Orientation

A Personal Note:

Hi, welcome to the world of Music Technology; I hope you get a lot out of the this and subsequent online chapters. They have been designed to integrate into an easily read, profusely illustrated online text for a specific UTSA course, MUS 3313: Computer Applications in Music. The text really has two purposes: 1) to present general knowledge which can be applied to most music technology situations you will likely encounter, and 2) to provide supplementary materials, tutorials, and quizzes specific to the software and hardware we use in the course. I feel strongly that this bi-level approach-- learning general concepts and then applying them-- is the best pedagogical method for assuring more thorough understanding and long term retention of the information presented here.

For the sake of efficient learning, I've tried to create the chapters in the most graphic way possible. Any major concept that could be presented better with the inclusion of a photo or drawn illustration uses one-- often more. For the same reason, textual information is usually formatted in small, easily-grasped chunks that relate to specific aspects of these pictures. Where there is no associated graphic, the information is still kept concise and to the point; there is no excess verbiage. Important terminology has been highlighted throughout to aid retention and later reference. This is the way I like to learn technical concepts, and it seems to be more and more common in current technical literature. I hope you like it too!

Course Description and Rationale

The course itself was created to provide an overview of current applications of computers and related electronic technologies in music. It is surprising to me that this aspect of our profession, so pervasive in present society's contact with musical arts, is almost totally neglected in most music schools throughout the United States. Their curricula seem tightly restricted to nineteenth century practices of how music is created and performed even though these practices relate less to our real current musical culture than to the self-contained cycle of what university teachers were taught to teach by their teachers.

But here is the reality: At this very moment we are witnessing what is probably the most significant period of revolution in the history of music. It is far more encompassing than any mere stylistic evolution or improvement in instrument design. It is a change in the very process of how people do music and even who creative musicians are.

The revolution has been brought about most visibly by the explosive advance of powerful electronic hardware like microcomputers, synthesizers, digital recorders and other like devices. With their obvious growth have come two less heralded advances: the invention of innovative software tools for manipulating music and the simultaneous dawning of entirely new ways for people to interact with music using those tools. In a single decade the art of music has progressed beyond its traditional limitation as a real-time, performance-based, and highly exclusive skill to one which can also now be as interactive, manipulative, and easy to explore as visual arts like sculpting, drawing or painting.

Outside of our rather inwardly focused academic institutions, this revolution is in full swing and is profoundly affecting America's musical culture. For example it has been estimated that in the last decade fifty percent of the performing musicians in Hollywood and Las Vegas have been replaced by computer music systems. (Appleton, 1988) That's scary if you're a music major and you've been thinking that you can still make a living playing your horn! But, balancing the disturbing truth is the fact that literally millions of amateur musicians-- those who have had an inclination to create music but who have never had the time, training, or tools to do it-- now for the first time in history have the opportunity to leap beyond technical limitations and get straight to the heart of creative self-expression in music. A wide open field lies waiting for musicians and music educators who can adapt to new forms of music making.

It is time for our educational institutions to more closely match the real world in their music curricula. In 1989 Bennett Reimer, the noted music education philosopher, said:

"Our past and present mentality about music, so dominated by the performance model, is now beginning to be out of phase with the realities of our art. Unless we begin to reflect those realities more accurately, we may soon be in danger of being regressive. If we retain our present monolithic concentration on bands, orchestras, and choruses as the major ways to offer special musical opportunities, and if we continue to concentrate on performance-focused methodologies as the major way to provide general music education, then we may find ourselves left in history's dust." (Reimer, 1989)

This text and course represent an attempt to correct this misalignment. They offer opportunities to acquire basic conceptual knowledge and to develop operational skills related to the following topics:

Course Requirements

No previous experience in either computers or music is assumed in the content presented here. In fact our class usually consists of an interesting amalgamation of musicians, electrical engineers, computer scientists, and even business major. (Usually the most interesting creative projects come from those with the least experience.) Although the tutorial materials are written for our division's Macintosh Power PC's, students are free to use personal equipment instead if they can adequately complete class projects and tests with it.

Needed Materials

In addition to the text you are reading you will need to purchase one 3 1/2" DSHD diskette to save assignments and projects. DSHD means Double Sided High Density. These disks hold approximately 1.44 million bytes of data-- more than enough for the tutorials and projects of this course. They are distinguishable from the DSDD disks (which hold only about 800 thousand bytes of data) by the second hole at the top and by the stylized "HD" imprinted on the bottom left.
You will probably also want to purchase a couple of recommended computer dictionaries for reference:

1. Anderton, Craig. The Electronic Musician's Dictionary. New York: Amsco Publications, 1988. (This is not the only such music technology glossary on the market, but it's still the best buy.)

2. Margolis, Philip E. Personal Computer Dictionary. New York: Random House, 1991. (...or any equivalent. The IBM Dictionary is more complete but als costs more. Alan Freedman's 7th edition of his Computer Glossary and later Computer Encyclopedia are also very good if you have an extra $25 to spend)

You will need a looseleaf, 3 ring Binder to hold all the materials distributed in class.

You may need a Zip Disk for large project files later in the semester.

Supplementary Materials

If you are interested in getting long term benefit from this course, then you will also want to purchase a subscription to Electronic Musician (EM) magazine. This monthly periodical contains many interesting articles related to the course concepts, current software & hardware reviews, and information about what's happening right now in the field. We refer to it often in class. Another similar publication that is a little more personality oriented is Keyboard Magazine.

There are several other popular reference books on the market that you may want to check out from our library or even purchase from local music stores for your personal collection. (Hey, I bought them all!) These books can help answer questions beyond the scope of this text. Following is a selected list of the most significant of them along with some personal comments. They are all readily available.

Computer Books:

Naiman, Arthur, et. al.The Macintosh Bible. Peachpit Press. This is an encyclopedic reference for answering nearly any question concerning Macintosh operation. A note on the cover proclaims that it is "99% fat-free" and I believe it. Great information in a compressed, well indexed format.

Pogue, David & Schorr, Joseph. Mac and Power Mac Secrets. IDG Books. A book similar to the above in content but with a little more emphasis on "how-to's" and obscure information. Also contains disks packed with free software. Pogue is a musician, too!

White, Ron.How Computer Work. Ziff-Davis. I like books that offer compact textual info and lots of illustrations. That catagorizes this book.

Rizzo, John & Clark, Daniel.How Macs Work. Ziff-Daviz. Same layout as the above: lots of graphics and little verbiage. Gives lots of information in a memorable, pictorial format.

MIDI Books:

Braut, Christian.The Musician's Guide to MIDI. Sybex, 1994. A thick book which, in addition to coverage of the basic concepts of MIDI, offers information on many recent additions to MIDI like machine control, General MIDI, GS format, and some hidden features of popular synthesizers. Translated (imperfectly) from French.

Anderton, Craig. MIDI for Musicians. Amsco Publications, 1986. This is a fairly old book which doesn't cover the newer features of MIDI, but it is clearly written-- a good first book on the subject.

Rona, Jeff. MIDI, the Ins, Outs, and Thrus. Hal Leanord, 1987. This is a shorter and more basic introduction to the subject of MIDI that relies more heavily on graphics than the above book. Another good first book for neophytes.

De Furia, Steve & Scacciaferro, Joe. The MIDI Resource Book. Third Earth Publishing, 1988. A more technical coverage of MIDI than either of the above including the original MIDI specification, SysEx formats, sample dump standard, MTC. etc.

Lehrman, Paul D. & Tully, Tim. MIDI for the Professional. Amsco, 1993 A complete coverage of the topic including information on the evolution of MIDI, multimedia, and MIDI in audio/video production.

Synthesis/Sampling Books:

Deutsch, Herbert A. Synthesis. Alfred, 1987. Updated from a 1976 edition, this contains too much information on out-dated analog synthesis, but it also has some good material on synthesis in general.

Moog, Robert, et. al. Synthesizer Basics. Hal Leanord, 1984. Contains articles from Keyboard Magazine with interesting historical information on the development of synthesis and the MIDI spec that I haven't seen elsewhere.

Crombie, David. The New Complete Synthesizer. Omnibus Press, 1986. Even though it needs updating again, this is the first book I would get (and did get) on music synthesis because it contains clear, well-illustrated information on how many types of synthesizers work.

Yelton, Geary.The Rock Synthesizer Manual. Rock Tech Publications, 1986. Contains a somewhat basic introduction to both synthesis and MIDI. About the same level as MIDI: the Ins, Outs, and Thrus.

Fryer, Terry. A Practical Approach to Digital Sampling. Hal Leanord, 1989. A short, basic introduction to some concepts of sampling. It doesn't get very deep or technical.

Audio Books:

Davis, Gary & Jones, Ralph. Sound Reinforcement Handbook. Yamaha, 1989. This is a great, complete, though somewhat technical coverage of most topics relating to electronic reproduction of sound. Chances are good that this book will answer any question you have on audio production.

Yamaha Corporation. Personal Recording. Hal Leanord, 1987. Limited coverage of how to assemble and use a small mostly MIDI controlled recording set-up (based on Yamaha equipment of course.) Basic multitracking, micing, syncing, mixing, etc.

Huber, David & Runstein, Robert. Modern Recording Techniques. Sams, 1990. Contains more complete coverage than the above book on basic topics, and it gives info on noise reduction, digital recording, and signal processing.

Special Topics Books:

Casabona, Helen & Frederick, David. Playing Synthesizers. Alfred, 1988. Culled from Keyboard magazine articles this book presents generalized material on voice creation and performance technique.

Rona, Jeff. Synchronization from Reel to Reel. Hal Leonard, 1990. How to make sound, MIDI sequences, and video work together. Although syncing has come a way technologically since 1990 and has become more approachable for the average musician, this is still a good basic collection of overall information.

Wilkinson, Scott R.T uning In: Microtonality in Electronic Music. Hal Leonard, 1988. Alternative tunings are easy to manipulate in music synthesis, and this makes a good introduction to the subject. Historical tunings are explained as are psychoacoustical rationales and several examples of tuning manipulation on selected synthesizers.

Anderton, Craig. Electronic Projects for Musicians. Amsco, 1980. For the hobbiest or musician who is stuck for small piece of audio equipment and is willing to create it personally. Good book for hobbiests.

Anderton, Craig, et. al. Digital Projects for Musicians. Amsco, 1994. If you want to build accessory MIDI gear (and if you have the time to do it) this is a good book. Mostly for the hobbiest.

Moravcsik, Michael. Musical Sound: an Introduction to the Physics of Music. Paragon, 1987. There are lots of acoustics books on the market. I like this one because it seems clearly written for the layman even when it presents mathematical formulas. Covers physical and perceptive aspects of music, how musical instruments work, and listening environments.

A Couple of Caveats:

Caveat #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!

Caveat #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!