In this issue we review two new music discs from Hybrid
Technology. We had intended to include a review of the new Music 5000 Junior
which was due to be released in January. We have been told, however, by Hybrid
Technology that it will now be released during February. We hope, therefore, to
include a review in the March issue of AMPLINEX.
'AMPLE DCT' by various
Roy Follett
This disc, currently available from Hybrid Technology,
contains twelve tunes. Except for two pieces, it is the work of Alistair
Johnson, who has composed and programmed some very nice melodic tunes. Very
easy on the ear.
As one would expect, this disc advertises the merits of
contacting AMPLE DCT by modem, but I would have liked to have had more
information about the pieces, when typing "info".
'Theme tune' has an 'info' which contains an invitation to
phone DCT2 on 0384 238073, and I quote:
"What is in it for you? Well who knows: if you manage to
locate an accurate source you can have a free AMPLE DCT disc. (Treat it as a
blank disc if you wish!)".
Intriguing!
My only real criticism of this offering is that it ought to
have been more representative of the people who access DCT's database rather
than of Alistair Johnson.
All in all, good tunes, splendid sounds, heavy on the
adverts, but worth adding to your collection.
'Contrast' by Pilgrim Beart
Kevin Doyle
'Contrast' is the third AMPLE music album from Pilgrim Beart
and his mastery of the AMPLE language is once again demonstrated to excellent effect.
I think it is his best so far.
The previous two albums from Pilgrim Beart ('Cosmix' and
'Notes') suffered from the electronic music equivalent of Parkinson's Law which
says that 'the composer will expand the music to fill the number of channels available'.
This resulted in music which always got very complex, very quickly and the good
points of the compositions often got lost.
In this album things are rather more restrained - the
melodic lines are less frenetic, and some strong riffs emerge in pieces such as
'Smudge' and 'Wak'. As is usual with Pilgrim Beart, there are a number of
interesting instruments and sounds, and these are subject to better arrangement
than in the previous albums.
The previous Pilgrim Beart albums have been as interesting
for their non-musical use of the AMPLE language as for their music, and
'Contrast' is probably the most interesting yet. The opening titles make a
dramatic start to the album with an ingenious use of Shadow RAM to display a
mode 1 screen which contains a digitised picture which I take to be Pilgrim
Beart, (though, as he himself comments, it looks more like Gene Pitney) and a 'Contrast'
logo which changes in intensity as the menu options are passed.
This inventiveness continues through the album with such
devices as a do-it-yourself tune where you select the sections to be played
('Arrange'), a primitive story generator ('Majic') and an 'info' which is
likely to give you a different response each time you request it ('Belief').
More than any other AMPLE composer, Pilgrim Beart seems to
be able to combine the musical and the visual to good effect, and this makes it
all the more likely that this album will have something of interest for
everyone.
If, like me, you thought the best bit of 'Cosmix' was the
'spacephone' you will find plenty of other ingenious ideas on this album. If
you like the music of Pilgrim Beart, then I am sure this album will not
disappoint.
One final point. I was surprised to discover that one of the
pieces on the disc ('Tzis') exhibited the same problem as one of the recent
AMPLINEX music pieces ('Save Me' in AMPLINEX 006) when played using an early release
of the Studio 5000 system disc. The piece has a long PLAY string which, on such
systems, causes the music to stop part-way through.
Both of the discs reviewed above are available from:
Hybrid Technology
Unit 3 Robert Davies Court
Nuffield Road
CAMBRIDGE CB4 1TP
Unit 3 Robert Davies Court
Nuffield Road
CAMBRIDGE CB4 1TP
priced £4.95 inclusive of postage and packing.
Related files on this disc:
Both these files are in the 'Music' section of this disc and
are provided courtesy of Hybrid Technology.
Published in AMPLINEX 009, January 1989
