Symbolic Composer FAQ - version 1.2 Last updated: Sep 15, 1994 Hi! I'm Fokke de Boer and running the Lodge, a non-profit network of algorithmic composers using S-COM. A lot of people have been asking me what Symbolic Composer is. So, I made up a sort of FAQ. 1) What is Symbolic Composer? Symbolic Composer is a lisp-like modular music language for scoring music of any style and complexity. It enables you to write music in a very high-level language, and use this composition model to produce MIDI files. There are no limitations concerning music style and complexity, but it requires a certain design thinking approach. 2) On what platform does it run? S-COM runs only in the Macintosh and requires at least 4 MB RAM, but preferably more, like 8 MB. It requires that you already are familiar with sequencers or scorewriters. In fact, you will need one on your machine. The language was initially developed on the Atari, but that version is not available anymore. The current 3.1 version runs only on the Mac. 3) How does it operate? First, you write the composition using the Modular Music Language. Then you compile the file. The compiler produces a MIDI file, which you play back with your sequencer. 4) What sort of language is it? The language consists of 250 operations categorized in several classes: generators, processors, neurons, definers, libraries, transformers, tonalizers and analyzers. Operations like transpose, retrograde, invert, mix, ornament, filter, shift, scroll, morph etc. are applicable to melodies, chords, rhythms, durations, velocities, channels & program changes, controllers, tempos and composition structures. Operations can be daisy-chained and nested. Grammars are used to define score time structures and instruments. 5) Who is it for? It is not for beginners. You already must have a couple of years experience on MIDI systems. Some experience with programming will be helpful too. It is not an easy language! The system focuses on non-interactive composing and don't allow interactive MIDI generation. But if you are interested in exploring what fractals and chaos can offer for music, then S-COM is one of the best systems around. Also, if you are scoring music for real orchestras or doing special film scores, then S-COM is the perfect tool. But, as said, it's a designer's tool and not suitable for the average MIDI user. On the other hand, the wealth of functions available calls for an analogon to the World Wide Web (WWW). Just 'surf' the functions, try out this one, try another, keep what you like, and dive deeper into those. And why not try the functions whose names are so appealing? 6) Has anyone used S-COM to compose a song on the charts? The Shamen in UK have been using S-COM to score music. The Who guitarist Pete Townsend has also S-COM. In UK, where the system come out from the virtual reality user group in the beginning of 1990, there are many illegal copies of the Atari version around, mainly in London. Copies have also been encountered in IRCAM, CCRMA and STEIM. Several scores for real orchestras have been produced with S-COM. 7) Is anyone using S-COM with Max? There is at least one composer who has used Max to fire S-COM generated MIDI files in an art exhibition. This way you can take advance of the powerful interactivity of MAX and can get over with its limitations in composing. 8) Can S-COM run on a Sun workstation for more speed? The compilation speed is almost instant on Quadras so you don't need a Sun. The environment is full graphical with floating pallettes, where you can pick up commands. To get docs you can double click commands. There's also the graffiti screen which ables you to draft S-COM components for further processing with fourier resynthesis, filtering, interpolating and quantizing. 9) Is it public domain? No. It is a commercial product. Shipping information: List price: $595 Available: on stock Shipping: add $19, few days delivery over the world Payment: Check or money transfer. Quickest service is by Western Union and takes 15 minutes. Ask for details. Tonality Systems Tobias Asserlaan 307 1111 JX Diemen, Amsterdam Netherlands tel&fax +31-20-6957 880 email: psto@xs4all.nl 10) Is there a demo version somewhere? Yes, there is one, but from what I have seen myself it is no more than a quite unstable set of screens. There are not many examples to load, you cannot compile MIDI files, although it LOOKS as if you can. The demo will crash if you try (I think. Or was it that a message popped up?). The commercial version is rock-stable though. If you want to have a try, you can ftp it from sumex-aim.stanford.edu or one of its many mirrors. It should be located in info-mac/app. Filenames are: symbolic-composer-demo.sea.hqx, symbolic-composer-samples.hqx and symbolic-composer-tour.hqx The 'tour' are a.o. a Hypercard stack, text files, examples etc. The 'samples' are Macintosh sound files which are samples from music created with Symbolic Composer. Both are also available at the Mail Server (info below). You cannot do anything serious with the demo. That is because S-COM is a modular music language. Giving only few commands to play around would not favour the language. This is the same reason why you have not seen a cut out demo Basic with 10 commands. You really cannot program anything in a limited language. Comments from Peter Stone on the demo: " The demo is a bit unstable because I had to use dirty programming tricks to defunctionalize it. You should also give 4-6 MB memory for it to breath, not the 2 MB which is mentioned as a minimum in the get information screen." (Peter Stone) 11) How are you communicating? Via email. The Lodge Network is a list of email addresses of people working with S-COM. You can contact these people if you feel like it. Maybe, when the Network develops further, it may grow into a mailing list. Or we could add (a) field(s) reporting the things you are "good" at. So, for instance, you could ask questions about L-systems to me (NO NO, I am NOT an expert yet!) Then there is the Mail Server. You can reach it by sending me email with Subject: line reading "retrieve directory". You will receive a listing of available files and instructions how to get them. If you have anything to contribute, please email me for details. The server contains/will contain algorithms, element libraries, strategies for scoring, song grammars, scores and composition models. If you want a quick and short example of what the code looks like, send me email with Subject: "retrieve example.txt from SymbComp". Again, the BODY of the message is discarded! ONLY the header is processed by the Mail Server. If you have more questions, feel free to send them to me! I'll answer them and keep this list updated regularly. Fokke -- Fokke de Boer --- 0 ___|\__ Hobbies: Human Powered Vehicles -- _|\_/\_ ___|_\_ Music (making/composing) ____________________(_)__()_______O_________________________ EMAIL Fokke.de.Boer@rivm.nl _______ SNAIL RIVM, dep. MTV, PO Box 1, 3720 BA Bilthoven, The Netherlands PHONE (..31) 30 743530 FAX (..31) 30 250740