FruityLoops - the god of loop-based music software. After using it for five minutes I was in love. The X-Y controller is simply divine.
I find Logic Platinum somewhat less complex than Cubase - and it has a nicer interface, too.
However, good as these programs are, I still enjoy getting out some Eva Cassidy or some classical stuff and sitting down at the piano, playing, singing and improvising as I feel. My reasonably-expensive sound system just cannot compete with a grand piano. There is simply no way that a plastic peddle kit hooked up to a synth and a PC, or a PC full of loops will ever outclass the grand, or indeed any other instrument.
My thoughts on The Continuator: Naturally, as a musician myself, I am not a big supporter of electronic music, at least not in this guise. John Michael Jarre and the original synthesised works yes, but things like this which help people with no musical talent make music - no. People should learn, not have things done for them. Today's consumer-driven must-have-now Western society is not helping. Why are the RIAA in deep trouble? Why do people pirate? Because they have fooled themselves in to thinking that people want this "pop" they turn out from manufactured "artists." It seems to me they have confused majority and minority. The majority of society does not consist of teeny-bopping pre-adolescent girls! People pirate out of spite, to get their own back on the crap (excuse my French) thrown at them by the misguided RIAA. In conjunction with the rest of soceity and technological advances, people have become lazy and selfish: they want it here, now and easy. They want to be good at everything. Hence, these systems which allow computers to allow untalented people to create music have been created. It can, for the majority of people, only be bad. Why? Because people will be fooled in to thinking they can do something they can't, and the people who have practised hard, or who have natural talent (I'm a mixture of the two), get left in the dry: "oh daahling, analog, wooden grand pianos are sooo last decade!"
But is there a good side? Yes. Disabled people, people with disabilites, who are hence possibly unable to use conventional instruments like normal people. It will be a boon for them, because they will be able to easily create music. The Augmented Composer also looks good for this application, because it allows for an alternative method of input to create music - a less able person would simply arrange some physical items, not have to play a keyboard or operate a computer, for example.
Finally, The MIT project seems to be one to watch. Although at the moment it seems to me to fall in to the same category as the The Continuator, associating vision with music is always interesting, because for each person, music evokes different feelings, different memories. Therefore, if the software allows for visual categorizing of sounds and styles, along with clips, it could be interesting (apologies, my vocabulary at half midnight is never too varied!). Nonetheless, I still think it necessary for people, if they wish to create music, to learn the stave, learn the theory, find an instrument they like, and jam away.
Any British people here may possibly have heard of or watched "Tomorrow's World", a now-defunct BBC2 science program, showing cutting-edge inventions. I remember they had a TV like this, with a certian degree of "intelligence" included - ie, it would automatically switch to news, or remind you when your favourite programs were on, etc.
Regarding the IEEE 1394 - firewire - why firewire? Surely wireless technologies are preferable?
I've been waiting for a book like this to come out..NET does seem rather exciting from an outsider's point of view. At the age of sixteen however, I haven't had much time to learn languages (what with all the crazy examinations the UK school system has), but.NET and its associated languages are on my list. This book looks like it could help.
The only thing I can possibly think of is that less than 400 pages is perhaps a little short. I'll have to pop into Waterstones and check it out.
And I wonder how much the ISPs will charge for the bandwith. My guess is that downloading a physical structure will require rather a lot of data.
Issues like these beside, this looks to be an interesting technology, although perhaps more appearling to the business/research user than the average home user. Where I see a huge application is for schools and colleges/universiteis. No more worrying about wasting raw materials or aquiring special parts, just ink is all that's needed. If only these things were around when I had to do my technology course!
I remain sceptical at the size and detail of the items produced. I can't imagine one being able to produce a.09 micron CPU with one of these things, for example. Equally, I'd say a full size car is also out of the question.
Nevertheless, as time goes on the technology will no doubt improve.
Slashdot Mirror
FruityLoops - the god of loop-based music software. After using it for five minutes I was in love. The X-Y controller is simply divine. I find Logic Platinum somewhat less complex than Cubase - and it has a nicer interface, too. However, good as these programs are, I still enjoy getting out some Eva Cassidy or some classical stuff and sitting down at the piano, playing, singing and improvising as I feel. My reasonably-expensive sound system just cannot compete with a grand piano. There is simply no way that a plastic peddle kit hooked up to a synth and a PC, or a PC full of loops will ever outclass the grand, or indeed any other instrument.
My thoughts on The Continuator:
Naturally, as a musician myself, I am not a big supporter of electronic music, at least not in this guise. John Michael Jarre and the original synthesised works yes, but things like this which help people with no musical talent make music - no. People should learn, not have things done for them. Today's consumer-driven must-have-now Western society is not helping. Why are the RIAA in deep trouble? Why do people pirate? Because they have fooled themselves in to thinking that people want this "pop" they turn out from manufactured "artists." It seems to me they have confused majority and minority. The majority of society does not consist of teeny-bopping pre-adolescent girls! People pirate out of spite, to get their own back on the crap (excuse my French) thrown at them by the misguided RIAA. In conjunction with the rest of soceity and technological advances, people have become lazy and selfish: they want it here, now and easy. They want to be good at everything. Hence, these systems which allow computers to allow untalented people to create music have been created. It can, for the majority of people, only be bad. Why? Because people will be fooled in to thinking they can do something they can't, and the people who have practised hard, or who have natural talent (I'm a mixture of the two), get left in the dry: "oh daahling, analog, wooden grand pianos are sooo last decade!"
But is there a good side? Yes. Disabled people, people with disabilites, who are hence possibly unable to use conventional instruments like normal people. It will be a boon for them, because they will be able to easily create music. The Augmented Composer also looks good for this application, because it allows for an alternative method of input to create music - a less able person would simply arrange some physical items, not have to play a keyboard or operate a computer, for example.
Finally, The MIT project seems to be one to watch. Although at the moment it seems to me to fall in to the same category as the The Continuator, associating vision with music is always interesting, because for each person, music evokes different feelings, different memories. Therefore, if the software allows for visual categorizing of sounds and styles, along with clips, it could be interesting (apologies, my vocabulary at half midnight is never too varied!). Nonetheless, I still think it necessary for people, if they wish to create music, to learn the stave, learn the theory, find an instrument they like, and jam away.
Any British people here may possibly have heard of or watched "Tomorrow's World", a now-defunct BBC2 science program, showing cutting-edge inventions. I remember they had a TV like this, with a certian degree of "intelligence" included - ie, it would automatically switch to news, or remind you when your favourite programs were on, etc. Regarding the IEEE 1394 - firewire - why firewire? Surely wireless technologies are preferable?
I've been waiting for a book like this to come out. .NET does seem rather exciting from an outsider's point of view. At the age of sixteen however, I haven't had much time to learn languages (what with all the crazy examinations the UK school system has), but .NET and its associated languages are on my list. This book looks like it could help.
The only thing I can possibly think of is that less than 400 pages is perhaps a little short. I'll have to pop into Waterstones and check it out.
And I wonder how much the ISPs will charge for the bandwith. My guess is that downloading a physical structure will require rather a lot of data.
.09 micron CPU with one of these things, for example. Equally, I'd say a full size car is also out of the question.
Issues like these beside, this looks to be an interesting technology, although perhaps more appearling to the business/research user than the average home user.
Where I see a huge application is for schools and colleges/universiteis. No more worrying about wasting raw materials or aquiring special parts, just ink is all that's needed. If only these things were around when I had to do my technology course!
I remain sceptical at the size and detail of the items produced. I can't imagine one being able to produce a
Nevertheless, as time goes on the technology will no doubt improve.