walder

Anyway, VDL2 is most commonly run through a Native product: Kontakt. Sure they had a version of the software. It wasnt tested by Native, it was Gratis after release - I didnt work in R/D or soft apps, anyway. Hey shoot an Email off to NI, Gmbh or Inc (in LA) and ask em, they love getting versions of libraries, its the true testing, A&Q and improvement possiblities to their product line; which is much larger than just software apps. It extends into the hardware market, mixing boards, controllers, pick-ups, etc., etc.

what a crock. SCV's front used pans in 83 and 84, Pioneer used them in 91 and 92, VK used them in the 80's and in 95...with no amplification and they projected well.

1988 was stellar!

my my my, a bit presumptious aren't we? (I guess the kid's assuming that if you have ever used VDL products, you would be completely blown away. Im not, but I am impressed.) Still nothing sounds like a real ensemble sound, it all in post processing. I am aware of what options you have within the library, but Im talking about the sound quality, not App options. oh I am aware of vdl2 and Tapspace, I worked for a short time with Native Instruments (a german company that makes many products for music production, sequencing, hardware and software apps, including Kontakt). I had the opportunity to play around with a lot of different software, compatible, including VDL1 and VDL2. I just didnt think VDL or VDL2's stuff was all that hype. But, at the time it was the only professional bundled library with marching percussion sounds. The inside scoop is that Digital Drumtech, RowlOff, Tapspace, Garritan and SonicImplants are all planning on re-distributing or distributing a new and improved libraries focussing on marching perucssion or the marching idiom. I guess it will become a buyer's market in an already crowded and small market. None the less, have fun creating with whatever applications you use, this was something not realistic for the novice 10 years ago.

clever...

you use "I" to begin your statment and abruptly switch to "you". so in-turn you are being very critical with others, while informing others to show tolerance. It is my opinion, but 1.) speaking out against any war is your patriotic right as an American...unpatriotic is to blindly follow bad leadership who might just have a track record of putting citizens in danger for individual-political purposes (i.e., the war and soldiers). when an individual challenges the failure of their goverment (why else would a nation be at war except in a situation of political failure-?), it does not put soldier's lives in danger. Save the propaganda and false flag waving, some of us are intelligent. governments put soldiers lives in danger with their failure to resolve conflicts or pass viable solutions. FYI: the war/conflict in iraq has nothing to do with a war on terror. Besides, I thought that war was officially won back in 2003 - at least that was what was stated.

I think the international market (mainly Europe and Asia) would be very interested to see the US's top 20 corps...Im sure it would be an eye opener for what can be done on a playing field. and due to a much more open minded culture, especially in europe, it could find its niche quite easily. Perhaps even spring many ideas to focus. Not that DCEu is doing badly, but it definitely suffers in comparison.

i have always enjoyed the mystique of crossmen...very cool corps. I really loved the 91, 92 and 93 shows. the 96 show was brilliant with "birdland"...great retro idea that paid off. with that said, i wish they would venture further back and revisit some other ideas: I have always wanted to hear crossmen play a version of Los Hermanos De Bop (Brothers of the Bop)...what Spirit played as an opener in 1983, but the recording didnt do it justice. what a perfect piece for crossmen.

hmmm...cadets have pushed this activity like no other corps...i guess its a good reason to bash them...Star of Indiana was totally brilliant...they were bashed. if you have those that love you and equally, if not more, that hate you, consider yourself a success. bash this!

I think you need to come out of whatever hole you have been living in for the past 50 years. Interesting interpretation, though...you have definitely revealed that your own admitted uncomfortableness really shows your subconscience suppression of interest. What a suprise it might be for some to find out the majority of design teams within DCI, do indeed live "alternative lifestyles"...and its nothing new...

the technology isnt in the mainstream market for the producer or the viewer. would be nice, but we might have to wait a few more years.

There are so many misguided fools with the idealogy of "if it aint broke, dont fix it" posting in this thread to make me sick. Where is the vision? where is thinking two steps ahead of the game? Those old dogs refusing to learn new tricks are the same people that will forever work for someone else, complain at the water cooler, live a ho-drum, no frills life, never having enough insight to pursuing their bragged about dreams beyond beer halls.. there is much room for improvement in the way that dci handles it's image and getting to the world. Dont think for a second that a non-profit organisation isnt interested in making money. the money is used for development, purchasing supplies/equimpment, staffing, establishing and of course marketing. Show bands (the type that is featured in the film "Drumline") are far more reknown and popular than dci corps and dci style bands. Last years show band national championship proved that with more than 90,000 people in attendance. that is more than dci and boa combined. I would venture to say more than 90% of dci's audience is people who have been involved or have interest in involvment (i.e., band, music students, etc.) even that number has dramatically dropped since the late 80's. Finals audiences are now about half of what they used to be. Something somewhere is going wrong...increasing awareness is far more effective than reduced to only exclusive interest. ESPN2, regardless of their first year's broadcast critisism, is an attempt to progress forward in the manner some of you theorised. it is true when it said about dci: "it is the world's largest and most unknown youth activity."

mould is the correct word. anyway, i think in the last 16 years corps have become a carbon copy of one another...there were maybe 26 innovations in the history of dci and everyone uses them. At times, it is hard to tell one corps apart from another. What really makes me chuckle is when another corps is trying to utilize an idea and they do it poorly or half a§§ed

scores are meant to be made and broken...its called progression. Perhaps BD's show is a bit easier or they just have made less changes, cleaning what they do have. Anytime a corps makes major changes to the program, expect, without a doubt, a dip in score. There are virtually multiple reasons. one such reason might be BD is fielding a stronger corps /concept this year...

To answer the original question you would have to delve into the American psyche about 20 years ago. My fellow Americans suffer from paranoia (over 60% according to USMental Health Report) and constantly think negative thoughts or manifest negative situations. Why people love to argue and debate over trying to understand the other's point of view or at least display self respect and respect for others is beyond me. I generally do not take the majority of people very seriously and chalk up most's comments/behaviour as "rudeness is an national epidemic", I think to correct myself would be poor social skills is a national epidemic.

what is this bizarre BS fairy tale ####e? b**bs

this is where the area is widely spread and one of the reasons i do not like vdl2, the tuning is poor and there is no real "ensemble sound"...only individual sounds with re-processing...at the end of the day, it sounds like a studio recording, as do other similar products (Digital Drumtech / RowlOff) HOWEVER, vdl2 does have a competitive/similar product that compares to Sonic Implants and Existing Garritan libraries, minus battery marching percusion. To include tuning schemes that compensates everyone's taste, as i have discovered, it would be far too complicated and too large a file. we toyed with the concept of different styles of tuning: "old school", "70's", etc. it gets too large. but these ideas are shelved until technology changes to make this more accessible. I think taking a middle of the road approach of what is current in today's trends was the best viable answer.

two reasons. the battery splits into sub-tonal characters, with basses supporting both snares and tenors and elements in the front (also strategically placed for antiphonal effect.) the idea of the drum solo is about an historical battle, notice the dissonence and random clamour. there are also snares on the xtra basses for a true field drum effect coming from the distance. Also the basses reprive their role as Bodrahn drummers (a bodrahn is a hand held drum that looks like a large tambourine, obvioulsy without jingles or cymbals and is typcially played held in one hand and with a small curvy wooden stick in the other hand, flipping it back and forth to get a beat) the triplet feel underneath the front ensemble + mellaphones best exemplifies this. as the dissonence continues it grows to an explosion in battery + impact (bombast) drums in the front with unison impact...from there there are trade off's between tenors-tenor basses and snares-snare basses...eventually coming together for a resolution with brass re-entrance. then almost as it started it begins to pick up pulse, and suddenly fade away with a battery motif that eventually fades to a single snare drum in the front, that eventually fades to "black"...while glissandos and other metallic effects are providing a sweeping haze over the field. Although other corps have produced similar interpretations of battles (bridgemen 84, spirit 90, scv 91 to name a few) the cavies portrayed one of the most musical and audio visual interpretations ever put on a football field- just listening to it, one can visualize a glorious gung-ho intro, a fierce violent battle and the aftermath of destruction...very effective! Jim Campbell and Bret Kuhn should be commended.

i think jesus died a long time ago, but in his time, probably kettle drums, tambourines and those long trumpeté instruments were used.

what exactly are you implying?

nice story! you are very detailed oriented and do a nice job of connecting the emotion. BTW, you wrote at 3am, its 10 am here.

its a method, not a warm up. best individual warm up is randomly playing...that gets the single player best equipped.

personally a larger snare/tenor line will not net you higher results, no matter how clean, how expressive...the only thing it CAN do is net you lower results, due to cleaning such a large spread. I would rather see more melodic-tonal representation, than huge drumlines on the field. Star of Indiana won GE percussion and almost won drums over Cadets in 1990 with 5 snares, 4 tenors and 5 basses. (they won drums in 91 and 93 with one of the smallest battery perc in top 12) remember, the battery only plays an equal role along with the front in today's scoring system. however, i marched in a line 10-5-5 and it is thrilling!

anyone remember jim ott's "let it be me" from Spirit of atlanta? "music of the night", SCV 88, 89 "since i fell for you", BD 88 "peterloo", Cavies 92 "funny", scouts 91 "all things bright and beautiful", cavies 90 "gloria, mvt 2", used as intro cavies 89, 90 "simple song at sunrise", suncoast 85 "venus- the planets", Cavies 95 "overture to candide", garfield cadets 85 "somewhere", cadets of bergan co. 90 "song without words", star 89 "1rst Symph, 2nd Mvt", Phantom 89 "Pagliacci", Phantom 91 "clair de lune", Phantom 94 that's my 2cents.

due to the poor recording techniques and stadium's horrible acoustics (camp randall), the 92 recordings are a poor representation of what really went on. As far as the best year? That is highly debatable. many of the shows were either flat or too many rookies to be good. 85, 88, 89, 90, 91, 94, 95, 98, 00, 02, 04 were much better all around years for corps in general.