Allen Strange's
Electronic Music Systems, Techniques and Controls
Text by Gordon Mumma.
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table of contents
When in 1972 the first edition of Allen Strange's Electronic Music Systems, Techniques and Controls was published, the magenta, blue and white covered book rapidly became ubiquitous. It was the first comprehensive and useful guide to the subject, and was relatively easy to obtain. It had occasional errors of detail, and was involved in the technological tumult before general standards were agreed upon, so that some of the illustrative graphic symbols became relies. Nonetheless, that edition proved quite robust.
At least two factors explain the first edition's survival for nearly a decade. Firstly, Allen Strange organized the relatively new and complex material so that it evolved with pedagogical sensibility. Secondly, his explanations of conceptual matters were lucid. This lucidity may be due to a balance in the author's own world. He is an experienced performer of electronic and acoustical instruments, a versatile composer, a historian-theorist of diverse cultural background, and a very effective teacher.
In the ensuing years several other books on the subject appeared. Some contributed updated material, and others devoted more attention to certain areas, though often at the expense of others. In spite of the example set by Allen Strange's book, none of the others seems to have achieved his balanced presentation. And few matched his marvelous attitude towards the subject, an attitude which induced the reader to be alert to the many possibilities of a rapidly developing creative medium.
This second edition, as the author notes in his preface, is in many respects a new book. But it repeats that most important achievement of the earlier edition: it is a comprehensive, detailed, and clearly organized guide to working with the instruments and technical procedures of electronic music. Besides the expected updating which includes many devices and procedures developed during the 1970s, the author continues his method of explaining details within the context of general operating principles. This makes the book applicable to virtually any analog electronic music apparatus.
In its relatively short history-a bit more than half a century-music made with electronic and electro-acoustic means is well on its way to becoming as pluralistic as that produced during many centuries with purely acoustic resources. It already has both "cultivated" and "vernacular" traditions, which are widely disseminated by broadcasting and recording throughout every part of the world. A major part of recent popular and commercial music would not exist without synthesizers and the creative use of multi-track recording. The recording studio, whether the relatively simple home-variety or a multi-million dollar commercial facility, has itself become a musical instrument-in Brian Ends words, "a compositional tool." Electronic music has even developed "folkloric" aspects. Electronic sensors originally designed to detonate anti-personnel weapons are now used as components of public-access electronic-music environments in shopping centers and galleries. This is certainly anato the use of cast-off oil drums in the making of steel-band music.
As with Allen Strange's earlier book, this new edition will continue to be an important text for schools and universities. But perhaps more important, in a time of declining support for arts innovation in educational institutions, this book will be vital to creative people who develop their work independently.
Illustrations v Foreword by Gordon Mumma ix Preface x
Preliminary Statements about the Subject Matter 1 Parametric Design 4 Patching and Notation 5
Considerations of the Basic Parameters of Sound 7 Vibrations and Musical Sound 7 Musical Structure and Temporal Measurements 8 Non-Linear Perception 9 Subjective and Objective Measurement 10 Electronic Sound Sources and Their Characteristics 1 1 Voltage and Sound 11 The Basic Oscillator 12 Basic Waveshape and Spectra 14 Oscillator Formats 19 "Synchronization" 20 White Sound 21
Basic Signal Processing: Amplifiers and Filters 22 Amplification and Gain 22 Voltage Controlled Amplifiers 23 Pre-Amplifiers 25 Filtering: Subtractive Synthesis and Basic Filtering Concepts 25 Low Pass Filtering 26 Other Filter Functions 28 The Basic Patch 29 Exercises and Projects 29
Concepts of Voltage Control 32 Offsets: Fixed Control Voltages 32 Dynamic Controls 33 Parametric Response to Controls 34 Control Voltage Processing 36 Applications 42
Control Voltage Sources 45 Kinesthetic Control Voltage Sources 45 Programmed Control Voltage Sources 61 Exercises and Projects 88
Sub-Audio Modulation 97 Modulation Defined 97 Frequency Modulation 97 Sub-Audio Amplitude Modulation 104 Timbre Modulation 106 Exercises 1 10
Audio Rate Modulation 112 Sidebands and Timbre 112 Audio Rate Frequency Modulation 113 Audio Rate Amplitude Modulation 117
Balanced Modulation and Ring Modulation 124 Frequency Shifters 129 Audio Rate Modulation of Other Parameters 133 Exercises 134
Equalization and Filtering 142 Equalizers 144 Filters 147 Magnetic Tape Recording 164 Equalizing Standards 164 Magnetic Tape 165 General Tape Recorder Operation 166 Stereo and Multi-track Recording 168 Splicing 172
Audio Mixing 175 Definitions: Linear and Non-Linear Mixing 175 Mixing Stages: The Master and Sub-Mix 179 The Monitor and Program 180 Signal Modification with Mixers 181 A Summary of Terms 184 Monophonic Mixers 185 Matrix Mixers 186 Voltage Controlled Mixing 186 Exercises 189
Reverberation, Echo and Feedback 190 Reverberation and Echo Defined 190 Artificial Reverberation 191 Tape Delay 194 Specialized Delay Techniques 200 Three Pieces for Performance 207
Panning and Sound Location Control 212 The Electronic Simulation of Sound Location 212 The Psycho-Acoustics Involved 213 Manual Control 215 Voltage Controlled Panning 216 Simulation of Other Location Cues 223
Miscellaneous Equipment 225 Transducers 225 Information Changers 228 Noise Reduction 231 Stereo Synthesizers 232 Tape Looping 232
Performance Electronics 235 The Concert Set-Up 239 Checklist for Performance Electronics 242
Scores for Analysis and Performance 244 Entropical Paradise (with Bird Call) by Douglas Leody 244 Stochastic Arp by Frank McCarty 247 Orion Rising by Mark Styles 250 Akarui Tsuki by John Strawn 254 A Shadow of Its Former Self by Dan Wyman 260
Afterword 263 Annotated Bibliography 264 Index 273