A Study of the Relationship Between Synergy in the Group Dynamic of Contemporary Music Making and the Use of Midi/Personal Computer Based Music Systems in an OSI/ISDN Environment

Abstract

Successful or economically viable contemporary music making is becoming increasingly dependent on a synergistic coadunation of many complex human and technological factors. New technologies are altering the way music is created. In the 1980s digital sampling, the Fairlight CMI (Computer Musical Instrument), other sophisticated dedicated music computers (DMC) and disk based recording systems (DBRS), MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface), music software and powerful personal computers emerged in the context of a continuing convergence of Computers and Communications (C & C), enabling music to be realised digitally using Computer Based Music Systems (CBMS). As digital technologies, which are becoming more widely available, are are used more creatively and with greater understanding, human consciousness could be enhanced or expanded by music which synthesises diverse musical elements from around the world. This study provides some insights into what advances in more user-friendly technology may make possible for musicians and other creative people as powerful Integrated Multi-media Systems (IMS) based on high-speed, very large storage capacity multi-tasking computers are developed and as an Open Systems Interconnection (OSI)/broadband Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) telecommunications environment/ infrastructure emerges. During this study the author, as an experienced musician/composer, developed and used a network of CBMS in a simulated OSI/ISDN environment to experiment with music software, with the transfer and exchange of different types of musical data files between different users/systems via modem and with system generated/controlled MIDI Time Code (MTC)/SMPTE (Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers) synchronisation of analog and digital recordings.