Jack Wrigley
Members might be interested in comments made in the music
technology magazine 'Sound on Sound' for March 1992. Paul Gilby, reporting the
BETT92 Education Technology show first mentioned the limited choice of music software
for the Archimedes in comparison to the Atari ST and IBM PC computers.
Identifying IBM compatibles as Acorn's main challenge in the
education market, he then questioned Research Machines' choice of the PC186 as
their education computer. This has enough differences from the PC standard to make
it incompatible with most of the vast choice of PC music software and hardware.
Of more relevance to AMPLINEX members, was his surprise at
the non-appearance of Hybrid's 'Music Sequencer' for the PC186 (see AMPLINEX
015 and 016) at the very show for the market at which it was aimed. All of
Research Machines' display concentrated on their fully IBM-compatible PC286 and
PC386 computers.
At a time when the editor is reporting a reduced interest in
AMPLINEX, we can only reflect on what might have been.
10 years is a long, long time in the computer world, yet the
reality is that AMPLE is currently constrained by the standards of 1982
computer technology. So far, Hybrid's only (albeit non-AMPLE) response is tied
to one of the weakest bits of hardware in the PC market.
For the future, I can't see many people hanging on to, or
acquiring, 8-bit hardware just for AMPLE - despite the fact that it has to be
the best, most flexible computer music system devised.
Today's market demands WIMP-based front ends. Just look at
how well Microsoft's Windows operating environment has sold for the PC.
To attract younger people AMPLE needs to be on a machine
with a reasonable games base, while we 'wrinklies' require a machine strong in
areas like DTP, CAD and Multimedia. Four years on, the Arc market has developed
considerable strength in all these areas.
If Hybrid are holding back for the real IBM PC market, then
no one can really criticise such a commercial decision; but surely the
intervening period could have been more profitably spent on developing an
Archimedes version of AMPLE rather than simply a sequencer for the rather
oddball PC186?
Published in AMPLINEX 027, July 1992
