MUSQOM - new music compiler

[larsbrinkhoff]

FFM; MUSQOM 1
FFM; MUSQOM ORDER

New music compiler. See announcement below.

[larsbrinkhoff]

From VATAN; VATAN RMAIL

QYX@MIT-ML 05/23/77 23:15:23 Re: MUSCOM USERS (DO THEY STILL EXIST?):
FOR A PROJECT, I QUICKLY HACKED MUSCOM 50 INTO MUSQOM (NOTICE THE Q)
VERSION 1...MUSICALLY, IT OFFERS NOTHING OVER MUSCOM (IE SAME
RANGE OF NOTES, ETC.) BUT I THINK IT HAS BETTER USER INTERACTION.
IT STILL LOSES IN MANY WAYS (HAVE NO TIME YET TO FINISH IT UP) AND
I SHOULD REWRITE IT, BUT IT DOES DO SOME NICE THINGS...ONE HACK THAT
IS NOT YET DOCUMENTED IS INSTEAD OF USING A NUMBER FOR A NOTE, TRY
" FOLLOWED BY THE LETTER FOR THE NOTE, I.E. "C FOR A C, "^C WILL
RAISE THE C ONE OCTAVE, B"^C IS SAME AS B13 ETC.  ALSO, FOR YOU
PEOPLE WHO GET BUGGED BY THE A AND B WORDS (RAISING AND LOWERING BY
ONE STAFF = 6 TONES), TRY THE QYX COMMAND IN THE FILE, CAUSING
A AND B TO RAISE AND LOWER TWO OCTAVES, SO B"C IS A LOW C INSTEAD
OF A LOW E (!).  TYPE QUESTION MARK FOR HELP INSIDE MUSQOM, DOCUMENTATION
SHOULD APPEAR SOON (HOPEFULLY)...SEND COMMENTS TO BUG-MUSQOM (IF YOU
ARE ON DM, SEND THEM TO BUG-MUSQOM@SOMEPLACE ELSE), THERE MIGHT
EVEN BE AN INFO-MUSQOM MAILING LIST...DISCUSS THIS PLEASE.  TQ VM.

[larsbrinkhoff]

Hello @jcburley,

I found some information about your 1977 program MUSQOM; see above. If you don't mind, I'd like to ask what equipment was used to play computer music in those days? As far as I can see earlier music players relied on the PDP-6 for audio output, but it was not working well in 1977. There's some KL10 microcode for playing music, but it's probably unfinished.

[larsbrinkhoff]

See #902 for ancestor MUSCOM.

[jcburley]

Hello @jcburley,

I found some information about your 1977 program MUSQOM; see above. If you don't mind, I'd like to ask what equipment was used to play computer music in those days? As far as I can see earlier music players relied on the PDP-6 for audio output, but it was not working well in 1977. There's some KL10 microcode for playing music, but it's probably unfinished.

Wow, what a blast from the past!

Yes, I recall playing the actual music files (I guess via MUSRUN?) on the PDP-6, though I don't think it was timesharing at the time, in the sense that no others would (nor could) have been using it at the same time. IIRC, that was due to some fundamental flaw or weakness in the PDP-6 architecture; or maybe the AI lab just didn't want it used that way. I think plays some kind of space-simulation game was among its popular uses.

As far as the KL10 -- wasn't that a fairly new model of PDP-10 around 1977? I don't recall anything about KL10 microcode being in MUSCOM/MUSQOM nor MUSRUN. If there was any and I saw it, I probably just ignored it as I wouldn't have had a KL10 of my own handy back then.

As far as the PDP-6 music generation: there was a device on top of one of the computer cabinets (as a tall person, I could reach it) with 6 large knobs in front. Each knob panned the sound of a distinct tone generator, controlled by the data coming from the computer. As that data was just "on" or "off" -- no volume or analog-like waveform of which I was aware -- the tone generators all sounded like synthesized clarinets, basically. Maybe there was some sophisticated way to control duty cycles to get other effects, but I don't recall anything about that.

[atsampson]

a device on top of one of the computer cabinets (as a tall person, I could reach it) with 6 large knobs in front

Is that the panel that's on top of the rack with the DECtapes here? (Blown-up version of this tiny picture.)

https://github.com/PDP-10/its/issues/1036 has a picture of a similar device Queensland built.

[larsbrinkhoff]

Thank you @jcburley! I read some information that the PDP-6 was in disrepair in late 1976, but your information suggests it was usable in 1977. You are right that playing music used 100% of the PDP-6 processor. I have recently added support for sound to a PDP-6 emulator; sound is generated by a tight loop writing the output signal.

Yes, the KL10 was quite new in 1977. ITS was ported to it during 1975.

Here's a description of the sound controls from AI memo 107:

[jcburley]

a device on top of one of the computer cabinets (as a tall person, I could reach it) with 6 large knobs in front

Is that the panel that's on top of the rack with the DECtapes here?

Hard to be sure which of those two boxes it is, but it sure looks familiar!

[jcburley]

Here's a description of the sound controls from AI memo 107:

Wow, somehow I remembered only 6 pots, so I was probably thinking about there being only 6 sound-generating channels and forgetting there were two pots per channel!

Someday I hope to find my old cassette tape of music I wrote for, and recorded from, that system -- which was the whole point of my involvement. It was for a high-school class project (Environmental Science, I think it was called, at Dover-Sherborn Regional High School, with Mr. Plati teaching). A friend added improvised music on an electronic organ. I was not skilled as a composer at the time, despite playing saxophone for years in elementary, junior, and high school.