krs@amdahl.UUCP (Kris Stephens) (02/01/86)
I started with a Mac so I could use Professional Composer to print
my arrangements for brass (was I ever glad to see LaserWriter support
come through in the update!). At first I chalked up the slowness of
data-entry to my being a tyro at ProCompo, but I quickly realized that,
although the output quality will justify the labor, it's too damn slow
entering a score with a mouse and typewriter keyboard. (How's this for
a dream: Slide a pencil-score through an optical scanner and a *real*
smart program breaks it into a ProCompo file! Pencil-scores are still
my fastest mode to get a complete score.)
I started looking at synthesizers when I discovered that MIDI was
available for the Mac. I tried out (and bought) a Sequential MultiTrak
because of its internal sequencer. It's easy for me to load a six-part
Renaisance vocal piece into the sequencer, and "overdubbing" (editing)
was easy once I got the hang of it. OpCode in Palo Alto makes a good
MIDI interface for the Mac and was quite willing to spend most of an
afternoon tailoring their Patch Librarian for use with my MultiTrak.
A Patch Librarian doesn't get into ProCompo, though. Their Bulk Storage
manager, at least, will save/reload anything I can send out from the
MultiTrak, so I've got the damn cassette interface out of the process.
I tried out Performer at Computers and Music (Daly City), with a couple
of disappointments: It can't record more than one channel at a time;
C&M folks seemed *far* more interested in playing with their gear,
themselves, than in helping me with a synthesizer they hadn't tried
before (I felt like an interloper in their shop! What a way to treat a
customer).
The one piece of software I'm missing is a MIDI-ProCompo bridge (I
tell the MultiTrak to play, the program in the Mac traps the events and
then passes the resulting sequence to ProCompo). Anyone have experience
with such a program? I'd appreciate hearing the good and bad. As I
mentioned above, I really want a program that can record up to six
(sixteen?) tracks at once.
I've updated (mostly) OpCode's Patch Librarian documentation for the
MultiTrak, but I can't provide them with a set of 100 patches to package
with it - my synth-time is arranging, not performing. I think they'd
announce and market PL for the MultiTrak if they had a set. If anyone
has some good patches they'd be willing to donate, I'll pass 'em along
to OpCode, with the sources identified. I'd like to see the MultiTrak
get some supported software out there.
Many thanks.
--
Kris Stephens (408-746-6047) {whatever}!amdahl!krs
[The opinions expressed above are mine, solely, and do not ]
[necessarily reflect the opinions or policies of Amdahl Corp. ]steves@kepler.UUCP (Steve Schlich) (02/03/86)
Kris Stephens wrote about Professional Composer, the Mac, and Computers &
Music in Daly City.
Kris, the Professional Composer people have put out a sequencer called
"Performer," which will record your playing, allow you to edit (and unless
you play like a robot you'll *need* to edit) and then translate the data to
a ProCompo file you can print. Nice idea, and although I haven't seen this
particular implementation, I HAVE seen others and I feel it's an idea whose
time hasn't quite come yet. It is SO hard to play in absolutely perfect
time with the sequencer metronome.
As for Computers & Music, I bought my Casio CZ-5000 there and got a good deal
and what I felt was knowledgeable (sp?) help...but when I went back two weeks
later to see about a "hiccuping" problem I was having (with Deluxe Music
Construction Set), owner Joe West was very rude. I wanted to conduct a test
using his hardware and my software to establish where the problem was.
Turned out the problem was mine and I promptly left them alone, but not
before I heard Joe's voice from the back room: "We'll run *our* test and
if it works for us, piss on him."
I didn't care much for that attitude, but understood it better when they
got a call from Phil Lesh of the Grateful Dead. With customers like that,
who needs to worry about a nerd like me?
Joe *still* is as knowledgeable as any salesman I've run into, though, and
does have fair prices. I just didn't appreciate overhearing what he
*really* thought about me and my "small" purchase.
--
One town looks very like another /
with your head down over your pieces, brother.
---from "One Night in Bangkok"
Steve Schlich, MicroPro Product Development
{dual,hplabs,glacier,lll-crg}!well!micropro!kepler!steveskrs@amdahl.UUCP (Kris Stephens) (02/07/86)
In article <479@kepler.UUCP>, steves@kepler.UUCP (Steve Schlich) writes: > > Kris, the Professional Composer people have put out a sequencer called > "Performer," which will record your playing, allow you to edit (and unless > you play like a robot you'll *need* to edit) and then translate the data to > a ProCompo file you can print. Nice idea, and although I haven't seen this > particular implementation, I HAVE seen others and I feel it's an idea whose > time hasn't quite come yet. It is SO hard to play in absolutely perfect > time with the sequencer metronome. > Steve, the advantage in using the MultiTrak is that it has an AutoCorrect setting, variable from 8ths, through 16ths, triplet-8ths and 16ths, to "non-corrected", so I usually make one pass through each of the voices with autocorrection set at 8ths, then recycle the sequence for 16ths, then uncorrected, if needed. I suspect that autocorrection only works for the starts of notes (and not their ends), though, but I'll have to wait to see the ProCompo file to know for certain. As I mentioned in my original posting, "Performer" only traps a single voice at a time. I'm really looking for a program that'll trap up to six. Needless to say, I'm not surprised at the treatment you got in Daly City. Too bad, though. -- Kris Stephens (408-746-6047) {whatever}!amdahl!krs [The opinions expressed above are mine, solely, and do not ] [necessarily reflect the opinions or policies of Amdahl Corp. ]