SIGNIFICANT BITS by Sean N. Henderson DECEMBER ROCKS If you haven't taken in our December General Meeting before, this would be a great year to start! We are fortunate to have such a tech industry rock star as John Patrick motor in to present his technology observations to our group. With the shakeups that have rocked (to overuse the metaphor) the world economically, his take on tech will surely be of interest to all. DACS IS ROCKIN' AGAIN Thank you to everyone who attended the PC-Based Music Production Workshop on November 21, 2008 at the DACS Resource Center. This was the second year DACS has had this workshop it was another hit. Attendees gained some tips and tricks about how to have fun making music on their PC using commonly available and industry standard software. Like last year, the workshop started with an overview or history of computer music, then continued on to various demonstrations. Discussion focusing on pure algorithmic composition and academic computer music was left for another time. The software that was demonstrated included M-Audio's KeyRig virtual synthesizer rack, Audacity, Anvil Studio and Pro-Tools. As mentioned before in SIGNIFICANT BITS, a software music sequencer is a program that records and arranges audio and MIDI tracks, and which may host instrument plug-ins, called VST instruments. Small bits of audio that get used in these programs are called loops, or more specifically ACID loops, named after the program by Sonic Foundry, later bought by Sony. Sonic Foundry's (now Sony) ACID was the first to sequence audio loops in the same way that MIDI patterns are used. The hardware that was demonstrated included M-Audio's MobilePre USB ASIO2-compatible audio interface, M-Audio's KeyRig 25 USB/MIDI keyboard, and a modified Gateway MX6436 notebook computer. Playback was through some low-cost computer speakers connected to the M-Audio MobilePre. For those who didn't get to attend and would like to play around with a music program that will let you drag-and-drop bits of music to make a new piece of music, ACIDxpress can be had for free at www.sonycreativesoftware.com/download/freestuff.asp. To locate audio samples for use with ACIDxpress or similar, try typing 'free ACID loops' into a search engine. Alternatively, loop libraries on CD-ROM may be purchased at local music stores specializing in pro-audio. A search for '8Packs' can provide some loops as well. There are many other choices that will handle ACID loops. Many other sequencing platforms offer demo, trial-ware, and lite (read hobbled) versions. Previously I had spent over a year trying to navigate audio/MIDI driver issues, I still advise that for Windows, it all needs to be ASIO2. When shopping for an audio interface, some may come with bundled software, which is good if you are just starting out. An ASIO2-compatible audio interface is necessary if playing back mixed track types, or if recording new tracks while monitoring the others (overdubbing) is desired. If interested in going-to-school on my research and sidestepping some pitfalls, make sure and go ASIO2 compatible for everything involved. LINKS
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