jjstrout@miavx1.acs.muohio.edu (Joe Strout Miami University, Oxford OH) (02/17/91)
Summary: request info on using MIDI instruments with Apple IIGS.
Keywords: IIGS, MIDI, music, keyboard.
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I am an amateur musician, and would like to take greater advantage
of the musical capabilities of my Apple IIGS. I have several music programs,
including SoundSmith, Music Studio, and I have seen (and been impressed by)
SynthLab. These are great for _programming_ music, but not much good for
_playing_ it real-time. Unless...
Does anyone out there have a MIDI keyboard hooked up to their GS?
The programs mentioned above all have a MIDI option, but I'm not sure how well
they will work, and it's a pretty big investment. I think Music Studio only
does MIDI-out, so it will drive a synthesizer, but the keyboard cannot be
used to enter songs into the program. SynthLab, on the other hand, looks
like it might allow you to play on the keyboard and have the computer generate
the sound, which would be great. SoundSmith has a MIDI option, but I'm not
sure exactly what it's for since all music is programmed in a spreadsheet
format. What other music programs work with MIDI? What can you recommend?
Your help and advice is greatly appreciated.
Joe Strout Miami University, Oxford, OH
jjstrout@miavx1.acs.muohio.edutoddpw@nntp-server.caltech.edu (Todd P. Whitesel) (02/17/91)
SynthLab works with MIDI keyboards better than anything else I've seen (take that with a grain of salt). You can have the keyboard drive the ensoniq and the recorded tracks drive combiniations of the ensoniq and MIDI out... it's powerful, as MIDI was meant to be, but SynthLab's editing is barely above 8 track tape recorder and is very inadequate for real music. What is needed is a hybrid program between SynthLab and SoundSmith that gives you both the power and flexibility of MIDI Synth but with the direct editing capabilities SoundSmith has ... this is a simplification of course and it's an application screaming to be written. Todd Whitesel toddpw @ tybalt.caltech.edu P.S. Why haven't I written one you ask? Well you'll find out in a few weeks.