Music made with Cabbage

[StudioDave]

Greetings,

Some music created with VST plugins made in Rory Walsh's Csound-based Cabbage environment. Instrument designs by Iain McCurdy, Giorgio Zucco, and Rory Walsh. The pieces were made with all or mostly Cabbage instruments, composed in Bitwig Studio, edited and arranged in Ardour4. A very few other loops were used, along with Loomer's Sequent processor.

First, a demo of three fragments :

https://soundcloud.com/davephillips69/stuffed-cabbage

Next, the long version of the central section of Stuffed Cabbage, a chill-out piece (I think) :

https://soundcloud.com/davephillips69/chilled-cabbage

Bon appetit !

dp

[GMaq]

That is some tasty cabbage!

Unbelievable the palette of really unique sounds, I can see how once you start down that road how there must be endless possibilites to discover! Thanks for giving us a scenic guided tour through the cabbage patch... now that having the VST plugins has made these 'csounds' more accessible it will be great to see the sounds you've known and loved for years get to a wider user base..

[StudioDave]

That is some tasty cabbage!

Unbelievable the palette of really unique sounds, I can see how once you start down that road how there must be endless possibilites to discover! Thanks for giving us a scenic guided tour through the cabbage patch... now that having the VST plugins has made these 'csounds' more accessible it will be great to see the sounds you've known and loved for years get to a wider user base..

Thanks for the props, G. I agree, I think the Cabbage project has great potential, Csound is chock-full of unique synthesis methods, as well as having all the familiar types. A similar commercial venture has existed for a while, but its products are not available to Linux users.

At some point I'll take a swing at getting some of the AVSynthesis instrument designs into Cabbage.

Btw, Cabbage also exports its synths and effects as LV2 plugins. IIRC falkTX has already brought some of the Cabbage plugins into the DISTRHO project.

Best,

dp

[glowrak guy]

I like the Masterpiece Theater style chorale, traveling smoothly to Indonesia.
Looks like the cabbage coders are on a roll. If you have a Reaktor setup,
the free Steampipe ensemble would fit in, calliope/panflute type sounds
are it's forte. Maybe there is already such a head of cabbage among the bushels?
I bet you could master one of those Akai wind controllers,
and put it to good use. Tempted to give it a shot myself.
Cheers

[StudioDave]

I like the Masterpiece Theater style chorale, traveling smoothly to Indonesia.
Looks like the cabbage coders are on a roll. If you have a Reaktor setup,
the free Steampipe ensemble would fit in, calliope/panflute type sounds
are it's forte. Maybe there is already such a head of cabbage among the bushels?
I bet you could master one of those Akai wind controllers,
and put it to good use. Tempted to give it a shot myself.
Cheers

G-guy, your middle name must be One Step Beyond.

I tried to play a trumpet once. Its owner threatened me with instant karma.

I played in a band with fellow who used a Yamaha wind controller. The guy was an excellent sax player, so what do you think he used for a sound source for his controller ? Yep, shitty synth sax patches. Quel bizarre.

Best,

dp

[tatch]

I played in a band with fellow who used a Yamaha wind controller. The guy was an excellent sax player, so what do you think he used for a sound source for his controller ? Yep, shitty synth sax patches. Quel bizarre.

such is the curse of the wind controller..

[glowrak guy]

To quote the jewelry deprived Allen Iverson, "Practice? We talkin' 'bout practice?"

The point of the Akai is to remove the vast learning difficulties of sundry embouchure,
allowing the newbie to access synthesized and sampled sounds, and the quality
of sax/horn samples is getting better every year. Synth sounds are no problem.
I'd use an akai mainly for synth sounds,
with oboe fingering, which is quite linear.

A master or two, and lesson in the third video, after the interview get's going:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QJ0gxscd4D0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q61GGujZP8U

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-SPL55vC2Y

[asbak]

The problem with making everything easy and instant through technology in order to overcome the difficulty of learning to play an instrument for real is that it inevitably dumbs it down.
Kinda like playing guitar hero on Playstation or thinking one can become the next Bruce Lee by watching Enter the Dragon and having a little kickabout in the garden.
Or learning to read pictograms instead of words coz words are too difficult.

When you take short cuts in life all you end up with is 3d rate.

[glowrak guy]

If the examples I posted are 'dumbed down', I'll embrace it.
Being dumbed down is a lifestyle choice, nothing to do with technology.
Every generation has had it's share of sluggards and morons,
and some who push the bounds of whatever technologies are discovered.

[GMaq]

The problem with making everything easy and instant through technology in order to overcome the difficulty of learning to play an instrument for real is that it inevitably dumbs it down.
Kinda like playing guitar hero on Playstation or thinking one can become the next Bruce Lee by watching Enter the Dragon and having a little kickabout in the garden.
Or learning to read pictograms instead of words coz words are too difficult.

When you take short cuts in life all you end up with is 3d rate.

Is the body the creative agent ? or the mind ?

If the mind is employing the body to bring the creative work outside of itself (in this case music) then does it matter if it is a wind controller or a reed, drumsticks or mouse clicks ? Certainly one can enjoy the discipline of mastering a skill such as playing an instrument and take personal satisfaction in accomplishing that, but that is an entirely different matter than whether a created work is '1st rate' or not. Certainly 'shortcuts' in the sense of streamlining the process of bringing a completed vision of a work to fruition whether it is through use of technology or more efficient playing techniques should be looked at as as a good thing I would think...

[glowrak guy]

I'm happy the digital genie is out of the bottle, and roaming about freely.
There is some peace in knowing there is more to work with, than time to work.

Last night, I listened to some Disney AM radio, pop 40 stuff, most of it sounded
like it was squeezed out of the same tube, but there were some nice touches,
but mainly buried so far behind the redundant slinky vocals, that nobody in the peanut gallery
would remember, let alone know what instruments there were. But it was
music, repeating the same love lost or found themes that are timeless,
and beyond genre.

Some kid out there probably has a VG88, an Alesis midi drum kit.
a Fender modeling amp, an Akai wind controller, and Komplete Ultimate,
and is sure that he has died and gone to gear heaven. Moms will love
that jamming and mixing occasionally can be done with headphones

[asbak]

Is the body the creative agent ? or the mind ?

Both require a lengthy training regime in order to be able to produce semi-coherent and coordinated responses topped off with that extra bit known as creativity aka their own interpretation, based on their years of honing skills and gaining experience.

If the mind is employing the body to bring the creative work outside of itself (in this case music) then does it matter if it is a wind controller or a reed, drumsticks or mouse clicks ? Certainly one can enjoy the discipline of mastering a skill such as playing an instrument and take personal satisfaction in accomplishing that, but that is an entirely different matter than whether a created work is '1st rate' or not. Certainly 'shortcuts' in the sense of streamlining the process of bringing a completed vision of a work to fruition whether it is through use of technology or more efficient playing techniques should be looked at as as a good thing I would think...

An ape drawing with crayons is undeniably being creative but calling the results high art or "accomplished" is pushing the boundaries of sanity and reason. Ditto goes for most superstars of Guitarhero and the Roland D-Beam.
No doubt their parents and emotional support groups are all immensely proud of all they have achieved and accomplished in life but that hardly qualifies them as being proficient musicians, unless the measurement of a musician was measured in creative cacophony. (And interestingly enough this seems to be the measure of success nowadays. Gearslutz has entire forum sections overflowing with the exuberance of have-a-go talent and creators.)

Obviously different people have different ideas about the topic and in the "everybody is a winner" world "creativity" is the next best thing to sliced bread.

Creativity is so easy to accomplish that an amoeba could do it. The hard part is combining it with some kind of coordination, skill and structure.

[glowrak guy]

Art is valued by
the artists personal happiness
family/friend acceptance
peer acceptance
critical acclaim
the marketplace

Family, friends, and peers can be brutal and biased critics.
Third party critics are always a mixed bag.
The marketplace deals well with the 'everybody is a winner' crowd. 'Thud..."

Music can be programmed, qwerty musicianship, in the hands of someone
who knows music's mathematical structure, and becomes familiar with
available sounds, effects, and mastering tools, can be marvelous.
While modern tools may effect market prices for art, I still see a rising tide
of creativity, not solely focussed on possible monetary rewards.

From a customer/fan/consumer point of view, would I rather watch
Candy Dulfer play the sax, or the akai? I'll go with the sax,
deferring to an earthy cultural, historical recognition that the sax
requires maximizing the breath of life, and is amazing when played by a master.
But if Candy ever wants a synth,
it's ready and waiting to receive the legacy of skills developed over the years.
We live in the best of many worlds




(well, to be fair, Candy is the only sax player I ever watch )

[GMaq]

Is the body the creative agent ? or the mind ?

Both require a lengthy training regime in order to be able to produce semi-coherent and coordinated responses topped off with that extra bit known as creativity aka their own interpretation, based on their years of honing skills and gaining experience.

If the mind is employing the body to bring the creative work outside of itself (in this case music) then does it matter if it is a wind controller or a reed, drumsticks or mouse clicks ? Certainly one can enjoy the discipline of mastering a skill such as playing an instrument and take personal satisfaction in accomplishing that, but that is an entirely different matter than whether a created work is '1st rate' or not. Certainly 'shortcuts' in the sense of streamlining the process of bringing a completed vision of a work to fruition whether it is through use of technology or more efficient playing techniques should be looked at as as a good thing I would think...

An ape drawing with crayons is undeniably being creative but calling the results high art or "accomplished" is pushing the boundaries of sanity and reason. Ditto goes for most superstars of Guitarhero and the Roland D-Beam.
No doubt their parents and emotional support groups are all immensely proud of all they have achieved and accomplished in life but that hardly qualifies them as being proficient musicians, unless the measurement of a musician was measured in creative cacophony. (And interestingly enough this seems to be the measure of success nowadays. Gearslutz has entire forum sections overflowing with the exuberance of have-a-go talent and creators.)

Obviously different people have different ideas about the topic and in the "everybody is a winner" world "creativity" is the next best thing to sliced bread.

Creativity is so easy to accomplish that an amoeba could do it. The hard part is combining it with some kind of coordination, skill and structure.

Hmmm,

So there is some cosmic yardstick which measures and determines the work of artist A is better than artist B because they spent more or less time and effort on certain specific repetitive activities ?

Are we talking about music or gymnastics here? You seem to think I'm saying that because someone is simply being creative they deserve some merit, I'm not. Being creative in some way is a natural state for everyone and I suppose yes in that regard everyone is a 'winner' as in everyone has potential ability on some level to create and therefore we are all equal (and all winners so to speak) in that way...

I'm merely saying that if an individual is able to use their inherent creativity to communicate musically (in this case) in a way that is comprehended and enjoyed by other individuals because it effectively communicates a shared experience, inspires or resonates in some other way because the clarity of the original creative idea was conveyed without getting lost in the specifics and mechanics of the process then then that is of greater significance than the nuts and bolts details of the process... If that process was a disciplined lifelong study of an instrument or produced in 15 seconds with BitWig to me is secondary and distracting because it invariably leads to a slippery slope of comparison.

I was the worst to compare and judge and evaluate everything based on my opinion of it, Probably by rights I should still be in a 12 step program called Judgeaholics anonymous... Then I realized I can just like things or not without having to place them on some comparative yardstick... I'm certainly not saying that's the right (or wrong) way to look at things, for me it has certainly opened up my enjoyment of a lot of new varieties of music and allowed me to enjoy it for what it is. I completely comprehend what glowrak guy is saying when he says that even the most manufactured M.O.R. pop can still have some glimpses of true craft and universal sentiments to share..

Apologies to StudioDave.. I will now withdraw from further unrelated musings in this thread...