[Jim Klein]

Hello RAP'ers -

I've been teaching a couple of midi/Logic/sequencing courses for the past
five years, and part of my teaching philosophy is to educate the students
about the past before we dive into the future. We start out explaining
CV/gate technology before moving into the history and development of midi.

Obviously, in the age of software sequencing and sampling, few of my
students have experienced hardware synthesis or sampling, and NONE of them
have ever had to connect a large rig together, stripe SMPTE to tape (what is
tape again?), or lockup multiple machines. I¹d like to collect some
³obsolete² pieces (still working, of course) like an SBX-80 or Masterbeat,
some older drum machines that might need midi clock with SPP, any older
samplers, hardware sequencers like the MC-500. What I want to do is put
together a rig and have the students make the connections, select the master
and slaves and get everything running.

If any of you have gear that is collecting dust and doesn¹t have much market
value, I¹d appreciate any donations. As a non-profit, I can get you tax
deductions for the gear (and a lot of the time, the deduction is more
generous that the actual market value of the gear). I¹d really appreciate
any working stuff.

It¹s pretty dry explaining about gear that you don¹t have, and that people
(especially young people) don¹t use as much any more. I believe that an
understanding of how and why this stuff worked is beneficial to working with
the newer gear, not to mention that there are still artists who use this
gear.

Please contact me if you have anything to donate. I¹d really appreciate it.


Thanks,

Jim




Jim Klein
Assistant Professor, Music Industry
Antoinette Westphal College of Media Arts and Design
Drexel University
3141 Chestnut Street Building 9-2018
Philadelphia, PA 19104

215-895-6603


--

[Laurence Payne]

On Tue, 09 Oct 2007 20:28:49 -0400, Jim Klein
wrote:

I've been teaching a couple of midi/Logic/sequencing courses for the past five years, and part of my teaching
philosophy is to educate the students about the past before we dive
into the future.
We start out explaining CV/gate technology before moving into the history and development of midi.

Obviously, in the age of software sequencing and sampling, few of my students have experienced hardware synthesis or sampling,
and NONE of them have ever had to connect a large rig together, stripe
SMPTE to tape (what is tape again?), or lockup multiple machines. I?d
like to collect some ?obsolete? pieces (still working, of course) like
an SBX-80 or Masterbeat, some older drum machines that might need midi
clock with SPP, any older samplers, hardware sequencers like the
MC-500. What I want to do is put together a rig and have the students
make the connections, select the master and slaves and get everything
running.


My first reaction to this was "Jolly good!" But then I thought longer
and must ask "Why"? Is it really useful to spend valuable time on
more than a mention of this stuff, or is this more about YOUR
nostalgia for a bygone age of immature technology?

Should a car maintainance course include how to strip down and
overhaul a 100-year-old spark plug?

[DC]

Jim Klein wrote:

I've been teaching a couple of midi/Logic/sequencing courses for the
past five years, and part of my teaching philosophy is to educate the
students about the past before we dive into the future. We start out
explaining CV/gate technology before moving into the history and
development of midi.

Obviously, in the age of software sequencing and sampling, few of my
students have experienced hardware synthesis or sampling, and NONE of
them have ever had to connect a large rig together, stripe SMPTE to tape
(what is tape again?), or lockup multiple machines. I’d like to collect
some “obsolete” pieces (still working, of course) like an SBX-80 or
Masterbeat, some older drum machines that might need midi clock with
SPP, any older samplers, hardware sequencers like the MC-500. What I
want to do is put together a rig and have the students make the
connections, select the master and slaves and get everything running.


I taught a class like this for several years. When I started, the age of
the MIDI workstation (we had a Korg M1) was already upon us. I preferred
to use an Alesis MMT-8 and an Emu Proteus, controlled by the M1.

Even then, they wondered why one would want to use all these pieces when
the work could be done by one. In this era of soft synths, everything
has become simpler. I would want to do what you're proposing, but the
students' reaction might not be what we'd expect.

By the way, I still occasionaly stripe tape and slave a sequencer to an
analog machine. Don't tell the kids!

[Andre Majorel]

On 2007-10-10, Laurence Payne wrote:
On Tue, 09 Oct 2007 20:28:49 -0400, Jim Klein
wrote:

I've been teaching a couple of midi/Logic/sequencing courses
for the past five years, and part of my teaching philosophy
is to educate the students about the past before we dive
into the future. We start out explaining CV/gate technology
before moving into the history and development of midi.

My first reaction to this was "Jolly good!" But then I
thought longer and must ask "Why"? Is it really useful to
spend valuable time on more than a mention of this stuff, or
is this more about YOUR nostalgia for a bygone age of immature
technology?

CV/gate is no longer the only or dominant control interface but
it's still very much in use. And judging from the amount of new
CV/gate gear introduced every year, it'll be for a long time.

http://www.analoguesystems.co.uk/
http://www.blacet.com/
http://www.cluboftheknobs.com/
http://www.cwejman.net/
http://www.cyndustries.com/
http://www.doepfer.de/
http://www.ear-group.net/
http://www.encoreelectronics.com/
http://www.livewire-synthesizers.com/
http://www.macbethstudiosystems.com/
http://www.metalbox.com/
http://www.metasonix.com/
http://www.modcan.com/
http://www.paia.com/
http://www.synthesizers.com/
http://www.synthtech.com/
http://www.technosaurus.ch/
http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~concuss/
http://www.wiard.com/

Now whether it's /useful/ in the context of a course on
MIDI/Logic/sequencing, I don't know. But it's definitely a thing
of the present and future.

--
André Majorel URL:http://www.teaser.fr/~amajorel/
(Counterfeit: )
There is always someone somewhere who needs a good laugh.

[Mike Rivers]

On Oct 10, 1:49 pm, DC wrote:

In this era of soft synths, everything has become simpler.

Not everything. What's become simpler is getting the money together to
set up a system. It's much harder to make a soft synth work than it is
to plug a MIDI cable between a keyboard and a sound module. And it's a
lot more difficult to explain why it works.

[Laurence Payne]

On Sun, 21 Oct 2007 06:11:27 -0700, Mike Rivers
wrote:

In this era of soft synths, everything has become simpler.

Not everything. What's become simpler is getting the money together to
set up a system. It's much harder to make a soft synth work than it is
to plug a MIDI cable between a keyboard and a sound module. And it's a
lot more difficult to explain why it works.

Maybe. Particularly if YOU find it a harder concept. I'm not sure
the computer generation do.

What HAS become much easier is creating a mix from MIDI and audio
sources when they're all "in the box".