MIDICraft's MIDINET CD-ROM/MIDICraft's MIDINET CD-ROM.iso/KORG_I-S/MIDFILES/R_BAXTER/0_FORMAT/SPIRIT_D.DOC

Text File | 1996-10-18 | 11.5 KB | 215 lines

Song: "Spirit of the Dance"
Composer: Kevan R.Craft (c)1996
Copyright: (c)1996 MIDICraft Compositions and Arrangements

A Tribute to Rob Baxter 1957-1996 (RIP)


Converted and arranged for:-
1.Standard MIDI File "(SMF)" format 0

Synth Set up: Configured for Korg i-Series and X-Series synths
Software used for composition: Music-X V2.0 with custom ARexx macros
Synth Harware used: Korg i3 Interactive Music Workstation

Computer Platform:Amiga 2000  HD/68030  5Mb  RAM,  540Mb  Internal  SCSI HD
mounted on a A2091 Card, 730Mb external SCSI HD


The Standard MIDI File (SMF) format  1,  Music-X Performance file, Bars and
Pipes Song, Dr. T's KCS ALL file and Korg .SNG file are compatible with all
Korg  i-Series  and  X-Series  synths..  The   Korg  ".SNG"  file  and  its
accompanying ".PCG" USER voice  bank  must  be  copied  to  a 720k DD MSDOS
formatted disk and loaded directly from  the  on-board disk drive on either
one of the Korg i-Series and or X-Series Workstation synths..

"Spirit of the Dance" is my  personal  musical tribute to friend Rob Baxter
who sadly died on March 27th 1996 aged only 39 years of age..

Rob  Baxter,  from  the  UK,  was  well   known   on  the  Commodore  Amiga
platform as a respected Amiga  musician  who  was responsible for producing
countless classical scores using the  Aegis  Sonix and Synthia Pro software
programs. Initially, Rob started scoring music  on an Amstrad computer back
in the very early 80's  and  eventually  met  friend Hugh Gammon a computer
programmer/muso who shared similar ideas to  Rob.. Eventually both made the
transition to the Amiga platform and never looked back..

After acquiring an Amiga computer, Rob became  a member of 17Bit PD library
back in the early days when it was the biggest and best Amiga PD library in
the UK (its not now of course!).. It was via 17Bit that Rob first submitted
his Amiga  music  creations  to  share  with  other  17Bit  members.. 17Bit
appreciated Rob's material so much that  when reading their catalogue disk,
Martin Brown, the then office  manager,  wrote  some  fine leaders to Rob's
disks which encouraged  other  Amiga  music  lovers  to  acquire  his disks
whenever released, and now a lot of Amiga users have got Rob Baxter's music
disks in their Amiga disk collection, me included..

Indeed, Rob actually  submitted  his  material  to  a  lot  of PD libraries
himself, that's where I first met  him  myself.  I was running a PD Library
(MicroCraft) and one Saturday at a Computer Fair, at Bowlers Sports Centre,
in  Trafford  Park,  Manchester,  Rob  came  over  to  my  stall,  promptly
introduced himself as "I'm Rob Baxter, would  you like some of my disks for
your library?" He shoved 10 disks in  my  hand!  When I asked him what he'd
like in return he simply said  "just  10  blank  disks".. It was only later
when I returned home that I managed to examine Rob's disks and I was really
knocked out by the amazing quality  of the guy's musical arrangements which
actually played from a bootable  disk!  All  Rob's  disks were written very
neatly and clearly on regular  disk  labels  and included his home address,
telephone number and later his E-mail  address..  I know that Rob submitted
his work personally to most of the big  Amiga  PD libraries in the UK. If a
new one sprung-up then within a week  he'd send them his complete catalogue
of works.. He was a  really  nice  guy  who  valued the concept of  "Public
Domain" and used this distribution  system  to  get  his  work out to other
Amiga users, and he never asked for any money! Later with the advent of the
CD-ROM, many developers  on  the  Amiga  platform  published  Rob's musical
works, and later the Desktop Music  Workshop  releases and his material can
be found on many CD-ROM collections  ranging  from Almathera CD PD and Demo
CD, 17 Bit Collection and Continuation,  Weird Science Multi Media Tool Kit
II and more CD-ROMs besides..

Rob appreciated all music  but  particularly  loved Bach, Gershwin, Mozart,
Pachebel, Rick  Wakeman,  Vangelis,  Wendy  Carlos  and  Yes..  There  is a
relationship and this is  "classical  themes";  the  complex structures and
musical narratives that some styles of  music  can take.. Rob loved complex
musical narratives and was able  to  remember complete scores from memory..
When arranging other composers  work  using  the  Aegis  sonix program, Rob
employed a FREE FORM appoach rather  than consulting the actual manuscript,
he simply typed any musical  score  in  from  memory  and  by ear.. Rob did
possess the ability to read and write  music which helped because the Sonix
software requires the user  to  score  music  directly  onto musical staves
which appealed to his sense of intellectualism. Indeed, Rob also played the
keyboards and was a proud owner of quite a few classic 70's analogue synths
which are considered collectors items.. Using the Synthia Pro software also
appealed to Rob because the program  offered him the the unique opportunity
to create his own  synthesized  instruments  by building complete waveforms
from nothing but his  imagination  which  could  be  played from his scores
created with Sonix.. This kind of working practises really appealed to Rob!

The fact that Rob was interested in synthesizers and synth Rock lead to him
developing tastes further a field  venturing  into  the realms of composers
already mentioned above.. From  a  conversation  with  Rob,  I remember him
telling me that he was  really  into  Wendy  Carlos, because of her amazing
feats using a  synthesizer  to  orchestrate  classical  scores.. He sighted
Stanley Kubrick's "A  Clockwork  Orange"  movie,  the  Disney Sc-Fi classic
"Tron" movie and the "Switched on Bach"  and "Switched on Bach 2000" albums
as brilliant examples using synths  to  perform  classical music scores, so
there's the relationship -  "Wendy  Carlos"  whose unique synthesizer music
appealed to Rob and inspired him to do likewise..

Once you met Rob Baxter you wouldn't forget  him.. Not only was he prolific
in his production of very high  quality  musical material but he was always
prepared to help others in  their  activities  as  well. I was writing some
articles for Bj°rn Lynne's  AM/FM  disk  magazine  and  later the MIDICraft
Magazine for Amiga musicians and  Rob  would  always  let me review his new
work as soon  as  they  were  released..  Rob  really  appreciated this and
started giving me credit in a couple  of  his later works.. I often said to
him,  "you  should  release  some  of   your   own  work",  but  being  the
perfectionist he was never really  satisfied  with  anything he produced of
his own, his argument being that  his compositions were weird and strange..
I still pestered Rob to release some  of his own material and eventually he
composed 2 scores entitled "Metro" and "Rob's Rambles" which he released on
a Desktop Music Work Shop release under the title of "Metro"

"The Desktop Music Workshop" was  a  production  entity  created by Rob and
Hugh Gammon as a team who  produced  Amiga music disks which had programmed
software interfaces  and  which  were  bootable  from  most  Amiga computer
systems.. Rob actually had the  idea  for  releasing  a Guide to Electronic
Music - a big project which  sought  to  explain  the concepts of sound and
synthesis using text, sampled  speech,  musical  extracts and graphics very
effectively and in an interesting and  educational way.. "The Desktop Guide
to Electronic Music" came on 3  disks  and  in  my opinion was probably the
best Amiga disk set ever release on  the  Amiga. The only other multi Amiga
demo disk which  came  near  to  the  same  quality  was  Alcatraz's 5 disk
"Odyssey" DEMO..

During the last couple of years Rob  spent  a lot of his leisure time, with
his partner Pierce, on CIX surfing the NET!  Rob was well known on CIX, and
he was well liked and respected.. He communicated with a lot of Amiga users
both via Snail mail and E-mail,  always  a friendly, chatty and helpful guy
who could find time for anybody..

I discovered to my horror that  Rob  died  in  his sleep on March 23rd 1996
aged only 39 years of age.   Rob  had  experienced  his last 18 months with
serious heart problems and was unaware of the severity of his condition. In
fact, Rob thought he was  suffering  from  continual boughts of indigestion
and was completely unaware of his coronary problem..

Rob Baxter was a true genius,  a  musical wizard, an inspiration, the likes
of who only pass this way once.. He  was  also a friend, a gentle man whose
massive contribution to the Amiga music  scene  will never be forgotten and
whose presence will be sadly missed..  We miss you already Rob..

As a musical tribute to Rob I've  composed  a peice of music called "Spirit
of the Dance".. According to accademic texts, "Dance" is a phenomenon found
in all cultures, a physical, rhythmic  movement  to music which signifies a
collective "celebration of life" and as Rob  had a big and warm personality
who also loved life then this piece  is  my way of saying you mattered Rob,
you touched our lives, you gave us  your  music, you are the "Spirit of the
Dance"..  Rob Baxter 1957-1996 (RIP)...

Kevan R.Craft
MIDICraft Compositions and Arrangements
12 Mount Road
Halton
Runcorn
Cheshire. WA7 2BH.
England. UK.

Tel:[phone]
Email: [e-mail]
WWW Home Page: http://www.midicraft.demon.co.uk


Korg i-Series/X-Series configuration for "Spirit of the Dance"

CHANNEL    PROGRAM     INSTRUMENT
   1         53        Choir Aahs
   2         34        Fingered Bass
   3         31        Distortion Gt.
   4         31        Distortion Gt.
   5         56        Orchestra Hit
   6         96        Sweep Pad
   7          1        Empty
   8          1        Empty
   9          1        Empty
  10         25        Drums i2/i3 Dance Kit
  11         26        Percussion i2/i3 Analog Kit
  12          1        Empty
  13          1        MIDI Piano
  14         29        Muted Gt.
  15         43        i3 Strings
  16          1        Empty

TEMPO: 125 BPM
TIME SIG: 4/4
RUNNING TIME: Over 5 mins..

Additional information: Each  file  contains  an  embedded  SYSEX "GM Mode"
message which when  transmitted  via  MIDI  to  an  external  GM synth will
configure the MIDI device to respond in General MIDI (GM) mode.. Additional
Percussion has been implemented  on MIDI  Channel  11 as per  Korg i-Series
Channel configuration. Certain instruments,  namely the MIDI Piano (PGM #1)
and i3 Strings (PGM 43) use  the Korg i3 C BANK voices  and are  configured
using the following MIDI Controller parameters:-

CTL 000,000
CTL 032,001 - C Bank
PGM 001     - MIDI Piano


CTL 000,000
CTL 032,001 - C Bank
PGM 43      - i3 Strings

The above i2/i3 MIDI  Controllers  and  Program  data are configured within
each file, if you've got an i-Series or X-Series synth then simply load the
approriate file for the relevant Amiga  MIDI Sequencing software you use or
port the "SPIRIT_D.SNG" file to a 720k  MSDOS  formatted disk and load this
into the keyboard directly from  the  on-board disk drive. The SPIRIT_D.SNG
file is a Korg i3  16-track  MIDI  Sequencer version and the "SPIRIT_D.PCG"
file is the USER D bank containing a  further 64 voices and the 2 USER drum
Kits.. "Dance Kit"  (USER  KIT  1)  is  required  for  this  track  to play
correctly on one  of  the  above  mentioned  synths  and  therefore you are
required to load this "SPIRIT_D.PCG"  file  into  the Korg keyboard as well
for playing any of the Amiga software versions and the Korg ."SNG" version!