Anyway, it wasn't clear to me what information the patches carried: tuning? LFO settings? Offset values for filter and TVA? More envelopes? This determines whether you have to constantly program new tones for new sounds, or have a pallette of tones which the patches can customise in a variety of ways. Or both. It depends how many tone slots there are as well, I guess. Do you find the machine versatile? There's only one LFO per voice and no PWM modulation, which severely restricts the animation you can build into a voice. Does this mean it just can't touch a great many of the D-50 sounds? How do you find the filtering? Thanks for the info. on controller keyboard facilities. I'll have to think about this in more detail, but it looks good enough. However, you didn't say whether it could reliably hold or sustain local and/or remote notes when you change performances (or select splits and zones, for that matter). (The VFX can do this, but not reliably, at least until you figure out exactly what the bugs are and how to work round them.) Nick. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 5 Apr 91 18:41:10 EST From: Dean Swan Subject: Re: A D-70. Yeah. Or a WS. Hmm. Maybe a D-70... Nick, Your insistence on notes being sustained when you change patches is a tall order. Very few (if any) controllers do this properly. You might check out the Axxess Mapper though. With version 2.0c ROMs, this thing can do almost any thing you can think of (except poly pressure ;-( ). -Dean Swan dean@sun.soe.clarkson.edu ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 3 Apr 91 09:40:42 EST From: wbf@cbema.att.com Subject: Sampler Information Ola Jose, Sorry it took me so long to respond to your request for sampler information. If you already have a master keyboard, maybe you might want to look into the Roland S-550 sampler. It's a two rack space, 12 bit machine. There is an extensive library from Roland free for the copying with plenty of good, usable sounds. I have one and paid extra for Director-S sequencing software wich runs on the sampler. You need to buy a monitor to get the full benefit of this machine. The sampler has 8 outputs and was rather highly rated in last year's sampler round up in KEYBOARD magazine. I do all my sequencing on this beast for my duo because of the space saving convenience of not having to drag around a computer or even a separate hardware sequencer. It's already in my rack! If you don't need a keyboard or the fidelity of 16 bits, this could be a sampler for consideration. Bill Fox att!cbema!wbf Columbus, Ohio, USA ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 3 Apr 91 19:22:50 -0500 From: Brian Adamson Subject: Audio Interchange File Format (AIFF) Does anyone know where a copy of the AIFF spec can be obtained? I'm working on a project which will soon (very soon) require that I read and write AIFF files. Brian Adamson adamson@css.itd.nrl.navy.mil PS. I'm sourcing in ADA, so if anyone with a generous heart has already created a nice little AIFF package, it would be an added bonus. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 4 Apr 91 09:01:26 EST From: Moe Methot Subject: Alchemy & Krystal An old inquiry and a new... Still fishing for some user feedback on the Krysta l MIDI retrofit for acoustic piano. It is new, and perhaps untried and proven, but the price is lower than everyone else and I'm wondering if any of you out there have come across it and if so, what did you think of it. On another topic, when I try to audition an edited waveform out of the spea ker in my Mac Plus (1 meg RAM) using Blank Software's Alchemy, the computer cra shes. I am loading this sample from a Mirage. The data transfer works fine, a ll editing functions in Alchemy seem OK, (cut, paste, reverse, scale ... etc.), but when I either click on the speaker icon, or select "play waveform", the wh ole thing crashes (no error message, it just freezes up). I am switching from " Sound Accelerator" to "Mac Variable or Mac Fixed" as far as the output config uration is concerned , and switching the instrument to back from Mirage to Mac. Just curious... Moe ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 2 Apr 91 03:26:07 EST From: "Daniel Bernstein, UVA" Subject: Computer music at colleges Here at the University of Virginia, there's an emerging program of computer music under the direction of Judith Shatin, and we have quite a number of graduate students working in computer music. I am an undergraduate student here, taking a class in computer music, the third I have taken so far. In terms of graduate schools, the BIG TWO are Stanford and MIT. However, the electronic music programs there are extremely competitive, and therefore practically impossible to get into. How about it, people? Anyone out there in academialand want to boast their electronic music program/department? db ------------------------------ End of the EMUSIC-L Digest ******************************