Summer 2008 has been a busy time, but also a difficult time for many of us in the United States with an economic recession and the rising price of gasoline. I have tried to spend more time at home, working with Csound 5.08, helping to edit articles in this issue of Csound Journal, and reading Thom Holmes Electronic and Experimental Music, Third Edition. I had read the first edition, some 20 years ago. Holmes, a composer and music historian, has an uncanny knack for bringing you to a particular point in time so that you experience the full force, meaning, and significance of technological advancements and developments as they took place in history. Reading along from Cahill to Moog, and into the early computer music era, I am reminded again how significant was the development of software synthesis applications such as Csound.
Today, with many great technological developments going on around us, it is easy to want Csound to do more than was originally intended. To look at what is happening, however, is pretty amazing. Issue 9 of Csound Journal demonstrates the current situation of continued variety with Csound. It is clear that people are very interested in interfacing and integrating Csound with other languages and tools, and developing frontends, interfaces, and applications which employ Csound in new and interesting ways.
This issue features many interesting articles. Christopher Ariza's athenaCL Generators, Øyvind Brandtsegg's realtime algorithmic application using Python, Pedro Kröger's use of Emacs, and my own examples of NetBeans and Java are examples of Csound integration. Brian Carty's work with the HRTF (Head Related Transfer Function) Opcodes and valued suggestions, also Brian Redfern's work with the Planet Opcode, placing "Flutes in Orbit" are very interesting and useful articles. This issue also includes an article on a sound installation utilizing Csound by Richard Bowers. Steven Yi's interview with Jean-Luc Cohen-Sinclair, composer and producer of electronic music, and an article by Jean-Luc using Terminal for Darwin Unix round out this issue and make for an overall enjoyable summer issue of Csound Journal.
James Hearon
I have mentioned in the past how impressed I am with the diversity of interests and ways of using Csound that exist in the Csound community, and that impression is still as strong as ever today. The articles in this issue explore a wide variety of technical and musical interests. This issue has taken us longer to put together than we had originally expected, but I hope you will find the issue well worth the wait. A big thanks to all of the authors for their fine contributions and I hope you enjoy this issue!
Steven Yi