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From: mark@giza.cis.ohio-state.edu (Mark Jansen)
Newsgroups: comp.music
Subject: Re: Improvements to the Boie Radio Drum
Message-ID: <86452@tut.cis.ohio-state.edu>
Date: 30 Nov 90 21:11:44 GMT
References: <9011280540.AA02464@en.ecn.purdue.edu>
Sender: news@tut.cis.ohio-state.edu
Organization: Ohio State Computer Science
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In article <9011280540.AA02464@en.ecn.purdue.edu> davisonj@ECN.PURDUE.EDU (John M Davison) writes:
>
>	I'd like to start a thread discussing the current limitations
>of the Boie Radio Drum, how these limitations may be pushed back
>and/or eliminated, possible extensions to the current setup of the
>Boie Radio Drum, and what modifications could be made (conceptually,
>stylistically, and technically) to improve its chances of becoming a
>success in the serious music community as well as in the marketplace.
>
	sounds like a good idea to me

>	As I understand it, the Radio Drum can distingush three
>degrees of freedom per transmitter, i.e. the three spatial
>dimensions.  One useful modification I can think of right off the
>bat would be to extend the control to six degrees of freedom per
>transmitter.

	such an instrument exists the MIDI air drums, two drumsticks 
	that have expensive accelerometers in them that can trigger
	any sort of midi note message.  I wonder though if all those
	degrees of freedom are hard to control.  What do you do 
	when you have too many degrees of freedom.

		- practice 
		- ignore certain dof
		- combine dof's by some equation
		- use excess dof's to control some random timbre of
			the instrument being played

>the conference, Mathews said that the Radio Drum could easily handle
>twenty distinct transmitters, meaning that a DataGlove-type glove
>could be used so that the Radio Drum could be played like a bongo,
>with all of its different styles of striking. 

	bongo's are a great idea, hand shape further defining timbre

	another device to mention here is the performance instrument
	called Thunderbird (if I remember right) by Don Buchula.
	As I understand it this machine allows you to pound on different
	locations and different strength and turn it into MIDI.

	Also the Thunderbird has some algorithmic composition techniques
	built into it.  So not only do you alter timbre of sound but
	you also do note composition as well.  A rich device, full of
	new ideas.



>will turn off all but a handful of devoted musicians).  Should a
>commercially available Radio Drum come with a set of templates, or
>even a LCD-style display (which could potentially cover the entire top
>surface) that would be programmed along with the details of its modes
>of operation?  What engineering challenges would have to be surmounted
>in order to make such an idea a reality?
	
	good idea again, the notebook computer of the future that you
	can write on, could be used as a musical instrument and how you
	hit it would leave a pattern, drawing, etc.

	I think the really interesting issue is what metaphor we use a
	musical device for.  We have the "organ" model where we tax the
	player to the max to control as many keys as possible.

	We also have the "conductor" mode, where the music is being 
	played by an automatic orchestra and you as conductor control
	the expression of the music such as tempo, empahasis, timbre

	We also have the improvisational mode where the computer generates
	certain parts based on the lead from the human player.

	what other metaphor's are their?



--
Mark Jansen, Department of Computer and Information Science
The Ohio State University; 2036 Neil Ave., Columbus, OH USA 43210-1277
mark@cis.ohio-state.edu