issue01

EMUSIC-L Digest                                      Volume 46, Issue 01

This issue's topics:
	
	bubbles	(2 messages)
	Challenges (2 messages)
	Duplicating fun filter behavior
	gyutosmurfin' (6 messages)
	noise modulation
	patches	(2 messages)
	Sick detectors? (2 messages)
	tweakin' 2
	Tympani	(3 messages)
	tympani (comment) (3 messages)

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------------------------------------------------------------------------
Date:         Tue, 17 Nov 1992 12:58:17 EST
From:         ronin 
Subject:      bubbles

i got a little tired of strictly gearhead jabber, so i thought i'd
blather a little bit on recent programming stuff... of which i,
for one, would certainly like to see more on this list. i'm not
a plug-it-in-and-jam-on-it kinda guy. i wanna tweak. you wanna tweak?

anyway... i was feeling bored and found myself tearing apart a factory
preset called 'bubbles' on my roland jx8p. it sounds like chorused ticking,
which because of the peculiar resonance of the jx's lopass filter really
does come off as kind of 'wet'. i couldn't figure it out, though, because
the jx's lfo isn't like, routed to trigger an envelope or anything, so i
couldn't see what would produce what sounds like a continuous repetition
of short, transient events. the other thing i thought was that the mix (the
balance between the two dcos) might be being swept by a sawtooth lfo, quickly
shifting between a pulsewave and silence (with the second dco's input to
the mix turned off). nope. then (aha) i looked at the dco and found that,
not only was its offset frequency set as low as it could go, but that
one of the two envelope generators was being inverted and used to drive it
even lower. so the ticking was that dco going subaudio. clever. that
envelope had an adsr like:
a=instant
d=zip
s=max
r=really long
and the second envelope generator simply controlled the output vca, with
a shorter release, so that you don't really hear the subaudio wave increase
in frequency as the sound fades. quite nice.
so... i tried to replicate it everywhere else. the prophet 5 was easy. one
of its oscillators can simply be set to subaudio, and still be allowed
to track the keyboard. the alpha juno 1 was a little different. it only has
one envelope generator, so while the basic control route is available (i can
apply the inverted envelope to the dco), the rate of the ticking increases
as the sound decays. not the same, but actually sort of interesting on its
own. the oberheim matrix 6, now... that was another story. i have often been
impressed with its control flexibility (if not its sound), but seem to have
found an odd limitation, here. the digital control values that you see when
you perform an edit on the instrument actually represent the full range of
operation of the parameter being edited. so, when i begin by setting the
dco's offset as low as it will go... that's as low as it will go. the
application of another control voltage (like from an inverted envelope)
has no effect. it does in fact go subaudio, but only on a small portion
of the lower end of the keyboard, so it's pretty limited. now, noting
that it does respond to that keyboard control, i haven't tried sending
it a transposed-down keyon to see if it will track even lower... but
i bet it won't.
oh, yeah... i also tried it out on the moog 55. needless to say,
no problemo, although i did discover that, the way those oscillators
are coupled to the system, i preferred a triangle as my subaudio
click, rather than a pulse. i actually got a double-click off the
pulse, as both the positive- and negative going cycles had sufficient
'ring' to punch through the filter.

-----------< Cognitive Dissonance is a 20th Century Art Form >-----------
Eric Harnden (Ronin)
 or 
The American University Physics Dept.
4400 Mass. Ave. NW, Washington, DC, 20016-8058
(202) 885-2748
---------------------< Join the Cognitive Dissidents >-------------------

------------------------------
Date:         Tue, 17 Nov 1992 10:46:09 PST
From:         metlay 
Subject:      Re: bubbles

Eric Harnden throws down the gauntlet in his own inimitable style:

>i got a little tired of strictly gearhead jabber, so i thought i'd
>blather a little bit on recent programming stuff... of which i,
>for one, would certainly like to see more on this list. i'm not
>a plug-it-in-and-jam-on-it kinda guy. i wanna tweak. you wanna tweak?

He goes on at some length about one of the best training methods one
can follow, namely porting timbres to different machines, then sez:

> the oberheim matrix 6, now... that was another story. i have often been
>impressed with its control flexibility (if not its sound), but seem to have
>found an odd limitation, here. the digital control values that you see when
>you perform an edit on the instrument actually represent the full range of
>operation of the parameter being edited. so, when i begin by setting the
>dco's offset as low as it will go... that's as low as it will go. the
>application of another control voltage (like from an inverted envelope)
>has no effect. it does in fact go subaudio, but only on a small portion
>of the lower end of the keyboard, so it's pretty limited. now, noting
>that it does respond to that keyboard control, i haven't tried sending
>it a transposed-down keyon to see if it will track even lower... but
>i bet it won't.

This is interesting, and points up something about the Matrix-6 of
which I wasn't previously aware. I'm going to have to take this patch
description home with me (or borrow my songwriting partner's JX8P |-> )
and see if the same sort of limitations apply to the Xpander.

I would guess not, as there are some fairly subtle and arcane ways to
force the architecture to do all sorts of interesting things (e.g. the
infamous Guttenplan Kazoombah Method), assuming that the VCOs don't go
low enough, but I bet they do. And they're real VCOs, so you can
offset them like mad. Still, the Xpander does have some amazingly annoying
limitations considering its power, and this may be one of them.

Of course, doing it on the Prophet VS will be a bit more of a challenge
(and in fact may be impossible, I don't think the oscillators can be
driven subaudio at all), and the U-50 will be nontrivial if I don't
cheat and use a "bubbles" sample. |-> Although four-octave pitch bends
have their uses....

--
dr. michael metlay       | and she's a master of return hitting
atomic city              | giving rhythm to her posts
p. o. box 81175          | so you read her and think hey it sounds good
pittsburgh pa 15217-0675 | and wish her posts had a soundtrack too
metlay@netcom.com        |                               (f. ercolessi)

------------------------------
Date:         Tue, 17 Nov 1992 14:38:05 -0500
From:         "Joseph D. McMahon" 
Subject:      Challenges

Here's some sounds to throw out for discussion:

 - Trumpet with harmon mute. Extra points if you can do it with
   both the stick in and out. Don't know the sound? Pick up Miles
   Davis doing "Round Midnight". Such a beautiful thing, both as a
   solo instrument and in nice, fat chords. The mute is a metal cylinder
   with a bell-shaped top, and an inverted bell on the bottom into
   which a short tube attached to a 2" funnel. The chamber is obviously
   resonant, and this resonance is most likely at non-integer frequency
   relations. The sound is a haunting, ghostly thing, hollow and
   buzzy in the low registers, thick and metallic in the middle,
   and silvery, harsh, and penetrating in the upper registers.
   Once you've heard it, it's not easy to forget.

 - Tympani (NOT sampled). I've come close with drastically-downshifted
   inharmonic sounds, but the overtone series shifts in non-obvious
   ways as the sound becomes higher. Most of my effort sound good over
   the range of about a 5th or so, and then gyutosmurf into interesting,
   but non-tympani sounds.

Any others people have found challenging? Does anyone know if IRCAM or
someone similar has studied the makeup of the harmon-muted trumpet tone?
Seems like there would be a lot of useful stuff to be learned there.

 --- Joe M.

------------------------------
Date:         Wed, 18 Nov 1992 20:18:44 +0000
From:         Nick Rothwell 
Subject:      Re: Challenges

>Any others people have found challenging?

Something I came across by accident: Make a D-50 sound like a pitch-shifter.

I'm still trying to synthesise the opening drum hits from Blade Runner.
Sure it needs a well-programmed reverb, but there's something about the
timbre of the drums that's eluded me so far.


                      Nick Rothwell  |  cassiel@cassiel.demon.co.uk
   CASSIEL Contemporary Music/Dance  |  cassiel@cix.compulink.co.uk

------------------------------
Date:         Tue, 17 Nov 1992 15:26:31 CST
From:         Michael Whitten 
Subject:      Duplicating fun filter behavior

Metlay's Expander timpani made me think of my current synth programming
brain-teaser.....(crrriippes I wish I had one of those machines!).  On
my old OBX, I had a sound I'd like to use now, thru midi, on my D110.
I spent 4 hours trying last nite to no avail.  Maybe someone is familiar
with this sound enough to explain what is happening.  Its a plucked
kind of filter/envelope combination, but on the OBX, it produced an
intriguing, random effect where sometimes the filter would release into
full open, making the note ring --- but only on occasion.  This was
undoubtedly due to the unstable oscillators and filters of that era God
bless 'em......   Anyway, the oscillators and filters on the Roland
can approximate the timbre and envelope, but the OBX had some kind of
undefinable filter/oscillator interaction that I sorely miss - a most
organic kind of thing.  Something interesting seemed to happen at the
point where the oscillator's attack was ramping up and the filter's
ramped down.  1) Does anyone know what the hell I'm talking about?
2) Has anyone encountered this on a Roland L/A machine?


  ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
  +      Michael D. Whitten M-WHIT2@VM1.SPCS.UMN.EDU M-WHIT2@UMINN1      +
  +           "Psst.  Hey, Guido.  Its all so clear to me now."          +
  ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

------------------------------
Date:         Tue, 17 Nov 1992 22:29:30 MST
From:         Adam Schabtach 
Subject:      gyutosmurfin'

> - Tympani (NOT sampled). I've come close with drastically-downshifted
>   inharmonic sounds, but the overtone series shifts in non-obvious
>   ways as the sound becomes higher. Most of my effort sound good over
>   the range of about a 5th or so, and then gyutosmurf into interesting,
>   but non-tympani sounds.                   ^^^^^^^^

My God! Do we have a new term for the "Darth Vader/chipmunk effect"?
And he's turned it into a verb, no less!      :-)

(Joe, you didn't *really* think we were going to let that slide by,
did you?)

--Adam                              schabtac@stout.atd.ucar.edu
"Which is more musical, a truck passing by a factory or a truck
passing by a music school?"                  --Cage

------------------------------
Date:         Wed, 18 Nov 1992 07:40:44 PST
From:         metlay 
Subject:      (gyutosmurfin')

>I would be interested in hearing how you did this. ( I also want to know
>how to gyutosmurf a sound...)

I didn't have time to look at the patch last night, but I will tonight.
"Gyutosmurfing" is the Team-Metlayism for what is more commonly called
the "Chipmunk effect," where the tonal quality of a sample changes upon
large transpositions upward or downward (the latter being the "Darth
Vader effect.") It arose at the Saturnalia sessions this August, when
Adam Schabtach produced from his magic bag a disk of EPS samples made
by a friend of his in Boulder, consisting of the Gyuto Monks doing vocal
harmonic drones. They were great at the original pitches, but when
transposed up too far, we suddenly found ourselves listening to the
Gyuto Smurfs. Hence the verb "to gyutosmurf," coined by Joe. It has a
certain panache to it, but I don't think it'll sweep the industry. |->

>I remember reading an interview with W.Carlos sometime after the first
>S.O.B., and they asked about the tympani sound in the Sinfonia to Cantata
>29 (side 1 cut 1). Apparently this got a lot of interest at the time,
>because no one else was able to get that sound. It turned out they could
>not either, so they cheated and wheeled a couple of tymps that were
>sitting in the next room in and recorded them.

BOO! HISS! CHEATERS! BOOOOOOOO! My faith in Wendy Carlos is shot. |-P

--
dr. michael metlay       |  how i pick my friends          (two examples)
------------------------ |  ---------------------------------------------
atomic city              | "Oooo, I need one of those. A "sick detector."
p. o. box 81175          |  Think of the applications!"     (p. robinson)
pittsburgh pa 15217-0675 | "Don't worry, it was good clean fun, no bodily
metlay@netcom.com        |  fluids intermingled."          (a. schabtach)

------------------------------
Date:         Wed, 18 Nov 1992 10:45:45 -0500
From:         "Joseph D. McMahon" 
Subject:      (gyutosmurfin')

Adam Schabtach writes:
> >   the range of about a 5th or so, and then gyutosmurf into interesting,
> >   but non-tympani sounds.                   ^^^^^^^^
>
> My God! Do we have a new term for the "Darth Vader/chipmunk effect"?
> And he's turned it into a verb, no less!      :-)
>
See, this is *different* than chipmunking. Gyutosmurfing occurs when
the effect produces a useful and musically valid effect. Chipmunking
either sounds silly or lame. :-)

 --- Joe M.

------------------------------
Date:         Wed, 18 Nov 1992 13:59:02 AST
From:         Alan Edwards 
Subject:      Re: (gyutosmurfin')

> "Gyutosmurfing" is the Team-Metlayism [...] coined by Joe. It has a
> certain panache to it, but I don't think it'll sweep the industry. |->
>
I will certainly do my part to promote it's use. Where is that list of
syntho-terms ?  Oh ya...must have been on rec.music.random.name.change...

> > [...] so they cheated and wheeled a couple of tymps that were
> >sitting in the next room in and recorded them.
>
> BOO! HISS! CHEATERS! BOOOOOOOO! My faith in Wendy Carlos is shot. |-P
>
Actually, (not wanting to start anything here...) it was Walter that
did the cheating :-)

I am interested in synthesizing this sound, since the piece I am opening
my next concert with is going to be that Sinfonia...starting with the very
best imitative sounds that I have, and gradually changing throughout until
at the end it sounds just like S.O.B.. My tribute to the 20th anniversary.

The best I have been able to do so far is pitch-shifting the Proteus
tymp down a couple of octaves...I guess gyutosmurfing it...this gets
pretty darn close to the S.O.B sound, but I would be happier creating
it from scratch...

Alan


------------------------------
Date:         Wed, 18 Nov 1992 10:41:16 PST
From:         metlay 
Subject:      Re: (gyutosmurfin')

>> "Gyutosmurfing" is the Team-Metlayism [...] coined by Joe. It has a
>> certain panache to it, but I don't think it'll sweep the industry. |->
>>
>I will certainly do my part to promote it's use. Where is that list of
>syntho-terms ?  Oh ya...must have been on rec.music.random.name.change...

Not reading it any more, I wouldn't know. And I find I don't miss it,
either. The S/N ratio has climbed quite a bit on EMUSIC-L lately....

>> BOO! HISS! CHEATERS! BOOOOOOOO! My faith in Wendy Carlos is shot. |-P
>>
>Actually, (not wanting to start anything here...) it was Walter that
>did the cheating :-)

Be careful, Alan. John Rossi nearly went to prison for mentioning that
on the Internet. |-\

>I am interested in synthesizing this sound, since the piece I am opening
>my next concert with is going to be that Sinfonia...starting with the very
>best imitative sounds that I have, and gradually changing throughout until
>at the end it sounds just like S.O.B.. My tribute to the 20th anniversary.

I would imagine that you could do it very effectively with something like
the MicroWave I sold you (is Kathy still trying to pour soup into it?).


--
dr. michael metlay       |  how i pick my friends          (two examples)
------------------------ |  ---------------------------------------------
atomic city              | "Oooo, I need one of those. A "sick detector."
p. o. box 81175          |  Think of the applications!"     (p. robinson)
pittsburgh pa 15217-0675 | "Don't worry, it was good clean fun, no bodily
metlay@netcom.com        |  fluids intermingled."          (a. schabtach)

------------------------------
Date:         Thu, 19 Nov 1992 08:39:26 AST
From:         Alan Edwards 
Subject:      Re: (gyutosmurfin')

> >[...]  Where is that list of syntho-terms ?
> > Oh ya...must have been on rec.music.random.name.change...
>
> Not reading it any more, I wouldn't know. And I find I don't miss it,
> either. The S/N ratio has climbed quite a bit on EMUSIC-L lately....
>
I lost my connection when they changed the name, and SYNTH-L lost its
connection. I am rather glad. The noise level was getting _very_ high.
Did you know that Joe is continuing SYNTH-L as the hardware mate to this
list ? It is pretty quiet now, but hopefully will pick up a bit.

> >> BOO! HISS! CHEATERS! BOOOOOOOO! My faith in Wendy Carlos is shot. |-P
> >>
> >Actually, (not wanting to start anything here...) it was Walter that
> >did the cheating :-)
>
> Be careful, Alan. John Rossi nearly went to prison for mentioning that
> on the Internet. |-\
>
Wow. I didn't realize that it was THAT serious...my apologies to everyone
that I may have offended...I didn't want to start anything...really....

> >I am interested in synthesizing this sound, since the piece I am opening
> >my next concert with is going to be that Sinfonia...

> I would imagine that you could do it very effectively with something like
> the MicroWave I sold you (is Kathy still trying to pour soup into it?).
>
That is exactally the beastie that I had in mind for the task, and yes,
we have managed to move past the "Why can't I cook something on it" phase.





------------------------------
Date:         Thu, 19 Nov 1992 09:21:15 PST
From:         metlay 
Subject:      noise modulation

Eric:

Is the Prophet's noise generator white or pink? I love pink noise,
and have always regarded the lack of a separate pink noise generator
on the Xpander as one of its biggest failings. Fortunately, however,
there are a number of easy ways to modulate VCO1 with VCO2 set to
a noise waveform (white noise, alas), to get sounds similar to what
you describe. One of the things I miss about my dearly departed
Prophet T8 is the fact that it had a separate (white?) noise source
you could mix in easily; one of the things I DON'T miss is that the
noise modulation you describe for the P5 is NOT available on the T8.

--
dr. michael metlay       |  how i pick my friends   (two examples)
------------------------ |  --------------------------------------
atomic city              | "See Dick bag Jane.   See Jane's monkey
p. o. box 81175          |  blow Dick's doors off."  (n. rothwell)
pittsburgh pa 15217-0675 | "Good therapy, though... for a man in a
metlay@netcom.com        |  monkey suit."              (j. curtis)

------------------------------
Date:         Sun, 1 Nov 1992 07:35:26 -0500
From:         Nick Rothwell 
Subject:      Re: patches

> Program my own patches? Considering I've been told it takes approx. 7-10
>minutes to program a patch (probably longer, considering I'm new at it)

Hmm. Who told you this? Seems like an arbitrary figure. It depends on the
machine. I can program a Juno-106 patch in 30 seconds, whereas the
MicroWave can take half an hour or more (not counting the obligatory
refresher in German before starting). In both cases, it is worth it. You
are presumably trying to create for yourself an original "voice" in terms
of sound, texture, mix and music. You'll probably find that off-the-shelf
patches are geared to the mass market, and besides, since they're so
popular, you'll hear them everywhere. if you really want to make original
music in your chosen genre, I do suggest you learn your instruments. You
can't get to know a synthesiser by plugging Top-40 cartridges into it.

Nick.

------------------------------
Date:         Sun, 1 Nov 1992 12:12:42 -0500
From:         Dana Nibby 
Subject:      Re: patches

Nick--

  I agree, I should program my own sounds, but... It's certainly more
productive to pop-in a cartidge (not top 40) with *80* patches and then
*customize* the sounds. At least at this stage... I want to begin
composing, not programming for days and days. I found that when I did
all my music with samples, sampling took up most of my time, leaving
little or no time for *composing.* And that is my goal, to begin composing
again.

  Programming patches w/o sliders is very time consuming. Although the
ESQ-1 is relatively easy to program, there's still a *lot* of button
clicking to do.


   Cheers,

      Dana

------------------------------
Date:         Tue, 17 Nov 1992 16:29:14 EST
From:         "Patrick Robinson" 
Subject:      Sick detectors?

metlay writes:
> But not right now, I have a sick detector to rescue.

Oooo, I need one of those.  A "sick detector".  Think of the
applications!

;-}

-Patrick

------------------------------
Date:         Tue, 17 Nov 1992 13:52:12 PST
From:         metlay 
Subject:      Sick detectors?

>metlay writes:
>> But not right now, I have a sick detector to rescue.
>
>Oooo, I need one of those.  A "sick detector".  Think of the
>applications!
>
>;-}
>
>-Patrick

Well, at least I'm getting a new .sig file out of this interchange....


--
dr. michael metlay       |  how i pick my friends          (two examples)
------------------------ |  ---------------------------------------------
atomic city              | "Oooo, I need one of those. A "sick detector."
p. o. box 81175          |  Think of the applications!"     (p. robinson)
pittsburgh pa 15217-0675 | "Don't worry, it was good clean fun, no bodily
metlay@netcom.com        |  fluids intermingled."          (a. schabtach)

------------------------------
Date:         Thu, 19 Nov 1992 10:07:46 EST
From:         ronin 
Subject:      tweakin' 2

let's see... wanna get a coupla things outa the way first, here...
1) alan edwards: fix your mailer. i keep getting your signature file
   as a separate post. does anyone else get this, or is it just me?
2) the filter project, which you have not heard about for a while now,
   is not dead. it's just that it's difficult to keep student assistants
   on task. like i said a while ago, we've regrouped and are automating
   the whole thing.
3) which reminds me... i got the paia midi/cv convertor and i like it.
   let me know if you want to hear more.

now... here's one that struck me as trivial the moment i found it, but
had been looking for in all the wrong places...
at the beginning of the last third of the first side of td's "logos" there
is a sort of non-tonal, heavily modulated sound in the upper register that
washes in and out a couple of times during one of those 'cover' periods
that td uses to execute transitions. i happened upon it during my early-
morning synth session today (i've taken to doing programming experiments
after i've had my coffee and before i have to go to work... it just seems
to be th right mood). one of the control routes the prophet 5 allows is
of noise as a control of oscillator frequency. in the lower registers this
sounds like hash, but i found that keeping the modulation index moderate
(like with the wheel only about a third up), and putting the offset for
the oscillator pretty high to begin with, results in an odd gurgly sound
that, if you play two keys adjacent to one another (love those disonant
intervals), is exactly the sound i remember. originally, i was only
doing this to one of the prophet's two voice oscillators, with the other
one out of the mix, but i also liked the effect of both oscillators up,
tuned to approximate unison, with just a little offset for phasing.
quite full. this whole thing works best with a fairly open filter, no
resonance, no filter envelope, and a slow attack/release for the vca.
a further experiment with this arrangement led me to reduce the modulation
a little more, detune the oscillators to something like a fourth, and
play big chords, this time with a bit of sweep on the filter. yow!
without the noise modulation it's just the same old boring, bright
'power synth' sound. with the modulation it becomes damn near a solo
orchestral blast. one interesting note on prophet 5 noise generation,
by the way... it's pseudo-random, probably generated by a simple feedback
logic circuit. the gurgle has a distinct cycle.

oh yeah... on tymps. mine aren't the greatest, but on the moog i start
with wildly out of tune triangle waves, which i then envelope in the
old simmons drum style. tuned waaay down, with an exponential
decay for frequency but a linear one for amplitude, it approximates
the goal.

-----------< Cognitive Dissonance is a 20th Century Art Form >-----------
Eric Harnden (Ronin)
 or 
The American University Physics Dept.
4400 Mass. Ave. NW, Washington, DC, 20016-8058
(202) 885-2748
---------------------< Join the Cognitive Dissidents >-------------------

------------------------------
Date:         Tue, 17 Nov 1992 12:29:20 PST
From:         metlay 
Subject:      Tympani

> - Tympani (NOT sampled). I've come close with drastically-downshifted
>   inharmonic sounds, but the overtone series shifts in non-obvious
>   ways as the sound becomes higher. Most of my efforts sound good over
>   the range of about a 5th or so, and then gyutosmurf into interesting,
>   but non-tympani sounds.

Tympani are one of my few real victories in programming the Xpander,
I have a patch that has about a one-octave usable range and sounds GREAT
in orchestral use.


--
dr. michael metlay       | and she's a master of return hitting
atomic city              | giving rhythm to her posts
p. o. box 81175          | so you read her and think hey it sounds good
pittsburgh pa 15217-0675 | and wish her posts had a soundtrack too
metlay@netcom.com        |                               (f. ercolessi)

------------------------------
Date:         Tue, 17 Nov 1992 15:50:08 -0500
From:         "Joseph D. McMahon" 
Subject:      Tympani

metlay writes:
>
> Tympani are one of my few real victories in programming the Xpander,
> I have a patch that has about a one-octave usable range and sounds GREAT
> in orchestral use.
>
Details, man, details! What's the basic technique? :-)

 --- Joe M.

------------------------------
Date:         Tue, 17 Nov 1992 13:18:41 PST
From:         metlay 
Subject:      Tympani

>metlay writes:
>>
>> Tympani are one of my few real victories in programming the Xpander,
>> I have a patch that has about a one-octave usable range and sounds GREAT
>> in orchestral use.
>>
>Details, man, details! What's the basic technique? :-)

If people are interested (I'll assume they are, after all this IS me
talking |-> ), I'll write up a detailed description of the patch
and post it. But not right now, I have a sick detector to rescue.

--
dr. michael metlay       | and she's a master of return hitting
atomic city              | giving rhythm to her posts
p. o. box 81175          | so you read her and think hey it sounds good
pittsburgh pa 15217-0675 | and wish her posts had a soundtrack too
metlay@netcom.com        |                               (f. ercolessi)

------------------------------
Date:         Wed, 18 Nov 1992 08:10:50 AST
From:         Alan Edwards 
Subject:      tympani (comment)

Joe M.  writes:
> > - Tympani (NOT sampled). I've come close with drastically-downshifted
> >   inharmonic sounds, but the overtone series shifts in non-obvious
> >   ways as the sound becomes higher. Most of my effort sound good over
> >   the range of about a 5th or so, and then gyutosmurf into interesting,
> >   but non-tympani sounds.

dr. michael metlay responds:

> Tympani are one of my few real victories in programming the Xpander,
> I have a patch that has about a one-octave usable range and sounds GREAT
> in orchestral use.
>
I would be interested in hearing how you did this. ( I also want to know
how to gyutosmurf a sound...)

I remember reading an interview with W.Carlos sometime after the first
S.O.B., and they asked about the tympani sound in the Sinfonia to Cantata
29 (side 1 cut 1). Apparently this got a lot of interest at the time,
because no one else was able to get that sound. It turned out they could
not either, so they cheated and wheeled a couple of tymps that were
sitting in the next room in and recorded them.

Alan


------------------------------
Date:         Wed, 18 Nov 1992 23:30:29 CDT
From:         "I (Throop,Henry B)" 
Subject:      tympani (comment)

Regarding the timpani scandal, I remember Wendy mentioned something about
synthesizing timpani at the end of Secrets of Synthesis.  I don't have it
here, but you might want to check it out to restore your faith.

-Henry
--
Henry Throop
throop@ac.grin.edu THROOP@GRIN1.BITNET

------------------------------
Date:         Thu, 19 Nov 1992 08:22:16 AST
From:         Alan Edwards 
Subject:      tympani (comment)

 "I (Throop,Henry B)" writes:
> Regarding W. Carlos and the timpani, I distinctly remember her mentioning
> them at the end of Secrets of Synthesis - she said something about how she
> could combine the characteristics of different instruments to make for
> instance a bowed timpani or a cello hit with mallets.  I don't have access
> to the tape right now, but you might want to check it out to restore your
> faith.
>
I believe that this combining characteristics of different instruments was
using the GDS...well beyond the abilities of the moog on S.O.B.

It appears that I will now have to track down this reference...where could
that have been? I remember being disappointed at the time.

Alan


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End of the EMUSIC-L Digest
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