In the beginning... ...there was midi and not much else. You either had an external synthesizer or General Midi module or you had a sound card that could play samples. When you wrote a piece of music you did it one of two ways, you used a sequencer or score program to create music. Some people, you know, the ones in the tidy white lab coats with matching pen guards were plotting new ways of making music. Not only that but they were also looking at new ways of distributing music on the internet. Fancy names were used, words like algorithmic, fractal, and aleatoric were introduced. If you studied 20th century music at school you might recognize some of these terms but for the most part most net folks were not quite sure what to expect. It wasn't long before we found out. Many of the early programs that made music in a different way didn't make very tonal sounding music. People's reactions included, "Huh?", or "Sounds like beeps and boops", but "nice melody" was not one of them. And then things changed. And the change was good. Suddenly there were new names for music that wasn't composed the traditional way. Terms like "computer generated" hinted at what some of these new programs could do but really the music was "computer aided" just like a CAD or drafting program. And much like CAD and drafting programs this new software enabled composers to extend their thoughts and to experiment in ways that were too complex in real-world situations. This page is about some of those programs. But wait, there's more.... After a few years of MIDI, people began to desire an alternative to synthesizers and sound cards, sample based or otherwise. Composers and listeners wanted an easier option than tons of synthesis equipment The obvious but not so simple answer was a "software" synthesizer. But more, people wanted to be able to play sounds that weren't part of the General Midi specification. And while all this was going on some enterprising souls decided to do something about it. And so we see new "software" synthesizers and sound cards with sound fonts, which is a fancy name for saying additional multi-samples. Many speculated that General Midi was dead. But it wasn't quite dead yet. General Midi may die but it's replacement will be a whole bunch more fun and on this page we will try to introduce you to some software that is changing how music is composed and played over the internet. Maybe we are seeing the General Midi slayer in one or more of the technologies presented here.

Beatnik Plug-in for Mac and Windows Of the many plug-ins available we have been quite impressed by Beatnik from Headspace. Besides sounding good it does something we haven't noticed with other software synthesizers. It plays well on a 14.4 modem. What's so important about being able to play on a slow modem? After all software synthesizers are on your machine, the modem doesn't do anything other than download files. True, but this is what makes Beatnik so appealing. You can do more than simply listen to music with this plug-in. As an example you can interact with compositions. Say you're listening to a song in the key of Eb and you'd like to jam to it but Eb is a difficult key for you to work in. No problem, you can transpose keys, change tempos, and do quite a bit as Beatnik can be extended by Javascript, Shockwave files and more to come. As a listener you won't always be given this choice but it's there for composers that want you to experiment with their music. Oh one more thing. Beatnik works well as a background music system for web pages. The native files are smaller than midi and only require a sound card. You can get the plug-in at The Beatnik Web Page, take some time and soak up the ambience of the page, there's a lot of ambience to enjoy. This is a technology that encourages you to try things, to play around. Hey, no one else will notice, it's ok, really. While up there you might want to explore a bit as well. There is an excellent description and discussion of what Beatnik is and what it can do at the Beatnik DocPack Version 1.7. This doccument is very detailed so knock yourself out. The download is about 2mb so you'll have some time to read a bit about Beatnik. There is non-technical as well as technical information available in the DocPack. If the DocPack is a bit dry for your tastes look around the site, there's plenty of information that's not as demanding on the site. Once you have downloaded this Netscape plug-in you will need to quit and install. This is a simple process which guides you though the procedures. Make sure to bookmark the page as you'll want to check out the Beatnik Walkthrough. You need the plug-in to get the most out of this page. Make sure to check out some of the excellent music while up at the Beatnik site. If you're using a Mac there is a beta editor for you to check out. There should be a windows editor later this year.

Koan Pro and Koan X For a more traditional but still cool experience check out the Sseyo Koan site. While at Sseyo Koan Music snag the plug-in for Netsape or Microsoft Internet Explorer. It's less than 500k and is simple to install as well. What is Koan X and Koan Pro? Probably the easiest way to create computer aided music that we've experienced. What is particularly good about this software is the ease of use. The native file format creates small files which makes it great for use on web pages. Another nice feature is the ability to listen to infinitely evolving music that loads files as small as 5k. Right now Koan authoring tools are only available for Windows although plans are in the works for Mac's too. There is a strong following of traditional and experimental composers towards this program. If we were asked what software we'd use to help someone with no prior experience create music this is what we'd recommend. You can download demos of the Koan line of programs as well as a working version of Koan X Silver , a drag and drop program that gives users a feel for what the higher end versions of this program can do. Professionals will want to check out the save disabled Koan Pro. It looks a bit more intimidating than Koan X but is simple to use and considerably more powerful. New software will be highlighted in the coming weeks so keep checking back. Native Beatnik and Koan files will be included on this page soon, if you are using either program to write music and would like a home here contact Bruce or Les.