[LAU] Announde: DSP02 - Music composition software for children

[Kjetil Svalastog Matheussen]

David Baron:

>This is a Java program. No need to compile it, just run the script 
>supplied.
>
> My comments: This does have a fairly simple interface to playing with 
> sounds. The parameters portrayed/drawn on these screens are technical, 
> however. One can have fun with the program but the pitch of the sound (if 
> it has one, you can download farm animal samples from their site :-) ), 
> is fixed on these screens. One cannot play a keyboard and compose music with 
> this, just assemble series of sounds on multiple tracks (quite handily, 
> but still...)

You can do everything in this program, but not in realtime, as you 
seems to be used to. This probably stems from the attitude of 
electroacoustic composing at the time the program was first made, in 1995.



>An older child that is bent towards playing with synthesis might get into 
>this program but when he/she cannot really compose, will doubtless be 
>frustrated and leave it behind. It is really not a kids program as such. 
>It remains fairly technical.

Yes, it might be frustrating for a person who is very much used to 
composing with realtime tools, plug-ins and such. Those were not the 
common way to work when this program was first made. However, realtime 
tools are not necesarrily allways the best way to work. Non-realtime gives 
a bit more relaxed atmosphere of composing, and you have to think more 
about what you are doing, thus its also a more pedagogic way to work.

(I worked on a previous version of DSP though, and I made it possible to 
tweak the effects in realtime, but this feature did not make it into 
DSP02 by the new programmer.)



>The nicest kids program but with enough technical stuff to satisfy adults
>(older kids) as well is Tuxpaint. This has been used/tested in Italian
>schools. Make a music program along these lines that can be used to play 
>a real song with all those nice/funny/wierd sounds one concocts (or in 
>its paradigm, chooses from a pallete and modifies) and you have 
> something!

DSP has been used by school children in norway, england, denmark, sweden 
and finland for 12 years. Lots of amazing music has been made with it. It 
is not ment to be a toy, but a program where you can make professional 
sounding music.