A COMPOSERS COMPUTER MUSIC SYSTEM - PRACTICAL CONSIDERATIONS

The implementation of a variety of user-interface styles to computer music applications has made the creation environment much more accessible to musicians as a whole, and to composers in particular. These factors, combined with decreasing prices for powerful microcomputers, larger and faster disk drives, and the availability of high-quality, lower-cost sound conversion systems, point in a new direction: powerful, dedicated machines for individual artists, smaller computer music facilities, and larger systems based on networks of semi-independent computer music workstations. In order to identify the practical considerations pertaining to the implementation of such a system, the issues are addressed in the context of an actual computer music studio installation. The system described has been designed and realized, concentrating on building the tools and environment for music creation using 'delayed performance,' direct synthesis techniques for music generation and sound processing.