AMPLINEX 025

AMPLINEX issue 025 was published in March 1992. 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.

Synthetic Day

by Keith Taylor Greetings All. While you listen to the music see if it matches the life-style of a day in your life. From crawling out of bed in the morning to staggering into it at night - well, maybe not quite that bad, but you know what I mean. If anything my days are a bit more hectic so it should be speeded up a bit for me. Anyway, that's enough from me, hope you like it. Keith Taylor from slightly sunny Blackpool!

Source: AMPLINEX 025 disk, file $.SYNTHET

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Published in AMPLINEX 025, March 1992

Surely By Now

by Paul Hibbert This song was an attempt to do an old fashioned ballad that went wrong. It is still I think a reasonable tune and the lyrics that go with it are ok but I don't feel it is the best that I can do. I have another that will be in AMPLE fairly soon and I hope to do a much better "production" job on that.

Source: AMPLINEX 025 disk, file $.SURELY

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Published in AMPLINEX 025, March 1992

Suddenly

by Frank Dudley Monster Computations Lyrics: Suddenly, they took away the starlight. Suddenly, they took away the sun. And they shattered the night with the blinding sight of a terrible light in a cause they thought right. Oh baby Jesus! Why didn't you speak? Why didn't you speak more clearly? And the rain came down washing away all the blood and tears. And the Earth turned brown rotting away Mama's work of years. And the Sun burned bright, Lighting up eternal night. Wearily, they struggled for survival. Drearily, they set about their task. And they grovelled around in the sterilised ground, searching for worms which refused to be found. Oh baby Jesus! Why didn't you speak? Why didn't you speak more clearly? Those who remained who were sighted, Had to believe what they saw. Total destruction and smouldering ruins Rubble on rubble and more. Those who complained tried to fight it, Lost the impossible war, Turned to construction from charred remains. Who let it happen? What for? And the drains stained brown, Flushing away all the stench and mess. And the rats ran free, Searching for scraps in the emptiness. And the Sun burned bright. Lighting up eternal night. Slovenly, is how it made a man feel. Stealthily, the vultures wings drew near. As they scratched at the fields, But the ground wouldn't yield, For the contents were sealed and would not be revealed. Oh baby Jesus! Why didn't you speak? Why didn't you speak more clearly? And the rain came down, Washing away all the blood and tears. And the Earth turned brown, Rotting away Mama's work of years, And the Sun burned bright, Lighting up eternal night...

Source: AMPLINEX 025 disk, file $.SUDDEN

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Published in AMPLINEX 025, March 1992

Sophistichord

by F Chaplin

Source: AMPLINEX 025 disk, file $.SOPHIST

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Published in AMPLINEX 025, March 1992

Song of the Volga Boatman

by Bo Hanson Composed by: Traditional This is the second tune I've submitted so far. It's pretty straightforward as far as instruments go, and no sound effects are used. Although there are lyrics to it, they are in Russian (apart from something that sounds like 'yo-o heave ho...') and, as I can neither read nor write the language (or get the symbols on the Beeb keyboard), I left them out. But I think it's got the feel and moodiness of the real thing and I hope you like it. So listen and enjoy. Bo Hanson‚ Dragonsoft 90

Source: AMPLINEX 025 disk, file $.VOLGA

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Published in AMPLINEX 025, March 1992

Solid Rock

by Michael Lefevre Music 5000 version recorded Duration: 3:50 I always have difficulty making up names for pieces. This title is supposed to refer to the mineral rock rather than the music. When I thought of it I didn't notice the double †meaning.

Source: AMPLINEX 025 disk, file $.SOLID

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Published in AMPLINEX 025, March 1992

Smile

by Don Buckley Composed by: Charles Chaplin 03-06 November 1990 Copyright 1954 Bourne Inc, New York USA This music has been converted from Island Logic's Music System format by CRUMPLE - ConveRsion Utility for aMPLE written by AJP McMaster, which was published in AMPLINEX 018, July 1990. Conversion and expansion by Don.

Source: AMPLINEX 025 disk, file $.SMILE

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Published in AMPLINEX 025, March 1992

Shaking All Over

by Jack Wrigley Composed by: Johnny Kidd (Heath) By Johnny Kidd & the Pirates This piece started life as a try-out for Peter Miller's note-bending utility from AMPLINEX 011. It uses two of the three words (bn1 and bn2) but not bn3. I think they work quite effectively with the guitar sound 'leadgit' (prt5). 3 Voices are used for the drum parts, which is a touch extravagant, but the original Johnny Kidd recording had a typical early 60's empty sound anyway. A liberal sprinkling of 'Echo' adds to the period effect. Jack Wrigley

Source: AMPLINEX 025 disk, file $.SHAKING

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Published in AMPLINEX 025, March 1992

Round Midnight

by R Sapolsky Composed by: Thelonius Monk & Cootie Williams I do like the rather unusual chords used by MONK throughout this piece. Don't you?

Source: AMPLINEX 025 disk, file $.ROUND

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Published in AMPLINEX 025, March 1992

Prelude in F

by Ted Kirk 1951-1990

Source: AMPLINEX 025 disk, file $.PRELUDE

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Published in AMPLINEX 025, March 1992

Orinoco Flow

by Julian Benton Composed by: Enya Disco mix

Source: AMPLINEX 025 disk, file $.ORINOCO

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Published in AMPLINEX 025, March 1992

Nocturne no 12 in G major

by [unknown contributor] Composed by: John Field

Source: AMPLINEX 025 disk, file $.NOCTU12

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Published in AMPLINEX 025, March 1992

Incantations

by Earl Bonnar Composed by: Mike Oldfield

Source: AMPLINEX 025 disk, file $.INCANT

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Published in AMPLINEX 025, March 1992

I am the Grooviest

by Tim Sketchley I wrote this piece in my early teens. I think it's a simple piece and so I didn't think it would be worth the time programming, but now I have I feel pleased with it. Not much to say about it except the usual use of Echo, newact, and a few slurred notes.

Source: AMPLINEX 025 disk, file $.GROOVY

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Published in AMPLINEX 025, March 1992

How High the Moon

by John Bartlett Composed by: Morgan Lewis & Nancy Hamilton For anyone interested there is an alternative intro. Get the word 'play' and substitute 'j' for 'i'. Aficionados may recognise a quote from Charlie Parker's 'Ornithology' at the beginning of the second chorus, this is based on the same chord progression. There was much more I wanted to put in but the system is on the limit (so reduce tempo in the Mixing Desk). Hackers watch the mixes – they are all embedded in the score.

Source: AMPLINEX 025 disk, file $.HOWHIGH

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Published in AMPLINEX 025, March 1992

Handel's Water Music part 13: Alla Danza

by Jeff Bennett Composed by: Handel Arrangement by Granville Bantock Since becoming a Hybrid user in Nov 89 I have been programming the complete Water Music suite by Handel and have completed 13 of the 22 parts. This is the famous 'Water Share' music and, as with the whole suite, is based on an arrangement by Granville Bantock as published by W Paxton & Co, 36-38 Dean Street, London W1. With hindsight it would have been easier to work from an orchestral score as I have to dissect the piano transcription back into the individual instruments. Unfortunately the 38 character string length for the PLAY definition means that I have had to leave out the first phrase repeat.

Source: AMPLINEX 025 disk, file $.WATER13

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Published in AMPLINEX 025, March 1992

Doggin Around

by W T Hyde Composed by: Herschel Evans & Edgar Battle Arrangement by George Blackmore

Source: AMPLINEX 025 disk, file $.DOGGIN

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Published in AMPLINEX 025, March 1992

Desert Sun

by Andy Knight Composed for the Music 5000. March 1989

Source: AMPLINEX 025 disk, file $.DESERT

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Published in AMPLINEX 025, March 1992

Deep Purple

by Neil Walker Composed by: Peter de Rose (c)1934,1967, Robbins Music Corp. Saturday nights, billiards, a jar or two the monkey walk and Bury Pali'... it's a long walk home, a long time ago. As you can hear the lads are getting ready. When they start, any key for the serious stuff... Program & arrangement (c) Neil Walker This program contains copyright words from Richard Bettis' editing utility 'U.Wave' (AMPLINEX 014). These redefine the preset waveforms Metal and Syncer. The words are: WMOD, WZERO, WG!, WGC, wave, wnum, trans and do-up. To stop the program use the TAB key. The original waveforms will then be restored to the synthesiser. 'set' redefines the new waveforms. 'reset' restores the original ones. A very useful utility by Bob Ord can be found in AMPLINEX 015. A waveform may be drawn and the program will produce the harmonic values to use with WHG, another word in Richard Bettis' program. '%' out the first and last lines in the RUN word if you want RUN the program from Mixing Desk. The fade and swell words may be of interest. About coloured text: using #OUT with a colour code before DISPLAY is an easy way of getting a line of colour.

Source: AMPLINEX 025 disk, file $.DEEPPUR

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Published in AMPLINEX 025, March 1992

December

by B J Hawkins

Source: AMPLINEX 025 disk, file $.DECEMBR

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Published in AMPLINEX 025, March 1992

Axel Grinder

by Jim Redfarn The 'Axel' in my title refers to Axel Zwingenberger who, to my ears, is the best present day exponent of boogie woogie as originally played by Pinetops Smith, Meade Lux Lewis et al in the 20's and 30's. Jim Redfarn

Source: AMPLINEX 025 disk, file $.AXEL

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Published in AMPLINEX 025, March 1992

Getting Toolbox editors on the menu

Allan Gardner

As a user of the AMPLE Toolbox utilities I wanted to incorporate the Toolbox editors into the AMPLE 'main menu'.

I decided that there were some entries in the menu that I rarely used. (I should say at this point that I use the same M.MENU module whether I intend to use Music 4000 or not, by including or missing out the installation of M.M4 in the !BOOT file - see 'Separating AMPLE modules' utility in AMPLINEX 024).

If I am not using the Music 4000 I overlay the 'Keyboard', 'Recorder' and 'Ready system' items in the menu with a short file (generated with a memory editor), containing entries with 'Text Edit', 'Image Edit' and 'Utils'. If I do intend to use the Music 4000 I overlay the 'Ready system', 'Load' and 'Save' options with another file containing the patch to produce the TEDIT, IEDIT and UTILS options.

To generate the patch file it is necessary to do some memory searching on a normally-configured system. Once the M.MENU module has been INSTALLed it is modified by the system, so any patch generated will only work if the system is configured in a consistent manner (i.e. modules INSTALLed in the same order each time - not normally a problem).

Once you have located M.MENU in memory (some things to look for are 'MENUDISP', '"MDELETE', 'Mixing Desk' or '"MIX"') you need to find the page at which it starts, as this page is written into the module at various locations (about 40) on INSTALLation, and this page number will probably need to be incorporated into your patch.

An example entry in the MENU would contain the following bytes:

0E begin string (i.e. tokenised ")
09 length of following string **
54 T
65 e
78 x
74 t
20 space
45 E
64 d
69 i
74 t
0E end of string?
09 don't know - but 09 works & 0C removes entry from MENU
22 " (not tokenised)
54 T
45 E
44 D
49 I
54 T
22 " (not tokenised)
8B ) these four tokens appear
90 ) to MDELETE any temporary
11 ) module already loaded,
50 ) followed by "TEDIT"MLOAD TEDIT
37 page where start of M.MENU module is located
   (at location &3700 in this case)

** By careful choice of the string length of the new MENU entries, the patch can (and must) be designed to exactly overlay the original entries - no gaps or overlaps allowed!

In the !BOOT file you should include the line to *LOAD the patch file after the modules have been loaded, but before the 'MAIN' command.

One (slight) problem is that the M.UTILS module does not have a 'UTILS' word defined, so:

"UTILS" MLOAD UTILS

(as performed by the menu selection) will MLOAD the module correctly but will then give a '!Mistake' error.

To alleviate this problem I have added the following two lines to my !BOOT file, again just before the 'MAIN' command.

"UTILS" [ """UTILS""MSHOW"$+ ]
*K.7"LOAD"UTILS"["""UTILS""MSH."$+]|M

The first line defines the word 'UTILS' so that the available utilities are shown after the module is loaded, and the second line adds the same word to the '"LOAD' definition of function key 7.

In summary, I will admit that it is quite messy to implement, but once it has been done it is most satisfying to see, and be able to use, the Toolbox editors in the main menu.

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Published in AMPLINEX 025, March 1992

Hints and tips

Printing AMPLINEX disc catalogues

Leslie Gardener

I look forward eagerly to the arrival of each new AMPLINEX issue and never fail to learn a thing or two. As soon as each disc arrives I print out a list of contents, then systematically listen to the music and mark it on a scale of one to ten. That saves my time by reminding me that some items are not worth another hearing. The average mark is 7 or 8 but there are some for which zero seems a bit on the generous side.

Perhaps some members do not realise how easy it is to print out the catalogue of a disc using Wordwise Plus 2 (and almost certainly the original Wordwise and Wordwise Plus). Only four keystrokes are required:

f1 * . f2

Use option 7 to see the result on screen or option 6 to print it out.

This works equally for DFS and ADFS directory structures.

Printing graphics above a menu

Kevin Doyle

The MENUDISP command, which displays the lines in a menu, not only starts at the top of the screen, but also clears any blank lines in the menu preventing the display of graphics or other non-menu text above the menu options.

To get round this add the graphics after the menu has printed (by moving the cursor back to the top of the screen) but before the MENU command.

An example is shown below:

"ex" [
7 MODE MENUDISP
%
%
%
% menu option printed by MENUDISP%ex 30 #OUT DISPLAY
% menu title printed by DISPLAY
145 #OUT SP SP SP SP
"££££££/,,,,,|ppppp|,,,,,/££££££"$OUT
NL
MENU
]

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Published in AMPLINEX 025, March 1992

Questions and answers

Question: Singing with the Music 5000

I sing with a group of friends, two of whom play the piano accompaniments, but I have performed a John Dowland song with 'lute' accompaniment, using the following instrument:

2 CHANS
1 CHAN
  Bright   Flat    Long
2 CHAN
  Reedy    Flat    Percuss
  128 AMP
EVERY CHAN
ON PHSET

It works quite well if the volume is not too high. I start with an arpeggio in the correct key followed by ON PAUSE until a function key, defined with OSCLI to give OFF PAUSE, is pressed to start the song.

The problem with a performance version is that you have to write in the Tempo and Loudness variations, and the performance becomes a bit rigid. Has anyone any ideas to enable the singer to adjust these during the performance?

Fred Bridges

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Published in AMPLINEX 025, March 1992

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.

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Published in AMPLINEX 025, March 1992

Next issue news

The next issue of AMPLINEX will be for May 1992. We plan to publish at the end of May.

All applications for a FREE copy (i.e. those with discs containing contributions) must be received by MONDAY 11TH MAY. Anyone paying the £2.00 fee should apply by Friday 29th May.

More than ever the content depends on your contributions between now and then - so please let us have an example of your music, or that question, answer, hint, or comment which might spring to mind when reading this issue. You can record your thoughts right now using our Feedback utility, or copy your latest piece of music on to another disc ready for contribution.

We look forward to reading and hearing your contributions.

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Published in AMPLINEX 025, March 1992

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 and the arrangement (if applicable). Please do not include lyrics as it is not feasible for us to obtain separate copyright clearance for these.

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.

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Published in AMPLINEX 025, March 1992

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.

AMPLINEX music

In reply to the comments, in the previous issue, from Jim Brook about the selection of AMPLINEX music, we have received the following thoughts from Don Buckley:

Since a lot of music files are received each issue - would it be an idea for AMPLINEX to let it be known to members that, for an additional fee of, say, two pounds (the same as for each normal issue disc), copies of files not included on that disc could be had (on a separate disc sent by those people interested)?

I do agree that there are many different tastes in music, and feel that this may be a solution to the pressing problem of space on the normal issue discs. Bearing in mind the extra time taken to copy these discs, would it not be fair for the organisers of AMPLINEX to gain a little financial benefit for doing the work, from the extra monies sent for the discs?

We would certainly like to publish more music and, in the past, we have occasionally published an extra disc of music in addition to the normal issue disc. It has to be said, however, that this was during the 'heyday' of AMPLINEX when the number of contributions received for each issue greatly outweighed the number we could publish. In these more restricted times (this issue's contributions numbered about half those published) we have to rely on more and more material submitted in the past.

Although we have a considerable backlog of music contributions some of these are versions of material already published, and some would be, we feel, of limited interest to members - usually very simple transcriptions of sheet music.

In addition, we have attempted to maintain a consistent level of quality in the AMPLINEX output and this means checking and, sometimes, editing contributions to make them work within the AMPLINEX format. We would not want to lower those standards just in order to increase the volume of music published, and this means we would need to spend more time preparing each issue's discs.

In short, time is the main reason why we feel unable to pursue this suggestion - the offer of a reward is appreciated, but the real constraint is lack of time, not lack of money.

Reviewer wanted

We have received a copy of Hybrid's Music Publisher package which 'does for printed music what the word processor does for text'. We are looking for a member with knowledge of music notation to review the package for AMPLINEX. The package runs on any BBC computer and prints on any Epson-graphics compatible printer. If you are interested please contact AMPLINEX as soon as possible after receiving this disc - we would like to carry the review in our May issue.

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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 content of AMPLINEX - you may be the first one who has noticed.

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Published in AMPLINEX 025, March 1992

Welcome to AMPLINEX 025

Kevin Doyle and Roy Follett

In this issue we have brief sections of Questions and Answers and Hints and Tips as well an explanation of a way to customise the AMPLE main menu.

We have a large selection of AMPLE music (over 20 pieces) and more discussion (in the Update section) about publishing music in AMPLINEX.

We are sorry to report that, as well as the rather sparse Questions and Answers and Hints and Tips sections, there are no Features or News and Reviews sections in this issue.

About 18 months ago (in AMPLINEX 019) Roy commented on the gradual decline in membership which we had experienced since the number of new members was being outweighed by those whose interest had waned or who had moved on to other systems.

This trend has, sadly, continued with a consequent reduction in the number of contributions. At their height, these regularly overflowed two, or even three, double-sided 80-track discs; the contributions to this issue fitted on one side of one disc.

We are considering ways in which to try to renew interest in AMPLINEX and boost contributions, and we would ask any members who have suggestions to make them known to us. Naturally, we would like to continue publishing AMPLINEX for as long as possible, but if there is no longer the level of interest to make such an enterprise feasible we will have to consider bringing it to a close.

We look forward to receiving your contributions to the next issue of AMPLINEX - details of our deadlines are in the Next Issue News section.

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Published in AMPLINEX 025, March 1992