Answer: Music 2000 and Casio HT3000
Regarding Paul Nuttall's question on the use of the Casio
HT3000 and the Music 2000 (AMPLINEX 012) I think Ian Waugh's and my 'dialogue'
(AMPLINEX 010 to 012) regarding the HT700 points the way. Yes, you can use it
but don't expect to be able to trigger drum fill-ins as the keyboard's MIDI implementation
would not seem to allow it.
Taj Letocha
Question: AMPLE Benchmarks
I am running AMPLE on my Electron with Slogger Master RAM
board (which provides Shadow RAM and overcomes some of the Electron's speed
deficiencies).
It would be interesting to measure the Electron's speed
against the BBC B and Master, especially when playing complex music. It seems
to me that limits are reached when the interrupts can't quite cope with the
processing load.
Can anyone think of a way of quantifying this? What are the processing
limits for a BBC B? Are there any ways of optimising speed?
Philip Wells
Question: PAN values and volume
When I played back my piece 'Machu picchu' (AMPLINEX M13) I
was horrified. At 'mix3' where both tunes combine, the volume level of tune 2 completely
blotted out tune 1. Several times this happened and then it suddenly went right
- then wrong again.
I spent a couple of hours trying to locate the trouble then,
quite fortuitously, I altered the PAN values of players 5 and 6 in 'mix3' from
3 and -3 respectively to 0 and - hey presto - it was cured.
So, if you have experienced the same problem and want to
hear what it really sounds like, alter 'mix3' as indicated above. I am somewhat
mystified by the effect of widely diverging PAN values. Is this normal or have
I got a bug in my outfit?
G H Richardson
Answer: Fanfare for the Common Man
In reply to John Spry (AMPLINEX 012) the 'Fanfare for the
Common Man' arrangement (AMPLINEX 011) was for a brass band with electric
instruments. The copyright owners gave us permission to perform it but we had
to surrender all copies of the manuscripts.
There is an arrangement available for brass but I believe
this to be the 'classical' version.
If you require the 'pop' version a phone call to Mark Wardle
(0623 823003) may prove fruitful. Remember to state the instruments required
and please quote my name as he should then remember that I've told him about
you.
Carl Robinson
Question: Re-MAKEing MENU words
Recently, I decided it was time I gave Ian Waugh's 'Funky
Nuts' some attention! This was an example piece built up stage-by-stage in his excellent
series in The Micro User last year. One of the subjects covered was the use of
a MENU screen to offer options to the listener. Trying it out as instructed
worked first time.
Flushed with this initial success I decided to add a drum
part and include this as an option on the menu. I then got the original MENU
word back into Notepad, included the new line, went into command mode, pressed
f3 to MAKE the word and got '! Mistake' time after time! There was no apparent fault
with the drum part, everything worked without a MENU option and yet every time
I tried to reMAKE the word '! Mistake' was the result.
After much searching the only way I found to MAKE the new
MENU word (with the definition in Notepad) was to enter in command mode
"MENU" DELETE MAKE
But, this technique is not required in any other cases that
I've come across. Every other word with the same name that I have wanted to
modify has been replaced by MAKE. Is MENU a special case? Needless to say, I
haven't found an explanation.
Jack Wrigley
Question: User words number limit
Does anyone know how to increase the number of user words
from the standard 125 allowed in one program, or is it simply not possible?
F Chaplin
Answer: Triggering of drum machines
Referring to the question from Carl Robinson in AMPLINEX 012
regarding the triggering of drum machines from within AMPLE. I wrote to Hybrid
some time ago about this problem, and the reply I received was:
1) use one of the Music 5000 audio outputs
2) on a Studio 5000-4 keyboard, use the internal sound chip
voice (normally a metronome output).
For various reasons I never tried these ideas, and suggest
that the simplest, but unfortunately expensive, way would be to use the Music
2000 MIDI interface.
Chris Hanby
Question: Copyright on AMPLE music
Could you please tell me how to apply for permission to
release an LP of AMPLE music. Do you need permission if you're not charging for
the music?
Carl Robinson
If you wish to publish other composers' music you need to
reach agreement with the Mechanical-Copyright Protection Society (MCPS) who
represent their interests. You should stress that you will not be charging for
the music. If you wish to find out more about the copyright laws, try the
Writers' and Artists' Yearbook which you should find in your local library.
The address of the MCPS is:
MCPS Limited
Elgar House
41 Streatham High Road
LONDON
SW16 1ER
Elgar House
41 Streatham High Road
LONDON
SW16 1ER
Telephone 01 769 4400
Question: Delete file and thunder
In AMPLINEX 012 you ask whether all the questions on Hybrid
Music System have been answered. Here's two which I asked some time ago which
haven't.
1) The Music 4000 User Guide (p.37) purports to explain how
to create a 'delete file' and it looks simple enough - but I just cannot get it
to work. I would like someone to give me a step-by-step idiot's guide on how to
create it from start to finish. I have been trying for the last six months without
success and it seems a most useful thing to have.
2) Has anyone had success making realistic thunder (a clap
or two followed by reverberations dying away)? Mine sounds like artillery fire.
G H Richardson
Answer: Sideways RAM programs
Stewart Wilkie asked in AMPLINEX 012 about the possibility
of authors of Sideways RAM utilities providing the source listing.
My own position on this is quite simple: no!
When I wrote ZROM (AMPLINEX U11) I wanted to produce
something which would be of benefit to all AMPLINEX members. I also hoped to
extend ZROM and apply bug-fixes as and when I received feedback on its use. Releasing
the source of ZROM to all and sundry would destroy any possibility of turning
ZROM into a long-lived utility - used and trusted by many. Instead, as
individuals changed ZROM its general usefulness to those without assembler
capabilities would diminish and so ZROM would become just another curiosity.
The idea of merging several utilities to save Sideways RAM
is a good idea which perhaps needs further thought. My own problem with this
approach is having to make my assembler code 'fit in' with someone else's. My
solution to having limited Sideways RAM is to use paged ROMs!
Taj Letocha
Question: Music 3000 and Shadow RAM
I have a Watford Shadow RAM board in my machine which has
served me well up to now. But, although the Music 3000 Installation Guide says
the unit will work with Shadow RAM, my system seems not to.
I have noticed that the C.PREPARE file is longer and also
runs at &2800, and the byte I have to change to get a page of user RAM for
the Shadow RAM is now &2860 instead of &203E. Changing this byte to
&14 as I have done in the past, or even &15 as suggested in a recent
AMPLINEX does not make it work properly and it always crashes in the Mixing
Desk.
Has anybody any ideas that could help with this problem? If
anyone wants any further information I can be contacted on Leeds (0532) 671070
at home or on Leeds 464881 during the day. My Telecom Gold mailbox is 82:TLT
095.
Graham Firth
Question: AMPLINEX and Music 3000
Can the A.MPLINEX main program be reduced in size or split
into two programs to accommodate the latest Music 3000 software? In the latest version
of the software (Studio 5000-4D for the Music 5000/4000/3000 hardware combination)
all the system modules have been incorporated into a single file. All the
modules get installed including M.M4, and none can be left out. This results in
a significant loss of memory (only 14249 bytes remaining free), so that the A.MPLINEX
program is too big for the available memory.
This means that I will have to use my old, non-3000 software
for AMPLINEX and will not be able to listen, via AMPLINEX, to fully expanded
Music 3000 tunes (see Hints and Tips section) that people may wish to submit.
Ian L Hubbard
We are considering altering the AMPLINEX program to
accommodate the newer releases of Hybrid Music System software. Work on
rewriting the program will, however, have to take second place to producing the
regular AMPLINEX discs.
Editor's note:
The comments following some of the questions above are only
my opinions on the subject and should not be taken as definitive answers.
Your comments are most welcome on any of the questions
posed, whether they supplement, confirm or correct any I have expressed.
Published in AMPLINEX 014, November
1989
