UUCJEFF@ECNCDC.BITNET (jeff beer) (11/22/89)
I heard a rumor that David Small is working on making Spectre handle MIDI in its Mac emulation. Is this true? Can sources close to Small confirm this? Thanks, Jeff Beer
dlm@druwy.ATT.COM (Dan Moore) (11/28/89)
in article <8911220809.AA09458@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU>, UUCJEFF@ECNCDC.BITNET (jeff beer) says: > I heard a rumor that David Small is working on making Spectre handle > MIDI in its Mac emulation. Is this true? Can sources close to Small > confirm this? Dave is considering supporting MIDI. But then he is considering lots of different things. There is also a 3rd party who is writing some MIDI software that works on either the Spectre or a real Mac. (Don't remember his name, he talked to Dave about some problems on Compuserve about a month ago). Getting most Mac MIDI software to work may be impossible since most of the programs go directly to the Mac hardware timers for interval control. The STs hardware timers work differently and are at different addresses than the Mac programs expect. I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for the Spectre to support MIDI. If (a really big if) it does happen it won't be anytime soon. Dan Moore AT&T Bell Labs Denver dlm@druwy.ATT.COM
ramsiri@blake.acs.washington.edu (Enartloc Nhoj) (11/29/89)
In article <4461@druwy.ATT.COM> dlm@druwy.ATT.COM (Dan Moore) writes: >in article <8911220809.AA09458@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU>, UUCJEFF@ECNCDC.BITNET >(jeff beer) says: >> I heard a rumor that David Small is working on making Spectre handle >> MIDI in its Mac emulation. Is this true? Can sources close to Small >> confirm this? > > I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for the Spectre to support >MIDI. If (a really big if) it does happen it won't be anytime soon. > > > Dan Moore > AT&T Bell Labs Anyway... there's lots of great midi software for the ST... and in general, the ST has surpassed the MAC in this arena in both performance and choice. While it might be nice to emulate a MAC midi program, I am almost sure you may find a program in the ST world that is equal and likely better. I think David realizes this and is therefore reluctant to spend his efforts in that direction. I do recognize, however, the prevalence of MACs in the studio environment, and that it would be nice to simply bring a disk to a studio if an ST is no where to be found. Two solutions: 1) Buy a STacy.. if they ever go into production. 2) Save your ST midi files in standard midi file format and copy them onto your Spectre formatted disks.. take them to the studio and use the studio's mac gear. ( I don't know if this is possible since i haven't yet bought GCR. WHile I plan to buy GCR, it will be for reasons other than music). An aside: I found out yesterday that NOTATOR will NOT work with Jim ALlen's Turbo16 board. Jim told me that C-LAB was at COMDEX and couldn't get the program to run with the accelerator board nor on the TT/P. Why? All has to do with PIRACY.... NOTATOR uses a dongle that hangs off the cartridge port for copy protection. Jim explained to me that the timing of the read will only work on a normal ST... but he assured me that C-LAB should have no problems writing a quick fix for it. I then called the national rep for C-LAB and had a long talk with him. We were interuppted by another phone call... but i did let him know how disappointed i was with the news. Also, i let him know that it didn't please me that when i get GCR, i will have to be constantly turning my machine off, removing the NOTATOR dongle, reinserting GCR etc.. rebooting.. every time i switch applications. He agreed that the wear and tear on both the cartridge ports and the cartridges would likely create problems in time. MORAL: PIRACY only HURTS us ALL. Solution: C-LAB produced the "Combiner" which allows 4 cartridges to hang off the cartridge port. Cost: $349.00. NOT a "solution" I can implement at this time. -kevin ramsiri@blake.acs.washington.edu
dsmall@well.UUCP (David Small) (12/03/89)
The referenced post asks if sources close to Dave Small can confirm whether or not he's working to bring up Mac MIDI. Sources close to Dave Small report that he dosn't have many good ideas on how to do this, short of rewriting some low-level I/O routines in some Mac programs. The basic I/O isn't the problem; I can do that. The *timing* is the problem. The typical MIDI output needs to be interrupt driven, and uses the VIA timer chip for the interrupts. There's no such chip on the ST. It also uses the SCC chip for serial communications at MIDI speed. Now, of course, if someone mounted a VIA and SCC chip on the Atari bus ... (no comment). -- thanks, Dave Small / Gadgets by Small !hplabs!well!dsmall