Ciro Santilli
OurBigBook.comCiro Santilli took courses once upon a time, maybe that has influenced his passion? Ciro Santilli's musical education.
Music notation engine. domain-specific language input. The LaTeX of music.
Looking for formats that:
- are human readable plaintext files
- can be converted/played as MIDI
- can be converted to sheet music PDFs
- supports basic guitar effects (bends and slides)
Bibliography:
Standard from 2011: abcnotation.com/wiki/abc:standard:v2.1
A decent way to write diatonic music as plaintext!
No bend/vibratto/slides :-(
Multitrack volatile: abcnotation.com/wiki/abc:standard:v2.1#multiple_voices
Higher level than Csound: describes the notes only, not the exact waveforms it seems.
Therefore also a bit harder to convert to actual sound: stackoverflow.com/questions/33775336/convert-musicxml-to-wav but possibly easier to convert to LilyPond.
Now they need to create a "MusicCSS" that gives the waveforms! :-)
The usual "let's make a standard without a reference implementation" W3C approach.
ALSA can be thought as analogous to physical wires linking up machines.
Except that instead of machines, you have separate programs. One such typical link is:
- from a MIDI source, e.g. vmpk or a MIDI editor with playback like Ardour
- to a synthesizer like FluidSynth or ZynAddSubFX
The advantage of this setup is that separate programs can collaborate to make complex sounds.
The disadvantage of this setup is that it makes it very hard to reproduce results, you basically need a Docker image with the exact same version of everything. And some script to launch and connect all programs correctly.
Some composition systems like LMMS reduce that problem by having synthesizers as plugins, so that you don't have to setup any connections yourself.
aconnect vmpk hello world: askubuntu.com/questions/34391/virtual-midi-piano-keyboard-setup/1298026#1298026Dominating awesome list: https-github-com-nodiscc-awesome-linuxaudio
A large part of these projects are on SourceForge as of 2020, it is scary. They just die.
Simulates vintage hardware synthesizers, and includes some pretty complex ones!
Aims to show an UI that looks exactly like the synthesizers in question.
This is a really good piece of software. You can search on YouTube how some classic synths, work, and the immediately start playing them!
Synthesizes MIDI input. vmpk +
aconnect + Advanced Linux Sound Architecture hello world: askubuntu.com/questions/34391/virtual-midi-piano-keyboard-setup/1298026#1298026Supports only very basic effects it seems: chorus effect and reverberation. The main way to add instruments to it is via SoundFont files.
Qt front-end for FluidSynth.
Contains a large database of instruments, and allows you to edit them. This is a fun toy.
Instruments are edited on a GUI. It is a multi-window program, and you open new windows from new windows from new windows, all filled with hundreds of virtual knobs that you drag with your keyboard, and which would be better done from textual software like Csound. It is a thing of beauty.
It does not seem possible to program arbitrary modular synthesizer circuits therefore. But if you understand additive synthesis and subtractive synthesis well, you can make some funky sounds with it.
It is basically a superset of all popular hardware synthesizers ever made.
Has its own built-in MIDI keyboard which is nice.
On Ubuntu 20.04 Version: 3.0.5:as per askubuntu.com/questions/220802/no-sound-zynaddsubfx-and-jack-wont-run/1297988#1297988
To do anything of interest, switch to the Advanced UI:
sudo apt install zynaddsubfx
zynaddsubfx -O alsaTo do anything of interest, switch to the Advanced UI:
- Misc
- Switch Interface Mode
The UI is completely different form what is shown on the website as of 2020: zynaddsubfx.sourceforge.io/, it looks instead like: www.youtube.com/watch?v=iVPr6iUuO3g Maybe on the website it is the new zyn-fusion UI... www.reddit.com/r/linuxaudio/comments/bxn3ur/some_help_for_installing_zynfusion_zynaddsubfx/ so confusing.
And they have some crappy policy of asking for 45 USD for binary downloads.
Compiling from source:fails with:Ciro gives up for now.
git clone https://github.com/zynaddsubfx/zynaddsubfx
cd zynaddsubfx
git checkout a789866de4d45a784c1f4d95fcf5a1938347baef
sudo apt build-dep zynaddsubfx
mkdir build
cd build
cmake ..
make -j`nproc`Traceback (most recent call last):
File "/usr/bin/cxxtestgen", line 7, in <module>
import cxxtest.cxxtestgen
File "/usr/share/cxxtest/cxxtest/__init__.py", line 33, in <module>
from cxxtest.cxxtestgen import *
File "/usr/share/cxxtest/cxxtest/cxxtestgen.py", line 18, in <module>
import __release__
ModuleNotFoundError: No module named '__release__'Basically a GUI music editor where you can specifically see and export classical music notation instead of tablature-style notation.
Best open source one found so far as of 2020: MuseScore.
This software feels amazing. You can really start composing very quickly, lots of features, good keyboard shortcuts.
GPL, and there's a backing company that makes money with an online and mobile version of it.
Ubuntu 20.04: sound preview worked, first hat that trailing Contra-like sound artifacts (like
spd-say), but then it went away?Feels like a lot of effort was put into usability, including keyboard shortcuts by default, seems like a powerful and easy to start using software to compose music!
Glissando: yes: musescore.org/en/handbook/arpeggios-and-glissandi
Just use MuseScore instead.
Weight: light.
Can import from: MIDI.
Ubuntu 20.04:
sudo apt install tuxguitar tuxguitar-alsa tuxguitar-jsa tuxguitar-osstuxguitar-jsa was needed, otherwise no sound: askubuntu.com/questions/457321/tuxguitar-no-sound-in-14-04Has OK step sequencer non-realtime up/down/left/right guitar based composition interface.
Has chord insertion.
Has bend editor.
Could be more amazing, but it is OK.
A bit limited by being very "guitar oriented". Shows you guitar strings, and you enter offset to each string. So to enter two adjacent notes you need to use two seprate strings and thing about the offsets. If only it had a more piano based interface.
Drum notation is also atrocious, you have to go to the top chord, and use high numbers starting at 36.
Weight: heavy.
MIDI support is kind of secondary: www.youtube.com/watch?v=vnkJ0uYXMG8, e.g. how to export MIDI? discourse.ardour.org/t/export-an-entire-project-into-a-midi-file/88116
Ardour 6 Quickstart (recording, editing, mixing and exporting) by unfa (2020)
Source. unfa is a helpful Ardour master and open source software junkie at your YouTube service.Ardour vmpk input: askubuntu.com/questions/709673/save-as-midi-when-playing-from-vmpk-qsynth/1298231#1298231
Very easy to use and pretty powerful MIDI creator!!!
One of the rare audio applications actually works with PulseAudio on Ubuntu 20.04 out-of-the-box, so you don't have to turn off every other audio application!!!
Has lot's of plugins built-in just working out of the box, e.g. ZynAddSubFX out-of-the-box without doing a gazillion complex setup connections.
Most plugins are just simple toys however, ZynAddSubFX is the only super powerful one. The others are more LMMS integrate however, and seem to use a more dedicated LMMS GUI style.
TODO can you do liver performance with a virtual instrument?
If you open vmpk, you can then right click on a piano track, and go MIDI, Input and it just shows up there, and it does produce sound as shown at: www.youtube.com/watch?v=NpeP2th08ak
TODO: what about recording the input MIDI? Yes, there is a record button on the piano roll!
Weight: medium.
Can import from: MIDI.
Cannot hear any sound from it on Ubuntu 20.04: askubuntu.com/questions/510052/how-do-you-get-rosegarden-to-play-sound-when-playing-a-midi-in-it
So we can track the music in Git!
XML file format (but with 99% of the action of interest in a domain-specific language on the
CsInstruments and CsScore elements) that can be played and the reference implementation. Offers complex effects out-of-box apparently.Allows you to easily define instruments with seemingly arbitrary mathematical functions, and then use them to play notes at given time intervals.
The instrument functions can be parametrized, and each note played can have different parameters.
The instrument definition actually defines a block diagram graph, much like a hardware synthesizer would.
Csound is so not-bloated that it contains an UI system. And it includes an interactive virtual MIDI keyboard that interacts with parameter knobs: www.csounds.com/manual/html/MidiTop.html
But hey, it's fun. And like any other good domain-specific language, debugging it is barbaric of course.
If only it had been written in Python... the array manipulation boilerplate would be likely perfect for NumPy, and this would have been exactly what Ciro Santilli wanted!
CSound states that one of its design goals is backward compatibility, and it shows. Some of the stuff is utterly arcane, e.g. you have to remember what
GEN10, GEN11, etc. mean instead of having named enums.It just worked on Ubuntu 20.04 no questions asked:which runs this file: github.com/csound/csound/blob/92409ecce053d707360a5794f5f4f6bf5ebf5d24/examples/xanadu.csd and this plays a relly cool sound demo:
sudo apt install csound
git clone https://github.com/csound/csound
cd csound
git checkout 92409ecce053d707360a5794f5f4f6bf5ebf5d24
csound examples/xanadu.csdSave to file instead of playing:or direct ogg output:or pipe to stdout to FFmpeg TODO: stackoverflow.com/questions/64970503/how-to-pipe-csound-output-to-ffmpeg-for-conversion-without-an-intermediate-file
csound -o xanadu.wav xanadu.csdcsound --ogg -o xanadu.ogg xanadu.csdTODO find the most amazing set of songs made with it on GitHub? Some examples:
- www.csounds.com/toots/index.html has a good 101 on instrument design
- Csound FLOSS manual
- iainmccurdy.org/csound.html about 100 CC BY-SA examples. Each is a minimal study showing a specific technique, not a full composition, some seem advanced. Dude's a beast.
- github.com/csound/csound/tree/f2e70825fb543a6b15011c6984371f61ab2a00dd/tests/soak in-tree minimal examples
- github.com/csound/manual/tree/4049b286493d972ff7248b5596e47e7ae97a0cf9/examples contains the examples for the manual which is rendered at: It's insane, but it's fun! Ah those newbs who separate manuals from main tree.
- linuxsynths.com/CsoundPatchesDemos/csound.html on LinuxSynths
- github.com/csound/examples/tree/ae578159328178142c1055c7f78e28b42eb29774/csd as a few dozen examples
- freaknet.org/martin/audio/csound/ 10 pieces with source
Documentation-wise, it's a bit lacking. The only dude who can explain it really well, Dr Richard Boulanger, made the "The Csound Book" closed source, so, congrats, this will forever hurt the popularity of Csound.
Examples:
- csound/sine.csd
- csound/amplitude_frequency.csd
- csound/linen.csd: simple attack/release envelope, documented at: www.csounds.com/manual/html/linen.html
- csound/chorus.csd: chorus effect
- csound/bend.csd: bend using
linseg - csound/vibrato.csd
- csound/crossfade_generators.csd
- csound/table.csd
- csound/virtual_keyboard.csd
Very good open source book: github.com/csound-flossmanual/csound-floss
Includes introduction to the basic sound synthesis and their implementation in Csound.
Examples run on browser via Emscripten and just worked on Ubuntu 20.04!
Examples can also be downloaded all at once from: www.csound-tutorial.net/floss_manual/ Shame not in Git as standalone files.
flossmanual.csound.com/sound-synthesis/subtractive-synthesis covers Minimoog-like subtractive synthesis.
2.5.0 manual prebuilt download install on Ubuntu 20.04 just worked. Launch directly from unzip without install. Play with examples under
install/ExamplesTheir docs are a reasonable way to learn Csound: cabbageaudio.com/docs/introduction/
Python library, therefore the nicest possible type of text interface.
stackoverflow.com/questions/32445375/pyo-server-boot-returns-error-on-ubuntu-14-04/64960589#64960589 God how to get it to fucking play a sine sound?!?!
domain-specific language unfortunately, but at least it's on GitHub, looks promising.
How to play scores and save them to files is discussed at: doc.sccode.org/Guides/Non-Realtime-Synthesis.html
They have a nice looking IDE, but running anything from the command-line interface is super hard, much unlike Csound. How to get a decent hello world: stackoverflow.com/questions/65360414/how-to-play-a-supercollider-file-non-interactively-from-the-terminal-command-lin
Sample composition with custom synths + notes: sccode.org/1-5cl
leanpub.com/ScoringSound looks like a decent tutorial, it is basically the Csound FLOSS manual for SuperCollider.
Lots of demos.
That website needs a "create playlist" function!
- dig.ccmixter.org/people/airtone He's one of the best artists in ccmixter!
- dig.ccmixter.org/files/flatwound/14476
- dig.ccmixter.org/files/AlexBeroza/27187
- dig.ccmixter.org/files/onlymeith/38010
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God, Ciro Santilli respects this guy.
Watching www.youtube.com/watch?v=-SbZZPX-y9g in 2022, who was one of his inspirations, made Ciro miss his guitar so much... one day, maybe, one day.
Bulerias by Camaron de La Isla and Paco de Lucía
. Source. TODO date and location. Rondeña by Camaron de La Isla and Paco de Lucía
. Source. TODO date and location Tagged
Bibliography:
Ciro Santilli defines "Smooth Jazz" simply as jazz that he can leave on the background to work without being particularly distracted.
It does not mean that the music is bad in any way. Just not particularly distracting.
Ciro Santilli's "Soft Jazz" YouTube playlist: www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLcZOZrP1P_V4Sxz8y1JLKLbZOv3GLb_Xf
List:
- Page One by Joe Henderson (1963)
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Ciro Santilli's favorite music genre.
Ciro's 2020 perfect Friday evening: jazz fusion + study quantum field theory on an Amazon Kindle. Ahhhhhh.
Lot's of ECM ones!
- Arbour Zena by Keith Jarrett (1976)
- Timeless by John Abercrombie (1974)
- Bright Size Life by Pat Metheny (1975)
Non-ECM:
- Blues Dream by Bill Brisell (2001)
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Scientology music! So good.
Good ones:
- In the Court of the Crimson King by King Crimson (1969)
I Talk To The Wind by King Crimson
. Source. Not in other sections:
- Grant Green: Idle Moments (1963)
- John Abercrombie: Timeless (1975). Just close your eyes, and imagine.
- Paco de Lucía: Almoraima (1976)
- Modern Jazz Quartet: Django (1956)
- Bill Bruford Feels Good to Me (1978). Well, with Allan Holdsworth on the g
- Jean-Luc Ponty
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I.O.U, Road Games, and Metal Fatigue are also extremely worth it, they are so good that even the singing does not spoil them. s2 forever Allan.
There is of course no need to talk much more about the Jazz God, this one line of mandatory tribute is enough.
Pop music cannot be good by definition: any art that appeals to the masses (Popular!) has to be a boring watered down version of everything, and therefore boring shit. Just like the movies: high budget movies are shit.
Until maybe one day we can actually get a decent education for everyone.
K-pop is even more evil than pop music: www.youtube.com/watch?v=KdOA5BCwBi0 Confessions Of A Former K-pop Idol (ft. Crayon Pop) by Asian Boss (2019)
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- Are you experienced. OMG that album...
Rorogwela by Afunakwa (1970)
Source. Later used as a vocal sample in the Sweet Lullaby by Deep Forest (1992), which notably featured in Where the hell is Matt (2006), an early YouTube viral video. The original destroys the Deep Forest version however. Tagged
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Technique to make cool sound instruments mathematically, either with electronic hardware components, or with a software synthesizer.
Good tutorials:
Best known techniques:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=0hfdSrK46EE How To Use A Minimoog Synthesizer by Doctor Mix (2020)
Software emulators:
You have to know the language to appreciate them.
The 60's and 70's were the days, those great proxy wars and CIA dictatorships allowed hippies to make awesome freedom music without too imminent a fear of death.
Songs making fun of things or that are pure Brazil nostalgia are also accepted. No love songs, ever. Except some by Caetano, but that's it!
English:
- 1967 Red Telephone track from the Forever Changes (1967) album by Love
- 1967 White Rabbit track from the Surrealistic Pillow (1967) album by Jefferson Airplane
French:
- Emmenez-moi (wiki) from the album Entre Deux Rêves (1967) by Charles Aznavour
The guitar is a highly imperfect instrument if compared to something like a piano, which is much more mathematically elegant.
However, Ciro Santilli just loves this imperfection for some reason, especially in the case of the electric guitar.
Bending, sliding and strumming just feel to good to not have.
And Ciro sucks are doing things in parallel, so the more single threaded approach of the guitar fits his brain/abilities better.
For those reasons, the electric guitar is Ciro's favorite musical instrument.
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See also some remarks of Ciro Santilli's thoughts on the instrument Ciro Santilli's musical education.
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Allan Holdsworth performing in Central Park in (1978)
Source. Secrets Allan Holdsworth album
. Source. Secrets Allan Holdsworth album
. Source. Tagged
The piano is the most elegant non-electronic instrument. But it requires way too many strings, so expensive and not portable.
The guitar is kind of the opposite.
After computer sound synthesis however, all of these distinctions become meaningless.
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OMG this is sick.
Full official album on YouTube: www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_myUBkJ0UJbkV7O1q-hg7ONxxGBLGz4SzU. so glad he managed to upload it...
Many good albums, Ciro Santilli's favorites:
Jean-Luc Ponty Live in Chicago on "Soundstage" (1976)
Source.