ma168a@sdcc3.ucsd.EDU (John Wavrik) (11/15/86)
> I am including here >a .com version (uuencoded) of the best effort of the Piano-Man folks which >I know of to date. I would appreciate it if Mr. Wavrik, or anyone else with >access to it, would compare the effect of this version of the William-Tell >overture with the package Mr. Wavrik mentions, as well as with the little >package I posted last week and let me know if the effect of the "Music >Construction Set" is essentially like that of Piano-Man (as illustrated >in willtell.com) or like my system. When I first played this piece on my Tandy 3000 (an AT compatible) I thought this was a joke. Fortunately Jim Greenlee posted a patch for AT users: -e0152,f4,01 -e016f,f4,01 (using DEBUG) If you were to hear Issac Stern play the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto and a beginning Suzuki student play Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, it would be hard to tell which was playing the better violin. I highly recommend the rendition of the William Tell Overture. It is a virtuoso piece. It is an excellent example of the fact that a gifted musician can do amazing things even on a kazoo. But am I really being asked whether it's good? In comparison to what comes out of my stereo system???!!? Perhaps it would be a good time to explain why someone would be interested in having a computer play music. I am not a musician. If music were my main interest I would probably have bought an Amiga (where I would not only have the William Tell Overture in beautiful four part harmony, but the Lone Ranger and Tonto simultaneously riding across the screen!) In my spare time I sing in a choral group. My former computer was capable of producing one voice ACCURATELY in the proper octave. I used it to make sure that I was getting pitches and timing just right. I had expected, when I "moved up" to the AT, to be able to hear how my part fit in with others. So far I've been disappointed. There are a lot of things involved in a useful music system: Music seems inherently hard to enter. I'm not convinced that the mouse-like system rep- resented by the Music Construction Set is the answer. It may be that a "command driven" system like the one being built by Mr. Holden will be better. And, of course, there is the question of accuracy of pitch. Someone who would like to use a computer as an aid to composition (a music- ians analog of the word-processor) will not find any of the systems under discussion worthy of consideration. I expect that if something in this class were available for PC computers, it would have surfaced in the month or so that this topic has been on the net. I mentioned the Music Construction Set because no one else had. It is cheap. It is a complete music system. It is fun to use. It will play polyphonic music. However, if you are strongly prejudiced against the MacIntosh environment, you will hate it! --J Wavrik UCSD
johnl@hammer.TEK.COM (John Light) (11/17/86)
I was in my local software discount store Saturday (Egghead Discount Software). There were two items of interest to "music lovers." First, Music Construction Set has a list price now of $14.99, discounted to $9.99. Now whatever the merits of MCS musically, this is a bargain for a well written piece of software. It even overcame my dislike of copy-protected software. Second, a new music software package is out. It sells for $39.99. I didn't catch the list price. I know nothing about it. What makes it interesting is that for $99.99 (MSRP unknown) you can get it bundled with a board that has 6 voices. Assuming they didn't blow it, this has got to be a big step forward for PC "music lovers". John Light P.S. Electronic Arts STARFLIGHT is not copy-protected. (A first for EA)