A couple more MIDI Ableton mixes

Cliffs of Dover MIDI 2 by bpokorny1

Cliffs of Dover MIDI 1 by bpokorny1

And there we are... let me know which one you think is better

Ableton MIDI Files

Here they are... Let's see if I can get these to work this time...

Whiter Shade of Pale MIDI by bpokorny1

Still Loving You MIDI by bpokorny1

In case they didn't, feel free to check out my soundcloud:  http://soundcloud.com/bpokorny1

Reconstituted MIDIs

Here's my 2 reconstituted MIDIs. I used Ableton's instrument library and used the Phaser, Compressor, and Vocoder effects.

  Sledgehammer by lobochristian

  In the air tonight by lobochristian

FIRST ABLETON ASSIGNMENT

find 2 midi sequences -- reconstitute them with new instruments

find 2 VST or AU plugins

assign them to a track

EXPORT your MIXES to .wav files

upload them to soundcloud

Why MIDI Has 128 Notes

I direct you to:

http://stackoverflow.com/questions/5106758/why-does-midi-offer-127-notes

Klaus Schulze

Briefly a member of Tangerine Dream and Ash Ra Tempel, Klaus Schulze was a German electronic music composer who put out more than 60 albums over five decades during his solo career.  When listening to his music, I noticed that it was very repetitive, but that didn't quite matter.  Almost like ambient music, it's something that I don't really get tired of.

Gaussian... Weibull... What? HELP ME SOMEBODY!!!!

I'm crossing my fingers that these will work...

<object height="81" width="100%"> <param name="movie" value="http://player.soundcloud.com/player.swf?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F11029310"></param> <param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param> <embed allowscriptaccess="always" height="81" src="http://player.soundcloud.com/player.swf?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F11029310" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="100%"></embed> </object>  <span><a href="http://soundcloud.com/bpokorny1/rewinding-robot">Rewinding Robot</a> by <a href="http://soundcloud.com/bpokorny1">bpokorny1</a></span>

<object height="81" width="100%"> <param name="movie" value="http://player.soundcloud.com/player.swf?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F11029407"></param> <param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param> <embed allowscriptaccess="always" height="81" src="http://player.soundcloud.com/player.swf?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F11029407" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="100%"></embed> </object>  <span><a href="http://soundcloud.com/bpokorny1/goofy-ghost">Goofy Ghost</a> by <a href="http://soundcloud.com/bpokorny1">bpokorny1</a></span>

<object height="81" width="100%"> <param name="movie" value="http://player.soundcloud.com/player.swf?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F11029441"></param> <param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param> <embed allowscriptaccess="always" height="81" src="http://player.soundcloud.com/player.swf?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F11029441" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="100%"></embed> </object>  <span><a href="http://soundcloud.com/bpokorny1/whining-whales">Whining Whales</a> by <a href="http://soundcloud.com/bpokorny1">bpokorny1</a></span>

<object height="81" width="100%"> <param name="movie" value="http://player.soundcloud.com/player.swf?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F11029550"></param> <param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param> <embed allowscriptaccess="always" height="81" src="http://player.soundcloud.com/player.swf?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F11029550" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="100%"></embed> </object>  <span><a href="http://soundcloud.com/bpokorny1/bush-of-ghosts-remix">Bush of Ghosts Remix</a> by <a href="http://soundcloud.com/bpokorny1">bpokorny1</a></span>

And just in case they didn't work, here's the link to my soundcloud...:  http://soundcloud.com/bpokorny1

Synth Experimentation

Jon and I experimented with the synth a little bit and recorded some sounds.

Angry Dog Sound
synth-Angrydog by mcindafizzy

Creepy Sound
synth-Creepy by mcindafizzy

Energy Field
synth-Jumps by mcindafizzy

8 Bit Nintendo Race Car Sound
synth-Race-car by mcindafizzy

Yoshi Getting Blown Away
synth-Yoshi-wee by mcindafizzy

Moog/Scott

Watching the Moog documentary and then reading the Raymond Scott really showed how early electronic music started. Although, I feel that if Scott had been born in the future, he would be the guy who created the robots that eventually enslave us. The man seemed like a robot himself, not having man human interactions but focusing all his attention to things he could control and automate. This may have been detrimental to him social but has been our boon in the advances of electronic music. I wish the documentary had covered more about Moog's relationship with Scott, It would seem the complimented each other well, even with Moog being much younger.

Ableton Questions

My four questions about Ableton:

1. Getting things to fire at different times throughout a piece at regular intervals?

2. I still get confused on manipulating sounds and recording them then having them return to what they were before. I guess is there a real time editing set of controls?

3. As a journalism major I have a hard time finding a practical use for dj software? Ideas? uses?

3. Is there a way to link the midi from ableton to something besides PD to use as a firing mechanism for video?

Bush of Ghosts, Ubu, Ableton Questions and Guassian/Weibull

Bush of Ghosts
The Bush of Ghosts stuff has been very interesting , although it's taking me awhile to try an play with everything and make something out of it. I like the idea of people that used something they found and put together and giving it back, to bad they didn't give back all of it. This style of music isn't really my bag but it's interesting to here what other people with the inclination can do with it.

Ubu Stuff
I downloaded A turban throat chant and a radio opera by Dave Soldier and partly narrated by Kurt Vonnegut, who is by far my favorite author. I think given time something interesting can be made out of it. The radio show is kind of satirical, it's all sing-song and kind of random. It's making fun of world war two somehow, but it's funny.

Gaussian/Weibull recordings

Weibull by m.tripp

Guassian.violin by m.tripp

So, as far as Live goes... I feel like I have been able to solve most of my problems. (I have worked in logic for a few years and pro tools, so a. live wasnt a major stretch)

Pat probably the biggest issue i had was with multi sync of midi instruments. Hooking up an electric drum set as well as 2 keyboards all by midi so that 3 players can run a VST at the same time. (midi instrument) Also I had trouble rewiring ableton back into Logic as a master slave relationship. I think I got it figured out, but I have issue when I load he programs in different orders... the rewire gets confused.

Also Pat, If I'm running some heavy duty VSTs with several major effects on multiple channels through busing, what are some setting changes I can do to help my CPU run smoother? changing sampling rate etc...

Sorry if to late of a post for questions. Most of my A Live stuff i figured out on my own...

-Tim

Assignments for this week

These are my two Cecilia Gaussian/Weibull distribution assignments. I used a cello sample and applied a Phaser and MultiModeFilter effect to each.

  Cellos Phaser by lobochristian

  Cellos MultiModeFilter by lobochristian

I also read a bit about indeterminacy. Indeterminacy in music can be defined in two ways: composition indeterminacy and performance indeterminacy. In composition, the musical piece is determined by chance, I'm not really sure if this also includes random notes, tempo, etc. or if the composer chooses a scale, pitch, tempo and improvises. The second, performance indeterminacy, is when the performer decides how to deliver the work. Wikipedia uses as an example two lectures given by John Cage in which he would read short stories (Pat referred to these in class) in exactly one minute. Therefore, depending on the length of the story, Cage would read the stories extremely fast, at a normal speed, or really slow. I found a video of one of these lectures in which Cage is accompanied by David Tudor who performs random sounds simultaneously. I found the video to be fairly interesting. I'm not really sure what to think of Tudor's random sounds played in the back. It seems that Cage and Tudor intended for the readings and the sounds not to be related when this was recorded.

 

I was also assigned to write about Katsunori Ujiie. I can't say I found much information about him except the fact that he's a sound engineer, composer, arranger, and keyboardists who has helped to develop many presets and styles for different Yamaha products. He has a couple of videos online of him describing different Yamaha synthesizers and explaining some of the effects (turn on CC for English subtitles)

Here is my strings with Guas. Blur. This one reminds me of passing cars.

I put a little verb on there, some eq, about 75% wet/dry and finished off with some mild compression.





Here is my cello with Weibull

My ubuweb sound is a little strange. someone mashed up the greatest hits cd from the carpenters and put them all in song, and by mashed up i mean played them simultaneously. A little hectic but lets be real, who has time to listen to all of the carpenters... lets knock it out in one easy sitting...

http://mediamogul.seas.upenn.edu/pennsound/authors/Davis-Brian/Greatest-Hit/Davis_Brian_Joseph_my-little-danish-friend_2005.mp3

My second i like a lot... it reminds me of a musical- kind of reminds me of West Side story "officer Crumpkey" song (spelling)
Check it out...

http://ubu.artmob.ca/sound/furious_pig/Furious-Pig_I-Dont-Like-Your-Face.mp3

Here's my bush of ghosts remix:





Also I couldn't for the life of me find any D. Diaz when it came to synth sounds- (from the presets of A. Live Arp mod) I found a one, daniel diaz. Professor of computer science in France, but i dont think thats him.

Quiz Thursday

Hey guys.  I don't personally know what will and will not be on the quiz, but here are some things that I am going to try to think about:

Iannis Xenakis (came up with granular synthesis)
granular synthesis
Dennis Gabor (initially responsible for the development of granular synthesis)
The Work of Art in the Mechanical Age of Reproduction
          (http://www.marxists.org/reference/subject/philosophy/works/ge/benjamin.htm)
plunderphonics
DAC = Digital to Analog Converter
The Nyquist Frequency is 22050.  CD quality is twice the Nyquist Frequency (44100)
Just Intonation (operates the same way as memory in computers)
LFO = Low Frequency Oscillator (basically a clock)
Lucky Man by Emerson, Lake and Palmer (1972) = the first time a moog synthesizer was used musically
          in a song
The three pillars of sound design:
          1.  The physical elements of sound
          2.  Mathematical
          3.  Psychological
Remember how to calculate tones (Ex.:  the 7/4 of a 256 tone = 7 x 256 / 4)
John Chowning (discovered the FM technique in 1973.  This technique was later commercialized by
          Yamaha)
ADSR = Attack, Decay, Sustain, Release
Convolution (creating a sense of space)
William S. Burrows (coined "heavy metal")
The four basic elements of synthesizers = oscillators, filters, envelopes and amplifiers
Bicycle Built for Two (done by Max Matthews, was the first musical computer composition)
60Ghz is the fundamental frequency
The big four = Lamont Young, Terry Riley, Phil Glass and Steve Reich (minimal modern music
          masters)
Terry Riley's In C was the first minimalist music composition
First real electromagnetic music was in 1948

These are just some things that I'm gonna focus on a bit when reviewing.

Historical "Ghosts"

The chapter on Robin Rimbaud, aka "Scanner", was mildly interesting. His statement: "My work has always explored the relationship between sound and architectural space and the spaces in between information, places, history, relationships, where one has to fill in the missing parts to complete the picture." seems to sum up the ideas behind his work for me. I looked up some more information about the Scanner and his career and he entered into his later status as dance music innovator through other "avante garde" music styles and experimental film soundtracks. I was first exposed to the Scanner in a documentary I watched about electronic music about 8 years ago but I wanted to find some examples of his work to refresh myself. I couldn't find the "Esprits de Paris" he writes about in the chapter but he has some good work that I did find. His work is more cohesive as "traditional" dance music than many of the experimental musicians we have read about in Sound Unboand, and really quite good...





I also looked up "the cut up method", and William S. Burroughs, who popularized the technique. The cut up technique is achieved literally by taking works and cutting them up, reassembling in new ways. I am posting a 7ish minute clip from a movie of Allan Ginsberg interviewing Burroughs, which demonstrates the cut up method and has some interesting visual "mashup" techniques also. This is a literary technique that I had not heard of previously and it certainly ties into the music technique of sampling other people's work and recombining to make something new and different. The passage that Burrough's reads over the clip is quite intersting, though gritty, and is a "portal" into the historical flavor of "beatnickery" and the mindset that accompanied this brand of artist. The somewhat morbid, angst-ridden, junkie-punk lifestyle seems to lend itself well to the literary style of the cut up...

What to do this week

Here are the list of assignments

The following must ALL get done:
Cecilia - get, find or make a violin, cello or guitar sound... any strung instrument, really.  Apply an effect/distributor (gaussian, weibull, etc.)
Download Ableton demo (Ableton Suite) - come up with four questions between now and next Thursday. Post them on the blog
Bush of Ghosts:  Blog on Bush of Ghosts.  Log in and join the site (http://bush-of-ghosts.com/remix/bush_of_ghosts.htm).  Download one of the two songs and remix it as your own.
Ubuweb - find two sounds that "strike you," and blog on them.  Save the sounds to your memory stick
Read Chapter 12
Blog on the person assigned to you (for instance, mine was K. (Klaus) Shulze)
Come in this week and work on Sequencers

Blog on at least two of the following:
Indeterminacy
Cut-up method
Steely Dan sex toy
Sample and Hold
ARP (Arturia ARP synthesizers)


Things to remember:
Quiz/Test next week (Know your vocab!)
ADSR
The four elements of synthesizers

If you have any questions, feel free to shoot me an e-mail:  bpokorny1@ufl.edu

for Ipad users out there- how to wireless sync your ipad to your DAW for midi controller/ interface. awesomeness!!



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-fndBzk6C5g

ARP 2600

Hey guys.  If you run or can run Windows, I found a mock ARP 2600 that's free to download and use.  I have yet to try it, but if any of you think you wanna use it, you can find the download here:

http://freemusicsoftware.org/category/free-vst/arp-emulator

Sound Unbound Ch18: Raymond Scott

Socially awkward and preferring to work with machines, Raymond Scott sure had the personality of a genius. I think its almost sad though how much of his life he spent creating machines that would have been insignificant to construct with even an early computer. Scott spent time building various contraptions to vary voltage and keep time - both are functions easily provided by computers.

I do think its interesting that Scott, in the early 1900's, was working toward a goal of melding the human mind with a machine. Obviously this is a goal that receives a lot of work today - especially to help subjects who have lost limbs, eyesight, hearing, etc.

I also got the impression that Scott was a bit of an egotist. It seems like every idea he had he ran down to the patent office. Then when he actually built something significant he worked his name in there. Then, at the beginning of the chapter Scott mentions feeling bad about keeping his work on the first "synthesizer" so private....yeah now that its far too late to capitalize commercially and all he can hope for is public recognition, he wishes he had gone public at the onset.

Impulse Tests

I recorded myself saying "Sally sells sea shells down by the sea shore" and convolved (convoluted?) with a few sample impulse files. I was very dissatisfied with most of them - the samples I tried sounded like they were in either one category or the other: echo-y or limited frequency as from a radio. I have samples of both here.

Factory Hall
Sea-shells-con-factory-hall by mcindafizzy

Large Hall
Sea-shells-con-large-hall by mcindafizzy

Medium Cave
Sea-shells-con-medium-cave by mcindafizzy

Radio
Sea-shells-con-radio by mcindafizzy

Walkman
Sea-shells-walkman by mcindafizzy

Moog Movie Link

Does anyone have a link where I can watch the Moog movie for free?

Tim Difato_ convolution, vocoder

Here are a few things_ with a cave and Dome and a siren vocoder with a human count down

Moog on Netflix's Watch Instantly

FYI for those of you who have a Netflix account, you can find Moog's documentary on Watch Instantly.

Cecelia Convolusion and Vocoder sounds

I am using the computers at the NAVE as my Mac is awaiting a larger hard drive that I need to install. Since the machine here does not have Stuffit downloaded, I was not able to use the awesome (looking) files on www.xs4all.nl/~fokkie/IR.htm#PCM60. I was able to find a few usable .wav files from www.cksde.com/p_6_250.htm . Below is the best of the convolution reverbs I was able to put together, using an impulse file called "Dubstep". The rest were underwhelming...

Convolve dubstep by alexahenderson

There was a bit of reading on the site I got the impulse file from and it made a little clearer what happens when you convolve a sound. Cksde.com states that a Convolution "multiplies every sample in one wave/impulse by the samples contained in another wave form".

An impulse response file is "the data by which every other sample in your waveform will be multiplied."

As Pat said in class, the best impulse files are short, full spectrum sounds, such as a snare drum.

I also put together two files for Cecelia's Vocoder module. It is a guy speaking on a radio for the input, pushed through a police siren. I added the Stochastic Generator for some wackiness...

Vocoder Stochastic by alexahenderson

Cecilia's Convolve Module and Vocoder Clips

These are my clips for the convolve assignment. For the first one I used a "trig room" impulse and the second one a "cathedral" impulse. Here's a website I found with cool impulses in case you are having trouble finding them online.

  TrigRoomConvolution by lobochristian

  CathedralConvolution by lobochristian

Also, here's my Vocoder clips. For the first one I used a drum loop and a synth sound. The second one is a bell and water splash sounds.

  Vocoder1 by lobochristian


  Vocoder2 by lobochristian

Raymond Scott

I enjoyed this reading a lot. Once again, just like others like Glass, Xenakis, and Reich, I am so impressed by what Scott was able to accomplish so long ago. It almost feel that he was able to predict the future; especially in terms of technology and music. I really liked how the author used correspondence Scott kept with friends. It gives a nice insight to the things he was experiencing and his relationship with Bob Moog. I Googled his Circle Machine invention and found this website where someone else recreated it. Watch the video, it's pretty cool stuff. Also, I was a little disappointed to see that Scott was such a perfectionist and disliked improvisation; however, I see him more of a pioneer and inventor rather than a musician. I believe we owe Mr. Scott a lot of the electronic equipment we have today. After more than 60 years we still reference him for patents on new equipment, that's impressive.

Raymond Scott: Superhuman

The chapter on Raymond Scott is a hit to the ego. As the creator of technologies such as the Orchestra Machine, sound effects generators, and the first multi-track tape machines, among others, it seems as though Scott was the pioneer inventor of the electronic music apparatus which others, such as Bob Moog, later refined and made (more) famous. It is interesting to learn how the inventors borrowed and added onto each other's ideas. For example, Scott's keyboard synthesizer, the Clavivox, incorporated the technology of the theramin, which Bob Moog built as a hobbieist when he first met and began working for Scott in the early '50's.

Next Week

Quiz next week
watch moog movie
impulse files- experiment with impulse response
convulsion sounds (2)- sound cloud (record your voice speaking for convulsion)
class books
vocoder sounds (2)
read chapter 18-

Midi stuffs

So something I've been thinking about getting is a MIDI guitar I found a while back... But then I though hmm... I already have three guitars, and as much as I would love to get this, I don't have THAT much money, and I don't have any space.  I still think it's a really cool thing, though, and is definitely worth mentioning.  So here's the link to the MIDI guitar:

http://www.thinkgeek.com/electronics/musical-instruments/d37d/

Check out the video on the site.  I know I'm probably going to get one some time in the future.  It's just a matter of when.

Max Matthews' "Bicycle Built for Two"

First computer composition on 1961 (?). It is based on Formant Synthesis

http://stage.itp.nyu.edu/history/timeline/bicyclebuiltfortwo.html

Anybody want a Theramin?

Well... I'll go ahead and be really corny and say:  Thera we are...

http://www.amazon.com/Theremaniacs-Kit-Theremin/dp/B0013MER30/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1297349326&sr=8-1

Moog Movie Link for tomorrow

http://www.veoh.com/search/videos/q/moog#watch%3Dv18896084Hz3egqSP

Dr. Robert Arthur Moog and Leon Theremin

In researching there two individuals I realized that they are two people I shoud've heard of a long time ago. Specifically Theremin as he developed interlace, which has been essential to video recording for many years now, although progressive scan has certainly taken over.

I found it interesting to learn that Bob Moog had his Ph. D in engineering physics, and also that he started his first company at the age of 19 creating Theremin kits. (Coincidence? I think not.) All in all I found it very revealing that these "fathers of electronic music" and the effects of their discoveries reach far beyond the realm of music.

Finally since we were asked to post some interesting synth music, I decided the "uber macho" (almost silly macho given their hard core eyeliner) Feuer Frei by Rammstein would be an interesting example of what perhaps maybe considered an atypical use of synth.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XHUsIU161w4

(Note: Please don't fail me Pat for posting Rammstein)

Hawkwind

I did some brief reading about the theramin, the instrument invented by Leon Theramin in 1928. The post on Wikipedia named several sci-fi sound tracks that the instrument is used on, as well as concert music from the avante-garde and new music genres, and by the psychedelic rock group, "Hawkwind". I looked up "Hawkwind" and they DO incorporate lots of synthesized sounds into their music. The Wiki post names them one of the earliest "space rock" groups, forming in 1969 in England, and notes the work as a precursor to punk rock.

Cecilia Tracks

I'm not really sure what's going on with SoundCloud. I have uploaded my tracks but they are all stuck in "Preparing for transcoding". Anyways, here they are in case the problem is fixed. I'll check tomorrow morning...

  4Delays by lobochristian

  Harmonizer by lobochristian

  Phaser by lobochristian

  ResModes by lobochristian

  StochGrains by lobochristian

My Favorite Techno Artists

We were supposed to blog on some artists that use synthesizers in their work. I'd like to mention my two favorite techno artists: Tiesto and Moby.

Moby's style (if you discount Moby's actual singing) often involves repetition of short, unvaried vocal samples. Consider the following examples:

Moby - Why Does My Heart Feel So Bad


Moby - Flower


This style that Moby uses reminds me a lot of "Its gonna rain" - id say Moby seems to represent a coming of age with regard to the sample repetition started by "Its gonna rain".

Tiesto's style is what I consider to be more of a mainstream, commercial techno sound. Tiesto features longer and more complex vocal tracks than Moby as well as a faster paced tempo, and use of (what sounds to me to be) some sound effects based on granular synthesis.

Tiesto - I Will Be Here


Tiesto - In My Memory

Technology and the composer reaction

It's seems like it's an ongoing theme to write these essays using extra words when not needed. I thought the reading was a bit long and hard to follow. It took me a few days to get through but I finally finished it. I liked the enthusiasm the author shows for technology and his proposals to encourage people to exploit it. I think I understand when Pat asks us to compare and contrast this reading to "The work of art in the age of mechanical reproduction" because I feel Brun's take is completely opposite to Benjamin's. I think Benjamin is opposed and dislikes the fact that much of the art value is lost when using film and other artistic methods. On the other hand, Brun seems a bit frustrated by the lack of use of technology in the arts. Once again, I am impressed by the revolutionary ideas these authors had back in the days.

Synth Scheduling

Everyone

I am still waiting for a final word regarding WHEN the swipe will be fixed for CSE413. I will email our Director and see if he can get any answers that i am obviously not able to generate.

Lokesh, Digital Worlds Liason to Ernest@CSE said something like 4 WEEKS before it was fixed and that is just NOT acceptable. We need to have you all able to access the lab in the evenings and i cannot be giving out my only NON COPY UF keys for this project. With that in Mind we will test and run Cecilia for ALL students again. This will give everyone some time to catch up on blog posts and have the program running as expected. I have helped Matthew & Christian get their version of cecilia running on Windows7 and I am hoping Jon And Andres will have theirs operable PRIOR to class or come see me on Wednesday morning or tomorrow AFTER i return from the MD. I have torn a ligament in my knee so i have to get an MRI Tuesday afternoon.

I will also have the moog movie for us to watch on Thursday! So we'l have some fun with that too.

Be seeing you

pp

drum machine thread

HERE POST COOL LINKS TO DRUM MACHINES

http://www.ordrumbox.com/download.php

http://www.hydrogen-music.org/

Cecilia4 installation on Windows 7

We got Cecilia4 running on Windows today. Here's a quick overview on the things we installed. Let me know if you have any questions.

1. Head over to this website,download the "ActivePython-2.6.6.18-win32-x86" file (direct link to file) and install
2. Then head over to this website,download the "wxPython2.8-win64-unicode-2.8.11.0-py26" file. (direct link to file) and install. Make sure you check the "Compile Python .py files..." box.
3. Head over to this other website,download the "numpy-1.5.1-win32-superpack-python2.6.exe" file (direct link to file) and install
4. Head over to this website,download the "pyaudio-0.2.4.py26.exe" file (direct link to file) and install
5. Head over to this website,download the "Csound5.11.1-gnu-win32-f.exe" file (direct link to file) and install. Make sure when you install this file to not change the environment for all users when promted!
6. Finally, head over to this website, download the "Cecilia_4.01_setup.exe" file (direct link to file) and install.

You should be able to run Cecilia4 now, load files, and run the modules (I haven't tried most of them but I will soon). Let me know if you have any comments or questions.

I hope this helps,

Christian

Cecilia stuffs

So here's my cecilia stuff...  Basically it's just the first five on the page (8 bit bomber through space bubble)

http://soundcloud.com/bpokorny1

Walter Benjamin and Film, Theater

From what I remember, when we read this essay in film classes we were never really told to look at it a certain way, but the conclusion from the subsequent discussion was always that it cannot be taken as anything other than his perception on film at the time, and given his political environment, and that for the most part he is "wrong." However he cannot be totally wrong, it is art, and it is said that art is what you see in it, at least partly. Beauty also is in the eye of the beholder, so what may seem normal and even expected to most of us (cuts, close-ups, slow motion...) may be something that turns turns others away.

In fact Benjamin was right about one thing, his quote from Paul Valéry, that "we must expect great innovations to transform the entire technique of the arts, thereby affecting artistic invention itself and perhaps even bringing about an amazing change in our very notion of art.” Although it hasn't changed the entire technique of the arts, at least not directly and not for every art, these mechanical innovations have indeed brought about and amazing change in our very notion of art, not by any means changing those we already had, but in creating new ones to add to them.

My classes have mostly disagreed with his take on actors, maybe it was the quality or style of films at the time, or the stage training that seems to emanate from some actors of the era, but films take you into an even more personal level, putting you in the most intimate of positions unlike a play ever could, showing things you'd probably never see in a play, and some you'd never catch (such as the imperfections revealed in close-ups). I love theater and go to plays whenever I can, but I see it as a different art and appreciate it for what it is, which is in a different manner than that in which I appreciate film.

Films are also able to take us to fantastic worlds thanks to its ability to make us so willingly suspend disbelief, something a bit harder for stage productions precisely thanks to the editing Benjamin so profoundly dislikes, but this is more easily done now than in his time.

So-Unb-und-ound.

When reading Reich and Miller I couldn't help but to think how different their thought processes were. At least from their writing, it seems that Reich prefers a step by step approach, recognizing problems, pondering solutions, and implementing them. While Miller does the same thing, he draws a hundred parallels, compares them to his problem, and from them draws his own solution. This is a reflection of their times, and with that, their approach to music. Reich the innovator, finding ideas and thinking of solutions, and Miller the sampler, plundering and borrowing to create his own masterpieces.

One thing that bothered me when doing the readings was with what decisiveness and brevity Reich spoke. It was almost as if his reaction to writing an introduction was that he expressed about writing for the opera, "No. I didn't have any sympathy for..."
However when reading chapter two I was unsure as to whether I'd found relief in reading someone that appears to be ecstatic about the subject, or dumbfounded with the speed at which Miller jumps from one thing to another, to draw the readers' attention to details he probably knows, and make his answers set an example for sampling itself. After reading I was glad to have done so, and see where he was going although I admit having to reread quite a few sentences throughout the chapter to ease my confusion as to what he was getting at.

I particularly enjoyed the comparison to architecture Miller employed, that buildings "are nothing but correspondences between relationships... from...ideas drawn people working, living, and breathing together to create a structure." By quoting Sullivan's famous detail concerning architecture, "form should follow function," adding to that Goethe and Shelling's "architecture is nothing but frozen music," to reveal epiphany-like that if reverse-engineered, music is liquid architecture, and thus sound becomes unbound. In that brief portion of a paragraph (although he built on it for over a page before), Miller has presented us with something we're familiar with; buildings, and architecture, has sampled other ideas; FTP servers, Sullivan, Goethe and Shelling's, and drawn out a simple, quintessential conclusion: there are no limits to what you can do with sound, and nothing should limit you. A conclusion people may take for granted, but it is not the conclusion alone which makes this section so excellent, is the fact that on the way Miller has showed his audience how to do it.

Walter Benjamin

Whenever I read Walter Benjamin I always recall what my film theory teacher said the first time I was introduced to "The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction", which was basically along the lines of "Walter Benjamin is totally wrong concerning films, but we are going to read this anyways" except in a much more tactful way. ( Perhaps an example of this "The stage actor identifies himself with the character of his role. The film actor very often is denied this opportunity.")

When I read this particular piece the fact that Walter Benjamin is very much a product of his political enviroment. And why wouldn't he be? He was German-Jew living during the time of Hitler's regime. I find the piece more interesting when placed in its historical context.

Chapter 1

After reading and rereading chapter one, I'm still a little lost on what Riech is trying to get across but I do like that he acknowledges people being just as creative as him on thwir power books. If he can realize that this is where the future is headed, then other should be able to also. I looked up some of the stuff he mention and what we listened to in class and found it to be hit or miss for me. The loop stuff for me just kind of grates on my brain but the phase music I find to be almost hypnotic. Music For 18 Musicians is by far my favorite, right along with Clapping Music. I didnt understand his need to break away from technology several times when he could do the same thing just in a more efficient manner. For a guy who cut tapes and made loops, it would seem he wouldnt mind what technology and synthesizers could add to his works.

Cecilia stuff

I'm kind of lost on what we need to be doing with this but I did play around with most of the modules and tried to grasp what exactly they were doing to the clips. I used the same short clip for each to try and get a better understanding of the effects what they were doing.

http://soundcloud.com/m-tripp/sets/cecilia-mod-practice

The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction

Walter Banjamin's polemic is a long, though interesting argument, culminating to a resounding explanation of the society we currently live in. He begins by assigning the role of art in ancient societies as filling a ritualistic, spiritual capacity. As society and civilization advanced, works of art were taken from their natural, vernacular settings and displayed in exhibitions to a mass audience increasing both in size and in absent-mindedness. He argues that with the age of mechanical reproduction, something is lost in the object that is experienced. He likens the photographer to the surgeon. The apparatuses of still and moving cameras invade the subject with an antiseptic, scientific lense that destroys what he refers to as the "aura" of the real thing. The duplicate is consumed passively by a distracted masses that are easily manipulated into hegemonic thought, while at the same time believing they are critics, or experts in the field, due to their proximity to the media (especially with the advent of the newsreel). He also assigns a shock value or violence to film, which at once puts the audience in a submissive role and which assaults their senses, visually. Walter finishes his argument with the Epilogue, which takes the correlation between new mechanically reproduced media and violence a step further: war.

"Fascism attempts to organize the newly created proletarian masses without affecting the property structure which the masses strive to eliminate. Fascism sees its salvation in giving these masses not their right, but instead a chance to express themselves. The masses have a right to change property relations; Fascism seeks to give them an expression while preserving property. The logical result of Fascism is the introduction of aesthetics into political life. The violation of the masses, whom Fascism, with its Führer cult, forces to their knees, has its counterpart in the violation of an apparatus which is pressed into the production of ritual values...

If the natural utilization of productive forces is impeded by the property system, the increase in technical devices, in speed, and in the sources of energy will press for an unnatural utilization, and this is found in war. The destructiveness of war furnishes proof that society has not been mature enough to incorporate technology as its organ, that technology has not been sufficiently developed to cope with the elemental forces of society. "

The end of the essay is so insightful and on-point that I am glad to have read through all of the preceding "technical jargon" . This is not where I expected to end up with this reading and I am left feeling a deep appreciation and respect for Benjamin. Academic thought with real-life importance is always a relief!

Lumpy Post

Oh, I loved every second of Lumpy Gravy...  I don't know what else I can say about it.  It's different than anything else you can imagine, but it's different in the best kind of way.  When I think about it, this album isn't even as "different" as the majority of the Zappa that I have heard.  All in all, I just think it's amazing, and I could listen to it again and again.

On to the next lump in this post

Steve Reich's Music for 18 Musicians:  The performance that I listened to may have just not been done so well, but the beginning tone that is repeated throughout was a little too overpowering for the first minute or two, even as it occasionally changed by a note or two.  It was a little too much.  If it had been slightly more subtle, it probably would have held my attention better.

Next lump

Six Marimbas, again with the Reich:  Definitely worth the listen.  Very complex.  The repetition kind of got to me after a while, but it really did take a long time for that to happen.  Overall, I don't know that I would go out of my way to listen to it again, but I don't regret listening to it.  Although, it is rather hypnotizing, so there might be some interesting use to it, deep down...

Last lump

Plunderphonics:  I just have one question...  with that whole Canada Copyright Act, how would they know it was a copyrighted piece if you altered it beyond recognition?  How would they catch you, unless you explicitly said what you sampled from?

Cecilia

-not a fan so far of cecilia- it crashes like crazy on me......

give me logic or give me death

Sound UnBound:

After re reading intro/ chapter 1, a major point that stuck out to me was the change in technology from simply 30 years ago. Reich talked about how he got started in the 60/70's with two cheap mono recorders and started to create his sample loops, where as today we have labtops that do everything and more. back in the day they need tape decks, thousands of cables, millions of analog synths etc. and now we have every synth ever made (digitally recreated) on our computers. This point was only nailed home as I continued to read and saw the technological advancements that made their way into Steve's musical life. Forget about the idea of sampling and the "is it music or is it simply stealing someone else's music...blah blah blah," just thinking about how they recorded this stuff and layered and mastered with such limited tech blows my mind out of the water. "In 1988 i discovered first that i could use a music notation program on a Mac computer to make scores and second that there were sampling keyboards." wow! so dated.

With that said, I really enjoyed his thought process throughout this "revolutionary" (as everyone always says) time. I like how he pointed out the question, "how will people do this live?" (paraphrased) He realized he could do this with 2 tape decks a recorder...etc... but he needed a way to incorporate this into a show or with people to perform..... "or else it will be seen as a gimmick" as he puts it. I love the idea of sampling and loops. I myself being a synth player see the musical value in it and can more adequately understand the time and effort that he went through to get some of these sounds/ recordings/ pieces.

Again, the reading was a little convoluted when it got into the FTP analogy, but all n all I enjoyed it.

-Tim

After listening to Lumpy G. I had the same impression as most people do when listening to Lumpy Gravy for the first time, cluttered, disorganized, no flow. But if you were to map out the styles, rhythms, vocal samples..etc, you start to see a structure that gives the song some kind of life to it. I definitely hear the almost cartoon like influence of Carl Stalling with that intro old school "the munsters" feel with the splatty brass and 8ths on the ride, 2 and 4 on the snare. I enjoyed the vibe/ bass break down in the middle, kind of reminded me of another 60's Private Eye show or something. This musical style (at this portion) reminds me of Chuck Mangione and his style on the flugel.

Interesting Piece

-Tim

In Through the Out Door Thoughts

I read this chapter twice trying my best to understand what the author wanted to say. Similar to other posts, I thought this was a tough chapter to follow Reich's. It was a little hard to keep my attention focused on the reading with the author's writing style. I think he uses a million complex words to try to get a simple point across. Also, I found it hard to keep up with all of the examples he uses. He names so many people and works that it's easy to lose the main idea quickly. I wish I could have something really interesting to say about this one. I understand the picture Miller is trying to paint for us when he speaks about listening and understanding that most of the sounds come from things intentionally originated by people and that silence is a rare commodity. Other than the mildly entertaining examples he talks about, I found the reading to be uninteresting overall.

more cecilia resources

hi
windows users please try the package here

http://sourceforge.net/projects/cecilia/files/cecilia-win32/RE4M%201.1/

see if this works.

pp

Poeme Electronique

MeisterX's Blog - Feb 1

This week's blog:

http://www.jontietz.com/#Blog

Cecilia on Linux

Has anyone gotten Cecilia to run correctly on any distribution of linux? I have tried on Ubuntu 10.4 and I am unable to load any sound files. If anyone else has tried this on other distro's or gotten it to work on Ubuntu, that information would be helpful.

The goal of getting Cecilia to work on Ubuntu is that Windows 7 users can run Cecilia on a virtual Ubuntu install running in VirtualBox.

Lumpy Gravy

I can't say I liked "Lumpy Gravy" but I certainly didn't mind it. I thought it was interesting enough to keep my attention. I was kind of looking forward to see what would happen next. I'm not really sure if Zappa intended this to be a record from the beginning. It sounds to me more like an experimental project that got recorded and released achieving some fame afterward. The beginning of Part 1, "The Way I See it, Barry" reminded me a lot of Pulp Fiction's Misirlou. I think overall Lumpy Gravy has an interesting beat to it, a lot like the 1960s surf rock movement, but then suddenly everything falls apart and Zappa includes some random dialogues of ponies and pigs (what's up with the ponies?, really) to stitch the randomness together. A lot of what I heard is what my definition of musique concrete is, a bunch of sounds and noises with effects applied to them. I'm a little intrigued to listen to it again since according to some people "it gets better the more you listen to it".

My opinion on Plunderphonics

John Oswald’s “Plunderphonics” is an essay that discusses sampling and the fine line between borrowing and stealing copyrighted material. The author continuously raises questions to the reader about what is considered legal and illegal in terms of borrowing and creating original work. He uses several examples of artist who, accidentally, created songs that resemble others and had to face legal actions for it. To me, this is a very delicate subject. At what point does an artist know where he is overstepping his boundaries on something that belongs to someone else? As an artist, I would like to consider it impossible to know every single pattern of notes and melody that has ever been created. Of course, I am talking about someone who is legitimately unaware of what he is copying. At least there is the Canada Copyright Act Oswald refers to throughout his essay. I am sure this gives authors a bit of peace of mind on their work and possibly a different means of getting some extra money :)

The Work of Art in the Mechanical Age of Reproduction

I was a bit confused when I read the preface of this essay. I wasn't sure what I was getting myself into when I saw all of the war references in the text and how this would converge with art. However, I enjoyed most of the reading. Although it might seem a bit long, Benjamin's writing style flows easily and takes the reader into different art topics almost without noticing. Throughout the chapters, the writer talks about different methods of reproducing art, differences between original compositions and its copies, art perception, art value, photography, film, and architecture.

What I found most interesting, and the author spends quite some time on it, was his take on film. Benjamin compares and contrast film to different arts such as photography, theater, and architecture. It looks like he is not totally convinced by it. As he cites several people in the chapters, Benjamin is most critical of screen actors. According to the writer, when compared to stage actors, screen actors lack interaction with the viewers which affects what the public perceives, in particular his aura. Following this, Benjamin seems to disapprove of techniques brought by the film industry such as slow motion, close-ups, and editing. Although he has a valid point, I think film has brought a different approach to art. Film has come a long way since 1936 (when this essay was written) and the past few generations have embraced it. It might be art for the masses, but it is art nonetheless. People are still critical of movies that are not done well, be it because of poor directing or bad acting. Makes me wonder what Benjamin would think of modern art.