In answer to my earlier question, yes, people are using circuit simulation software to develop music software. Chris Randall of the very cool plug-in development house Audio Damage writes us:
We use SPICE when we’re modeling for Audio Damage products. We recreate the circuitry of whatever unit we’re modelling in order to better understand the signal flow; we also do some analysis using the SPICE model. (By “we” I mean Adam, of course. I sit in my office and play Rise Of Empires until he sends me a build to test.)
To which I say — hey, Rise of Empires sounds great! I’m sure you CDM readers can find something to do (like learning electrical engineering and circuit simulation software); I’m off to teach Chris how powerful my Persian Army is.
In all seriousness, I can’t wait to see Audio Damage’s upcoming recreation of the Mutron Bi-Phase effects pedal. (Warning: Bi-phase goodness, MP3s, and nostalgia after that link.) Any chance you’re busy simulating those circuits right now, Audio Damage?
And while we’re on the subject of geeky software meets cool musical applications, reader m15a spots this fantastic add-on to MatLab for analyzing and visualizing MIDI files. Can you say: slick visuals for your doctoral dissertation? (Oh, yes, I must be getting back to that one of these days. After one more Rise of Empires game, anyway.)
MidiToolbox: MIDI Analysis / Visualization for Matlab
Anyone got some nifty MIDI visualization images? Send `em in!