Pete wrote:
>i would say that as a general rule, it is good to know as much as possible
>about anything. but even a little knowledege is better than none.  as far 
as math
>goes i have had several years of calculus and differential equations, from 
high
>school through college.  but the majority of math that i use in computer 
music
>revolves around basic algebra
[snip]
> twiddling knobs can be very effective even if you
>dont know what the knobs are actually doing

IMO, music is mostly and primarly a physical interaction. The body reacts to 
music at a very intuitive level, either if you play it, or you listen to it.
Although I subscribe the above "it is good to know as much as possible" 
comment (it doesnt take any room, either, unless you count three shelves 
full of books :)), for _musical_ purposes solely, its completely irrelevant 
what the opcodes do internally. Merely the response one gets from the 
various parameters (or knobs) is important. But  its usually easier to 
understand the parameters function if you have some insight of the internal 
works of the opcode
Its more or less like, say, a jazz pianist. Soloing over the changes 
involves a lot of math. Scales, modes, chords, harmony in general *is* 
mathematical. But you wont find a jazz player to be thinking math at that 
time. He thought about it previously, so that he/she can leave that to the 
subconscious part of the brain, and use the more limited conscious part, to 
focus on the groove

pedro

At 9:38 AM +0000 2/25/98, Pedro Batista wrote:
>Pete wrote:
>>i would say that as a general rule, it is good to know as much as possible
>>about anything. but even a little knowledege is better than none.[snip]
>
>IMO, music is mostly and primarly a physical interaction. The body reacts to
>music at a very intuitive level, either if you play it, or you listen to it.
[snip]

>pedro

At the risk of re-inflaming the "what is music?" debate (and I promise not
to send out the Csound version of 4'33" again), music is many things to
many people. If you want to understand HOW foscil works (as opposed to
twiddling knobs or parameters) you need knowledge of Fourier series or
transforms and Bessel functions, which requires a minimum of calculus and
probably some complex algebra. If you want to know where physical models
come from (and maybe design your own) you need to understand partial
differential equations. There is nothing wrong with knob twiddling, but if
that's all you do, there will be parts of digital synthesis that are
forever hidden from you.

However, Stradivarius was a lousy violinist and Issac Stern was never a
world-class violin maker. The artist and the recording engineer are both
necessary. The question ultimately boils down to your interests, desires,
and abilities.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Erik Spjut (rhymes with cute) - Acting Director,The Center for Design Education
and/or Associate Professor of Engineering
Harvey Mudd College, Claremont, CA 91711  USA
Erik_Spjut@hmc.edu      Ph & Voice mail (909) 607-3890      Fax (909) 621-8967