A few replies...

At 04:01 PM 5/3/2002 +0000, you wrote:
>Of course. I don't think *anything* Prent has done is "without variation",
>and even if it did, there are ways of "undue repetition" that facilitate
>other things. Much of the electronica and dance music, especially Euro-tech
>stuff, would easily fall into this category, but while it might fail to
>move 'composers' and educated/academic ears, it completely and fully meets
>its demands to move (and on the dance floor, to boot!) a large populace.
>You can't simply write it off.

Exactly! EDM must be taken seriously. It is a large area of music that is reaching younger generations; unlike microtonal or electro-acoustic music, etc. Though EDM has a commercial mainstream side; there is a great deal of music here that falls outside corporate mediation. I could offer an extended delineation of the importance of EDM, but it would be fairly off topic. It plays a large roll in my "musical timeline".

In brief: 95% of _mixing_ DJs do not challenge boundaries in a technical or cultural manner. The majority of what is seen on the surface in regard to electronic pop culture and the mainstream has no relation to innovation occurring within the EDM "underground".

DJing can be an _active_ pursuit and provide deep opportunities for interactive performance... It is too bad that those areas are not at all popular. Unfortunately, booking around the world relies more on who you know rather than the skill level of the individual.

Several producers go beyond DJing and present live performances within EDM as well; there is so much more to explore.

>You lucky dog - with your SY! Boy - I'll bet it's great to have those
filters with FM! That's the only thing the X lacks.

It is great to have an external filterbank (Sherman Filterbank, Mutronics Mutator, perhaps the Akai MFC42; there are a bunch to be found from boutique audio companies in all price ranges.). Most synths have pretty mediocre filtering capabilities; especially the digital analog modelled ones!.

In regard to computers as live instruments:
>Not to mention they can't stand up to a good pounding when the music really
gets rockin'! Tools: they're only tools, not a panacea, eh?

That is just an interface issue. An inventive composer/artist will find/create an interface that provides the right corporeal balance.

>How many times has it happened to me and countless others I know? You
go into the studio to try to get something done, not noticing the
Cosmic Joker of technology sitting over in the corner, you 'think'
you are going to make music - but haa, haa, haa, the joke's on you!

I think a good way to approach the studio is to separate the process between logical and creative efforts. Working with technology takes a certain amount of preparation and analytical "juggling". I love technology in regard to music making as there is a significant amount of analytical problem solving, but great leeway with solutions (subjectivity of music). Erm.. of course audio engineering technicalities may be less forgiving.

The studio is a musical instrument; it must be built, tuned, and constantly maintained before it can be navigated creatively. By only going halfway it is easy to get caught in "no mans land".

>Cool - do you know if they are any closer to a PC version of Max?

Here is an email I received a month ago regarding the PC release:

------------------------
We're pleased to announce that the long-awaited Windows version of Max/MSP is
closer to shipping. We are currently estimating a release date of October 2002. We will provide more details on the product and our progress at the beginning of June. Here are some details on the project that might be of interest to you.
- based on the latest Max4/MSP2 versions
- includes all of the same objects as the Mac version, with the following exceptions: omsnames, omspatches, omscontrollers, cd~ (to be released later)
- reads and writes the same binary and text format patcher and data files as the Mac version; collective files, which contain processor-specific compiled code, will be platform-specific
- audio support initially for ASIO, MME, and Direct Sound; ReWire, VST, and DirectConnect to follow shortly after the initial release
------------------------

Best,
--Mike

Egregious
"Spiritual renewal through music for those outside the heard."
http://www.egregious.net/

At 09:06 PM 5/13/2002 +0000, you wrote:
>Congrats Mike! I think you must be the first person I've met in 26
>years of working with electronic music and studio composition
>techniques who's never had a 'bad studio' day or experience.
>Consider yourself blessed.

Sarcasm aside, that wasn't what I was getting at... I am glad for any day I able to work with audio (good or "bad"). I have a lot of respect for those who stick with it... ;)

Cheers..

Egregious
"Spiritual renewal through music for those outside the heard."
http://www.egregious.net/

--- In MakeMicroMusic@y..., Catharsis <catharsis@e...> wrote:

/makemicromusic/topicId_2900.html#2912

> At 09:06 PM 5/13/2002 +0000, you wrote:
> >Congrats Mike! I think you must be the first person I've met in 26
> >years of working with electronic music and studio composition
> >techniques who's never had a 'bad studio' day or experience.
> >Consider yourself blessed.
>
> Sarcasm aside, that wasn't what I was getting at... I am glad for
any day
> I able to work with audio (good or "bad"). I have a lot of respect
for
> those who stick with it... ;)
>
> Cheers..
>
>
> Egregious
> "Spiritual renewal through music for those outside the heard."
> http://www.egregious.net/

***In all fairness to Mike, I believe he's more a studio technician
than a composer per se at this point. So, the frustration isn't
there yet about getting a certain preconceived result. But, I think
Mike indicated that he *would* begin composing at some stage, which
is great. At the moment, he's pretty much entranced with the
technology, which is fine for people like me, since he's done quite
an admirable effort in "fixing up" some of my *ahem* "sonic
efforts..."

Mike, I "will" have some more stuff for you soon, including the
blackjack piece for cello and electronics, which I'm transcribing.

Oh... and for those of you who salivate at the thought of theoretical
analysis (you know who you are, and most of you are on the other
list... :) the blackjack and cello piece will have *most* of the
harmonies written out, and I'll post them as a .pdf.

Anybody who's nuts enough to "reverse engineer" the notation back to
the blackjack lattice and make comments on it that way, is more than
welcome to do so.

Actually, *something* of interest might come of that.

Personally, I would prefer that people just *listen* to the piece and
*enjoy* it, however "pedestrian" that might seem... :)

J. Pehrson