issue05

EMUSIC-L Digest                                      Volume 51, Issue 05

This issue's topics:
	
	Does Oktal exist?
	Dynaduet Sequencer and Scoring Software
	EMusic Archive Info! (5 messages)
	ftp sites for mac music programs (4 messages)
	MID2ACSII & MIDPLAYER?
	MIDI GS st. in ROLAND E-15 (2 messages)
	MIDI software for PC-Compatibles (2 messages)
	sample rate conversion (2 messages)

Your EMUSIC-L Digest moderator is Joe McMahon .
You may subscribe to EMUSIC-L by sending mail to listserv@american.edu with 
the line "SUB EMUSIC-L your name" as the text.
 
The EMUSIC-L archive is a service of SunSite (sunsite.unc.edu) at the 
University of North Carolina.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Date:         Mon, 12 Apr 1993 15:59:05 PDT
From:         Mike Friesen 
Subject:      Does Oktal exist?

Has anybody had any dealings with a sequencer named "Multitude" from a
Montreal-based company named "Oktal"? I've been TRYING to get hold of them
for a few weeks, but to no avail. Anybody use the stuff?

I'm stumped about these folks. For a year they've been advertising in
Keyboard; and I've been trying to get info from them. No luck. Another case
of vaporware? If you know anything about these folks please R.S.V.P. either
privately or on the list.

Thank you.



********************************************************
Michael Friesen             North Peace Secondary School
        Fort St. John, British Columbia, Canada
I've got a piece of brain lodged in my head! - Mr. Gumby
********************************************************

------------------------------
Date:         Tue, 6 Apr 1993 18:02:11 +0800
From:         Diarmuid Pigott 
Subject:      Re: Dynaduet Sequencer and Scoring Software

John Ottenhoff (bu989@CLEVELAND.FREENET.EDU) wrote:
: I have been trying the Dynaduet sequencer and score writing software.
: It looks like a great program but only has graphic drivers for
: ega and vga.  It says that it will run on any computer that is an
: XT or above and has at least 512k ram.  But it only has 2 graphic
: drivers.  Does anyone else use this program? Any solutions?
: Does antone have a customer service number for them? I tried 1-800-444-DYNA
: but it didn't seem to work.
: Thanks.

I use dyna-duet, and am quite fond of it despite it's drawbacks. It only
has the drivers it came with, because (I'm afraid) Dyna-ware have
dropped it from their range.

I now use other programs for final artwork, but still use it for a
"note-book". Ballade, which they replaced it with I don't like at all.

------------------------------
Date:         Fri, 23 Apr 1993 10:58:14 EDT
From:         "Sean F. Jepson" 
Subject:      EMusic Archive Info!

A list of submited material is updated as soon as submission is received.
This list will be available by ftp at the castrovalva.gsfc.nasa.gov
(128.183.33.197) site.  The information can be found in the music-archive
folder.  Yes, you may submit one song or as many as you like.  So far I
have received only two, but they were really good.  I hope you all decide to
submit a tape soon.


DATE : 4/23/93




                        EMUSIC COMPOSITION ARCHIVE
                         SUBMISSION AND REQUEST
                              INSTRUCTIONS



  SUBMISSION:  1) Please send 90 minute Metal or CrO2 cassette with the submission on it.  If you would like to send
                  a DAT tape for a possible future requested compilation
                  CD'that's fine too, but please send a standard cassette
                  tape for reproduction requests from the network. CD's will
                  also be accepted and requests filled if the artist wants
                  to submit them.

               2) Make sure that you enclose the proper information
                  requested below (see attached form) with the cassette.
                  Also e-mail sjepson@ers.bitnet a completed form so
                  he will expect the cassette and can update the electronic
                  archive.  (Archive address to be disclosed later.)

               3) Mail to the following address.

                        Sean Jepson
                        3103 Ellenwood Dr.
                        Fairfax, VA  22031

               4) If you are requesting a compilation along with your
                  submission please include the following outlined in
                  the REQUESTS section.

               5) As many submissions as the artist wants to submit
                  will be accepted.  Make sure there is a seperate
                  submission form for each 90 minute tape submitted.



REQUESTS:   1) To receive a compilation please send a request form along with blank tape, self addressed STAMPED envelope,
               and $1.00 handling for each 90 minute tape sent.
               No more than two seperate compilations requested per
               tape please.

       ****If one the above is missing the request will not be filled.****

            2) On the request form just fill out the lines with asterisks.

            3) Mail to the following address.

                        Sean Jepson
                        3103 Ellenwood Dr.
                        Fairfax, VA  22031






RULES OF AGREEMENT:  The Archivist will not be responsible for other
                     peoples misuse and abuse of submitted/requested
                     songs. If you are worried because your composition
                     has not been copyrighted please don't send it.




*** Please e-mail the following form to sjepson@ERS.BITNET as well as
    including the same information with cassette.
    The asterisk information must be filled out or the submission/request
    will be void.
----------------------------------CUT HERE------------------------------------

                EMUSIC COMPOSITION ARCHIVE SUBMISSION/REQUEST FORM

REQUEST OR SUBMISSION: ____________________  *


Artist's/Band's Name: __________________  *

Title of Composition: __________________  *

Program Length: ________________________  *

Song Titles:     SIDE 1            SIDE2  *

            ____________________________

            ____________________________


Date of Submission: ____________________   *

E-Mail address: ________________________   *

Contact Address: _______________________

                 _______________________

Music Style: ____________________________

Instrument & Performer List:

            ____________________________

            ____________________________

            ____________________________

            ____________________________

Recording Details/Tricks:

            ____________________________

            ____________________________

            ____________________________

            ____________________________

Other Titles Available For Purchasing From Artist:
            ____________________________

            ____________________________

            ____________________________


----------------------------------------------------------------------
Sean Jepson ----------------------------------------------------------
USDA, Economic Research Service   ------------------------------------
SJEPSON@ERS.BITNET ---------------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------------------------

------------------------------
Date:         Wed, 28 Apr 1993 07:34:42 +0000
From:         Nick Rothwell 
Subject:      Re: EMusic Archive Info!

>REQUESTS:   1) To receive a compilation please send a request form
>               along with blank tape, self addressed STAMPED envelope,
>               and $1.00 handling for each 90 minute tape sent.

I'm confused. Are submitters also covered for requests? If not, why are
submissions required on 90-minute tapes?

Does your submission form have to be filled in exhaustively? It says

>              2) Make sure that you enclose the proper information
>                 requested below (see attached form) with the cassette.

I wouldn't want to put anything for "Music Style" and I don't really see
why I would be required to put down an equipment list or recording details
or anything; I generally just give some background info on the project and
context for the piece. Generally, I think the form is too demanding and
restrictive.

By the way, although I can probably find a dollar bill somewhere, I can't
construct a self-addressed stamped envelope because I can't get the
stamps...

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

------------------------------
Date:         Wed, 28 Apr 1993 09:34:20 EDT
From:         Brian Good 
Subject:      Re: EMusic Archive Info!

Nick Rothwell writes:

> Does your submission form have to be filled in exhaustively? It says
>
> >              2) Make sure that you enclose the proper information
> >                 requested below (see attached form) with the cassette.
>
> I wouldn't want to put anything for "Music Style" and I don't really see
> why I would be required to put down an equipment list or recording details
> or anything; I generally just give some background info on the project and
> context for the piece. Generally, I think the form is too demanding and
> restrictive.

I think the consensus (when we were talking about setting up the archive)
was that the information was optional.  The idea was to share information
on equipment and techniques with people who might be interested.  As far
as "Musical Style" goes, the idea was to give potential listeners a rough
idea what to expect, on the theory that someone interested in, say, ethereal
atmospheric stuff may or may not want a tape full of heavy metal simulations
or whatever.  The idea was *not* to shoehorn your music into some category
you find restrictive.

Of course, this was all set up on the assumption that there would be a
large number of contributors from which to pick and choose, which hasn't
happened yet (As of yesterday, you could fit the whole archive on one 90
minute tape.  Easily).  Maybe Joe ought to set up "archive.excuses" on
castrovalva.  At least I have my submission for *that* ready.  :-)

brian good

------------------------------
Date:         Thu, 29 Apr 1993 07:25:22 EDT
From:         Nick Rothwell 
Subject:      Re: EMusic Archive Info!

Nick writes......

>>REQUESTS:   1) To receive a compilation please send a request form
>>               along with blank tape, self addressed STAMPED envelope,
>>               and $1.00 handling for each 90 minute tape sent.

>I'm confused. Are submitters also covered for requests? If not, why are
>submissions required on 90-minute tapes?

Why do some people always have to make things difficult?
The key word here is REQUESTS! Submissions are
not required on a 90 minute tape. The above states that when some one requests
a tape of someone else they will be charged one dollar for each 90 minute
recording.  So, if the requester requests two 45 minute tapes he may send me
one dollar (for my time spend duplicating) along with a 90 minute tape.
If a requester requests two 60 minute recordings he may send me 2 dollars
plus two 60 minute tapes.
But hey, to get people to send in their tapes I will waive the dollar fee
for the first 10 submitters who also request a tape from the archive.
As long as they send me a blank tpe and a stamped self addressed envelope.

>Does your submission form have to be filled in exhaustively? It says

>>              2) Make sure that you enclose the proper information
>>                 requested below (see attached form) with the cassette.

The asterisked lines are the ones you must fill in so I know who to contact
if a problem arises.  I also need enough information to put down in the archive
index.

>I wouldn't want to put anything for "Music Style" and I don't really see
>why I would be required to put down an equipment list or recording details
>or anything; I generally just give some background info on the project and
>context for the piece. Generally, I think the form is too demanding and
>restrictive.
You don't have to answer what type of recording techniques you used etc. .
A few of use felt that since this Is the E-Music list and we are all interested
in knowing what each other is doing. (well most of us!) Think of it as a
good place to brag about what you've done.  Brian Good answered this question
well.

>By the way, although I can probably find a dollar bill somewhere, I can't
>construct a self-addressed stamped envelope because I can't get the
>stamps...

If you are just submitting a tape you don't need to send a dollar.
Again, a dollar is sent with request forms only. As for the self addressed
envelope, If you want to you could just include enough to cover me for
the return postage and I will send it out to you.

Well I hope you and the others on the list will send in a submission.
I some how think that yours especially will be requested by others on the
net.  I think we all want to here what all those posts amount to. :-)
Well If you have any more requests feel free to ask.  Hope to see, or should
I say hear, your tape soon.  Oh, buy the way everyone I just received another
tape last night.  That makes 4.

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


----------------------------------------------------------------------
Sean Jepson ----------------------------------------------------------
USDA, Economic Research Service   ------------------------------------
SJEPSON@ERS.BITNET ---------------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------------------------

------------------------------
Date:         Thu, 29 Apr 1993 09:38:19 -0400
From:         Joe McMahon 
Subject:      Re: EMusic Archive Info!

Sean, I will see if I can find my copies of the EMUSIC-L compilation tapes
from last year and the year before and send them in for the archive. They
contain a lot of stuff from many different people on the list.


 --- Joe M.

------------------------------
Date:         Tue, 20 Apr 1993 21:00:32 EDT
From:         Alex Gottschalk 
Subject:      ftp sites for mac music programs

Does anyone know where the items listed above might be? If you do, could you
please Email me their addresses?  Thanks.

OBquestion:          Does anyone know what kind of Macintosh I should buy if
I'm going to be doing direct-to-hard disk recording in the future?

Also, can an EE out there tell me how hard it would be to wire the frets of a
bass for MIDI signal transmision.  This information would be used for more
informational purposes (as opposed to my actually building the damn thing :-)

Alex Gottschalk

------------------------------
Date:         Wed, 21 Apr 1993 03:07:11 -0400
From:         Jon K Scampton 
Subject:      Re: ftp sites for mac music programs

>>From: SMTP%"EMUSIC-L%AUVM.BITNET@BITNET.CC.CMU.EDU" 20-APR-1993 22:02:59.42
>>To:   Multiple recipients of list EMUSIC-L 
>>CC:
>>Subj: ftp sites for mac music programs
Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT

>>Does anyone know where the items listed above might be? If you do, could you
>>please Email me their addresses?  Thanks.

Don't know the answer to this one...

>>question:          Does anyone know what kind of Macintosh I should buy if
>>I'm going to be doing direct-to-hard disk recording in the future?

What software system do you intend to use for the hard disk recording and
editing?  This will dictate what the best Mac is for the purpose...

>>Also, can an EE out there tell me how hard it would be to wire the frets of a
>>bass for MIDI signal transmision.  This information would be used for more
>>informational purposes (as opposed to my actually building the damn thing :-)

Why not just use the one that Peavey has built??  It's
called the MIDI Bass, and it retails for about $650, without tone generator.

>>Alex Gottschalk

Jon Scampton
j_scampton@acad.lvc.edu

------------------------------
Date:         Thu, 22 Apr 1993 21:30:53 -0500
From:         Ryan Fogarty 
Subject:      Re: ftp sites for mac music programs

>Also, can an EE out there tell me how hard it would be to wire the frets of a
>bass for MIDI signal transmision.

I'm not really sure how difficult it would be to wire each fret. However,
Peavey did experiment with this concept. I'm not sure if this was marketed or
not, or if it was a success. The frets are actually split up into four
different mini-frets that are electrically insulated. The bass guitar also
responds to bends by a sensor which I believe is in the bridge (not 100% sure
on that though).
Has anybody tried this on a guitar its response would certainly be much better
than the Roland GR2 which has to wait for one wave cycle to pass.


Ryan Fogarty

**not exactly a EE quite yet but working on it**

------------------------------
Date:         Fri, 23 Apr 1993 08:47:45 PDT
From:         metlay 
Subject:      Re: ftp sites for mac music programs

>>Also, can an EE out there tell me how hard it would be to wire the frets of a
>>bass for MIDI signal transmision.
>
>I'm not really sure how difficult it would be to wire each fret. However,
>Peavey did experiment with this concept. I'm not sure if this was marketed or
>not, or if it was a success. The frets are actually split up into four
>different mini-frets that are electrically insulated. The bass guitar also
>responds to bends by a sensor which I believe is in the bridge (not 100% sure
>on that though).
>Has anybody tried this on a guitar its response would certainly be much better
>than the Roland GR2 which has to wait for one wave cycle to pass.

The peavey MIDIBase is available in stores right now, and I was very
pleasantly surprised at its feel, response, and non-synth (straight
bass) sound quality. If this instrument had existed in 1983, I might
still be a half-decent bassist rather than a poor keyboardist in
addition to my synth-programming chops....

--
mike metlay * atomic city * box 81175 pgh pa 15217-0675 * metlay@netcom.com
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
I bow to the obvious superiority of a culture that coins words like "snog."

------------------------------
Date:         Mon, 19 Apr 1993 19:10:50 +0300
From:         Yiannis Ventikos 
Subject:      MID2ACSII & MIDPLAYER?

I bet this has been asked before, but I cant find out the answer.
1) I want a midi file player for MS-DOS. A simple command like
   c:\> midplay file.mid will do just fine. If it can do more (play .mod, .rol,
   turn one format to the other, etc. so much the better)
2) I have heard of a small programm that reads a midi file and outputs the
   file in ascii format. Anybody knows where I can find it?

Better e-mail.
Thanks for reading this.

-------

******************************************************************************
* Yiannis Ventikos                              *        DISCLAIMER          *
* Viscous Flows Group,                          * Any and all opinions that  *
* Dept. of Naval Arch. & Marine Eng.,           * I have  expressed  so far  *
* National Technical University of Athens,      * reflect  thoughts of mine  *
* P.O. Box 64070, GR-15710, Zografos, GREECE    * and  mine alone and  have  *
* Voice: +30 1 7700405                          * nothing  to do  with  the  *
* Fax:   +30 1 7774478                          * policy of the  Department  *
* e-mail: yvent@areti.marinentua.ariadne-t.gr   * I currently belong to.     *
******************************************************************************

------------------------------
Date:         Tue, 6 Apr 1993 18:01:40 CET
From:         Jack Latanowicz 
Subject:      MIDI GS st. in ROLAND E-15

HI !
I would like to discuss something called GS STANDARD. It's something new
I suppose. How powerful it is, you can find in 'funny' for synthesizer
users ROLAND E-15. The instrument itself can generate three different
voices at a time, but thanks to GS STANDARD with use of external MIDI device
for example a SEQUENCER it is possible to play at least 8 different sounds
which only problem is the polyphonic limit (I think 32, I don't remember...)

    It's not all. You can use a variety of MIDI controllers such as PANORAMA
for each voice, which using the E-15 alone isn't possible. The list of MIDI
controllers can be found in MIDI implementation chart (the GS-STANDARD one.)
But what makes me wonder most, is the question:
   Is it possible temporarily for a user to edit a sound, if so what editor
is needed ???
   My question comes from leak of knowledge about MSB and LSB controllers.
   What is MSB and LSB anyway ???
 Maybe it has something to do with sample dump, which I've heard something
but not all about ?

------------------------------
Date:         Tue, 6 Apr 1993 21:24:13 UTC+0100
From:         gui 
Subject:      Re: MIDI GS st. in ROLAND E-15

Someone said

-HI !
-I would like to discuss something called GS STANDARD. It's something new
-I suppose. How powerful it is, you can find in 'funny' for synthesizer
-users ROLAND E-15. The instrument itself can generate three different
-voices at a time, but thanks to GS STANDARD with use of external MIDI device
-for example a SEQUENCER it is possible to play at least 8 different sounds
-which only problem is the polyphonic limit (I think 32, I don't remember...)


-    It's not all. You can use a variety of MIDI controllers such as PANORAMA
-for each voice, which using the E-15 alone isn't possible. The list of MIDI
-controllers can be found in MIDI implementation chart (the GS-STANDARD one.)
-But what makes me wonder most, is the question:
-   Is it possible temporarily for a user to edit a sound, if so what editor
-is needed ???
-   My question comes from leak of knowledge about MSB and LSB controllers.
-   What is MSB and LSB anyway ???
- Maybe it has something to do with sample dump, which I've heard something
-but not all about ?

        GS Standard is a 'new' thing... more or less. It's the Roland version of
General MIDI Standard and deals with the program numbers, voice definition
tables and many other things; allowing a better compatibility between diverse
equipments. The sound in program number 1 must always be a piano... that is to
say, although you have one synth and your friends have another ones, if they
are GS standard then the programs are sorted exactly the same. Your sequences
can be played directly on your friends' system (but you must bear in mind that
if his synth sounds better, the sequence will sound better).
        The GS standard fixes polyphony in 24 voices (8 multitimbral) and the
maximum number of patches is.... 128 banks with 128 programs each..... GREAT!!
And many other things I suppose you can find in your manuals.

        Regarding your second question, I haven't used a E-15, but if you edit
a sound, I think you will have to save it on the same location that it was
before, because you must follow the GS Standard :(

        The LSB and MSB mean: 'Least significant byte' and 'Most significant
byte'


        Hope this helps

        Luis A. Fuente
        gui@cpd.uva.es

        University of Valladolid
        Departament of Analytical chemistry

------------------------------
Date:         Thu, 1 Apr 1993 19:01:20 GMT
From:         Sang Jin Hong 
Subject:      Re: MIDI software for PC-Compatibles

Cakewalk Pro for Windows is one of the best sequncing software for IBM,
although I never tried CuBase for IBM, I've been using Cakewalk for
quite while and quite satisfied with it...  it does most of what I want
to do...

But most of those top notch softwares perform rather similiary...  so
just pick a good software and get used it, and stick with it...
Cakewalk would be a good choice...  I've seen prices like $299...


.sjh

------------------------------
Date:         Wed, 21 Apr 1993 11:53:33 -0400
From:         XLAND 
Subject:      Re: MIDI software for PC-Compatibles

I also think that Cakewalk Professional for Windows is a good choice for
someone wanting good sequencing programm for IBM PC. It has some
drawbacks (I've reported them to Twelve Tone Systems) but works really fine.
It is currently being sold version 1.0 buy you can upgrade it to version
1.05 at Twelve Tone.

I don't trust Steinberg. Cubase for Windows is their first program for IBM
and it can contain many bugs. Cakewalk was based on the DOS version and
there is less possibility of uncompability (or something else). PC is very
hard to program (I know it because I am PC programmer) so it is easy to
create good but buggy program.

I strongly recommend to buy Cakewalk, but you have quite powerfull machine
(at least 386DX) and SVGA card and monitor capable display in 800x600 mode.

Maciek.

chaos@ii.uj.edu.pl

------------------------------
Date:         Thu, 8 Apr 1993 15:54:56 EDT
From:         Eric Ashman 
Subject:      sample rate conversion

I have a friend in need of a sample-rate conversion algorithm for C
(or any other common language which he could convert).

If you have one or know where to look for one, I'd really appreciate the
help (I owe this guy numerous favors).

-Eric

------------------------------
Date:         Fri, 9 Apr 1993 15:08:00 LCL
From:         "ROBERT J. DOW" 
Subject:      Sample rate conversion

There is a very high quality sample rate convertor called "res" available
from ems.media.mit.edu by anon. ftp. It is by Dan Ellis
(dpwe@media-lab.media.mit.edu) and uses sinc intepolation to do the
conversion. It is part of an undocumented package of routines in the
/pub
directory in tar and compressed form. Its exact name escapes me but is
something like sndutil+date.tar.Z. The other programs deal with sound
file conversion etc. Perhaps it would be ask Dan Ellis first.

We use RES at the university of Birmingham, but I have modified it to work
on the IBM3090 which has to do its calculations double precision or nothing
happens, and also so it can deal with both headerless and ATARI SD2 headers
(yes - really!). It would probably prefer to run on a UNIX box of some sort.
One can either specify the new sampling rate in Hz, or a transposition factor.

Our version is a bit buggy, no doubt because of 3090 quirks, but for normal
conversions e.g. 48KHz - 44.1KHz it works very well indeed, and it even
works well for large transpositions (I've slowed things down by a factor of
100 no problem). The problem for us is not only do certain factors cause the
thing to crash (e.g. changing from 44.1kHz to 11025 Hz might not work but
44.1KHz to 11020 Hz will!), but there is also some weirdo memory error which
causes bizzare error messages once it exits (but all the same it *does*
work - very odd  -- but lets face it, it is a miracle it works at all on
the darn 3090).

So I highly recommend this to you.

Other packages are Tom Erbes "SoundHack" program for the Macintosh from
mills.edu by anon. ftp (in /cma/soundhack I think) which can do a variety of
interesting things including sample rate conversion and varispeed. It writes
and reads a number of sound file formats, including 'raw' (headerless)
sound files, and 8-bit stuff. You need at least a Mac II to run it though.
It comes over as a BINHEX'ed self extracting archive. It seems to work well
but is slow if you do anything. I haven't used it for processing, only
for putting SD2 headers on headerless files from our main-frame.

Of course you could write a csound script to do it as well, and csound
runs on loads of machines including mac and PC, and writes a variety of
sound formats.

Well - better get back to the job of composition ...

Robert Dow

------------------------------
End of the EMUSIC-L Digest
******************************