Allen Adler  wrote:

>Suppose my sound making facilities consisted of a Creative
>Labs AWE64 Gold card connected to a Roland Sound Canvas.

I have also an AWE64 Gold and occasionally play external synths through its
MIDI port.

>Would I be able to use this with Csound or would I need
>entirely different sound making facilities?
>
>I'm trying to figure out what sound generation hardware
>to get. My understanding is that I can use the above
>configuration to play instruments resident on the Sound
>Canvas or to use AWE64 Gold to create new instruments.
>As such, I'm told that this will give me the capability
>of writing classical music using classical instruments
>and to supplement them when necessary with whatever
>information is needed to explain a new instrument
>to the AWE64.

Yes, you can create new instruments in AWE64 using either the built-in PCM
samples or your own samples which can be downloaded into the on-board RAM.
And of course you have also the GM/GS sound banks which came with the card.

>On the other hand, I am attracted to the
>possibility of being able to experiment with Csound
>and to hear the results. So naturally I'm wondering
>how, if possible, I can arrange the hardware configuration
>so that I can use it either for classical composition
>or for experiments with Csound. Moreover, it is natural
>to wonder whether the two activities can be combined,
>in that I could use csound to create new instruments
>which I could then combine with those resident on
>the Sound Canvas in my compositions.

I see four possible approaches here:

1) Make new instruments with Csound and compile some sound files using them.
Import the sound files to the AWE64 and use them as PCM samples for new
AWE64 instruments. Then use the new instruments in your sequencer (or other
MIDI app) just like any preset AWE64 MIDI instrument. This approach would
naturally limit the possibilities of the Csound instruments.

2) Compose an entire part of your composition using Csound and compile it
into a large sound file. Import the sound file to the AWE64 and use it as a
large PCM sample for a new AWE64 instrument. Then use the new instrument in
your sequencer (or other MIDI app) by simply triggering it with a single
long MIDI note.

3) Compose an entire part of your composition using Csound and compile it
into a large sound file. Import the sound file into a MIDI sequencer which
has also hard disk audio capabilities (such as the Cubase Audio). Use the
sequencer MIDI tracks for the Sound Canvas part of the composition. This
approach demands good performance from your PC and especially the hard disk.

4) If you have enough power in your computer and/or your Csound instruments
are not too complex, you could make them MIDI controllable and play them in
real-time with your MIDI app by routing some MIDI output from it to Csound.
This way Csound would act as another MIDI synth for you and you could play
it simultaneously with the Sound Canvas. Note that the MIDI tracks
controlling Csound should be offset a bit earlier in time than the "real"
MIDI instruments due to the lag in real-time Csound playback. You also may
need a special utility for the MIDI routing.

In 1) and 2) you can also use the AWE64 effects processor for your
Csound-made audio.

I hope this helps.

Antti Kaihola
Sibelius-Academy
Helsinki, Finland