From: dsebald@multimedia.utsa.edu
Subject: MUS 3313 Message #4 for Dave Sebald
Date: August 28, 2005 1:13:35 PM CDT
To: dsebald@aim-ed.com

Technophiles,

I wanted to let you know that the Lab Tour tutorial has a few errors in it because we have had some modifications and upgrades over the last year. The Organization Quiz coming up on Wednesday/Thursday will require up-to-date answers so here is a corrected list of answers that match the Lab Tour questions handed out in class last week. Use these on the quiz.

• The lab doesn’t use computer workstation furniture because we didn’t have enough money and we wanted to spend what we had on technology.
• Most of the computers in the lab are Apple eMacs.
• We currently have 1 G5 Workstation in the lab. (The other 2 were stolen last year.)
• The G5 is mainly for special projects. (They have more and better software.)
• Most of the keyboards in the lab are M-Audio Keystation 49-e’s.
• Only 4 computers should be attached to one electrical circuit.
• We are currently using 3 ethernet hubs in the lab. (Up from 2 last year.)
• The pole in the middle of the room attaches our main hub to the campus ethernet backbone.
• Our main ethernet hub is located at the back of the “horseshoe” of tables in the center of the room.
• Each eMac in the lab has 768 Megs of RAM.
• The G5 has 1 meg of RAM.
• We recommend that you use Safari for your browser in the lab. (Internet Explorer works too for most stuff, but not all.)
• The very popular music software pointed out in the tutorial is Reason 2.5.
• The popular media integration software on all our machines is Flash MX 2004.
• The top-selling web design program on our eMacs is Macromedia’s Dreamweaver.
• The music notation software we currently use is Finale 2004. (NOT Sibelius as stated in the tutorial).
• The G5 has Digidesign ProTools software-- unlike most of the eMacs.
• The CD eject button is at the upper right corner of the eMac’s keyboard. (Also the G5)
• All the lab eMacs are equipped with superdrives (they read and write CD’s and DVD’s)
• The hard drrives on the eMacs can hold 80 Gigabytes of data.
• The hard drives on the emacs rotate at 7200 rpm. (that’s fast)
• The central processor of the eMacs runs at 1 Gigahertz.
• The ethernet ports transfer data at 100 Million bits per second
• The firewire ports transfer data at 400 Million bits per second
• the firewire ports are used mostly for fast data transfer to external hard drives. (New iPods now use USB 2.0, not Firewire)
• Each eMac has 3 USB 1.1 ports on the side and 1 more on the keyboard.
• (Be able to identify each port on the side of the Mac).
• The ethernet port is used to connect to the internet.
• Use the power switch to turn on the computers but not to turn them off.
• The eMac audio ports have Line level inputs. (Mics have to be pre-amped to work with the eMacs.)
• Students need to supply their own headphones for lab work..

dsebald

From: dsebald@multimedia.utsa.edu
Subject: MUS 3313 MESSAGE #3 for Dave Sebald
Date: August 26, 2005 11:14:51 AM CDT
To: dsebald@aim-ed.com

Technophiles,

In case I didn't cover our course Organization well enough in class, here are the answers to ALL the organization questions handed out:

• The recommended removeable storage medium for MUS 3313 is a USB Flash device.
• Dr. Sebald’s preferred email address is dsebald@aim-ed.com.
• Dr. Sebald communicates important info outside class via email.
• The specific web address where an index to our class materials is http://multimedia.utsa.edu/materials-ca.html.
• You can click on a the 3313 materials tab in the Safari window to to go quickly to the class materials web page.
• Any student is allowed three absenses from MUS 3313 without grade penalty. Fourth absence drops 1 letter grade,
• All grades carry equal weight in this class.
• The most recommended music technology magazine is Electronic Musician. (British mags like Computer Music and Future Music are also quite good now.)
• The units that we traditionally do cover in this class are: Organization, Computer Basics, Macintosh, MIDI, Sequencing, Communication, Notation, Acoustics, Synthesis, Digital Audio, Audio Production, Multimedia, and Software/Hardware resources. (We are going to be de-emphasizing multimedia, computer basics, and using Macintosh. We may de-emphasize notation too depending on the results of your surveys.)
• Authorized students can access the lab at any time simply by using their UTSA ID card on the door lock. (This may not be completely set up yet.)
• This class puts equal stress on knowing how music technology works (knowledge) and on being able to work with it (skill).
• There are no prerequisites for this class.
• In order to access our multimedia class materials from home you need these plug-ins to supplement your browser: Shockwave, Acrobat, and Quicktime.
• Students can see their own grades and current average for this class through the Report Card link in the General Materials unit of our MUS 3313 materials page.
• The daily schedule for this class is linked right under the Report Card link in the General Materials unit of our MUS 3313 materials page.
• When working on a class project, I recommend that you save your work every 15 minutes. (because computers crash a lot)
• The reboot combination for a frozen lab Mac is COMMAND / CONTROL / EJECT.
• You can quit any active program on a Mac with the COMMAND - Q key combination.
• The first thing to do when you sit down at a mac workstation is quit all the active programs that the previous user left running. (What an idiot he was!)
• The best place to find definitions of current music technology terms is Sweetwater’s Word-for-the-Day web page. (It’s linked from our Materials page General Materials unit.)
• You’ll receive about a dozen individual grades this semester in this class.
• All quizzes in this class can be taken as many times as you want. The first five attempts are averaged into a single grade. (Remember that the questions will probably be different each time you take the test.)
• Your class photo is located at http://multimedia.utsa.edu/3313061pics
• I always take role at the beginning of every class period.
• The last word in the last panel of the Garry Trudeau cartoon in the Organization Unit is “Begin” (or maybe “Dude.”)
• Bennet Reimer thinks that music education concentrates too much on performance. (Not enough on creativity or understanding or appreciation.)
• According to Jon Appleton as many as half of the studio musicians in our country have been put out of work by computer technology. (and that was in 1988!)

Be sure to do the tutorials to get the answers to the other two sections of the questions.

dsebald

From: dsebald@multimedia.utsa.edu
Subject: MUS 3313 MESSAGE #2 for Dave Sebald
Date: August 26, 2005 10:28:45 AM CDT

Technophiles,

Here are a couple of thoughts on how to get the most out of MUS 3313:

Thought #1

Music technology, like most current technologically oriented areas of study, is in a constant state of improvement and revision. Emphases shift, entrepeneurs discover new and better ways to accomplish basic tasks. What this means is that we all have to adjust to a frantic pace of technological change and obselesence. No one can realistically keep up with each new software revision and hardware improvement. You'd go broke!

Thankfully that pace is not necessary to accomplish most music productivity goals. You can still create music with last month's versions of your tools. In fact Stravinsky said that limitations actually contribute to creativity rather than hinder it. Don't become an equipment freak. Your main goal should be to make music , so take the tools at hand, learn as much as you can about using them and just do it!

Thought #2

Neither books nor the class discussions will suffice to make you feel at home with music technology. The only way to internalize these concepts is to manipulate them in a computer/music lab. You will only get out of this course what you put into it through application . So work on the tutorials, projects, and other assignments. Devote some time to just "playing around" with personal techniques. Ask questions of others who are in the class or who have taken it before and apply them for yourself. Book learning alone is for pedants. Just do it!

dsebald

From: dsebald@multimedia.utsa.edu
Subject: MUS 3313 MESSAGE for Dave Sebald
Date: August 26, 2005 10:28:45 AM CDT

Howdy music technophiles:

This message is a test of my mass mailing system. If you don't get this message, I need to know by our next class so we can work around the problem. I'll be sending some important info this way in the next few weeks.

The first information is that your photos are now up online for you to look at. Go to http://multimedia.utsa.edu/3313061pics and click on your first name. I'm sure I've got a few names and faces mixed up, so if you notice this please let me know. Email me at dsebald@aim-ed.com. (DON'T just "reply" to this message.)

The two tutorials are also ready now. You can run them at

http://multimedia.utsa.edu/technology/3313/organization/timemachine/

and

http://multimedia.utsa.edu/technology/3313/organization/labtour/

If you have any problems logging in, let me know. These are graded tutorials (graded on how well you follow directions given by me during the presentation). Remember, however, that I'm going to erase these grades from your report card. The first grade that will actually count will be the one you get on the Organization Quiz next Wednesday or Thursday.

We'll give you more information and a demo of how our quiz machine works on Monday or Tuesday.

We'll also start using Garageband next week.

dsebald