xmas time! 2006 brings Scope 6.0

paulrmartin · Post by **paulrmartin** » Sat Dec 17, 2005 3:54 am

On 2005-12-16 18:02, Shroomz wrote:
<a href="http://www.soundart-hot.com/english/skins/entity/">THIS IS MODULATION</a>

Quit with inadvertantly slagging the Noah will ya. It's a lot less DSP intensive when running exactly the same synths as our Scope cards, so it's not really a laughing matter, rather something to get your hands on at the prices they're going for these days (less than the full price of the same software for Scope)

Shroomz, lay off the shroomz.
You're so way f***ing offbase on this post it's not even funny anymore.

_________________
Are we listening?..

[ This Message was edited by: paulrmartin on 2005-12-17 05:08 ]

Shroomz~> · Post by **Shroomz~>** » Sat Dec 17, 2005 5:51 am

Paul, I don't take shrommz & it's way fu*king off base to suggest I do. I simply seem to have a bad case of no sense of humour on occassions where the Noah gets brought into some stupid joke. Made my point, but you didn't get it. Basically the last thing Noah users, Creamware or the community in general need is to ridicule it's own products. But if you weren't using the Noah as part of the ridicule above, then I do apologise for interupting your funny joke.

Shroomz~> · Post by **Shroomz~>** » Sat Dec 17, 2005 5:56 am

Jesus H, do I need to change my bleedin' name again to one tha doesn't have drug connotations, coz you'd be about the third person to tell me to lay off magic mushroomz

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[ This Message was edited by: Shroomz on 2005-12-17 05:56 ]

astroman · Post by **astroman** » Sat Dec 17, 2005 7:32 am

maybe a look at the <a href=http://www.solorb.com/anhevn/pro1art2.jpg>circuit board</a> of an original <a href=http://www.solorb.com/anhevn/pro1.html>Prophet One</a> brings some relief...

cheers, Tom

[ This Message was edited by: astroman on 2005-12-17 07:37 ]

Shroomz~> · Post by **Shroomz~>** » Sat Dec 17, 2005 8:03 am

Yes, very creative & open minds at Sequential there were

Shroomz~> · Post by **Shroomz~>** » Sun Dec 18, 2005 6:56 am

I know you asked astro Stardust, but I can't resist.

Answer :- The designers were hippies from the flower power era. There were drug conotations & messages of Piece & Love on many of Sequential's musical instruments. Maybe some of the designs were concieved while under the influence of mind altering substances

Inside our Drumtraks the message reads :-

" MAY PIECE
PREVAIL
ON EARTH "

then someone has written M.MASH in marker next to that, which I presume means 'mish-mash' & may even have been written by someone in the production/assembly dept, but that's pure speculation.

Hey maybe John Bowen could shine some more light on the story of the 'messages' on the PCBs ?

astroman · Post by **astroman** » Sun Dec 18, 2005 11:13 am

nah, I also hoped that John would jump in...

I actually know that PCB (an abreviation which really drags me to laugh in this context, if you fill in 'silo y in') from a series about vintage gear in a keyboard mag.
The Sequential manuals are also a source of inspiration, as far as I remember.

cheers, Tom

ARCADIOS · Post by **ARCADIOS** » Sun Dec 18, 2005 3:25 pm

it was not a joke.
i just wanted to create a christmas present.......... or to give some ideas how christmas presents should be announced from now on............

_________________
ELVIS LIVES

[ This Message was edited by: ARCADIOS on 2005-12-18 15:26 ]

Post by **irrelevance** » Mon Dec 19, 2005 1:03 am

Synthesis as a meditation

Until now we have, of necessity, approached sysnthesis from a rational, analytic viewpoint. In order to produce a sound, we consider the pitch, timbre and amplitude vary over time. This is the western, scientific approach: Divide something into it's constituent parts and you will be able to define and reproduce it. It is one approach, a good approach, but not the only approach.

Once you have learned the principles in this book so well that they have become a part of you, you are ready to approach the synthesizer with "beginners mind." This is a Zen concept: If you become an "expert," then you "know" what can and cannot be done and therefore limit yourself.
The beginner's mind is empty, free of the habits of the expert, ready to accept, to doubt, and open to all possibilities.
This approach to the synthesizer is intuitive, nonlinear, a cybernetic meditation.
The synthesist can become indistinguisable from the machine and the music. The instrument becomes an extention of the person. Your hands move and you have a broad idea of what will happen when you control or modify a module with another module, but you are not going anywhere. There is no goal. Sound happens. When the process has reached completion you know and you stop. The entire process becomes a gesalt rather than a series of independant actions.
A sound or series of sounds may have been created which do not require your active participation: you can "Turn off your mind, relax and float downstream." Another patch will require a constant active interactionbetween you and one or more of the synthesizer modules and you become a part of, indistinguisable from, the music. Some time later you realize you have been in a trance-like state of consciousness, but at the time "you" did not exist. Such moments are grace.
By its very nature little can be written about the medititve approach to synthesis. It is real; it is valid; and it is an experience you can have if you open yourself to it.

Taken from The Complete Guide to Synthesizers by Devarahi.

Shroomz~> · Post by **Shroomz~>** » Mon Dec 19, 2005 2:16 am

mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

astroman · Post by **astroman** » Mon Dec 19, 2005 5:03 am

it could as well have been taken from The Complete Guide to Rock Climbing (yet to be written) and it's a rather familiar experience if you're able to 'let go' and just do what you do (in no way restricted to music and sports).

But it has nothing at all to do with expertise - you'll forget about that anyway (so there's no need to intentionally deny it), but I can assure you that you'll appreciate any kind of sophistication you (already) have - it lets you get into the flow much easier.
One recognizes it only from a retrospective viewpoint, as in fact there's few to no concern (or even thoughts) while you're acting this way.

Ok, I climbed my first rock driven by an emotional impulse 'to just do it', far from any spectators and even farther from any knowledge, just driven by instinct.

It was RIGHT at that moment, but it could have cost my life.
I wasn't completely naive and the view downwards clearly revealed the consequences of a mistake - but for some reason it didn't strike emotionally, it only increased attention.
This has been confirmed by others as well - it either works THIS way or you panic and die.

The point is... you do not know your reaction in advance

In a musical context there is (fortunately) less potential to physically damage to your health...

Yet some sophistication in handling your instrument will help greately to avoid this drift away from the flow.
To stay with the example - it wouldn't cost your life, but possibly your career

On the other hand this type of 'flow' is what happens anyway if people play and get along - no matter which music or audience.
So there are few reasons to point it out specifically or set yourself in an artificially restricted 'beginners mode'.

cheers, Tom

Shroomz~> · Post by **Shroomz~>** » Mon Dec 19, 2005 5:28 am

Said as humbly as ever astro.

mmm I was gonna say more, but it's time not to.

Can't help thinking how ofetn it sounds like you think you've nothing to learn tho

astroman · Post by **astroman** » Mon Dec 19, 2005 12:16 pm

On 2005-12-19 05:28, Shroomz wrote:
...how ofetn it sounds like you think you've nothing to learn tho

you do not expect I take that serious, don't you ?

With what else but a learning process does the post above deal ?
Btw I've learned a lot in those short moments between the sky and the ground, about myself and about others...

I did find some parallels between the excerpt from the book and some of my own experiences.
yet this buzzword parole beating isn't my cup of tea at all.
The following quote is bare nonsense

...This is a Zen concept: If you become an "expert," then you "know" what can and cannot be done and therefore limit yourself. ...

related to 'Zen' it would mean that 'Zen' is driven by rationalism, which it isn't as it transcends it.

I'm a true fan of violinist Hilary Hahn - for sure an expert as can be on her instrument, yet when playing she reflects perfectly the state of mind described above.
Believe me, it's no fake - I've seen her play live in the local music hall.

cheers, Tom

Post by **irrelevance** » Mon Dec 19, 2005 12:46 pm

Astro you are right of course when you say this text could apply to anything as this is the very nature of Zen/Mindfulness. Like japanese walking meditation (which is a pursuit not only practised by japanese

) where the practitioner's focus is on the action of walking, the in and out of breath, the to and fro motion in the arms and legs and all other bodily actions asscociated. You can see that the meditation is purely about bringing the mind to focus on the ONE. British dishwashing meditation and Outer mongolian hopping meditation I hear are equally good at providing this focus.

As to your quote about Zen and rational thought. I can't agree. I don't think the author ment this at all. More likely that trained thought processes are by their very nature confined to the paradigm that expeled them. Therefore if you approached the sythesiser with the attitude of "I turn this knob, then flick that switch," and not "If I turn this knob to X setting the amplitude at the peak of resonance should Y." ...(If you happen to program like the latter) then the Zen method could be viewed as irrational or even pointless to the scientific mindset.

[ This Message was edited by: irrelevance on 2005-12-19 12:51 ]

astroman · Post by **astroman** » Mon Dec 19, 2005 6:04 pm

yes, it doesn't matter what's used for meditation.
In my case rock climbing, <a href=http://www.slackpacker.com/bouldering.h ... ldering</a> to be precise, works better than watching the flow of breath.
yet 'Zen' describes the state of mind as a result of 'something', not the way to get there.
a 'zen-method' would be a contradiction in itself. think about it. it would impose exactly the limits that a so called 'expert' was supposed to have

I know the word is used deliberately out of context in Book titles like 'Zen - or the Art of Programming a Macintosh' or generally as a buzzword

cheers, Tom

[ This Message was edited by: astroman on 2005-12-19 18:05 ]

Shroomz~> · Post by **Shroomz~>** » Mon Dec 19, 2005 6:56 pm

Buzzword is a buzzword