[linux-audio-dev] XAP: a polemic

[David Olofson]

On Tuesday 17 December 2002 01.50, Pascal Haakmat wrote:
> 16/12/02 16:51, Paul Davis wrote:
> > western music's emphasis on integral beats per bar has led to a
> > slipping away of a great deal of the fun and beauty to be found
> > in other musical traditions. i've recommended it before, and i'll
> > do it again now:
>
> I find your exposition on Indian rhythms fascinating and very
> interesting, but I'm afraid I don't see how it relates to a
> discussion about designing musical instruments.

For the exact reason I've suggested once or twice: A musical time 
aware effects might want to know the length of one beat, or one bar. 
Why not just allow the user to select "beats" or "bars" instead of 
"note value" when configuring such a plugin?

If you have integer-only meters, you make it impossible to do exactly 
that, in the cases where beat or bar sync is most interesting; in 
polyrythmic compositions. Users will have to resort to telling these 
plugins about the correct lengths in other, potentially non-obvious 
and/or inaccurate ways.


> I do not believe that the goal of instrument design should be to
> accomodate every possible musical expression under the sun.

No, but we should at least try to cover what we know about, are 
interested in, and can handle without too much trouble. (And I'm 
definitely interested in exploring stuff beyond 4/4 and 6/8.)


> A
> musical instrument is always part of a culture and a history and
> this defines its use.

So, you're not supposed to use cutting edge technology, unless you're 
interested only in traditional western european music?

That is very discriminating, not only towards other cultures, but 
also towards those of us who want to experiment and explore things 
beyond 12tET and simple rhythms.


> It makes little sense to say that the piano is a flawed instrument
> because it is so closely tied to Western musical values. In fact
> the opposite is true: the piano is one of the great instruments
> precisely because it lends itself so well to the expression of
> Western musical values.

So what? I sure still want to explore harmonies beyond the 12tET 
scale. We're not *excluding* anything here; just trying to find the 
smallest common denominators for *music*, rather than just for most 
kinds of western european music.


> Modern technology (and software in particular) allows us to design
> incredibly flexible instruments without needing to commit to any
> particular musical tradition at all. That doesn't mean that doing
> so is also always a good idea.

Why is it a good idea to *prevent* interesting uses, just so you 
don't even have to think about the consequences of using a float 
where you could have used an int?


> After all, is it preferable to have a piece of wood with the
> potential to become any kind of instrument, or a guitar?

What's wrong with a fretless guitar?

Indeed, you'd have to learn how to play it, but that's a non-issue in 
our world. Sequencers and MIDI->event converters don't have a problem 
delivering the exact right values every time.


//David Olofson - Programmer, Composer, Open Source Advocate

.- The Return of Audiality! --------------------------------.
| Free/Open Source Audio Engine for use in Games or Studio. |
| RT and off-line synth. Scripting. Sample accurate timing. |
`---------------------------> http://olofson.net/audiality -'
   --- http://olofson.net --- http://www.reologica.se ---