In this section we have a summary of the recent product
announcements from Hybrid Technology and a review of three new music disc
releases.
Hybrid Technology news
Since the previous issue of AMPLINEX, Hybrid Technology have
announced a number of new products for the educational and home-user market.
The AMPLE Toolkit, a collection of software utilities which was already announced,
is reviewed in this issue.
Hybrid Technology are consolidating their position in the
music education market with the release of a new range of AMPLE music software
for the primary and special needs areas. The first two titles in the range are Soundscape,
which allows children to create and play sounds using only the Music 4000
keyboard, and Soundspace, which allows the same type of control but via a
joystick or touch screen.
Last year we reported that Hybrid Technology had shelved the
release of the Music 5000 Junior which was to have been a package including the
Music 5000 synthesiser and a non-AMPLE software package providing control via a
number of graphics-based screens. The package was to sell for £99.
Now, Hybrid Technology have released the Music 5000
Synthesiser Universal, which comprises the Music 5000 synthesiser, the AMPLE
Nucleus ROM, plus disc and documentation. Priced at £113.85, this package
offers the use of the Music 5000 synthesiser in place of the sound chip in
standard music programs. Because it is based on the AMPLE Nucleus ROM, this new
package offers the buyer a simple upgrade path to the full Studio 5000 system.
Designed for the BBC Master only, control of the unit is via
the numeric keypad: the user can assign the Music 5000's eight voices to any of
the four sound channels, choosing from the sixteen preset instruments, plus
four drum sounds.
At the end of the description of the Music 5000 Synthesiser
Universal in Hybrid's advertising literature it notes that "the Music 5000
is the heart of a complete integrated music system . . . As developments
proceed, it will also become transferable to the newer generation of 16-bit computers."
More light was shed on this by the news that Hybrid
Technology have entered into partnership with Research Machines to produce a
Hybrid Music System for the Nimbus PC186 "taking full advantage of its
16-bit technology to make significant improvements in functionality, performance
and ease of use." No dates for product release have yet been announced but
the intention is clear: to provide an upgrade path for educational users moving
from the BBC to the IBM standard.
Given the undoubted interest amongst home users of the
Hybrid Music System in an upgrade path from the BBC Model B or Master (many
were hoping for a move to the Acorn Archimedes) this announcement still leaves
open the question of a more general development commitment. Although Research
Machines might have a strong presence in the educational market, they are
clearly small fish in a very big IBM-compatible pond. Whether this announcement
indicates a more general move to IBM-compatible computers using Research
Machines as a 'pilot', or just another development of the educational market,
remains to be seen.
As IBM-compatible computers increasingly spread from the
business sector to the home user market, many BBC computer users will be
looking for a move. If an announcement from Hybrid is too long coming, many
users of the Hybrid Music System may well have reluctantly decided to abandon
the system, along with their BBC computer, on the path to an IBM-compatible machine.
The AMPLE Toolbox - a review
Kevin Doyle
The AMPLE Toolbox is a collection of software utilities for
the AMPLE Nucleus environment. The utilities extend the Studio 5000 software
and make the creation and management of AMPLE programs easier.
There are five parts to the Toolbox: TEDIT, a scrolling text
editor; IEDIT, a MODE 7 graphics screen editor; UTILS, a collection of utility words
for AMPLE programming; SideMod, a utility to allow the storage of modules in
Master 128 Sideways RAM; and AREC, a program to recover corrupted AMPLE program
files. The package consists of one disc (plus label) and a 70-page manual.
TEDIT is a vertically and horizontally scrolling text editor
which offers more flexibility than Notepad. With TEDIT you can enter lines of
over 80 characters, edit more than one word at once, and operate in any screen
mode. The editor's capacity is limited only by the amount of user memory and
its contents are held as 'public data' which means it is retained as part of the
current program and can be saved and loaded with it. It is easy to use, looking
similar to Notepad with an editing and a command area.
It operates best in an 80-column mode (if you have enough
memory available) - in 40-column mode there are actually fewer columns shown on
the screen than in Notepad (only 38 columns of a 40-character line are
displayed). The editing keys take a little getting used to after Notepad - all
editing functions are performed using the Copy, Delete and Enter keys in combination
with Shift and Control. The only irritating feature of the screen was its vertical
scrolling which operates three lines at a time (presumably for speed) which can
be a little disconcerting as you approach the bottom or top lines of the
screen.
IEDIT is the Mode 7 graphics screen editor which offers an
integrated and refined version of the AMPLINEX screen designer (published in
issue 002). To concentrate on the differences between the AMPLINEX and Hybrid
version: the editing key assignments have been much simplified in the Hybrid
version, making more use of toggling key functions and making the function keys
compatible with Notepad; some extra facilities are included in the Hybrid version
such a single-character 'paint' facility and column insert and delete.
In addition, screens in the Hybrid version can be saved as
either editable text (as in the AMPLINEX version) or in a compact form as comment
lines after a DISPLAY statement and a part of a screen can be saved as a
window, allowing it to be positioned at any point on the screen - useful for
animation effects. Thirteen sample screens are included on the disc, several of
them familiar, including part of the AMPLINEX title screen!
The UTILS module contains a number of small utilities which
extend the AMPLE Nucleus facilities. Some, like ABBREV and BROWSE seem more
like gimmicks than useful features, but others like MERGE, the spare words
utility, and the compilation facility will, I feel, prove very useful. I will
go through the words in sequence. ABBREV, displays the minimum abbreviation for
a word. BROWSE allows you to look at the structure of a program, showing all
words within other words in a rather laborious screen display.
COMPILE allows a program to be reduced to more
memory-efficient form - removing comments and spaces between words and reducing
the number of lines. It can also save more space by changing all user words to
a single character. In the compiled form the program may not be editable or displayed
by WRITE/TYPE depending on the line length. DISCOMPILE reverses the effect of
COMPILE - it puts spaces back into words and shortens lines to fit within the
screen. It cannot, however, put back the original word names if these have been
changed or re-introduce deleted comments.
MERGE, allows one program to be loaded in addition to one
already in memory. This provides an alternative to the use of *EXEC for
combining parts of programs into an existing one. REPORT shows the position of
an error in a word (using the LEDIT line number - see below). SPARESHOW
displays words which are not in use in other words. These can then be optionally
deleted using SPAREDELETE.
The LEDIT line editor is a return to the AMPLE BCE form of
program entry. Program lines are numbered and entered, much like BASIC,
preceded by a line number and a full stop. Similarly, lines can be listed and renumbered.
Words can be brought into the editor using GET and the lines are processed (as
commands) using MAKE.
The User Guide makes much of the fact that this now means
that program editing can be done via a batch file of commands - a new line
could be added to a word, for example, by the commands:
"word" GET
5. % copyright AMPLINEX
MAKE
but this facility is really of limited use without any of
the other facilities of a text editor such as the ability to locate and change existing
text.
SideMod is a utility which can amend your system disc to
enable selected modules to be loaded into Master 128 Sideways RAM rather than
be loaded from disc. This provides faster access to the modules, although it
does take longer to start up the system (due to the time taken to load the
Sideways RAM).
Finally, AREC is a disc recovery utility for AMPLE programs.
It searches a disc sector by sector and recovers any complete AMPLE progams that
it finds.
In summary, the AMPLE Toolbox is a boon for those who find
themselves restricted by the editing and control tools in the AMPLE
environment. The Toolbox does not offer any musical extensions to the Hybrid
Music System so, if you find the current Studio 5000 environment adequate for
your needs, the Toolbox is probably not for you.
The AMPLE Toolbox costs £39.10p inclusive of postage and
packing.
On the subject of the AMPLE Toolbox, we have received the
following comments from A G Walduck:
Although I had placed a firm order for AMPLE Toolkit, and
Hybrid Technology had been in possession of my money for well over a month,
they would not release the goods to me unless I signed a precisely worded
acceptance of the product, based on the reduced specification that I reported
in AMPLINEX 014.
A more loosely worded acceptance did not suffice, so
eventually two months elapsed before I received the goods that I had ordered
back in October. This sort of delay hardly endears a supplier to its customers.
Has any other member had a similar experience, or have I
been singled out for this peculiar treatment?
On a broader issue, how do members feel about the almost
inevitable 28-day delay before receiving hardware from Hybrid, even though
cheques may have cleared in a matter of days? I have had these delays when
ordering parts that had been available for months beforehand.
Some explanation of this behaviour might go some way towards
making the delay a little less irritating. However I have been unable to get Hybrid
to comment.
Do other people find this acceptable? I don't.
New music discs
Roy Follett
A hectic Christmas allowed only a brief listen to three
music discs one from J B Software and two from Panda Discs.
Amongst the fourteen or so Music 5000 discs available from
Panda Discs we have been sent two of them to review. One disc is a collection
of 13 pieces programmed by Bernie Dawson. Some members will be aware of fellow
member Bernie's contributions to AMPLINEX.
Although the music content may not be to everyone's taste
(mostly modern work: e.g. Genesis, Joni Mitchell, Mike Oldfield) I found this
offering good listening and the programming interesting.
There is also an enlarged 'info' file with his comments on
some of his programming techniques. This is a splendid idea and should be
mandatory for all Music 5000 discs.
The second from Panda is their Children in Need disc. With
21 tunes and ten carols this must be value for money. All the music and programming
being donated by the authors. This allows the profits after duplicating and
administration, to go this worthwhile cause, although I could not find anywhere
on the disc any indication as to what percentage of the selling price this
might be.
Panda have made a plea for more donations of work for the
second disc which they hope to release. So, come on, get programming then
contact:
Panda Discs
Four Seasons
Tinkers Lane
Brewood
Stafford
ST19 9DE
All Panda discs are £5.00 inclusive of postage and packing,
from the above address.
The third disc is John Bartlett's Jazz Disc volume 2. Again
this may not be to everyone's taste but it certainly is to mine. In my opinion
John is the first programmer to get a sense of performance from AMPLE. When I
listen to his discs I forget that I am listening to a computer.
Even if jazz is not your type of music I suggest you get
this disc just to see what can be done with your box of silicon chips.
The disc costs £3.50, inclusive of postage and packing,
from:
John Bartlett
J.B.Software
20 Crawley Avenue
Wellingborough
Northants
