SONICMAN wrote:
> 
> I just downloaded common lisp or whatever it is called selected auto
> fill and it generated a mega-ton of ERRORS. I'm really starting to grow
> weary of Csounds endless obstacles.
> Man I'm depressed, I need some Beer.

Are you trying to run Common Music on a Windows machine? If so, things
will be mighty confusing, because all the instructions are for using a
different version of Lisp on a Unix machine.  I figured out how to get
CM running in Windows last year, and will append the tips to the end of
this email.

Common Music is really the best way to do repeating notes.  I don't
think there is a comparable ability in standard Csound.  There are other
Csound add-ons that will do what you want, but Common Music is really
nice.

As far as beer goes, I highly recommend Mirror Pond Pale Ale, or any of
the output of the Deschutes brewery from Bend, Oregon.  That high desert
air seems to work magic.  Oregon beers in general are good things.

As far as depression, remember that the spring is coming soon - unless
you are in the Southern Hemisphere, in which case it is probably nice
and warm anyway.  Here in Seattle we have the first sunny day in months,
and I'm gonna go for a walk and soak up the rays.

Sean Costello

[begin tips from old email to class mailing list]

Hi folks:

Just stayed up til 5 am figuring out how to run Common Music at home. I
had a very helpful friend who helped me get it running in Linux, and I
just figured out how to get it running in Windows 98.

Here's what I found out so far:

1) The precompiled binaries that can be found on the page "Installing
Common Music"
(http://ccrma-www.stanford.edu/CCRMA/Software/cm/install.html) DO WORK.
They seem to be a better bet than downloading the sources and building
your own installations.  Note that the Linux version is not directly
accessible as a link; go to
ftp://ccrma-ftp.stanford.edu/pub/Lisp/cm/binaries and look for the Linux
binary.

2) Setting the path variables is not a pleasant experience.  I really
can't help you there with Linux, as I don't understand that operating
system very well.  When I figure out what to do with Windows 98, I'll
let the list know.  For now, I have been simply opening up the file
"CM.BAT" that can be found in the cm-1.3_clisp-95 director which the
binary file creates.  Clicking on this file in Windows Explorer kicks
you into Common Music. [I ended up putting a shortcut to CM.BAT on the
desktop, and labeling it Common Music.  Clicking on the icon opens a DOS
window that is running Common Music.]

3) When Common Music comes up, it will not look like the version at
school.  Instead of a lot of ASCII text that tells you that you are in
Common Music, you get a single prompt - "> ".  Don't worry, you are
actually in Common Music at this point, assuming you installed it
correctly.

4) IMPORTANT: The precompiled binaries for Win 95/98 and Linux use
CLISP, instead of the ACL (Allegro Common Lisp) used at school. THE
COMMAND USED ON THE SMCC COMPUTERS TO OPEN A FILE IN COMMON MUSIC DOES
NOT WORK WITHIN THE VERSIONS OF COMMON MUSIC THAT RUN IN CLISP.  To open
a file, you need to type the following:

Linux: at the "> " prompt, type

(load "pathname")

where "pathname" is the complete path to the .lisp file
you wish to open.  For example, on my system, to open Example5.lisp, I
would type

(load "/home/sean/Orchestras/Example5.lisp")

Win 95/98: at the "> " prompt, type

(load "pathname")

where "pathname" is the complete path to the .lisp file
you wish to open.  The pathname needs to use double backslashes, for
some reason.  To open Example5.lisp on my system, I would type

(load "C:\\Csound\\Orchestras\\Example5.lisp")

5) After the file is loaded, the (make-score) commands work as normal. 
To exit, type (exit), instead of :exit.

Hope this helps people out there.

Sean Costello

P.S.  BTW, the Linux version of Csound on my machine runs several times