sstreep@next.com (Sam Streeper) (01/17/91)
I have a few questions and a few things for sale: 1) I'm looking for a good music setup, both keyboard and software. Can someone recommend a good software package? I need both sequencing and scoring, although score printing is not _too_ important. I didn't like EZScore as it was pretty limited - no tempo changes, input was tedious, etc. Price is not too important, and I'd like something that can go on my hard disk without resorting to a floppy disk key. (I have a mega 2, 60 meg hard disk, mono monitor) 2) What's a good value in keyboards? I need at least 8 note polyphonic, multitimbral, good rich sounds, touch sensitivity, and ideally something I can program patches for. Price should be under $1000 (well under, if possible), and I really have no idea what's out there. 3) Any Blood Money players out there? This is one of the most playable and enjoyable games I have ever seen, but what I want to know is: are there any cheats for this game? I eventually finished it without cheating, but there must be _some_ way to cheat! I did find one undocumented thing: If you press one of the function keys (f7, I think) shortly after the game starts, the game switches from 50Hz flicker mode to a 60Hz smooth display, which is much easier on they eyes at 3am. Don't press f10 as that bombs the computer! 4) Things for sale: I have complete developers docs (about 8 or 10 thick binders) with full Gem, gemdos, bios, hardware docs etc. I haven't used them for a year (since I have a 68040 machine 8^)) $65 / Best Offer I also have GFA Basic 3 (Interpreter, compiler, resource construction program) Prospero C, Prospero Pascal, Prospero Fortran, Prospero Toolkit (assembler and resource construction set) Word Writer 2.0 (all with original docs etc) Make reasonable offer on all or part by email. Sorry for the diversity of topics here (look ma, something for everyone) -sam (sam_s @ NeXT.com)
bill@mwca.UUCP (Bill Sheppard) (01/18/91)
In article <193@rosie.NeXT.COM> sstreep@next.com (Sam Streeper) writes: >I have a few questions and a few things for sale: > >1) I'm looking for a good music setup, both keyboard and software. Can >someone recommend a good software package? I need both sequencing and >scoring, although score printing is not _too_ important... For sequencing I'd recommend Alchimie Jr., a shareware sequencer currently available on GEnie's MIDI RT (and at atari.archive when I figure out how to get it there w/o FTP access). It doesn't do scoring, but it will export standard MIDI files, so maybe Copyist could print the files. >2) What's a good value in keyboards? I need at least 8 note polyphonic, >multitimbral, good rich sounds, touch sensitivity, and ideally something >I can program patches for. Price should be under $1000 (well under, if >possible), and I really have no idea what's out there. For a single keyboard, I was impressed with the Roland E5 Intelligent Synthesizer ($899 locally, $1499 retail). It is full-sized 61-key velocity sensitive. I don't know about the patch capability. However, I've opted to go another route which is both cheaper and more flexible - I purchased a Yamaha PSS-790 ($249), which has _excellent_ sampled sounds, phenomenal rhythm section programs, _28-note_ polyphony, a built-in 8-track sequencer, full 16-channel MIDI, but lacks velocity sensitivity, full-size keys (they are mid-size), and the ability to do patches. I will add to this a Yamaha or Roland digital piano for ~$350, which will have full-size velocity-sensitive keys, and use it to control the superior sound and rhythms of the PSS-790. You could probably add a separate sound module with the ability to do patches and have an even more flexible system, still under $1000. -- ################################################################################ # Bill Sheppard -- bills@microware.com -- {uunet,sun}!mcrware!mwca!bill # # Microware Systems Corporation --- OS-9: Seven generations beyond __/_!! # #######Opinions expressed are my own, though you'd be wise to adopt them!#######
emerson@gandalf.Berkeley.EDU (Emerson Mei) (01/18/91)
Notator is of course the most powerful notaion program in the Atari world. It'll make you wonder how a 8mhz 68000 can do all that ;-> It's also probaly the most powerful sequencer bar none. The only thing I would not recommend it for is if you want to do a lot of time signature changes. I don't but it doesn't look as flexible as it should (any comments out there?). Luckily there are quite a few other choices, Dr. t's etc if you don't want the fairly steep learning curve, although it is a very satisfiing program to work with because it's so logical and flexible. It just has a LOT of features.
s37837k@saha.hut.fi (Jari Lehto) (01/19/91)
In article <40450@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU> emerson@gandalf.Berkeley.EDU (Emerson Mei) writes: >Notator is of course the most powerful notaion program in the Atari >world. It'll make you wonder how a 8mhz 68000 can do all that ;-> >It's also probaly the most powerful sequencer bar none. The only >thing I would not recommend it for is if you want to do a lot of time >signature changes. I don't but it doesn't look as flexible as it >should (any comments out there?). Luckily there are quite a few >other choices, Dr. t's etc if you don't want the fairly steep >learning curve, although it is a very satisfiing program to work with >because it's so logical and flexible. It just has a LOT of features. Have you guys ever heard of Cubase 2.0 by Steinberg Software? It also has notation capabilities up to the level of professional use. It is also cheaper than Notator, at least here. As a sequencer Cubase is the ultimate choise for a pro-level musician. It is very easy to use and uses the special features that ST offers to give the best flexibility to forget the program and concentrate to creating music. I have used both Notator and Cubase and guess which one got kicked out? I am not connected to Steinberg in any way, just a very happy end-user. Jartsu *** Jari Lehto, jartsu@otax.hut.fi, s37837k@saha.hut.fi ***
mjs@hpfcso.HP.COM (Marc Sabatella) (01/22/91)
> >Notator is of course the most powerful notaion program in the Atari > >world. It'll make you wonder how a 8mhz 68000 can do all that ;-> > >It's also probaly the most powerful sequencer bar none. The only > >thing I would not recommend it for is if you want to do a lot of time > >signature changes. I don't but it doesn't look as flexible as it > >should (any comments out there?). I have had no problem with them. There are various gotchas alluded to in the manula, but in my opinion, they are obvious, and the manual gives them far too much attention, making it look like they are difficult to deal with when in fact it is trivial. The problems have do do with offsets in the arrange list, and if you're doing notation, you probably aren't using arrange mode anyhow. > Have you guys ever heard of Cubase 2.0 by Steinberg Software? It also > has notation capabilities up to the level of professional use. > It is also cheaper than Notator, at least here. I think it is slightly cheaper here too, but not so you'd notice. When I was asking about notation software before, someone (probably you) mentioned Cubase, as did a guy at Manny's, but he didn't know much about it. Can you tell us more about it? Comparison with Notator would be especially appreciated. I've never seen a review of Cubase, just the ads, which don't seem to be overly hyped (hence don't make it look so impressive :-) -------------- Marc Sabatella (marc@hpmonk.fc.hp.com) Disclaimers: 2 + 2 = 3, for suitably small values of 2 Bill and Dave may not always agree with me
ken@opusc.csd.scarolina.edu (Ken Sallenger) (01/24/91)
In article <7340065@hpfcso.HP.COM> mjs@hpfcso.HP.COM (Marc Sabatella) writes:
=> ...mentioned Cubase,...
=> Can you tell us more about it? Comparison with Notator would be especially
=> appreciated.
In the February 1991 issue of _Electronic Musician_, there's a comparative
review of the latest versions of Cubase and Notator. I don't remember
who wrote the review, but as I recall he praised Cubase for sequencing,
Notator for scoring.
--
Ken Sallenger / ken@bigbird.csd.scarolina.edu / +1 803 777-6551
Computer Services Division / 1244 Blossom ST / Columbia, SC 29208mjs@hpfcso.HP.COM (Marc Sabatella) (02/02/91)
>>It's also probaly the most powerful sequencer bar none. The only >>thing I would not recommend it for is if you want to do a lot of time >>signature changes. I don't but it doesn't look as flexible as it >>should (any comments out there?). Back then I responded: >I have had no problem with them. There are various gotchas alluded to in the >manula, but in my opinion, they are obvious, and the manual gives them far too >much attention, making it look like they are difficult to deal with when in >fact it is trivial. The problems have do do with offsets in the arrange list, >and if you're doing notation, you probably aren't using arrange mode anyhow. Now I've changed my tune slightly (no pun intended). I am trying to put together a songbook, and would like to keep the individual songs in one .SON file, so I can control formatting et al globally. I had planned to go with one song per pattern, theoretically giving me 99 songs. But I'm having trouble getting the time signature changes or double/repeat bar lines for each song to be independent. Because they are global to the song and not to the pattern, time signature changes or double/repeat bar line markings in one pattern affect all the other ones. So I turn on Arrange Mode, and Global Positions, so now I can get independent settings for each line of the arrange list, but I can't get all 99 patterns in an arrange list. Another really gross option would be to start each pattern "n" at bar "n"*100. I thought of storing each song as a pattern, so I could keep the formatting settings global in the .SON file, but this shouldn't do any good, since I would assume the time signature changes and bar lines markings would not be saved as part of the pattern, but rather as part of the song. I suppose I should check this out, though. Does anyone else have clever workarounds for this? Kevin, did you run into this when you were trying to do your book on Notator? -------------- Marc Sabatella (marc@hpmonk.fc.hp.com) Disclaimers: 2 + 2 = 3, for suitably small values of 2 Bill and Dave may not always agree with me