Music
Music
How to start getting into music without the little black dots or the scales. Hey! Music is banging two rocks together...
Hmmm, so much for 'rock' music, but the point remains the same. If you can press a key on a piano, you can make music, the rest is just technique!
What about practising? Surely scales are for the brain dead? If you feed your brain with a tune it will want you to practise, (well that's how it was for me anyhow).
Music Page Contents:
Music
Introduction
I am new to the world of music, and so this page will grow, as I learn more, and tell you about it! I hope therefore that it will build into a 'way in' to music, for those of you, who like me, were thoroughly put off by the technical details.
How I got started
My path into music is not to be recommended. I must have been put off at almost every single stage of the process. Music lessons in school were of course a bit ridiculous when you consider that I only ever got to touch an instrument twice in the whole time. Maybe the instruments were just too expensive to actually play with them.
However, I have always enjoyed listening to music, music of almost any type. Eventually, after listening to a particularly good guitar solo, I went out and bought one. Well, it wasn't that simple, but the man in the shop was really 'naughty' when he got his mate to start playing it in front of me. I fell in love straight away, (with the guitar).
My guitar playing has never really had the chance to progress. Like my other interests on this site, I just don't have the time any more :( However, the fact that I can play anything other than 'bobby shaftoe' is a testament to my one time guitar teacher.
I came back to music, through my need for background tunes for my 'games' programs. I was really worried about this, until I discovered Module music on the internet. I had been toying around with my own idea along this line, but the wealth of quality software out there enabled me to spend my time writing the music, rather than programming the sound card.
I have so much to learn, however, I do know that for me, the way music is taught, with the emphasis on technique and practice, rather than just sound, is, and was, a great turn off, from something I know now, I will enjoy.
Modules
What are Modules? Well, in brief, modules are a way in which you can write, and hear, music for an orchestra, on your PC. You may be aware of MIDI, it is another form of musical notation really, a form in which computers can talk to instruments and vica versa. Module music is similar but not the same. In some ways it is a little more limiting in the long run, however, it can get you started, writing and listening you your own music within half an hour.
The way module works is simple. A tune is broken up into steps. The timing of the steps being controlled by the tracker program on the computer. At any given step, the computer starts to play a specified sample at a specified frequency, or 'note'. The computer does the job of speeding them up and also takes care of the mixing of the sample 'channels'. (When I am playing a module I know my 486 is being taxed). The resulting music is a very complex and high quality affair, (output of up 16bit*44kHz, almost CD quality).
The limits of Module playing, are there, but only come out if you want to progress too far. The music is 'programmed' in the sense that each individual note is without the 'feeling' and emphasis a 'real' musician would give it. However, unlike the music professionals, I do not want to go that far at the moment, and so am happy to be able to produce music of a higher complexity that I could of dreamed of, all without learning all the difficult stuff.
Fasttracker II
The best 'tracker' program 'out there' at the moment. Such a quality bit of kit, that I am loathed to use anything else.
Downloading
You can find fast-tracker on the net in millions of different places, so I will not even bother to tell you where. Just type in "Fasttracker download" and any search engine will come up with the reference you need.
Using
Fasttracker is easy to use in the sense that all the functions are well labelled, but more difficult due to the almost non-existent instruction documents.
The best way to learn it's functions is one, by one as you need to use them. Start off with a MOD file from the net, preferably in .XM format, (Fasttracker's save format), and then fiddle around with it, altering the samples, the pace of the tune, and maybe adding a few notes here and there.
If I can get the time, I will write an instruction manual here, but, it is looking like a bit of a pipe dream at the moment, especially with all the other subsites asking for attention.
Samples
Samples for Fasttracker are simple to obtain. There are many samples available on the internet, or, if you prefer, you can use Fasttracker itself to record your own instruments. The later is what I do, since 'samples' do not necessarily have to be of 'proper' instruments.
Your own voice can be an amazing source of sound effects and even music samples. Or, if you prefer, record samples from a real instrument you have lying around, in my case I have used my guitar.
Anyhow, if you are going to make your own samples, get "COOL Edit" from the 'net, since it is the best sample editor, with the most wave functions around at the moment. It can also do a very respectable job of 'cleaning up' your hissy home recordings.
Examples
Hmmm, you really want some examples? Well, here are two demo modules I have written for you.... They are both in the FasttrackerII 'XM' format, and are ready to be played as soon as you download them.... if you have FasttrackerII, and if you don't, then you should have by now! Guitar.xm is built around a single sample from my guitar, and Organ.xm uses a really rather messed up sample which only really sounds okay if you do play the module with Fasttracker and not Mod4win or the like. If you want you can wait for the WAV versions of the tunes to download and play them here.
Guitar
Learning
I started to learn the guitar to provide myself with a break from programming and to allow some sort of musical expression in my life. It was during the course of simple learning that I realised that the only way to practise was by playing tunes. My brain would just numb if I tried to do anything else!
I had a hard time with the basics, since I have never been one for physical dexterity, however I soon realised that there was nothing quite like a good bass sound vibrating through your heart. (Literally). The guitar can be a very intimate instrument in that way.
Resources on the net'
LEO Music Archive - the Guitar pages
LEO Music Archive - How to read and write Tab
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A page from James David Chapman's website.
Located at: http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~jchap/ Site mirrored here at: http://www.j.chap.btinternet.co.uk |
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