Questions and answers

Question: Transferring instruments

There are some excellent instrument definitions to be found in the various releases for the Music 5000, particularly Pilgrim Beart's 'Cosmix' disc. I have been experimenting with these and other sounds but the only way I have found to transfer one particular instrument between two different pieces is to load in the first piece, go into command mode, press CTRL B, enter
"instrument-name" TYPE
and then press CTRL C.
This gives me a listing of the definition on the printer. I then have to load the second piece and re-enter this listing in Notepad. Is there a way of saving individual definitions to disc without having to save all the other words as well?
J Pugh
You are already half way there with your current technique. All you need to do is to open and close a file rather than start and stop the printer.
To open a file for your instrument definition you should use
*SPOOL insfile
You should then list the instrument definition as before with
"instrument-name" TYPE
and then close the file with
*SPOOL
To use your instrument definition in another program, you use
*EXEC insfile
which will read in your definition and create the instrument in your current program.

Answer: Mixing desk problems

In response to Jim Redfarn's problem with the music skipping in his 'Harzat' piece: all I can say is that on the BBC Master, although the piece plays well normally, as soon as it is transferred to the Mixing Desk and any of the controls varied I found the same disorientation he mentions - but it does sort itself out again after a few bars. As to why - I haven't a clue.
G H Richardson

Question: The 'Syncer' waveform

Can anyone explain the waveform 'Syncer'? The manual gives no wave shape and no harmonic spectrum, so I assume that strictly speaking it isn't a waveform at all - so what does it do?
Jeff Parton

Question: Tuning systems in AMPLE

I would like to get the Music 5000 to play in tuning systems other than the default equal temperament. To do this, modifications to pitches would have to be stored and selectively applied whenever a 'normal' (i.e. equal tempered) note needed 'tweaking'.
My first thoughts are that the ACT command needs to be used, but how? And can calling notes be tested for their identity? A further problem is that enharmonic notes may disappear: i.e. C sharp may have a different frequency to D flat.
The PITCHF command allows fine tuning, by dividing the octave into (I think) 192 parts. I don't know, however, if this gives a fine enough resolution. Set out below is a table giving the diatonic scales for Equal Temperament and Just Intonation. Given a certain reference frequency, Just intervals are calculated by applying the ratios given to the reference frequency. By finding the difference between ET frequencies and JI frequencies, a 'computed' PITCHF number can be found, which has, however, to be rounded to a whole number.
In the table below, ET reference is given as C = 261.63Hz. One PITCHF unit works out to C' minus C divided by 192:
(523.25Hz - 261.63Hz)/192 = 1.363Hz
Dividing the difference between ET & JI frequencies by 1.363 gives the computed PITCHF value before rounding.
    –E.T.– –––J.I.–––              PIT
      Hz   ratio Hz   Diffc CompPF CHF
    –––––– ––– –––––– ––––– –––––– –––
C4: 261.63 1/1 261.63  0     0      0
D4: 293.66 9/8 294.33 +0.67 +0.492  0
E4: 329.63 5/4 327.04 -2.59 -1.9   -2
F4: 349.23 4/3 348.84 -0.39 -0.286  0
G4: 392.00 3/2 392.45 +0.45 +0.33   0
A4: 440.00 5/3 436.05 -3.95 -2.898 -3
B4: 493.8815/8 490.57 -3.31 -2.428 -2
Once a general method of implementing different tunings has been found, the tuning should be able to be altered during the progress of a piece of music, enabling satisfactory modulations to be carried out, thus overcoming the limitations of 'discarded' tuning systems. By retaining a particular reference frequency (not always the tonic), the general harmonic sense of a piece should be retained.
As an example, D might be chosen as a reference frequency for the key of C. In the example above, where C is the reference, a D minor chord is decidedly odd since the A is very flat.
I feel the Music 5000 has the potential to accomplish all this, and some lateral thinking by AMPLINEX members might help me greatly. Thank you!
Bob Cornford-Wood

Answer: Locking Symphony keyboard

My 'locking' note problem (AMPLINEX 003) appears to have been solved. One of the keys failed completely and on examining the keyboard's interior the fault was obviously a broken contact wire.
This is an 'L' shaped length of gold plated wire soldered to the printed circuit board at one end with a push fit through the underneath of each plastic key at the other. As each key is played the wire is moved down to make contact with a gold plated bar that runs the full length of the keyboard.
Presumably, before breaking completely, the loose wire occasionally remained in contact with some other component and the resulting short 'locked' the system.
Attacking printed circuit boards with a hot soldering gun is not my idea of fun, so my first idea was to contact ATPL. This prompted a "we don't sell them anymore - it could take months" type of response!
Eventually, the Cavalry arrived in the form of Andrew Smith, an audio-visual colleague, who found suitable replacement wire listed in his Maplin Electronics Supplies catalogue (Gold Wire XBOOA) for £2.40.
He's now confident that he could repeat the exercise should anybody experience the same problem. Andrew can be contacted on 0706-227233.
Since replacing the wire the fault has not re-occurred.
Jack Wrigley

Question: Acoustic instruments

One of my interests in using the Music 5000 is the simulation of acoustic instruments.
To do this from scratch by ear is very hit-and-miss, and extremely time-consuming. Information such as harmonic spectra would be invaluable - can anyone suggest any sources for information like this? I have tried my local library and I look in the electronic music magazines regularly.
Jeff Parton

Question: Defining envelopes

I have found that I really miss being able to define my own envelopes (as I could with AMPLE BCE). In particular I find it very annoying that the only envelope with any release on it ('Tailed') has a slow attack. I would like an envelope which has a fast attack, as for a piano, but no decay, with the note dying away when a rest is played and the release stage of the envelope is entered. Is there anything I can do?
Nick Ridley

Question: Watford mouse

I was interested in the AMX mouse article in AMPLINEX 004. However, I own a Watford mouse with Quest Paint software. Is it also possible for me to enjoy the time-saving offered by using a mouse?
N Varley

Question: Opus Challenger disc system

I have access to a Music 5000 system at City University, but do have my own Music 500 which is tape-bound due to an Opus Challenger disc system. With the RAM disc it's great to use, but why didn't Opus design it to work legally so that the Music 500 can use it? Approaches to Opus at user shows have met with a blank response (to put it kindly) when it's pointed out that the Challenger is not "fit for the use for which it was designed"...
Have any AMPLINEX members had similar problems with the Challenger and solved them? Is it worth pursuing Opus? I know that Slogger have taken over support from Opus, but it's not really their problem. Any helpful comments gratefully received.
Bob Cornford-Wood

Question: Transposing music

Does anyone have a program, or can anyone tell me how to write a program, to transpose music in AMPLE? I would like to be able to transpose music from awkward keys into the key of C and then be able to see it in the Staff editor.
My understanding of the AMPLE language is very limited to say the least, so I would be interested to know if this is possible.
Ken Hughes

Question: Converting BCE to Nucleus

Can someone explain to me exactly how to convert AMPLE BCE programs into AMPLE Nucleus ('exactly' means in simple language!). I haven't got a word processor.
Better still, is it possible for someone who is EXTREMELY clever to write a program to convert AMPLE BCE to AMPLE Nucleus?
Diccon Maude
Notes on converting AMPLE BCE to AMPLE Nucleus were given in AMPLINEX 003 (file F.BCE2Nuc). As to a conversion program - such a thing may be possible. Any offers?

Question: *ACCESS and *DRIVE problems

Having a dual disc drive I like to put my 5000-4 system disc in drive 0 and other discs in drive 1. To do this I type *DRIVE1 in command mode after tabbing from the Main Menu. Frequently the computer hangs up and I have to press BREAK and try again. Sometimes it takes four or five goes before it operates properly.
I have similar problems when locking or unlocking files within the Studio 5000 system. The *ACCESS command hangs the system up but this time I have to use Control Break to get out and then reload it before I can try again.
Am I missing something? I do not have either of these problems outside AMPLE.
G H Richardson
Some ROMs are known to conflict with AMPLE and to cause problems with disc commands. These include View 1.4 and some Toolkit ROMs. Disabling or removing any such ROMs in your machine might identify the cause of your problems.

Question: Screen Designer size

In AMPLINEX 002 you produced a Screen Designer, which looked mighty useful, but it is too large to load into my BBC Model B. Is it possible, therefore, to make a slimmed down version that will load?
Graeme Shaw
The Screen Designer software was written on a standard BBC Model B within the Studio 5000 environment. It may not work if you have installed extra modules (i.e. more than those specified in the standard !boot file) or if you have a non-standard DFS or ROMs which decrease the amount of user memory (see Studio 5000 User Guide page 89).

Question: Using 4-channel instruments

I have been endeavouring to improve a cello instrument definition, but have come across a peculiar problem which (not being a technical man) baffles me. Instead of using 2 CHANS as in my original definition I thought I would use 4 CHANS to enable use of the 3rd, 5th and 6th harmonics.
This produced the following definition:
"cello4" [
4 CHANS
 1 CHAN
  Reedy         Vibrato       Tailed
 2 CHAN
  -64 SHIFT     35 AMP        Onoff
 3 CHAN
  -112 SHIFT    35 AMP        Onoff
 4 CHAN
 -144 SHIFT     35 AMP        Onoff
EVERY CHAN
 ON PHSET
]
Since 4 CHANS were involved I assumed that 2 voices would be required and accordingly allocated 2 voices to player 1, and 1 voice to players 2 and 3 respectively, making 4 voices in all in the mix.
When I came to allocate the instruments to the players in the Mixing Desk, player 1 collared 4 instruments ('cello4') whilst players 1 and 2 merely took their one instrument each ('piano') as expected, making 6 instruments in total. I tested that 'cello4' sounded on each of the 1-4 instruments by pressing RETURN but when I came to play it only the first 2 instruments of 'cello4' and instruments 5 and 6 ('piano') were active - the other two (3 and 4) were completely inactive. I accordingly removed 3 and 4 and remade the mix so that I now had 1 and 2 playing 'cello4' and 3 and 4 playing 'piano' as intended.
When I examined the mix, however, I found that player 1 was allocated only 1 voice although it was playing the 4 channel 'cello4'. At this stage I thought either I or the Music 5000 was going round the bend because I had always understood that 1 voice had only 2 CHANS and that 4 CHANS required 2 voices. Furthermore, when I came to GET 'cello4' I got the message "Too many channels in player 1". Can someone please explain what is happening?
G H Richardson
Your confusion arises, in the main, from the relationship between voices and channels and the way these are represented in the Mixing Desk.
The sixteen channels available on the Music 500(0) can be shared amongst any of the eight possible voices in groups of two.
Thus, eight two-channel voices or one sixteen-channel voice are both possibilities. The instrument allocated to the voice will normally determine the number of channels which it will use. For example,
1 SHARE 1VOICES cello8
would allocate 8 channels to voice 1 if that many were defined within the 'cello8' instrument definition.
Obviously, since the number of channels is limited to sixteen, allocating more than 2 channels to a voice restricts the number of additional voices which can be used.
In the Mixing Desk, the display is set out to show how the synthesiser's 16 channels are being used. It does this by displaying 8 sets of information - one for each 2-channel pair.
The player-voice numbers above each column of information indicate the player number (as specified in the SHARE command) and the voice number on that player. If, as above, you had specified player 1 as having one voice, this would show '1-1'.
The instrument name which is shown below this number indicates how each two-channel pair is being used. If a voice has been allocated, say, an eight-channel instrument, the instrument name would be shown four times - but each occurrence would be headed by the same player-voice numbers.
By showing many-channel voices in this way it is easier to see how many channels are still available for use by other voices.
In short, use one voice for one instrument - you will be able to see how many channels are in use via the Mixing Desk display.

Question: Problems with Feedback

In using Feedback for the first time I encountered a difficulty. Having written and saved several notes, I tried to load one of them back to edit, and got the error message "! No room in memory". I subsequently got the same message when I tried to write a new note, and have had to break out of AMPLINEX and load it again to write this one. I shall now save this note and try to load it back in...
Well, that worked - so what did I do wrong last time?
Incidentally, it would be a great help if the Feedback menu gave the option to change drives, thus saving a lot of disc swapping.
Jeff Parton
I have been unable to reproduce the errors you report within Feedback. To try and track down the source of the error I would need more information about the particular sequence of events and the configuration of your hardware and software.
Have any other members experienced this problem?
A new option has been added to the Feedback menu ('OS or AMPLE commands') to allow drives and/or directories to be changed.

Question: Crashes in AMPLE

I have experienced some problems when trying to play some of the pieces available in the AMPLE jukeboxes on both the Music 5000 System disc and in each issue of AMPLINEX to date.
I am not sure if there is a fault in my system disc, or some incompatibility exists within my set up. I have a BBC Model B with Watford DFS and ROM board, which contains various ROMs.
Some of the pieces that have presented problems so far, together with the error message or problem encountered are:
Mexico Suite 3rd Movement (Music 5000 System disc) - system crashes straight away without even the % prompt appearing.
Alien (AMPLINEX 001) - 'No string in part3a in player 3' appears at start.
Cantata (AMPLINEX 002) - 'No number' error message occurs after a while and the AMPLE system disc has to be re-booted.
Sleepy (AMPLINEX 003) and Velos (AMPLINEX 004) - after the piece has been playing for a few seconds, the computer crashes leaving the last notes sustained. No error message appears. Break has to be pressed and the AMPLE disc has to be re-booted.
Gymnopedie No.1 (AMPLINEX 004) - if 'info' is called up, after a couple of pages the computer crashes.
I wonder if anyone else has experienced such problems, or can suggest a possible cause.
N R Varley
If the problems you list are the same each time a specific piece is run then the cause is likely to be a ROM which is disrupting AMPLE workspace. If this is the case you should try removing successive ROMs to isolate the offender.
If the problems are not repeatable, but occur in a random way, then hardware problems are likely to be the cause and you should have your machine checked by an expert.

Question: AMPLE DCT 'split' utility

I expect that some members will have seen the 'split' utility on AMPLE DCT. I can't make it work and all this ACT stuff is beyond me. Any boffins like to put something similar on to AMPLINEX for the Music 4000?
Robin Johnson

Symphony keyboard diagram

In issue 3, Graham Firth offered to supply the circuit diagram of the Symphony keyboard.
I should certainly be interested in obtaining this diagram but as no mention was made as to how to get hold of it I can only assume that it is through this column.
Tim Holgate
Yes, we have passed your request on to Graham Firth. Anyone else interested in this offer should also write to Graham Firth via AMPLINEX and we will forward letters to him. Please ensure that your envelopes are marked with Graham Firth's name.

Question: 'Ocean' sound effects

The sounds of the waves and seagulls in Philip Wormall's 'Ocean' (AMPLINEX 004) are very effective, although they would be more so if the volume of the waves could be varied. I presume this is not possible because it is a single sustained 'note', but there must be some way round this problem particularly in this case where it is a noise rather than a note as such.
G H Richardson

Question: Booting with the ADFS

I have recently purchased an ADFS ROM for my BBC Model B, in order to have more structured filing of tunes and instruments. However, I can't seem to boot up the Studio 5000-4 disk as it won't run the C.PREPARE file.
Could someone please tell me: firstly, what the C.PREPARE file does, apart from setting the function keys, and secondly, how I can get it to work correctly in conjunction with the Acorn ADFS chip?
Graeme Shaw
There is a known problem with the use of the ADFS in a BBC Model B and the Studio 5000 which relates to the value of PAGE expected by the C.PREPARE program (which reclaims memory for AMPLE use). If you contact Hybrid Technology (sending a blank disc) they should be able to provide a special version of your Studio 5000-4 disc.
Editor's note:
The comments following some of the questions above are only my opinions on the subject and should not be taken as definitive answers.
Your comments are most welcome on any of the questions posed, whether they supplement, confirm or correct any I have expressed.
Published in AMPLINEX 005, May 1988 
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