EMUSIC-L Digest Volume 48, Issue 03 This issue's topics: Building a system Looking for System Recommendations (9 messages) System Recommendations 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: Sun, 10 Jan 1993 02:58:24 GMT From: Kevin Sahr Subject: Looking for System Recommendations I'm sure this sort of question has been asked here before; but I'm new to this list so please excuse me.... A friend of mine is a pianist interested in experimenting with electronic music. He has about $3,000 to spend for a complete system (computer, software, keyboard, interface boards, etc.). Does anyone have any recommendations on what he should/should not purchase? And since I'm asking novice questions, is there a faq for this list? Thanks Kevin Sahr sahr@piglet.uccs.edu CAE-Link Corp. ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 10 Jan 1993 04:46:47 GMT From: Casimir J Palowitch Subject: Re: Looking for System Recommendations In article <1io3cgINNke6@harpo.uccs.edu> sahr@piglet.uccs.edu (Kevin Sahr) writes: >A friend of mine is a pianist interested in experimenting >with electronic music. He has about $3,000 to spend for a >complete system (computer, software, keyboard, interface >boards, etc.). Does anyone have any recommendations on what >he should/should not purchase? > >Kevin Sahr >sahr@piglet.uccs.edu >CAE-Link Corp. If your friend is a higher ed. type (faculty/student/staff), s/he can purchase a basic NeXTStation UNIX workstation for about $3400.00 This unit is the Computer Music platform of choice in academia. The reason? Built in DSP chips and sound A/D/A, plus an extroardinary amount of software produced in pub domain/freeware/shareware by academics and computer musicians for production of high quality computer music. If your friend is looking for a sequencing platform, Mac or PC all the way. NeXT has poor MIDI implementation. As a matter of fact, the only sequencer program for NeXT, Presto by Pinnacle Research Inc., as of yet *does not work* on my NeXTStation Turbo and after 3 months of asking, no one can tell me definitively why. Casey Palowitch cjp@unix.cis.pitt.edu -- ** Casimir J. (Casey) Palowitch - In 1996, there will be two kinds ** ** Slavic Cataloger - of computer professional : those ** ** U. of Pgh. Library Systems - who know NeXT, and those ** ** cjp@unix.cis.pitt.edu - without Jobs. ** ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 11 Jan 1993 10:20:32 PST From: metlay Subject: Re: Looking for System Recommendations >I'm sure this sort of question has been asked here before; but >I'm new to this list so please excuse me.... Gear questions are normally handled on SYNTH-L, but applications questions are OK here. >A friend of mine is a pianist interested in experimenting >with electronic music. He has about $3,000 to spend for a >complete system (computer, software, keyboard, interface >boards, etc.). Does anyone have any recommendations on what >he should/should not purchase? Oboy. I could spend his $3000 for him easily in a number of different ways, but that's not the point. What precisely does he want to do, and how much time does he want to devote to it? I design Emusic setups for people all the time, so much so that my wife thinks I should charge a consulting fee for it, but I normally have much more data to go on. You or your friend should contact me via email and we can hammer out more details. >And since I'm asking novice questions, is there a faq for >this list? Not yet. -- mike metlay | atomic city | "Did I say, 'squamous epithelium'? p. o. box 81175 | Sorry. I meant, "Russia'." pittsburgh pa 15217-0675 | metlay@netcom.com | (zrgynl) ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 11 Jan 1993 13:49:07 -0500 From: "Joseph D. McMahon" Subject: Re: Looking for System Recommendations Kevin Sahr writes: > > And since I'm asking novice questions, is there a faq for > this list? > No, but if people want to write them, I'll put them up on the EMUSIC-L ftp site (hint, hint). There's an article there (castrovalva.gsfc.nasa.gov, or 128.183.33.197) called "buying-the-first" which is a compendium of hints on buying your first keyboard. --- Joe M. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 12 Jan 1993 08:32:28 GMT From: ANG CHENG KOON Subject: Re: Looking for System Recommendations Dear Kevin suggest u check out Mac & PC prices (should be lower than NeXT). Don't need top-of-the-line system; a mid-range computer is enough for music. also check out the MIDI interfaces & software for the respective systems; some interface eqpt comes with free software which is good enough for first-timers to try, before buying more expensive & powerful sequencing packages. besides the computer, the biggest cost comes from the synth. pianists should try out the feel of the keyboard - varies from synth to synth. also, decide beforehand what kinds of sounds you want. don't go shopping without preparation, cos everything sounds great in the shop. then u bring it home and (1) don't know how to work it, or (2) can't figure what u're gonna do with 128 sounds like 'EarthSwallowsGodzilla' and 'MoonBreath'. very important - read up first: i recommend KEYBOARD magazine, especially the annual Buyers Guides. you can EMail me if u need details Benjamin Ang ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 13 Jan 1993 19:12:40 +0000 From: Nick Rothwell Subject: Re: Looking for System Recommendations >Oboy. I could spend his $3000 for him easily in a number of >different ways, but that's not the point. There was a response to this original message on USEnet, suggesting a PC, windows-based sequencer, and a Sound Canvas or something plus Band-in-a-Box and a piano keyboard. I was in a bad mood (blizzard weather conditions here etc.) so I responded with a bit of a flame, but my point was basically the same as metlay's: what does he want to do? Electronic music the MIDI way? (I'd suggest a Kurz. K2000, a Mac Powerbook 100 and a copy of Opcode's MAX.) Electronic music the academic way? (Csound, NeXT, Indigo, this kind of stuff.) Or conventional music using what happen to be electronically-implemented instruments (in which case perhaps General MIDI and Band-in-a-Box is the answer... but the answer to what, I have to ask...). Nick Rothwell | cassiel@cassiel.demon.co.uk CASSIEL Contemporary Music/Dance | cassiel@cix.compulink.co.uk ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 13 Jan 1993 19:12:48 +0000 From: Nick Rothwell Subject: Re: Looking for System Recommendations > also check out the MIDI interfaces & software for the respective >systems; some interface eqpt comes with free software which is good >enough for first-timers to try, before buying more expensive & powerful >sequencing packages. Referring to my previous message: it's not even clear to me that this guy is interested in MIDI. Or in notes, for that matter. All it said (I think) was "electronic music." Nick Rothwell | cassiel@cassiel.demon.co.uk CASSIEL Contemporary Music/Dance | cassiel@cix.compulink.co.uk ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 13 Jan 1993 11:36:14 PST From: PLUI%IOSSVR.gm@HAC2ARPA.HAC.COM Subject: Re: System Recommendations Hey, I just read this emusic posting... > (I'd suggest a Kurz. K2000, a Mac Powerbook 100 and a copy of Opcode's > MAX.) Electronic music the academic way? (Csound, NeXT, Indigo, this kind > of stuff.) I've got a PB 100 andI use MOTU Performer. A funny thing happens when I playback my performer sequences: If I don't move the trackball every 10 -12 bars, the beat counter slows down until it eventually locks up Performer :( Is this from the PB Midi-serial interrupt problem? It seems to happen with even the simplest pattern. any help is appreciated. |^^^^| ^^^^^^^^^ -Cato <.> <.> ^ `---' (plui@cat700.gm.hac.com) ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 16 Jan 1993 10:44:08 +0000 From: Nick Rothwell Subject: Re: System Recommendations >I've got a PB 100 andI use MOTU Performer. A funny thing happens when I >playback my performer sequences: If I don't move the trackball every >10 -12 bars, the beat counter slows down until it eventually locks up >Performer :( You aren't using MIDI Manager, right? I suspect that Performer's native MIDI layer isn't disabling the automatic rest mode on the machine. Try doing so manually in the Portable control panel. Nick Rothwell | cassiel@cassiel.demon.co.uk CASSIEL Contemporary Music/Dance | cassiel@cix.compulink.co.uk ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 17 Jan 1993 22:18:13 GMT From: Kevin Sahr Subject: THANKS for System Recommendations Just wanted to say THANK YOU for all the replies I received to my novice question about buying an emusic system. Even the (minor) flames were well taken; a question like this would have required an asbestos suit on many technical newsgroups. And they contained a very valid point: my friend needs to clarify what exactly he wants to accomplish. That in itself is a useful piece of advice. Anyway, I've snail-mailed a copy of all your responses and the "buying-the-first" file from the EMUSIC-L ftp site to my friend. I hope it convinces him to find an internet connect of his own.... Again, THANKS! Kevin sahr@piglet.uccs.edu ------------------------------ End of the EMUSIC-L Digest ******************************