Lily's in the house!
Postet 16/6 2010
In June 2010 Lily Abram from Sheffield, UK, visits Drivhuset, Biermannsgården, and among other things composes new music with the DSP programme from NOTAM. Look at the http://musikkverksted.no/lytt/lilys-2ndmix-0/ to hear the latest contribution.
Lily also wrote about the process:
Lily’s log from Drivhuset:
- The programme DSP – a first impression:
- What are the possible uses of such a programme?
- Advice for other beginners – what are the odd challenges in trying to learn DSP on your own.
My first impression of DSP was that it is a fairly simple programme with not many different sounds available unless you record your own. However, once I had discovered all the effects and distortions, I realised my initial thoughts were wrong. I think it is very easy to just use DSP at its simplest and use the main editing screen for changing sounds. Even though this may work, there are many more options if you just spend a little time exploring the programme first. This way, when you come to actually composing your piece, you know all the possible options you have. This enables you to make the best piece you can. I think the layout is really good because it shows you exactly what is going to be playing when and it makes it easy to get things to play right when you want them to be playing.
I believe this programme could be useful in all sorts of situations. If you were to make a soundtrack to go behind, in the background to something, DSP would be good because it is fairly simple to just create one quickly if you knew what you wanted. Also, if you wanted to create a more techno piece, it could be useful to make it on the computer because making that kind of sound is a lot more straightforward on this kind of programme than trying to play it with instruments. Another way DSP could be useful is if you are to make a piece but haven’t really got any ideas, just messing around with the sounds and creating different types of noise could create an idea for anyone.
If I were to advise another beginner on this programme, I would recommend you just explore all the possible options first and make sure you have checked everything out before starting the composition. I found the programme quite easy to work with generally but there were a few small problems. One of these was the fact I couldn’t cut one of the noises I had made because I had made it too long. The sound had to be taken out of that programme and into another to be able to be cut. This told me that it’s better that things begin too small because you can always extend sounds much easier than you can cut them.
Another problem I encountered was working out which lines changed what on the editing screens. This made it more difficult to make the sound I wanted without changing something else first. I think that to make it easier, you should work out what changes what with a sound you aren’t so bothered about because when you have one that you want and you try and change it, it is difficult to get it back to the original. Make extra copies before experimenting!
