issue15

EMUSIC-L Digest                                      Volume 59, Issue 15

This issue's topics:
	
	Alchemy whereabouts (4 messages)
	Cubase in background
	Experience in composing using computer music programs (2 messages)
	Lisp Sound Utilities (& Voice Electric)
	Patch Editor for pc's?
	What is MIDI-CD? (3 messages)

Your EMUSIC-L Digest moderator is Joe McMahon .
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Date:         Fri, 24 Dec 1993 11:52:05 EST
From:         Moe Methot 
Subject:      Alchemy whereabouts

Since Passport has stopped supporting Alchemy, is it now "public domain"? I'm l
ooking for some sort of utility that will do a Macintosh .snd resource to Sound
 Designer I format (specifically S.D. I, not II), and it has to be something th
at will run on a Mac Plus. Does anyone out there know of such a utility? Or, if
 Alchemy is no longer commercially available, is it available via anonymous FTP
 (I've done Archie searches for it with no luck, so I suspect the answer is no)
.Well, if anyone has a copy of it they would be willing to send (assuming Passp
ort has given up rights to the application. I'm not into piracy, so if it's sti
ll available for purchase, forget the above request, and please let me know how
 I can buy it.) Otherwise, if there is some utility that will do .snd to S.D.I,
 then please inform (Sound Hack doesn't do it). Alchemy would be perfect (since
 it does a lot of other things well, including a better time compression/expans
ion algorithm than Sound Designer). Anyway, please respond to this account if y
ou have any suggestions. Thanks! --- Maurice

------------------------------
Date:         Fri, 24 Dec 1993 16:44:46 -0500
From:         Charles Shriner 
Subject:      Re: Alchemy whereabouts

SoundEdit Pro does what you're looking for a progrm to do.
SoundEdit also does the conversion however it also turns the siundfile
into 8 bit file.
charles shriner
ccps@mindvox.phantom.com

oh yes....your plus will have to be running System 7 or higher.
Running system 7 on a plus is an example of the "dancing bear syndrome".
It may not do it very well it's just amazing that it does it at all!

------------------------------
Date:         Sat, 25 Dec 1993 02:06:02 CST
From:         John Eichenseer 
Subject:      Alchemy whereabouts

>Since Passport has stopped supporting Alchemy, is it now "public domain"?

As you guessed, no.

>.Well, if anyone has a copy of it they would be willing to send (assuming Passp
>ort has given up rights to the application. I'm not into piracy, so if it's sti
>ll available for purchase, forget the above request, and please let me know how
> I can buy it.)

When I talked to Passport a month or so ago, the situation was this: they
have discontinued the program, which means they no longer distribute it.
They will still sell upgrades to registered users, but you can not buy a
new copy from Passport. You only hope of finding a new, legit package would
be to find a dealer with old stock.

Sucks to be you.

Passport alluded to the fact that they would like to find a third party
company to pick up Alchemy. I hope *somebody* does; it is the only good
sample editor available for the Mac. The current Catch-22 of "can't buy it
unless you already have it" is a woeful state of affairs. I don't even know
why they discontinued it, or why they won't take your money for a new copy.
Probably they jacked the damn price up too high, and nobody wanted it
anymore.

Anyway, as someone else mentioned, SoundEdit Pro might suit your needs.

-jhno
....... . . ..   .  .    .       .           .   .            .            .
Joh n   E  i   c    h     e      n      s       e         e               r
D      e        l        i       c      a    t   e     E  a r (512) 458-6474
eichen@trilogy.com     .        .        .      .     .     .   .  .. . ....

------------------------------
Date:         Sat, 25 Dec 1993 14:13:13 -0500
From:         not Robert 
Subject:      Re: Alchemy whereabouts

>
> Since Passport has stopped supporting Alchemy, is it now "public domain"? I'm
 l
> ooking for some sort of utility that will do a Macintosh .snd resource to
 Sound
>  Designer I format (specifically S.D. I, not II), and it has to be something
 th
> at will run on a Mac Plus. Does anyone out there know of such a utility? Or,
 if
>  Alchemy is no longer commercially available, is it available via anonymous
 FTP
>  (I've done Archie searches for it with no luck, so I suspect the answer is
 no)
> .Well, if anyone has a copy of it they would be willing to send (assuming
 Passp
> ort has given up rights to the application. I'm not into piracy, so if it's
 sti
> ll available for purchase, forget the above request, and please let me know
 how
>  I can buy it.) Otherwise, if there is some utility that will do .snd to
 S.D.I,
>  then please inform (Sound Hack doesn't do it). Alchemy would be perfect
 (since
>  it does a lot of other things well, including a better time
 compression/expans
> ion algorithm than Sound Designer). Anyway, please respond to this account if
 y
> ou have any suggestions. Thanks! --- Maurice

i think undistributed software should be free, too -- i mean, if you can't
buy it anywhere.... but i'm quite sure the copyright remains...

anyway....

SoundEdit Pro (by the company that made macrecorder) definitely fits the
general purpose sound conversion mold... Opcode's AudioShop probably does,
too and has a prettier interface...
--

------------------------------
Date:         Sat, 18 Dec 1993 13:21:51 CST
From:         John Eichenseer 
Subject:      Re: Cubase in background

>  to the other readers: i think cubase will play in the background, too --
>the demo at the store seemed to have such an option.

It does indeed. In fact, Cubase will keep playing while you save your
goddam song file. I have been pretty impressed with its robustness in this
respect. Steinberg touts the "real-time" nature of Cubase: almost anything
you can do with the sequencer stopped, you can do with the sequencer
running. Including dragging parts around, all editing activities, etc.
Nice.

-jhno
....... . . ..   .  .    .       .           .   .            .            .
Joh n   E  i   c    h     e      n      s       e         e               r
D      e        l        i       c      a    t   e     E  a r (512) 458-6474
eichen@trilogy.com     .        .        .      .     .     .   .  .. . ....

------------------------------
Date:         Wed, 8 Dec 1993 22:10:58 CST
From:         C356HUM 
Subject:      Experience in composing using computer music programs

Hi everyone,

      I'm doing a report on composers' experiences of using computer
aided program while composing.
      If you have written songs, instrumental composition, opera or
any music, regardless whether they are professional or ameteur, please
tell me your experiences if you utilized any computer aided music
program to do your work.
      The questions that I would like to know are such as

1.  List all the programs that you have work with.
2.  Where did you acquire the program?
3.  What kind of compositions are you working with mostly?
4.  How often do you compose?
5.  What is you musical background?
6.  Which particular program do you feel most useful? and why?
7.  How do you compose when using the program?
8.  What is your ideal music software?  (for example, what kind of
                    functions would you include in the software if
                    you were to design the software?)
9.  And any additional remarks that you would like to add.


Your kind response to this letter will be extremely helpful to me.
Thanks in advance!

Hee Chait Chew
(Southeast Missouri State University)

------------------------------
Date:         Tue, 14 Dec 1993 09:34:51 +0028
From:         Joe McMahon 
Subject:      Re: Experience in composing using computer music programs

>      I'm doing a report on composers' experiences of using computer
>aided program while composing.

We'd be interested to see the result here when you're finished. (Readers of
the list: please remember to send your responses to C356HUM@semovm.semo.edu
instead of the list.)

 --- Joe M.

------------------------------
Date:         Mon, 13 Dec 1993 19:18:40 +0000
From:         "Richard W.E. Furse" 
Subject:      Lisp Sound Utilities (& Voice Electric)

   I went to the Voice Electric concerts in the Purcell Room - very good - I
particularly enjoyed 'Icarus' by Katharine Norman. Why weren't more people
there? (Don't answer that)

   Anyway - after wandering into the rehearsal I was informed that there is
a recent software package for score and synthesis etc written in Lisp and
provided as a library of functions for convenience (quite different to
Csound!) Apparently it should be public domain.

   Does anyone know anything more?

--
Richard Furse (RichardFurse@Muse.Demon.Co.UK)

------------------------------
Date:         Sun, 19 Dec 1993 13:22:05 -0800
From:         David Chandler 
Subject:      Patch Editor for pc's?

I am new to using my pc in my MIDI setup and was wondering if anyone knew
where I could find a patch editting program for Matrix 6, DX-7,
Sequential's Multi-Trak, and/or Casio CZ-101?  Shareware, ideally...
How about programs that let you just dump MIDI data to a file (ignoring
the particular synths' format other than beginnning and EndOfFile marks I
s'pose) and reload them again?  I've been using a Yamaha CXM computer for
several years now, so I'm pretty unaware of what is out there for pc's.

I'm getting the Casio CZ-101 for 100 bucks incl. 64 patch ram card--how's
that compare with what you've seen (anyone? anyone?) ?   I really get into
editting patches, so I figure I'll enjoy doing the Casio phase distortion
thing without a manual... If I can get into 8-operator FM on the DX-7, how
hard can it be?  ;-)
                                      chandler@nethost.multnomah.lib.or.us

------------------------------
Date:         Tue, 7 Dec 1993 02:13:53 +0300
From:         Lexy Bekhly 
Subject:      What is MIDI-CD?

            Well...

            Have anyone heard a MIDI-CD?
            What kinda thing's that? What do you need to play it?
            What MIDI  standard  is  used - GM, GS or what? Are there
         only instrumentals or some vocals/real tracks too?
            Any information, please!
            Thanx...

            F

------------------------------
Date:         Wed, 8 Dec 1993 09:48:06 GMT
From:         Jeff Dubin 
Subject:      Re: What is MIDI-CD?

>            Have anyone heard a MIDI-CD?

>From what I can remember, CD-MIDI was the plan to put MIDI data on a subcode
channel of the CD.  This is the same space CD+G (graphics -- a low-res image
of, say, the band, and maybe lyrics, etc.) resides.  The CD player would
have a midi out and send data to whatever you'd like.  I've NEVER seen a
disc that has included this, nor a player which has a MIDI out.

Just stop and think about this for a sec -- the "music industry" is so
paranoid about making flawless digital copies... hence the copy bit flag on
most digital consumer audio products.  Why would they ever agree to output
MIDI data?  Think of the possibilities!  Plug into your PC and output sheet
music on your laser printer... as good as if not better than off the shelf
in your local music store.  Better yet, record it on your sequencer and
play it back at weddings and bar-mitzvahs!  It's no wonder why it never got
off the ground!

Oh well... back to the drawing board!

Jeff Dubin
jdubin@american.edu
jdubin@world.std.com

------------------------------
Date:         Mon, 13 Dec 1993 02:55:47 +0300
From:         Lexy Bekhly 
Subject:      Re: What is MIDI-CD?

>>            Have anyone heard a MIDI-CD?

>From what I can remember, CD-MIDI was the plan to put MIDI data on a subcode
>channel of the CD.  This is the same space CD+G (graphics -- a low-res image
>of, say, the band, and maybe lyrics, etc.) resides.  The CD player would
>have a midi out and send data to whatever you'd like.  I've NEVER seen a
>disc that has included this, nor a player which has a MIDI out.

      Thanx for  replyin';  now  are  you  sure this project is
   buried and no MIDI-CD stuff was ever  released??  and  still
   nothing is happening on this way?..

>Just stop and think about this for a sec -- the "music industry" is so
>paranoid about making flawless digital copies... <...> It's no wonder why
>it never got off the ground!

      Looks so... But... I've got a strong suspicion  that  all
   the  music  being  released  will turn to go this way rather
   soon... And what standard would  be  accepted/worked  out  -
   this   is   a  very  interesting  (strategic!)  question  to
   consider...  especially  for  real-audio  tracks   and   DSP
   (chorus-hall-distortion-filterLFO-etc) sysex...

>Jeff Dubin
>jdubin@american.edu
>jdubin@world.std.com

   Lexy F

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End of the EMUSIC-L Digest
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