[sdiy] Environmental, Concept, and "Subscription Modules"

[Cynthia Webster]

on 10/1/03 8:31 PM, john mahoney at jmahoney at gate.net wrote:

> Hey, somebody has to defend Cyn, here!

Thanks John!

I really can't believe the snide remarks I've gotten so far on this topic.
(I'll remember those comments gentlemen...)

> The idea has artistic merit, except for the subscription thing, bah humbug!

I agree, (can you imagine?)  They say that if Microsoft has it's way,
soon we'll all be ~renting~ software instead of owning it. Yikes!

> ;-) Public news tickers aren't new, there's a national debt counter (in
> Times Square?), a Nuclear Countdown Clock... But, art is "off topic," so on
> with the DIY (... he said, narrowly avoiding an artistic debate).
> 
> You can use a PC to grab the data off the Internet and send out the
> corresponding MIDI data. A MIDI/CV converter completes the job.
> 
> The trick is reading HTTP and writing MIDI, but it's *theoretically* easy.
> Internet and MIDI functions are built into Microsoft's Software Development
> Kits, for one. If I had the tools, I'd try it.
> 
> Now, you wanted that PC in a Modcan-compatible module, right...?

Yes!  Actually I'm a Mac head, and don't think I haven't looked at those
G4 Cubes thinking they'd fit nicely behind a panel! LOL!

Actually I am on the look-out for a Mac on a card if anyone ever sees one.
Even if I had to pull the Mac OS ROM chips from a full size Mac to make
it happen.  There's a quirky little Mac shareware program called THONK that
will take a sound file and well, THONK it.

There is very little control you have a choice of one parameter and that is
"Short THONK" or "Long THONK".

I fed Debussey's "Claire de lune" on piano into THONK and let it process
it in the background for a hour or two on a slow G3...
The sound file that I got back was scary as hell!

It sounded so creepy!  Like I was in a space ship on the surface of some
strange planet and there was a flock of some really evil creatures trying
to get inside!    (You know how hearing ghost stories can make your hair
strand on end and make your skin crawl?  Well, THONK turned a beautiful
piece on piano into that!)

So I wonder, what if you had a Mac or a PC on a card behind a module
with a front panel called THONK, that was dedicated to doing this in real
time?  What would it do with evil nasty sounds, make them beautiful?

If anyone is looking for THONK or any really good freeware or shareware
I suggest the free downloads at TuCows  www.tucows.com.

> --
> john
> 
> 
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "harrybissell" <harrybissell at prodigy.net>
> To: "John L Marshall" <john.l.marshall at gte.net>
> Cc: "Cynthia Webster" <cynthia.webster at gte.net>;
> <cgs_synth at yahoogroups.com>; "DIY" <synth-diy at dropmix.xs4all.nl>
> Sent: Wednesday, October 01, 2003 10:01 PM
> Subject: Re: [sdiy] Environmental, Concept, and "Subscription Modules"
> 
> 
>> Yeah definately !!!
>> 
>> "I'll have what the lady on the FLOOR is having...."
>> 
>> H^) harry
>> 
>> John L Marshall wrote:
>> 
>>> Cynthia,
>>> 
>>> Too many triple lattes.
>>> 
>>> Take care,
>>> John
>>> ------------------------------------------------------------------
>>> www.sound-photo.com
>>> ------------------------------------------------------------------
>>> 
>>> ----- Original Message -----
>>> From: "Cynthia Webster" <cynthia.webster at gte.net>
>>> To: <cgs_synth at yahoogroups.com>; "DIY" <synth-diy at dropmix.xs4all.nl>
>>> Sent: Wednesday, October 01, 2003 12:54 PM
>>> Subject: [sdiy] Environmental, Concept, and "Subscription Modules"
>>> 
>>>> (from a thread on the CGS list)
>>>> 
>>>> Environmental,  Concept and "Subscription Modules"
>>>> 
> [big snip]
>