EMUSIC-L Digest Volume 33, Number 6 This issue's topics: Vocal effects, processors, etc. (2 messages) Re: Switched On Bach .WRK format? (4 messages) A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (6 messages) Footswitch to order (6 messages) Your EMUSIC-L Digest moderator is Joe McMahon . You may subscribe to EMUSIC-L by sending mail to listserv@american.edu with the line "SUB EMUSIC-L your name" as the text. The EMUSIC-L archive is a service of SunSite (sunsite.unc.edu) at the University of North Carolina. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 21 Oct 1991 23:17:15 -0500 From: John M Davison Subject: RE: Re: (Forwarded) Vocal effects, processors, etc. Tom Erbe writes >I found the PAIA vocoder to be very low quality. A waste of $99, to be >sure. Doesn't Roland have a box with vocoding and pitch to MIDI? I second Tom's opinion of the Paia Vocoder. I assembled one, observed that it sounded horrible, unsuccessfully tried to find a problem in my work, and finally sent the thing to Paia to have them fix it. They sent it back, saying that they had tested it thoroughly and found that *it worked up to spec*! Since then I have avoided Paia products. The performance simply does not live up to the product descriptions. John Michael Davison davisonj@ecn.purdue.edu ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 22 Oct 1991 06:00:37 EDT From: Marshall Gilula Subject: RE: Re: (Forwarded) Vocal effects, processors, etc. I am surprised to hear that PAIA is still around. It seems like more than 10 years ago (before I got MIDI-ized) that I had the privilege of "building" several of their kits and finding that none of them worked at anything more than a grade-school science class level {for those years...nowadays, an inexpensive MIDI workstation would suffice} I don't mean to be doing any PAIA-bashing, because if you need to have some technician- level soldering experience and find Heathkit unpalatable, I think that PAIA's list of "projects" would be quite excellent. -73- Marshall Gilula ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 21 Oct 1991 21:23:47 EDT From: "Schmidt,Rodney" Subject: Re: Switched On Back I have two Switched on Bach recordings that I have used for years in Music App classes. Bob Moog now is on faculty at Univ. of NC at Asheville. Write or call him there. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 22 Oct 1991 19:29:53 EXP From: 91302501@KRSNUCC1.BITNET Subject: .WRK format? Hi, I wanna know what the WRK format is. The cakewalk is very nice sequencer program. And, I want my sequencer to read WRK file. Please, let me know.... Kang Jinhwa 91302501@krsnucc1.bitnet ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 22 Oct 1991 09:05:25 edt From: Rick Duffy Subject: .WRK files I used to run Cakewalk on my PC (which I used to have), and if I recall the .WRK files were the normal Cakewalk Midi sequence files they got wrote out when you saved a sequence. I no lunger have the software, and I don't recall if the format for the .WRK files was in any of the doc I had. However, I believe that with the software came a copy of utilities to convert these files to standard MIDI format. I do remember that a program came with Cakewalk to convert them to an ascii format. If you can find anybody with Cakewalk, get this utilities from them, convert them to standard Midi format, and then read them with your current sequencer (which is what, by the way?) ... Rick ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 22 Oct 1991 13:58:49 CDT From: Kevin Remde Subject: Re: .WRK files Oct 22, 91 9:05 am Rick, I have cakewalk 3.0. This has the ability to read and write it's native (.WRK) files as well as standard type-1 .MID files. If you'd like, I do that transformation for you. Just uuencode the files you want changed over, and send them to me. (I wish I could promise I would be here to recieve them tomorrow, but my company is going to have a major layoff either tomorrow (Wednesday), or the following Wednesday. I might (or rather, I hope*) to be one of the people that will be leaving, so If you don't hear from me after sending me the files, you'll know what happened. ) -Kevin (remde@ncrons.stpaul.ncr.com) ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 22 Oct 1991 16:00:29 EDT From: Daniel Dion Subject: Re: .WRK files With version 2.00 you can do save as something.mid and you get a standard midi file. Try this and let us know ! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Daniel Dion University of Ottawa / Universite d'Ottawa (613) 564-5903 DXD0N@ACADVM1.UOTTAWA.CA =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 22 Oct 1991 10:15:17 +0000 From: Nick Rothwell Subject: Re: A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum >If anyone has any MIDI sequences or files for any of the numbers from >"A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum," please e-mail me. What is this? >I'm especially interested in finding a sequence of "Comedy Tonight." And what's *this*? I've never heard of either of them. Why should MIDI files exist for these? Are they electronic? Are they interesting? Nick. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 22 Oct 1991 09:01:28 EDT From: ronin Subject: Re: A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum poor nick... don't get much culture on mars, do ya? or are you a lot younger than i think? anyway, 'a funny thing...' was a broadway musical that was made even more popular by its adaptation to film. if i remember right, the musical was an early sondheim. 'comedy tonight' was its theme, and in many ways its only real showstopper. the film version starred zero mostel and had a running cameo gag with buster keaton. it really is quite hilarious, if you're into fluff. it's *good* fluff. it's also on video tape. -------------< Extremism in the Pursuit of Good Noise is no Vice >------- Eric Harnden (Ronin) or The American University Physics Dept. Washington, D.C ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 22 Oct 1991 12:56:45 EDT From: Jim Katz Subject: Re: A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum >>If anyone has any MIDI sequences or files for any of the numbers from >>"A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum," please e-mail me. nick%DCS.EDINBURGH.AC (etc.) writes in response : > What is this? O Blasphemer Thou! AFTHOTWTTF (A Funny, etc.) was a Broadway musical that was made into one of the funniest moveis of the '60s (B4 yr time?) by Richard ("Help","How I won the War") Lester. It parodies Help, by the way - there are hysterical sequences of Zero Mostel and Jack Gilbert romping in the park, peeking out from behind trees, etc. Buster Keaton also wanders through the movie (and speaks!) "Comedy tonight" is the overture number. You -->MUST<-- see this move (poss. on video) ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 22 Oct 1991 16:10:00 EDT From: PBR_EVB@FANDMA.BITNET Subject: Re: A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum 10/22/91 3:42 PM OK, I hate to get into this electronically, but please don't mention the movie and the stage version in the same breath. The movie is a typical Hollywood hack-job on a wonderfully witty piece of stage- craft. If you have any chance at all, please try to find a production of it rather than renting the video, which (typical of Hollywood musicals of the time) goes for the lowest common denominator in the audience. Also, just for the trivia record, it's the first production that had a score by Stephen Sondheim (both music and lyrics). EVB ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 23 Oct 1991 08:38:33 EDT From: ronin Subject: Re: A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum ahh... i must have thought the thing was directed by mel brooks because of zero mostel's performance. cine-freudian slip. glad to now i was right about sondheim, though. btw... i was not able to find the video in a standard catalog. it might be just a little difficult to get ahold of. sorry... i know this isn't emusic. i'll drop the subject now. -------------< Extremism in the Pursuit of Good Noise is no Vice >------- Eric Harnden (Ronin) or The American University Physics Dept. Washington, D.C ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 24 Oct 1991 11:13:29 +0000 From: Nick Rothwell Subject: Re: A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum >O Blasphemer Thou! AFTHOTWTTF (A Funny, etc.) was a Broadway musical that >was made into one of the funniest moveis of the '60s (B4 yr time?) Hmm, just a little. Much as I like the odd musical (Calamity Kate, My Fair Lady, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and so on) this isn't one I've come across. I certainly haven't come across any MIDI files for it. That reminds me: I never did get around to programming Chitty Chitty Bang Bang's engine noise on the Wavestation. It was one of the things I was going to do when I first got it... Nick. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 22 Oct 1991 09:06:51 EDT From: ronin Subject: Re: Footswitch to order feetswitch really are quite simple. they're just on/off switches under control of some kind of lever mechanism. you have to be a little careful, since different instruments read the polarity differently. the korg footswitch, for instance, is a spring that is normally in contact with a buss bar that sits above it. when the pedal is put down, the spring is lowered, breaking the contact. so korgs see a 'break', not a 'make' as a switch event, which is backwards from a lot of other devices. but it's easy to change. i soldered a buss bar across the posts *lower* than the spring, and taped the upper bar, so now the switch 'makes' when i hit the pedal, and is compatible with other stuff i own. i don't know which is the norm for SC equipment (make on press, i suspect), but the point is that they really are cheaper and more reliable to buy than to build yourself, and you can easily modify it if you have to. so buy one. $30, tops. -------------< Extremism in the Pursuit of Good Noise is no Vice >------- Eric Harnden (Ronin) or The American University Physics Dept. Washington, D.C ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 22 Oct 1991 09:25:00 EDT From: RAY BROHINSKY Subject: Re: Footswitch to order Footswitches are little different from any other kind of switch although construction configurations are `optimized' for actuating them with a foot, rather than a finger. If you are handy, you can build your own. If you are really handy, you can build your own from strips of brass and some insulating material: cut two brass strips about .030" thick into quarter-inch strips, one about a quarter inch longer than the other. (make that three brass strips, two the same length, one a quarter of an inch longer than the first two.) Now cut two 1/4" x 1/2" sections of 1/8" PCboard material. line them all up even at one end and drill a hole in the whole shebang so you can screw them all together. The sandwich should be short brass, pcboard, long brass, pcboard, short brass. You can make the PCboard parts longer and let them stick out the other side, so you can solder leads to them, and you may want to use two screw holes (with screws) to hold the whole thing together in alignment. Now bend one short strip so it is making contact with the center long piece, but with just enough force so that it breaks contact with the center piece if you bend the center piece enough to touch the other short piece. Now, the one touching the center piece at rest will be the `NC' or normally closed contact, and the short piece that is not normally touching the center piece will be the `NO' contact. All you need now is to make a hinged foot-plate and arrange this assembly so that, when you step on the hinge plate, it moves the center strip against the `NO' strip, and away from the `NC' strip. The long one is the `common' contact. The reason for this lengthy tutorial on switch-building is to impress you with how simple a foot switch can be. Also, this points up the fact that switches can be normally open and/or normally closed. You first have to determine whether the Prophet600 needs a NO or NC switch. I don't know from prophets, but Ensonique and Korgs tend to use the opposite kind of switches, as a friend found out when she tried to use her korg sustain pedal on her ensonique. Most foot switches have an industrial-grade switch (called SPDT, for [ooop...SPST] for single pole, single throw). The manufacturer will have wired the cable to the common and either the NO or NC contact. If you get a switch that works backward (sustains when you don't press the switch, doesn't when you do), you can open it and re-solder the switch to the other contact. An electrically-minded friend can do this in less time than it takes to read this post. It's not hard, but should be done right. If you can't find out what sense switch is needed for the Prophet at the local music store, take the board down there, set it up, and try out his pedals. Most reputable stores will put up with this kind of experiment. (In fact, I remember Ron letting Gentle Folk come into the store after hours, set up a PA we were looking at, and doing half a concert to see if we could make it do what we wanted to!) Foot switches are the least-sweat element of Emusic. raybro *** Nieder mit den Tueten! Freiheit fuer Gummibaerchen! *** ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 22 Oct 1991 09:57:18 EDT From: Brian Adamson Subject: Raybro's footswitch In response to: "screw them all together. The sandwich should be short brass, pcboard, long brass, pcboard, short brass." Make sure you use a non-conducting screw (plastic, etc) or electrically insulate the screw from contact with the brass strips. Otherwise, your all contacts will always be closed. -- Brian Adamson NRL Code 5523 adamson@itd.nrl.navy.mil ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 22 Oct 1991 12:44:00 EDT From: RAY BROHINSKY Subject: Re: Raybro's footswitch Gads, what an oversight! Thanks, Brian! raybro ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 23 Oct 1991 11:15:57 +0000 From: Nick Rothwell Subject: Re: Footswitch to order >Most foot switches have an industrial-grade switch (called SPDT, for >[ooop...SPST] for single pole, single throw). The manufacturer will have >wired the cable to the common and either the NO or NC contact. >If you get a switch that works backward (sustains when you don't >press the switch, doesn't when you do), you can open it and re-solder >the switch to the other contact. Minor nit-pick here: if the switch is a SPST, there won't *be* another contact. You need a SPDT switch in order to reverse it. Most of the footswitches I've seen have large SPDT microswitches; not quite what I'd call "industrial grade", since the switch casing takes the bashing. There *are* real, chunky, switches as well (which actually form the footswitch rather than sit inside it), but I've not come across them except in electronics catalogues. Nick. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 23 Oct 1991 11:15:35 +0000 From: Nick Rothwell Subject: Re: Footswitch to order >you have to be a little >careful, since different instruments read the polarity differently. I should mention the wonderul Korg PS-2 (or is it FS-2?) double switch. There are jack connections on the back, rather than attached cables which are a real hassle for live use, and each switch has two jacks: one for push-to-make, once for push-to-break. The switches are metal (quite rare these days), rubbed-backed, and solid, with a distinct click which I like. I have two of the things (one for the D-70 Sustain/Ext. Pedal, one for the MRC's two inputs) and might well buy a third one. I don't touch the plastic sh*t these days. When I bought the D-70, I told the dealer he could keep the plastic footswitch. >but the point >is that they really are cheaper and more reliable to buy than to build >yourself, and you can easily modify it if you have to. I agree with this. Nick. ------------------------------ End of the EMUSIC-L Digest ******************************