Hints and tips

ROM compatibility

This issue's Hints and Tips starts with some further responses to our request for details of ROMs which do or do not work with AMPLE.
N R Varley
I have had problems with AMPLE pieces crashing for no apparent reason. This I have now narrowed down to one of my ROMs. This is the Oxford Pascal V2.1. When it has been disabled it causes no further headaches. Incidentally this ROM has caused me problems with other software, e.g. Repton 2.
To your list of well-behaved ROMs I can add the following:
Floppy-wise Plus 1.9
Slave 1.34
Vine Micros Replay System
Acorn Forth 1.03
Watford Quest Paint 1.10
Watford Dumpout 3.2
Alan Mothersole
Here are some more to add to your list of AMPLE-compatible ROMs:
(on BBC B and Master 128)
AMX Mouse Support V3.61 (Super Art)
AMX Stop Press 1.9
AMX Stop Press Support 1.9
The BASIC Editor 1.32
ViewSheet 1.0
ADT 1.50
Dumpmaster 2.03
DFS 2.26
Not AMPLE-compatible:
(on Master 128 - not tested on BBC B)
PMS NTQ ROM - When using the STAFF printout routine from the Music 4000 the music is printed OK but on returning to the screen the music has vanished!
Patrick Black
One problem I have come across is not with ROMs, but with the way I installed them. I have a Care cartridge socket and several ROMs in cartridges. With a Solidisk 2Meg128k board it worked well, but when I replaced this with an Integra-B board from Computech, AMPLE went haywire.
The Care cartridge was plugged into ROM socket 0 on the BBC main board - and that was the problem. Once I'd moved it to the lowest priority socket on the Integra-B, AMPLE worked perfectly.
By the way, add the Integra-B board to the list of those on which you can use the Shadow RAM facility. I had other teething problems with it, but full marks to Computech for the work they put in to solve them. Their latest issue of controlling software works a treat with AMPLE.

Double keyboard voices

Ken Hughes
To play two different instruments together in a music part you can simply use two parts with different instruments on them to play the same piece; but how can you play two different instruments together on the Music 4000 keyboard?
One answer is as follows: press f9 to call up the Jukebox program and load 'Keyboard-general sounds'. Press f2 to enter text mode and edit KEYB to read as shown below,
______________________________________
KEYSET        8 KEYS        8 VOICES
 0 SHARE 2 VOICES
 1 VOICE  Simpleins  2 VOICE  Upright
 2 VOICE -12 TRANS 0 REDUCE 0 0 Spread
   16 Scale     ON Expand    OFF Split
______________________________________
(Note: Expand is ON)
and MAKE the word.
Go back to panel mode and press f1 (play). You may now select any two voices to play together. Press the sustain pedal and, whilst keeping it pressed, press two notes on the Music 4000 keyboard, such as Middle C and the C above it, together. Release the pedal. Both instruments will now sound together when a note is played on the keyboard.
Unfortunately, it is only monophonic and you may need to enter 1 KEYS in command mode to avoid lost notes. The volume of VOICE 2 can be lowered by using the Reduce control, or transposed to another octave with the TRANS control. To cancel the effect just press the sustain pedal.

Synchronising the Music 5000 to tape

Stewart M Wilkie
A simple method of synchronising two separate programs to tape can be used when expensive multi-track recording equipment is not available. This manual method is possible because of the instantaneous effect of the 'PAUSE' facility (controlled by the spacebar) in the Mixing Desk.
Using an old 4-track tape recorder with a pre-amp/headphone for monitoring I have successfully synchronised 16 (two-channel) voices on tape. I have then transferred this to cassette with an added 'live' instrument.
The method is as follows:
1) Create two separate programs each using all 8 (2-channel) voices which if they could be played simultaneously would create a 16-voice piece.
2) Program 1 should have an audible 'click-track' as a leader to the actual music piece itself. I use the following:
1 VOICES Drum 96,XXXXXXXXX
followed by the normal program.
3) Record program 1 on to one track of the tape recorder. Then rewind the tape and switch to another track. Connect pre-amp/headphones which will enable you to hear what you have already recorded on the first track while recording on the second.
4) Load Program 2 into the Mixing Desk and select 'ON PAUSE' via the spacebar.
5) Start recording on the second track - you will hear the 'click-track' through the pre-amp/headphones - keep time with the beat and after the ninth click press the spacebar to start the transfer of program 2 to tape. You must press the spacebar exactly on the beat!
6) Rewind the tape and play back both tracks together - they should be perfect synchronised.
Note: using this method does not give true stereo of course - but this is often the case with small-scale multi-tracking.
If you have a stereo reverb effects unit, simulated stereo can be created by feeding the signals from both tracks through the left and right inputs of the reverb unit when transferring the output of both channels to cassette tape. This simulation happens because (at least on my reverb unit) the reverb signals are out of phase at the output stage and therefore tend to spread out across the sound stage.

Split keyboard volume

Ken Hughes
If you wish to use the excellent split keyboard program from AMPLINEX 007 with a voice in the left-hand section that is louder than the one in the right-hand section then simply add an AMP word such as 90 AMP, at the end of each of the last four lines of 'setup' to adjust the volume.
Editor's note:
More hints please!
Most AMPLE users have learnt a trick or two along the way, and AMPLINEX wants to share them with those just starting out.
So please don't assume that your idea is too trivial or obvious - it may be just the help someone else is looking for.
Please send in your hint - simple or sophisticated - in time for issue 009.
Published in AMPLINEX 008, November 1988
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