Products of Interest

The Contemporary Violin: Extended Performance Techniques by Patricia and Allen Strange

Allen Strange, presently Professor Emeritus at San Jose State University, has served as President of the International Computer Music Association, and is author of Electronic Music: Systems, Controls, and Techniques. Patricia Strange is a violinist dedicated to the performance of contemporary and experimental music. Together, they have authored The Contemporary Violin: Extended Performance Techniques, part of the University of California Press's New Performance Series, edited by Bertram Turetsky. This volume explores and explains extended performance options for the acoustic, modified, electric, and MIDI violin, including signal processing and computer-related techniques. The book is aimed at both composers and performers.

Illustrated with over 400 notated examples, The Contemporary Violin includes chapters on Bowing; The Left Hand; Percussion Techniques; Harmonics and Variations; Tuning Systems; Amplification and Signal Processing; and MIDI, Strings and the Computer. The book contains an extensive bibliography, discography, and list of relevant scores. There is also a listing of Internet resources.

The Contemporary Violin is listed for US$ 24.95. Contact: University of California Press, 2120 Berkeley Way, Berkeley, California 94720, USA; telephone (+1) 609-833-1759; fax (+1) 510-643-7127; electronic mail orders@cpfs.pupress.princeton.edu; World Wide Web www.ucpress.edu/books/pages/8987.html.

That's Write! FastX24 CD-ROM ReWriter

That's Write! Corporation has produced a high-speed CD-ROM writer (see Figure 1). The FastX24 ReWriter runs at 24 × playback speed. For burning CD-RW discs, the speed is 10 ×, while CD-ROM reading can run at a speed of 40 ×.

Additional technology implemented by That's Write! includes the Justlink underrun prevention technology and the Justspeed feature, which optimizes writing speed to obtain the best quality for particular file types.

The internal IDE FastX24 ReWriter retails for US$ 155.00. The FireWire unit has just been released. Contact: That's Write! Corporation; electronic mail info@thats.net; World Wide Web www.thats.net/.

IRCAM Computer-Aided Composition Plug-ins for Finale 2002

In collaboration with Coda Music Technology (www.codamusic.com/coda/), the Institut de Recherche et Coordination Acoustique/Musique (IRCAM) has integrated a collection of its computer-aided composition tools into the Finale 2002 music notation software environment. These ten plug-ins are marketed in a bundle titled Composer's Assistant (see Figure 2).

The IRCAM tools include: Rhythm Generation, instantly merging rhythms and creating up to six staves of percussion; Virtual Fundamental Generation, creating a new staff displaying a bass note—the virtual fundamental—below each chord; Chord Reordering, listing new progression options for chords, including Random or Best solutions; Melodic Morphing, generating melodic transitions from one melody to another; and Chord Morphing, generating a variety of smooth transitions between chords. The other five plug-ins include Chord Design, Melody Harmonization, Frequency Modulation Chord Generator, Chord Splitting, and Tieing Common Notes.

These tools have been designed within the IRCAM OpenMusic Composition Software Environment (www.ircam.fr/openmusic), a visual programming environment. Tools are provided for importing and exporting between Finale 2002 and Open Music. Users who subscribe to the IRCAM Forum (www.ircam.fr/forum) have access to additional OpenMusic applications, technical support, tutorials, and training courses on an annual basis. For developers familiar with Digitool's Common Lisp, OpenMusic source code is also available under the GPL License.

Contact: IRCAM, 1 place Igor Stravinsky, 75004 Paris, France; telephone (+33) 1-44-78-49-59; fax (+33) 1-44-78-15-40; electronic mail software@ircam.fr; World Wide Web www.ircam.fr/produits/logiciels/finale.html.

Multimedia Controller Toolkits in Max

Bret Battey, of BatHatMedia.com and the University of Washington's Center for Advanced Research Technologies in the Arts and Humanities, has developed toolkits in Max for controlling multimedia hardware. The DVDV7400 Control is designed for interfacing with the Pioneer V7400 RS-232 DVD player. A copy of the Pioneer unit specifications is included, along with a "remote control" Graphic User Interface (GUI) and additional demonstration applications. This software is said to interface with the V7200 DVD player as well.

Figure 1.

That's Write! FastX24 CD-ROM ReWriter.