[sdiy] composing with c++

[Neil Johnson]

> When asked by a synth geek journo what kind of desks he liked, he said
> 'Brown ones.'

He he he...nice one!

> The point I was trying to make was that a lot of people (designers
> included) are very confused about what synths are actually for. People
> absolutely did believe you could make any kind of noise with them, and
> that making any kind of noise was what synths were for.

Indeed, an excellent point.  I personally reckon there are so few
Stradivarius (sp?) violins about because at the time people would approach
said designer of musical instruments with: "So, Strad old chap, this 'ere
violin that you make.....does it do a good flute?"  Closely followed by
*Whack*!!!

>From the OED:
 "one of various types of instrument for generating and
  combining signals of different frequencies; esp. a computerized
  instrument used to create music electronically."

Nowhere does it say "...and does a passable rendition of a piano".  But
point this out to people, and many times you'll get blank faces.  Closely
followed by "very nice, dear, but what does it sound like?".  The same as
asking "so what does a piano sound like?".

> I suppose what I'm really saying is that everyone in the business seems to
> underestimate the complexity involved in creating and playing acoustic
> sounds.

I think its more a case of "forgotten".  How long did it take Stradivarius
to make a violin?  How long for Steinway to perfect their pianos?
Electronics comes along and is seen as the new kid on the block.  In
reality, its just another way to create and shape sound, but the
underlaying skills are still necessary.

To give them their dues though, synthesizers are relatively young
instruments, perhaps 50-odd years old?  I think at the moment the closest
we come to so far to a synthesizer as musical instrument (rather than
techno geek box with knobs) is a MiniMoog.

> I suspect it's actual possible to quantify and measure the amount of
> information and interest contained in a musical sound. It would be an
> interesting exercise to try this...

Information, yes.  Interest....too subjective!  Then again, perhaps a
brainwave monitor could indicate amongst a representative group whether
the sound being perceived was "interesting".

Perhaps we could try this out in September??!  Anyone care to volunteer to
be wired up and subjected to a barrage of different ausio stimuli to see
what is "interesting"?  Promise we won't turn the voltage up too high ;-)

Neil

--
Neil Johnson :: Computer Laboratory :: University of Cambridge ::
http://www.njohnson.co.uk          http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~nej22
----  IEE Cambridge Branch: http://www.iee-cambridge.org.uk  ----