The American visualist/artist/teacher VBLANK just announced that the Pocket VBLANK is available for purchase again. It’s essentially a low-res VJ-system on a chip that reacts to audio, and it costs $110. The visuals are nice and lo-fi, but I am not sure exactly what it does. Judging from the videos it is not really meant for tightly synchronized visuals. And the hardware is not programmable, although VBLANK has burnt custom graphics onto the chip upon request. Currently it’s only for NTSC, but a PAL-version is apparently coming soon. Read the Blip-interview with VBLANK where he briefly explains about his lo-fi and act-inside-the-box preferences. He also refers to the Amiga as a supercomputer. In the bad sense. : )

A sample title card for an iPhone application I am building for some of my friends.

More to come as we move this into development.

David Jetre  | Creative Director
Studio 930 Intermedia
www.studio930.com

Chipmusic is about accepting the system’s features (aka limitations), and expanding them (aka breaking them). 30 years of new sounds shows how a culture can progress through software and not hardware updates. Competition and community, trial and error & rationalism has contributed to it. But it presupposes that you are allowed to do what you want with the technology.

The C64 iPhone emulator was released in September as the first multi-purpose emulator on the iPhone. But Apple does not allow users to run downloadable code on the iPhone. Apple wants to retain control over what software is running on the iPhone (avoidable by jailbreaking and e.g. cydia). But since the C64 has a built-in BASIC programming language, Apple cannot stay in control. So the solution was to remove BASIC from the emulator, and offer a selection of something like 5 games. In that way, users cannot make their own software and they cannot load whatever software they want. This is the complete opposite to the hippie-libertarian-multimedia ‘coolness’ that has been around Apple since the 1970s. You know, Bill Gates writes a letter in 1976 to promote software copyright and ever since Apple has been cool and Microsoft evil…?

Whatever. But the iPhone C64-emulator transforms the C64-system into a restricted gaming console (but, but). Surely, 8-bit computers are often described as gaming computers. Indeed, they were developed (also) for gaming purposes, and not colourless and soundless business purposes. But they were not read-only and interpassive like consoles, so they should not be remembered, emulated and discussed as such. It is (even) harder to talk about intented uses of computers compared to e.g. Gameboy and NES, in that sense. Ie, there is nothing necessarily subversive about making your own music and software on a C64, even if chipmusic is often described in that way.

While the iPhone C64-emulator is just a piece of entertainment software, it plays part in a larger tendency to reduce old technology to something simplistic, something limited. But limited in what sense, and according to who? I can turn on my C64 and start programming in 1 second, and make music in 1 minute. I can easily have it fixed when it’s broken, or atleast understand what the problem is. I have access to 25 years of software and knowledge, and with a lack of commercial interests I do not have to consider intellectual property regulations. I don’t find 3 channels of sound to be limiting; I think it’s empowering. Of course, digital technology is improving in many quantitative and qualitative ways, enabling users to do more, and faster. But it is not a one-dimensional line of neutral progress – it is change, resulting from economic, cultural, social, and aesthetical values. New technology is not better per se. Even if it is, it doesn’t mean that new ideas require new technology. That modernist idea has been questioned in so many other fields, but is painfully present in digital media.

Oh well. So… here is some of little-scale’s soundchip-related iPhone apps! (Btw, does anyone know how the emulator can be sold, being based on the GPL-licensed Frodo?)

From/De: AMD

SUNNYVALE, Calif. –(Business Wire)– Nov 18, 2009 AMD (NYSE: AMD) today announced the flagship installment in the award-winning line of graphics cards, the ATI Radeon™ HD 5970, the fastest card ever created.¹ The new ultra high-end model joins a growing list of the world’s first and only graphics cards to fully support Microsoft DirectX^® 11 technology and ATI Eyefinity multi-display technology.

Designed to support the most demanding PC games at ultra-high resolutions and image quality settings, the ATI Radeon™ HD 5970 has unlocked overclocking potential, granting access to every bit of power the card has to offer through ATI Overdrive™ technology.² Now shipping from retailers and available in the channel, the ATI Radeon™ HD 5970 also launches today in new Alienware Area-51, Area-51 ALX and Aurora desktop PCs.

Record-breaking overclocking capabilities take Dragon Platform technology to the forefront for users that demand the utmost control in performance tuning. The unrivaled overclocking capabilities of the ATI Radeon™ HD 5970 are enabled by the unique design of the card, which features advanced fan and vapor chamber technologies and a fully vented exhaust to keep the card cool and ensure overclocking headroom using ATI Overdrive™ technology.² The formidable combination of AMD Phenom II processors, AMD 7-Series chipsets, and ATI Radeon HD graphics deliver comprehensive tuning, immersive entertainment, and outstanding value.

Enthusiasts can expand their field of view, ATI Radeon™ HD 5970, driving up to three displays at once, delivering an unmatched maximum resolution of 7680×1600 and creating an unparalleled game play experience.³ For the first time ever, ATI CrossFireX™ technology leverages the power of multiple graphics processors to deliver even more game performance in 20 of today’s popular titles when using ATI Eyefinity technology, with more to come.

The ATI Radeon™ HD 5970 graphics card delivers nearly 5 TeraFLOPS of compute power, ensuring superior performance in the latest DirectX^® 11 games, as well as in previous versions of DirectX^® and OpenGL titles. With the world’s most powerful graphics core built on 40nm process technology harnessing up to 3,200 stream processors, gamers can enjoy DirectX^® 11 games now, such as EA Phenomic’s BattleForge™ and S.T.A.L.K.E.R.:Call of Pripyat from GSC Game World, with many more titles on the way, including:

• Battlefield Bad Company 2 from EA DICE
• DiRT™ 2 from Codemasters, arriving December 1, 2009,
• Aliens vs. Predator™ from Rebellion,
• Update to The Lord of the Rings Online™ from Turbine,
• Update to Dungeons and Dragons Online® Eberron Unlimited™ from Turbine.

New features and functionality of ATI Stream technology allow users to harness the ATI Radeon™ HD 5970 graphics card to enhance their computing experience, helping to improve the performance of enabled media, entertainment and productivity applications.⁴ ATI Stream technology and the HD 5970 support both Direct Compute 11 and OpenCL industry standards for application acceleration.

Delivering full-fledged performance when needed, the ATI Radeon™ HD 5970 also leads in power efficiency by automatically powering down unused GPU resources when not in use, resulting in idle desktop power consumption as low as 42 watts.⁵

The ATI Radeon™ HD 5970 is supported by a wide range of add-in-board companies, including ASK, Asus, Club 3D, Diamond, Gigabyte, High Tech, MSI, Sapphire, Tul/Power Color, Visiontek and XFX.

To celebrate the launch of the ATI Radeon™ HD 5970 and to conclude a series of contests created to celebrate AMD’s 40^th anniversary year, AMD is announcing the third and final contest designed to give back to AMD fans and supporters. Starting today, fans of AMD on Facebook will be able to enter to win one of 10 Microsoft Xbox 360s or one of 10 Wiis from Nintendo. One gaming system will be given away every weekday for four weeks. Full contest rules and details available online: www.amd.com/40years

“With the arrival of the ATI Radeon HD 5970, the fastest graphics card in the world, we’ve cemented AMD as the unquestioned graphics leader,” said Matt Skynner, vice president and general manager, AMD Graphics Group. “With the holiday shopping season right around the corner, the new card, coupled with the awesome power of ATI Eyefinity technology, is the ultimate setup for serious gamers.”

“The extraordinary performance of the ATI Radeon HD 5970 is a perfect match for the Alienware Area-51, Area-51 ALX and Aurora desktops,” said Frank Azor, senior product planning manager, Dell Gaming. “By offering this level of graphics capability as well as the visual and performance enhancements made possible by DirectX 11 hardware, gamers will benefit from enhanced image quality enabling an incredibly intense gaming experience.”

Supporting Resources

• Pictures: See photos of the ATI Radeon™ HD 5970 series graphics cards on Flickr

• Press kit: More information on the ATI Radeon™ HD 5970 series of graphics cards
• Product page: ATI Radeon™ HD 5970 series product information
• Contest: Enter the third and final contest in AMD’s 40^th anniversary celebration for a chance to win one of 20 Wiis from Nintendo or Microsoft Xbox 360s. More information available online: www.amd.com/40years, or enter to win on Facebook.
• Twitter: Follow AMD graphics news on Twitter at @ATIGraphics
• Facebook: Become a fan of AMD technology on Facebook

About AMD

Advanced Micro Devices (NYSE: AMD) is an innovative technology company dedicated to collaborating with customers and technology partners to ignite the next generation of computing and graphics solutions at work, home and play. For more information, visit http://www.amd.com.

1. As of November 18, 2009, the ATI Radeon™ HD 5790 scores X12011.1 in 3DMark Vantage Extreme preset, which is the highest recorded single-card score. System configuration: Intel Core i7 965 processor @ 3.33GHz, Gigabyte EX58-UD5 motherboard, Corsair XMS 6GB memory (3×2GB) at 1600MHz (8-8-8-24 timings), Windows 7 RTM x64, ATI Radeon™ HD 5970 1GB GDDR5, Drivers: ATI Catalyst™ 9.10 Beta (8.663.1) / NVIDIA ForceWare 191.07WHQL

2. AMD product warranty does not cover damage caused by overclocking, even when enabled by AMD software. Unlike previous generations of ATI Radeon™ graphics cards, the overclocking potential of the ATI Radeon™ HD 5970 graphics card has been left uncapped. You control the amount of overclocking to which you subject your card. Please use discretion and caution when overclocking.

3. To enable a third display on an ATI Radeon HD 5970 graphics card you require one panel with a DisplayPort connector.

4. Requires application support for ATI Stream technology.

5. Average idle power of the ATI Radeon HD 5970, as measured by AMD on a typical board in a typical use-case

AMD, the AMD Arrow logo, ATI, the ATI logo, Radeon, Overdrive and combinations thereof, are trademarks of Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. Other names are for informational purposes only and may be trademarks of their respective owners.

I recently had the pleasure of getting a sneak peak on Daniel Botz’s doctoral dissertation on the demoscene, entitled “Hacker-Ästhetik” (to be published). I am struggling with reading German, but I’m quite impressed with the extensive research that has gone into it. It has some refreshing views on the history, aesthetics and materiality of the demoscene. Before I got a peak of the dissertation, I was e-mailing back and forth with Botz during the summer. I thought I’d publish some of it here to see if it can lead to some interesting discussions. I am currently bathing in theory for my thesis on chipmusic, and I have been using some ideas from here. I’ve probably upset the radical post-humanist Friedrich Kittler by studying soundchips as social constructions pre-encoded with musical conventions, rather than mere ontological facts. But the idea of inherent aesthetical potentials in materials is refreshingly anti-individualistic.

Choose your youtube Amiga oldschool demo soundtrack: dr.vector or lizardking or tip&firefox or diablo.

CHIPFLIP > I have recently tried to get into the “media materialism” of Kittler and the others. In combination with software studies, or platform studies, I think it forms a very nice contextualization of demoscene works as political aesthetics. As I am more of a musician than a programmer/technology-nerd, I tend to focus more on the musical aspects though. With my restricted knowledge in Kittler’s works, I have understood that he sometimes regards technology as apriori, as something default. I saw you mentioning Kittler in relation to demoscene restrictions. Is that more about the artificial restrictions (4k intros, etc) than the actual hardware restrictions, or..?

BOTZ > To me, Kittlers “media materialism” is one of the key concepts for demoscene aesthetics. It’s not only applicable to specific size or platform restrictions but also to the common law of the demoscene to use accessible, standard customary hardware. Basically, the classic media artist asks himself “What kind of technology would I need to realize my concept”, while the demoscener asks “What can I achieve with the hardware in my hands”, which is regarding technology as a priori. What I basically try to say in my thesis is that demos rely on the artistic materiality of computers. Their aesthetic values are not based on infinite digital flexibility, but on the physical restrictions of computer platforms. That’s why demoscene is not about an idealistic projection of future technology, but about the creative appropriation of present hardware. Thus, it overcomes the frustration of “media platonism”, as Kittler would probably say.

CHIPFLIP > Do you see any problems in focusing on the demoscene’s “bricolage” characteristics? I have grown a sort of love-hate relationship with this perspective. Demos indeed do “impossible” things, but I sometimes find myself ignoring that this is almost like an inherent human trait. We all want to do the best with what we have, you know? Demosceners are reliant on the medium, but so is everybody else. There is no unlimited medium. I think the reason why I am particularly interested in this, is that chip music is often described as political/subversive/novelty/hacking/etc when it’s usually a lot more
conformative than that. Hm, I guess in the end my question to you is – what other subcultures/art-forms do you think are similar to the demoscene?

BOTZ > You asked for an example, I would name Graffiti as a paradigm of how creative subcultures work. I know that the comparison Cracker Scene – Graffiti Scene is really worn out because of the superficial similiarities like leaving traces in public space under illegal circumstances. But in both cases, the aim is to gain freedom, which is to be reached by expanding barriers, sometimes legal restrictions (as you wrote: demoscene began with claiming the right to copy), but at the cost of building up self-set restrictions. For example Graffiti claims the right to paint virtually any wall, it’s the call for freedom of artistic expression in the urban spaces. But the Graffiti Scene itself is far from being anarchistic: There are several traditional styles anyone has to master before getting fame and there is a very complex hierarchy of writers, plus an aerosol can is a VERY restrictive artistic tool.

CHIPFLIP > I have come to understand “art” as being very dependent on (a relationship to) concepts and theory, while “craft” is valued more as technical skills and end results. Thus, I personally regard the demos in general as craftmanship, but as I understand what you wrote you see it somewhere inbetween. In your text, you say that in the demoscene the computer is an artistic material, not a tool. What other artistic practices would you compare this to? Why did you choose the term artistic material?

BOTZ > This is quite simple. Computers are mostly referred to as tools. A tool is used to produce or shape something which in the end exists independently from the tool it was created with. In some cases the product even negates the production process and the use of a computer. Otherwise, a demo cannot exist without its platform, since the definition as a demo assumes its real-time execution on a computer, making a demo not a PRODUCT but a STATE of the computer. Thus, it’s more consistent to think of the computer as a material which is being shaped by its operator, pushing every byte into place. If you take this further, it’s pretty easy to realise that the aesthetic parameters of a demo are heavily dependent on the used hardware platform.

In other words: A demo is not a free concept being realised by the aid of a computer. It’s about the artistic process of interacting with the available material, accepting its boundaries as essential stimuli for shaping the outcome. This concept of “artistic material” is retraceable to Aristotle’s Physics (causa materialis): A statue made of bronze is already included within the possibilities of the material bronze. I like this point a lot, because computer art is often being read as completely virtual and unlimited while a demo makes use of the resistance of a certain hardware platform to define its aesthetic standards. Thus, the demoscene revaluates (not only so-called “obsolete”) computers as artistic material. (Kittler Inside!

So for now I will try to adress your question about the scene as a kind of craft. The applicability of the this term to the production culture of demos is something I really racked my brain over several times. On the one hand, the appreciation of technical skills, the mastering of formal exercises and the references to artistic traditions has made this comparison very tempting. It is also often used in the attempt to divide “craft” from “art”, which is very common in art history. See for example the title of Shirley Shor’s Article “DEMOing: An Emerging Artform or Just Another Digital Craft?“:

In fact, I use the same distinction as you do, keeping in mind that it’s pure theory and it does not works that simple in real life. Plus, it only works for “western” culture since the 15th century, and it has been dynamised by the avantgardes of the 20th century, which means that performing yesterday’s art equals today’s craft. So, placing democoding somewhere between art and craft is not really something I would dare because both terms are very interdependant and judgmental. But there’s no doubt that the scene really behaves like a craft guild sometimes. I used the term “craftmanship” for the graphics scene, as there has been a long dispute about quality standards, like “pixel art should be judged by pixels skills alone”. I just don’t believe that strict opinions like that have any connection to forms of traditional craft. I think it’s a comprehension of form which serves to constitute the scene as a subculture. In other words, not the SCENE made the RULES, the RULES made the SCENE

CHIPFLIP > That’s really interesting. Yeah, I have recently tried to differentiate between demoscene-music and the chipmusic that is released on (net)labels, micromusic.net, 8bitcollective, etc. There are surprisingly few demosceners that release/perform their music elsewhere, which is a curious thing in itself. But also, there seems to be more focus on craft in the demoscene, than elsewhere. Demoscene chipmusic is more technical, while other chipmusic is more about the musical concept or form. Obviously this relates to what you are saying; demomusic rules on small filesize and maximalism. Related to this then, is also that demosceners tend to aim for new or spectacular results, whereas other chipmusicians can embrace the default sounds to a larger extent. Here it is often more important to make the Gameboy-reference clear – especially if you’re not using a Gameboy

BOTZ > That’s correct! German Author Ulf Poschardt wrote in his book “DJ Culture” about “Celebrating the means of production”, which claims that for example in hip hop or techno culture musical products are never presented as isolated works of art but constantly referring to their basis of creation. Also, I enjoyed recently reading your (chipflip-)comment on “Fanta in Space”. Insane chip hacking of the C-64 hardware to play an italo disco track is a very good example how demoscene craft works. I think, Fanta managed to pick a musical style pattern which can be instantly associated with demoscene music, some sort of tight lizardking-ish tracker-pop. It’s the same when Spacepigs introduced their Spacetracker on the IBM PC using the worn out first samples of the Amiga ST-01. It seems to me that inside the scene, technical innovations have to be tested by mastering canonical exercises before they can be used for artistic experiments.

A month ago the Ready > Run exhibition opened in Philadelphia, and will run until November 7th at the Esther M. Klein Art Gallery. It shows works from Enso, minusbaby, noteNdo, Nullsleep, VBLANK, Animal Style, MET-Lab, NO CARRIER, Paul Slocum, Dan and Winckler. From the site: “Chip musicians and pixel artists work within the limitations of these vintage technologies by hacking their childhood toys to generate complex new genres of music and visual art that challenge and reflect the identity of contemporary art on an international level.” The text thus places the works as operating within the ‘limits’ of material systems, but expanding symbolic systems through ‘complex new genres’. Is that really what the exhibition does…?

As noted before, chipmusic is usually accompanied by either glitch aesthetics or 8-bit craftmanship; what Heidegger would label bringing-forth and challening-forth respectively. Videogame hardware or software are obviously used, and maybe more often than some artists want to admit (me?!) the symbolics and aesthetics of videogames are also used. This exhibition shows all of these discourses.

Enso and minusbaby represent craftmanship with their good-looking printed pixel graphics.The NES musicdisk Teletype by Animal Style and No Carrier, operates in a similar domain. Animal style also exhibits a Gameboy connected to a home made amplifier. Paul Slocum displays his old work ‘Combat Rock’ where a cover of “Rock the Casbah” has been added to the Atari 2600-game Combat.

There are several works that combine videogames and interaction, with glitch aesthetics. In Data Spills, Nullsleep hacks a NES-game and makes it spill program logic into the representational layer, producing glitch artifacts. No Carrier presents his GlitchNES that you can control with a Power Pad and noteNdo works with hardware-glitches of the NES that can be controlled by intercepting lazer lights. VBLANK also creates glitch aesthetics when he transcodes the ROM of an Atari XE onto the screen, and enables joystick interaction.

These works go beyond the limitations of systems in several ways. There are physical interfaces that are not inherent to the systems. There are no NES-printers and therefore printed NES-graphics can only exist outside the system. There are unfortunately no lazer interfaces to the NES either, and it is possible that the hardware modifications by noteNdo produces effects and artifacts that are out-of-system-experiences; things that software and emulators can only (try to) dream of. The ideal glitches; those that cannot be reproduced or explained.

To me, it is highly relevant to think of what constitutes a system and, from that perspective, define limitations and possibilities. How is a system empowering and disempowering? Chipstyled works are described both as remaining within systems, and transgressing the limits of systems, which seems quite true. But it would be interesting to study more in-depth what a system really is, by studying the transgressive aswell as traditional uses. It is not only relevant for chipmusic; such platform-specific analyses could maybe say a thing or two about popular culture in general. All photos below taken by Marjorie Becker.

Animal Style: Juvenile Amplifier

NES Landscapes by enso

Reset v2.0 by noteNdo

Teletime by Animal Style and No Carrier

A great question from an associate:

What program do you use for managing your email account? I like that you can have your picture on it.

Here’s my answer:

I just started using Outlook (not to be confused with Outlook Express, which is a truncated version of Outlook handling email only).

Outlook combines email, calendaring and contacts all in one application. It’s really slick. Being able to embed a photo or logo in outgoing emails is only the start of its really cool features. It’s also pretty easy to get started on.

On the downside, the most cool features require a bit of a learning curve to implement; however, once you get them set up, you never have to think about them again….unless your system crashes and you have to do a complete system reinstall.

That said, a major downside to Outlook is that it is HIGHLY susceptible to viruses – more so than about any other software on the market. So if you decide to use it, make sure you have a system in place for protecting your computer from viruses and backups.

I can’t stress backups highly enough. I once paid $2000 to get my data back after a system crash. I would have paid $10K. To avoid any expense, I could have paid $100 and done weekly backups.

I can’t recommend to anyone, anywhere, for any reason, at any time using virus protection software (McAffee or Norton) – but instead using hardware in the form of an external firewall, hardware offered by Internet service providers like Comcast or McLeod. (Qwest DSL is terrible, can’t recommend that either.)

The reasons I recommend against software virus protection are:

1. Virus protection software companies have an incentive to put viruses ON people’s computers; doing this keeps them in business. Some have actually been caught doing this.
2. Virus protection software interferes with the use of other software, particularly email and browsers.
3. Virus protection software requires an enormous amount of RAM (Random Access Memory). RAM is what determines how fast your computer is able to think. The amount of RAM that comes standard in most of today’s computers is a healthy amount – but the anti virus software requires ALL of it to run properly. This means that there is no RAM left for your computer to run other software (like the operating system and Office); therefore, your computer will appear to function VERY SLOWLY – taking forever to do very simple things….like open a Word file.
4. Virus protection software has been the #1 cause of support calls I have received in my 15-year career. It is likely the bane of most internal PC support technician’s careers — and a pretty good source of income for most external (contracting/consulting) PC support technicians.

So my recommendation is to get high speed cable with an external firewall (hardware). Fewer hassles. Much lower cost short and long term.

I’ve only had 2 viruses in the last 5 years — which was my own fault on both counts; I clicked on a nasty link while doing research. I also have a good backup system (external hard drive) and system recovery process (VMware) in place – so restoration only takes me 20 minutes as opposed to 2-3 days.

This all makes Outlook a good solution for me.

The Norwegian composer Geir Tjelta has introduced a new trick for the SID-chip: realtime delay. The output of the third channel of the SID can be recorded, and by delaying the playback of the sample on the “virtual” fourth channel, you get a subtle echo. This routine doesn’t use much CPU-time either. A nice and elegant trick. Get the exe and mp3 here. It needs to run on the old 6581 chip, since this technique for playing samples relies on a bug that was almost fixed with the new 8580 chip.

Another modern way of making automatic echoes is Neil Baldwin’s routine for his new NES music editor, Nijuu. Instead of sampling sounds, it detects free spaces in the tracks and triggers notes with decreasing volumes. It uses more CPU but sounds  more obvious than Tjelta’s echoes. Listen to the MP3.

As a sidenote – Geir and Neil are both chipmusicians from the 1980s having recently returned with a boom. Geir also programs an editor together with GRG, Sid Duzz It, which according to the rumours will include this echo effect along with extensive MIDI support in the next version.

Edit Oct 01: Geir says it will not be included in the new SDI.

Here are some nice tools, document templates, and websites about the project management:

1. Thymer

A project management and task planning tool.

2. OnlineTaskList

A free task management for teams and individuals.

3. Project Management Knowhow

There are several tools, templates, and methods of PM

4. Project Management Document and Templates

PM@FH-IMA

Due to a comment by Viznut, I’ve had quick look into music made with the PDP-1 (circa 1960). This was a popular machine in the early hacker culture that grew out of universities such as MIT. A few of the audio hacks are documented in MIT’s HAKMEM (1972). Writing this post, it gradually turned into a form of platforms studies or media-specific analysis, describing note duration on different trackers/hardware, and considering the compositional consequences of it. The scope of platforms here is limited, and comments about alternatives are appreciated.

Sometime between 1960 and 1964, Peter Samson made the music software Harmony Compiler along with additional hardware, enabling 4 channels of square wave audio. Dan Smith and others used it to compose music, or “encode” as they say themselves, which was saved on paper tape (materiality matters!). Peter Samson had previously made music software for the TX-0 (1956), that you controlled with a light pen! Oh the joy. At bitsavers you can find files that seem to be related to his software. And if you want to try to get in on the PDP-fun you can check this video where Peter Samson talks after 80 minutes.

J.S. Bach, Organ Concerto No. 1 in G Major, 3rd movement, BWV
592 being played on DEC PDP-1.Photographer unknown, from here

Harmony Compiler was text-based. According to Smith’s memory, a melody could look like: 7t4 7t4 8t4 7t4 9t4 8t2. 7t4 means note 7 at duration 4, and you could replace the t with other letters to change e.g staff (bass, tenor) and tempo. For each note you have to state the duration of it, just like in traditional sheet music. I remember using similar ways to make ringtones on my Nokia mobile phone only a few years ago. And in fact, this principle is still the basis for the dominant way of sequencing music today: piano roll sequencing. For each note you enter, the duration of the note must be graphically declared with the mouse. Replacing mouse with light-pen, this is what you did with Samson’s TX-0 software from the 50s.

In step sequencers and trackers, you don’t have to set neither duration nor tempo in the sequencer. You can if you want to, but each step has a predefined length in time and every instrument has a fixed duration. This is true in particular for trackers using synthetical sounds, with its roots in Soundmonitor (C64, 1986). To vary the duration, you use effects to sustain the duration and alter volume envelopes. For example, in JCH Editor for C64 there is a default volume-setting in the instrument, but by writing ‘+++’ in the tracker, you extend the duration of the sound. So in the picture below, the C-4 note on the right lasts longer than usual. There is also an effect to change the volume envelope, so you can make the duration shorter. But effects are abstracted one level; with the command SXX you point to line XX in an effect table where you set the volume.

JCH 20.G4 (C64, 1991), screenshot taken from HVMEC

Synthetic trackers are typically not ideal for playing with more complex volume dynamics. One reason is limitations in the platform that generates the sounds. As a composer you cannot set the volume any way you please; you are dependent on the so called ADSR capabilities of the hardware/software (the volume curve generator). A special example is the C64, where the dynamics are highly determined by the hardware due to the ADSR-bug in the soundchip. It means that you can never be completely sure that an instrument will play with the same volume envelope. It depends on what ADSR-values the previous instrument had, and when it was executed. Also, some ADSR-settings tend to produce clicks, which can make it frustrating to program clean delays for example.

This is easier with sample-based trackers such as Protacker (Amiga, 1990), since you can set absolute volume levels at any point. In these tracker you can also use instruments with fixed volume curve. An audio sample sounds the same each time you trigger it. But the duration varies with different notes, because a higher note means a higher speed, and therefore the sample ends faster. Usually this is fixed by looping the sample, and setting the volume directly in the tracker instead. Each time you initiate the sound, you have to manually set the volume decrease: A0F, A0F in the 1st channel below. Without copy-paste functions, it takes a lot of work to write the same volume envelope each time an instrument is triggered. Being a somewhat lazy composer thus only increases the amount of volume dynamics.

Protracker 3.15 (Amiga, 1993), screenshot from xmp @ sourceforge

In a sense then, we are back to the explicit note duration style of Harmony Compiler. To complete the circle, we can consider the tracker-like software that works with explicit note duration. HVMEC defines such software as editors, rather than trackers. In the screenshot of DMC below, you can see the pattern editor on the right side. Notes share space with commands (DURation, SouND, SLiDE), which means that step #8 (ADR.00) in this channel, might not be the same place in time as step #8 in the other channels. This adds a new layer of trickery, and I remember cursing a lot when using this back in the days. But the detachment of channels and the lack of overview, means that you can play with polyrhythms very easily – a feature I always appreciated also in LSDj. It is as far as I know, not very common in your average piano roll software, where the master clock is an authoritative master.

DMC 5.1 by Brian & DJB (C64, 1997), screenshot from HVMEC

To conclude then – it seems that from the software discussed here, the sample-based ones give the most direct control over volume duration. In my view, this is reflected in the amount of volume/duration dynamics in Amiga MOD-music compared to C64-music. But, the difference is not necessarily between sample-based or synthetic trackers. In Musicline Editor (Amiga 1995) you can control synthetic sounds with pattern effects for both instrument volume, ADSR and channel volume. But this flexibility is possible only because the synthesis is made in software. In LSDj (Gameboy) there are also different ways to experiment with the volume, but it’s determined by the hardware’s limitations in ADSR.

The point with medium-specific analysis is to keep one thing constant across different media, and even if this was a rather basic attempt, it does give some interesting results and some basics to start from. Then you can start looking at hacks to overcame hardware limitations in volume control, such as for the 2A03.

]]> http://studio930.wordpress.com/2009/08/15/ghosts-of-saarke/ Sun, 16 Aug 2009 03:08:15 +0000 jetrefilm http://studio930.wordpress.com/2009/08/15/ghosts-of-saarke/

The Ghosts of Saarke website the personal online catalog of my work including, but not limited to: essays, poetry, computer game concepts and design, online novels, indexes, screenplays, film commentaries and reviews, weight training, martial arts, and my daily blog.  Unusually wide, the site is 975 pixels wide by 1175 pixels tall.

Influenced by Studio 930’s style (dark background, floral flourishes, reverse type, and heavy stroke white frame) the Ghosts of Saarke website reserves the center of the site for the main content, while surrounding it colorful graphics, attendant artwork and graphic links to related materials and promotional products and apparel.

Similarly, The Ghosts of Saarke website will blend multiple online RSS feeds into three primary categories: 1) Entertainment; 2) Computer Games; and 3) Martial Arts & Exercise.  The site will also port the http://jetrefilm.wordpress.com blog from WordPress.

The site will also contain an extensive, membership-only fantasy database called the Saarkepedia, which will support the site’s first online novel, Rain of Steel.

An online store will eventually be brought online to sell project related promotional products, apparel, and props.

The Ghosts of Saarke website is in no way affiliated with the Ghosts of Saarke, L.L.P.

David Jetre  | Creative Director
www.studio930.com

Link: 25 Really Cool ScreenSavers To Download

Some examples:

1. The One Ring

   This freeware screensaver has been specially created for all the fans of The Lord of the Rings and J.R.R. Tolkien. If you liked the book or the movie, this screensaver will make a great addition to your collection.

   

1. System 47 Star Trek LCARS Screensaver

   System 47 is a nice screensaver that will display Star Trek LCARS interface on your screen with various interesting animations. System47 was just a generic name made up for an arbitrary planetary system. Though the program has started and will continue to include more non-planetary displays in the future.

   

1. The Matrix Revolutions 3D Screensaver

   Float through Matrix code as it forms images from the trilogy. It works fine with multi-monitors.

   

1. Twingly

   If you want to experience the true blogosphere, download the twingly screensaver, a very cool desktop screensaver that lets you visualize global blog activity in real time.

   

PersonalBrain is mind mapping software from TheBrain Technologies.^[1] It uses a dynamic graphical interface that maps hierarchical and network relationships.^[2] It includes the ability to add links to Web pages and files as well as notes and events using a built-in calendar.^[3] It is cross-platform, available for Windows, Unix and Unix-like operating systems, and Mac OS X. ^[4] It is available in a free edition as well as in commercial editions with additional features.^[3]

(Source: Wiki)

Some screenshots: http://www.thebrain.com/