From: sdpage@andersen.co.uk (Stephen Page)
Newsgroups: comp.music
Subject: Content and scope of this newsgroup (READ BEFORE POSTING!)
Date: 11 Sep 92 19:59:15 GMT
Expires: Sun, 11 Oct 1992 00:00:01 GMT
Organization: Andersen Consulting (UK Practice)

This note explains what this newsgroup is for, what are inappropriate and
appropriate subjects for postings, and what other sources may be relevant.
It also contains some information on the Music-Research Archive service.

PLEASE READ THIS NOTE CAREFULLY BEFORE POSTING ARTICLES TO COMP.MUSIC!
THERE MAY BE A BETTER PLACE TO POST YOUR QUERY OR INFORMATION.

This note is posted monthly to comp.music.      [ Last updated 11-Sep-92 ]

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NEWSGROUP CHARTER

The newsgroup comp.music was established to carry the Music-Research Digest
and other related materials, to the Usenet community.

The official Usenet description of the newsgroup is :

		"Applications of Computers in Music Research"
		 -------------------------------------------

The group was set up to provide an effective and fast means of bringing 
together musicologists, music analysts, computer scientists, and others 
working on applications of computers in music research.

APPROPRIATE SUBJECTS FOR POSTINGS

As with any forum for discussion, there are certain subject areas which are of
particular interest to the group of people who read this group; and there are
other subjects which are of interest to people who read other groups. Although
there will always be some overlap, you are most likely to stimulate discussion
if you choose the "right" group for your posting.

The comp.music group concerns computers and their applications to

        - music representation systems
        - information retrieval systems for musical scores
        - music printing
        - music analysis
        - musicology and ethnomusicology
        - tertiary music education

INAPPROPRIATE SUBJECTS FOR POSTINGS

The following areas are not the principal concern of this list, and are
discussed actively in other fora:

        - primary and secondary education
        - sound generation techniques
        - composition
	- MIDI
	- synthesizers
	- PC cards for music generation
	- general requests for information on music, popular or otherwise
	
Obviously, there will be plenty of grey areas (e.g. use of computers to
generate sounds for experiments on music perception, algorithmic generation
of patches, synthesizer implementations in software) - which would 
be most welcome, if they concern music research rather than the recreational
use of sound generation equipment.

Example questions which are better asked in other groups include:

	- Will the S950 controller respond to info other than pitch
		bend? [ better in rec.music.synth ]
	- How do I convert MIDI clocks to pulse trains? [ ditto ]
	- Where do I get patches for my DX-7? [ ditto ]
	- How do I convert between .sng and .mid files? [ ditto ]
	- Can I have a copy of the sheet music for the "MacGyver" theme
		tune? [ better in rec.music.misc, or even better in a
		music shop, to avoid breaching copyright ]
	- Here is the world's shortest song [ /dev/null ]
	- What piano should I buy? [ rec.music.makers ]

In short, you would stand a much better chance of stimulating a lively
discussion on MIDI, synthesizers, etc in rec.music.synth.

WHAT IF MY SITE DOESN'T RECEIVE THE REC. HIERARCHY?

There is a mailing list which deals specifically with synthesizers and
other aspects of electronic music. To join this list, send
a message containing "SUBSCRIBE EMUSIC-D <your fullname>"
to LISTSERV@AUVM.BITNET.

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THE MUSIC-RESEARCH DIGEST

The Music-Research Digest is a moderated electronic mail distribution which
shares a common charter with the comp.music forum. Articles posted to
comp.music are sometimes picked up by the Moderator and included in the
Digest; the Digest is also automagically gated into the comp.music group.

The Digest has been running since 1986, and has carried many lively 
discussions. Controversy is always welcomed, as is any report of interest
(e.g. book reviews, conference reports, forthcoming events, etc). 

The Digest is mailed to UK readers from Oxford, then redistributed to the
rest of the world from the US. Contact addresses are at the end of this note.

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THE MUSIC-RESEARCH ARCHIVE

We maintain an archive which contains back issues of the Digest and other
interesting files (e.g. conference reports, bits of software, standards, etc.)
New contributions are welcome (see above for content guidelines); contact
the Moderator for further information.

The Music-Research Digest archive is available in four ways:
  - by anoymous FTP over the Internet
  - through a mail server in the UK (for UK users only)
  - through a mail server in the US (for users anywhere else in the world)
  - by NIFTP, for users of the JANET network in the UK

ACCESS BY INTERNET FTP

The Oxford University Computing Laboratory, who are the generous hosts for 
the Digest, have opened an Internet FTP host and made the Archive available
on it.

Those users who are lucky to have FTP access can open a connection to 
   ftp.comlab.ox.ac.uk
and look in the directory Music-Research to find the archive.

Please observe the normal etiquette for FTP, e.g. do not request huge
transfers in one block, try to avoid the normal working day (0800-1700 GMT).

Start with the README file for a description of the archive.

A copy of the archive is maintained by Peter Marvit. This can be accessed
by opening a connection to cattell.psych.upenn.edu and looking in the
directory pub/Music-Research. Please avoid 0400-1300 GMT, the normal working
day at that site.

ACCESS BY MAIL SERVER

First, choose your mail server. The Oxford archive may only be used by sites
in the UK -- access from overseas sites can incur bills for REAL money to
our host institution. If you are not on a UK site, use the server maintained
by Peter Marvit in the US.

The addresses of the servers are:
   archive-server@uk.ac.oxford.prg (for UK users)
   archive-server@cattell.psych.upenn.edu (for everyone else)

For information on how to use the mail server, mail a message
containing the word "help" at the beginning of the line to
archive-server, and instructions will be sent to you.

The archive index will be returned to you if you send a message containing
"index music" to the server.

ACCESS BY JANET NIFTP

Users of the JANET network in the UK can copy files using NIFTP (Network
Independant File Transfer Protocol) if their host machine supports this.
The files are stored as <ARCHIVE>filename on site uk.ac.oxford.prg.b, using
username guest and the requester's email address as password. For example,
the index could be obtained using the following command from some Unix
machines:
   cpf "<ARCHIVE>Music-Research/00index@uk.ac.oxford.prg.b" local-name
Note that all files in the Music-Research archive are compressed, so
retrieving them by NIFTP requires access to the Unix "compress" command
or equivalent. Compressed files have the suffix ".Z" after them, so to
retrieve a Digest issue you would need something like
   cpf "<ARCHIVE>Music-Research/digest.5.01.Z@uk.ac.oxford.prg.b" loc-name


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HOW TO WRITE TO THE DIGEST

To contact the Digest Moderator, or to join the mailing list, write to
	Music-Research-Request@prg.oxford.ac.uk

To submit a contribution to the Digest, write to
	Music-Research@prg.oxford.ac.uk

To contact the US distributor directly, write to
	Music-Research-Request@cattell.psych.upenn.edu

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Stephen Page  (Moderator, Music-Research Digest)
Andersen Consulting, 2 Arundel Street, London  WC2R 3LT.
Newsgroups: comp.music