Robert Fripp to Compose Vista's Soundtrack

brainstem writes "Recently, King Crimson founder, guitar master, and all around eccentric musical genius Robert Fripp spent a few days at the MS Campus recording soundscapes for Vista. Fripp, who has been at the forefront of electronic guitar composition for more than 35 years, first using analog tape delays, then with digital effects. He infused his unique brand of Frippertronics on the MS crowd. The Channel 9 site has posted a 25 minute video, chronicalling the event. Now I guess I finally have a reason to leave the default Windows sounds enabled."

Comments

Well here is what it comes down to

[Saven Marek]

Where gnu/linux people would spend all that money and time on coding applications that work MICROSOFT will spend it on making 'soundscapes' and other kind of marketing things.

No wonder it won't run on anything less than a 1GHz cpu

Re:Well here is what it comes down to

[EvanED]

I know. 'cause anyone knows that:

1) Microsoft doesn't have enough money to do both development and create sounds at the same time, and

2) Nobody cares if something is plesant to use

Re:Well here is what it comes down to

[pintomp3]

that's why all gnu/linux apps are easy on the eyes/ears,right? microsoft is starting to learn that you can't have programmers be your stylists/composers. besides, it's not like they don't have the funds. they realize computers are no longer just for work or getting stuff done. apple has shown that a nice looking computer (inside and out) is appealing for incorperating into your lifestyle. this is where microsoft wants to go too. same reason dell went to htc to design most recent axim. you can't just sell the steak, you gotta sell the sizzle too.

Re:Well here is what it comes down to

[EvanED]

But you can't dismiss how pleasant something is either. (And I'd say that Windows does the job fine, and to call pretty much anything in the NT line unstable is, IMO, completely misguided. They do have security issues.)

The point is that I think that it's very very unlikely that this is being done at the expense of anything relating to code. For instance, MS couldn't have just pulled the guy off this and added another programmer for a couple days; that would be nearly useless.

Re:Well here is what it comes down to

[Skal Tura]

Now the difference between Gnu/Linux people and MS is that MS concentrates into making an complete package, which is targeted to a very
wide range of users, from grandma to power users. This is not an easy task, and definately, things like UI design, graphics etc. are a
MUST for a system like, a 'soundtrack' is just extension of that.

Lets not forget the fact that microsoft just does happen to be the leader of UI design, and push it always further.

Oh yeah, and i'm not denying that there wouldn't be things many of /. readers won't like, infact HATE, but that's just because we are not the MAIN audience.

Now, basicly what you are saying that looks & feel is worth zero, nada, zilch. You pick your wife like that too? >;D

Also, don't forget the fact that many times Linux/Open-Source software is lightyears behind in UI design.
UI is not just nice graphics etc. It's a combination of many things, and the bottomline is usability. Why don't we see many grandmas using linux? ;)

Oh yeah, and perhaps lack of sophisticated easy to use GUIs in Linux makes it powerfull for power users like you and me, in various
tasks.

Oh yeah, you need windows which works very well on slow machines?
Now, it's just matter of customization! You possibly can't deny you cannot modify windows enough to make it WAY more lightweight,
ie. use Litestep/Astonshell/Darkstep or some other shell replacement, replace IE with Opera / Firefox (firefox is too bloated imo), then
replace WMP with Media Player Classic(or old version of Media Player), VLC or some other lightweight tool.
use for listening to music old version of winamp, 2.95 found from oldversions.com (2.95 imo is still the best, it's lightweight, stabile, and does everything a app like that should, nothing more, nothing less. 5.x is just WAY too blaoted, even with high end machine
it seems to be lagging badly).
Anything else?
Oh yeah, to take that even further, stop some of the unnecessary services from windows, check your startup programs.
When Vista comes out, don't use the new filesystem(WinFS was it?), it's damn heavy, but use NTFS, or even FAT32(even lighter for resources).

Now sooner than you notice, you have a lightweight system.

I know, as i've installed & made WXP Pro work efficiently on slower machines than it should even install! (WXP atleast initially had
a restriction of no installing on under 500Mhz machines and was it 256mb ram or 128mb ram)
Oh yeah, and we've even got W95 to run on a 386 (don't try this at home kids! Boot up takes hours alone, or something!)

Windows isn't inefficient, in fact, qutie controversary: it just makes use of the power for the good of the user, in UI & features.
and just as an example, atleast on my machine, Ubuntu takes MUCH longer to boot than WXP. (Athlon 2700+, 1gig Ram)

Re:Well here is what it comes down to

[Skal Tura]

Infact, i doubt that.
What grandmas need?
Browser, Office, anything else? Very little, and there are apps for that.

Now computers they use? Basic, all device drivers exist.

Only thing which might be problematic for them is the support for digital cameras, but how many of grandmas use digital cameras?
Printing works AFAIK quite well in linux.

Why then they don't use Linux? It's harder to use, the UI isn't as good.

For example, my mom only needs browser really from her computer, but she still prefers windows over linux (i made her use linux in the past)

oh yeah, and grandmas aren't worried of the technical stuff: someone always handles it for them

Next silly explanation please

Re:If the sound is THAT good,

[Karma Farmer]

Because it hinders your ability to trample all over the copyright holder's rights?

Copying music for personal use is legal, and does not trample on anyone's "rights."

Re:If the sound is THAT good,

[Achromatic1978]

Copying music for personal use is legal

It is? I'd love to see the test case that established that precedent, or the law.

Surely you mean copying your own music?

It would certainly not be legal to copy music from someone else's copy of Vista on the grounds of it being "for personal use".

Re:If the sound is THAT good,

[Karma Farmer]

It is? I'd love to see the test case that established that precedent, or the law.

The Audio Home Recording Act makes most copying of music for personal use legal.

I see no reason why you couldn't copy music from "somone else's" copy of Window's Vista, though I can't see how that's related to using the sound in KDE. No law makes any distincting between "your own music" and "other people's music." That's mostly a fiction created by people who mistakenly believe that copyright is somehow related to licenses.

And yet more Windows Astroturfing...

[Anonymous Coward]

This site is becoming "News form Lamers" more and more each day...

Re:um - A few words on Robert Fripp

[fraktus]

Robert Fripp is a very talented guitar player, he played a lot with Brian Eno and also with David Bowie during his Berlin period.
While he is technically a very good guitar player he is also somebody that did a lot of technological experimentation. He did invent the concept of frippertronic where you play a few notes of music and loop them in real time, you then continue to add new material to your loop at each new iteration. Because he was using analog tape to do this at first the oldest iteration where fading away while the new material was added on top.
If you are curious I recommend his abum "Soundscapes 2: Blessing of Tears"
Maybe because he is a friend of Brian Eno that already composed some sounds for Windows 95 this is how he was contacted by Microsoft.
Apple should do the same and I would find it more logical if Fripp would work for Apple while Microsoft could just hire Justin Timberlake for his music :-)

Re:In the Court...

[gad_zuki!]

>very un-windows-user-ish.

What does that mean? That anyone who does anything remotely creative must be using a mac, because, well, macs are kewl to the kiddies? Because Apple uses pictures of artists in their commercials?

Oh please.

A machine is a tool and a surprsingly small amount of people take the fanboy OS wars seriously. Good for them. I hope Fripp enjoys his cash, makes some decent music, and doesnt have to deal with OS fanatics.

No need for alarm

[ecorey]

I highly doubt there will be any harsh guitars or really anything that resembles King Crimson. While Fripp is known for King Crimson, I'm sure MS brought him aboard for his solo efforts in ambient music. He has recently been touring as the opening act for a band called Porcupine Tree. He only does ambient music with guitar loops layered to create a peaceful ambience suited quite well for an OS. If anyone has ever seen Victor Wooten (Bela Fleck) solo, you will see similarities in how they produce the music. I am very excited to hear that an experienced progressive rock musician will be ushering in the next generation of Windows with a modern twist.