Marc Resibois wrote:
> 
> Is there a valuable/comprehensive FAQ out there at the moment ?

Martin Dupras has one, at
http://music.dartmouth.edu/~dupras/wCsound/csoundpage.html
Last updated in Feb 1995, so it could probably do with an overhaul.

> I know that when I started, I was cruelly missing one 
> I might start my own if it is of general interest to people...

I'm sure you're appropriately underwhelmed by the response so far.
Last time we tried, we got to this: tolve offered to help generally, 
Larry Troxler provided some questions-with-sketched-answers, and 
I offered to do some cut-and-pasting of materials, as well as typing 
(if people provided Q's, A's, and corrected the resultant non-English).

I think that a FAQ could be quite slim, especially considering the
updated HTML manuals and the upcoming book.
Many of the questions concern versions and installation. Installation 
is different for every OS of course. I have some notes for Windows, 
installation for other OS's seem to be handled on the fly by those 
who maintain the various versions.

Apart from that, there aren't very many *frequently* asked questions
(perhaps 5-6, roughly the ones LT contrib'd), though there are many 
newbie questions. The manual does indeed contain most info that we need, 
but each individual reader will miss a different turn of phrase which, 
combined with another hint (5 screenfuls of text away), tells him what 
to do. The usual technical manual problem iow.

Here's what I think (not very thoroughly) a FAQ should contain:
* Current pointers to platform binaries, support files (eg phys mod),
  the current HTML manual, and web pages with info for the different
  OS's (eg someone has a Linux app page, the Mills people have something
  for Mac I believe, I've some WinDOS stuff). Dupras' page has this,
  but all of the links need to be verified and probably a few added.
* The dozen most common questions (not a very big job: Take the attached 
  old q&a's, include some MIDI info and we're almost done).
* A note on how to ask the mailing list (include orc+sco).

And that's about it. There are probably a few more things that 
people (newbies and ex-newbies) are thinking of when we say 
"there should be a faq":
* Internals of Csound, which influence functionality. Recent topics 
  include control/sample rates and function tables. This might be the
  proper point to refer people to the mailing list archives.
  (Oops, I can't find anything before 1 Feb 1998. Are they dumped?)
* Basic dsp info. Pointers to existing material could be provided.
  I've collected some of the recent mini-essays here, but it needs 
  to be edited and approved by original writers.
* A brief dictionary, or pointer to one. Words like Nyquist, FM,
  waveguide, frequency response, impulse response etc. This should
  ideally be integrated into the HTML manual, not a FAQ. 
  I have something along these lines in the win help file, but it's
  probably not publishing-worthy.

Start from Dupras's page and see what you can do. 
You can have additional material from me if you're interested,
just yell. I've some snips from the list, some of which are
formatted in RTF.


	re


************* ATTACHMENT ***************

Some material for a FAQ.

Q: I can’t get GEN01 to work. Why?
A: You have an old Csound manual, which is missing the last argument (channel). Get the fresh HTML manuals, and look it up there.

Q: I can't get linenr to work. Why is this?
A: linenr only works for MIDI.

Q: How can I view or manipulate LPANAL or PVANAL analysis files?
A: Anyone? (Convolution and basic filter theory has been posted)

Q: How can I do global processing, like reverb, on the output of a number of instruments?
A: See the global reverb example in the Instrument design tutorial in the manual.

Q: I have a long sustained note, and want to add an occasional pitch bend to it at various times (think electric guitar being whammied from time to time). Now I know that I can accomplish this using a suitably long linseg or the like, but is there any way that I can accomplish this in the score rather than the orc. file?
A: Use a second instrument to trigger the bends and a global variable to communicate between the two instruments.  Add this frequency to the base frequency of your instrument.  
Something like:
aout	oscil	iamp, ifqc+gkfqc, 1
I think you may want to make the pitch-bending instrument lower numbered than the "guitar" instrument so that everything gets updated on time.

>Marc Resibois wrote:
>>
>> Is there a valuable/comprehensive FAQ out there at the moment ?
>
>Martin Dupras has one, at
>http://music.dartmouth.edu/~dupras/wCsound/csoundpage.html
>Last updated in Feb 1995, so it could probably do with an overhaul.
>
>> I know that when I started, I was cruelly missing one
>> I might start my own if it is of general interest to people...

hello mark,

yes. perhaps we could list support resources under a non-threatening
further study category. could include my recent compiled post on books and
tutorials for C, to which i have a few items to add.

should such material be sent to you?

imagine there are many who come to csound who are overwhelmed by the number
of pages with various versions of the program -not to mention programs that
interface with or complement csound.

seems to me that a single readme on the csound front page would be useful
for directing all users to at least the most recent versions of csound for
each platform. of course, it would be preferable for links to the most
recent versions to be available there but i understand this is a pain in
the neck as programmers constantly upgrade the programs. could we expect a
readme to be better maintained? perhaps a bulletin board type set-up?
another pain. maybe just dating the readme would be enough of a safeguard.
haven't been monitoring this lately so please don't hurt me if everything
is now up to date.

when this was discussed some time back i had compiled a couple of very
simply commented orcs & scos -which i did submit. but now that i have had a
chance to look around a bit, don't believe they would be that spectacular a
contribution. for me, the main difficulty with present tutorials is that
they cover much ground in a short time. even when i understand them i am
sometimes unclear as to the exact sound of the components. exceedingly
simple examples are necessary at the very beginning.

instead of building increasingly complex sounds by adding three features or
even one at a time; the idea would be to use a simple sine wave with only a
single feature in each example -or at least the simplest demonstrable
example possible. this would exhibit not only the implementation, but also
the effect that feature has on the sound.

ACCCI addresses understanding difficulties to a large extent, but those
first tutorials in the manual could be more in keeping with the above.
firmly believe that there are many quite capable of using csound who are
put off just by the appearance of complexity. hey, it still gives me pause
to figure out what the hell you guys and gals are abbreviating in your
variables!

and the truth is, you can understand almost nothing and still be able to do
more with csound than with that synth in a box purchased at your local
music store. so hopefully the new books will encourage as well as instruct.

let us also consider definition of terms familiar to musicians versus those
familiar to programmers. wet and dry sounds; rates and levels; envelopes;
vibrato.  and we need to work to make ourselves understandable to people
who speak different languages. let's float potential questions and answers
by the list and solicit comments. maybe i can put together some traditional
analog music synthesis terms and programmers can add their 2 cents.

but it sure would be helpful to know more about the book. are the above
wheels already under construction?

oh yeah, add that question about envelope lengths from the Long Tone posts.
damn, i really thought it had to be the carriage returns because way back i
was told that numbers of envelope stages were only limited by the length of
the lines in your text program. (and that this could be overcome with
tables or ties).

keep in mind that, although i've been around the list a while, it is only
now that i have had any time to actually explore the program, and in this i
am only at the beginning -i probably need that FAQ!

will do what i can to assist if you take up the mantel.

yours,
tolve