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.
Problems with AMPLINEX 008
Our apologies to those members who had problems with the
size of the AMPLINEX control program (A.MPLINEX) in issue 008. Once again we
had inadvertently extended the program beyond the size of the memory available
to users of Studio 5000/4 on a BBC Model B. The disc will work with the
standard Studio 5000 system but, to make things easier, we have included a
utility on this disc to remove the title page from the A.MPLINEX program, thus freeing
up enough space for it to be loaded within Studio 5000/4.
The program is called 'A.008fix' and to run it you should
enter AMPLE via
*AMPLE
and then type
"A.008fix" LOAD RUN
You will need your Studio 5000 or 5000/4 system disc as well
as your AMPLINEX 008 disc.
Once again, our apologies to those members affected by this
problem.
Another, rather more subtle, problem came to light with two
of the music programs on the AMPLINEX 008 disc. Two pieces ('AxelF' and
'Goodbye to a £1000') would not play on some members' systems, giving 'Too many
voices' or 'Too many channels' errors.
It seems that these errors only occur on certain releases of
the Studio 5000 or Studio 5000/4 software - so most members experienced no
problems. We are currently trying to clarify the situation with Hybrid
Technology and the members involved in order that we can filter out such
problems during the preparation of the AMPLINEX discs.
Several members offered solutions to the problems, and we
have included some notes provided by Tony Walduck in this issue's 'Features'
section. We thought that these might be of interest even to those who were not directly
affected. We shall be sending out amended copied of the two pieces to all those
members who told us that they had experienced problems.
AMPLINEX and CEEFAX
As you may know we planned to provide AMPLINEX-sponsored
material for the BBC's CEEFAX Telesoftware service starting in the autumn of
last year. In the previous issue of AMPLINEX we stated that we were waiting for
the BBC to clarify their legal position over music software broadcasts. Finally,
at the end of January, we received a new version of the contract which the BBC
proposes to offer to AMPLINEX members for permission to broadcast their work.
We are currently studying this, and will be contacting the
BBC in the next couple of weeks. All being well, those members whom we
contacted to request broadcast of their programs, should be hearing from the
BBC within the next few weeks. We hope to have details of the expected
transmission dates in the next issue.
Questions to Hybrid Technology
Quite frequently in the 'Questions and Answers' section of
AMPLINEX, we receive notes containing comments or questions about the Hybrid
Music System which are addressed (rhetorically) to Hybrid Technology.
In response to this we have arranged with Hybrid Technology
to run a special 'Question and Answer' feature to give AMPLINEX members a
chance to put questions direct to Hybrid Technology about the Hybrid Music System.
Questions should be sent in as contributions to the next
issue of AMPLINEX (010) and we will then publish the questions and Hybrid's responses
in that next issue.
We are looking for questions which will be of general
interest to AMPLINEX members, not detailed technical questions (which we can
deal with in our normal 'Questions and Answers' section) or queries about specific
purchases. The sort of questions which have cropped up in contributions to
AMPLINEX are 'is a Hybrid Music System being developed for the Archimedes?',
'what happened to the Advanced Sound Studio waveform and envelope design
module?', 'would it be possible to use Sideways RAM for module or program
storage?'
So, type in your burning question, put it on a disc, and
send it to AMPLINEX by the contributions deadline shown in the 'Next issue
news' section. We will then consolidate the questions received and pass them on
to Hybrid Technology. Both the questions and the answers will then be published
in AMPLINEX 010.
40-track disc users
We have recently had a spate of problems with AMPLINEX
copies on 40-track discs being unreadable on members' disc drives. As a
temporary measure we have formatted fresh discs and loaned them to members who
have experienced this problem. Why this trouble has suddenly appeared after all
this time we do not know.
We use switchable 80/40 drives, either Cumana or
Technomatic, to copy the AMPLINEX files to members' discs. After reading
various books on disc drive technology the following seems the most likely
explanation:
Tracks written by an 80-track drive are narrower than those
written by a 40-track drive, so only half of the track has the new file written
to it. When it is read by a 40-track drive it reads both the new file and the old
file that remains on the disc, at the same time - hence the corruption.
To overcome this problem we would ask that users of 40-track
discs send fresh (unused) formatted disc(s) for each new issue of AMPLINEX. If
you are making a contribution, please include that on another disc. We will
return all the discs as usual.
This is not a very elegant answer to the problem, but it
should save a great deal of hassle. If any member has any other solutions to
offer, please get in touch.
A.MPLINEX rename facility
In response to some members' requests to change the name of
the A.MPLINEX program (to make it easier to type), we have included a utility
in the main menu to allow the file to be renamed. If, for example, you wish to
call up AMPLINEX via the f9 ('Jukebox') key, you should rename the program to 'Jukebox'.
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 contents of AMPLINEX - you may be the first one who has noticed.
Published in AMPLINEX 009, January 1989
