Hans Mikelson
Hello and welcome to Csound Magazine. I must apologize for taking so long to finish the "Summer" issue. I could rename it the Autumn issue but then I would have to redo the artwork and that would allow for even more procrastination by me. My only excuse is that the weather has been very nice and I had an excellent summer spending a great deal of time on the river either canoeing or tubing. Of course the "Lord of the Rings" movie coming out in August has caused me to while away countless hours in front of the television.
I have to especially apologize to Reginald Bain for taking so long since he submitted his article on waveforms and spectra last May! Jacob Joaquin has a very nice article on Harmonic Trees which makes significant use of Perl one of my favorite languages (next to Csound of course!) Michael Rhoades returns again with an article on integrating Windows and Linux, Josep M Comajuncosas describes his multi-effects processor, Ian Sayer has written a brief article on oscillator sync and Dave Phillips has contributed an article on Cecilia, the front end for Csound.
Real Music
Someone wrote to me recently asking if Csound can be used to make "real" music. I hope he does not mind my poking a little fun at him here. This type of question always reminds me of the scene in the Blues Brothers movie where Jake and Elwood arrive for a gig at a bar and the waitress tells them that they have both kinds of music: country and western. How can I define real music and how do I know that my definition of real music will match someone else's definition especially since this is the first time they have written me a message. I happen to know a large number of people who don't consider it real music unless it is country western. I know some people who define real music as the rock music which was popular between 1968-1975. For others it is not real music unless it is performed by the Lawrence Welk Orchestra. And there are those who require a symphony orchestra to make it real music.
Experimentation
Experimentation in the scientific community is accepted as normal and is expected. However experimentation seems to take on a specialized meaning when used with regard to music. Experimental music is usually regarded as music that is unusual, significantly different from other music, often not targeted at an average listener or consumer, it is often considered to be shocking, outrageous, or difficult. Most people may claim that they do not like it or deny that it is even music and define it as noise.
Consider the upbeat innocent songs of the Lawrence Welk Orchestra, the heart wrenching ballads of a cowboy's love gone wrong, the impassioned scream of Trent Reznor, the primitive pulsations of Stravinsky's compositions, the elite challenges of Xenakis' works, the humming of the air circulation units and electronic alarms of an integrated circuit clean room. These are all either noise or music depending on the listener and listener's state of mind.
Happy Csounding,
Hans Mikelson