Any literature on the use of plugins?

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Apologies if this is in the wrong forum.

I'm designing a VST effect (a freezer effect) as part of my Masters thesis. I need to justify why is is needed, why it might be useful, etc, so as part of my background research I'm hoping to find literature (books, websites, academic papers etc) that might give an insight into modern day plugin effect usage, the possibilities plugins offer, and the scope for development of new plugins.

Also of interest would be literature on drone minimalism and other musical genres that explore static or slow moving sounds. If anyone could point me in the direction of such literature, I'd be very grateful.

Many thanks!

cornbb
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cornbb wrote:Also of interest would be literature on drone minimalism and other musical genres that explore static or slow moving sounds.
Not always easy to come by. Most stuff I've seen on extended durations and slow rhythms tend to be histories/introductions rather than theories focusing on application and technique.

A lot of texts I've seen that mention drones usually do so only as a small subset of Minimalism, so you can always go searching for things on that subject (which will mostly focus on Lamonte Young's drones from the 60s).

Another possible subject to look for is minimal grooves used in techno. A lot of the stuff on that subject I've seen is pretty dull, but you might find something. Maybe even just hunt for ideas about groove, which admittedly aren't easy to find. One book high on my list to get is Richard Middleton's "Studying Popular Music," which in part looks at the popular use of repetition and static forms.

Some stuff worth reading: Some composers you might want to do some searches on might be Phill Niblock, James Tenney (especially his ideas on ergodic forms, which is basically music that is statistically similar at any given point in the composition), David First, Morton Feldman (who had a similar approach to dynamics that drone folk apply to durations), Charlemagne Palestine, Troum/Maeror Tri/Stefan Knappe. Hunting through stuff about some of those names might lead you to essays of interest.
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shamann wrote:
cornbb wrote:Also of interest would be literature on drone minimalism and other musical genres that explore static or slow moving sounds.
Not always easy to come by. Most stuff I've seen on extended durations and slow rhythms tend to be histories/introductions rather than theories focusing on application and technique.

A lot of texts I've seen that mention drones usually do so only as a small subset of Minimalism, so you can always go searching for things on that subject (which will mostly focus on Lamonte Young's drones from the 60s).

Another possible subject to look for is minimal grooves used in techno. A lot of the stuff on that subject I've seen is pretty dull, but you might find something. Maybe even just hunt for ideas about groove, which admittedly aren't easy to find. One book high on my list to get is Richard Middleton's "Studying Popular Music," which in part looks at the popular use of repetition and static forms.

Some stuff worth reading: Some composers you might want to do some searches on might be Phill Niblock, James Tenney (especially his ideas on ergodic forms, which is basically music that is statistically similar at any given point in the composition), David First, Morton Feldman (who had a similar approach to dynamics that drone folk apply to durations), Charlemagne Palestine, Troum/Maeror Tri/Stefan Knappe. Hunting through stuff about some of those names might lead you to essays of interest.

glad to see you included your own thoughts , on the subject ...
noteworthy , imho ...
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normal wrote:glad to see you included your own thoughts , on the subject ...
noteworthy , imho ...
Thanks, norm. It's certainly concise, which is rare for me. :hihi:

One of these days, I'll get around to writing something a little broader in scope on the subject.

Re: on the use of effects, the best books I've read on the subject are Trevor Wisahrts "Audible Design" and "On Sonic Art." Complex, heady stuff. Not specific to plugins (written pre-plugins) but on using digital techniques, so the same ideas apply. Another book on the subject would be Eduardo Reck Miranda's "Computer Sound Design." I haven't read it yet, so can't say how far it applies, but have read the history/intro book that came before it, which was excellent.
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shamann wrote:Another book on the subject would be Eduardo Reck Miranda's "Computer Sound Design." I haven't read it yet, so can't say how far it applies, but have read the history/intro book that came before it, which was excellent.
Funnily enough, I just got the 2nd edition today, having leafed thru the older version on our library a couple of times. A good book, although the commercial software it refers to can be somewhat out of date (eg Audio Architect), and the focus is obviously on academic software. I'd say it primarily focusses on synthesis systems/methods, though, but generally more innovative methods than we usually see.
An idiot on Set Theory:
"In some cases there is an object called red that contains everything that is red. In much the same way a pot is a plate."
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Guys, thanks for all the helpful replies. Its not easy coming across work like this. I've already found the Textura Dronology essay, but I'll check out Trevor Wisharts work in particular, it would be fitting as he wrote some of the algorithms around which my effect is based.
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shamann wrote:... the best books I've read on the subject are Trevor Wisahrts "Audible Design" and "On Sonic Art." Complex, heady stuff. Not specific to plugins (written pre-plugins) but on using digital techniques, so the same ideas apply. Another book on the subject would be Eduardo Reck Miranda's "Computer Sound Design." I haven't read it yet, so can't say how far it applies, but have read the history/intro book that came before it, which was excellent.
Just wanted to point out that the third chapter of Wishart's Audible Design can be read for free (with sound samples, albeit in hideously poor quality) here (click). This website sells it too, but I've had problems with the login system recently. Keeps bringing up php errors so it's impossible to get in there. I've bought Wishart's Vox 5 (as mp3) from there previously and they seem OK.

Eduardo Reck Miranda's Computer Sound Design book has served me well in the year I've had it. The stuff on 'simple' time domain processes, to my surprise, ended up interesting me most (so much so that I bought CDP, which I now love. Makes buying Audible Design all the more tempting). The book is very technical, but written in an accessible style for the most part. The only major criticism I'd make is that some concepts remain impenetrable without prior knowledge. The vocal synthesis/PRAAT stuff I find particularly baffling.
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cron wrote:Just wanted to point out that the third chapter of Wishart's Audible Design can be read for free (with sound samples, albeit in hideously poor quality) here (click). This website sells it too, but I've had problems with the login system recently. Keeps bringing up php errors so it's impossible to get in there. I've bought Wishart's Vox 5 (as mp3) from there previously and they seem OK.
You can get Audible Design from CDEMusic in New York. I've ordered a few times from them over the years, very reliable. I can't fully remember where I got my copy. It was a painful hunt for both books, I think I got the last copy in stock of On Sonic Art from Amazon, Audible Design was shipped from somewhere in the UK.
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shamann wrote:[...]

Kyle Gann's Minimal music, maximal impact.

[...]
Shamann, I'm beginning to appreciate your endless source of musical wisdom, that Gann article led me to Terry Riley's In C which again led me to re-sound's presentation of the piece.. I love it! I need to get this.. Thanks! :)
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My spies inform me that cornbb wrote:I'm designing a VST effect (a freezer effect) as part of my Masters thesis. I need to justify why is is needed, why it might be useful, etc, so as part of my background research
One obvious one is that it takes fewer system resources to play a track, than to render a track and add effects on the fly. You might be using a set of samples which cannot fit into memory (I run into this all the time using the Helgeson piano), or have a processor-intensive physical modeling algorithm. Indeed, freezing (or just offline rendering in general) may make a track possible, not just possible in real time.
Also, cornbb wrote:Also of interest would be literature on drone minimalism and other musical genres that explore static or slow moving sounds. If anyone could point me in the direction of such literature, I'd be very grateful.
As the sage said, consult your pineal gland.
Wait... loot _then_ burn? D'oh!
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Jafo wrote: One obvious one is that it takes fewer system resources to play a track, than to render a track and add effects on the fly. You might be using a set of samples which cannot fit into memory (I run into this all the time using the Helgeson piano), or have a processor-intensive physical modeling algorithm. Indeed, freezing (or just offline rendering in general) may make a track possible, not just possible in real time.
I dont think he means 'freeze as implemented by hosts', I think he may mean 'freeze as implemented by things like GRM Freeze'

http://www.grmtools.org/quicktour/vstqt ... reeze.html

But I could be wrong.
An idiot on Set Theory:
"In some cases there is an object called red that contains everything that is red. In much the same way a pot is a plate."
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My spies inform me that whyterabbyt wrote:I dont think he means 'freeze as implemented by hosts', I think he may mean 'freeze as implemented by things like GRM Freeze'

http://www.grmtools.org/quicktour/vstqt ... reeze.html

But I could be wrong.
No, I don't think you are. My apologies, and thanks.
Wait... loot _then_ burn? D'oh!
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fred-hal wrote:Shamann, I'm beginning to appreciate your endless source of musical wisdom, that Gann article led me to Terry Riley's In C which again led me to re-sound's presentation of the piece.. I love it! I need to get this.. Thanks! :)
I think "endless source of wisdom" could easily be changed there to "remarkable ability to procrastinate at work," but thanks for saying. In the past few years I've lost interest in a lot of other interests in favour of thinking about music, so after a while it adds up.

Just checked out clips of that re-sound version of In C, pretty wild stuff, kind of done in a lush Michael Cretu style. I have a copy by Bang on a Can that does it in a sort of Wim Mertens chamber style, which is a fairly remarkable contrast. Now I want to hunt down as many version's of In C as I can find. I have a few of Terry Riley's old records, but never got In C. I have another by Acid Mothers Temple, but haven't listened to it in a while, I'll have to dig that one out.

I'm a big fan of Kyle Gann's writing, highly recommend hunting around for more of his essays, including his blog. He's introduced me to a lot of great stuff, like Jacinto Scelsi and Frederic Rzewski.
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Only place I see it sold online is Buywell Just Classical, but the shipping is only AUD$6.5, so I'll order it when the paycheck arrives.. :)
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Just to clarify, I am writing a sound freezer, like GRM Freeze, as opposed to a track freezer :)

The library in college here has 2 copies of Audible Design but one is checked out and the other is missing :( I've read On Sonic Art, it is quite 'heady' but there are some cool ideas in there too.

Now to write a damn thesis. Argh. My brain isn't used to having all this information squished so closely together...
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