Beauty in the Beast

BITB has been rereleased on East Side Digital, and for those
unfamiliar with it, I highly recommend it...Wendy calls it her most
important disc, and it is a masterpiece. Tunings, timbres, and
compositions all come together to make a superb musical statement. Also,
Digital Moonscapes, recorded 2 years earlier, is a good CD as well...not
microtonal, and not as strong compositionally overall (although it has
it's moments), the mastery of the tonal resources of the synth, and the
arranging skills, make this an interesting listen. Good xmas
purchases...Hstick

I had been waiting since 1986 to hear this music. I bought it a week ago and I
am still stunned by how good it is. The piece that modulates for two laps
around the cycle of fifths is especially tasty.
BTW- Easley Blackwood's 12 microtonal etudes (13-tET uo to 24-tET) is also full
of suprising flavours despite the cheesy sound of the old synth he used. Note
however that there is a superb 15-tET acoustic guitar piece in four movements
at the end of the CD.
DARREN McDOUGALL

--- In tuning@egroups.com, "Neil Haverstick" <STICK@U...> wrote:\

http://www.egroups.com/message/tuning/16660

Paul Erlich brought this by at our mini-micro NYC "salon-party"
yesterday [Reinhard, Erlich, Monzo, Me]. This work is totally
intimidating... but like many such experiences, very useful!

BTW, any listers coming to the NYC area, be sure to send me an
e-mail, and we can try to arrange such "face to face" encounters.
I've been known as a "salonmeister" over the years. View is pretty
good, too, from our place...

Joe Monzo is in much better health right now. We sprayed everything,
including him, with Lysol, and it seemed to do the trick...
__________ ___ __ __
Joseph Pehrson

--- In tuning@egroups.com, "Joseph Pehrson" <pehrson@p...> wrote:

> BTW, any listers coming to the NYC area, be sure to send me an
> e-mail, and we can try to arrange such "face to face" encounters.
> I've been known as a "salonmeister" over the years. View is pretty
> good, too, from our place...

What floor do you live on and which way is
the view? I've been on 36th floor of your
building and the view was kind of frighting.

David Beardsley

--- In tuning@egroups.com, "David Beardsley" <xouoxno@v...> wrote:

http://www.egroups.com/message/tuning/16667

> --- In tuning@egroups.com, "Joseph Pehrson" <pehrson@p...> wrote:
>
> > BTW, any listers coming to the NYC area, be sure to send me an
> > e-mail, and we can try to arrange such "face to face" encounters.

> > I've been known as a "salonmeister" over the years. View is
pretty good, too, from our place...
>
> What floor do you live on and which way is
> the view? I've been on 36th floor of your
> building and the view was kind of frighting.
>
> David Beardsley

Oh... gee. Sorry you weren't included.... but at least I got to see
you at the Microthon. You would have been a nice addition...

I'm on 35, facing south... bring a parachute if you visit...

_______ ___ __ _
JP

--- In tuning@egroups.com, "McDougall, Darren Scott - MCDDS001"
<MCDDS001@S...> wrote:

> BTW- Easley Blackwood's 12 microtonal etudes (13-tET uo to 24-tET)
is also full
> of suprising flavours despite the cheesy sound of the old synth he
used.

I find nothing cheesy about the synth. Analog is so
rich and warm.

David Beardsley

On Mon, 18 Dec 2000, David Beardsley wrote:

> --- In tuning@egroups.com, "McDougall, Darren Scott - MCDDS001"
> <MCDDS001@S...> wrote:
>
> > BTW- Easley Blackwood's 12 microtonal etudes (13-tET uo to 24-tET)
> is also full
> > of suprising flavours despite the cheesy sound of the old synth he
> used.
>
> I find nothing cheesy about the synth. Analog is so
> rich and warm.

Hey, I think I found a customer for that all-vacuum-tube synth <weg>!
Seriously, though, don't knock digital yet -- wait till you hear 24-bit
96KHz digital before you reject it. :-) Wider words and more frequent
samples translate to better audio quality (and more expensive equipment).
CD sound is a compromise; I'm past the age where I can hear the
difference, as are boatloads of classical music aficionados.
--
znmeb@teleport.com (M. Edward Borasky) http://www.teleport.com/~znmeb

Never play leapfrog with a unicorn.

--- In tuning@egroups.com, <znmeb@t...> wrote:
> On Mon, 18 Dec 2000, David Beardsley wrote:

> > I find nothing cheesy about the synth. Analog is so
> > rich and warm.
>
> Hey, I think I found a customer for that all-vacuum-tube
> synth <weg>!
> Seriously, though, don't knock digital yet -- wait
> till you hear 24-bit
> 96KHz digital before you reject it. :-)

Who said anything about rejecting digital synths?

> Wider words
> and more frequent
> samples translate to better audio quality (and more expensive
equipment).

Sounds good to me.

David Beardsley

[somebody]
>>BTW- Easley Blackwood's 12 microtonal etudes (13-tET uo to 24-tET)
>>is also full of suprising flavours despite the cheesy sound of the
>>old synth he used.

[David Beardsley]
>I find nothing cheesy about the synth. Analog is so
>rich and warm.

I don't know if I'd call them warm, but I certainly agree with David
that they aren't cheesy. I consider _Etudes_ a masterpiece of synthesis
as well as of composition. As Easley explained on the phone, many of
the timbres were painstakingly chosen for each tuning, to maximize the
concordance. Problem was, he had to plan very carefully every spot he
wanted a given timbre, and lay down all of them before using another
timbre, as exactly re-creating a patch on the synth was impossible.

-Carl

[Ed Borasky]
>Wider words and more frequent samples translate to better audio
>quality (and more expensive equipment). CD sound is a compromise;
>I'm past the age where I can hear the difference, as are boatloads
>of classical music aficionados.

I was just thinking how much better the East Side Digital _BitB_
release sounds than the (Carlos-approved) burn I have. Exactly what
to attribute this to, I'm not sure, but perhaps it's the 20-bit-ness
of the new disc.

-Carl

Carl Lumma wrote:
>
> [Ed Borasky]
> >Wider words and more frequent samples translate to better audio
> >quality (and more expensive equipment). CD sound is a compromise;
> >I'm past the age where I can hear the difference, as are boatloads
> >of classical music aficionados.
>
> I was just thinking how much better the East Side Digital _BitB_
> release sounds than the (Carlos-approved) burn I have. Exactly what
> to attribute this to, I'm not sure, but perhaps it's the 20-bit-ness
> of the new disc.

Oh I don't wanna hear that! Now I'll have to buy an ESD copy
to check it out. Maybe I can get a review copy...?

--
* D a v i d B e a r d s l e y
* 49/32 R a d i o "all microtonal, all the time"
* http://www.virtulink.com/immp/lookhere.htm

[Me]
>>BTW- Easley Blackwood's 12 microtonal etudes (13-tET uo to 24-tET)
>>is also full of suprising flavours despite the cheesy sound of the
>>old synth he used.

[David Beardsley]
>I find nothing cheesy about the synth. Analog is so
>rich and warm.

[Carl Lumma]
I don't know if I'd call them warm, but I certainly agree with David
that they aren't cheesy. I consider _Etudes_ a masterpiece of synthesis
as well as of composition.

Blackwood's etudes is one of my _very favorite_ recordings. I have to agree
that the synthesis *is* remarkable for that era. But given that now it is
nearly the year 2001, and that in the interim I have been exposed to many new
and varied synthesised sounds, I can't help considering anything I am hearing
now except in the light of that which I have heard already.

DARREN McDOUGALL

I forgot to post the URL for the vacuum tube synth:

http://www.metasonix.com/

--
M. Edward Borasky
mailto:znmeb@teleport.com
http://www.borasky-research.com/

"There's No Fuel Like an Old Fuel" -- National Coal Institute

From: "wallyesterpaulrus" <wallyesterpaulrus@yahoo.com>
Subject: Re: Wendy Carlos' Beauty in the Beast
>> The notes don't say whether "Bali" uses a just pelog and slendro
>> or not.
>
>i'm sure they're not just, rather they're "measured" regional
>tunings, and the partials of the "instruments" are adjusted to match
> the tunings.

Yeah, I though it mighgt be someting like that.

cb