Shapes that we think of as random are in fact the products of shifting webs of numbers obeying simple rules. The very word ‘natural’ that we have often taken to mean ‘unstructured’ in fact describes shapes and processes that appear so unfathomably complex that we cannot perceive the simple natural laws at work.
They can all be described by numbers.

Richard MacDuff Music in Fractal Landscapes
quoted in
Douglas Adams Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency

Power of positive thinking, now everything is numbers. What sort of day did he have?
As I write, America is still waiting for the results of the recount in Florida and numbers have played a major role in the news of the last few days. Since all of our musical events can be reduced to numbers, here are some tools for you and your trusty computer that will help put a musical interface on your digital excursions.

http://www.harmony-central.com/
Links to all areas where music and computers interface.

http://www.opcode.com
StudioVision Pro 4.5.1, Vision DSP, Fermata all available from the web as downloads. Opcode has just been purchased by Gibson and is being reorganized. OMS is one of the better MIDI music interface systems. OMS is now a part of the Apple operating system.

http://www.motu.com
Mark of the Unicorn - one of the first Macintosh music software houses. The home of Composer’s Mosaic and Digital Performer as well as MIDI hardware for linking computers, MIDI instruments, and audio input. Freestyle is a trackless sequencing and instant notation printing software - competitive upgrade available on line!

http://www.harmony-central.com/rocket/
is the starting point for Emagic’s Logic Audio Rocket - a free software package allowing you stand alone MIDI and audio recording as well as a link to a virtual recording studio.

http://www.codamusic.com/coda/
Home of Fianle - industry standard notation package. There are now four flavours of music notation program from Coda - Finale 2001, the flagship; Allegro 2000, a less powerful and less expensive version, PrintMusic!, and the free Finale NotePad. NotePad is a simple starter notation package that allows for export to web pages. Also SmartMusic Studio, (making music practice fun); and Intonation Trainer.

http://www.notationstation.net
Passport Encore and MusicTime are now distributed and supported by GVOX.
“Music teachers everywhere must make the most of very limited budgets,” said GVOX President and CEO, Nathaniel Weiss. “The foundation of our business has been to give teachers remarkable tools for music education, such as Web-based notation program, MusicTime Online™. Now we have decided to give away another tool we know they need: a computer.”

http://www.sibelius.com/features/introducing.html
Having begun life on the Acorn Archimedes computer, Sibelius has now become cross platform and available for the Macintosh and Windows platforms. It is billed as the “fastest,smartest, easiest scorewriter in the world.” The Royal Academy of Music thinks so, as do many other professionals.

There is no one right solution. We all interface with computers and music in our own way. Chris Chater from the American School in Paris will be demonstrating at ECIS in Nice, and I’ll be hanging around offering my opinions. Probably the best advice is to type in the addresses, find demo versions, and experiment! Clickable links on the AMIS website.These are also on the HeinSite links page. Any to add?

Rick Hein can be contacted at [email protected]