Conference napalm::commusic_v1

    Things getting a tad dull in MR01, Todd?
    
    Actually, your idea sounded interesting so I tried it. I must admit
    I wasn't to impressed. But it might not be your thesis that's flawed.
    I've had *lots* of trouble with my LN03 lately....
    
    Edd

    Talk about low tech drum machines!

Edd.  Surely you jest.  Don't forget that they laughed at the theory 
of relativity when it was introduced, too.

LA50's are very portable so that they aren't a hassle to bring to that gig.
The only thing they lack is a Gucci carrying case, but it's only a matter
of time until a swarm of new products is introduced.

You can hang a printer off of a personal computer that sports a MIDI interface.
Write a bit of code and voila, a MIDI rhythm generator!  This is great stuff!

You can hang the printout on the wall after the song is over.  Try that with
a Linndrum!  Visual music indeed...

Imagine, buying printer ribbons at your local music store...


Note that the printer should be a dot-matrix.  The difference between this
and a daisy-wheel printer parallels the difference between a Fairlight and 
an SK-1.

Todd.

    
    Hmmm....sampled La50. Sell it to Kurzweil for big bucks!    

    Dun dun CHA-dun, Dun dun CHA...

    On drugs, Todd.
    
    Good right-brained schtuff, tho.
    

I've noticed this very same thing, and have also had the itch to try it out.
For that real heavy-metal sound I'd like to try a big-mutha LP-27.

Do all characters take equal time to print? It seems like a non-trivial task
to figure out the timing relationships so that you can get the rhythm you
want.

I wonder if Len "Mr. Paradiddle" Fehskens has ever worked on this?

Don.

Oh, timing is definitely nontrivial.

Also, some printers print in both directions (L->R, R->L), so watch out!

I've been thinking of creating a "language" to write in.  This way I
could call "subroutines" for specific notes/note_lengths.  If I called
a quarter note rest subroutine, it would automatically enter the correct
number of space characters into a text file.  The number of spaces would
also depend on the pre-entered desired frequency (beats per minute)...

Todd. (who_feels_weird_today...very_weird)

    Don't stop at printers!  They don't have the proper resonant
    cavities and soundboards and such to color the sound nicely.
    Given that the orchestra is limited to the computer HW which
    our employer provides, be sure to try RP06s and TE16s.  The
    disk drives require stimulus directly on the head-positioning
    servo amp.  These are good both for soft washboard-type percussion
    (if you remember to salt the disk surfaces first), and for bass
    guitar amplification.  The tape drives are rhythm only, 16th
    notes at 100 BPM+ or better.
    
    Why is it that we take to discussing these things on a Friday
    afternoon?!?
    

    I take it all back--I don't want a Buchla, I want a printer!
    
    John M.

    You guys are re-inventing the wheel.  Does anybody remember the
    IBM 1403?  Now there was a real printer.  I'm talking about the
    model 3, not the new-fangled N1 with the noise cover.  In 1966,
    or thereabouts, I listened to ``Coming around the Mountain'' played
    on our IBM 1403.  The operator put the paper drive in neutral so
    as to save paper, then loaded the appropriate program into the CPU.
    Not much tune, you understand, but the rhythm was really nice.
    We were so fascinated we didn't even try to sing along.
    
    The IBM 1403 used a continuous chain, with a hammer at each print
    position.  By knowing the pattern of characters in the chain, and
    the chain's speed, you could set up standing waves in the chain.
    A clever program could break the chain by just sending the right
    sequence of print lines to the printer.  Now that would be something
    to sample!
        John Sauter

    
    My very first encounter with a computer was an IBM 1401, with card
    reader-punch, and a belt printer that could do a very creditable
    "Anchors Aweigh".
    
    It was while using this machine that I dropped a 2000 card Fortran
    compiler on the floor. My very first crash.
    
    David
    

    You guys are all broken.  Has Tobin been putting something in the
    food?
    
    I thought I was off the wall with my plans to sample my cats' purring
    and meows (miaows, pick your spelling)...
    
    len.
    

    Len, I did that!
    	I got a tune that starts with the purring of my on eof my cats!
    	Not sampled, though, just had him purr into the mike.
    	He was a little shy about it so I had to stroke him..
    	Finally, he purred away.
    	rik
    

    See, with samples, though, you get pitches, and you can make whole
    tunes out of miaows and purrs and hisses and spits!
    
    Uh-oh, I can see it now:
    
    	              <Cat Demo at Fehskens' Studio>
    
    Just how many different kinds of noises *do* cats make?  And do
    dogs do anything besides growl and bark and drool?  Hey, before
    you caniphiles jump on me, I like dogs too!
    
    My MIDI-cat is velocity and touch sensitive, comes with 24 pads,
    the reverb tail is smooth, though it can get hairy...

    I tried to sample Aja (midi-kitty). She won't/can't purr loud enough
    to get over the gate on the Mirage. It figures, Edd has a low-end
    cat....
    
    She also has a very fast attack rate which  makes it difficult to
    sustain, sample and hold. My skin is velocity sensitive...
    
    Let's just send the cat's to Len's and stay at TF's...
    
    Edd

    Len: Will you're midi-cat land on its feet if you drop it?
    
    I think I sampled about everything in brother's house on his Kurzweil
    (not all of which I am willing to mention).  One of my favorites was
    sampling the old vibrating-ruler-on-edge-of-table trick.  Try it.
    
    John M.

    
    	How about a Doberman sample?  Leave the synth playing in loop-mode
    when you're away to protect your equipment.
    						,km

    Back about '72 (ah, yesss...) I was a progroperator on an IBM
    System 3 with the big N1 chain printer... used control tapes.
    
    Well, I wrote an RPGII program which would accept a card input.
    
    The program recognized the first 16 columns of the card, and 
    would print one full line of each character until out of
    characters, and then loop. Used to set up 4/4, 2/4 and waltz
    tempos. One sunday I brought in my open reel deck (remember
    those?) and recorded the thing in stereo, all kinds of rhythms.
    
    Then again, I probably used to detune an AM radio and set it
    next to the CPU and listen to the bus traffic, too.
    
    Drugs. The final frontier.
    
    kmII

    Hey look at this ...welcome back KMII
    
    dave

    Re .-n;  yes, my MIDIkitty demonstrated his ability to land on his
    feet by falling from my fourth floor balcony and walking away from
    it.  His name's Merlin - I wonder if that had anything to do with
    it.
    
    Anyway, one of my cat books says cats make 6 distinct kinds of
    vocalizations, which they put together to make the various bizarre
    sounds that they do.
    
    Edd - all you need is a hot preamp for your mike.  Then Aja's levels
    will cross the sampling threshold.
    
    And welcome back KMII!
    
    Now I'm wondering what I can do with samples taken off this old
    sound effects (sound defects?) record I found buried in my record
    library...
    
    len.