thursday

Thursday's lecture was quite interesting. I had never completely understood what the purpose of MIDI was, and now have a somewhat better understanding. However, a little bit more information on the history of it may have been helpful. The MIDI version of Kashmir made me giggle.

2/26-2/28

This weeks lectures were pretty hit or miss. Tuesday's guest lecture was pretty dry to be honest, although the speaker really knew what he was talking about. The part where he discussed using a tablet to make music was actually pretty rad and the video clip he played of the jam was also pretty cool.

Thursday's MIDI lecture was a lot better. I really enjoyed the topics that were covered and the demonstrations that were provided. The history of MIDI was pretty cool, although more information could have been given; it would have been cool to hear more about how MIDI is utilized when making electronic music. The demonstrations were pretty cool and a very good way to introduce a beginner to MIDI. All in all, this was a good lecture that I enjoyed listening to.

This Weeks Lectures

I enjoyed the guest lecture on Tuesday very much. Most of his topics were hard for me to understand because I am a beginner at this stuff, but it was still awesome how he presented the different instruments on used on the internet. My favorite was the gong and how you could change from a strike from a strum and the differences between those sounds. He was a great presenter that provided a great website with some awesome sounds, and we got out of class early! lol :)

As for Thursday, talking about MIDI; I still don't fully understand what and how it works, but I'm sure next week more explanations will be presented and I will understand more about it once I finish reading Chapter 10 in the book!

I took this class thinking it would be easy- just downloading music from limewire and stuff like that- but it has opened my eyes to the vast amount of work, resources, information, and intricate capabilities that can be used to manipulate and improve the audio. This class has definitley opened my eyes to greater possibilities!

I hope you all are having success on working on your final projects and I look foward to seeing you all in class next week (hopefully when I will start understanding MIDI more! lol)

Have a great weekend!

.FLAC for iTunes

For those of you using bittorrent to download albums illegally (don't do it), you may notice that .flac files have gained popularity as of late. For those of you who download these .flac songs and notice that you can't open them up on iTunes and want to, there is an easy way to convert the .flac songs to mp3 or wav (which can be played on iTunes). I happened across a guide a couple days ago which shows you how to do this, it's really easy. If you have winamp (if you don't you have to get it) all you need to do is download an addon for winamp which can then decode the .flac files to wav. Once this is done you just load those wavs into iTunes and rightclick using Convert to MP3. done! The guide is here -> http://www.simplehelp.net/2006/08/14/how-to-convert-flac-files-to-mp3-using-windows/ This has both a guide for Windows and Mac, to get the mac guide there is a link at the top of the guide which leads to it. Hope this helps some of you!

-Brandon C.

wePronounce.com (My Final Project)

So, I've been working on my final project since the second week of the quarter... The site is live, and you can check it out, maybe even create an account if you're interested (I'd really appreciate the help / feedback!)

http://wePronounce.com

The idea: A web community/resource for learning how to pronounce words from each other. Like, you type in a word that you'd like to hear pronounced, and then you see all the audio clips of wePronounce members saying that word... along with info about where they're from etc.

I see 2 main uses:

1. English Learners. Maybe foreign students that want to improve their pronounciations. (They can also upload their voice, and get feedback)
2. Reading. I read a lot of tech news online, and there are constantly new web technologies, products and services that have names that I've never heard spoken before. It would be nice to hear how people are pronouncing those things.
   

Anyway, I'd really appreciate it if you come check out my project: http://wePronounce.com (and let me know what you think!)

Thanks!
Rex

This Week / Interaction

This week's lectures were... Well. Let's just say I'm glad that those of you who did like them enjoyed them. MIDI is interesting, but it's really something that I have little-to-no interest in. Amar's guest lecture held my attention more, and for the most part, I agree with Jeff H's comments concerning the presentation, except that it just wasn't anything too thrilling.

I'm glad that we now have internet access in the classroom, but I'm still feeling like there's a degree of interaction missing. I feel like the information of the last lecture might have sank in if there was an interactive portion to it. Then again, the only applicable lecture to this line of thought (since the net access is so recent) is the MIDI lecture that, as I already said, doesn't entirely interest me.

I definitely feel that the quality of class might be able to improve if we are given links on the lectures that correspond with interactive services that pertain to what we're being lectured about. Maybe it's too late for this class to adapt in that fashion, but for future, I feel that this component would be crucial, Cynthia.

- Lee B.

MIDIs

Since I immensely enjoy classic games, I found today's lecture very interesting. They seem very useful and the mechanical quality of the music produced by them are actually quite pleasant.

After listening to the lecture today, I decided to try and edit some of the MIDI files on my computer so that the ends would match up. I need them to loop for my final project.

I recently downloaded Audacity, since Professor Payne spoke so highly of it all quarter, but I can't seem to get it to actually edit any of the files. All the options on the pull-down menues are greyed out and I can't cut or trim the sound files for my MP3s... and I could not even play any of the MIDIs, even if I chose to import them as MIDI files... If anyone has any advice, I'm all ears.

...Maybe I should try again and use Garage Band like Professor Payne did during lecture.

Today's Lecture

I thought today's was the funnest and most interesting lecture of the class. I've learned about MIDI before but it was great to have a brief review of it along with some other information I wasn't privy to before. I especially liked it when Synthia controlled the MIDI notes with her laughter. That was very entertaining and informative.

-Matthew Shewfelt

guest lecturer

I thought that the guest lecturer we had on tuesday was very good. is presentation was interesting and he had very nice visuals. once of the better lectures we have had.

MIDI

I liked the lecture today. I'm not an expert on MIDI or any of this digital music stuff so it was nice to get a general explanation of what MIDI is rather than going into details that I don't really understand. I am just starting creation on my final project. i was wondering if we could go over some things like where to keep music files online if you want to put them on a page.

-phyllis wilhelm

MIDI lecture

Even after taking Music 124, this lecture went over some stuff that I didn't know about. Like the difference between fm and wavetable synthesis in midi instruments, and how to turn your voice into midi notes. This lecture was also a good review of midi basics, which is great because there's always something to forget when it comes to all the info in your power point.

Physical Modeling Online

I didn't know that you could put max patches and similar patches online to be played by everyone. Now I do, and in the future, I plan to write Max patches for the internet. I liked the gong website because of the sounds you can make on the gong by stroking the mouse across it. Thank you for having the guest speaker come to class. It was a very informative lecture.

=]

It was really interesting learning about MIDI today!  I learned a lot about it that I didn't know!   And garage band was really fun to watch as well.  I am really excited about my final project.  I am doing an interactive website with 2 of my friends in the class and it is going to be pretty sick!  I am really looking forward to seeing everyone else's projects because everyone in this class is so creative!

Samantha Waxman

Midi-term

Well Midi is a pretty interesting technology, but I think for my final project I'm going to work with live recording more. Im considering doing a live performance for my final presentation, that would be kind of fun.

Flash and Websites.

Hey,

I'm starting looking at Flash, maybe for use in the final. I can only hope that Tuesday's Flash demo is helpful in determining if I can pick up enough to use. Other than that, just still messing with GarageBand.

As for class, last guest lecture was interesting, but I'm not sure how much I took away from it that was useful, it seems more applicable for people that have external instrument controllers… of course at that point you may as well have said instrument. The one thing he did bring in that was useful was the setting groups of noises in a loop that plays continuesly, though that seems hard to get exact, however if anyone knows sites/programs for that, I'd appreciate a heads up on them.

Best to all,

William Reed.

Guest Speaker

Even though it was a little brief I really enjoyed Amar Chaudhary's presentation about musical instruments on the web. It was neat to see how many different instruments you can actually play/mimic over the internet. Some were very close to the real thing, but some were limited because instead of all ten fingers, you only have one mouse and it's difficult to control ten different parts at once. I liked the loud and interactive examples he showed and I have already been playing around with some of the websites he suggested.

Music and the WWW

The guest lecturer the other day was very intriguing. The class have gotten progressively more informative and practical as those who apply their knowledge of the most recent technology in their occupation are incorporated in the lectures. On a different subject, chapter 6 in the book seems like it is really out of date, focusing so much on Real Audio.

Searching Music on the WWW

There are a couple of these types of sites on the web, but this one is by far my favorite. http://www.melodyhound.com and http://www.musipedia.org/
It searches sheet music of a variety of songs. This can be done in several ways which include, playing the tune on the piano, whistling the tune, tapping the rhythm, and a few others. I really like it because if you can't sing to save your life, like me, you can just tap out the rhythm and it will usually find what you are looking for. I didn't have much luck with newer songs but anything before the 90's is probably in there. It even found Lipps Inc. "Funkytown"! Enjoy :)

Recent Lecture and Presentations

Today's lecture about instruments on the web was very interesting.  It was cool to see the virtual interfaces that can be manipulated to produce sound.  The speaker was really good and explained things well.  

The presentations from last week were also fascinating.  People did a lot of good research and I liked all the topics and web-pages that they made.  It was more interesting to see what kinds of topics people were into, and i liked that for the midterm we got to choose our own topics in the first place.

guest speaker

today's guest speaker was very informative and i like his examples. it really showed what i can learn from it and use the information in the future.

Today's Presentation

Today's guest lecture was fairly interesting. I like the ability to use a web-interface to control your media live...including playing with tempo and volume live. Amar's web site is simply overflowing with useful information and examples. I actually learned quite a bit from it.

Guest Presentation on Tuesday

I really enjoyed the guest presentation today. It wasn't too technical and wasn't too off topic. It hit right on the head of music on the world wide web, especially with the integrated completely electronic sound producing devices; such as the digitized keyboard and animated string and gong. This is really amazing and may spell a revolution in the mindset of music, and it was great to see first hand today.

Class Presentations

I just wanted to say that I have really enjoyed all the in-class presentations. Today's presentation was especially entertaining. Most of them have been really intriguing and it's cool to see people give presentations about stuff that they are truly interested in. I feel like I have learned a lot of new things just by coming and paying attention.
-Aidan Christie

2-25 Midi Music and Some Computer Piano Programs

Today we were given a guest lecture by Amar Chaudhary who talked about midi files and making digitial music. He demonstrated various applications that were online and would produce different types of music, such as a keyboard in a browser that could be clicked with the mouse and a gong that allowed the user to either click it once to strike it or could roll over the gong with the mouse for a large variety of tones.

At the end of class someone had asked if there were computer programs that allowed the user to type on a computer keyboard like an electronic keyboard to produce music. I know of two programs that can do this:

The first is KB Piano available at http://www.gfsoftware.com/index.html
From my limited use it seems to be a good program, but you can only trial it for 30 days for free before having to buy it for permanent use. One can play many instruments on it as well as record music and it is possible to set up the keyboard however one likes.

The second is a free application, but is far more limited. It is only designed to play music, so you can't record or anything and the keys are set to an unchangable default. It is "The Cheater Keyboard" a program created by a member of the video game metal band "Powerglove". There's a link to download it and instructions on their myspace site, just scroll down a bit, it's in the right column with a youtube video demonstrating it. The myspace site is here: http://www.myspace.com/vgmetal

Final Project Update

I'm still waiting for somebody to get back to me about Adobe Flash or Macromedia Flash on any of the computers in the computer labs on campus... or if anybody has a copy of Adobe Flash or Macromedia Flash they'd be willing to let me borrow and install for my Final Project. Either way, please e-mail me at jderose@ucsc.edu.

If I don't get a copy of this program, I'll probably resort to downloading a 30 day free trial. And in the mean time, I'll start designing the interface and content outside of Flash so when I actually get the program, I can load everything and go from there.

2-26-08 Midi Lecture

The lecture on midi today was very good. It was informative and it was direct. Also the guest speaker, Omar, showed us this website where you could play online instruments. I thought that was really cool because by using those instruments you can create your own music and sound. Also he taught us some stuff about OSW or Open Sound World. That was something new for me as I am pretty new to sound programming language and etc.
For my Final project i don't know if i should do either the 10 page paper or make a sound file. I want to make the sound file but i feel that i am less experienced and therefore will get stuck when trying to make the sound.


-Charlie Lui

Purely Digital Original Music.

Hey Music 80R,

My area of interest is said title, digitally made original music. As usual I come baring my usual question pared with little tidbits of ideas I've been trying. 

Something to start with in original music for anyone using Garage Band or Fruity Loops that is fun and interesting is to take a web-based vocalizer (for those that aren't inclined to do their own singing) and play around with it. Obviously it doesn't sound like a human, but you can take that and go with it. To be honest the inspiration for using that in GarageBand style music came from hearing the Portal's end song (which I am aware was a human, regardless).

The question is related. I'm aware of web-based vocalizers, but I'm wandering if there is any real programs of this nature that are either free or can be… acquired… for free.

Best of luck on your projects,

William.

My Project and Flash

My midterm project was on the design and creation of a beginners home recording studio and I just wanted to share a couple of great links that talk about the subject. http://www.build-a-recording-studio.com This site has an enormous amount of information about everything from building your computer to the software that's needed to a comparison of speakers that should be used in your studio.
http://www.soundonsound.com/articles/Technique.php Is also an amazing site that has lots and lots of tip, tricks and articles on recording.

I noticed that some people where looking for people with flash, I have an installer on my computer and if anyone wants it I'd be willing to hand it out in class. If you would like it e-mail me (mrfelton@ucsu.edu) and we can meet up in class.

--Matthew Felton

presentations

the presentations were great. i especially liked the one on how to find new music. i now am a big fan of btjunkie. thanks a million.

presentations

the presentations were great. i especially liked the one on how to find new music. i now am a big fan of btjunkie. thanks a million.

weekly update

I'm still really curious as to what I got on my midterm project. I hope we get that information soon.

I need to find somebody with flash installed soon so I can get to work on my final project. I think I have the song that I'm going to use finished, now I just need to create a video to go along with it!

Last Week's Presentations

Well, last week had a few interesting presentations, particularly the ones regarding radio podcast intellectual property and choral music. I'm relieved that the midterm project is over with, although I don't understand why so many people stressed about it - HTML isn't difficult, just horribly, horribly tedious. As for the upcoming final, I'm messing around in GarageBand, and hopefully will have something I actually like by the due date. Huzzah.

- Zach H.

Midterms

I really enjoyed listening to the midterm presentations last week especially liked the presentations on electronic and antique electronic instruments. My midterm was on learning more about HTML because I have just fallen in love with it and wanted to learn more. So if there is anyone out there that would like a few helpful hints/sites to go to I would be happy to help or if anyone had any HTML sites that you think would be helpful I would be pleased to know. Thanks.

post!

I'm glad the midterm projects are over.  There were some really interesting topics, I really liked the one on downtempo.  Chaos theory in music was really interesting as well, never heard of that concept before.  We should do more live jamming, just for kicks.

Love and squalor,

Adam Navrozally

Presentations last week

I thought last week's presentations were pretty cool; I especially loved the ones dealing with downtempo music and electronic music in general. I hope my bootleg presentation was, in some way, helpful. For any info concerning bootlegs, talk to me in class. I'm the white dude with the fro, can't be hard to spot.

- Lee

Day 2 of midterm presentations

At first, I was about to leave at a certain point during class to study for a midterm in another class, but a few presentations caught my eye, so i decided to stay. The top three that interested me were the ones about music promotion, antique electronic instruments, and choral music on the net. I'm glad to know that people have put up samples of antique instruments, and I plan on using some of them for my own compositions. Thank you.

Day 1 of midterm presentations.

I was impressed by the range of things that people created websites for. From circuit bending to napster, I learned something new from everyone's presentation. It's too bad that some of the video and audio playing software didn't work though, but thank you Synthia for posting some of the video links on the artstream site.

Midterm Project Blog

After finally seeing how a lot of the midterm projects turned out, I hope that we can get all those pages and links together under one compendium to use as a common resource as soon as possible, for both the class and the school. Everyone had something completely different and nuanced to offer, and it just goes to show how broad the term "Music & The WWW" is for a class title. For example, the presentation on circuit bending was very enlightening - before it was presented I had no idea what it was. There are a lot of potentially helpful and insightful links we've put together that are waiting to be explored.

Midterms / Final

The midterms have been very informative and interesting. I am starting my final project, I plan on creeting a interactive collage of Pink Floyd pictures that play the song related to the pics when the mouse is moved over them.

pandora

So I know must of you know about pandora already... I am way behind. I'd heard of it long time ago but i never really checked it out, so I had no idea who freaking awesome it really is! I rediscovered Ambient music last week, and pandora was the perfect tool to expand on my existing ambient music knowledge. Since I have used the si, i've been introduced to many other great artist! If you are interesting in Ambient music, definitely check out STS9 (sound tribe sector 9) and Abakus. (Their song "Circles" is my favorite) Ambient music is great cuz i know for me personally, when i try and write essays i can't listen to music w/ words cuz i always want to sing along. with this i can just kinda relax and listen but not be distracted... check them out!

the midterm presentations were very good. it's nice to be able to see what other classmates researched about. some people had their own web page as one of their web sites and i think that was cool. i'm still new with everything so this project took a good amount of time but it was overall fun.

So that midterm project . . .

I've got to admit that for a homework assignment, the midterm project was very interesting and actually enjoyable to complete.  The topic for my project was "Of and Pertaining to Record Labels and the Distribution of Music" and as you find on that topic looking through the internet, there are very mixed views on record labels and how to market, push, and put out your music.  As I found, some people think that this internet music is just a phase and it will fade away and the labels will stay strong, and some think that the demise of them is inevitable, and relatively soon.  The trend of bigger name artists drifting away from the labels from Madonna to Radiohead will most likely catch with the rest of the music industry however there are some problems with this movement.  From figures I looked at, the money made from the self-release method by artists such as Radiohead and Saul Williams, it doesn't seem too promising, not to mention how are up and coming artists with very little money going to be able to do anything of this sort without a financial support like a label.  I take a special interest in this topic because I'd like to someday work for a record label, my preferable choice being Equal Vision Records based out of Albany, New York.  This of course comes after the dream of making it as a musician but for now I'll make sure I have the security choice there for me.  This project helped me gain a more insightful view upon the structure and direction of the record labels.

Presentations

I thought that the presentations were very interesting, especially the ones with all of the video footage. I liked the one about podcasting loopholes as well as the one on christian music, which I didn't expect at all. I am going to begin on the final project soon--I'm going to do the production of a song using garageband.

-phyllis wilhelm

Thursday's Presentations and the Final Project

Hey all! I hope everyone is having a great weekend! I just wanted to comment on the presentations on Thursday-- they were all extremely informative, interesting, and great! Good job.... my favorite one was the one about bending music!

As for the final project, I am going to do the research paper--- a lot of work!!! :)

See everyone on Tuesday.

bloggy

I'm just doing my weekly Blog.  I am beginning to think about the final and what I will have to do for it.  I'm thinking that I will get some cool recorded sounds through my own field practice and put together a cool multitrack recording of everything.  This will be in the style of music concrete.  -Brandon Caruso

February 5-7, Aphid Stern + Quiz

Aphid Stern's presentation on musical copyright and creative commons was particularly helpful to me in terms of helping me streamline my thoughts on my midterm and final projects. Before this lecture I have never heard of creative commons licenses, which may very well be the next step in spreading artistic appropriation, especially in terms of hip hop sampling and mixtapes. I now plan to use loops and possibly acapella recordings borrowed from the mixtape/mashup/producer communities online to make my own (semi) original recordings for my final project.

The quiz on Thursday I also found to be both easy but effective as a practice tool. I have a better sense of the basics I should know when dealing with music and the web, the questions on the quiz being knowledge I should have off of the top of my head, and I ended up reviewing the questions I was iffy on in the book.

Ted Talks Video

This is a continuation on the new game/program Synthia played for us in class.
Look at other Ted Talks for amazing inspiring videos on all worthy topics.