Organization: The American University
Newsgroups: bit.listserv.emusic-l
Date:         Fri, 9 Oct 1992 13:55:43 EDT
From:         ronin <HARNDEN@AMERICAN.EDU>
Subject:      text recommendation
Comments: To: EMUSIC-L@american.edu

a new book recently has appeared on my desk, which i find quite exciting,
and would like to tell you about.
the book is volume 8 in the computer music and digital audio series
edited by our old buddy john strawn and published by a-r editions,
and is by far the best of the series as far as scope and depth are
concerned.
it is called Synthesizer Performance And Realtime Techniques, and is
authored by jeff pressing, about whom i know nothing.
allow me to provide a chapter listing, with sub-chapter brief:

1: the synthesizer as instrument
      fixed and realtime synthesis
      the improvisation-composition continuum
      aesthetics, style, and function
2: synthesis, sampling, and software
      tuning and temperament
      synthesis and sampling
      musical qualities and synthesis
3: midi
      midi messages
      standard midi files
      midi diagnosis
      limitations of midi
4: synthesizer technique
      contemporary synthesizer keyboard technique
      voice assignment: monophonic and polyphonic modes
      velocity and pressure maps
      performance with standard continuous controllers
5: playing a single line
      realtime control of pitch
      timing
      timbre
      articulation and phrasing
      notation for synthesizer
      the synthetic implementation of expressivity
6: polyphonic performance and extended techniques
      part disposition
      dovetail voicings
      polyphonic pitch bend
      keyboard retuning
      velocity effects
      using unpredictability
7: performance configurations and practicalities
      layering
      practical issues in live performance
      live performance with prerecorded music
8: sound and instrument imitation
      sustaining breath instruments: brass and winds
      the voice
      decaying instruments: plucked strings
      instrumental third-streaming
9: nonkeyboard controllers
      pitch-to-midi converters
      bowed string controllers
      percussion controllers
10: synthesizer ensembles and repertoire
      discographical sources
      performance problems in electroacoustic ensembles
11: intelligent and interactive performance systems
      an analytical and historical framework
      cybernetics of the control interface
      cybernetics if intelligent midi systems

the book is comprehensively indexed, and runs to 462 pages. now, even in that
many pages some of the above areas get a little shortchanged. i'm sure that
most of you could, after all, see an entire book in each chapter heading.
things like midi diagnosis and controller descriptions actually only get
a single page, rather than any kind of serious treatment. what the book excels
in, however, is a musically relevant presentation. it is full of score
material, data, and exercises. as you can tell from the chapter list,
it builds from a set of synthesis and related fundamentals to a core which
emphasizes how to actually make music with these instruments, and then
resolves to more abstract issues of sound design and control. the book is
written for the musician who may know absolutely nothing about synthesizers
to begin with, and attempts to tell them everything they need to know in
order to make both rational and creative decisions. on the one hand, this
means that a good deal of the writing simply makes explicit what alot of
us who have been using these machines for years already understand, although
may not have bothered to articulate. descriptions of portamento control, for
instance, tend toward this. they are very detailed, but tell me nothing
new. but again, and this is the other hand, they are *very* detailed, and
this level of detail sometimes triggers new ideas even for the familiar reader.
the treatments of the requirements, capabilities, and implications of
performance controls and techniques is the most thorough i have ever seen,
and i think anyone here would find significant value in it.
a-r editions' phone number is 1-800-736-0070. for library or bookstore,
the isbn is 0-89579-257-5.

-----------< Cognitive Dissonance is a 20th Century Art Form >-----------
Eric Harnden (Ronin)
<HARNDEN@AUVM.BITNET> or <HARNDEN@AMERICAN.EDU>
The American University Physics Dept.
4400 Mass. Ave. NW, Washington, DC, 20016-8058
(202) 885-2748
---------------------< Join the Cognitive Dissidents >-------------------
Comments: Gated by NETNEWS@AUVM.AMERICAN.EDU
Subject: (no subject given)