In this issue we have a review of a new music disc from John
Bartlett, and some views and news on music on the Archimedes, and the future of
AMPLE.
Another Landscape by John Bartlett
G H Richardson
John Bartlett does it again. His latest disc 'Another
Landscape' paints in realistic sound colours the scenes and feelings of a lone
rider battling through a storm to reach more familiar fields and eventually the
peace and security of home.
He achieves this in nine small musical sketches which he
lists on a pamphlet accompanying the disc. The first, 'The Rider', bursts upon
you with the crash of thunder and the hiss of lightning through which one hears
the horse's galloping feet. This is then taken over by musical sound of a
similar rhythm and other appropriate atmosphere music until he finds refuge in
a cave.
You have only to print out the program for this item alone
to realise what a superb mastery of AMPLE technique John Bartlett has. Frankly,
the program frightened the life out of me - but it is there in all its
technicality for those willing to decipher and learn. One small criticism on
this item - I thought the galloping feet could have been made a little longer
and louder as they approached before being taken over by the musical rhythm. On
the other hand I shall study his 'thunder' with great interest. I've been
trying to produce decent 'thunder' for years (see this issue's Music section
for one attempt) - mine sounds like an artillery bombardment.
Lack of space prohibits comment on all the items, but 'The
Dawn' struck me as worthy of special mention - again for its technical and
innovative presentation. The early morning breeze rustles the leaves; the birds
begin twittering; the sun appears and suddenly bursts forth with the full, lush
sound of the organ and strings. A pity though that it 'chops off' so suddenly.
Again 'The Valley' with its descending walking bass chords
and slow fruity treble main theme create a vision of never-ending distance
which is very attractive. All in all this is a typically inventive work by John
Bartlett which in addition to providing pleasant listening gives one a golden
opportunity to see 'how it is done'. At £3.95 inclusive, he is almost giving
them away.
See the Advertisements section of this issue for details of
how to obtain this disc.
Music on the Archimedes
Jim Redfarn
In the News and Reviews section of AMPLINEX 021, Jack
Wrigley writes that he has just bought an Archimedes A3000, mainly for
graphics. I'm sure he realises by now, but other readers thinking of buying an
A3000 may not, that you need to double, if not quadruple, the A3000's standard
1Mb memory, otherwise you will find using graphics-based programs, such as Impression
2, very, very tedious!
My experience with the Arc's music program 'Rhapsody' has been
far less positive than Jack's. Not only are polyrhythms impossible, but my
version of the Rhapsody software even hiccoughs when you combine, say, a triplet
on one stave with quavers on another. Unconventional spacing of notes helps,
but doesn't solve this problem. The supposed strength of Rhapsody is the
printing of conventional notation. In fact there are no other ways of putting
music into Rhapsody.
However, even with conventional notation I find Rhapsody unsatisfactory.
Inserting notes is a very slow process compared with the method used on the
Hybrid System. Furthermore, bar lines on different staves on my version of the
software do not line-up automatically. You can spend a long, long, time
fiddling with this. In addition, the spacing of notes on the stave will not
satisfy academically-trained musicians and they are the very people who might want
to use this stave-based program.
The leapfrogging scrolling of pieces is also most
disconcerting. Actually, I personally find scrolling musical staves of any sort
unsatisfactory. Computer screens aren't the right shape for staves. If I have
to use conventional notation, I much prefer to combine small segments of music
as on the Hybrid Music System.
Incidentally, I have also tried EMR's Studio 24 Plus, using
an Archimedes 310 fitted with a MIDI card. It had infuriating synchronisation
problems. I'm not sure of the cause - possibly the O/S, or simply insufficient
memory (1Mb again). Perhaps it's OK on say an Arc 440, but Studio 24 Plus still
cannot produce polyrhythms - I've asked!
The other music system on the Arc which received much
pre-production publicity was 'Inspiration'. I haven't tried it yet, but reviews
say that it is full of bugs.
I go along with Jack's desire for AMPLE on the Arc. This is
surely justifiable now that Arcs are selling in such large numbers, often to
BBC Model B and Master users. I feel confident that if Hybrid took aboard the
Arc, they could sweep the music market for this computer, and probably challenge
the Atari ST's hold on the wider music market.
In the meantime let us hope that Super AMPLE won't be too
long coming and hang on to our BBC Masters (it is said that the new AMPLE
system will not work on the Model 'B').
A surprise from Hybrid Technology
Roy Follett
A recent press release from Hybrid Technology brings to our
notice a sound sampling and software package for the Archimedes.
Called ArcRecorder the hardware allows the supplied
microphone (or a line input) to be plugged into the printer port and sounds
sampled for inclusion in any Desktop-legal music program.
The device is described as fully compatible with all dongles
currently on the market and with Hybrid's AccessLink standard for the
Archimedes. This last statement I find interesting - does this indicate future musical
developments on the Archimedes using this AccessLink?
The package bears a marked resemblance to another on the
market advertised by Oak Solutions. On comparing the advert by Oak with
Hybrid's press release, it would seem that the latter's is a more useful device
inasmuch it has a 'pass-on' socket so both the printer and the sampler can be
attached. At the time of writing I was unable to make contact with Hybrid
Technology to clarify various points, but we hope to bring you further details
in a future issue of AMPLINEX.
ArcRecorder costs £37.89 including postage, packing and VAT
from:
Music Information Technology Ltd
88 Butt Lane
Milton
Cambridge
CB4 6DG
88 Butt Lane
Milton
Cambridge
CB4 6DG
Published in AMPLINEX 022, July 1991
