Luke Roberts
>==Wiki Entry #1: Luigi Galvani== Luigi Galvani was born in Bologna on September 9, 1737. Since the beginning of his life it’s fair to say that Galvani had a gifted interest in exploring the world of science. It’s minds like Luigi that pushed the boundaries of what was accepted as fact to find the total truth behind theories the he believed were incorrect. Men and women with minds like Galvani blaze the trail through the winding world of technology and science.
Initially, Luigi was interested in becoming a mechanic specifically to work with spool testing. That interest must have been short lived considering he changed his path multiple times in search of the perfect life mission. He was a well-educated man with a strong background in the area of medical sciences. His parents originally founded his medical education. Luigi later went on to receive a medical degree at the University of Bologna. He must have stood out significantly among his peers because in 1762 Galvani was appointed the position as public lecturer in anatomy. While researching Luigi I’ve noticed on multiple occasions that he was noted to be a great professor but he wasn’t particularly eloquent in his social interactions. His main area of study was in animal anatomy, specifically on the category of organs of hearing and the genitourinary tract of birds.
In 1791 Luigi was published in a volume of the “Institute of Bologna” for his theory on animal electricity. This was the start to what I believe made Galvani so important to the world of science and technology. The most popular story of Luigi’s animal electricity studies describes his first encounter with the theory to be somewhat of an accident. He was dissecting a frog on a table that he had been previously conducting experiments on static electricity when his assistant touched an exposed static nerve on the frog leg with his charged scalpel causing an explosion of sparks. This was not the only thing that happened, because at that moment the frog’s leg seemed to ‘kick to life’. When Galvani observed the commotion it ignited an interest in the understanding the relationship between electricity and living organisms.
At first Galvani called the force that caused the muscles of an animal to twitch animal electricity. At the same time, some of his peers and competitors weren’t in direct agreement with Luigi’s theory. One of these men was Alessandro Volta. Volta believed that instead of the electricity coming directly from the muscle, there was actually something different going on. He reasoned that it was actually a physical metallic property that was causing the connection to occur. This disagreement was so important because it led Volta to invent the early battery in an attempt to disprove Galvani’s theory.
This competition that Galvani had created spawned one of the most important inventions in the digital age today. Something as simple as a battery is so often taken for granted in a world where portable devices are so dominant. Without batteries we would be tethered to the nearest power source, eliminating the very essence of our sleek and tech savvy society. It’s fantastic how the study of bioelectricity transferred over to deliver the beauty of portable power.
References:
Fox, W. (1909). Luigi Galvani. In The Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. Retrieved May 30, 2010 from New Advent: http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/06371c.htm
Luigi Galvani. (2010, May 29). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved May 30, 2010, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luigi_Galvani
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Wiki Entry #2: Apple DOS
The year was 1977, and the owners of the still relatively small and struggling Apple were desperately searching for a more efficient means of file storage for the newly developed Apple II computer. Steve Wozniak, one of the founders and co-creators of multiple devices and programs by Apple including both, the Apple I and II, was working rigorously. He needed to figure out a way to create a floppy disk drive operating system that would be compatible with the Apple II. What he came up with was a very simple operating system that would only load files from different fixed locations on the disk in response to one letter commands.
In order to create an operating system that was both User friendly to consumers, yet powerful enough to perform advanced file manipulations there was an incredible amount of work ahead. Not only did they have to worry about those factors, Apple also had to make sure that it would be smooth and compatible with the BASIC and ROM that were already integrated in the Apple II computer. Woz was on the right track with his driver routines because they provided a stable platform to read and write data back and forth on the disk, but the problem with these driver routines was that it only used the buggy 6502 assembly language.
The original main DOS control software that Woz had created was found to be quite shaky. It had extremely low data streaming capabilities that were also known to drop packets of information relatively easily. The programmers finally figured out a way to code the software differently to correspond with the disk drive in a manner that was completely unique to the way in was done in the past.
The Apple II disk was designed with 35 different tracks. Each of these tracks was divided into 16 segments that held 256 bytes of information per segment. In most previously designed disk drives there was a recording head that moved across the surface of the disk that gave the commands to change which track-layer being used. The Apple II disk drive relied on the software instead of the recording head to keep consistent track timing. This was both an extremely complicated process and more space consuming because of the software, but the cost savings in less complicated hardware compensated for the losses.
There were really only three major versions of the original Apple DOS. The first version was 3.1. It was released in June of 1978 with a whopping 100kb of user related storage per disk side. Many buyers were outraged because of the lack of explanation and documentation with the 3.1. A year later 3.2 was released with actual documentation and major changes in the computer booting methods. This was a big upgrade because it actually came with a different type of firmware that enabled the computer to automatically locate a disk drive on startup and boot off of it. In 1980 3.3 was released. The most notable feature of 3.3 was its’ large increase in floppy disk storage.
Even though the original designs of Apple’s DOS were quite primitive, the massive amount of hardware and software development that came from its’ creation was what were most important. An ideological spark was ignited that paved the way for the steady creation of increasingly powerful and efficient Disk Operating Systems to come. Apple’s unique approach to data allocation sets their computers apart from many other computer models. Even today Apple computers are known for their power and User simplicity.
References:
Weyhrich, Steven. (16 FEB 01). Dos. Apple II History. v1.3. Retrieved from:http://apple2history.org/history/ah14.html
Singh, Amit. (FEB 2004). A History of Apple's Operating Systems. Retrieved from: http://www.kernelthread.com/publications/appleoshistory//
Wiki Entry #3: Lynx Web Browser
The Lynx web browser was created in 1992, by a group of student from the University of Kansas. It is a text only web browser written for multiple different platforms and operating systems. Lynx is also licensed as a freeware product.
While browsing with Lynx the user gains access to a command prompt window. The window consists of linearized tables that are navigated by use of cursor keys, or keyboard shortcuts. Everything on each page is numbered. Using the cursor keys, the operator navigates by selecting the corresponding number with each command. Lynx also has the capability to search local files on the computers disk, along with printing, mailing and saving files to the local disk. While looking through the complete Lynx manual and documentation it appears that it can be customized to an almost unnecessary amount. At first it seems like an overload of information, but the multitudinous options all have very important uses when understood fully. There are also three different user modes. The modes include; novice, intermediate, and advanced. There is a slightly different interface depending on which mode the user chooses. The biggest change noted in the different modes were, simply how many help options appeared. Lynx also has a built in text editing option that can be turned on and off. When enabled, the user can use it to edit text on websites like Wiki and various others. Although Lynx can’t display any type of non-text content while browsing, it does have the ability to launch external programs to handle these tasks.
When Lynx was created, it was originally intended to be used as a hypertext browser, which would only be used to distribute campus information. Soon after, Lynx became quite popular for visually impaired users because of its’ extremely text to speech friendly interface. Lynx also attracts certain users for various other reasons. For instance, Lynx can also be used by web designers as a cross check to see if a website will still work on older browsers. This is very useful to web developers. People that are limited by an extremely old computer with very little graphical capabilities also sometimes use Lynx. The advantages don’t stop there though, because of its utter simplicity, Lynx is also much faster compared to many graphical web browsers out there.
As noted earlier, Lynx does not support any form of graphics. For this reason, web bugs that track user information are not fetched when a page or email is opened. This option has become very common on most mainstream graphical web browsers because it provides a great deal of security. Lynx does however support cookie support and page caching which is also common in most browsers. This is only a slight security concern, but Lynx can be optimized to disable all of these.
When it comes down to the question of why the Lynx web browser is an important development in the digital age the answer seems quite clear-cut. Lynx embodies a vital tool for the visually handicapped populous as well as web designers. Its’ simplicity in design but rich optimization allows for a powerfully stable program that won’t be disappearing anytime soon.
References:
Dickey, T. (2004). Lynx2-8-5 (Lynx User Guide), Retrieved from http://lynx.isc.org/lynx2.8.5/
Lynx text web browser for unix, vms, macintosh and windows. (2006, January 20). Retrieved from http://www.quickonlinetips.com/archives/2006/01/lynx-text-web-browser-for-unix-vms-macintosh-and-windows/
Wiki Entry #4: Wiki Article: History of Digital Audio Workstations
Abstract
The transition from analog to digital recording has greatly expanded the musical production and recording horizons. Along the way there were many set backs surpassed and barriers broken to achieve today’s modern recording technology. The super sleek and exceptional digitalized sound quality displayed through digital audio workstations of the modern age came at the cost of lifetimes of research and devotion. Digital audio workstations are now considered to be an integral part of the music production process from beginner to billion dollar industry giants. The development of the DAW has undoubtedly been a steadfast force in shaping the music industry’s ever rising quality standards. The history of the development of the DAW along with its’ early ancestors will be covered in the follow article.
History of Digital Audio Workstations
Imagine waking up one day and going about the usual morning routine. A nice shower and a good breakfast before the car ride into work. The radio was left on extra high in the car from the night before and as soon as the car starts, music comes blasting from every direction. As frightening as it is, the upcoming realization after about five channel changes through completely foreign music is far more shocking. At work a quick look on the Internet at Billboard’s top 100 amplifies the complete bewilderment. The whole world of music has been flipped upside down, and morphed into something completely different. Okay, maybe that’s a pretty extreme example, but without the invention of the Digital Audio Workstation the world of music would in a completely different state. Throughout this article I will be covering the history and development of the Digital Audio Workstation and the predecessors which led to its’ phenomenal impact on the modern day music industry. The informational focus will be on the software aspects of the DAW with some hardware references. The vital developmental stages founding the knowledge base of the process and design of digital audio workstations will also be covered in some depth.
On December 4, 1877 Thomas Edison became the first man to create a device in which he was able to capture the human voice in a recording that he could then playback. This revolutionary device was called a phonograph. Edison developed the phonograph with some of the background he had acquired while inventing the telephone and telegraph. Even though the machine only captured an extremely weak voice modulated signal, it was a signal all the same (Jenkins, 2007). What followed was a hailstorm of ideas using many different devices and acoustical recording settings. By 1933 the first commercial microphones and electrical amplification systems were being produced. The next major character to enter the audio recording scene was a German inventor by the name of Joseph Begun. Begun acquired an extensive background from the Berlin Institute of Technology in magnetic devices. Through meticulous testing he created magnetic recording tape. This tape was used in the very first commercial broadcasting tape recorder. Through the 1950’s, almost all musicians used magnetic recording applications. Finally, in 1967 the very first digital tape recorder was created. With its’ 12 bit, 30 kHz power, the digital tape substantially extended the decibel recording range.
With digital recording right around the corner the possibilities seemed limitless. However, there were still many steadfast believers in the simple and systematic practices of analog recording. Even though it could take up to one hundred more takes to capture the right sounds in one try analog had its’ loyal fans. Unfortunately, the differences in digital and analog recording were really only known at what might be compared to the tip of the iceberg. What wasn’t widely known at this time was exactly how much manipulation an artist could enact on a track. These simple adjustments would easily save hours of individual track takes with the push of a button. The main reasons digital audio is substantially better than analog lies within the encoding process. Every time a sound is recorded and converted into a digital signal, the sound waves are actually saved as binary files. These numerical patterns posses the option to be changed. Even though at this time the manipulation of recorded digital sound was very primitive, the increased sound quality immediately became very evident in playback. This is because digital files inherently cause a lot less sound wave deterioration than analog when playback occurs. (Roland-Mieszkowski,1989).
The development of microchip set computers throughout the 1960’s played a major role in expanding the possibilities of digital recording applications. Thomas Stockham, along with a few other digital audio production pioneers such as MTU Corporation played a major role in the integration of digital audio recording on computational devices ("An Audio timeline," 1999). Government and University funding was supplied readily through the growing need for a means of precise audio control on computers. The main specializations where research stemmed were speech recording technologies, commercial telephone applications and University audio synthesis centers. Throughout the 70’s most of these formats were heavily regulated by the centers supplying this funding. This sometimes made it difficult for researchers to branch outside of their specified “field” into where they saw advancements could be made because of the guidelines. During this time, Stockham was succeeding with the help of his company, Soundfield, in creating many digital compilations through computer synthesis. In 1976, Stockham made his very first 16-bit digital recording in the Santa Fe Opera house. By the late 70’s people had become tired of using the University mainframe accounts and wanted to duplicate these methods on their own desktop. In 1977, MTU shipped out the very first commercial music synthesis software and D/A converter boards to microcomputers using the 6502 hard drive chipset. These were the only type of personal computers at the time that had the hard drive capacity and chipset speed to handle the calculations required to use the software. The main difference between MTU’s board and all other digital effects boards created during this time period lay in the type of wave oscillator that was used. All other existing boards used a square wave oscillator, which created a much more square, and echoing sound that lacked any actual wave depth. (MTU)
Even though the integration of computers and digital audio recording was extremely sleek by comparison to analog it was far from perfect. The typical computer was still extremely far behind the development curve of the first digital recording stations. It was normal to have the an Apple-II computer, with it’s three memory expansion slots in use, and performing at it’s peak, to crash hourly while trying to process and synthesize a digital signal. The analog to digital conversion of sound waves was fair to mathematically comprehensive to consistently complete in a timely fashion. Especially when the computer crashed multiple times within the hour causing many occasions for data loss. Frustrated by these inconsistencies, MTU designers were hard at work developing a portion of hardware to go with the boards that would help stabilize at least part of the audio transcription process. In 1982 MTU created the Digisound-16. This device was an externally housed, signal shielding input/output module with D/A and A/D conversion. The Digisound-16 was interfaced with many soundboards over the following 6 years because of its’ greatly increased stability. This method is still used in most studio level applications. (MTU)
The early 1980’s brought the very first legitimate Digital Audio Work stations, (DAW). A DAW possesses the capability to not only play back sampled sounds, but also record, edit, and play back digitally recorded sound waves. One of the key advantages of a workstation is the ability to manipulate the binary digital sound code quite easily. DAW’s fall into two main categories, computer based and integrated. In the 80’s, the most common type of DAW to be used was the integrated system. Integrated systems consist of a stand-alone device that contains the necessary components to perform a complete recording session. The mixing console would be attached to a computer with software that was dedicated to running the device. Integrated digital audio recording systems were really only popular until computers became powerful enough to run the DAW software as a standalone device. (Gallagher)
During the late 1980’s only a select variety of consumer computers companies had enough storage space and processing ability to handle the rush of workstations that were being created. Among these, the Apple Macintosh and Atari ST were the most respectable candidates for the job. The earliest attempts to create the “modern” DAW software suites were made by Macromedia’s “Soundedit” and Digidesign’s package containing “Soundtools” and “SoundDesigner”. Soundedit, like many other clashing audio recording hardware and software applications, was originally released as a part of a package called MacRecorder Sound System. Its’ original release was actually delayed because at this time Mac’s didn’t have an audio input port. Soundedit’s main driver was Apple’s HyperCard, and with the release of the MacRecorder Sound System, Soundedit was successfully able to create brand new effects outside the normal two effect limitations. Digidesign’s software was similar in almost every way to Soundedit. The major difference seems to be the amount of documentation and support that Digidesign offered. This is what made the major difference in the customer support base, which ultimately led to a much larger market share and arguably the most successful DAW platform series today. (Franklin, 2003)
As the 90’s rolled around along came the dawn of much more powerful computing abilities. With the new hardware operating parameters, many users switched over to Computer based digital audio workstations. Perhaps the most powerful and readily awaited sequel to DAW software suites, Pro Tools was on the verge of creation. It was designed by UC Berkley graduates, Peter Gotcher and Evan Brooks, who were both double majors in electrical engineering and computer science. The idea to create Pro Tools stemmed from their previous concept that their Sound Designer software would be used to edit sounds with E-MU’s emulator sampling keyboards. This would have been accomplished using MIDI sound signals. MIDI, unlike recorded analog to digital sound has a completely different way of sending a so-called “signal”. It actually uses event messages such as pitch and intensity of musical notes that it wants the DAW to feed into the computer. The control signals used for parameters include such as volume, vibrato, and panning cues, and clock signals to set the tempo. Unfortunately, when Gotcher and Brooks discussed the idea of a possible merger of the technologies of their renamed Sound Tools software with E-MU, the idea was sorely rejected. The engineers weren’t slowed very much down by this minor setback. Pro Tools was finally created in 1991, offering a boasting 4 tracks and retailing for $6,000. (“Pro tools,”)
Pro Tools, like almost all digital audio software, has the fundamental similarities to a multi track digital recorder and mixer. The difference lies within the digital processing domain. Unlike any system of its’ kind in 1991, Pro Tools had successfully and smoothly integrated its software with many computers allowing for seamless recording at 16bit 44.1 kHz sound (“Pro tools,”). The software suite was not only designed for professionals though. Three different versions of Pro Tools were created to accommodate each user base skill level. Pro Tools HD is the professional version. It offers the best sound quality because of the integrated computer audio sound card that comes with it which is included in the price of the software. The HD version is also much more compatible with high-end external sound input racks than its’ second tier version LE. The LE or “light” version of Pro Tools offers almost all of the same software capabilities as HD besides some of the built in plug-ins allowing its’ usage with mainstream professional audio equipment. M-Audio is the third and final product tier. It lacks much of the sound editing processes available in both of the other software versions. M-Audio by almost every comparison is exactly like Garageband. It allows the user to do basic recordings and playback. For this reason it is usually only sold with low-end external interfaces for beginners. (Hagerman, 2010)
The Pro Tools interface consists of two main windows, which include the edit and mix window. The user is able to control most of the main functions used to create and mix tracks together. The edit window displays all of the MIDI and audio tracks being recorded in a few different graphically customizable representations. The beauty of many DAW’s like Pro Tools lies in a feature offered called non-destructive recording. Non-destructive recording takes every single track that was ever recorded in each session and archives the signal so that it will never be fully erased unless manually done so by the user. This feature opens up so many doors to a user because it allows them to make any instant changes, or record over a preexisting track without ever having to worry about losing any precious data. (Hagerman, 2010)
Logic Pro is another one of the main software DAW’s. It was originally formed under the research and ideas based from the Company Emagic. In the early 1990’s Emagic created Logic v.1.7. This DAW was very similar to Pro Tools in simulating the same type of digital audio recording and editing synthesis processes. However, it was not nearly as seamless because the variety of MIDI and synthesizing plug-ins had all been created at different times throughout the company’s history. When the processes were all thrown together in one software suite there were obviously random incompatibility errors that would occur. This somewhat hectic design process truly limited Logic’s user base. Throughout the next ten years Emagic released a few more upgraded software versions. Each time they would up the recording sample sound quality and add a few more plug-ins. Finally, in July 2002 Apple bought out Emagic and made the announcement it would not be creating software for windows based applications any longer. This was a bold step by Apple, but it was also a very smart move. It was exactly what the Logic software suite needed if it was to compete with the industries’ standardized Pro Tools. Apple did a fantastic job of taking over 20 of Emagic’s products and combining them into a much more streamlined software. Two years after the buyout, Apple released the extremely refined Logic 6.0 Software suite. (Tweakheadz)
The most current version of Logic is the most interesting of all. Even though with it’s not very surprising with Apple’s somewhat limitless resources, the full scale turnaround that Logic has made in the last 8 years has been remarkable. Not only does Logic compete readily with Pro Tools, but also it has unique audio synthesizing methods that by far surpass anything that Pro Tools can showcase. Apples incorporates an audio processing plug-in called Delay Designer from its 7.0 release, which includes features like quick swipe comping and multi-take management. These both allow for the user to have a lot more direct control when sliding and dragging tracks to mix together. The multi-take management system provides a user-friendly way of track recording composition, with very little down time. Apple has also added 64bit mode, which breaks open the doors to expanded memory usage and much more in depth sound quality. With a variety of unique creative plug-in suites, and the most streamlined interface on the market today, Logic Pro has pushed the world of DAW’s to a completely new level. (Tweakheadz)
Even though only the two most successful software suites were discussed, there are hundred’s of other DAW’s available for private and commercial use in today’s market. All of these programs seek to bring their own unique plug-ins and interfaces to modern day musicians and producers. It’s absolutely incredible to look back on the development of the digital audio workstation to see how it became the massive market that it is today. The variety of inexpensive options available to anyone seeking to make their own music is unbelievable. It can also be quite daunting to any aspiring musician without the background in recording technology. What is most important about the digital audio evolution is the opportunity for literally anyone to create recordings that mirror the sound quality of a full operationrecording studio. Without this technology, musicians would still be confined to the limitations of only possibly being able to score a studio spot. Where would the world of techno and electronica even be today? Those genres are created almost solely through independent users that eventually get discovered, and contracted by major labels. Many commercial beats and rhythms were originally created by the independent Indie label industry by use of DAW. Without those, where would the world of obnoxious mainstream hip-hop be today? Those artists would have a very limited pool of fake voice synthesizers and effects, which do an impressive job of disguising their complete and utter lack of talent! All joking aside, DAW’s have played in irreplaceable role in the world of independent and mainstream related music alike. Even though to this day there is no absolute winner monopolizing the DAW market, the ever-growing expansion of DAW capabilities has allowed the prominent to shine through.
References:
An Audio timeline. (1999, October 17). Retrieved from http://www.aes.org/aeshc/docs/audio.history.timeline.html
Franklin, R. (2003, October 3). Who Owns my daw?. Retrieved from http://mixonline.com/recording/business/audio_owns_daw/
Gallagher, M. (n.d.). Nsider's view of the modern daw. Retrieved from http://www.sweetwater.com/feature/daw/daw_defined.php
Hagerman, A. (2010). Pro tools le 8 ignite! the visual guide for new users. Boston, MA, US: Cengage Learning.
Jenkins, J. (2007). Home recording studios - history of sound recording, digital audio, mp3s and multitrack recording. Retrieved from http://ezinearticles.com/?Home-Recording-Studios---History-of-Sound-Recording,-Digital-Audio,-MP3s-and-Multitrack-Recording&id=827010
MTU, Corp. (n.d.). Digital audio workstation (daw) evolution. Retrieved from http://www.mtu.com/support/mtudawevolution.htm
Pro tools. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pro_Tools
Roland-Mieszkowski, M. (1989). Introduction to digital recording techniques. Canadian Acoustical Association Journal, Retrieved from http://www.digital-recordings.com/publ/pubrec.html
Tweakheadz, L. (n.d.). The History of logic. Retrieved from http://www.tweakheadz.com/history_of_notator_and_logic.html
Worbeck, C. (2009, June 30). What is Daw software?. Retrieved from http://digital-audio.suite101.com/article.cfm/what_is_daw_software
