Yahoo Tuning Groups Ultimate Backup makemicromusic New piece online

Jon-

hey I like that! kinda reminiscent of the tape part of Xenakis' Krannerg,
but with much better sound quality! maybe you could subtitle it "Threnody
(for the victims of the Secret Government: from 9/11 to Baghdad)".

nice one!

Dante

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Jonathan M. Szanto [mailto:JSZANTO@...]
> Sent: Sunday, August 03, 2003 3:25 AM
> To: MMM
> Subject: [MMM] New piece online
>
>
> Hi gang,
>
> I've just today successfully installed some new synths in a brand new
> music/computer setup, and everything is working out pretty well so far.
> Lots to learn, lots to plan for, but I'm virtually at the doorstep of
> stepping into the room, turning on one switch, and I can start making the
> music right where I left off. Of course, this makes me quite happy!
>
> But just before all this occurred (and I'll post progress reports
> along the
> way), I had another sound adventure that I thought was worth
> sharing. So if
> you have spare time on your hands (and ears), you can take a look over at:
>
> http://www.microtonal.org/music.html
>
> ...and see what happened.
>
> Cheers,
> Jon
>
>
>
> [MMM info]------------------------------------------------------
> More MMM music files are at http://www.microtonal.org/music.html
> ------------------------------------------------------[MMM info]
>
> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
>
>

🔗Jonathan M. Szanto <JSZANTO@...>

Dante,

{you wrote...}
>hey I like that!

Thanks, and this is definitely a shared experience with Jacky, maybe moreso his contribution than mine!

>kinda reminiscent of the tape part of Xenakis' Krannerg, but with much >better sound quality!

Two things: I don't know that particular X piece, so I'll have to check it out; as for sound quality, I almost uploaded the .ogg file of it because it is a little better, but the original wav file really has some nice, zingy highs in it. Bear in mind the original source was from a MiniDisc recording as well!

Somewhere in the cabinet with all my LPs is one of my all-time favorite electronic/tape recordings, the old Xenakis Nonesuch disc with "Bohur" (IIRC). I don't remember the names of both pieces, but one was a tape manipulation piece all based on the sound of a metal bracelet, and the other was based on recordings of the sound of charcoal crackling as it cooled. The amount of hours and work, literally with razor blades and splicing tape, was ridiculous, but those pieces are gorgeous. And amazing how pretty much anyone can do that, and far, far more, on the average desktop PC.

>maybe you could subtitle it "Threnody (for the victims of the Secret >Government: from 9/11 to Baghdad)".

Well, we didn't want to take ourselves too seriously!

Cheers,
Jon

🔗Alison Monteith <alison.monteith3@...>

🔗Jonathan M. Szanto <JSZANTO@...>

Hi Alison,

{you wrote...}
>care to share the details of your set-up and choice of synths?

Sure.

Computer: I wanted to see what kind of horsepower I could put in a package that, oddly enough, I could take somewhere if I wanted to, and not do it with a laptop (yes, that would have been an option, but the home use will *greatly* outweigh the portable use, so I skewed that way to get better cost per hardware). For the actual computer, it is a Shuttle XPC SB51G small-case bare-bones system, with an Intel P4 2.53GHz processor and Geil PC3700 512mb ram. There is a good article on someone putting together a system similar to this, with clear pics, here:

http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,3973,661793,00.asp

The great part about it is that just as I was about to assemble these components, I went searching on eBay and didn't just find parts but someone was selling the above, along with the carrying case, for well below what it would have cost me before assembly, and it was nearly brand-new.

For a sound card I decided on the Aardvark Direct Pro LX6:

http://www.aardvark-pro.com/direct_pro_lx6.html

There are a number of fine cards out these days; this one just happened to fit my needs, which were that I didn't need mic pre-amps but having 4 inputs is just what I wanted: I am planning on re-mixing a whole bunch of original 4-track master tapes in the digital realm, so importing from the source reel-to-reel will be a lot easier this way. The a/d - d/a convertors in the card are working out fine, and it was a snap to install. For travel, the breakout box (with the 1/4" input/outputs) simply disconnects from a cable in the back of the comp.

All other hardware came from previous systems (mouse, kbd, monitor) with the exception of a new, high-speed hard drive.

It is small, it is pretty darn quiet, they have done a great job of mitigating heat in a fast processor in a small box, and it has an extremely cool blue, glowing LED for the power switch. :)

I'll wait just a little bit before I give all the details on the softsynths - I'm still in the process of evaluation and attempting to ascertain how, and to what extent, microtuning is used/supported in a few different soft synths. My process for evaluating each demo is as follows:

1. Did it install properly?
2. Can it be inserted as a DXi/VST instrument without problems?
3. Once inserted in a track, can it be played with acceptable latency?
4. Once it is running and acceptable playing-wise, do the sounds:
a. interest me?
b. exhibit either a great flexibility/variety, or a greater depth in a smaller variety?
c. does it appear easy to program/tweak?

5. At this point I start to evaluated the microtuning capabilities...

I should note that, before I've really settled on anything, the other thing I will do is set up a simple 4, 6, or 8 track sequence and load/insert a copy of the synth in each (this is the softsynth/sequencer version of having 4/6/8 hardware synths in a rack - you are setting up multiple copies so you can load differing patches on each).

I'm not going to be bone-deep scientific about this, but I want to get a feel for how much of a drain on the CPU and sound card/driver this will be. It won't do me any good if there is a great sounding synth that tunes well, if I can only run one instance of it - I tend to like well-'orchestrated' compositions! :) Conversely, if I can load up a bunch of them, I don't want them to sound dorky (#4 would have dropped them out of the running, and if I want dorky I can always flip on the 2 TX81Z's I still have!).

Well, that is a start at the process. Like I say, when I've had a little more time to fiddle I'll report back, even though I've already gotten some promising results. I've just dl'd the Orion Platinum package tonight on the basis of a mention, but I see *nothing* on their site about tuning, so we'll see when we install, read docs, etc.

But already I'm happy with the new computer I built up to do this, I'm very happy with the sound card I settled on, and I am frankly *very* impressed with the quality of the sounds of a number of the soft synths. With the way computers keep edging forward, it really is only a matter of time before I can do, virtually, anything I want. And the best part is that is looks like right now, today, I can do almost as much as that.

It makes no sense to put off until years and years from now, waiting for the perfect nirvana-like setup, when it looks like I can get on with it... today.

Or at least tomorrow morning.

Cheers,
Jon

🔗Alison Monteith <alison.monteith3@...>

on 5/8/03 5:21, Jonathan M. Szanto at JSZANTO@... wrote:

Hi Alison,

{you wrote...}
>care to share the details of your set-up and choice of synths?

Sure.

Computer: I wanted to see what kind of horsepower I could put in a package
that, oddly enough, I could take somewhere if I wanted to, and not do it
with a laptop (yes, that would have been an option, but the home use will
*greatly* outweigh the portable use, so I skewed that way to get better
cost per hardware). For the actual computer, it is a Shuttle XPC SB51G
small-case bare-bones system, with an Intel P4 2.53GHz processor and Geil
PC3700 512mb ram. There is a good article on someone putting together a
system similar to this, with clear pics, here:

http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,3973,661793,00.asp

The great part about it is that just as I was about to assemble these
components, I went searching on eBay and didn't just find parts but someone
was selling the above, along with the carrying case, for well below what it
would have cost me before assembly, and it was nearly brand-new.

For a sound card I decided on the Aardvark Direct Pro LX6:

http://www.aardvark-pro.com/direct_pro_lx6.html

There are a number of fine cards out these days; this one just happened to
fit my needs, which were that I didn't need mic pre-amps but having 4
inputs is just what I wanted: I am planning on re-mixing a whole bunch of
original 4-track master tapes in the digital realm, so importing from the
source reel-to-reel will be a lot easier this way. The a/d - d/a convertors
in the card are working out fine, and it was a snap to install. For travel,
the breakout box (with the 1/4" input/outputs) simply disconnects from a
cable in the back of the comp.

All other hardware came from previous systems (mouse, kbd, monitor) with
the exception of a new, high-speed hard drive.

It is small, it is pretty darn quiet, they have done a great job of
mitigating heat in a fast processor in a small box, and it has an extremely
cool blue, glowing LED for the power switch. :)

I'll wait just a little bit before I give all the details on the softsynths
- I'm still in the process of evaluation and attempting to ascertain how,
and to what extent, microtuning is used/supported in a few different soft
synths. My process for evaluating each demo is as follows:

1. Did it install properly?
2. Can it be inserted as a DXi/VST instrument without problems?
3. Once inserted in a track, can it be played with acceptable latency?
4. Once it is running and acceptable playing-wise, do the sounds:
a. interest me?
b. exhibit either a great flexibility/variety, or a greater depth in a
smaller variety?
c. does it appear easy to program/tweak?

5. At this point I start to evaluated the microtuning capabilities...

I should note that, before I've really settled on anything, the other thing
I will do is set up a simple 4, 6, or 8 track sequence and load/insert a
copy of the synth in each (this is the softsynth/sequencer version of
having 4/6/8 hardware synths in a rack - you are setting up multiple copies
so you can load differing patches on each).

I'm not going to be bone-deep scientific about this, but I want to get a
feel for how much of a drain on the CPU and sound card/driver this will be.
It won't do me any good if there is a great sounding synth that tunes well,
if I can only run one instance of it - I tend to like well-'orchestrated'
compositions! :) Conversely, if I can load up a bunch of them, I don't want
them to sound dorky (#4 would have dropped them out of the running, and if
I want dorky I can always flip on the 2 TX81Z's I still have!).

Well, that is a start at the process. Like I say, when I've had a little
more time to fiddle I'll report back, even though I've already gotten some
promising results. I've just dl'd the Orion Platinum package tonight on the
basis of a mention, but I see *nothing* on their site about tuning, so
we'll see when we install, read docs, etc.

But already I'm happy with the new computer I built up to do this, I'm very
happy with the sound card I settled on, and I am frankly *very* impressed
with the quality of the sounds of a number of the soft synths. With the way
computers keep edging forward, it really is only a matter of time before I
can do, virtually, anything I want. And the best part is that is looks like
right now, today, I can do almost as much as that.

It makes no sense to put off until years and years from now, waiting for
the perfect nirvana-like setup, when it looks like I can get on with it...
today.

Or at least tomorrow morning.

Cheers,
Jon

At last we've found an official softsynth tester! Thanks for a very
informative and helpful post Jon. Several companies in the UK are offering
customised audio PCs in tower, rack and laptop form. The laptops in
particular have excellent specs, large screens, fully configured, excellent
support, etc. Prices are very attractive. .

I don't know about soundcards as such for laptops, only the USB or Firewire
options. M-Audio have just released a Firewire interface, the 410, for just
over £300.00. Should see off any latency problems.

I look forward to reading the results your evaluations. The most favourable
reports on microtunable softsynths I've read have come from Rhino, z3ta and
FM7 users. I'm looking to do four things -

a.) to model roughly my microtonal acoustic instruments, set them up like an
orchestral score and tune them up so that I can write music.
b.) make microtonal electronic music for use in acoustic/electronic works.
c.) create taped parts for conventional instrumentalists.
d.) look cool in arty circles.

Apart from (d) I can't be too far off now.

Kind Regards
a.m.

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

🔗Jonathan M. Szanto <JSZANTO@...>

Ali,

{you wrote...}
>At last we've found an official softsynth tester!

Is the job offering dental benefits?

>Several companies in the UK are offering customised audio PCs in tower,
>rack and laptop form. The laptops in particular have excellent specs,
>large screens, fully configured, excellent support, etc. Prices are very
>attractive. .

That is good news, esp if the laptop is reasonable. I tell you: if price
were no object, I would have gone out and gotten the highest-end Apple
portable right now. I just last night saw a production of "Julius Caesar"
at the Old Globe here in town; I had done the percussion work on the
original recording session with a wonderful composer/sound designer from
New York, Dan Moses Schrier. He came over to discuss 'sounds' and demoed
stuff on his Powerbook, and said it contained all the tools he needed for
most of his work. Good thing: when we saw the show we found that the
director (I assume) had changed direction somewhat, or didn't like the
initial sessions (which included wind/brass instruments), and went with a
score that was almost entirely metal percussion, found sound and
processing. What Dan was able to come up with, using a portable platform
(at this point I am *assuming*) was extraordinary - great, deep sound
worlds (microtonal in patches, but as a side issue). The tools for solid
work are in small silver boxes.

>I don't know about soundcards as such for laptops, only the USB or
>Firewire options. M-Audio have just released a Firewire interface, the
>410, for just over £300.00. Should see off any latency problems.

Firewire audio is still pretty new, but should be the way to go for speed.
I'm willing to bet that if a company with a solid track record in audio
cards comes out with a Fire card it would be worth investigating.
Naturally, the drivers are important too.

>I look forward to reading the results your evaluations. The most
>favourable reports on microtunable softsynths I've read have come from
>Rhino, z3ta and FM7 users. I'm looking to do four things -
>
>a.) to model roughly my microtonal acoustic instruments, set them up like an
>orchestral score and tune them up so that I can write music.
>b.) make microtonal electronic music for use in acoustic/electronic works.
>c.) create taped parts for conventional instrumentalists.
>d.) look cool in arty circles.
>
>Apart from (d) I can't be too far off now.

I think those are *excellent* reasons for doing this - I hope you don't
ever forsake or diminish your path in acoustic instruments, but one needn't
shun electronics either! Bear in mind that I'll try to be fair on the
microtuning side, but when it comes to sounds and the ... 'feel' of a
softie, it will inevitably reflect some of my personal tastes. Rick McGowan
has had a lot of success with Rhino, but I also know that Rick comes from a
long FM background; I, on the other hand, was a big analog man and only
took on FM when I needed to buy a TX box to get more microtonality. I never
did like programming FM patches, and honestly still don't. But Rhino and
FM7 are far more flexible than the older hardware boxes.

And why, in my mind's eye, do I picture you being arty with no problem
whatsoever?

Cheers,
Jon

P.S. Hey Alison: I don't know if it's your email program, but would it be
ok to ask that you trim your replies? It seems like they usually contain
the entire msg you reply to, and once through my landfill of words is
enough for everyone!

New piece online

🔗Jonathan M. Szanto <JSZANTO@...>

🔗Dante Rosati <dante.interport@...>

🔗Jonathan M. Szanto <JSZANTO@...>

🔗Alison Monteith <alison.monteith3@...>

🔗Jonathan M. Szanto <JSZANTO@...>

🔗Alison Monteith <alison.monteith3@...>

🔗Jonathan M. Szanto <JSZANTO@...>

🔗Alison Monteith <alison.monteith3@...>

🔗Jonathan M. Szanto <JSZANTO@...>

🔗Joseph Pehrson <jpehrson@...>

🔗Joseph Pehrson <jpehrson@...>