Re: looped music and the Web

["Stephen P. Goodman" <sgoodman@primenet.com>]

> In creating a sound file for
> this purpose one has to take the compositional issues of repetition and
> loops into consideration.  Personally I havent experienced many
interesting
> applications of looped music on the web, but I wonder if that is because
> the people making these loops aren't "loopers" like us.

The reason one doesn't see any looped material is that browsers don't
really 'loop'.  The main problem with utilizing the inboard feature of
LOOP=TRUE in an audio href is that, due to the use of MCI controls in the
browsers that run on PCs, the 'loop' is actually a REPEAT.  There's an
unacceptable gap of about 1/5 to 1/2 second between the end and restart of
the piece.  I've tried this and it just doesn't work yet.  As a result I
got a good friend of mine to write me an encapsulation routine that
correctly plays my Loop Of The Week in downloadable .EXE format; and, to
prevent the .WAV file I've got from attempting to just play one iteration,
I had to put it in .ZIP format so people could download it without me
having to tell people to Right-Click and choose Save Target As... over and
over, which is a loop I don't want to perform! :)

> Making looped music on the web interesting:
> I think it would be difficult to make a single short duration audio file,
> that loops over and over, sound interesting.  There are other options
> though.

I don't like to appear to 'dis' anyone but I've been producing relatively
short (3-7 seconds) loops for downloading off my web page at
http://www.primenet.com/~sgoodman/Studios now for over a year.  It's
self-executing of course, but I like to think that the folks who keep
coming back to download it each week find it a little interesting at least.
:)

> Most of the web sound players allow for playing of several looped sound
> files at the same time.  This allows for all the possibilities inherent
in
> layering loops or multi tracking loops.  By playing loops of different
> lengths one can create phasing and polyrhythmic effects that add variety
> and change to the composition over a long period of time.

I've only been able to find one Java routine out there that does the above,
and no proprietary formats that support correct looping to my knowledge. 
As is, Java only supports playing Sun format .AU files, and only 8KHz mono
files at that - though it produces a nice layering effect as described
above.  I just wish it was higher quality, but perhaps this shall occur in
the future.

* Stephen Goodman            It's the Loop Of The Week!  And it's free!
* EarthLight Productions      http://www.primenet.com/~sgoodman/Studios