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.
The AMPLINEX Survey
Thank you to all those members who returned completed files
from the AMPLINEX 007 survey - we have now received 45. To those who have not
yet responded, please do so with your next disc - we want to know about you
too!
From the results received so far, a picture is building of
the type of computer equipment and Hybrid Music System components used by
AMPLINEX members. Some of the initial findings are given below:
The computer in greatest use is the BBC Model B, which
accounts for three-quarters of our sample; almost all the rest have the BBC
Master 128. Printers and word processors are the commonest peripheral (used by
over 90% of members), with colour monitors, joysticks and Sideways RAM being
used with three out of four machines. A mouse was less popular (about 40% of members)
and Shadow RAM had been added to about one-third of the BBC Model B machines.
Most members (over 95%) are using double-sided disc drives,
with about a two-thirds having dual disc drives. The DFS is the most popular
filing system, the ADFS and others only being used by a quarter of AMPLINEX
members.
The majority of members upgraded to the Hybrid Music System
from a Music 500, with only a fifth of members having bought the Music 5000
system as a whole. Almost three-quarters of members use a keyboard with their system
and almost 20% have already bought the Music 2000 MIDI interface (another 30%
are considering its purchase). No one seems to have bought the Music 1000
amplifier.
The Hybrid music discs seem very popular, with the average
member having two or three of them. 'Cosmix' by Pilgrim Beart seems by far the
most popular, perhaps because it was one of the first.
The responses about AMPLINEX itself will take a little
longer to analyse as much of the data is in text form. We will review these (as
well as any further survey results we have received) in the next issue.
Our apologies for some poor programming in the survey
program. The routine which saved the survey answers to disc immediately tried
to re-load the AMPLINEX control program (A.MPLINEX) without allowing an opportunity
for discs to be changed. Depending on the disc drives used, this could generate
a '! Not found' error and this caused some confusion about whether the file had
been saved correctly. Sorry.
AMPLE for beginners
One comment that has already been noted from several survey
returns is the need for an 'AMPLE for beginners' section in the magazine.
Ideally, this would take the form of a step-by-step guide to making a piece of
music, covering such areas as scores, instruments, players and mixes.
We would like to appeal to those members who now feel fairly
confident about the procedure of music-making on the Hybrid Music System, and
who feel that they could explain at least some of the basics to others, to get
in touch with AMPLINEX.
We would like to arrange a series of articles (in text or
AMPLE program form) covering the basics of AMPLE music composition to start
during the first half of next year. The articles could be written by one person
or shared amongst a group of people, but written to a common format.
If you think you could help in this, please send a note with
your next disc indicating what you might be able to do and including any ideas
you have about how such a series should be structured.
AMPLINEX and CEEFAX
As you may know we planned to provide AMPLINEX-sponsored
material for the BBC's CEEFAX Telesoftware transmissions starting in the autumn
of this year. In the previous issue of AMPLINEX we stated that we had been experiencing
some difficulty in our discussions with the BBC's CEEFAX service and that we
were waiting to receive a copy of the special licensing agreement which the BBC
were drawing up for use with AMPLINEX.
Shortly after the publication of AMPLINEX 007, we received a
draft copy of the licensing agreement and we then contacted six AMPLINEX
members whose music we had selected from member's recommendations. We passed
the names and addresses of these members to the BBC so that copies of the
licensing agreement could be forwarded to them.
A month has now passed, and the BBC has still not sent out
any of the licensing agreements. They tell us that their contracts department
has been in discussion with MCPS (the Mechanical-Copyright Protection Society)
about the status of broadcast music software and that the result is that such
music software broadcasts cannot go ahead.
As we approach publication of this issue it is still not
clear whether this ruling will stop the broadcast of original music software
(i.e. where the author of the program is also the composer of the music). All
of our first six choices for broadcast fall into this category.
To those members whom we contacted to arrange broadcast of
their programs, we can only apologise for the delay and trust that the BBC will
make a clear decision on this matter in the near future.
AMPLINEX membership
We have had several requests (mainly from overseas members)
for an AMPLINEX membership number and card and, as our membership is increasing
daily, we have decided to comply with these requests.
Your membership card (if not included with this disc) will
be sent to you with a future issue. Your membership number will relate very
approximately to the order in which you joined.
Although the card will have no immediate use, it will prove
your membership of AMPLINEX, if ever this is required. There is space on the card
for you to enter your AMPLE ROM ID number.
We found out recently that at least one AMPLINEX member owns
a Music 500 with AMPLE BCE and just reads the text parts of AMPLINEX since he
cannot load the programs. Since no one without the AMPLE Nucleus software could
have used our recent survey we would like to know if any more AMPLINEX members
are AMPLE BCE users. If you are could you please let us know as we might be
able to offer you a better service.
80-column print utility
A note from Bernie Dawson calls our attention to a problem
with the 80-column print utility (U.Print80) published in AMPLINEX 005. He
writes:
When I tried to use the 80-column print utility I got an
error message at line 270. I cured this by altering the line to:
X=OPENIN(F$(Y%))
as it did not have the OPENIN command. It then worked as described.
We believe that this error is due to an incompatibility
between BASIC 1 and BASIC 2.
The token (internal code) for the BASIC word 'OPENIN' is
different in the two versions of BASIC. This means that the program published
in AMPLINEX (saved using BASIC 2) will not reproduce the word 'OPENIN' when loaded
into a machine using BASIC 1. Any other members finding the same problem should
make the correction described by Bernie Dawson.
Thank you to all those members who contributed to our 'AMPLE
by phone' feature in this issue. Feedback from users of a service or product is
always valuable, especially to those others who may be considering spending money
on it in the future.
AMPLINEX welcomes reviews or comments on any aspect of the
Hybrid Music System: it doesn't matter whether the product or service is new -
there will still be many members who haven't bought or used it yet.
So if you have an opinion or comment to make about some
aspect of the Hybrid Music System or a related product, please let us know - it
could be just what someone else is waiting to hear.
Also, please let us know if you spot an error or omission in
the contents of AMPLINEX - you may be the only one who has noticed.
Published in AMPLINEX 008, November
1988
