EMUSIC-L Digest Volume 60, Issue 07 This issue's topics: PC Sound cards (8 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: Tue, 4 Jan 1994 22:50:09 +0000 From: Daniele Tatti Subject: Subject: Sound cards Hello, I'm new to this list and I hope I will find someone here who will help me in finding what I need. I know there are many PC cards, like the Sound Blaster, that basically reproduce instrumental samples, generate sounds with FM algorithms and are able to process MIDI files (this is at least what I understand). I also know that many of these cards are made out of a custom DSP, and that the user is left few possibilities to _program_ it. Well, you will say, there are DSP cards with their own compilers and libraries! True, but I think there _should_ be something between the Sound Blaster and a DSP card, something intended for a musician able to write small programs in C but not necessarily fond of programming a DSP! What I am looking for is a hardware / software system that let _me_ decide the synthesis methods. It should also have a (graphical) interface that let _me_ decide how to structure the sound in terms of time, frequency or whatever I might want. What Xerox experimented as the 'Dynabook' in the '70s, using large minicomputers, is now available as a cheap 'notebook'. Is it true that mythical machines like the '4X', built by Di Giugno at IRCAM, or other developed later in so many research institutes, have not yet reached the form of a PC add-on? ----- Daniele Tatti ----- Roma (Italy) ----- D.Tatti@agora.stm.it ----- ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 4 Jan 1994 15:03:15 PST From: Bill Felton Subject: Re: Subject: Sound cards Well, its a whole lot more than "just a sound card" but it sounds like what you want is a system along the lines of Kyma from the Symbolic Sound Corp. If you are interested I can get you contact info. Basically, Kyma is a front-end (written in Smalltalk) for a digital signal processer card set (the Platypus). It runs on/installs in Macs and Windows based PCs. Due to the power of Smalltalk and the DSP system, the user can define the synthesis method/style/type (granular, fm, etc) and hook up various 'tools' to create essentially anything you might ever want. Its a very powerful system, and so, rather pricey (around $7000 US) but ... Hope this is of interest and/or help. regards, Bill Felton ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 5 Jan 1994 12:43:09 CST From: Rick Gammon Subject: Re: Subject: Sound cards <199401042217.AA21085@mailhub.iastate.edu> > Hello, > > I'm new to this list and I hope I will find someone here who will help me > > in > finding what I need. > > I know there are many PC cards, like the Sound Blaster, that basically > reproduce instrumental samples, generate sounds with FM algorithms and > are able to process MIDI files (this is at least what I understand). I also > know that many of these cards are made out of a custom DSP, and that the > user > is left few possibilities to _program_ it. Well, you will say, there are > DSP > cards with their own compilers and libraries! True, but I think there > _should_ > be something between the Sound Blaster and a DSP card, something intended > for > a musician able to write small programs in C but not necessarily fond of > programming a DSP! If you want to program sounds and music - get busy as there are already close to a hundred different programs that can sequence and produce any type of NOISE (not music till you make two sounds that appeal to something, whether human or otherwise). > > What I am looking for is a hardware / software system that let _me_ decide > the > synthesis methods. It should also have a (graphical) interface that let > _me_ decide how to structure the sound in terms of time, frequency or > whatever > I might want. > > What Xerox experimented as the 'Dynabook' in the '70s, using large > minicomputers, is now available as a cheap 'notebook'. Is it true that > mythical > machines like the '4X', built by Di Giugno at IRCAM, or other developed > later > in so many research institutes, have not yet reached the form of a PC > add-on? ------> Don't know what a Dynabook is but if was to generate music and only ran on large minis it is probably in some museum somewhere sitting beside the software package that ran it. ----> If you have a PC and want to compose (not compile) then get a copy of CAKEWALK, FINALE, MUSICPRINTER PLUS, or any of one of many composing and editing software that will manipulate a sound card or synthesizer. > > ----- Daniele Tatti ----- Roma (Italy) ----- D.Tatti@agora.stm.it ----- --- ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Rick Gammon Why buy a bed when you can RR 2 806 Lakeview Dr. carpet the floor. Ames, Iowa 50010-9802 Bulldog Productions Compuserve ID # 71540,2130 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 17 Jan 1994 14:08:43 +0000 From: Scott Walker Subject: PC Soundcards I'm on the verge of purchasing a 486 based PC system, which I will be intending to use as (i) A hard disk recorder, possibly using Digital Soup or Wave for Windows software. (ii) a sampler (16bit) (iii) A midi synth. I have singled out a few soundcards but I know very little about their capabilities or their suitability for the above. If anyone has any info/opinions/advice an any of the following cards, (especially their synth section, I have Kawai KC-10 Spectra at present which I intend to use a controller since it's on sounds are Zzzzzz... noisy, crappy S+S impressions of real instruments, ie no groovy analogueish synth sounds, I'm not looking for miracles even just filter sweep pad sounds,) I would be very grateful. a) Turtlebeach Multisound b) Sound Blaster ASP + Turtlebeach Maui c) Sound Blaster ASP + Waveblaster daughter board c) Gravis Ultrasound + 16bit rec daughter board. d) Roland card (Can't remember it's name but its 16bit pb/rec plus GM module). Thanks very much in advance Regards Scott E-mail sjw@lang.gla.ac.uk ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 17 Jan 1994 11:46:28 -0500 From: THE DIGITAL WITCHDOCTOR Subject: Re: PC Soundcards I like the Turtle Beach Multisound. I've been runing it for about six months and it is excellent. It has the rproteus onboardf, so the sounds aren't cheezy. It also samples at 44.1khz and they aree pretty clean. btw does anyone know of utilities that can convert from, say .wav format to formats supported by other samplers. Also, is there any pc based software out there that can transpose samples without changing the speed. I.E. when I try and change pitch, the sample speeds up or slows down. Or is this a nessesary evil of sampling? phil sps5251@siena.bitnet ] ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 18 Jan 1994 13:09:56 +0500 From: Ted Shab Subject: Re: PC Soundcards >I like the Turtle Beach Multisound. I've been runing it for about six months >and it is excellent. It has the rproteus onboardf, so the sounds aren't cheezy. > It also samples at 44.1khz and they aree pretty clean. > >btw does anyone know of utilities that can convert from, say .wav format >to formats supported by other samplers. Also, is there any pc based >software out there that can transpose samples without changing the >speed. I.E. when I try and change pitch, the sample speeds up or slows down. > >Or is this a nessesary evil of sampling? I believe you can do this with the Turtle Beach Maui board. > >phil >sps5251@siena.bitnet >] > Ted Shab Senior Technical Analyst National Initiative for Product Data Exchange NASA/NIST shab@enh.nist.gov (301) 975-3889 "Do not let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do." - John Wooden ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 19 Jan 1994 06:04:34 -0700 From: Robert Mackenzie Wallace <29220@EF.GC.MARICOPA.EDU> Subject: Re: PC Soundcards Scott - Your best selection, in my opinion, would be the Roland RAP 10 -- next best is the Turtle Beach card. If you can try them both and HEAR the difference. If you have a compuserve account...go midiforum -- you can get plenty of other pc user qualified adivce there too! ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 19 Jan 1994 13:38:00 PST From: "Rossi, John" Subject: Re: PC Soundcards > Your best selection, in my opinion, would be the Roland RAP 10 -- next > best is the Turtle Beach card. If you can try them both and HEAR the > difference. I think that this is true only if MIDI instrument playback is more important than any sampling or DtD recording you want to do. I still think that the MultiSound has the best AD/DA section of any currently available soundcard. ------------------------------ End of the EMUSIC-L Digest ******************************