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Csound is back on the Mainframe after a 40 year absence

Here's one that took a while to make. I was able to build Csound v5 under Linux on an IBM mainframe Integrated Facility for Linux (IFL), thanks to an IBM developer program. Csound is back on the mainframe after not seeing such an architecture for probably 40 years. It runs pretty fast, but that's not the reason to build it on the platform. I just wanted to understand the challenges of moving to the s390x architecture, since I sell mainframes for a living, and most of my customers have Linux today.

Today's version of June Gloom was converted from my source code to Csound input on my PC under Free Pascal, shipped to the mainframe as drum12.csd, then processed by Csound on the mainframe to create a .wav file. I brought that back to my PC to create an MP3 file and posted here.

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June Gloom #20 - processed by Linux

Here's a version made on a Linux implementation on Amazon's Web Services. Now that my preprocessor has been ported to open source Free Pascal, it was a snap to compile it on an Ubuntu Linux instance. Csound only needed a simple install. It's my first try at Linux. Next stop: RedHat under z/VM on an IBM IFL at their developer sandbox. Unfortunately, there's no port of Free Pascal that supports the z architecture or instruction set, and I'll have to build Csound myself. I think the latter will be easier than the former. I can do the preprocessor work on my desktop and ship the Csound source to the cloud for processing.

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No music today, just the source code. Trying to set up a cloud instance and need to put the source somewhere to wget it.

Samples the Csound preprocessor

Input to the preprocessor

All the other files needed in a zip file.

Impulse Response file.

Result of the first Linux process using Amazon Web Services.

June Gloom #14

Here is the last version of June Gloom I will post. Today's run through the algorithm is a milepost of sorts. I finally was able to generate the whole thing without having to run either the preprocessor or Csound in that dreadful XP box on my Windows 7 laptop. Today I finished the port of the preprocessor to Free Pascal from Turbo Pascal. Most of the problems along the way were due to failing to check for Nil pointers and out of bounds arrays. Apparently Turbo Pascal circa 1989 let me do some bad things. I fixed those and the program compiled. After earlier porting the Csound code to a version of Csound that runs in Windows 7, I'm now free of the XP box. Today's post is the result. Nothing is substantively different, except it's another round through the algorithm, so everything has changed.

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Here is one more version of the June Gloom piece I've been working on.

For the past eight years I've used an older version of Csound (4.19 from 2005) that only runs on Windows XP. I moved to a new version of Windows, and the old version stopped running. So I obtained a current version, Csound version (5.17.11 from May 2012). To my delight it worked with all my old opcodes with only minor problems with the install. This version of the piece was made with the Windows 7 version of Csound 5.17.11.

My preprocessor, written in Turbo Pascal (filedate 1989), is another story. Turbo Pascal won't work in the current version of Windows 7. I had to create a virtual machine running XP, and that is working, but poorly. All things considered, my $90 investment in Turbo Pascal was worth it, since I have been able to use it for 23 years.

My next task is to try to port the Turbo Pascal to Free Pascal. My first attempts resulted in code that compiles with minor changes, but fails at run time reporting memory issues. That conversion will take much longer.

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Source code

• Input to the Csound: drum12
• Second stage for volume control: drum12a
• Third stage for convolution: convolv

June Gloom #11

This is another final version. The eleventh time through the track shows off the idea of several different instruments playing the melody, and each one can choose to trill, slide up, slide down, play only one note instead of all three, and many other variations. The conflict between the instruments makes for an interesting sound.

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June Gloom #9

This is a final version of the piece I've been working on lately. As with several recent works, this one takes six notes at a time out of a 10-note scale based on the undertone series. Here is a small chart that shows the pitches and ratios used and the order of the changes. The accidentals are in the Sagittal font.

The six notes chosen are two triads. The first one in the first row is a just B flat major, played at the same time as a just C minor. This is a very consonant combinations, almost too sweet. The instruments play a melody and chords based on those two triads. The rhythm is 9/8 then 4.5/8, which is what makes the tempo sort of bouncy. After playing in the first key (Bb major, C minor), it moves to the next one in the series, a just G minor combined with sort of an A flat neutral with a messed up 5th. It gets worse from there. Eventually it comes back to the beginning, and then repeats the cycle two more times. It's the same basic melody and harmony in each chord, but the notes change with each change of key. Sometimes it sounds sweet, other times more challenging to the ear. Here is the full ten note scale, as I approximate it in 72-EDO:

The instruments are trumpet, trombone, french horn, cello, and tuba playing the melody, and bassoon, clarinet, oboe, and flute on the harmony, with a rhythm section composed of balloon and tube drums.

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Source code:

• Input to Samples
• Input to Csound

June Gloom - more variety

This is a work in progress. Today I modified the amplitude, octaves, tempos, and added a cello and tuba to the mix.

The point of my recent music is choosing from several six note combinations from a ten note undertone scale. Some are very easy on the ears, and some are challenging. See if you can tell which is which.

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June Gloom - more keys

This is a work in progress. Noodling around with some different keys.

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More June Gloom

This is a work in progress. Adding a few more options for the melody. Now he can either trill, slide up, slide down, or play stacatto. More to come. And a few more keys.

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June Gloom

This is a work in progress. Just the woodwinds for now. The title is what Seattle is like this time of year.

Play it here

This is a work in progress. I'm working on some ways to have each instrument play the melody slightly differently. They all have the general concept, but each is different in different ways. This is the first attempt. It's very rough, but a good start beats no start, every day.
Play it here

Blue Sky/Black Crow #4

Play it here
Here's a final version of the piece I've been working on lately. It's scored for bass finger piano and lots of Ernie Ball Super Slinky Guitar string samples. The tuning is taken from a mostly utonal scale, but only six notes at a time. Here's the 10 notes in the scale, from which six note modes are pulled. The numbers across the top are the scale degrees out of the 10 available (actually only 10 in this case), and the next row is the 72-EDO note numbers.

And here are the six note chords that are used. The numbers to the left are the scale degrees out of the 10 available:

Notice that some of the ratios are conventional just major and minor triads. Others are much more xenharmonic. The Bb major and C minor are in the former category, sounding very consonant and easy on the ears. The B neutral and C supermajor are more challenging. When they come around, you know that something unusual is at work.

The piece steps through the chords in a progression twice, in the following order. Sometimes the chords are taken two at a time, sometimes only one. And sometimes they move from one to another in a slide.

One of the most attractive parts of this scale is the wide range of consonance to dissonance, from 12-tone-equal sound to xenharminoc. All from only 10 unique pitches.

The format of the piece is that I only change the six notes that are input to the process, and the randomizer picks the notes to play. For example, it can chose a chord that slides from the first chord to the second, in one of a number of inversions, or trills, or straight chords, or many other combinations. For example, the piece might call for the strings to play a chord, and slide to the next one:

.chox-0-b01a &pre-&n5..&slivd-&n5.-&n4.. &preu-&n5.-&n1..&slivd-&n1.-&n6.. &preu-&n1.-&n3..&slivd-&n3.-&n2.. .chox-0-b01b &pre-&n4..&slivu-&n4.-&n5.. &preu-&n4.-&n6..&slivu-&n6.-&n1.. &preu-&n6.-&n2..&slivu-&n2.-&n3.. .chox-0-b01c &pre-&n5..&slivu-&n5.-&n6.. &preu-&n5.-&n1..&slivu-&n1.-&n2.. &preu-&n1.-&n3..&slivu-&n3.-&n4.. .chox-0-b01d &pre-&n6..&slivd-&n6.-&n5.. &preu-&n6.-&n2..&slivd-&n2.-&n1.. &preu-&n2.-&n4..&slivd-&n4.-&n3.. .chox-0-b01e &pre-&n5..&slivd-&n5.-&n4.. &pred-&n5.-&n3..&slivd-&n3.-&n2.. &pred-&n3.-&n1..&slivd-&n1.-&n6..

This is called from the string section:

.strx-16-a01a d4r0 &str1-ran*.d4h5z0e1&chox-0-a*. .strx-16-a01b d2h9z0e1v-3&chox-0-a*.d12 .strx-16-a01c d0h32e13v-5&chox-0-b*.d16

Which in turn is called by the individual string parts:

.all-72-a02 &vel.d72r0 &str1.&strx-72-a01*. &str2.&strx-72-a01*. &str3.d72r0 &str4.d72r0 .all-72-a04 &vel.d72r0 &str1.&strx-72-a01*. &str2.&strx-72-a01*. &str3.&strx-72-a01*. &str4.d72r0 .all-72-a03 &vel.d72r0 &str1.&strx-72-a01*. &str2.&strx-72-a01*. &str3.&strx-72-a01*. &str4.&strx-72-a01*.

And I start it all off by calling

&all-72-a0*.

I set the notes to specific 72 EDO tones here:

.Bb-maj1 .n1 2x .Bb-maj2 .n2 3x .Bb-maj3 .n3 5x .Bb-maj4 .n4 7x .Bb-maj5 .n5 9x .Bb-maj6 .n6 1x .Bb-majb1 .bass1 9x .Bb-majb2 .bass2 5x .Bb-majn1 .nn1 7x .Bb-majn2 .nn2 8x .Bb-majn3 .nn3 9x .Bb-majn4 .nn4 Ax .Bb-majn5 .nn5 3x .Bb-majn6 .nn6 4x .Bb-majbn1 .bassn1 3x .Bb-majbn2 .bassn2 9x .Bb-maj &Bb-maj1.&Bb-maj2.&Bb-maj3.&Bb-maj4.&Bb-maj5.&Bb-maj6.&Bb-majb1.&Bb-majb2.&Bb-majn1.&Bb-majn2.&Bb-majn3.&Bb-majn4.&Bb-majn5.&Bb-majn6.&Bb-majbn1.&Bb-majbn2.

I do that for all the keys. Then I just have to call the macro to set them all to the right notes.

&Bb-maj.

That sets &n1. to 2, &n2. to 3, &n4. to 7, and so forth. When it goes through the preprocessor, it resolves all that code into Csound input files. Full source code here:

Input to preprocessor.

input to Csound, output from preprocessor

Blue Sky/Black Crow

This is a work in progress. Today's installment includes many more types of chords. Very slippery notes. The chord changes are derived from the undertone scale I've been working with lately.

Play it here

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Rattlesnake Ridge #6

My entry for the Untwelve 60x60 Mix.

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This is a work in progress. Today's installment is my first attempt at a 60 second piece for the 60x60 untwelve mix. It's scored for six guitars tuned to 72 EDO playing the a set of chords based on the undertone series. I'm just over 60 seconds at this point.
Play it here

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Black Crow-Blue Sky

This is a work in progress. I'm playing with the bridge changes. After a vamp on G minor to Ab major we have the following:

• Eb major
• Bb major
• F minor
• C minor
• B supermajor
• Bf major

Then back to the G minor to Ab major. Of course they are not really those keys. They are taken from the scale pictured here:

The title is taken from a picture I took Sunday evening on the deck looking up at the wonderful blue spring sky. It's been hidden above the clouds since about September of last fall, and the clouds parted for a nice weekend, before returning this morning. Note the stick in the crow's beak. They've been building a nest in the trees furiously.

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Working Title slides

This is a work in progress. Just a set of up and down triads of two chords, gliding from one to the other. I'm using the Ernie Ball Super Slinky guitar string samples. Play it here

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Working Title - added the 4th chords and slides

This is a work in progress. Play it here

or download this link

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