James McDermott wrote:
Well, actually I was one of the founders. I don't recall ever explicitly subscribing, maybe someone did it for me. Given my music background, I'm not sure I could do it on my own. ;-)I taught myself how to use Csound, I have no special background in
mathematics or computer programming.
But you're on the LAD list! Just subscribing to a list is a harder technical task than some musicians I know are capable of ;)
Makes me wonder if I could apply for a disability pension...
In my experience (correct me if I'm wrong), many instruments don't work unless you set up (eg) the right wavetables in the .sco file. I don't know how much the .csd format helps this.
You aren't up to date. Function tables can be defined in the orc file too.
Many instruments work even with the "wrong" function table. You can have much fun mixing and matching ftable definitions, and the interested student can learn a lot by changing elements of even the most simple wavetable.
Btw, the CSD format simply combines orc, sco, and command-line options neatly into one file format. I believe it is also possible to embed MIDI and binary files into a CSD file, but don't quote me on that yet.
Well, you certainly aren't required to learn and/or use them all. I've learned Csound as I've learned any musical instrument: I acquire needed skill as I need it. I practice to extend and maintain chops, but if I want to use a new method or technique I dig in and learn something new.But it's certainly true that if you put all the right bits of CSound add-ons together, you can get a nice and usable system. Modularity is nice, but the lists of add-ons at www.csounds.com is pretty frightening.
Frankly, if you've made the effort to learn how to play an instrument to some degree of familiarity then you've already displayed intelligence enough to learn how to use something like Csound. Or perhaps I have an unwarranted high estimation of the intelligence of my fellow citizens ? ;-)
Best,
dp
