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Suggestions for Further Study

Csound is such a powerful tool that we have touched on only a few of its many features and uses. You are encouraged to take apart the instruments in the tutorials, rebuild them, modify them, and integrate the features of one into the design of another. To understand their capabilities you should compose short etudes with each. You may be surprised to find yourself merging these little studies into the fabric of your first Csound compositions.

The directory 'morefiles' contains examples of the classical designs of Risset and Chowning. Detailed discussions of these instruments can be found in Charles Dodge's and Thomas Jerse's Computer Music textbook. This text is the key to getting the most out of these instrumental models and their innovative approaches to signal processing. Also recommended are the designs of Russell Pinkston. They demonstrate techniques for legato phrasing, portamento, random vibrato, and random sequence generation. His instrument representing Dx7 OpCode» Editor/Librarian patches is a model for bringing many wonderful sounds into your orchestra.

Nothing will increase your understanding more than actually Making Music with Csound. The best way to discover the full capability of these tools is to create your own music with them. As you negotiate the new and uncharted terrain you will make many discoveries. It is my hope that through Csound you discover as much about music as I have, and that this experience brings you great personal satisfaction and joy.

Richard Boulanger - March 1991 - Boston, Massachusetts - USA

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Prepared from the MIT Media Lab Csound Manual, PJN, Nov 1994.