Hi Evan,

Below you find more information about this book. If you aren't interested after reading it, I give up!

Cheers,

Roel.

(This comes from the swedish Synthesizer Network webpage)





Allen Strange's
Electronic Music Systems, Techniques and Controls


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Text by Gordon Mumma.
Jump to the table of contents

When in 1972 the first edition of Allen Strange's Electronic Music Systems, Techniques and Controls was published, the magenta, blue and white covered book rapidly became ubiquitous. It was the first comprehensive and useful guide to the subject, and was relatively easy to obtain. It had occasional errors of detail, and was involved in the technological tumult before general standards were agreed upon, so that some of the illustrative graphic symbols became relies. Nonetheless, that edition proved quite robust.

At least two factors explain the first edition's survival for nearly a decade. Firstly, Allen Strange organized the relatively new and complex material so that it evolved with pedagogical sensibility. Secondly, his explanations of conceptual matters were lucid. This lucidity may be due to a balance in the author's own world. He is an experienced performer of electronic and acoustical instruments, a versatile composer, a historian-theorist of diverse cultural background, and a very effective teacher.

In the ensuing years several other books on the subject appeared. Some contributed updated material, and others devoted more attention to certain areas, though often at the expense of others. In spite of the example set by Allen Strange's book, none of the others seems to have achieved his balanced presentation. And few matched his marvelous attitude towards the subject, an attitude which induced the reader to be alert to the many possibilities of a rapidly developing creative medium.

This second edition, as the author notes in his preface, is in many respects a new book. But it repeats that most important achievement of the earlier edition: it is a comprehensive, detailed, and clearly organized guide to working with the instruments and technical procedures of electronic music. Besides the expected updating which includes many devices and procedures developed during the 1970s, the author continues his method of explaining details within the context of general operating principles. This makes the book applicable to virtually any analog electronic music apparatus.

In its relatively short history-a bit more than half a century-music made with electronic and electro-acoustic means is well on its way to becoming as pluralistic as that produced during many centuries with purely acoustic resources. It already has both "cultivated" and "vernacular" traditions, which are widely disseminated by broadcasting and recording throughout every part of the world. A major part of recent popular and commercial music would not exist without synthesizers and the creative use of multi-track recording. The recording studio, whether the relatively simple home-variety or a multi-million dollar commercial facility, has itself become a musical instrument-in Brian Ends words, "a compositional tool." Electronic music has even developed "folkloric" aspects. Electronic sensors originally designed to detonate anti-personnel weapons are now used as components of public-access electronic-music environments in shopping centers and galleries. This is certainly anato the use of cast-off oil drums in the making of steel-band music.

As with Allen Strange's earlier book, this new edition will continue to be an important text for schools and universities. But perhaps more important, in a time of declining support for arts innovation in educational institutions, this book will be vital to creative people who develop their work independently.


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Table of Contents:

Illustrations v
Foreword by Gordon Mumma ix
Preface x
Preliminary Statements about the Subject Matter 1
Parametric Design 4
Patching and Notation 5
Considerations of the Basic Parameters of Sound 7
Vibrations and Musical Sound 7
Musical Structure and Temporal Measurements 8
Non-Linear Perception 9
Subjective and Objective Measurement 10
Electronic Sound Sources and Their Characteristics 1 1
Voltage and Sound 11
The Basic Oscillator 12
Basic Waveshape and Spectra 14
Oscillator Formats 19
"Synchronization" 20
White Sound 21
Basic Signal Processing: Amplifiers and Filters 22
Amplification and Gain 22
Voltage Controlled Amplifiers 23
Pre-Amplifiers 25
Filtering: Subtractive Synthesis and Basic Filtering Concepts 25
Low Pass Filtering 26
Other Filter Functions 28
The Basic Patch 29
Exercises and Projects 29
Concepts of Voltage Control 32
Offsets: Fixed Control Voltages 32
Dynamic Controls 33
Parametric Response to Controls 34
Control Voltage Processing 36
Applications 42
Control Voltage Sources 45
Kinesthetic Control Voltage Sources 45
Programmed Control Voltage Sources 61
Exercises and Projects 88
Sub-Audio Modulation 97
Modulation Defined 97
Frequency Modulation 97
Sub-Audio Amplitude Modulation 104
Timbre Modulation 106
Exercises 1 10
Audio Rate Modulation 112
Sidebands and Timbre 112
Audio Rate Frequency Modulation 113
Audio Rate Amplitude Modulation 117
Balanced Modulation and Ring Modulation 124
Frequency Shifters 129
Audio Rate Modulation of Other Parameters 133
Exercises 134
Equalization and Filtering 142
Equalizers 144
Filters 147

Magnetic Tape Recording 164
Equalizing Standards 164
Magnetic Tape 165
General Tape Recorder Operation 166
Stereo and Multi-track Recording 168
Splicing 172
Audio Mixing 175
Definitions: Linear and Non-Linear Mixing 175
Mixing Stages: The Master and Sub-Mix 179
The Monitor and Program 180
Signal Modification with Mixers 181
A Summary of Terms 184
Monophonic Mixers 185
Matrix Mixers 186
Voltage Controlled Mixing 186
Exercises 189
Reverberation, Echo and Feedback 190
Reverberation and Echo Defined 190
Artificial Reverberation 191
Tape Delay 194
Specialized Delay Techniques 200
Three Pieces for Performance 207
Panning and Sound Location Control 212
The Electronic Simulation of Sound Location 212
The Psycho-Acoustics Involved 213
Manual Control 215
Voltage Controlled Panning 216
Simulation of Other Location Cues 223
Miscellaneous Equipment 225
Transducers 225
Information Changers 228
Noise Reduction 231
Stereo Synthesizers 232
Tape Looping 232
Performance Electronics 235
The Concert Set-Up 239
Checklist for Performance Electronics 242
Scores for Analysis and Performance 244
Entropical Paradise (with Bird Call) by Douglas Leody 244
Stochastic Arp by Frank McCarty 247
Orion Rising by Mark Styles 250
Akarui Tsuki by John Strawn 254
A Shadow of Its Former Self by Dan Wyman 260
Afterword 263
Annotated Bibliography 264
Index 273



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