In this issue we have a review of a new AMPLE music disc,
further discussion about music on the Acorn Archimedes, and a reaction to
Hybrid Technology's showing at a recent exhibition.
'5000 Notes' by Ted Kirk
Roy Follett
'5000 notes' marks a departure for Ted Kirk, this being his
first AMPLE disc of music. Members are no doubt aware of his Theory of Music
(grade 2 to 5), Level 1 Theory of Music and Play What I Play software. Those
who are not aware of these titles might like to be reminded that it is his
jingle that greets them on starting up their AMPLINEX issues.
There are eight original tunes, arranged under two group
titles: 'Wishful Thinking' and 'Instrumentals'. This disc is suitable for
either the Music 5000 on its own or in conjunction with a Music 3000 expander.
The software of course detects the presence of the expander if it is fitted.
A nice touch is the four page A5 leaflet with brief notes
about each piece together with some of Ted's wishful thoughts.
I am a softie when it comes to original works - I am
convinced that AMPLE comes in to its own when it's not being compared with
familiar tunes which bring with them familiar arrangements and preconceived
ideas. That does not mean I do not like 'standards '; I do, but only when the programmer
has thought out new ideas and given the oldie a new lease of life.
So top marks to Ted Kirk for this disc, I hope this is the
first of many.
'5000 Notes' costs £3.95 inclusive of postage and packing
from:
Ted Kirk
33 Humber Crescent
Sutton Leach
St Helens
Merseyside
WA9 4HD
33 Humber Crescent
Sutton Leach
St Helens
Merseyside
WA9 4HD
Music on the Archimedes – continued
Jack Wrigley
In reply to Jim Redfarn's comments in AMPLINEX 022 News and
Reviews, I must disagree with his criticism of the 'tedious' operation of the
A3000's graphics programs. Try running the main Apple Mac DTP programs on a Mac
Classic if you want to define tedium!
2 Mb A3000s can be purchased for the basic list price from
several sources these days and are well suited for a variety of applications.
I've just managed to output some text and graphics through
to high quality typesetting (via the Impression Business Supplement) and the
results are very impressive indeed. All from a 2 Mb machine with single disc
drive!
I think most of Jim's criticisms of 'Rhapsody' have been
fixed in release 2 of this program, but it was as a 'taster' of the Staff
editor of a future implementation of AMPLE that I mentioned it.
On this long running subject, two recent replies to my
enquiries might be of interest to members.
The first was from Unilab Ltd, who market the 'I/O Box 3000'
a hardware upgrade giving the A3000 User Analogue and 1 Mhz Bus ports. They
said:
If your music system uses the BBC User, Analogue and 1 Mhz
Bus ports (in any combination) and you are using software which uses legal
Acorn calls, then the software should run under the !65Host emulator.
Feeling as if the 'holy grail' was finally coming into
reach, I asked Hybrid Technology if the above was the case and Chris Jordan
replied:
We have indeed indicated that a Hybrid Music System will be
available for the RM Nimbus PC 186, but not said anything specific about AMPLE.
Because the Nimbus is not PC compatible (having different
card slots), Nimbus add-ons will not work on PC-compatibles, or the RISC-OS PC
emulator.
The RISC-OS BBC emulator (either version) has proved
incapable of running AMPLE and Studio 5000.
All of which seems to put us back to square one, needing a
custom written application of AMPLE, making the best use of the speed and
convenience of the Archimedes.
I wonder what Chris Jordan looks like in a Santa Claus
outfit?
Selling Hybrid Technology
Jim Redfarn
I went to the Hybrid Technology stand at the Acorn User Show
to look at ArcRecorder, which is Hybrid's new sound sampler for the Archimedes.
It was nowhere to be seen! Mr Jordan was not there either, and perhaps it is reasonable
for such an outstanding computer programmer not to use up his valuable time
doing a selling job, though I have always found his low-key sales approach far
more convincing than Mike Beecher's prancings on the EMR stand.
It was more of a surprise not to find Hybrid's Roger Curtis
or Val Cutting. The attractive young person in charge of the stand apparently
had not heard of ArcRecorder and was vague about any other recent Hybrid
products, such as the Music 6000. Instead, this person seemed only interested
in trying to sell me a re-hashed version of an old game called, I think, Elite.
Can someone reassure me that all is well at Hybrid?
Published in AMPLINEX 024, January 1992
