AMPLINEX 018

AMPLINEX issue 018 was published in July 1990. Each AMPLINEX magazine is stored as a 200K single-sided 80-track disk image file (.ssd file type). The image can be used to create disks for a BBC Micro or can be loaded into a BBC emulator. For the disks to run, the BBC (real or emulated) must have an AMPLE Nucleus ROM installed and be running the Hybrid Music System.

News and reviews

In this section we have a review of the Music 5000 Universal, of two new music disc releases, of a music tutorial package, and of the Roland D5 synthesiser.

Music 5000 Synthesiser Universal

Roy Follett

To quote the introduction in the Universal User Guide: "Welcome to the Music 5000 Synthesiser Universal and a new world of high-quality musical sound from your BBC Microcomputer".

What this software does is replace the computer's internal sound system with instrument sounds from the Music 5000 synthesiser. In other words, if you have any music software it's 'Goodbye' to the computer's own dreadful sound.

Alas, it is only for owners of a Master 128. Users of other BBC computers with Sideways RAM are not catered for, which is a pity. For here is a splendid utility which converts good music software into absolutely superb music software.

The Universal software is child's play to use: so easy, that the User Guide has just eight pages, but contains all you need to get going. One gripe is that when setting up your music disc you are only allowed to use one drive even if you have dual-drives which is a bit tedious, although in total it was only three disc swaps.

There is a list of around sixty musical software packages that the Universal recognizes, but if yours is not on the list you can set it up to suit. I was only able to test the Universal on two packages: the Tobin Music System and Ted Kirk's music learning software. Both of these worked fine.

It's very strange, instead of hearing the computer emit its usual beep, to hear an Organ or Piano sound or whatever else you set it to be. Without doing a benchmark timing check I had the feeling that BASIC was running slower with the Universal installed than when it was removed. However, I can't see that this will be a problem with most music packages.

But one must remember to remove the Universal, by EXITing from it, if using software where speed is important.

All in all this is a magic bit of software. Any criticisms I have of it must be put aside for the sheer joy of listening to a decent sound instead of that appalling alternative. And lest you forget, Hybrid Technology has set aside a key to remind you what it used to be like.

The Music 5000 Universal Software Pack (for existing Music 5000 users) costs £33.35 (inclusive of postage and packing) and is available from:

Hybrid Technology Ltd
273 The Science Park
CAMBRIDGE
CB4 4WE

The Legend of Obernell by Phil Comber

Roy Follett

At last Phil has emerged from under a pile of aliases, to stand up and be counted. What we have here is a collection of titles previously published in a variety of places. All of them have been re-mixed, re-vamped and in some cases re-written.

In case you are thinking 'why should I buy something I might already have?', all I can say is you will miss a good disc. You will also miss finding out about his secret past, for he has bared his soul in the 'shock horror revelations' contained in the 'sleeve notes'.

I found it interesting to make comparisons with previous versions - and in general he has succeeded in making improvements. My two favourites of Phil's are 'Flight' and 'Dreamer'. Both of these are included and whereas 'Flight' is a remix resulting in a fatter sound, 'Dreamer' has been slightly rewritten, resulting in a somewhat different tune. I think I prefer the old 'Dreamer', the new version seems to be less of a performance, losing the drive of the old one.

To use his own words "This is a collection of Phil's best compositions. Listen and enjoy."

At £3.00 inclusive what more can I say?

See the Advertisements section in this issue for further details.

Windy Island by Michael Harbour

Ted Kirk

Hands up those who bought the disc 'Shivering Again' after hearing 'Running on Ice' in AMPLINEX 013. My hand stays guiltily down. How hard do we listen to each other's music? We have a young composer of imagination and skill here, and he's been here all the time.

This new disc requires the Music 3000 expander: it gives added scope to that imagination while, I suppose, limiting the likely sale of the disc.

The disc introduces itself with a little fanfare-cum-signature-tune which is the least captivating thing on it; don't be put off! I expect I'm very stupid, but I couldn't find out how to cycle through the menu and play the pieces in turn, and there didn't seem to be any help offered. Of course you can keep pressing f9, but then you get the fanfare every time! I was reduced to cataloguing the disc and doing LOAD RUN.

Once enveloped in the wrap-around sound of the opening tune, 'The empty newspaper' (short 'info's explain the titles - more or less! - imagination's put to work here too, yours as well as his), my first reaction was 'Jean- Michel Jarre, eat your heart out!'. I don't mean that this music isn't original, but we are in that Jarrish world of simple chords, interesting melodic patterns, and ravishing sound complete with wind and sea-surge (and the occasional spell of umty-tumty 12/8 rhythm as well).

Michael's pieces have some advantages over Jarre's: there's more going on in them, and they're a lot shorter. Also I haven't noticed much humour in the great J-M (Jarre fans stay away from my door!), but there's plenty here. I defy you to resist Granpa Spoons strumming on his electronic banjo and grievously missing the notes of his favourite tune, or the waltz of Milly - sorry, milly - the stupid rhino, with its fat galumphing bass. 'The bellringers' play a hymn called 'He who would variant be' (and the clock chimes are variant as well).

But what will keep bringing me back to this disc is the wrap-around numbers (headphones are a must). 'The bellringers', as well as whimsical, is beautiful and very skilfully woven within its simple structure. 'Anyone there?' (starting from Morse code) is both exciting and nostalgic. 'Underground river' has melody and mystery decorated with plops from dripping stalactites and an unexpected little coda in 5/8 time (much too short, this one). 'The empty newspaper' and 'Ricky's mountain', which start each 'side' (side?), do a good job of creating the atmosphere of Michael's unworldly scene.

I've only one gripe, and I address it not only to Michael but to others out there. Some of these pieces, and too many of our lesser works in AMPLINEX, just stop. What's happened to the art of making an ending? Or is this a fashion of the day, passing by square, ancient me? Oh, well. At least there are no fade-outs.

'Windy Island' ends with 'God Save the Queen' (not variant, except for one odd chord). It comes in on a sort of fair-ground organ, but slowly it expands - and the world joins in (Mike Oldfield, eat your heart out). Tremendous! Get it (and the expander)!

'Windy Island' by Michael Harbour costs £4.95 (inclusive of postage and packing) and is available from:

Hybrid Technology Ltd
273 The Science Park
CAMBRIDGE
CB4 4WE

PLAY from JBS Software

Roy Follett

Members who have read my reviews of John Bartlett's music discs (for example, Jazz Volumes 1 and 2, and Impressions) will know of my enthusiasm for his ability to create a sense of 'performance'. So far, in my opinion, he is the only person to achieve this with repeatable success.

Following feedback from purchasers of his discs, and from the realisation that AMPLE has more power than is generally used, he decided to write a tutor based on his techniques. 'PLAY' is the result.

PLAY is thus a tutor that instructs you how HE does it: it has plenty of examples on disc that show, firstly, how a straight transcription sounds, then the sound with John's technique added.

The motto of this tutor is 'Hold my hand and I will guide you through MY methods': it never duplicates anything that is already written in the AMPLE Programmer or User Guides. In fact he urges you to read and re-read the Guides, even the boring bits.

As John points out, he has devoted no space to deep AMPLE code because the Hybrid system has been cleverly designed to make music without it. There is a Toolkit which is a group of useful words for manipulating timing, dynamics and effects. It also has a word 'part9a' which deals with the WIND command and is as near to 'deep code' as you are going to get.

Apart from the niceties of his techniques, there is a good Beginners' Guide. This is placed at the rear of the manual. The reason for it being there is, having grasped the fundamentals you won't require it again. I defy even the most ardent 'Jukebox' user not to learn from this section.

If you want to become a brilliant programmer, read the User Guides; if you want to make your music interesting, then PLAY must be a good route to take.

PLAY is the bargain of the decade, costing £15.95 for a version that includes a nicely-presented fifty-page manual or £11.95 for a version that has the text files on a second disc.

My advice to you is place your order now and beat the rush. Me? I shall forget to return my review copy.

See the Advertisements section in this issue for further details.

Review of Roland D5 synthesiser

Ian Buckley

I shall concentrate in this brief review on use of the Roland D5 synthesiser as an add-on MIDI instrument for use in the Music 5000/2000 environment; there have been several useful general reviews in the late 1989/early 1990 music press.

Connections and facilities

MIDI in, out, through; stereo or mono out; stereo headphone; ROM card slot; sustain pedal input jack; supply jack; 5-octave velocity sensitive keyboard (no aftertouch) with on-board bender/modulation wheel combined.

Two preset tone banks of 128 preset configurations per bank plus drum presets; all tone banks are editable. Tones are a mixture of sampled and digitally synthesised sounds. Extra tones available on ROM cards (see below). RAM cards are available for patch dumps etc.

Four Modes

- Performance: single MIDI channel feed with 128 voices available as independent (one at a time) instruments. Polyphony variable, but usually at least 8-note. Arpeggiation (variable speed, direction), chase (an echo effect with variable delay and decay) and two 'chord play' modes are available.

- Manual Drums: the keyboard is converted into a drum kit with a different (and very realistic) drum sound assigned to each of the 62 keys.

- ROM play: a number of pre-programmed demonstrations using multi-timbral mode. Very impressive!

- Multi-Timbral: the mode for use with the Music 2000. Eight polyphonic voices, each of which may be one of the 128 set up in the multi-timbre sound bank (which is different from the performance mode sound bank).

Add to this the drum sounds which are available simultaneously on dedicated MIDI channel 10. The synthesiser will actually play up to 32 sounds simultaneously and you can play along on keyboard (as part of a part).

In use with the Music 2000

Well, yes, of course it adds another dimension to the sound. There is a loss of the close control available in the Music 5000 environment (e.g. dynamics, panning) but this can be overcome by writing one's own control commands and embedding them in the AMPLE words.

For example:

"EBAS1" [90 MIDIPROGRAM]

I have actually created my own control subset comprising words such as MP, MC and LEV which I load in as a basic toolkit prior to writing a piece in AMPLE. Fortunately, AMPLE is sufficiently flexible to permit this, though there is the problem of timing, which can suffer on a large piece, with the puny BBC micro being hard pushed to get through all the work looking up the words. Incidentally, why did Hybrid choose to use such long names for the MIDI commands; and why does VEL not work?

One of the annoying features of the D5 is volume control. The preset patches have been set at 'suitable volumes' in the factory and seem to be all over the place to my mind. I would prefer a flat setting across the board in order to permit subtle manipulation from the Music 2000. I could modify all the patches myself to suit, but life is too short for that. The result is careful level setting on each part, being mindful of the patch playing the part.

This brings me to editing: some superb patches can be created but it is hard going - I did manage a nice 12-string guitar sound after a 2 hour struggle. The manuals, although very thorough, seem to have lost something in the translation from the Japanese. There are upwards of sixty parameters, many of which have multiple numerical settings available, which can be edited to produce one patch.

Sounds

As for the presets and the use of them, here is my opinion:

Drums - Superb. I have created a whole bunch of drum patterns in chordal form. For example:

'c(EGA)c(E//)/(E//)c(E//)

Put through a decent sound system, they sound like the real thing and make the walls shake!

Bass - Good. 12 bass guitar patches are available in multi-timbre mode, most of which have a rich satisfying sound.

Strings/woodwind/brass - Good and, in the main, convincing.

Pianos - Weak. Need more resonance.

Guitars - Weak. The 'acoustic' guitars sound like elastic bands.

Organs - OK, but generally not as good as the Music 5000. Church organ (performance mode) is good.

Ethnic/special effects - some of these are excellent and atmospheric.

There are also some rather peculiar 'wailing cat' type 'Oriental' effects which aren't particularly to my taste; they do, however, appear to excite my neighbour's dog (who is also excited by Kylie Minogue, Australia's greatest living musician, but that's another story).

The 'Take off jet' effect is spectacular in stereo.

A general comment on many of the preset patches is that they are too flat in the ADSR (i.e. of an ONOFF type with fairly high sustain levels and long or infinite release times). This is fairly easy to get around.

There are additional 'presets' available on ROM cards but, from what I have seen and heard, they are not that impressive or worth the cost (£20+). In contrast, a versatile, cheap, mini-keyboard could be added on and accessed via the MIDI through socket - for example, a small Casio 230 tone-bank unit which is now available at less than £70.

Summing up

A versatile, professional-standard yet budget price keyboard (I got mine from Dougie's Music Northwich for less than £500) capable of producing superb sound. The multi-timbral mode provides a flexible outlet for the Music 2000 and like units.

Published in AMPLINEX 018, July 1990

Yesterday

by Teletext Quartet

Composed by: Lennon & McCartney

The Teletext Quartet arose out of an initial meeting between the boys when all my AMPLINEX pieces were put on to a single disc.

They quickly realised that they each wanted to be more than a visual by-line in someone else's music, and settled down to some serious practice.

Before long they had chosen a mutual favourite, Lennon and McCartney's song 'Yesterday', as their first performance piece.

They now present this to an audience for the very first time - and are hoping that they'll soon get the hang of the lyrics.

Singers... how they work

The coordination of music and display is achieved, as you may have guessed, by using ACT. This allows the part being played to tailor the display.

Two ACT words are used. 'staccact' is early in the action sequence and divides each note into 7/8 length note and 1/8 length rest.

This is set at position 10, early in the action sequence.

The main work is then done by 'singact', which picks up each note action from position 20, and then adjusts the mouth shape to fit the type of action.

There are two shapes, 'o' for a note and '=' for a rest. The words to display these ('ee' and 'oh') use 'place' to put them in the right position, depending on the player number that calls them.

The other words that might be of interest are 'no(show)_cursor' which access the video chip registers to hide or display the cursor, and there's also 'put' which uses VDU 31 to place the text cursor at a given position (row col put) and 'wait' which just IDLEs until the action queue is empty.

The music parts are completely normal and the technique could be used with any four parts without change. So perhaps the lads can sing your tunes too?

Richard

Source: AMPLINEX 018 disk, file $.YESTRDY

Published in AMPLINEX 018, July 1990

Weasel's Amnesia

by James Walsh

Source: AMPLINEX 018 disk, file $.AMNESIA

Published in AMPLINEX 018, July 1990

Three Blind Mice

by John Bartlett

Composed by: Traditional

With frogs in their throats

Source: AMPLINEX 018 disk, file $.MICE

Published in AMPLINEX 018, July 1990

Symphonetta

by Bob Ord

To Harry on his 40th birthday

'Full piece' option recorded

I am one of those awful realists: I do not like 'funky electronic noises' that some people call instruments. Being an electronics engineer, I get enough of these sort of noises at work. Howls, whistles and screams are, to my mind, no substitute for conventional instruments that have undergone decades of development.

The first instrument that I tried and successfully synthesized was the Northumbrian Pipes. This synthesis was good enough to fool my father, a pipe maker.

The next instrument that I've tried to synthesize is the violin. The cheap electronic organ version suggested by Hybrid in the manual, did definitely not fill the bill. Having listened to and examined the waveform of a violin, doing a Fourier analysis, I have in my opinion developed a voice that is suitable for both solo and tutti use.

Following the quest, the woodwind came under my scrutiny.

Symphonetta was written to use these voices. Unfortunately it is not just an accompaniment as it does have a melody. This melody is basically played by the wind instruments and is not accompanied by the strings playing simple bar length triads, but by an accompaniment that is in harmony with, and is also rhythmically at variant with, the melody.

The menu allows you to hear the instruments on their own.

Source: AMPLINEX 018 disk, file $.SYMPHON

Published in AMPLINEX 018, July 1990

Sonate

by [unknown contributor]

Composed by: Domenico Scarlatti

Source: AMPLINEX 018 disk, file $.SONATE

Published in AMPLINEX 018, July 1990

Root Beer Rag

by Robonk

Composed by: Billy Joel

Pretty bits by Steff

A piece I've wanted to program for some time. I've now got the music and was demonstrating the power of AMPLE to Steff. Thanks to Roger Cawkwell for the power drums. (Anybody got any good cymbal crashes?)

Source: AMPLINEX 018 disk, file $.BEERRAG

Published in AMPLINEX 018, July 1990

Recuerdos de la Alhambra

by Andy Knight

Composed by: Francisco Tarrega

This is a tremolo study for classical guitar. The melody note is played three times by the first three fingers although here it is played four times for smoothness. Very difficult to play unless you are Segovia. It is particularly pleasing when changing from the minor to the major key. It's a pity there isn't a decent classical guitar sound on the Music 5000.

Regards, Andy Knight

Source: AMPLINEX 018 disk, file $.ALHAMBR

Published in AMPLINEX 018, July 1990

Playing the Railings

by Ted Kirk

Source: AMPLINEX 018 disk, file $.RAILING

Published in AMPLINEX 018, July 1990

Mood Sketches Number 5

by Lol Taylor

Composed by: Vladimir Rebikov

Striving after an unobtainable ideal

Rebikov was born in Krasnorjarsk, Siberia, in 1866 and died in the Crimea in 1920.

He experimented with "musical psychological sketches", that is, emotive music.

This piece brings out the endless restlessness of striving until we give up exhausted.

I bought the music copy in Hull in 1941 from a second-hand stall between the air-raids. It contains eleven Mood Sketches.

Source: AMPLINEX 018 disk, file $.MOOD5

Published in AMPLINEX 018, July 1990

Idiosyncrasy

by The Awfully Nice Software Co

Source: AMPLINEX 018 disk, file $.IDIOSYN

Published in AMPLINEX 018, July 1990

Homeless

by Paul Nuttall

Composed by: Paul Simon & Joseph Shabalala

An adaptation of 'Homeless'

Those of you who know this piece will appreciate that it is 100% vocal in its original form. My difficulty has been putting it into an instrumental form which in no way can really capture the true feeling of it. However, I hope that this version is not too hard on your ears!

Paul Nuttall April 1989

Source: AMPLINEX 018 disk, file $.HOMELSS

Published in AMPLINEX 018, July 1990

A Glimpse…

by Jim Redfarn

A glimpse into the mysterious East

Well, you know what I mean: 'In a Persian Garden', old Valentino films, Turkish Delight, etc. The out-of-tune voice (yes, it's on purpose) was made by changing just one parameter on good old Slapbass: 'flat' was changed to 'bend'. You can see the 'new' instrument on part 1. I've called it 'weird'. I suppose the whole tune is really! Music 2000 users could try adding a salsa rhythm. I usually do with my Yamaha PSR90 keyboard using MIDIRT.

Source: AMPLINEX 018 disk, file $.GLIMPSE

Published in AMPLINEX 018, July 1990

Floor 6 Sunday

by Bill Buckley

A Baroque motif repeater after the style of JSB

This music is written so that it plays forever and so this recording is just a sample of the music that it could produce.

Source: AMPLINEX 018 disk, file $.FLOOR6

Published in AMPLINEX 018, July 1990

Danza

by Dave Hall

Composed by: R Pipo

Recorded by Sky

I entered this tune from the song book. I was quite pleased and I have since been playing with echo and note length. I started going through the parts putting in 'gap' (i.e. -4 Len) and 4 2 Echo. Having done this for parts 1 and 4 I then realised that I could put them together in one word 'q'. I then put 'q' in all of parts 2 and 3. In part2j and in 2n and 3n it cocks up the whole piece so I have removed it. You can put 'q' in parts 'n' to hear it but part2j is too long unless you have the AMPLE ToolBox.

Source: AMPLINEX 018 disk, file $.DANZA

Published in AMPLINEX 018, July 1990

Crossing the Minch

by Hazel Thompson

Composed by: Donald MacLeod

This hornpipe was written for the 'Great Highland Bagpipe'. Of course, it sounds better on the noble instrument. I am dedicating this arrangement to John Bartlett, with thanks for his advice.

Source: AMPLINEX 018 disk, file $.CROSS

Published in AMPLINEX 018, July 1990

Coolicks

by P W Scott

Source: AMPLINEX 018 disk, file $.COOLICK

Published in AMPLINEX 018, July 1990

The Brig' at Lochans

by G Adams

The village of Lochans is in Wigtonshire, in South-west Scotland. The "Brig'" and the burn which ran beneath it, were a focal point in my childhood. I remember wading about and guddling for trout, watching the contrasts of the burn in spate and then dying to a trickle in summertime.

Elemental.

The programming is not particularly impressive, but it works.

Source: AMPLINEX 018 disk, file $.BRIG

Published in AMPLINEX 018, July 1990

Crumple: TMS to AMPLE converter

A J P McMaster

Crumple (ConveRsion Utility for aMPLE) takes a music file created by Island Logic's 'The Music System' (TMS) software and produces from it a text file which contains AMPLE words corresponding to the actual music (part1a etc.) plus a 'RUN' word and basic 'info' and 'mix' words. This text file can then be *EXECed into AMPLE and played through the Music 5000 synthesiser.

Use of the Crumple program is simple: all that the user need do is enter names for the TMS file, the AMPLE text output file, the name of the tune and the name of the author (tune and author are optional). Once this is done the program will do the conversion and finish.

For simple TMS files it should be possible to *EXEC the output file straight into AMPLE - but for more complex music files things may be a little more complicated.

Converting files from TMS to AMPLE is not quite as trivial as it might seem. A certain amount of manual 'post-processing' may need to be done to the resulting file but this is fairly easy since the file can be loaded into a word processor for adjustment.

One advantage of using a word processor is that it avoids the inadequacies of the Notepad editor in dealing with long lines or many of them. Restrictions within Crumple try to avoid these, but long bars could still overrun.

Another problem area is repeated sections. The best solution is to repeat the part(s) in the RUN word and I felt this could be better done manually (consider the problem of 1st and 2nd time bars, for example). I have thus taken an easy way out - when confronted with any kind of repeat symbol, Crumple introduces a comment describing the symbol and starts a new word. This should ensure that no repeats occur mid-word.

Crumple sets up the key signature and time signature but the tempo gives problems and so it is included as a comment only. The tempo is worked out by a function that, in theory, should give a correct value, but which in practice rarely works sensibly.

Crumple sets up a standard 'mix' word with the first three voices in the TMS piece being given an Upright instrument, and the fourth voice being given a Drum instrument. These can then be altered within AMPLE.

The 'info' word contains the title of the tune and name of the author if these were entered.

Members who wish to adapt or improve the program are welcome to do so, and shouldn't find it too difficult to change the program to suit themselves as it is extensively commented.

In spite of the failings outlined above the program does carry out the major work of converting the notes themselves.

Related file on this disc:

U.Crumple - TMS to AMPLE conversion utility (written in BASIC)

Published in AMPLINEX 018, July 1990

Hints and tips

Staff editor memory saving

Bob Ord

Normally I use part names for a player like part1a, part1b, part1c, when entering music using the Staff editor. Like others, I suspect, I enter the clefs at the beginning of the part and any settings for key signature (=L, and Len, for example) follow on. Apart from taking up space in the Staff editor buffer, these take up memory in one's program.

I've discovered that setting the clefs is responsible for writing the word SCORE in the part definition. SCORE has the destructive effect of cancelling the key signature, zeroing the BAR length, and resetting the effect of @, =L, 'L and Len.

Now I enter the clefs in the first parts only - i.e. part1a, part2a etc. and save a lot of memory.

Avoiding Staff editor memory limits

Jack Wrigley

In AMPLINEX 014 David Hall described his method of SPOOLing words to a second program for modification before EXECing them back to the original program. When a single part needs changing and the Staff editor is 'out of bounds' my method is as follows.

For example, to modify 'partx' in a program already loaded and named 'MyProg':

Save the program so far Select Notepad Enter "partx" GET Enter NEW (to discard the rest of the program) Enter MAKE Select Staff editor Enter "partx" GET Enter READY (to free all voices) Enter the number of voices and the required instrument Modify the part Enter "MyProg" LOAD

Entering MAKE then replaces the original 'partx' with the modified one. For single parts I find this better than using *SPOOL and *EXEC. Obviously, larger programs can preclude the use of Notepad for 'retaining' the word to be modified. In this case, David Hall's method fits the bill. Lastly, don't forget Roger Sapolsky's 'Making longer programs' piece in AMPLINEX 012, which takes the process a stage further.

Deadening sounds

David Bloxham

In AMPLE, to stop a long fade away at the end of a note, I have found ^(^) to be best.

Hearing the Music 5000

Jimmy Ryan

In the letter section of the May 1990 issue of Micro User, a reader states that he is using a piece of hardware called a Soundblaster to amplify his Music 5000. He goes on to say that it is of good quality and that he no longer finds the need for a hi-fi and that his system is a lot more portable.

It occurred to me while reading this that anyone who owns a Philips CM 8833 Personal Monitor and is handy with a soldering iron could produce the same portability. Correctly connecting the Music 5000 to the Euroconnector at the back of the monitor will send the sound through its stereo speakers. Of course the quality of the sound cannot be compared to a high quality hi-fi system but it may make life a little easier if the hi-fi and Music 5000 systems are in different rooms. The specifications for the Euroconnector are in the manual received with the monitor.

Published in AMPLINEX 018, July 1990

Using the Hybrid Music System

In this feature we bring together some examples of the use to which members put their Hybrid Music System.

Jim Brook

The principal use that I make of the Music 5000 is one that I have not heard mentioned elsewhere, yet it is one to which the system is uniquely suited - learning vocal music.

I love singing all kinds of music and am currently a member of two choirs (one of which concentrates on Bach, the other covering a much wider range), an operatic society and a small group that performs at all sorts of small functions as well as taking part in Old Time Music Hall shows at local theatres.

As a result, I am constantly trying to learn new music in as short a time as possible. If I were a good sight reader and had perfect pitch, I dare say it would be easy. It would certainly help if I (a) had a piano and (b) could play it. However, I'm not, haven't and can't, so I have problems.

Or did have, before the Music 5000/4000 hove in sight. Now, even the most difficult passages can be learnt quickly, without driving my long-suffering wife up the wall, thanks to the ability to enter a line or phrase in step-time, play it over slowly then gradually increase the speed to the 'correct' tempo. If it is not a solo line, and has to be sung and sustained against other vocal parts, it is an easy matter to enter these parts also, then practise singing one's own line while the Music 5000 'sings' one or more of the other vocal lines.

Anyone who knows Bach's Mass in B minor, will know that there is a 12-bar section for bass voices in Et Resurrexit (usually referred to as the 'judicare') that the newcomer to it usually finds daunting, to say the very least. I was able to master this in half an hour, on my own with the Music 5000 - and if you knew what a rotten sight reader I am, you would know what an achievement that was for me!

Currently, I'm finding the Music 5000 a tremendous help in learning Bernstein's 'Chichester Psalms', which those who know it will agree is not the easiest piece of music to sing!

It is the ability to play parts individually or together in any combination, at whatever speed you like, and the ability to instantly repeat them, that makes the Music 5000 so useful when learning vocal music. Of course, the music then has to be properly 'interpreted' - but that is far more easily done when you are not struggling to pitch the right note or make it the right length.

Nowadays I quite often find myself doing taped copies of bits of difficult music for friends who are having problems with a piece - so if our general proficiency as music makers is improving, the Music 5000 should take some of the credit!

Peter Hodson

As a long-standing and keen amateur film maker, I greeted the arrival of the Hybrid Music System (HMS) with considerable interest. In film making, I subscribe to the view that the sound track is dominant, particularly at the editing stage. One can cut pictures to sound, but the other way round can be very difficult. Music should, as far as possible, be continuous and only cut between phrases to allow, for example, for changes in mood. The HMS can help here, and mismatches between the timings of music phrases and picture scenes can be eliminated by controlling tempo.

Another area where the HMS can help is with sound effects; not only with specific effects but with general background ambience noise supplied for relatively long periods.

So much for theory, you may well say, but have you used the HMS in film making? Well, I have just completed a 3.5 minute uncut film entitled 'Computer Music' for a Movie Club competition which requires one to edit in camera (as opposed to the usual post-production process). The visuals are taken both from the computer screen (yes, with the strobing effect!) and from my system layout with close-ups of the keyboard being played and with notes simultaneously appearing on the Staff editor. Animated graphics are mixed with music titles to give visual movement.

The sound track was shot live to maintain synchronism between picture and sound and there is a microphone commentary mixed in with the music.

Incidentally, when I can afford to change over from film to video I shall be looking for a 16- or 32-bit computer suitable for animated graphics, titling, Genlock and of course HMS, in place of my BBC. So how about it you manufacturers?

Carl Robinson

My youngest son has taken up the clarinet. As an aid to his learning and to his timing I programmed the 'Play in a Day' tunes into AMPLE. AMPLE plays the 'teacher' and other 'pupil' parts. A gentle percussion track helps keep time and enables a count-in. He actually looks forward to practice time. I also find well-known pieces of music that are within his capability, cover the title and ask him to play it. He then has to name the tune. This usually means explaining time signatures and counting methods but, again, he enjoys it.

David Hall

On the 4th and 5th of April this year, my school produced the choral musical 'Yanomamo'. This musical was commissioned by The World Wide Fund for Nature and has been performed on Channel 4 twice during the past year. When I first saw it last May/June, I decided that it would provide me with ideal opportunity to learn how to use our newly-acquired Music 5000 synthesiser and Music 4000 keyboard which had been bought by the children.

I do not read music but have played guitar and sung in Folk groups for over 30 years. I was amazed at my own progress and during the course of the summer holidays in 1989 I finished programming 16 of the songs. These were entered one note or chord at a time, and with the aid of the audio tape released by the WWFFN, I was able to get a pretty good likeness.

To many members my efforts may appear crude and laboured, but it was a labour of love and the fruits were harvested at the concerts (we raised £170). We have been asked to do repeat performances at another school and as part of the patronal festival at the village church.

Published in AMPLINEX 018, July 1990

Questions and answers

Answer: Shadow RAM choice

In answer to Keith Taylor's question in AMPLINEX 017: I don't think there is a Shadow RAM board for the BBC that doesn't have its drawbacks. However, one that seems to have less operating problems than most is the Integra-B from Computech.

It can be set to access Shadow RAM, and AMPLE seems to make full use of it. The Shadow modes can be disabled, so that games and other non-Shadow applications can be run.

Its one big handicap though, is the price - £135. But for that you do get Shadow RAM, Sideways RAM and extra ROM slots, as well as other goodies. Unfortunately, Hybrid's Sideways RAM utilities (in the AMPLE Toolbox) will only work on a Master 128, not on a B+ or expanded Model B.

Patrick Black

Answer: The 'M.M5' module

Further to the question in AMPLINEX 016 about the meaning of various words in the M5 module: AEN, PEN and ONEN select respectively amplitude, pitch and both envelopes for subsequent GATE effect.

For example, PEN ON GATE will start just the pitch envelope. This is used, for example in 'Mexico Suite third movement'. A useful definition is:

"pgate" [PEN GATE]

Hybrid Technology

Question: FOR(...)FOR command

When I have a piece of music on the screen containing a FOR(...)FOR command, and I try to use the f1 'play' key, it always produces a '! Bad context' error, forcing me to MAKE it and type in its name as a command. Can anyone help, please?

David Bloxham

Answer: Mozart's musical dice-game

In response to Vincent Fojut's query in AMPLINEX 017 concerning Mozart's musical dice game: a more recent source of information on this topic may be found in the book 'Creative sound on the BBC' (pages 185-194) published by Acornsoft and written by David Ellis and Chris Jordan. I suggest this as an excellent source in the first instance.

It provides quite a comprehensive introduction, together with diagrams to show the essential structure of the random 'generator', and a program, written in BASIC, but with the musical notation in the DATA statements - known affectionately as Music Composition Language (MCL) - having a relatively familiar appearance!

If any AMPLINEX members interested in music programming have not yet seen this book I recommend they get hold of a copy and browse through.

Len Chirgwin

'Creative sound on the BBC microcomputer Model B' by David Ellis and Chris Jordan published by Acornsoft in 1985 at £9.95p (ISBN 0907876226) contains both a description of the dice game attributed to Mozart and a complete program in BASIC which uses the internal sound chip of the BBC B. Some time ago, Micro User were offering the book at a discount. Although not currently advertised, they may still be able to supply.

Alan Minns

Answer: Music City on Prestel

Philip Hunter AMPLINEX 017 asks about Music City. This used to have Music 500 and 5000 files, but it closed some time ago. It has recently been resurrected, but is now dedicated to MIDI - no AMPLE files. As far as I know there isn't an area on Prestel catering for AMPLE any more.

However, a modem will give access to AMPLE DCT, who have a very good Music 500(0) section. They are at Dudley College of Technology, and their phone number is (0384) 239944. There is a free area and Maestro, for which there is an annual access fee of £3.50p (for MCPS copyright charges).

You pay the cost of the phone call, but nothing else. They do like contributions though!

Patrick Black

Music City indeed no longer supports the Music 5000 system. It used to: in fact, it is where I got my first break, but that was two years ago, when it was run by Ian Guinan and Guy Oldhams. Music City now concentrates mainly on MIDI, Amiga and ST thingumajigs, under new government.

The only music board I know of that supports the Music 5000 is that run by 'Panda' man David King: AMPLE-DCT. The address for contributions or information) is:

David King
Dudley College of Technology
The Broadway
DUDLEY
West Midlands
DY1 4AS

The DCT database covers a wide variety of other areas too, not just music.

Phil Comber

Questions: Letters after modules

When MCAT is used, it displays the module name, version number and then some letters. What do the letters mean?

David Bloxham

Answer: AMPLINEX Staff Printer (1)

Like Jack Wrigley (AMPLINEX 017) I was also very interested in the Staff printing utility published in AMPLINEX 016, but was annoyed to find that it did not seem to work on a BBC B with Aries B32 Shadow RAM. However, it is quite straightforward to alter the program to do so.

Lines 9 and 10 in the file U.ASP can be deleted as these select the Shadow RAM on a Master. Line 11 must be left in as it expands the space available for user-defined characters, which are used by the Staff Printer to define the symbols on the staff.

In the file U.ASP2, I found that the program would work perfectly if the

PROCass:CALL code%

in line 40 was REMarked out.

Julian Benton

Answer: AMPLINEX Staff Printer (2)

In reply to Neil Walker's query about the AMPLINEX Staff Printer (AMPLINEX 017), the short answer is no. The purpose of the 'CALL code%' command is to provide a cyan/black stippled border to the screen windows. In the machine code, the subroutine call to &FFB3 is machine specific - it does not exist on the humble Model B! I seem to remember that its purpose is to write a byte to the video memory. Although no harm is done if this routine is omitted, it can be implemented fairly simply for the Aries system.

With apologies to Bob Ord, I have removed some redundant code from his dump routine to reduce its length and added a short piece of code to give the stippled border. This new U.ASPcode file (included on this disc) is suitable only for the Aries system and replaces the original one. To use it, modify the U.ASP2 program by deleting the whole of PROCass starting at line 290 and at line 40 replace 'PROCass:CALL code%' by 'CALL &ACE'.

Bob Ord is to be congratulated on getting such a complex program to work. Alas, when I came to test my modification, two problems arose.

1) In decoding a program word, he searches for the word 'SCORE' following the '%STAFF' command - but not all STAFF words begin with SCORE. This may be corrected by modifying line 2110 thus:

2110 REPEAT:m%=m%+1:UNTIL?m%=&51

2) If the program encounters a double octave jump, such as '!!a', it will stop with a 'Subscript' error. If lines 950 and 960 are replaced by the following, both '!' and '!!' are handled correctly.

955 IFd%-&DC ELSEz%=m%?1:z%=m%? (1-(z%=&DC)):t%=1-((z%MOD2)*2): IFb%cptr%=cptr%+7*t%ELSE pptr%=pptr%+7*t%

Jack Wrigley's problem (AMPLINEX 017) is a little more complex. Yes, the '*FX114' and '*SHADOW' lines must be removed but retain the '*FX20,3'. This explodes the character font and raises the value of OSHWM by three pages to make room for the special characters used in the staff printing - this is why PAGE is reset to &1C00. But now, because the Aries Shadow RAM is initiated by default, OSHWM is raised by a further page to provide workspace for the Aries system. It is necessary to specify PAGE at &1D00 in order to make room.

This may not leave enough memory for the variables. It would be better to allocate a specific page (e.g. &1800) for the Aries workspace thus:

*XOFF
<BREAK>
*XON 20 18
MODE 7

The program should then run properly.

Alan Minns

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.

Related files on this disc:

U.ASPcode - Replacement file for the AMPLINEX Staff Printer (published in AMPLINEX 016) for use with the Aries Shadow RAM board.

Published in AMPLINEX 018, July 1990

Printing out AMPLINEX information

There are three ways to print out the information seen in AMPLINEX.

You can print out an AMPLINEX file as it is displayed on the screen from within AMPLINEX; you can print the files themselves as you would any other text file; or you can load the files into your own word processor and re-format them as required before printing.

1) To print a file from within AMPLINEX choose the 'SET PRINT ON/OFF' option from the Introduction menu. This allows you to toggle a software 'print switch' on or off. If the switch is set ON then any AMPLINEX file which is displayed on the screen will be sent to the printer. This will continue until you set the switch off again using the same Introduction option. An asterisk is displayed at the top of the screen next to the issue number when the print option is ON and the print status is shown at the bottom right of the screen as text is displayed within AMPLINEX.

It is now also possible to print out part of a file from within AMPLINEX. There are two ways to do this:

a) To print a single page of an AMPLINEX file, make sure the 'print switch' is OFF and then select the menu option which displays the file. When the page you wish to print is displayed, and the 'Press RETURN to continue' prompt is showing at the bottom of the screen, press the letter 'P' on the keyboard. The page being displayed will then be sent to the printer. Pressing RETURN will then continue to display the file without printing.

b) To start printing part-way through a file, you can turn on the 'print switch' by pressing the CTRL and 'P' keys together when the 'Press RETURN to continue' prompt is displayed. Subsequent pages which are displayed will then be sent to the printer. The 'print switch' can be turned off again in the same way.

2) If you prefer to print the parts you require outside of AMPLINEX - all the data is held in files on the AMPLINEX disc. The files are in directories named according to the sections in which they appear and the file names can be seen at the foot of the screen as they are displayed in AMPLINEX so you can make a note of the ones you require.

The file directories allocated to each section of AMPLINEX are as follows:

$. for Music

A. for the Introduction and Adverts

F. for Features

H. for Hints and Tips

I. for Instruments

N. for News and Reviews

Q. for Questions and Answers

U. for Utilities

In addition to the text files, the AMPLE instrument definitions can also be printed directly from within AMPLINEX. Music and utility programs written in AMPLE can only be printed by LOADing the programs into the Studio 5000 and using the WRITE command (see Studio 5000 User Guide page 100).

3) If you wish to re-format the text before printing you should load the files into your word processor. The files contain unjustified text restricted to 38 columns width. The files contain only printable ASCII characters except for a control code (ASCII 11) which marks the screen page breaks. View treats these as left margin tabs and if necessary they can be removed with a C/^L// command.

Two utilities have been published in AMPLINEX to aid with the re-formatting of text files:

In AMPLINEX 003 'Hints and Tips' (H.ints003) there were instructions for a Wordwise segment program to automatically format AMPLINEX text files. The segment itself was included in AMPLINEX 004 (H.WWconv).

In AMPLINEX 005 there was a utility to print formatted 80-column text direct from an AMPLINEX text file. The instructions (U.print/i) and the BASIC program (U.print80) are both within the 'Utilities' section. A modification to this program (to provide a wider margin) was included in the 'Hints and Tips' section of AMPLINEX 006. See also the Update section of AMPLINEX 008 for a note concerning BASIC 1 users.

Published in AMPLINEX 018, July 1990

Next issue news

To help bring the AMPLINEX timetable back on schedule, we are only having a short gap between this and the next issue.

This means that all applications for a FREE copy (i.e. those with discs containing contributions) must be received by MONDAY 1ST OCTOBER. Anyone paying the £2.00 fee should apply by Friday 12th October.

Most of the content depends on your contributions between now and then - so please let us have your words or music as soon as possible. In fact, why not type that question, answer, hint, or comment right now using our Feedback utility? Or copy your latest piece of music on to another disc ready for AMPLINEX?

We look forward to reading and hearing your contributions.

Published in AMPLINEX 018, July 1990

How to contribute to AMPLINEX

To receive your next issue of AMPLINEX free of charge you must send a contribution of your own.

This could be an AMPLE music program, an instrument definition, a question or an article about some aspect of the AMPLE language or Hybrid Music System hardware or software, an AMPLE utility, a useful hint about AMPLE, or an answer to another member's question.

Under copyright law we cannot publish programs or music unless we have the permission of the copyright owners or their licensing agent. It is important to realise that in the case of an AMPLE music program, copyright exists in both the program itself and the music it represents. There may even be a separate copyright in the arrangement. If you wish to contribute transcriptions into AMPLE of someone else's music you must credit the copyright owner(s) of the music, the arrangement (if applicable) and lyrics (if included). We can then try to obtain permission to publish.

To protect ourselves from copyright actions we must ask you to sign the copyright declaration on the 'next issue request form' which was sent to you with this issue of AMPLINEX. All submissions made to AMPLINEX will be regarded as permission to publish within the AMPLINEX membership. Beyond this, the submission remains the property of the author.

As part of an exchange arrangement, we may wish to pass on your address if any of your contributions are of interest to other software publishers.

If you do NOT wish your contributions to be considered for publication elsewhere (and thus your address not to be passed to anyone else) please indicate this on the request form in the place provided.

You can also use your return disc to pass on questions which you would like answered on any issue relating to the Hybrid Music System or AMPLE language. We will do our best to answer them (or will pass them over to the other members for help) and publish the results in the Questions and Answers section of AMPLINEX.

You can also use AMPLINEX to advertise any (un)wanted items or to make contact with other members. Just put the details of your advertisement on to the return disc and we will try to include it in the next issue.

The 'Feedback' section of AMPLINEX contains a utility to allow a note to be written on the screen which can then be saved to disc. This 'note' file can then be included on your disc sent for the next issue of AMPLINEX.

'Feedback' notes can be used to make contributions to any of the text-based sections of AMPLINEX as well as to make comments or suggestions on AMPLINEX itself.

Send all contributions, on a standard DFS format disc (40- or 80-track).

It is not necessary to send printed copies of your contributions - any copies required are printed locally to minimize postage costs.

40-track disc users please note:

The AMPLINEX magazine is designed to fit on to one side of an 80-track disc. If you use 40-track discs you should send one double-sided or two single-sided discs.

Suggested file formats are:

a) AMPLE music programs - save these in normal Studio 5000 format (e.g. by selecting 'Save program' from the Studio 5000 Main menu). Since many members do not have the Music 4000 keyboard please ensure that your program has no M.M4 or M.KFX module words present. To make sure, try loading the program using your Studio 5000 system disc.

Please include some comments about the music - how or why it was written, how it could be changed - and put them into a word as comments following a DISPLAY statement. Use of the word 'info' to contain such text is common practice and we would suggest that it is NOT displayed automatically every time the music is played.

b) AMPLE instruments - save these in text form via *SPOOL using the AMPLE 'TYPE' command to save the word(s) you want.

Some description of the sound itself and hints on its use (e.g. which parameters could be changed, which are the most suitable octave settings) would make it more useful. This can be done using comments within the instrument definition itself (by preceding them with a '%').

c) Text (hints, questions etc.) - use the 'Feedback' note facility for short contributions. For longer pieces use View, Wordwise or other word processor (without embedded format codes or commands). Do not right justify the text.

You can help us operate AMPLINEX more efficiently by careful naming of the files which you send us. Receiving several files called 'hint' or 'quest' can cause us problems in trying to keep track of which contribution came from which member.

Wherever possible, please try and make the filenames of your contributions unique especially where they are for a regular section of the magazine.

Putting a combination of your name or initials and the section for which the contribution is destined is one way of doing this. So if your name is Fred Bloggs you could use FBquest or BlogH&T for contributions to the Questions and Answers or Hints and Tips sections.

Whatever filenames you use, please remember to include your name somewhere in the contribution - this can save us many hours annotating lists and cross-referencing filenames with contributors.

Ensure that your disc is well packed as we will be using the same packaging to return it to you.

Make sure you enclose a return address label and postage and that both the packaging and the disc are marked with your name and address.

Send it to:

AMPLINEX
26 Arbor Lane
Winnersh
Berks.
RG11 5JD

to arrive by the date specified in the 'Next issue' section.

We look forward to reading and hearing your contributions.

Published in AMPLINEX 018, July 1990

Update – changes/corrections/comments

This section is a focus for news about the workings of AMPLINEX, corrections to items in previous issues, and other small items of information which might otherwise be missed amongst the details of each issue.

Studio 5000 Release 2 issue

In AMPLINEX 016 I added a note to the music file '$.Django' which read:

This piece seems to 'hang' on Studio 5000 Release 2 but plays correctly on Release 8. If anyone can work out why, please let me know.

We have experienced problems before with long PLAY strings on release 2, but this didn't seem to be the problem here.

Alan Minns has kindly replied to the appeal:

I had already found the problem before reading your note. This was on Studio 5000 Release 3, although my two versions of the Studio 4000 software played it correctly.

Part 9, the time base distortion factor, would seem to be the likely culprit and removing it does cure the problem - but that is cheating!

Part 9 consists of one word only:

"part9a" [
SCORE 24,/ REP(2 WIND 48,/)REP
]

which is taken directly from the AMPLE Nucleus Programmer Guide (page 199) where it is described as a method of "adding global 'swing'".

Alan experimented with a variety of changes to the program and identified three methods to make it work correctly:

1) Changing part9a so that the REP(...)REP loop is made conditional and is switched off for the duration of parts 'c' with a variable 'flag'.

"part9a" [
SCORE 24,/ OFF flag #!
REP(2 WIND 48,/ flag #?)UNTIL()REP
]

2) Replacing the PLAY string

"123459-iabcd" PLAY

by an equivalent P(...)P structure:

"play" [READY mix
1P(part1i
2P(part2a part2b part2c part2d)P
3P(part3a part3b part3c part3d)P
4P(part4a part4b part4c part4d)P
9P(part9a)P
part1a part1b part1c part1d)P
GO
]

3) Shortening the PLAY string to:

"12349-iae" PLAY

where the 'e' parts merely group together the 'b', 'c' and 'd' parts.

Alan concludes:

It would seem therefore that the problem is yet another manifestation of the FX1A/PLAY bug.

We would like to thank Alan for his investigative work which may help us to provide music files which can be played on all versions of the Studio 5000 software.

Music title

Our apologies to Carl Robinson for mis-naming his music contribution in the Music section of AMPLINEX 015. The piece he submitted was a version of 'Caroline' by Status Quo and not, as we put in the Music menu, 'Sweet Caroline' - which is by Neil Diamond.

ROM ID

A couple of members have recently asked to know the ID number of the ROM which is used to prepare the AMPLINEX disc. This is the number displayed when AMPLE is entered and at the top of the editing screens.

For their information, the ROM ID used to create the AMPLINEX disc is 11134.

We always welcome suggestions for improvements in the workings or contents of AMPLINEX - most of the changes made to date have originated from members' suggestions. So, if you have an idea to improve AMPLINEX, let us know.

Also, please let us know if you spot an error or omission in the contents of AMPLINEX - you may be the first one who has noticed.

Published in AMPLINEX 018, July 1990

Welcome to AMPLINEX 018

Kevin Doyle and Roy Follett

In this issue, in addition to the regular sections of Questions and Answers and Hints and Tips, we have a utility to convert files created by Island Logic's Music System software to AMPLE. We also have a feature on the various uses which members make of their Hybrid Music Systems.

We have seventeen pieces of AMPLE music, some original, some which may be familiar, as well as reviews of two new music discs, a tutorial package, and the Music 5000 Universal.

We hope you enjoy the disc and we look forward to receiving your contributions to AMPLINEX 019.

Published in AMPLINEX 018, July 1990