[LAU] Common Music - Importing audio files, and pointers to learning material?

[Dave Phillips]

On 02/17/2014 11:27 AM, Angel de Vicente wrote:
> Hi,
>
> I'm completely new to Common Music
> (http://sourceforge.net/projects/commonmusic/), so I'm hoping somebody
> can give me a hand here. Before I go to the effort of starting to learn
> it, I wanted to know if it is possible to somehow import audio files
> with it and treat them as objects (say for example that I have a number
> of noise sounds and that I want to generate some music by randomly
> playing them for a length of time)? A quick look at the Common Music
> webpage and some of the examples there didn't clear this up for me.

Hi Angel,

CM is now part of the Grace system. I've used it for many years, 
primarily as a generator for Csound scores. Alas, I've never tried 
random file playback with it. I suppose it could be done with Grace, but 
I'd probably use SuperCollider3 for that purpose.

That said, Grace is fantastic, so I've cc'd this reply to Rick Taube, 
the author of CM/Grace, perhaps he can advise you re: your intended use.

> At the same time, what would be the best way to start learning how to
> use it? From what I read, the book
> http://www.amazon.com/Notes-Metalevel-Introduction-Computer-Composition/dp/9026519753/
> is a very good starting point, but apparently all the examples, etc. are
> for an old version of Common Music (CM2), so I'm not sure if whatever
> one can learn from that book will be of much use with the current
> version of CM3.
>
> Any pointers welcome. Thanks a lot,
>

At this time the best way to learn is by running the examples and 
studying their code. The SAL language - Bill Schottstaedt's S7 Scheme 
implementation -  is very easy to learn, the examples are musical and 
inspiring.

Best,

dp