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.
Text file format in AMPLINEX
As you may already have noticed, the text files in AMPLINEX
have changed format - they are no longer right justified. This change has been
made in response to a request by Ted Royffe who wanted to be able to change the
text into 80 column format for printing, without the task of stripping out the
extra spaces from the original 38 column justified text.
We felt that this was probably a common requirement and we
trust that other members will prefer the new format.
We also received a request from Andy Gillanders to
distinguish the various sections of AMPLINEX by using different DFS
directories. This would enable the magazine's contents to be more easily split
up for integration into each member's own filing system.
We have decided to do this, and have allocated a different
directory to each section of AMPLINEX 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
Using this system should enable more meaningful filenames to
be used. The filenames of text files will, as before, be shown at the foot of
the screen as the text is displayed.
In line with the above changes, the AMPLINEX 'environment'
program has been changed from $.AMPLINX to A.MPLINEX (as you will by now have discovered).
We would appreciate your comments on these changes to
AMPLINEX and on any others you would like to see.
Copyright and AMPLINEX
We have provided detailed information to the Mechanical
Copyright Protection Society about the operation and financing of AMPLINEX and
we are now waiting for a decision from them on how we can publish material of
which the contributor is not the copyright owner. We are hoping for a decision before
the next issue of AMPLINEX in March.
If you have AMPLE music programs containing material which
is not your copyright you can still send these in as contributions to AMPLINEX.
We will simply retain these until the copyright issue is resolved.
AMPLINEX and 'Music City'
As mentioned in the previous issue of AMPLINEX, we have
agreed to operate an exchange with 'Music City' the computer music section of
Micronet. We will supply a copy of each issue of AMPLINEX to 'Music City' from
which they can select anything which they wish to distribute via Micronet. Once
they decide which contributions they want to use, we will put them in touch with
the authors so that they can ask their permission and can negotiate any payment
terms.
In exchange we will review the output of 'Music City' for
pieces suitable for inclusion in AMPLINEX.
Since the operation of this arrangement means that we will
be passing on members' addresses to Micronet, we would like to take this opportunity
of asking any members who would NOT wish this to happen to let us know as soon
as possible.
We must emphasize that no rights to publication are given to
Micronet by AMPLINEX and the decision to allow publication of any material
remains with the author.
We believe that this arrangement will have benefits for AMPLINEX
members both in the availability of more information and in the possible financial
gain from onward sale of their contributions.
Corrections
We are grateful to David Westbrook for highlighting two
errors in the article on 'Advanced AMPLE' in AMPLINEX 001. This looked at the
DIM, ARRAY and FRAME commands and in the section on the DIM command were two
example words: one for storing a string in memory ("$!") and one for
retrieving it ("$?").
In the case of the word "$?" the #B! on the second
line should have read #B?. There should also have been a pair of double quote
characters (indicating an empty string) at the start of the word.
The complete example should read:
"$?" [ "" % does address $? => string
#11 #B? FOR( 1 #+ % next character
#11 #B? $CHR $+ % fetch character
)FOR #2 % discard extra no.
$REV ] % reverse string
#11 #B? FOR( 1 #+ % next character
#11 #B? $CHR $+ % fetch character
)FOR #2 % discard extra no.
$REV ] % reverse string
We are sorry for any frustration caused to those who tried
the examples.
Feedback
To encourage just the sort of feedback which brought about
the changes and highlighted the problems discussed above, we have introduced a
new section to the AMPLINEX disc.
Under the section heading 'Feedback' is a utility to allow a
short note to be written on the screen and then saved to disc. The advantage
over use of a word processor or 'Notepad' is the ability to write the note
whilst still within the AMPLINEX environment.
Thus you can jot down your thoughts as you read or listen to
the contents of the new issue.
The files created using 'Feedback' can then be included on your
return disc for the next issue of AMPLINEX.
More details on using 'Feedback' are given in the section
itself and some notes on file naming are given in the 'How to contribute' part
of the Introduction section.
Finally, thank you to all those who sent us comments about AMPLINEX after issue 002. Your views and suggestions are always appreciated and are the only way to keep AMPLINEX constantly improving.
If you have sent in comments or suggestions and don't see
them acted upon straight away, please bear with us - we are trying to follow up
on as many as possible as quickly as we can, without holding up production of
the disc itself.
To provoke some thoughts from other members here is an
extract from a letter we received from Richard Nevill:
"The music files on the issue 002 disc reinforce a
suspicion I have long had that the Music 500/0 demands to have music especially
composed for it, rather than to have pale conversions of popular and classical
'standards'."
We would like to promote some discussion on the musical
constraints and opportunities presented by the Hybrid Music System - so let us
know your opinions in time for the March issue.
Published in AMPLINEX 003, January 1988
