The Csound Book: Perspectives in Software Synthesis, Sound Design, Signal Processing,and Programming

List Price: $76.00
Our Price: $50.99
You Save: $25.01 (33%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $14.95 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions

Book Summary Information

Book Reviews of The Csound Book: Perspectives in Software Synthesis, Sound Design, Signal Processing,and Programming

Book Review: A review from a different perspective
Summary: 2 Stars

I would like to warn people that if you are looking to learn computer music on your own, this is not the book to start with. To really be able to use the book, you need to be very familiar with how computer music works, and with the major sound synthesis methods. I should add, too, that if you don't know much about computer music in the first place, Csound probably isn't the best choice for a program to learn it on. I was hoping for an organized introduction to Csound that would take me step by step through learning it, and that is not what this book is. To me, as a beginner, it's just a bunch of scattered information. And the CD's are confusing, as well. I had a hard time just finding the files to use for the first tutorial. Several of the example instruments require sound files that aren't even included in the same folder as the instrument's score and orchestra files.

Overall, to me, the book is a confusing, overwhelming mish-most of information that I mostly don't understand. Unfortunately, I can't return it because I opened the CD. If you are an experienced computer musician with some experience in Csound, or if you have a teacher to help you, this book would be great as it is full of excellent resources. But it's NOT for the novice computer musician! I should have gone through it more carefully before blowing my $55, so don't make the same mistake I did!

Theory, Composition & Performance Books

• Books > Subjects > Arts & Photography > Music
• Computers & Technology > Hardware > PCs
• Software
• New & Used Textbooks > Computer Science
• Humanities > Music