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

If the sound is THAT good,

[glomph]

I'll use it for my KDE start sound...

Re:If the sound is THAT good,

[ewhac]

No, you won't. The sounds will be in defective (copy-protected) Windows Media audio files. You won't be able to play them on anything but Windows.

Schwab

Re:If the sound is THAT good,

[Weh]

man, OSes have soundtracks now? What's next? Soundtracks for toasters? Where is it all going?

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.

In the Court...

[Exluddite]

of the Redmond King?

Re:In the Court...

[doxology]

Here are the songs that Fripp is composing for Microsoft:

21st Century Schizoid DRM including Smoke and Mirrors
I Talk to the Windows
Epitaph, Including Bloat for No Reason and an Exploit Tomorrow
Sunchild Java Machine (Including the Dream and the Illusion of compatibility)
The Court of the Redmont King including the Return of the BSOD and the Dance of Clippy

Hint for the unacquainted

Re:In the Court...

[DreadfulGrape]

And don't forget...

Larks' Tongues in ASP

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:um

[Alwin Henseler]

who is fripp

Ehmm, the only person contributing to Vista that actually delivers on time?

preliminary meetings...

[santaliqueur]

Ballmer to Fripp: If you don't compose in the key C#, perhaps this flying chair will help you to B-flat!

Interesting choice...

[Lordie]

...considering the Windows 95 startup sound was created by Brian Eno, a one-time frequent collaborator with Fripp.

Re:Interesting choice...

[pyota]

i recalled this interesting interview snippet with eno regarding why he agreed to the project:

The thing from the agency said, "We want a piece of music that is inspiring, universal, blah- blah, da-da-da, optimistic, futuristic, sentimental, emotional," this whole list of adjectives, and then at the bottom it said "and it must be 3 1/4 seconds long." I thought this was so funny and an amazing thought to actually try to make a little piece of music. It's like making a tiny little jewel. In fact, I made 84 pieces. I got completely into this world of tiny, tiny little pieces of music. I was so sensitive to microseconds at the end of this that it really broke a logjam in my own work. Then when I'd finished that and I went back to working with pieces that were like three minutes long, it seemed like oceans of time.

Microsoft should save the money ..

[Entropy]

That they'll spend on this guy and just record the sounds of broken glass! :D

Re:Fripp? nah, Something with a kick please!

[Weird O'Puns]

Something with a kick?

Perhaps you should listen the latest stuff from King Crimson. Hell, go and check out Red and keep in mind that it was done in the 70's.

Now, I must go back to listening Strapping Young Lad and Opeth....

Re:Not to bash

[NoData]

While having actual guitar riffs sounds cool, but as cool as a blaring guitar might sound anything that's not melodic will soon begin to sound very annoying after a few hundred repetitions.

Please watch TFV. This is Fripp. These aren't rockin' "riffs." It's very ambient, very ethereal, very atmospheric.

But having listened to it, it's also very moody and melancholy. It doesn't make me feel like "Wow, it's big, bright digital world out there!" It's more like, "Blue screens make me sad."

Re:Not to bash

[imdx80]

>Maybe a few nice strums of the guitar for starting or stopping windows will help, but an all-out guitarfest might be a bit overboard.

I've heard that vista is going to ship with lighters to hold up during some of the more poignant effects

The Gates of Paradise?

[stardancer]

This can also be noted: (from krimson-news.com) "Microsoft's Steve Ball (better known to many KN readers as member of the League of Crafty Guitarists) was also in attendance and provided some good comments on the significance of sound themes--and Fripp's soundscapes--to the user experience."

The League of Crafty Guitarists is "the performance wing of Guitar Craft", and Guitar Craft is Robert Fripp's guitar school-thingy. So, the circle is complete.

Anyway. Now at least we know that the sounds in Vista will be nice. That's good. I'm a little worried though, that perhaps the Blue Screen of Death will become Red and "One More Red Nightmare" is blasted out your speakers every time an error/BSOD occurs!

What's scarier is the fact that Robert Fripp's soundscape album from 1997 (not his only soundscape album, no) is so aptly titled "The Gates of Paradise"! amazon link

And perhaps the song titles of that album can give us a hint as to how Fripp feels about mr. Gates:
"The Outer Darkness"
"Abandonment to Divine Providence"
"In Fear And Trembling Of The Lord"
"Acceptance"

I mean, since Microsoft/Gates does rule the universe, or at least one might think that Fripp believes so, we here have a possible explanation to why he agreed to make this Vista "soundtrack"/soundscape/whatever... The other possible explanation is obvious: Fripp likes money.

The Conversation

[Anonymous Coward]

B. Gates: Hello there, Mr. Fripp.

R. Fripp: Please, call me Robert.

B. Gates: Okay, Robert. Call me Bill. I'd like to make you a proposition.

R. Fripp: Sure, Bill, fire away.

B. Gates: I'd like you to make a number of various sounds for our latest OS, and in exchange for less work than it would take for you to make one of your many albums, we will hand you this enormous pile of money. How does that sound?

R. Fripp: That... uh, that actually sounds rather nice.

Vista: the lyrics

[Neo-Rio-101]

It's cool and all to have a soundtrack, but what about start-up lyrics? "Wooooo.... Windows has started! Yeahaahhhhhh! owww!" "Come on! break it down!" - and then it blue screens.

Re:Well here is what it comes down to

[herve_masson]

(...) microsoft is starting to learn (...)

strings "The Microsoft Sound.wav" | tail -n12
Brian Eno
ICOP
1995 Microsoft Corporation
INAM
The Microsoft Sound
IPRD
Microsoft Windows 95
ISRCB
Microsoft Corporation
One Microsoft Way
Redmond, WA 98052-6399

It's not like they're starting to hire professional musicians ! Brian Eno composed this sound for windows 1995.

not the first time he has "sold out"

[justins]

People might have heard Fripp or Crimson music in a Gilette commercial, on The Maxx cartoon on Liquid Television, or in some porn movie that stole the music. (Fripp sued them to get royalties) With regards to the commercial, I know he said something to the effect of "Why not? I use their razors, and people will get to hear something a lot better than the music they ordinarily use in those things. And I can use the money."

As a Fripp fan who will probably end up using Vista at some point I'm cautiously optimistic about this. I'm also skeptical that the little noises an OS makes can have any musical quality whatsoever.