MOTM

Any MOTMers out there play with Csound?  Am curious to know if the results 
are worth the learning curve.  Yes, Csound is about as far off topic as one 
can get.  Yet, making interesting noises is pretty cool no matter how it is 
done.  (Csound is a free, script-based music instrument definition language.  
One can create instruments, assemble them into "orchestra" groups and then 
throw MIDI sequences at them to be played.  Search the web for "Csound" or go 
to www.csound.org for a taste.  The source code to Csound is freely 
available, too.  Programmer types can have their way with it.)

Another source of interesting noises is the VLF radio band.  (VLF=Very Low 
Frequency)  The noises you'll get are atmospheric disturbances.  Some of the 
noises are pretty interesting, though.  "Whistlers" are not uncommon and 
noises made when the Aurora Borealis peaks, are interesting as well.  Hope to 
throw together a VLF broadband receiver and experiment here in the city.  It 
only takes two transistors and a few passive components to make one.  I have 
a schematic I'll gladly pass along if you e-mail me privately.  The frequency 
band is about 700 - 13,000 Hz.  No, that isn't a misprint... I said Hertz!  
But you only need an antenna that is from 3 to 10 feet in length, so there 
really is no size issue.  There are a few sites in web-land that have sound 
samples.  Some of the samples are quite haunting, but I have no idea how 
often the really cool sounds happen.  Since these are natural sounds, it very 
possible to duplicate them on an analog synth.  If any others are interested 
I'd be happy to share my observations.

Cheers!
Tom Farrand