symphony for dot matrix printers - test-drb@ccmp.vtda.org

2 Sep 2001

Hey Tony --

I wrote:

...
  > I considered that but don't know of any way
to consistently get heads to
...
  > crash in such a controlled manner as to be
useable musically (i.e., makes
...
  > pretty much the same sound every time).
 > 
 > Do you? 
Tony replied:

...
  If I was mad enough to attempt this, 
Is this your opinion of my state of mind? ;>)

...
  I'd record the sound of a head 
 crash, and then replay it as necessary. Either digitally (whereupon you 
 could vary the pitch, etc I believe) or on good old analogue tape, and 
 then fiddle with the speed on playback if necessary). 
Sure, I can record to my hard drive and then manipulate the resultant file
in all sorts of ways.  But I want to "play" the device -- like a musical
instrument -- for at least a few dozen times in order to gain some control
over the sound which is produced.  Ideally I want to write a program to
crash the heads so that I can play the drive the same way I push the
buttons on a printer to obtain certain sounds.  

Let's say I take an ST-225 and a WD controller and stick them in a PC and I
want the heads to bang out a rhythm, then screech to a halt.

Any suggestions?

Glen
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