[rec.music.synth] MIDI Manager

nick@lfcs.ed.ac.uk (Nick Rothwell) (09/06/89)

My copy of MIDI Manager arrived yesterday, so I spent last night
pouring over the manuals (and this morning printing off the demo
programs).
   I can't make any comments yet about performance and so on; some of
the demos seem a little sluggish regarding menu and window events, but
the MIDI output timing sounds ok. This is not any kind of exhaustive
test, of course.
   I'm impressed with the structure and interface to the MIDI Manager.
The MIDI serial driver kicks in when any application signs in, and
kicks out again afterwards. This is exactly the right behaviour,
especially for those of us who want to run non-MIDIMgr applications
like Performer as well. At least, a reboot is not necessary after one
of these has run in order to bring the MIDI manager back to a sanitary
state (I suppose, though I haven't tried this yet). I'm also impressed
that the patchbay *isn't* some kind of magic application, but simply
uses the interrogation routines provided by the MM. So, we could all
write our own patchbays if we wanted. More importantly, I can
presumably test my application by having it hook itself up to the
serial ports automatically, without patching by hand.
   I won't be using MultiFinder for a while (can you say "$500 per Meg
SIMM?"), but see no reason why a DA can't sign into MM at the same
time as a sequencer or something.
   I suppose if I were to ask why the MIDI diag example was called
"Squidcakes", I'd regret it, wouldn't I?
   Anyway... I called MOTU last night. I was told that the use of MIDI
Manager is "under consideration". The guy wouldn't be pressed to a
more committal statement about when, or what version, or even if at
all. He would only be committal about not being committal. He didn't
sound surprised at the question, though, so perhaps they're getting
used to enquiries.  I didn't want to labour the point (especially in a
trans-Atlantic call!); I've made the call, that's the main thing.
   Just in case sie haben vergessen:

>You can help put pressure on MOTU (publishers of Performer) by 
>calling them at:
>                (617) 576-2760
>                (617) 576-3066 (registered users only)
>
>They live on the east coast so take the time difference
>into account when calling. 

... and guess who didn't know it was Labor day on Monday!!! (how
should I have known? It's not a UK bank holiday :-)).

>Murat N. Konar

		Nick.
--
Nick Rothwell,	Laboratory for Foundations of Computer Science, Edinburgh.
		nick@lfcs.ed.ac.uk    <Atlantic Ocean>!mcvax!ukc!lfcs!nick
~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~
               Fais que ton reve soit plus long que la nuit.

steve@cpdaux.UUCP (Steve Lemke) (09/11/89)

In article <329@castle.ed.ac.uk> nick@lfcs.ed.ac.uk (Nick Rothwell) writes:
}I won't be using MultiFinder for a while (can you say "$500 per Meg SIMM?")...

Where do you buy your simms, anyway?  Do they cost that much because you're
in the UK?  Surely you could mail order them from the US at the same $100 (or
so) that we can currently get them for...  I could give you a list of phone
numbers to call if you don't have any available to you.  For $500, you should
be able to have a full 4mb delivered to your door, even in the UK.
-- 
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