Sand 1.0
December 2005
Christopher Bailey

WHERE:

http://music.columbia.edu/~chris/sand

INSTALLATION:

First, download and install Basic_Audio_Files.  This should unzip into a folder called "Sand."

Then download one of the application .zips.  These will unzip into a folder.  Put the contents of this folder into the "Sand" folder.  Do not create any sub-folders in the "Sand" folder.  Put files in it directly.

RUN IT:

Inside that folder, just double-click the application "Sand_1_0" and you're off!!  (If you've downloaded the individual patches, double-click on "Uber" and that should get things going.)

For help learning the interface, click on the button for Help/Info, in/on the interface (upper left corner).


I'M SICK OF THESE SECTIONS:

Once you get tired of improvising only in Sections 0-4,  you can download more audio, for later sections,  up to the end of the piece (Section 72(!)), from the Sand website (http://music.columbia.edu/~chris/sand).  You can download these blocks of audio in any order you want--you don't have to grab Sections 5-8 next.   To get an idea of parts you might want to explore,  listen to .mp3s of the complete work on my website, at the above URL.

INSTALLING NEW AUDIO

Download a new block of audio (a zip file).

Unzip the new audio.

Move the files FROM the unzipped folder,  DIRECTLY INTO the main "Sand" folder.

(Put the FILES in there directly.  There should be NO subfolders in the main "Sand" folder.)

You may be asked if you want to "overwrite" or "replace" an already  existing file in the folder.  Don't worry--you're replacing the exact same file with the exact same file.  So you can reply "Yes," "No" or whatever you want.  

KNOWN ISSUES:

I have tested this on several 10.3 OS X machines,  and it's worked fine (except for issues below).  Some people have had problems with funky audio systems, which are dealt with in the downloads section.  Also, the patches haven't opened for some folks---seems to be some sort of weird OS thing.  Since I haven't been able to replicate the behavior, I have no idea what's going on there.  Hence,  I am putting several versions online here for people to try. I hope I can get to the bottom of the issue soon.

Depending on the speed of your machine,  I'd recommend that you run as few other apps as possible while running Sand.

When you switch sections automatically (i.e.,  click the timeline,  the music starts, and then you let it continue to the end of the section and flow into the next section), when all of the notes from the previous section have finished sounding,  on my (admittedly slow) laptop,  there is a pause in the music for a second or 2.  On faster computers it may not be noticeable.

Also,  when you first start playing music in a new section, you may notice some scratchiness or breaky-up-ed-ness to the sound.   Try setting up some quick loops, pressing STOP and re-clicking or dragging, etc.  Somehow,  the computer has to "get used to" the new section,  and then things will run smoother.

Sometimes the help pages (Intro and Counterpoint Tip) don't look like they have vertical scroll bars, but they do.  Just click and drag around on the right side of the window.  

Christopher Bailey
2/26/2006