Using SCOM  |  Symbolic Composer For Windows  |  Symbolic Composer For Macintosh  |  Download  |  Register  Language Concepts  |  Step Beyond Sequencing  |  Press Releases  |  Contact "MRAC extends SCOM and runs now on the the new Intel platform. " www.mracpublishing.com "Symbolic Composer has been tested in the Softpedia labs using several industry-leading security solutions and found to be completely clean of adware/spyware components. We are impressed with the quality of your product and encourage you to keep these high standards in the future." Clean AwardDownload SCOM 6 at Softpedia FINDMYSOFT "Symbolic Composer is a high quality software product." Download SCOM 5.4 at Findmysoft Subscribe to Symbolic Composer group Email: Visit this group SYMBOLIC COMPOSER FOR MAC OS9/OSX Interface Item Description Frequenty Asked Questions Frequently Asked Questions What is Symbolic Composer and how does it operate? Because of its unique design Symbolic Composer can play many roles. Symbolic Composer is a production tool for making music with MIDI. It is an expert-system for music composition. It is a programming language for musicians based on Lisp. Symbolic Composer is a mapper enabling any data to become music. In Symbolic Composer's terms music is thought of as a language expressed in melodies, rhythms, notes, durations, harmonies, tonalities, chords and intervals. This language is largely symbolic, lying invisibly behind sound and timbre as the inner substance of the musical message. No matter what style or idiom you work in the basic elements of this language are always present. What I will need? To run Symbolic Composer you need a Macintosh with OS9 or OSX. You can get along with 32 megabytes of RAM allocated to SCOM, or you might need 64 MB when working with lots of details and MIDI controller data. But the most important thing is: You do need a willingness to take time out to learn a new language. Can I use OMS? SCOM plays back the with your sequencer. SCOM can directly launch results into any decent sequencer or notation program such as iTunes, Cubase, Logic, Performer, Notator, Finale, Sibelius, Igor, etc. How does the demo version run? SCOM demo mode shows you the interface items and provides you full score libraries and documents. You can play back the demo MIDI files and view their source codes, but if you want to compile your own songs you need to purchase a license. What kind of music does SCOM let me compose? SCOM is a context-free music language. Context-free means that SCOM does not restrict the style you want to compose with it. Is it realtime? Yes. Compilation occurs in few seconds and you can play back the piece almost immediately. Can I use live input from a keyboard? That is improvising. In SCOM you would think how to write a piece of code that improvises instead of you. Can I program my own code? Yes. SCOM includes full Common Lisp language. You can define new functions and documents and add them to the system. That is how SCOM has been developed by users from the first version in 1990. Who is a typical user? Experimental composer who has a mind of a mathematician. The more you think about music the more you become both. Fascination to find out new spaces, solutions, formalisms, algorithms that operate human mind. How much memory does it need? Suggested memory requirements are 32 MB RAM and 200 MB hard disk. Some users have a system around 1 GB with lots of scores, LISP documents and such. It is suggested that you keep it around 600 MB so you can backup the system in a CD ROM easily. Is it easy to learn? With mind open to programming, Symbolic Composer helps you develop a new relationship with your music and understand more about the way its elements connect and interact. You will find SCOM suddenly gives you enormously powerful system ready to explore very complex scores. No matter what style or direction your music takes, Symbolic Composer lets you handle that. Don't panic while browsing the huge function library. Nobody has used all the SCOM functions. Every composer who works with the system tend to use a small subset that reflect his/hers personal way of composing. As a sequencer-user you are already familiar with complex editing routines and organisation of your compositional material. Symbolic Composer pushes these concepts further giving you a programming environment for music composition. Your scores are written in text within an editor window. This text is then evaluated and turned into a MIDI file. If you have a mind of a programmer you can make it. Composing is an art form that has n-dimensional mental creation space. It is not possible to reduce it to a simple formula, or you end up with Band In A Box-functionality. SCOM goes to the other direction and provides a rich music language with maximum of freedom for consructioning musical structures. What is the best way to learn it? The best way to learn it is an open attitude and making lots of experimentations. Like an instrument it does not open up just by reading a book. The program ships with lots of example scores that speed up initial learning period.