dcooley@mentor.com (Doug Cooley) (09/19/89)
I have been using Twelve for about 3 months, and already have found
lots of limitations for the sort of things I'd like to do. However, I
am a semi-professional (semi-amateur?) keyboardist with Load's-O-Sounds
(tm), and more virtual modules than I can access from 16 MIDI channels.
For your purposes, it sounds like a good deal. In post's about this
software, there were a couple of discrepancies that I noticed, however:
1) The program will run sequences and patterns at the same time.
The difference between a pattern and a sequence is that a pattern
is a unique "block" of MIDI information over a specific amount of
"music" time (a beat, a measure, a chorus, etc.), that can be
*copied* to another portion of the song. A sequence is a block
that is *referred* to by the software during execution. Hence, a
sequence can have one copy in memory, but can be played several
times in different locations of a song. A pattern, in contrast,
takes up proportionately as much memory as the number of times it
is played. OK? The big deal with this is that lots of Big Bucks
sequencers base the "play list" of sequences in a song so that only
one list at a time can be active. This means that your drums have
to follow the same sequence as your lead instruments, bass, etc.
The Twelve will only play one sequence, but not all tracks
have to be following the sequence, so you can use the sequence for
just drums, and use patterns for your more melodic parts. Oh,
sure, this isn't clear, but you get what you pay for.
2) The manual is impossible to use as a reference. I still can't
find information without a good 10 minutes of page-by-page browsing.
Not to mention that the binding (one of those one piece plasic jobs)
is too small for the size of the manual, and the punch holes are too
small, and there are several features that are completely undocument-
ed, and blahblahblahblahblah. The usual.
3) List in the good ol' USA is currently $89.00. Formerly $69.00.
Again, you get what you pay for. I didn't realize when I got it
that the ONLY real time MIDI data you could edit was Note data...
A big deal to me, maybe not to you. Also, twelve channels get
used up quick, especially when you need one to control the sequence,
and you can't combine tracks, and blahblahblahblahblah....
Personally, I'd check out all the entry level MUSIC stuff (as opposed
to the TOY stuff like Music Studio...they generally only handle certain
types of MIDI data, and are in the same rough price bracket). If you
decide you like Twelve, send me E-Mail. I probably won't be hanging on
to it all that much longer, and I won't lie to you about what it can and
can't do. Hybrid Arts, Dr. T's, and Passport all make stuff under $100,
although I didn't check any out personally aside from Twelve.
I can tell you that if absolutely none of the above made a bit of
sense to you, that you'd probably like Twelve. Oh, and it doesn't support
MIDI Standard File Protocol, and there are known bugs, and blahblahblah...
Doug
Where did I put that darn disclaimer? It was here just a minute ago!
Darn! Well, here's a quickie for posterity...
Nope. No responsibiltiy here. None at all. And we won't have any
next week either, so don't think you can come back. Try that place
down the street, the place that sells IBM clones...