by Bob OrdTo Harry on his 40th birthday 'Full piece' option recorded I am one of those awful realists: I do not like 'funky electronic noises' that some people call instruments. Being an electronics engineer, I get enough of these sort of noises at work. Howls, whistles and screams are, to my mind, no substitute for conventional instruments that have undergone decades of development.
The first instrument that I tried and successfully synthesized was the Northumbrian Pipes. This synthesis was good enough to fool my father, a pipe maker. The next instrument that I've tried to synthesize is the violin. The cheap electronic organ version suggested by Hybrid in the manual, did definitely not fill the bill. Having listened to and examined the waveform of a violin, doing a Fourier analysis, I have in my opinion developed a voice that is suitable for both solo and tutti use. Following the quest, the woodwind came under my scrutiny. Symphonetta was written to use these voices. Unfortunately it is not just an accompaniment as it does have a melody. This melody is basically played by the wind instruments and is not accompanied by the strings playing simple bar length triads, but by an accompaniment that is in harmony with, and is also rhythmically at variant with, the melody. The menu allows you to hear the instruments on their own. |
Source: AMPLINEX 018 disk, file $.SYMPHON |
Published in AMPLINEX 018, July 1990
