From: owner-alloy-digest@smoe.org (alloy-digest) To: alloy-digest@smoe.org Subject: alloy-digest V3 #20 Reply-To: alloy@smoe.org Sender: owner-alloy-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-alloy-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk X-To-Unsubscribe: Send mail to "alloy-digest-request@smoe.org" X-To-Unsubscribe: with "unsubscribe" as the body. alloy-digest Friday, January 23 1998 Volume 03 : Number 020 Today's Subjects: ----------------- Alloy: A Site in need of Beatnik! [RThurF ] Alloy: Site in need of Beatnik? ["Stephen M. Tilson" ] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 22 Jan 1998 07:37:09 EST From: RThurF Subject: Alloy: A Site in need of Beatnik! If anyone is intetsted at all in musical instruments, treat yourself to a visit to the Shrine to Music Museum page: http://www.usd.edu/smm/index.html#info My favorite place (and now my favorite site) in the world! But it's such a pity...All those beautiful instruments which can make sounds that haven't been popularly heard in many decades or even centuries... and they don't have ANY sound on their site. Perhaps it's never occured to them as a study aid to so many of us? Imagine being able to click on the image of Ventura Linarolo's 1582 viola da gamba and hear a short gamba piece played (on the very instrument depicted when possible) It would be incredible beyond words. There are so many instruments to be seen here; adding sound would make it an even more invaluable resource. I must write to the webmaster there and put forth a few suggestions :) Robin ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 22 Jan 1998 17:49:20 -0500 From: "Stephen M. Tilson" Subject: Alloy: Site in need of Beatnik? Our Dear Robin wrote: > If anyone is interested at all in musical instruments, treat = > yourself to a visit to the Shrine to Music Museum page: > http://www.usd.edu/smm/index.html#info My favorite place (and = > now my favorite site) in the world! > = > But it's such a pity...All those beautiful instruments which can = > make sounds that haven't been popularly heard in many decades or = > even centuries... and they don't have ANY sound on their site. = > Perhaps it's never occurred to them as a study aid to so many of = > us? > = > Imagine being able to click on the image of Ventura Linarolo's = > 1582 viola da gamba and hear a short gamba piece played (on the = > very instrument depicted when possible) It would be incredible = > beyond words. There are so many instruments to be seen here; = > adding sound would make it an even more invaluable resource. > = > I must write to the webmaster there and put forth a few = > suggestions :) Robin, you haven't been paying attention, darling girl. Perhaps you've l= et = yourself be blinded by your adoration for Thomas --- I think you'll find = us = all rather understanding on that count! But bear with me a moment here w= hile = I attempt to set the record straight. Beatnik, besides being an elegant and highly functional music and sound = plug-in for your WIN95 or MAC based browser, is limited in the realm of = acoustically reproduced sounds such as the human voice, or in this case, = highly unique acoustical musical instruments. As I understand it, Beatni= k is = designed to play MIDI-addressable sounds. That is, sounds that are defin= ed = in a digital fashion, such as you would find in modern electronic keyboar= ds, = or in a word: synthesizers. A Beatnik file that includes human voices as= = part of the piece must use the .WAV file format for the voice portion of = the = file. This somewhat defeats the purpose of the program, as it is designe= d to = deliver high quality sounds over the web in a *very* small memory footpri= nt = (file size). Once you add a WAV file to the Beatnik format the file size= = increases by orders of magnitude. I think your idea for the Shrine to Music Museum site is wonderful! But = to = do the instruments real justice the files would have to be in WAV or = equivalent format, and those files would be quite large. Beatnik would p= lay = those files faithfully of course, but it would not be a "click and listen= " = situation. More likely it would be `click and download a 2Mb file --- li= sten = offline.' If you come up with a solution to this impediment be sure and let Thomas = know. He'll hire you as lead engineer for Headspace and you, Mary, Dave,= and = I can get that big 12-room Victorian on the coast . . . Hugs and kisses, /\/\iles ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 22 Jan 1998 22:48:10 EST From: RThurF Subject: Re: Alloy: In need of Beatnik...or something In a message dated 98-01-22 18:34:24 EST, Miles writes: << Robin, you haven't been paying attention, darling girl. Perhaps you've let yourself be blinded by your adoration for Thomas --- >>' I have been paying quite close attention in fact, and I have found that my adoration of Thomas only serves to improves my vision. Plus, I haven't had a migraine in weeks and weeks, thanks to the intensity of my respect for this man! Anyway, so incredulous was I that a site for the Shrine to Music Museum, of all places, was devoid of music, and so psyched am I still at the possibility of hearing all of these amazing instruments, that I scribbled off my first message only a few minutes before runniing out the door to catch my train. It wasn't until I was on the train that I began to wonder if Beatnik would really be the right thing for this page's particular problem (You see, I HAVE been paying very close attention, Miles dear, REALLY!! It just takes me a while to wake up in the morning, and I should know better than to write when I'm so sleepy. The all-too-obvious thing about the vocal samples didn't hit me until we were rolling past the white-tailed deer sanctuary) << I think your idea for the Shrine to Music Museum site is wonderful! But to do the instruments real justice the files would have to be in WAV or equivalent format, and those files would be quite large. Beatnik would play those files faithfully of course, but it would not be a "click and listen" situation. More likely it would be `click and download a 2Mb file --- listen offline.'>> I would GLADLY do this, if it were available!! (and so would many others; the violin community is always ravenous for information, believe me) ...To allay the problem of their site, maybe in their virtual gift shop, they could sell little things that look like postcards/cd holders, with a picture of the instrument on the outside, and a thing inside to install so you can listen. It can even have a little animated figure on the screen demonstrating correct playing posture, and more visuals showing graphic representations of the instrument in cross-section, close detail, etc. But I'm being random again... *sigh* << If you come up with a solution to this impediment be sure and let Thomas know. He'll hire you as lead engineer for Headspace and you, Mary, Dave, and I can get that big 12-room Victorian on the coast . . .>> Which coast? This is very important! :) I really do recommend you go and visit the Shrine to Music site anyway, all those who are interested. It's like a tour of the inside of Robin's brain. Not a scary tour...a GOOD tour. I must now go and wash orange and green Gerber's out of my hair Robin ------------------------------ End of alloy-digest V3 #20 **************************