. founded march 12, 1995 _| : _____ t r a x w e e k l y # 48 ______________ |___| _ _______/ /\___________________________ / ____________/ /\__\ _ _______/____/_____________________________ / / _________ \/__/ ______\ \_____________________________ / / / `_ . .~ \____\/ _ __ ___ / / / _____ . _ \ __ ___ _/__/\ / / / / /\ _ The Music Scene Newsletter __ __\__\/ _/__/ / ____/ /__\_________________________________ _____ ___ _ / /\/ /___ __________ _ ______ _ ___ \/ /\ / / /____/ \ \ / /\ / __/\ / /\ \ \ / \ /____/ / / \ / \/ /_ \___/___/ \ \_/___/ / \_/ / / \ ___\ / /_/ /______/\/ \ /______/\/ \ /_____/ // \ \ / / / \ / / \ \ \ \_\ \ \ \_\ \ //____/\____\/ / / / / / \______\/ \______\/ \_____\/ \ \ \ \ / / / / \____\/\____\ / / / / _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ / / / /__/ w /\___/ /\___/ e /\___/ /\__ / l /\___/ /\____/ / / __/____/____/____/____/____/____/____/____/____/____/____/________/ / __\ \____\ e \____\ \____\ k \ ___\ \____\ y \__________/ \____\/ \____\/ \____\/ \____\/ \____\/ \____\/WW ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- - | TraxWeekly Issue #48 | Release date: 02-22-96 | Subscribers: 488 | - ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- /-[Introduction]------------------------------------------------------------ ---------------------------------------------------------------------------/ _ _________________ /_\ \__ / ____ ______ \____ ____/____________ ______ _/ \ _/ \ \ww_/ \ _/ ________/_/ _ \ __/ \/ \ \/ \/ \ / | \__ ___ ___ _______ _/ \\ \ \\ \\ | \\/ | \_ ___ __ __ ____ /___________\__\_______\________\____|______\____________\ \__\ This has been a rather slow week, so we apologize for the absence of any really reedeming content. =) Shawnm continues in his tireless tirade on musical conventions; his subject this week is the metronome and the importance of defined tempos in music. From ior and Snowman we also have a story entitled "The Man from Microsoft." Go and read it if you're really bored. Yes, this week is terrible. =) -psib [traxweekly] gwie@owl.csusm.edu /-[Contents]---------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------/ ________ _________________________________________________________________ / ____/_/ __/ \ __/ / _____/ \ __/ __/ ___/_ < \____\ \ \\ \ \\____ __/ __/_\ \ \\____ \_____ \__ \ \ \ \\ \ \ww\ \\ \\ \ \ \ \ \_ _\________\________\\___\____\ \_____\\_______\\___\____\ \_____\_______\ Letters and Feedback 1. Musical Styles?...........................Perisoft General Articles 2. Maelzel's Metronome.......................Shawnm 3. The Man from Microsoft....................Author Unknown Group Columns 4. Epinicion Productions 5. Explizit 6. NOISE Closing Distribution Subscription/Contribution Information TraxWeekly Staff Sheet /-[Letters and Feedback]---------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------/ --[1. Letter from Perisoft]------------------------------------------------- From ew23@cornell.eduMon Feb 19 10:08:19 1996 Date: Thu, 15 Feb 1996 08:51:42 -0500 (EST) From: Ellen Wiernicki To: Gene Wie Subject: Re: A song, yay :) Good lord! I was just reading traxweekly, and saw the part on ratings-- wherein many styles of possible music were outlined. MY question, WHAT THE ***k is GRINDCORE?! There cannot be 27 different kinds of music.. this kinda thing is rather getting out of hand. Take MY music for instance-- the only way anybody has been able to describe it is "PeriSoft"-- be that good or bad.. :) At any rate, it might make more sense to say 0-9 mellowness rating, 0-9 melodicness rating-- , so techno would be 0 mellow, 0 mellodic, 9 rhythmic, or something like that. It might give people a better idea what they want to download rather than saying something is industrial ambient hiphop grindcore jungle ambient techno jazz... *) thx guys --perisoft/capacala ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- /-[General Articles]-------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------/ --[2. Maelzel's Metronome]----------------------------------------[Shawnm]-- Its uses by composers of the time. This was originally written as an essay for my Music History class, in 1994. Maelzel was originally thought to have invented the metronome, but it was later found out that he ripped off the design from another inventor of his time. So, how does the metronome relate to tracking? Well, all tracked music is played by a computer to a precise time clock. Basically, all tracked music is played to a strict metronome. Is that good? Music off the computer isn't played to a metronome - but sometimes we practice to a metronome. What does that say about tracked music? How can we make tracked music sound less like it's being played to a metronome? Or maybe we want it to sound 'robotic'? These aren't questions for me to answer, but for you to think about as you compose your next tune and read the following essay on the development of the metronome.... - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Since Maelzel refined the metronome in 1815, it has become a very important part of musical training, performance, and interpretation. The metronome has evolved into a tool whose use is ever present in modern music interpretation. At the time of its creation, the metronome was endorsed enthusiastically by Beethoven, who proved to be very important because he helped to popularize the metronome in the music world. As soon as Maelzel's metronome was available, Beethoven began using metronome markings in his music, instead of the old tempo markings, like allegro or largo. He felt that by writing an exact number for the speed of a movement, the performer would know exactly how fast it was to be played, and therefore the piece would be performed exactly how the composer intended it to be performed, as far as tempo is concerned. Beethoven felt that using metronome markings for the tempo indications was a necessary part of his compositions. To him, using the proper tempo helped to demonstrate the emotions being expressed in the music, and that only a specific tempo would convey the intentions of the music. Beethoven was so convinced that the metronome was the only way to properly notate tempo, that he said that the old tempo markings were inherited from "times of musical barbarism". He felt that everyone should have a metronome, and that once enough people had metronomes, Maelzel would be able to lower the price so that they could be available to all musicians, teachers, and composers. But, even after Beethoven's great claims about how necessary it is to accurately follow the metronome markings for a piece, his pieces are rarely performed at the indicated tempos; they are either ignored, or assumed wrong. Ironically, towards the end of Beethoven's life, he had a change of heart concerning the metronome. His original copy of his 9th Symphony was misplaced, and he set out to rewrite the score. Afterwards, his first copy was found, and when the tempo markings were compared, the metronome values were not the same. This led Beethoven to conclude that whoever is musically educated, and has the right feel for the music, will perform at the correct tempo, without the aid of a metronome. So, after all of his hype about how any serious musician should be using a metronome, he now condemned its use. Another composer from the 19th century who had a negative experience with metronomes was Wagner. There was a piece of his that was to be performed, and he was in attendance at the rehearsal. The conductor was careful to use a metronome to check Wagner's notated tempo, and followed it exactly. But, after the rehearsal, Wagner told the conductor how awful the tempos sounded. The conductor replied that he had been using the exact speed that was notated on the score. This made Wagner change his mind on the value of the metronome as well. Because of the invention of the metronome, there would always be a reliable reference point for tempos. Instead of Allegro, meaning 'fast', conductors would have a reference to an exact numeric setting that was intended for them to follow. In present times, when a conductor sets out to perform a piece, s/he will probably sit down with the piece, and have an idea of the tempo that s/he wants, from the tempo marking, and some sort of historical research on the piece itself, and the particular composer. After some thought, s/he will arrive at a tempo that s/he will use for the performance. Before the actual concert, the conductor will refer to the metronome to get her/his tempo for the piece. But,s/he will not necessarily follow it exactly. In the performance of a piece, the tempo marking is taken into consideration, but elements of the conductor's personality and research will always have an effect on the tempo of the actual performance, so in this instance, the metronome is seen as an aid, but not as an absolute to follow. And, the metronome is definitely not used as a time keeper during the performance. Doing so would result in a very robotic and unemotional performance. It is evident that since the metronome's existence, it has been a topic of some controversy. It is not commonly agreed that the metronome is to be seen as an exact tool for finding the tempo for a performance. A composer's mood may change, a performer might have had an emotional day, or the conductor may have done research that may contradict the original tempo written for the piece. A metronome can definitely be seen as a reference tool to remember a specific tempo with, and it can be used to practice steadiness in tempo while practising, but as for its use in performance, it is limited to its role as a reference, and its values are not used as an absolute value. shawnm / New Objectives In Sound Exploration shawnm@citenet.net ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- --[3. The Man from MicroSoft]------------------------------------[Unknown]-- This was mailed to me by ior a few weeks ago, who got it from Snowman. Since this seems to be a really slow week, might as well get it out of my mailbox and into print. =) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - There was a knock on the door. It was the man from Microsoft. "Not you again," I said. "Sorry," he said, a little sheepishly. "I guess you know why I'm here." Indeed I did. Microsoft's $300 million campaign to promote the Windows 95 operating system was meant to be universally effective, to convince every human being on the planet that Windows 95 was an essential, some would say integral, part of living. Problem was, not everyone had bought it. Specifically, I hadn't. I was the Last Human Being Without Windows 95. And now this little man from Microsoft was at my door, and he wouldn't take no for an answer. "No," I said. "You know I can't take that," he said, pulling out a copy of Windows 95 from a briefcase. "Come on. Just one copy. That's all we ask." "Not interested," I said. "Look, isn't there someone else you can go bother for a while? There's got to be someone else on the planet who doesn't have a copy." "Well, no," the Microsoft man said. "You're the only one." "You can't be serious. Not everyone on the planet has a computer," I said. "And certainly, not everyone has a PC! Some people own Macintoshes, which run their own operating system. And some people who have PCs run OS/2, though I hear that's just a rumor. In short, there are some people who just have no USE for Windows 95." The Microsoft man look perplexed. "I'm missing your point," he said. "Use!" I screamed. "Use! Use! Use! Why BUY it, if you can't USE it?" "Well, I don't know anything about this "use" thing you're going on about," the Microsoft man said. "All I know is that according to our records, everyone else on the planet has a copy." "People without computers?" "Got 'em." "Amazonian Indians?" "We had to get some malaria shots to go in, but yes." "The Amish." "Check." "Oh, come on," I said. "They don't even wear BUTTONS. How did you get them to buy a computer operating system?" "We told them there were actually 95 very small windows in the box," the Microsoft man admitted. "We sort of lied. Which means we are all going to Hell, every single employee of Microsoft." He was somber for a minute, but then perked right up. "But that's not the point!" he said. "The point is, EVERYONE has a copy. Except you." "So what?" I said. "If everyone else jumped off a cliff, would you expect me to do it, too?" "If we spent $300 million advertising it? Absolutely." "No." "Oh, back to that again," the Microsoft man said. "Hey. I'll tell you what. I'll GIVE you a copy. For free. Just take it and install it on your computer." He waved the box in front of me. "No," I said again. "No offense, pal, but I don't NEED it. And frankly, your whole advertising blitz has sort of offended me. I mean, it's a computer operating system. Great. Fine. Swell. Whatever. But you guys are advertising it like it creates world peace or something." "It did." "Pardon?" "World peace. It was part of the original design. Really. One button access. Click on it, poof, end to strife and hunger. Simple." "So what happened?" "Well, you know," he said. "It took up a lot of space on the hard drive. We had to decide between it or the Microsoft Network. Anyway, we couldn't figure out how to make a profit off of world peace." "Go away," I said. "I can't," he said. "I'll be killed if I fail." "You have got to be kidding," I said. "Look," the Microsoft man said, "We sold this to the Amish. The Amish! Right now, they're opening the boxes and figuring out they've been had. We'll be pitchforked if we ever step into Western Pennsyvania again. But we did it. So to have YOU holding out, well, it's embarassing. It's embarassing to the company. It's embarassing to the product. It's embarassing to Bill." "Bill Gates does not care about me," I said. "He's watching right now," the Microsoft man said. "Borrowed one of those military spy satellites just for the purpose. It's also got one of those high-powered lasers. You close that door on me, zap, I'm a pile of grey ash." "He wouldn't do that," I said. "He might hit that copy of Windows 95 by accident." "Oh, Bill's gotten pretty good with that laser," the Microsoft man said nervously. "Okay. I wasn't supposed to do this, but you leave me no choice. If you take this copy of Windows 95, we will reward you handsomely. In fact, we'll give you your own Caribbean island! How does Montserrat sound?" "Terrible. There's an active volcano there." "It's only a small one," the Microsoft man said. "Look," I said, "even if you DID convince me to take that copy of Windows 95, what would you do then? You'd have totally saturated the market. That would be it. No new worlds to conquer. What would you do then?" The Microsoft man held up another box and gave it to me. "'Windows 95....For Pets'?!?!?" "There's a LOT of domestic animals out there," he said. I shut the door quickly. There was a surprised yelp, the sound of a laser, and then nothing. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- /-[Group Columns]----------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------/ --[4. Epinicion Productions]------------------------------------------------ ___ _______ _____________ ______ ______ _______ ______ _______ ___________ | // \\ \\_____) \\_____) \\_____) \\ \\ | : / o \ o \ \ \ \ \ \ o \ \: // _____// / \ : / \ _____/ \ / : \. \\_______/ _//______\\_|__//______\\_____//______\\_____//____| /: : \\____\\ ______________________________ oT /___//| |________________________// e p i n i c i o n \\________________| March 21st is closing fast, only a few more weeks until Epinicion no longer exists. Thanks to all of you who have made submissions for our final musicdisk. Currently, we around six megs of music and looking for more. Members, former members, and friends, please donate a song for our last release! This music disk is the final mark of our work for the last two years in the PC music scene. Thank you. ----- Submissions can be mailed via MIME or UUE to gwie@owl.csusm.edu ALL of Epinicion's 1995 and 1996 releases can be found through ftp at: kosmic.wit.com /kosmic/epinicion Epinicion's webpage can be found at the following address: http://www.csusm.edu/public/guests/gwie/epi.html. Psibelius (Gene Wie) Epinicion Founder gwie@owl.csusm.edu ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- --[5. Explizit]------------------------------------------------------------- .____. .....______________.____________________________________________| |__... :::::\__ _____ | ______ \ \______) \_____)_ _____/::: :::::::/ __>/\/ . __/| __/ / /__ \_____ \ \| |:::::: ::::::/ | / \ : \| \_____/ / \ \_ _____/ \ |:::::: :::::/ \__| \_ :::\ / / / | \ / |:::::: :::::\__________/::|______/____|:::\_______/_____/________/_____/___::::::: ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::[sYNOPTiC]::: ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: Explizit TraxWeekly column issue #10 - february 22, 1996 . . .' explizit `. `...............' Hi there! Explizit is a Dutch group making (house)music. We have three musicians, two coders, one PR-dude and an awful lot of HQ's. We've been in the scene since november 1995. We've recruited a new member! His name is KoM'AH and he makes trance music in FT2 ... he's about to release his new track so you'll hear from him. We've installed a small mail-server program to serve you with all the explizit releases :). You can subscribe to our mailing-list (in order to receive our songs MIME-encoded) or send commands to retrieve old songs. SUBSCRIBE Subscribes you to the explizit mailing-list. You will receive every future release MIME-encoded. UNSUBSCRIBE Unsubscribes from the list RETRIEVE UUE will be sent to you UUENCODED. RETRIEVE MIME will be sent to you MIME-encoded (default). Note that has to be an explizit release and you DON'T HAVE to be subscribed to the list to send the retrieve command! Handy if you're looking for that one release of us. You can send these commands to our server by putting them in the body of a message to explizit@dds.nl. Ch:ilm explizit . . .' explizit membaz `. `.......................' Explizit group-mail [use this one!] explizit@dds.nl Ch:ilm staff explizit@dds.nl Phonc(ie) music,staff W.Langenhuizen@nl.cis.philips.com Batjo music tgcpaw@stud.tue.nl Jay music - none - KoM'AH music - none - Paranoid Man gfx - none - LightWing code pflick@xmission.com DirtBag ansi/ascii - none - . . .' news `. `..........' Exploration (the mag) is coming along quite nicely! ... i've got the first beta here and it looks promising! Exploration will be released in about one month or so. I've started a compo on our WHQ. Everybody can join, but it's aimed at the Dutch scene. New UK distro: Purple Haze [syzo BiOS] . . .' releases `. `...............' E-SLC01.ZIP Information file for the first SL1210 music compo (our WHQ) E-RAVEZN.ZIP RaveZone! Phonc(ie) S3M German rave ... members of mayday sound. E-HPLND.ZIP Vibes From The Happyland Jay S3M Happy [whappy] hardcore! Piano & Bells.... E-MYST.ZIP Mystic Flower KoM'AH XM Techno/hardcore song, KoM'AH's first explizit release. It's 5 months old but one of his better ones. . . .' end `. `...........' Thank you for reading, you can ftp all our releases from: ftp://tillbm.stu.rpi.edu/explizit/ For feedback, info and a wreal kewl homepage: http://huizen.dds.nl/~explizit Ch:ilm/Explizit explizit@dds.nl ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- --[6. NOISE]---------------------------------------------------------------- __ __ ____ __ ____ ____ ......../ / / /../ /../ /../ __/../ / / ......... / \/ /../ / /../ /../ /_.../ __/ ............/__/\__/../___/../_/../_ /../ /_ ............/__/_/_/_ /___/__/_/____/ /../___/ ........../\________________________/../___/ .......\/_______________________/..... .........( ( ( NOISE ) ) ).... New Objectives in Sound Exploration Traxweekly Column 2/22/96 Well a lot of new things are happening at noise this week. First of all we'd like to welcome our three newest members, Spyder, Stoke, and Syrinx. We're glad to have you! The NOISE webpage (http://www.citenet.net/noise) has been updated with new releases as well as a way cool world view imagemap of all the NOISE member and distribution locations (way to go Shawnm!) Check it out! Now on to this months new releases. All of the following songs can be found on ftp.cdrom.com or any of the NOISE dis- tribution BBS's. Links to the files on cdrom.com can be found on the NOISE homepage. 2/18 Les Feuilles Mortes by Spyder [no-feuil.xm] This is a cool jazz track based on the famous "Autumn Leaves" jazz standard. Jazz lovers grab this! 2/17 Zydeco Jump by StOtE [no-zjump.s3m] This is a techno tune with a little bit of a jungle feel. There's a nice percussion track going on in there. 2/17 Variable-P by Syrinx [no-var-p.s3m] This one's sort of combination of styles, including rock, metal, industrial, and others. 2/17 CutThroat by SamH [no-knife.s3m] A new Industrial tune by SamH. Well thats about it for this week. Come check us out on our webpage and let us know what you think. NOISE Members: ShawnM..........[Mus/Admin/WWW] Van Halen...[Musician] Benoit Charland.[Musician] SamH........[Musician] Danielm.........[Musician/WWW] Spyder......[Musician/Ed] Harry...........[Musician] StOtE.......[Musician] Delta X.........[Musician] Syrinx......[Musician] NOISE is always looking for new members. Contact Info: Email: shawnm@citenet.net WWW: http://www.citenet.net/noise ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- /-[Closing]----------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------/ TraxWeekly is available via FTP from: ftp.cdrom.com /demos/incoming/news (new issues) ftp.cdrom.com /demos/info/traxw/ (back issues) TraxWeekly will be available via WWW from a new site within a few months. To subscribe, send mail to: listserver@unseen.aztec.co.za and put in the message body: subscribe trax-weekly [name] (NOT address) To unsubscribe, mail same and: unsubscribe trax-weekly (in message body) Contributions for TraxWeekly must be formatted for *76* columns, must have a space preceding each line, and must be readable and understandable. NO HIGH ASCII IS ALLOWED. Different country code pages cause major problems in international distribution, so we must stay with regular text. Profanities and other derogatory subjects should be avoided if possible. Contributions should be mailed as plain ascii text or filemailed (MIME/UUE only) to: gwie@owl.csusm.edu before 6:00pm EST (North America) every Wednesday. TraxWeekly does not discriminate based on age, gender, race, political preferences, religious preferences, or eliteness. For questions and comments, you can contact the TraxWeekly staff at: Editor: Psibelius (Gene Wie).................gwie@owl.csusm.edu Staff: Atlantic (Barry Freeman).............as566@torfree.net DennisC (Dennis Courtney)............dennisc@community.net Kal Zakath (John Townsend)...........jtownsen@sescva.esc.edu Master of Darkness (Todd Andlar).....as566@torfree.net Mhoram (John Niespodzianski).........niespodj@neonramp.com Mick Rippon..........................rip@hunterlink.net.au Trifixion (Tyler Vagle)..............trifix@northernnet.com Zinc (Justin Ray)....................rays@direct.ca Reporter: Island of Reil (Jesse Rothenberg)....jroth@owl.csusm.edu Graphics: Squidgalator2 (...)..................sq2@... White Wizard (...)...................aac348@agora.ulaval.ca WWW Page: Dragunov (Nicholas St-Pierre)........dragunov@info.polymtl.ca TraxWeekly is a HORNET affiliation. Copyright (c)1995,1996 - TraxWeekly Publishing, All Rights Reserved. /-[END]--------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------/ $P"^````$$$$$P"^````$$$$$P"^```````^"TP"^```````^"``````````^"T$$$$$````^"T$ $ .o@&$ $$$$$ .o@&$ $$$$$ .o@&$"$&@o. .o@&$"$&@o.`$$$$$"$&@o. $$$$$ $&@o. $ $ $$$$$ $$$$$ $$$$$ $$$$$ $$$$$ $$$$$ $$$$$ $$$$$ $$$$$ $ $ $$$$$""" $$$$$"$&@o. $$$$$ $$$$P $$$$$ $$$$P $$$$$ $$$$$ .o@&$"$$$$$ $ $ $$$$$ $$$$$ $$$$$ $$$$$""^~` $$$$$""^~` $$$$$ $$$$$ $$$$$ $$$$$ $ $ $$$$$ $$$$$ $$$$$ $$$$$ $$$$$ $$$$$ $$$$$ $$$$$ $$$$$ $ $ $$$$$ $$$$$ $$$$$ $$$$$ $$$$$ $$$$$ $$$$$ $$$$$ $$$$$ $$$$$ $SQ2$ $iCE$ $ $ $$$$$ $$$$$ $$$$$ $$$$$ $$$$$ $$$$$ $$$$$ $$$$$ $$$$$ $$$$$ $$$$$ $$$$$ $ $ T$$$$ $$$$P $$$$$ $$$$$ T$$$$ $$$$P T$$$$ $$$$P $$$$$ $$$$$ T$$$$ $$$$P $ $, `~^"""^~` ,$$$$$ $$$$$ `~^"""^~` ,, `~^"""^~` ,$$$$$ $$$$$ `~^"""^~` $ $$o,. .,o$$$$$$ $$$$$ o,. .,o$$o,. .,o$$$$$$ $$$$$ o,. .,o$$ """"""""""""""""""" $$$$P """""""""""""""""""""""""""""" $$$$P """"""""""""" "^` "^` ...traxweekly emag