dvac@druwa.ATT.COM (Daniel Vachon) (01/31/90)
Our band is wanting to get into some Midi now that we have a Yamaha PTX8 Electronic Drumkit, Yamaha TX16W Sampler, and a Kawai keyboard, all Midi.. I priced the stuff I would have to get for my Apple II at about $225 to get on board with it. A friend of mine said he could get me a 1040ST with built in 800K drive, 1 Meg RAM, and Monitor for about $500. My question is directed to those Midi Mongers out there who play with midi all the time.... Is the Atari the best computer for Midi for the price?! Is the midi software good?! We just want to use the Midi Computer as a sequencer to throw some keys on top of some stuff that we want to do, but are short an extra band member... However, I would like to get something that is flexible enough so that if we decide we want to sequence together like 3 or key tracks and a couple tracks of sampled sounds, etc... if we get the burning urge... I would like to get open-minded comments...So please give good and bad points about Midi on the Atari-ST. Also, does most of the good Midid software work on both the 1040 and the 520?! If we can get by with spending even less for the 520 and still get the use out of the sequencer that we want, that would be great also... Thanks in advance for any info! Later - Dan Vachon - !att!druwa!dvac
apolivka@x102a.harris-atd.com (polivka al 60047) (02/07/90)
I tried to E-mail this, but it bounced. So I'm posting it. In article <4620@druwa.ATT.COM> dvac@druwa.ATT.COM (Daniel Vachon) writes: >Our band is wanting to get into some Midi now that we have a Yamaha PTX8 >Electronic Drumkit, Yamaha TX16W Sampler, and a Kawai keyboard, all Midi.. >My question is directed to those Midi Mongers out there who play with midi >all the time.... Is the Atari the best computer for Midi for the price?! For the price, probably yes. It is one of the leading computers for running midi software because of the price (i.e. because it's the only one that has a built in Midi port so you don't have to buy nor hassle with that). Many big name musicians use Atari's. >Is the midi software good?! Yes. Since it is widely used (again, because of the built in midi interface), software developers have created a lot of midi software for it. >I would like to get open-minded comments...So please give good and >bad points about Midi on the Atari-ST. The only serious downside that I can think of is that Atari support is dwindling in this country (not many dealers, etc.). Other (non-midi) software availablility might be a problem, depending on what you are looking for. >Also, does most of the good >Midi software work on both the 1040 and the 520?! No! You would be making a serious mistake to buy a 520 (rather than a 1040) for midi use. I originally had a 520 and ended up having to upgrade. For example, the newer editions of Hybird Art's Miditrack sequencer (one of the decent Atari sequencer packages) will not run on a 520. I recently conducted a poll on user groups rec.music.makers, rec.music.synth, and comp.music asking what computers/sequencers were used by the readers. The Mac was the most widely used and the Atari ST was second most widely used. You can see additional results of that poll if you read the postings on one of those newsgroups (look for "the Great Sequencer Poll"). I will also be posting an update to it this weekend. BTW, I would seriously look at getting a laptop if you're going to use it in performances. Ordinary PC's are a pain to set-up, tear-down, etc. to gigs. -- ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Al Polivka arpa: apolivka@x102a.harris-atd.com Mail Stop 102-4858 usenet: uunet!x102a!apolivka Harris Corporation phone: 407-729-2983 Government Aerospace Systems Div. Bldg: 102 Room: 3433 P.O. Box 94000 Melbourne, FL 32902 ------------------------------------------------------------------------