Re: lowercase why?

[pnyboer@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (peter nyboer)]

re: musicians explaining what they are doing...
Why so grouchy?  Even if these practices have been going on for 60 years,
they are not mainstream.  Far from it, in fact.  I think the need to
explain the process of something that is not regular ol' instrument playing
is partly ego of the musician, but it seems safe to speculate it is also
motivated by the hope that the audience isn't composed ENTIRELY of educated
people who know everything.  Artists want to reach people.  Sometimes this
takes the form of a stack of Marshalls, power chords, and big hair.
Sometimes this takes the form of overblown saxaphones.  Other times, it is
an assortment of strangely wired electronics.  I took my parents to see
Wadada Leo Smith at Mills once, and I was really glad when, at the end, he
spoke about what he was doing, what motivated him, and how he hoped his
music to be percieved.  I don't think my parents liked it anymore, but at
least they could understand that there was intelligence behind what was, to
them, often a dissonant cacophany.

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In the spirit of self-promotion and also because some people were curious
about this a few weeks ago:

NEW loop mixing software has been released.  It is called "Girl."  You will
like it.  Try it:
http://girl.yowstar.com

Here is a brief description:

Sounds.

Here is a less brief description:

Girl is an audio loop mixing instrument. Using your library of sound files
or live audio input of any format, sound is loaded into a GirlModule, which
will continuously loop the sound. Within a module you can modify the sound
using the multi-mode filters, delay, granulator, an optional VST plugin,
and by selecting smaller segments of the sound file. You can open any
number of these modules, limited only by your brain, the amount of
application RAM, and the power of your computer's processor. The modules
can be treated individually, or the playback speeds of the loops can all be
synchronized to a tempo.  Mixing can be done with a mouse, Macintosh
keyboard, and MIDI. Additionally, sounds are automatically segmented into
equal length pieces, and these segments can be played with a keyboard or
sequenced with Girl's sequencers.
Sound output is easily recorded into a stereo or multi-track file, or can
be directed to other audio programs with ReWire, DirectConnect, or VST.


Pete.

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