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History and Development
The year was 1985 and 8 bit home computing was the thing to do. The Yamaha DX-7 synthesiser was being used by garage hobbyists and popular rock performers alike. The days of monster modulars and mazes of patch cables had given way to RISC processors and ZX Spectrums. And so it was that the early history of HERCs began.
A young programmer with a zest for intelligent machines and synthesis started out on the challenging road to creating the fundamental concepts for what would later be known as HERCs. The idea seemed simple: Create some sort of hybrid synthesiser-computer. Intelligent, powerful, scientifically accurate and based on logic.
Part by accident and part by design, this young programmer, musician and dreamer, stumbled upon the language of PROLOG. As Object Oriented languages were fast gaining ground, PROLOG, long associated with Artificial Intelligence systems and Natural Language Processing, seemed to be a strange choice. But how many bright futures look to the past for guidance and inspiration? Many indeed.
Seeking the correct way to approach this design he examined aspects of the popular FM synthesis of the DX-7 and the Wavetable synthesis of the Vector based SY-22, Prophet and famous PPG instruments. The challenge was to map out the architecture of the future HERCs synthesis core.
By 1995, computing power had increased well beyond the expectations of a decade before and the likes of the ZX Spectrum were considered merely oddities for a new generation of tech savvy users. Soon after purchase of a brand new PC, the first PROLOG interpreter and compiler was ready and experiments in basic MIDI transmission and music compositions followed. A hardware prototype featuring a digital synthesiser, a separate DSP processor, mixer and a custom built PC was even built during the days of 1999.
In 2002 the first prototype of what was then named, 'Hercules', was written entirely in Java. It was a basic implementation of the design, but soon after, a C++ version followed with extra functionality. The name was lovingly shortened to simply 'HERCs'; a reference to both the Herculean power of the application and a suggestion of the building blocks of sound in 'Hertz'.
Following a quiet period of development, 2006 saw the re-invigoration of HERCs. With some new people on board bringing energy and a fresh perspective to the project, HERCs Music Systems was launched !
HERCs Music Systems specialises in the development of VST plug-ins, applications and standalone synthesisers based on the powerful and flexible HERCs synthesis core. Inspired by the past but with eyes firmly on the future, we are looking well beyond the current standards. We believe that we have developed a powerful and high quality synthesis engine that is adaptable to a rapidly changing marketplace.
What is HERCs ?
HERCs is a music synthesiser that can be programmed in a computer language called PROLOG.
PROLOG means PRO-gramming in LOG-ic and it was developed by Alain Colmerauer and Robert Kowalski around 1972. It has been mainly used for Artificial Intelligence projects in the realm of natural language processing.
As PROLOG is considered close to human reasoning structures, it is well suited as a scripting language for an electronic music instrument like HERCs and by using the software, it is possible to script entire hierarchies of logic that manipulate sound and automate composition. It is especially of interest to algorithmic musicians, synthesists, academics, educators and anyone looking for a very unique and deep instrument.
HERCs is a synthesiser based on an algorithmic architecture. It is possible to mix many different forms of synthesis including FM, Subtractive, Additive, Wavetable, Vector and ROM based. Users can 'Talk' to the synthesis core program using the PROLOG interpreter console.
The HERCs Core software synthesiser is currently in advanced development for the Windows platform. There are some plans to create a hardware based instrument using this operating system.
The year was 1985 and 8 bit home computing was the thing to do. The Yamaha DX-7 synthesiser was being used by garage hobbyists and popular rock performers alike. The days of monster modulars and mazes of patch cables had given way to RISC processors and ZX Spectrums. And so it was that the early history of HERCs began.
A young programmer with a zest for intelligent machines and synthesis started out on the challenging road to creating the fundamental concepts for what would later be known as HERCs. The idea seemed simple: Create some sort of hybrid synthesiser-computer. Intelligent, powerful, scientifically accurate and based on logic.
Part by accident and part by design, this young programmer, musician and dreamer, stumbled upon the language of PROLOG. As Object Oriented languages were fast gaining ground, PROLOG, long associated with Artificial Intelligence systems and Natural Language Processing, seemed to be a strange choice. But how many bright futures look to the past for guidance and inspiration? Many indeed.
Seeking the correct way to approach this design he examined aspects of the popular FM synthesis of the DX-7 and the Wavetable synthesis of the Vector based SY-22, Prophet and famous PPG instruments. The challenge was to map out the architecture of the future HERCs synthesis core.
By 1995, computing power had increased well beyond the expectations of a decade before and the likes of the ZX Spectrum were considered merely oddities for a new generation of tech savvy users. Soon after purchase of a brand new PC, the first PROLOG interpreter and compiler was ready and experiments in basic MIDI transmission and music compositions followed. A hardware prototype featuring a digital synthesiser, a separate DSP processor, mixer and a custom built PC was even built during the days of 1999.
In 2002 the first prototype of what was then named, 'Hercules', was written entirely in Java. It was a basic implementation of the design, but soon after, a C++ version followed with extra functionality. The name was lovingly shortened to simply 'HERCs'; a reference to both the Herculean power of the application and a suggestion of the building blocks of sound in 'Hertz'.
Following a quiet period of development, 2006 saw the re-invigoration of HERCs. With some new people on board bringing energy and a fresh perspective to the project, HERCs Music Systems was launched !
HERCs Music Systems specialises in the development of VST plug-ins, applications and standalone synthesisers based on the powerful and flexible HERCs synthesis core. Inspired by the past but with eyes firmly on the future, we are looking well beyond the current standards. We believe that we have developed a powerful and high quality synthesis engine that is adaptable to a rapidly changing marketplace.
What is HERCs ?
HERCs is a music synthesiser that can be programmed in a computer language called PROLOG.
PROLOG means PRO-gramming in LOG-ic and it was developed by Alain Colmerauer and Robert Kowalski around 1972. It has been mainly used for Artificial Intelligence projects in the realm of natural language processing.
As PROLOG is considered close to human reasoning structures, it is well suited as a scripting language for an electronic music instrument like HERCs and by using the software, it is possible to script entire hierarchies of logic that manipulate sound and automate composition. It is especially of interest to algorithmic musicians, synthesists, academics, educators and anyone looking for a very unique and deep instrument.
HERCs is a synthesiser based on an algorithmic architecture. It is possible to mix many different forms of synthesis including FM, Subtractive, Additive, Wavetable, Vector and ROM based. Users can 'Talk' to the synthesis core program using the PROLOG interpreter console.
The HERCs Core software synthesiser is currently in advanced development for the Windows platform. There are some plans to create a hardware based instrument using this operating system.
2006-2008 HERCs Music Systems