15 Years Ago in EM

Oct 1, 2002 12:00 PM, By Steve Oppenheimer

           
 

In 1987 the term electronic music usually indicated a broad genre of cutting-edge and mostly instrumental music. The drum machine was king, but it sounded like, well, a machine, and a highly quantized, low-resolution (96 ppqn was exceptionally good) machine at that. As a result, electronic music was widely regarded as cold and mechanical. In our October 1987 cover story “The Feel Factor: Music with Soul,” guitarist, producer, and inventor Michael Stewart offered an excellent analysis of the temporal relationship between drum parts and other musical elements and how they affect the feel of the music. Stewart offered practical suggestions for adding a more human feel to drum-machine parts and how to change the feel of any piece (not just electronic music) by moving parts around in time relative to each other. Unfortunately, he didn't account for the role of dynamics in defining musical feel; still, it's an interesting and useful article, and most aspects of it remain relevant.

In the era before digital audio sequencers and affordable hard-disk recorders, personal-studio owners relied on analog tape for audio recording. The computer was mostly a MIDI-sequencing tool, though you could also record and edit stereo samples and, in some cases, a 2-track mix. In “Home Recording: MIDI or Multi-Track?” Craig Anderton helped EM readers decide whether they should design their studio around a tape deck, a MIDI sequencer, or both. The story is outdated now, but it was appropriate for its time.

In “Computers and Your Brain: Musical Aerobics,” Jan Paul Moorhead discussed computer-assisted music education and included a four-page product chart. Most of the companies listed are long gone, but a few (notably Alfred Publishing and Electronic Courseware Systems) are still important players in the music-education field.

The Commodore 64 computer was popular among electronic musicians because it was affordable, was relatively easy to program, and included the Sound Interface Device (SID) sound chip. Alan Gary Campbell dedicated most of his October “Service Clinic” column to service issues for the C-64 and its peripherals, such as MIDI interfaces. In addition, inspired by the work of Wendy Carlos and by EM's November 1986 story “Opening the Door to Music Math” by Vanessa Else, Walter Daniel devised a program for C64 and C128 computers that allowed you to create custom tuning tables and use them with the SID chip.

In our July 1987 issue, Mike Sokol had explained how to plan a compact, wide-dispersion sound-reinforcement system with multiple satellites to provide superior room coverage at low sound-pressure levels. In October he delivered part 2, which explained the tools and techniques for constructing such a system.

Most of the products we reviewed are dim memories today. Some, like Southworth's Jambox/4+ SMPTE/MIDI interface for the Mac, were important at the time. IVL's Pitchrider 7000 Mark II guitar-to-MIDI interface suffered from spotty performance-tracking on low notes, but it was a solid competitor for the money ($799). Altech Systems' MidiBasic comprised ten machine-language routines (a BASIC Library) that let anyone with a Macintosh, a MIDI interface, and some programming chops write their own patch editors and other MIDI programs. We also did brief “First Take” reviews of the Yamaha REX 50 multi-effects processor; Symetrix 522 dynamics processor; and Dan Dauz drum pads.

“What's New” announced the Korg DSM1 12-bit, 16-voice sampler; the E-mu Emax HD sampler; and E-mu's SP-1200 sampling drum machine. Also noteworthy was the Symetrix 528, an early voice processor that combined a mic pre, a dynamics processor, a parametric EQ/notch filter, and a de-esser.