daemon@BARTOK.ENG.SUN.COM (11/12/89)
Music-Research Digest Fri, 10 Nov 89 Volume 4 : Issue 71
Today's Topics:
Institutions
Louis Barron obituary
midi -> postscript (2 msgs)
Risset book
Want comments on Mac "Music programs" for printing manuscripts
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Date: 30 Oct 89 04:23:16 GMT
From: Graeme Gerrard <munnari.oz.au!murtoa.cs.mu.oz.au!murdu!grae@net.uu.uunet>
Subject: Institutions
To: music-research@uk.ac.oxford.prg
>>17. Systems Complex for the Studio and Performing Arts (SYCOM): University of
>>North Texas.
SYCOM is at the U. of South Florida, College of Fine Arts, TAMPA.
I don't know anything about the courses offered there, but I think
the new Director is Bob Keefe.
Hello Bob if you're listening!
Graeme Gerrard
Faculty of Music
University of Melbourne, Parkville 3052
Internet: grae@murdu.ucs.unimelb.edu.au
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Date: 8 Nov 89 23:36:27 GMT
From: William Alves <gem.mps.ohio-state.edu!usc!merlin.usc.edu!aludra.usc.edu!alves@edu.ohio-state.cis.tut>
Subject: Louis Barron obituary
To: music-research@uk.ac.oxford.prg
Some sad news was announced last weekend at the annual Southern California
Resource for Electro-Acoustic Music (SCREAM) festival. Electronic music
pioneer Louis Barron has passed away November 2 in Los Angeles.
Barron is best remembered for his very early electronic scores for films,
most in collaboration with then-wife Bebe Barron, especially the classic
"Forbidden Planet." Called an "electronic sound environment" by the Barrons
(who were electrical engineers first, composers second), it was the first
all-electronic movie score when it appeared in 1956, and exposed much of
the general public to electronic music for the first time.
Louis Barron began working with electronic sounds in 1948 in a New York
laboratory, thus predating the Columbia-Princeton studio by several years.
Among the composers who worked with them were John Cage, Earl Brown, and
Morton Feldman. Bebe Barron is still alive and active in Los Angeles.
Bill Alves
USC School of Music / Center for Scholarly Technology
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Date: 6 Nov 89 01:26:17 GMT
From: "T.R.Payne" <mcsun!ukc!harrier.ukc.ac.uk!gos.ukc.ac.uk!trp@net.uu.uunet>
Subject: midi -> postscript
To: music-research@uk.ac.oxford.prg
I'm currently working on a project to take in midi information (on an
Atari ST) and produce PostScript output of music score. This is part of
a degree project by the way. Can anyone offer hints on/or algorithms that
may help in anyway, or possibly comment on any problems they've come
up with when writing similar software?
Also, if anyone could offer any advice of typesetting music, it would be
really appreciated.
Thanks,
Terry.
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Date: 7 Nov 89 02:33:50 GMT
From: Alan Rinehart <van-bc!rsoft!mindlink!a86@net.uu.uunet>
Subject: midi -> postscript
To: music-research@uk.ac.oxford.prg
I have a business here (Vancouver, BC Canada) typsetting music using SCORE
(Passport Designs) on an IBM AT. It outputs to dot matrix printers or any
Postscript device. There is an add on program called ESCORT that will
translate MIDI information into SCORE usable format. I am extremely pleased
with SCORE, it is very complicated but totally professional in its output and
capable of virtually any scoring difficulty. My address is 2029 E.3rd Ave.
Vancovuer BC, V5N 1H6. I will gladly send you a sample of my work if you send
me your address via this network or regular mail, Alan Rinehart
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Date: Tue, 07 Nov 89 15:26:54 GMT
From: Bernard Bel <BEL@EARN.FRMOP11>
Subject: Risset book
To: music-research@UK.AC.OXFORD.PRG
Re: request for info, Cornicello, 26 Oct 89
I picked up the phone to call Richard Kronland-Martinet, a colleague of
Jean-Claude Risset (about 50 meters from my lab). I think Gene de Lisa's
suggestion to contact the Music Library at the Univ. of North Texas should
solve your problem of finding Risset's book. As to recordings of the sounds,
Richard told me that Risset's colleague Daniel Arfib has implemented a
version of MUSIC V for PC compatibles; that version makes it possible for
any user to synthesize the sounds described in the book.
I mentioned LMA as one of the three institutions involved in computer music
in Marseille. Recently they have been connected to the E-mail. Therefore
you may get in touch directly with Richard Kronland-Martinet:
KRONLAND at FRMLMA51.BITNET
Bernard Bel, GRTC
PS: "GRTC" is not a music research institution. It is involved in theorical
research in artificial intelligence.
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Date: 9 Nov 89 16:49:23 GMT
From: Brian Gordon <bari!briang@com.sun>
Subject: Want comments on Mac "Music programs" for printing manuscripts
To: music-research@uk.ac.oxford.prg
I presently use Deluxe Music Construction Set (DMCS) on my Mac II to create
manuscripts on an ImageWriter II. The music I handle is a little specialized,
but not exotic. Specifically it is "Barbershop Quartet" music, involving
four separate lines on two staves, with the words generally between the two.
In DMCS terms, this is two voices per staff, two-way ties, split bar lines,
and play the upper staff down an octave (for men) or the lower staff up an
octave (for women). I use the keyboard/mouse for data entry, and play back
just to the internal speaker (I'm "proofreading" it, not performing it).
DMCS has lots of nice features, beginning with its price. The more I use it
(I've got about a solid year of experience with it now) the more its
limitations bother me. None of them are fatal, but they are definite
irritants.
Examples:
No way to enter "cut time". There is a Sonata Font cut time symbol, but the
only way to use it is to suppress showing the time AND key signature and then
overlay the Sonata symbols. Want to try that for six pages in the key of E?
No double sharps or double flats. Again, you can drop in Sonata text, but it
won't play correctly. This means developing one that plays correctly, and
then post-processing it to get one that prints correctly.
Accidentals tied across bar lines. Say you end a bar with an accidental
b-flat, tied across the bar line to another b-flat. Standard notation does
NOT show the flat at the start of the second bar. DMCS insists on it, and
adding the tie does not remove it. There is no real workaround for that,
since if you cheat and use a b-natural there, you are no longer able to
enter the tie (and/or the pre-existing one goes away).
Triplets. Funky notation to get it to play right, painful Sonata Font
constructs to get it to print right.
Slurs. It insists that slurs go from stem end to stem end, often taking up
much real estate above or below the staff. There are no provisions to
reposition them. Ties go from note body to note body, but you can't use that
where you wanted a slur, since it will only make legal ties (between two
consecutive occurrences of the same note).
Etc.
Like I said, irritants, not fatal flaws.
Is there something "much better" out there? I can't justify spending $750 for
a program and $1,000+ for a Laser Printer, but would hate to find out that
some other reasonably prices program would drive my ImageWriter II much better!
Magazine reviews I have seen stress the versatility of most of the software as
a sequencer and/or MIDI engine and/or ... These are features I don't use but
seem to be the bulk of the reviews and comparisons.
Alternately, if there are other DMCS users out there who want to trade hints
and/or war stories, I'd be glad to hear from you.
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| Brian G. Gordon briang@Corp.Sun.COM (if you trust exotic mailers) |
| ...!sun!bari!briang (if you route it yourself) |
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End of Music-Research Digest