Hi Christine, Welcome! It's always nice to hear introductions from new people. For getting into Csound and Computer Music together, I'd recommend the book "Virtual Sound" which is structured much like a text book, illustrating chapter by chapter an aspect of computer music making and showing how it's done with Csound, slowly building up on the previous chapters. To get an initial feel for Csound, I think it's important to understand the instrument/note paradigm and I'd recommend taking an orc/sco or csd file with simple instruments in it--preferably a file you've managed to run with csound and get audio out from--and work with editing just the note section, editing existing notes, adding and removing notes, and seeing how that works with the instruments. Once you get a feel for that, try the opposite, by keeping the sco the same and then making very small changes to instruments in the orchestra, say, changing one opcode line and switching out the opcode, or even simpler, finding a number in the line and changing the value (but be careful to keep volumes low on your headphones in case you make a change that raises the amplitude to ear-piercing levels!). I don't think you need to know programming prior to working with Csound, but once you get into it and you start working with making your own instruments, you will be programming whether you knew it or not! But it's not as scary as it might sound, and since it has a real-world analog to analogue modular synthesizers, it's a little easier to visualize I think than certain problems that occur in general programming languages. Also, I'd highly recommend asking questions here as well as posting orc/sco or csd files (if not too big) if you need help with anything. I know I've gotten a great deal of help here in the past and like most am happy to return the favor. Good luck and enjoy! steven On 3/1/06, Christine L. Myers wrote: > Hey everyone! > > First, thanks for this "reminder" message that made me feel more > comfortable with finally stepping out and asking a few questions. I'm a > newbie to cSound - a major newbie. I'm a classically-trained pianist, and > I've never had the exposure/instruction to electronic music making until > recently when I decided to try to learn some stuff on my own. Partially > this comes from buying a year ago my first ever keyboard (before I just only > played on acoustic pianos), I bought a Kurzweil PC2X because I got to play a > Kurzweil 152i and was blown away with the realistic touch and sound. The > portability and versatility factors definitely sold me into getting caught > up to the 21st century of music. Besides, I never have to have it tuned! > LOL > > Anyway, to make a long story short, in my quest to learn how to record on > my computer from my keyboard, I ran into cSound and I thought that it would > be fun to learn to make music in a totally different way than I've known > before. However, I have never done any computer programming (though I've > always wanted to learn - I consider myself a person who learns very quickly, > and I've always had a hobby/interest in electronics and mathematics). I've > started with the Tootorial on the csound website, but I still feel pretty > clueless. Should I try to learn about computer programming first, or is > that not really necessary? I did get cSoundAV working and did the first > couple of Tootorials, and I got cSoundVST to open but when I put in my orc > and sco files, and tell it to Perform it doesn't do anything - it doesn't > create a sound file, nothing. What am I not doing or doing wrong? > > So, mainly what I'm asking is if anyone can recommend a good book or > website or something that would help me get from the classical-music world > to the computer-music world? I've already done a lot of reading about > analogue and digital audio, and the basics of MIDI, but it seems like there > are either beginner books that only have about that stuff or advanced books > that are way over my head. I do plan on getting Boulanger's cSound book > soon, but I thought I would get something else supplemental for > understanding sequencing and synthesis. I'm planning on buying Cakewalk's > Sonar4 HomeStudio soon, and will slowly progress up to Sonar as I have money > for the upgrades. I'm a PC user, with WindowsXP. > > I also was recently given by a church a Yamaha DX7, which is in good > working condition, so I'm also trying to learn more about synthesis on it. > So, if anybody knows a good place to start with it, I'd appreciate it. I > was able to get the manual for it from the internet, but don't know really > where to start. > > What is funny is, being 30-years old and part of the "computer generation" > I consider myself to be pretty knowledgeable and adaptable to computers, the > internet, and most forms of technology, but I feel totally like a fish out > of water trying to make this leap. Cursed be all those piano teachers who > thought that pop/rock music and keyboards were beneath them and beneath a > "true musician"! I'm kidding, but it is frustrating to feel like I've had a > whole world kept from me. Don't get me wrong, I appreciate my training, and > I still love classical music, but I also like pop and rock and folk and jazz > and I want to be able to play like that and to make different kinds of > music. > > So, I'll say thanks ahead of time, and that I really love the list! I > don't understand what you guys are talking about most of the time, but it is > awesome that we are all trying to make great music in so many different > styles and methods. > > Christine Myers > > > > > > > >