Date   : Wed, 02 Aug 2006 12:32:39 +0100
From   : Richard Kilpatrick <oldcomputers@...>
Subject: Re: Hybrid Music - determined attempt!

On 2 Aug 2006, at 12:19, Joel Rowbottom wrote:

> At 12:11 02/08/2006, you wrote:
>
>> Shame, I'd love to talk to him for the article. Okay, my opinion of
>> AMPLE as verging on incomprehensible for the average synthesizer user
>> might not make him especially happy
>
> It was pretty logical. I did a project at Uni which involved  
> parsing AMPLE and turning it into printed music.

Nice idea! But the composition side of AMPLE is only a fraction of  
what a synthesizer user wants; voice control, shaping, even simple  
stuff like controlling MIDI using the sequencer. It suffered from (in  
my opinion) a fairly obstructive and undeveloped front end from a  
user-interface point of view, which is fine for the average BBC owner  
(who generally had more exposure to programming, and the inner  
workings of the computer), but not so good for people who found the  
myriad of buttons on a digital synth (or more frequently, the  
insanely tiny selection of buttons - my JX10 has a handful of buttons  
to program a polyphonic analogue synth and is a nightmare to program!).

> No idea where that is now before anyone asks!
>
> Joel Rowbottom, was-kid, geek, coder

See, I suspect you may have had an advantage where AMPLE is concerned.

I personally get it; though I find it difficult to work with, I can  
understand it. I just think that for a wider appeal, it needed better  
front ends.

And a lot of the concepts seem less original, the more research I do  
into Computer Music Systems.

Richard

-- 
Tasty Other - Because Far Too Much in Life Makes Sense
Music for download - coming soon (RIP MP3.com)
G.A.S. http://www.dmc12.demon.co.uk/music/
Platform: PowerMac G5 2.0GHz Dual, 20" LCD, Logic, Hammerfall.