Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Entertainment/2011 May 20

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May 20

one piece

just wondering, does anyone think that jinbei will join the strawhats? flashbacks are usually used around the time just before someone joins the crew (luffy excepted, as his were much later)

70.241.26.57 (talk) 01:08, 20 May 2011 (UTC)

The reference desk is not a crystal ball. If you are familiar with the patterns of the show, your guess is as good as anyone's, except perhaps the show's writers. If you would like to discuss the matter with other enthusiasts, I suggest you join an internet_forum dedicated to anime. There are many such places, and they are highly active. SemanticMantis (talk) 14:55, 20 May 2011 (UTC)

Trabbling down a river?

In Oh! Susanna the singer "trabbled down the riber". I guess that's "traveled down the river". If I'm right, why? Is it a reference to "semi old english"? Does it just sound funny? I have a feeling I'm missing something here. TIA! Joepnl (talk) 01:33, 20 May 2011 (UTC)

It's a stereotypical black dialect, massah. Note that the article states Foster wrote it during a fad for "Ethiopian" songs; it also gives a cleaned up modern version. Clarityfiend (talk) 01:42, 20 May 2011 (UTC)

Thanks! Joepnl (talk) 01:47, 20 May 2011 (UTC)

Writing songs in black dialect was common for 19th and early 20th century folk songs. Sometimes, songwriters were attempting to preserve the dialect of a song they heard and documented; othertimes they simply invented the song out of whole cloth using an exagerated dialect they perceived white audiences would think was a genuine black dialect. Stephen Foster, who wrote both Oh! Susanna and Camptown Races and other songs for minstrel shows where white people performed the songs in blackface. Foster, in particular, wrote for Christy's Minstrels, which was the biggest minstrel act of day. --Jayron32 02:50, 20 May 2011 (UTC)

Not just folk songs - the original words of Ol' Man River are written in a similar style. (edit: and likewise with Porgy and Bess) AndrewWTaylor (talk) 08:07, 20 May 2011 (UTC)

And not just in the US; in my 1960s British childhood we had the Black and White Minstrel Show on TV which you can see a clip of here. Alansplodge (talk) 19:09, 20 May 2011 (UTC)

See also Minstrel show. Alansplodge (talk) 19:11, 20 May 2011 (UTC)

Coal Black and de Sebben Dwarfs is another example. Adam Bishop (talk) 19:26, 20 May 2011 (UTC)

Substituting "b" for "v" was common in those stereotyped renditions. The odd thing is, I don't recall ever hearing a black person do that in real life. Is that language feature that has faded away? Or was it erroneous to begin with? ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 22:43, 23 May 2011 (UTC)

Thanks a lot too all for this big bag of interesting information! I hope someone could answer Baseball Bugs as well. Having this info in an article similar to Black face would also be great as it gives some insight about US history and culture that I only got by asking it here. Oh! Susanna would be much more informative with these backgrounds. As you can see from my original question, I totally missed it :) Joepnl (talk) 22:56, 23 May 2011 (UTC)

Help figuring out what all the settings on a software synthesizer do

I have some experience with simple software synthesizers, typically ones that give you the options to control resonance, environment and EQ, and I understand the mechanics of the ASDR envelope, but I'm at an utter loss for what some of the settings of my new fully-featured VST plugin do (I'm using sylenth-1, latest version.)

I mean when it was just Reason and RB-404 and my keyboard as an impromptu controller, or a software emulator like the virtual Hammond B4 or the Virtual Yamaha FM-3 that was one thing, but I have no idea what LFO cutoff A or filter control keytrack do. Can anyone point me to a succinct source explaining in non-mathematical terms what the effect of some of the more advanced synth controls will have on the sound? Trial and error has found some really cool effects (increasing polyphony to 4 and stting LFO 1 to "free" gave me a 303 emulation) but I'd like to know more about the why so I can actually design a sound rather than play with settings trial-and-error style until I find something I like and write it down. 98.209.39.71 (talk) 04:47, 20 May 2011 (UTC)

As far as I know, "LFO cutoff A" and "filter control keytrack" are not terms that mean anything in general--they likely have to do with how this particular synth lets you modulate signals with the output of other signals. Is there not some kind of manual that explains how the softsynth's modulation setup? Hmm, looking at the Sylenth1 homepage, and especially the screenshot of the softsynth, I would guess that "LFO cutoff A" refers to the the knob under one of the LFOs you can set to "cutoff A". There's a "filter A" component I can see in the screenshot, and like most filters it has a cutoff paramter you can set. I would guess that you can have the LFOs settings modulated by the filter A cutoff setting, ie, "LFO cutoff A". By "filter control keytrack" I assume you mean the knob under "filter control" labeled "keytrack". Key tracking is a term for the modulation of some setting based on note pitches (how high or low notes are on the "keyboard"). So I would guess you can modulate the filter settings by the pitch of notes as they occur, and the knob "keytrack" lets you set how strong this modulation effect will be. In short, it sounds like you would benefit from learning more about modulation in synthesizers. And if so it is not surprising--signal modulation is one of the less intuitive and more confusing aspects of synths--especially powerful synths that let you modulate signals in many many ways. Even after learning how signal modulation works it can still be hard to know what to do with these tools. In fact, I might say that this is the point at which programming synth patches becomes difficult, almost an artform on its own. Wikipedia doesn't seem to have a page specifically about signal modulation in synthesizers. Modulation addresses the general idea. A google search on synthesizer and modulation, or perhaps better, synthesizer modulation matrix, turns up lots of pages on the topic. Pfly (talk) 10:26, 20 May 2011 (UTC)

Digital synthesizers generally do three things. First, they can model the sounds created by purely acoustic instruments. Second is that they model what analog synthesizers do, that is they digitally reproduce the output that can be expected from analog signal processing (my experience comes mostly from guitar effects pedals, but the concepts would apply just as well to keyboard synthesizers). The third thing they can do is to digitally create new sounds, unlike anything else which could be created either acousticly or via analog electronic means. Each synthesizer has their own proprietary way they do this, and their own unique terminology, so if you are dealing with sound effects of the third type, the best method to working it out is quite literally to just play around with it; try each setting and see what effect it has on the sound... --Jayron32 16:28, 20 May 2011 (UTC)

The Sylength1's webpage calls it a "virtual analog" synth. It appears to be your second type. We have the page Analog modeling synthesizer, but it's not very good. To learn how to make sounds with these kind of synths it helps to learn about the standard analog synthesizer approach, which is decently summarized at Synthesizer#Components--oscillators making relatively simple waves (sine, square/pulse, saw, etc), filters that mimic analog VCFs voltage-controlled filters, envelopes, modulation, etc. Every synth differs on exactly how they let you control things, but the basic concepts are generally the same, at least for analog synths and digital synths mimicking the analog approach. I'll see if I can find a good website or book that explains the general concepts well. Pfly (talk) 19:49, 20 May 2011 (UTC)

Hmm, I can't find a great source offhand, but there are some that might be useful, like http://www.angelfire.com/in2/yala/2ansynth.htm, on subtractive synthesis, especially the section on modulation, http://www.angelfire.com/in2/yala/2ansynth.htm#Mod. The samplecraze.com website has a 7 part tutorial http://www.samplecraze.com/tutorial.php/1/synthesis-tutorials-part-1/ that looks okay. It occurs to me that the way I learned about this topic was largely from the manuals and tutorials for specific synths, some of which were good about explaining underlying concepts. Like the Novation Nova manual, http://www.novationmusic.com/support/download/nova_laptop_manual/129/English.pdf, or the Nord Lead, http://www.vintagesynth.com/manuals/NordLeadV2_XManual.pdf (nice chapter "About Subtractive Synthesis" covering concepts). Pfly (talk) 20:53, 20 May 2011 (UTC)

A cartoon I saw years ago?

When I was young, I remember seeing a cartoon where the characters lived in a satellite in outer space, where the satellite was a giant dome, and one of the character's job was to control the time of the day, weather etc. in the satellite. Unfortunately, I can't remember the name of the cartoon, but around that time I saw another cartoon called Fat Dog Mendoza, which may or may not have any relation to the cartoon I saw. Can someone help me with this? Narutolovehinata5 ^tccsdnew 11:30, 20 May 2011 (UTC)

That may be Spaced Out. Pleclown (talk) 14:12, 20 May 2011 (UTC)

Kingdom Heart

Kingdom Heart is for Kids right? All Kingdom Heart games are rated A all Ages in Japan. Do Japanese kids buy the games? Is Kingdom Heart mainly aimed at children? How many kids buy games from the Kingdom Heart Series.Kidspokemon (talk) 20:36, 20 May 2011 (UTC)

It depends on how you define "kids". Kingdom Hearts is really just a Final Fantasy game with Disney characters. I have no idea if data even exists regarding the ages of the players of the series. You can find information on its development and sales figures at the article Kingdom Hearts, and follow links from there to information on individual games in the series. --Jayron32 02:00, 21 May 2011 (UTC)

Kingdom Hearts is far too difficult for most kids who are still into watching Disney cartoons over and over and over. By the time they have the hand-eye coordination to handle the game, they may find the Disney characters interesting, but childish. However, I've found that people in their 30's and 40's (during a second childhood) really enjoy mixing Final Fantasy with Disney. I liked it, but I was rather disappointed that Pooh had such a minor role in the game. -- kainaw™ 13:31, 21 May 2011 (UTC)

The games are not that hard if you have on easy mode. If Kingdom Heart was for adult only than all games would be rated Z 18 and up. They are all rated A all ages. I bet CoroCoro Comic could show Kingdom Heart if they wanted to. Do you think that the heartless bleed a huge amount of blood? Do you think Kairi was naked in a game and Sora have sex with her went he was only 15 as of Kingdom Heart II?Kidspokemon (talk) 14:25, 21 May 2011 (UTC)

The rating is based on content, not difficulty. There is no blood in Kingdom Heart. The bad guys (including the heartless) just vaporize in a smoky haze. There is no sex or discussion of sex. There is very little concept of a romantic relationship. It is mainly pushing Sora along the story to keep going from world to world until you defeat the big bad guy in the end and find the Mickey ran off so you can buy a sequel later. -- kainaw™ 17:24, 21 May 2011 (UTC)

Adventure Time

When will we learn more about the Great Mushroom in Adventure Time? Will there be a Adventure Time video game for the Nintendo 3DS?Kidspokemon (talk) 20:40, 20 May 2011 (UTC)

Our article Adventure Time doesn't mention a video game, and googling "adventure time" video game doesn't yield anything useful. I'm sure it's popular enough for there to be a video game at some point, though, and I'm also sure there will be a DS version. Whether it'll be a 3DS version, I dunno. Comet Tuttle (talk) 17:18, 23 May 2011 (UTC)

The Legend of Zelda What If

What If Link was evil? What if The Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time was for the SNES? What if Link was a girl? What if Link marry Princess Ruto? What if Link was a Pokemon Trainer what pokemon would he have?Kidspokemon (talk) 20:47, 20 May 2011 (UTC)

These are all questions for a forum, which this page is not--Jac16888 ^Talk 23:19, 20 May 2011 (UTC)

There are a lot of questions you ask but the answers are all subjective and impossible to give a straight answer to. I suggest you find a Zelda forum and ask the questions there. —Preceding unsigned comment added by GaryReggae (talk • contribs) 23:31, 20 May 2011 (UTC)

Gagapedia

Does anyone know what happened to the very extensive photo gallery at Gagapedia? Because I recall having it bookmarked, but unfortunately I've lost my bookmarks, and now I can't find the photo gallery on the site. 173.2.165.251 (talk) 22:27, 20 May 2011 (UTC)

It is based on MediaWiki, so the file list is in Special:ListFiles, which would be here. -- kainaw™ 13:28, 21 May 2011 (UTC)

Happy birthday to you,

Does anyone know the origin of the popular birthday song, "Happy Birthday to you"? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 66.74.14.40 (talk) 23:03, 20 May 2011 (UTC)

See Happy Birthday to You. AndrewWTaylor (talk) 23:12, 20 May 2011 (UTC)