Someone wrote me privately about a buzz saw in music [a remark I made] so I thought I would explain what I meant. All musical instruments are based on technology. For each one you can look back and find the technology break-through that made it possible. Today we can record any sound, digitize it and render the sound into the 88 pitches on the piano keyboard (even more pitches). So a buzz saw, though not part of the General Midi standard sound set, could be made into a sound for use in composing. It would probably sound somewhat like a distorted guitar sound. Now, the mental process involved is to first sense a sound, then perceive it (recognize it or not) then an emotion is automatically called up by the mind. Thus a buzz saw would cause a certain emotion to be evoked based on its attack/decay characteristics and its timbre. This might be useful to assign to a part that represents evil, or power, etc. the powerful theme in Beethoven's PC #4, 2nd movement, for example. There is a great non-CM example of this in the Beatle's "Let it Be" (actually Paul). This is a very classical-ish song and religious in nature. There are two versions who differ only by their instrumental break. The one I prefer is Harrison on distorted guitar (the orher is Paul on organ). When the distorted guitar solo crashes into the atmosphere of this religious song, its like the entrance of the devil himself, repenting and asking for forgiveness; and, is made more effective by the "edge" on the sound. A buzz saw would work here. The other buzz saw-ish sound (they experimented with different sounds a lot) is at the beginning of "I Feel Fine" when Paul turns his bass to the amp and allows feedback to occur. That does in fact sound just like a buzz saw. If you like to experiment with emotions and sound (effects) go to www.pgmusic.com and follow the products link to PowerTracks Pro Audio 6. This product is only $29 and lets you revoice tracks among many other things - its a great buy. You can find much of the music of Bach, Beethoven, Chopin and others as midi files on the net. So you can download, say, Chopin's raindrop prelude and revoice if for vibraphone and feel the difference in the emotion felt. You can revoice it for one of the midi distortion sounds and get some idea what it would sound like voiced for buzz saw. Try Bach on a distorted guitar. I think if the great masters had midii keyboards they would have used these sounds because of the effects they produce. Certainly future CM composers will. The CM listeners in 2100 will look back on the traditional CM sounds the way we look back on harpsichords, and lutes. Their music will be rich with sound. Bill Pirkle