Subject: Re: [linux-audio-user] The Open Loop Library, a few questions
From: Darren Landrum (consul_AT_studioconsul.net)
Date: Fri Dec 20 2002 - 22:13:16 EET
On Friday, December 20, 2002, at 08:29 AM, Mark Knecht wrote:
> Darren,
> I'm glad to see someone interested in taking up this area of
> operation.
> The use of prerecorded sounds, whether one-shots or loops will, I
> think, be
> of a lot of value. I'm also glad to see that you're getting lots of
> responses. That's pretty key also.
Thank you. I'm glad that my first posts to this email list are
productive ones. I really would like to get this project off the
ground, and do it in such a way that we solve some problems that Sonic
Foundry never did.
> 1) There are lots of places on the web today that offer samples and
> loops
> for sale. You might want to look at some of them just to see how they
> present their offerings. Your #2 below reminds me a lot of WizooSounds.
> (http://www.wizoosounds.com/cgi-bin/WebObjects/wizoosounds) Note the
> menus
> on the left side of the page. *** <snip> *** A less sophisticated model
> might be something like the free site Worra's Place
> (www.worrasplace.com)
> Worra offers nice (and free!) gig files for the GigaSampler and
> GigaStudio
> communities. The web site offers very little in terms of understanding
> the
> sound before you download it.
Thanks for the URLs. I'm in the process of fixing up and moving into my
new house, but I will go look at these as soon as I can. Fortunately, I
can keep my cable modem in the new place.
> 2) In my experience in Acid, the hard part is not finding 'Drum loops
> at the
> right tempo', but rather finding the right loops that can go together
> a make
> a natural sounding piece of music. Taking drums as an example, if I'm
> working at 142BPM, it's not difficult to find loops that are drums at
> 142BPM. What's difficult is figuring out how to use them. Which loops
> are
> main rhythms? Which loops are fills? Which loops are breaks? Which
> loops are
> best for intros or endings? When you start listening to these loops,
> do the
> kick patterns, or the beat the snare is used on, actually stay
> consistent
> from loop to loop and work together?
This presents an interesting challenge. The client I mentioned earlier
can be used to download and organize your loops. Since their metadata
would be intact, you could search for any aspect of this metadata.
> It's very easy to become a loop packrat, but then not be able to
> figure
> out where the right loop is to actually do the music.
Well, the tool could help keep your loops organized, but it would still
be up to you to keep good organization, and to have a general idea of
what you have. Then the search utility becomes useful. ("Well, I can't
remember which loop that was I found, but I remember it was 125 BPM and
the creator's name was...")
Suddenly, you can narrow it down to a few possibilities.
> This idea is attractive to me though. Can you do something new in
> terms
> of how loops are categorized? Can you understand where the kick is?
> Where
> the snare is? Can you then 'suggest' loops that might work together for
> preview? This is where I think the next step in using this stuff has
> got to
> go.
I will have to think on this one a lot more, because this sounds like
it would require coding skills beyond what I have. I'm really just a
web developer. I've never used C, C++, or even Java for that matter.
Most of my experience is in Perl, and some Python (and HTML/XML, of
course).
> 4) Last, it's really important that the library doesn't get corrupted
> with
> stuff that shouldn't be there. Worra has had problems with people
> submitting
> for-sale gig files and saying they were free and open. I could supply
> you
> with lots of loops that I've purchased and corrupt your library. This
> might
> also put you at risk of some liability or suit. I wouldn't want to see
> that.
I have an idea here, involving the checksum idea that Matthew presented
a few emails back. I want to think on it a little more, and then
present it to everyone. That email will also present a metadata
tracking idea.
> Anyway, I'll be here to talk about is and use it as you develop your
> ideas. Good luck!
Thank you! I look forward to creating something that's actually useful
for a change. :)
Regards,
Darren Landrum
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