zeke@quiche.cs.mcgill.ca (Eric SHAMASH) (10/05/89)
Someone was asking about MIDI software experience... If the application is not professional, and you are looking for a good sequencing package, you should run out and buy Dynamic Studio. The package is full featured and intuitive to use, plus it comes furnished with a fully programmable built-in drum machine that uses any combination of 16 patterns of 10 voice allocatable velocity sensitive samples. The drum sounds can also be played live using the numeric keypad or any assignable MIDI trigger, and can even be directed to MIDI out to slave a MIDI drum machine during playback. Another nice feature, just in case you decide to get a new sound module, is that DS's MIDI out can be reassigned as a THRU, which can potentially save you from dying by MIDI cord strangulation (MIDI Hell is no Disneyland). The package is complete with a librarian that stores any system exclusive data from any piece of gear, and over 1 meg of samples (anyhow, you'll use Perfect Sound and Studio Magic to sample your own Amiga sounds!) On the minus side, the sync out code is not always rock steady at high bpm, there is no quick way to alter all 16 tracks at the same time, and you must have at least one meg of ram to spare. As far as sampling your own goes, I find that Perfect Sound does the trick most of the time, but the samples you'll get won't always be perfectly clean. The software is very limiting, but Studio Magic will allow you to split your MIDI keyboard in up to 16 sections for your 16 samples. You can also overlay (even if you do not have a sampling MIDI keyboard), so you can easily create sounds with complex timbres and a lot of balls. You also get to set the relative tuning and the sustain points for each sample. Some of the built-in special effects are also quite interesting. Ciao, Eric. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- McGILL UNIVERSITY - MONTREAL
850031m@aucs.uucp (GORDON R. MAC GREGOR) (10/08/89)
In article <1564@quiche.cs.mcgill.ca> zeke@quiche.cs.mcgill.ca (Eric SHAMASH) writes: >Someone was asking about MIDI software experience... > >If the application is not professional, and you are looking for a good >sequencing package, you should run out and buy Dynamic Studio. The package I've stayed clear of Dynamic Studio after finding out that their Dynamic Drums does NOT multitask (well, multitask resonably I should say). I'm not saying 'dont buy Dynamic Studio' - Ive never seen it in action, but I just wanted this [offence] to be known. I must say that Dynamic Drums is very easy to use, and if this is indicative of the rest of the package it may be the friendliest sequencer out there, but I question how serious a sequencer it is. I use Mimetics Soundscape sequencer, overall Im happy with it, but I wouldnt recommend it to everyone. It has some serious shortcommings. Event editing is crude and time consuming, and Ive heard from music types that its hard to use. But, it is a very capable sequencer, you can do everything with it - at least it hasn't failed me yet. The built in sampling *software* is really nice too (you can have a different sample on each octave of an instrument). It's expandable. It was built to allow easy addition of new midi modules that can be added to the system. There are presently two utility disks available with some nifty modules (should be sold with the thing!) like the MouseBender from Util1 and the MidiEcho from Util2. I am planning to write a Soundscape module myself that will handle note editing a little better. Has anyone tried this before? Look you got me rambling again! - ross