#: 8504 S4/MIDI and Music 30-Nov-90 21:25:09 Sb: #8413-#Fallin.UME Fm: Mike Knudsen 72467,1111 To: Ches Looney 73016,1336 (X) Is Glen's MT32 editor uploaded here? How does it compare with Cluts' MTPanel? There is 1 Reply. #: 8521 S4/MIDI and Music 01-Dec-90 18:13:44 Sb: #8504-#Fallin.UME Fm: Ches Looney 73016,1336 To: Mike Knudsen 72467,1111 (X) Both Glen's MTMIDI and Jonathan's MTPanel are available in DL4 and both work nicely. Unfortunately both are unfinished and Jonathan hasn't been by to see my query and let me know whether any more work has been done on his. Jonathan's MTPanel has the promise of providing voice editing for the MT32 equivalent to Bill's TX81Z voice editor in RS Basic. If you haven't looked at Bill's, you might wish to get it out of CoCo DL4 (? or 5) and take a look at its implementation. 'Tis interesting to compare all three. Glen's is incomplete in the controls area and would be fun to see complete just for the fun of having an impressive control panel. He says he hasn't done any more work on it and I urged him to complete both that and the Fallin.UME that is really neat but O so short! Regards, Ches. There are 2 Replies. #: 8522 S4/MIDI and Music 01-Dec-90 20:05:41 Sb: #8521-#Fallin.UME Fm: James Jones 76257,562 To: Ches Looney 73016,1336 (X) I think that one *big* roadblock to my looking into doing something to let me mung patches and the like on the MT-32 is that the docs that come with it don't explain diddly about L/A synthesis, or what any of the buzzwords or acronyms mean and how they affect the sound of a patch, or anything like that. Is there any good description of that lying around that one can find somewhere? There is 1 Reply. #: 8532 S4/MIDI and Music 02-Dec-90 07:49:33 Sb: #8522-#Fallin.UME Fm: Ches Looney 73016,1336 To: James Jones 76257,562 (X) Not that I'm aware of. I've just had the MT-32 a couple of weeks so I am not very well acquainted with it yet. I've had the Yamaha TX81Z for a couple of years or so, so I'm better acquainted with it. I thought it had manual shortcomings, but it did explain much better how it synthesized tones. The Roland manual is somewhat better in its understandability, but I agree with your observation that it does nothing for the user in aiding understanding of the LA approach. Sorry!. Ches. There is 1 Reply. #: 8857 S4/MIDI and Music 22-Dec-90 23:33:00 Sb: #8532-#Fallin.UME Fm: Mike Knudsen 72467,1111 To: Ches Looney 73016,1336 (X) I heard that the only way to get a "manual" for the MT32 that explains how to use the parameters, is to order a manual for the D-50 or another similar keyboard synthesizer. I guess if they give you a keyboard they also let you adjust the parameters too, so they tell you what they mean. Of course with a really good grafix editor, you could learn pretty quickly by trial-and-error, just alike a REAL synth with a square yard of knobs. There is 1 Reply. #: 8923 S4/MIDI and Music 28-Dec-90 00:29:05 Sb: #8857-Fallin.UME Fm: GLEN HATHAWAY 71446,166 To: Mike Knudsen 72467,1111 Hi Mike... I just bought a brand new D-50 last Friday. Mucho fun! Learning to program it taught me everything I was unclear about on the MT-32. You all should expect a decent MT-32 (and D-50) patch editor soon if I can find the time. When I get my MM/1, I plan to write a patch librarian too. So, if you can't figure out how to program your MT-32, get a copy of the D-50 (or D-20 or D-110) manual - all are quite similar. You'll find it helpful... #: 8852 S4/MIDI and Music 22-Dec-90 23:04:12 Sb: #8521-Fallin.UME Fm: Mike Knudsen 72467,1111 To: Ches Looney 73016,1336 (X) Thanks for the info. Donj't have the time these days to wade thru RSDOS assembler code (por is it BASIC?), but would be nice ot see the TX81Z stuff anyway. I *think* I have C source for MTPanel, so anyone who really wanted to finish it could hack at it. I just saw amazing examples of what can be done to an MT32 over MIDI SysEx -- even write into the LEDs the name of the computer adventure game! --mike k #: 8505 S4/MIDI and Music 30-Nov-90 21:29:02 Sb: #8442-#New utils in DL4 Fm: Mike Knudsen 72467,1111 To: Pete Lyall 76703,4230 (X) Pete, thanks for the uploaded utilities. I have a real-time recorder working, sort of, but I need a faster 6850 chip in my MIDI Pak to get rid of occasional read errors that cause stuck notes and missing notes. And did you know that Casio synths send one NOTE-ON $90 at power-up and expect everything you play that session to be one long Running Status? Sheesh! Regards, mike k There is 1 Reply. #: 8507 S4/MIDI and Music 30-Nov-90 22:07:53 Sb: #8505-#New utils in DL4 Fm: Pete Lyall 76703,4230 To: Mike Knudsen 72467,1111 (X) Mike - On tha Casio's... sure that applies to the 101/1000/3000/5000/1? How about after pitch bend, or modulation message? That is weird.. may well explain why Casio's are so notorious for the 'stuck note' syndrome.. Pete There is 1 Reply. #: 8851 S4/MIDI and Music 22-Dec-90 23:00:22 Sb: #8507-#New utils in DL4 Fm: Mike Knudsen 72467,1111 To: Pete Lyall 76703,4230 (X) Pete, it's beena awhile since I was last here, but I've been told that Casios can indeed be cajoled into sending a NOTE ON by playing with the mod wheel, etc. This is from other MIDI hackers who confirmed that Casios overuse running status to the max, and your software must always intiialize to a NOTE ON when recording from one. I think keyboards should use running status ONLY when "no time" has elapsed between the note events, where "no time" depends of course on the synth's clock speed. In other words, a chord. I've never used a Casio keyboard to drive anything else -- I got a real Korg for that. --mike k There is 1 Reply. #: 8865 S4/MIDI and Music 23-Dec-90 10:31:56 Sb: #8851-New utils in DL4 Fm: Pete Lyall 76703,4230 To: Mike Knudsen 72467,1111 Mike - I had heard similar rumors... that a casio sends a NOTE ON on its assigned channel at powerup, and then relies on running status for the rest.. argh! What a nightmare. That certainly explains the proliferation of stuck note problems with Casios. In fact, the new Sequencer Plus Gold from Voyetra has a /CASIO switch! Pete #: 8512 S4/MIDI and Music 30-Nov-90 23:22:53 Sb: #MIDI Fm: Everett Chimbidis 76370,1366 To: 76703,4230 (X) DSdo you know of a way to play on my midi keyboard and record to ume? and do you have a way to change these ume files into files that msdos can use? or visaversa? There is 1 Reply. #: 8514 S4/MIDI and Music 01-Dec-90 02:42:24 Sb: #8512-#MIDI Fm: Pete Lyall 76703,4230 To: Everett Chimbidis 76370,1366 (X) Everett - Well - I'm not Umuse literate per se (Mike Knudsen is the author), but the scoop is: a) For the time being, UME cannot record from the MIDI INPUT. I know Mike's working on it, but knowing what's involved, I can tell you it's a b*tch to do under OS9. b) Most packages these days can read and write Standard MIDI Files (usually called MFF's or SMF's). Kind of like GIF for MIDI. I don't know if he's installed it yet, but there have been discussions (initiated by Mike, I think) regarding putting MFF capability into UME. Pete There is 1 Reply. #: 8526 S4/MIDI and Music 01-Dec-90 22:46:34 Sb: #8514-#MIDI Fm: Everett Chimbidis 76370,1366 To: Pete Lyall 76703,4230 (X) When this happends will it be posted here? There is 1 Reply. #: 8858 S4/MIDI and Music 22-Dec-90 23:40:45 Sb: #8526-#MIDI Fm: Mike Knudsen 72467,1111 To: Everett Chimbidis 76370,1366 (X) I wrote a simple set of programs to record and playback MIDI under OS9. All very legitimate, no screwing around with interrupts or anything. I will upload them here when they are debugged, but first I havae to get a faster chip (68B50) for my MIDI interface pack, since the current 6850 drops bytes now and then, ugh. You certainly cannot record MIDI thru the rear serial port, even tho it plays just fine under UME. Getting from hand-played recording to notation score is a real, ah, fun project, to say the least, but it will be fun to fool with, probabl;y on the OSK machines tho. --mike k There is 1 Reply. #: 8871 S4/MIDI and Music 24-Dec-90 17:46:58 Sb: #8858-MIDI Fm: Everett Chimbidis 76370,1366 To: Mike Knudsen 72467,1111 Where can I buy a midi PACK? #: 8550 S4/MIDI and Music 02-Dec-90 17:45:01 Sb: #8277-#MIDI File Format Fm: Lester Hands 70135,430 To: Ches Looney 73016,1336 (X) The present version of PC-Lyra will write (not read, like everyone seems to want!) midi files. I'm working on a version 2.0 which will do just about everything except throw out the garbage! There is 1 Reply. #: 8563 S4/MIDI and Music 03-Dec-90 06:32:44 Sb: #8550-#MIDI File Format Fm: Ches Looney 73016,1336 To: Lester Hands 70135,430 (X) Well, shoot, I had a letter prepared with a request for you to send back the check if it didn't work as a translator. I'll tear up the letter and wait for developments. I don't need any help throwing out the garbage, but I'd sure like to have a MIDI file reader; encouragement, encouragement, encouragement. Those are supposed to be words of encouragement, Les. Regards, Ches. There is 1 Reply. #: 8751 S4/MIDI and Music 15-Dec-90 14:46:36 Sb: #8563-#MIDI File Format Fm: Lester Hands 70135,430 To: Ches Looney 73016,1336 (X) Ches, I don't want to make rash promises. I'll see what can be done about converting MIDI files to CMPro! There is 1 Reply. #: 8780 S4/MIDI and Music 16-Dec-90 08:36:47 Sb: #8751-MIDI File Format Fm: Ches Looney 73016,1336 To: Lester Hands 70135,430 (X) Thanks, Les, and a Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and a most enjoyable New Year are wished to you and yours. Regards. Ches. #: 8703 S4/MIDI and Music 13-Dec-90 03:48:39 Sb: #Midi device driver Fm: Dan Charrois 70721,1506 To: all I am posting this message on behalf of a friend of mine. He is wondering if a /midi device driver has been written for OS9 which includes clock pulses on the output, and if so, where it might be available. (I know virtually nothing of midi, so hopefully someone here makes sense of his question.) Thanks! Dan There is 1 Reply. #: 8710 S4/MIDI and Music 13-Dec-90 09:15:13 Sb: #8703-#Midi device driver Fm: Pete Lyall 76703,4230 To: Dan Charrois 70721,1506 (X) Dan - Nope... the only MIDI drivers are extremely primitive, and are really only useful for output. Some applications may send clocks (such as Lyra or Umuse under OS9), but no drivers. FYI, MIDI Clock is an $F8 byte sent out a rate based on the song's tempo. This allows other MIDI devices (sequencers, drum machines, etc.) to 'sync'hronize with the master device. Pete There is 1 Reply. #: 8719 S4/MIDI and Music 13-Dec-90 13:59:10 Sb: #8710-Midi device driver Fm: Dan Charrois 70721,1506 To: Pete Lyall 76703,4230 (X) Thanks for your reply, Pete. Interesting info on the clock byte... and considering the speed at which MIDI data is transferred, I'm not too surprised that the MIDI drivers available for OS9 are pretty primitive. #: 8781 S4/MIDI and Music 16-Dec-90 08:50:28 Sb: #New Tune Fm: Ches Looney 73016,1336 To: Mike Knudsen 72467,1111 (X) Mike, One of my sons recently brought me a delightful piece of sheet music titled "The Battle of Gettysburg" which I have just uploaded. I think you may enjoy it; I had a lot of fun putting it through UME 4.7 with a bit of percussion on my new MT32. Let me know what you think of it. Have you any words of comment on the composer (E. T. Paull)? He's a new name to me but must have been most prolific in the early 1900s. Happy holidays to you and yours! Regards. Ches. There is 1 Reply. #: 8855 S4/MIDI and Music 22-Dec-90 23:19:00 Sb: #8781-#New Tune Fm: Mike Knudsen 72467,1111 To: Ches Looney 73016,1336 (X) Hi CHes. No, never heard of ET Paull -- there is a much older "Battle of Trenton" (Washington crossing the Deleware, Merry Xmas to the drunken Hessians), tho. Is "Gettysburg" for piano in the original? I'll come back at 2400 Baud sometime and grab it -for jhust reading mail here I use 300. I try to confine downloading to Delphi, at least till my rich uncle kicks off, grin. --mike k There is 1 Reply. #: 8862 S4/MIDI and Music 23-Dec-90 07:53:10 Sb: #8855-New Tune Fm: Ches Looney 73016,1336 To: Mike Knudsen 72467,1111 Yup, Gettysburg is for piano, but when I play it in piano, it's not as exciting as with the brass and percussion. I've heard of the "Battle of Trenton" but not heard the music. Happy Holidays. Ches. #: 8988 S4/MIDI and Music 01-Jan-91 15:12:07 Sb: Ped Fm: Dennis Skala 73177,2365 To: 73577,256 (X) Larry, I downloaded your 'ped.ar' file. Looks like it might be interesting. But contrary to your comment in the docs, most can't even view the program because we don't have a midi driver available. The program errors out when it attempts to open a path to the midi port. I own a Yamaha PSR-48. I kinda thought that it was the "big brother" to the PSS-480. Nowhere in the manual can I find any reference to inputing patches. Do you know if this synth has that capability? ***** Dennis ***** #: 8994 S4/MIDI and Music 01-Jan-91 22:54:48 Sb: PED response Fm: R. Larry Miner 73577,256 To: Dennis Skala Dennis - Thanks for the info about PED. WELL! I know it was 0200 in the morning (redundant) but that is no excuse for shoddy testing in my shop. I'll go check out the problem and fix it so we all can look over(the ideas in tjis program. As far as the question about the other Yamaha, I know nothing - as the colnel on Hogan's Heroe's would always say - or was the large economy(sized guard? Oh well, no I have had no experience with any other Yamaha. My gut feel is that if it has MIDI, it probably has some form of SYSEX capability, but no tellin' what the format of the bits are. See you around. I'll go check on this "feature" you told me about. -larry #: 8995 S4/MIDI and Music 01-Jan-91 23:49:30 Sb: #PED response Fm: R. Larry Miner 73577,256 To: Dennis skala 73177,2365 (X) Dennis - Sorry about any typos/whatever on these messages... I am new to this CIS editor... talk about computer shock! I checked on the problem you were experiencing and I have an idea. I did test the uploaded version of the PED and checked it out thoroughly. The idea I have is that I forgot to mention that PED (right now, anyway) is expecting to use the "Inkey" program that is supplied with BASIC09 and I know it put up about most of the first screen, attempts to loa in the inkey subroutine module and if it is not there, crashes. A thought there - I suffered many an hour myself, until I realized that inkey was being loaded outside the workspace, but INSIDE the "memory limitation" of BASIC09 - I mean, if I went to a window, and typed "basic09 #32k " basic09 would load fine, but Inkey could not squeak into the memory area 'cause I had it all earmarked. But if I used "basic09 #29k " there is ample room for inkey... S%e what I mean? As to the midi descriptor, even if I have none at all, or if my midi port was named "/madd", PED would "run", it just wouldn't do midi. BTW, it really only opens "/midi" when you are inside the editor and hit "P"lay. So if some typed in "ped" and the ped"module was in their execution directory and "RUNB" was there and "inkey" was there, everything would work great. I sure hope this will help get things goin' fer ya' - I have used it enough now to come up wit six suggestions for changes already. See you around - Larry exit There is 1 Reply. #: 9056 S4/MIDI and Music 07-Jan-91 18:17:21 Sb: #8995-PED response Fm: Dennis Skala 73177,2365 To: R. Larry Miner 73577,256 (X) OK, I got 'ped' going - dunno what was wrong the first time. Probably a matter of what was loaded into memory, etc. Anyway, looks interesting, but won't do *ME* specifically (or anyone with a different synth) any good without the source, and without a driver for the bit-banger for that matter. Even then, I'd need to find some docs about how to talk to the PSR-48. The standard manual isn't too clear on that point. ***** Dennis ***** #: 9122 S4/MIDI and Music 13-Jan-91 22:05:32 Sb: #File correction. Fm: R. Larry Miner 73577,256 To: Sysop (X) Well, I have discovered a small math error in one of the programs (decode) that I uploaded... so, how do I go about replacing the bad file with a new file? I have it ready (actually, last week sometime, but I just got back in town) to upload, so let me know about the procedure and I'll get it done pronto. Thanks - LM There is 1 Reply. #: 9124 S4/MIDI and Music 13-Jan-91 22:40:37 Sb: #9122-File correction. Fm: Mike Ward 76703,2013 To: R. Larry Miner 73577,256 (X) Easy as cake. Just upload the new file with the same name as the old one. The new upload will replace the existing file when the library is merged. #: 9125 S4/MIDI and Music 13-Jan-91 23:37:04 Sb: #8504-Fallin.UME Fm: Lester Hands 70135,430 To: Mike Knudsen 72467,1111 Mike, how's come I don't see an ad for your program in the January Rainbow? Do you have any interest in marketing Umuse through MusicWare? I'm due to have an 800 number in the March issue. #: 9336 S4/MIDI and Music 30-Jan-91 08:59:38 Sb: phone Fm: Lester Hands 70135,430 To: ALL Does any know Mike Knudsen's phone number? I need to contact him and he does not seem to be using CIS lately! Thanks. #: 9380 S4/MIDI and Music 03-Feb-91 11:52:06 Sb: #8862-New Tune Fm: Mike Knudsen 72467,1111 To: Ches Looney 73016,1336 Hi Ches. Right, brass & percussion beats piano for that sort of music any day. "Battle of Trenton" I have recorded on an antique pipe organ by E Power Biggs. Lotsz of fun. --mike k #: 9381 S4/MIDI and Music 03-Feb-91 11:54:07 Sb: #8865-New utils in DL4 Fm: Mike Knudsen 72467,1111 To: Pete Lyall 76703,4230 (X) OK Pete on the Casio. I've been advised to always stick a NOTE ON in my recording buffer. Also, when recording a Casio, to punch a patch change before playing. Glad to hear it's not just me, grin! #: 9382 S4/MIDI and Music 03-Feb-91 11:57:28 Sb: #8871-MIDI Fm: Mike Knudsen 72467,1111 To: Everett Chimbidis 76370,1366 You can still buy MIDI packs from RUlaford Research in Oregon. They may have changed their name again -- originally Speech Systems. There's also the outfit in Rochester NY,{whose stuff was recently reviewed in Rainbow. Their MIDI Pak may or may not be compatible. I think RUlaford wants about $80 or $90 for their Pak. Some folks have hacked RS232 Paks into MIDI, but it's not for the faint of heart...mike k #: 9383 S4/MIDI and Music 03-Feb-91 11:59:47 Sb: #8923-#Fallin.UME Fm: Mike Knudsen 72467,1111 To: GLEN HATHAWAY 71446,166 (X) Hi Glen, congrats on your D-50. I'm glad to hear those are still being sold -- seems every model is "obsolete" after 6 months. Yes, I'd heard the D-50 is much like the MT32, and of course you can twiddle it from the frontpanel. Will be awaiting your program -- let me know when it's uploaded. (Hint: Put it on Delphi too, save me some cash!). --mike k There is 1 Reply. #: 9386 S4/MIDI and Music 03-Feb-91 12:55:40 Sb: #9383-Fallin.UME Fm: GLEN HATHAWAY 71446,166 To: Mike Knudsen 72467,1111 Hi Mike... The only reason I could afford to buy the D-50 is because Roland is dumping them to make way for the D-70. I find that in many ways I like my MT-32 better, but the D-50 is a VERY capable machine too. It works best as a controller, as it is somewhat lacking in multi-timbral abilities. About the editor - it is coming along VERY slowly Don't hold your breath... I will upload on Delphi - I spend most of my time there because of the 20/20 thing. Bye... #: 9384 S4/MIDI and Music 03-Feb-91 12:03:38 Sb: #9125-Fallin.UME Fm: Mike Knudsen 72467,1111 To: Lester Hands 70135,430 Hi Les. Well, Second City is in the process of moving to North Carolina, so a couple ad months are being skipped pending the new address, phone, name, etc. If anything goes wrong I'll consider your offer, thanks. Say, is MusicWare same as RUlaford Research, or do they just do CocoMIDI and the Lybrary? I also hear you/they aren't coming to CHicago RainbowFest, is that so? --mike k #: 9423 S4/MIDI and Music 06-Feb-91 23:29:39 Sb: #9384-Fallin.UME Fm: Lester Hands 70135,430 To: Mike Knudsen 72467,1111 No MusicWare is not the same thing as Rulaford Research--just close associates. Cecil had said that he might not go to the RainbowFest, but I didn't know that was general knowledge. I definitely won't be going. #: 9602 S4/MIDI and Music 22-Feb-91 18:28:49 Sb: MIDI File code Fm: Pete Lyall 76703,4230 To: PaulSeniura 76476,464 Paul - Got hold of Tim Thompson... he said 'go ahead', but preferred that it be giveware rather than shareware, and definitely not commercial. Pete #: 9648 S4/MIDI and Music 01-Mar-91 00:50:32 Sb: #9602-#MIDI File code Fm: PaulSeniura 76476,464 To: Pete Lyall 76703,4230 (X) Thank you & Tim both! Yes we will share his stuff for free - never intended to do otherwise (didn't I make it clear? sorry if not). Want to make sure Mike Knudsen & others get his sources at least, for the obvious reasons! Did Tim want to talk in person or write/email him somehow? If so let me know and I'll do what we need to do. Btw also let me know if the phone tolls need to be reimbursed! -- Thx, Paul Seniura (76476,464). There is 1 Reply. #: 9652 S4/MIDI and Music 01-Mar-91 08:51:20 Sb: #9648-MIDI File code Fm: Pete Lyall 76703,4230 To: PaulSeniura 76476,464 (X) Nope... no further comms are required, and the Internet bore the expense. Just go ahead with the coding.. and good luck. Pete #: 9689 S4/MIDI and Music 05-Mar-91 06:46:58 Sb: #Rhapso Query Fm: Ches Looney 73016,1336 To: Denise Tomlinson 71021,3274 (X) Denise, I had listened to a bit of Rhapsody earlier, but last night I had time to listen to the whole thing and found that it doesn't quite get to the end. I think the last note was an eighth-note chord after bar 230 or 231. Using DED to examine the .ar file shows a string of nulls at the end which doesn't look normal. Did you have any indication that the upload was unsuccessful? Have you downloaded it yourself to check its condition? Perhaps you should chat with the sysop and maybe upload it again?? Sounds good, and I would like to hear the proper ending. There's always the possibility that the problem is on my end somehow, so please let me know what you find out. A vagrant thought; you did end the last measure with a bar, didn't you? Thanks and regards, Ches. There is 1 Reply. #: 9780 S4/MIDI and Music 13-Mar-91 19:01:04 Sb: #9689-Rhapso Query Fm: Denise Tomlinson 71021,3274 To: Ches Looney 73016,1336 (X) Thanks Ches, I'll check it out Huggs, Denise #: 9699 S4/MIDI and Music 06-Mar-91 03:56:10 Sb: #Mfplay Fm: Ches Looney 73016,1336 To: Paul Seniura 76476,464 (X) Paul, congrats and encouragement on MFPLAY et al. Please keep up the good work. Ches. There is 1 Reply. #: 9720 S4/MIDI and Music 08-Mar-91 00:03:23 Sb: #9699-#Mfplay Fm: PaulSeniura 76476,464 To: Ches Looney 73016,1336 (X) Well thank you! I'm about to upload a mess of CMFs for the Roland MT32 I found on CIS' MIDI SIG. PolySoft shared some demos of their commercial "jukebox" library. They sound so good, as soon as I get the MFConverter 100% right, I'm going to order their libraries! And then I found four Impromptus (piano concerts) on IEMUG some time back, so I'll upload those, too. Once the MFConv utility comes out, I highly discourage uploading and sharing the CMFs since everyone's MIDI systems are different. The MFConv util will have lots of options to selectively NOT output those special MIDI controls. This means someone could convert then upload an EDITTED PIECE! That's a no-no in several of the "permissions" I have seen over at the MIDI SIG, whereby they want to share their pieces but in their entireity (regardless of the converted form), which is what these CMFs are that I've uploaded. Let a user convert & modify his own version, that's okay, but don't upload it. These are just to get everyone's mouth watering. I suspect once we can get into/out-of UME format, we'll ask to delete these versions. That is, if Mike Knudsen will start supporting the extra MIDI controls (he knows which ones I mean :-). Let me get busy uploading ... -- Thx, Paul Seniura (76476,464). There is 1 Reply. #: 9769 S4/MIDI and Music 11-Mar-91 20:36:25 Sb: #9720-#Mfplay Fm: Ches Looney 73016,1336 To: PaulSeniura 76476,464 (X) Paul, I just pulled down your mfconv et al and noted your mention of UnZip v3.0 for OS9. Where is it? I can find a couple of versions of unzip for msdos and C sources, but here I sit without a C compiler. Any help?? Ches. There is 1 Reply. #: 9785 S4/MIDI and Music 13-Mar-91 23:29:21 Sb: #9769-#Mfplay Fm: PaulSeniura 76476,464 To: Ches Looney 73016,1336 (X) Hi. Unzip 3.0 I found on Delphi and/or the RiBBS HQ BBS. They kept putting out a really bad-working version from Sam Smith's Tools BBS (who makes/ports things to Amiga I think; I forget). 3.0 is the first one that has held up across different Zip files. Ported to OS9 by Vaughn Cato. If somehow we can get permission, I think I have the complete package as distributed. -- Paul Seniura. There is 1 Reply. #: 9787 S4/MIDI and Music 14-Mar-91 06:54:25 Sb: #9785-#Mfplay Fm: Ches Looney 73016,1336 To: PaulSeniura 76476,464 (X) Oh. I guess I'm out of luck for a while then since I'm not on Delphi and don't recognize RiBBS HQ. Suggestions? Ches. There is 1 Reply. #: 9814 S4/MIDI and Music 15-Mar-91 20:18:13 Sb: #9787-#Mfplay Fm: PaulSeniura 76476,464 To: Ches Looney 73016,1336 (X) Oh lemme peek inside his original file here ... (dontcha love true multitasking windows so I don't hafta logoff to do it?!). It seems that Vaughn made this version of UnZip "from the general UnZip that is provided as source code and is available anywhere". But he went on to say he couldn't share the sources for OS9 as modified *because* of a restriction for sharing modified sources. He only shared the executable and the short readme that says this. I'll post it and let the Sysop decide. Btw Sam Smith (I *think* it *is* Amiga software he ports things to) is the main dude to ask for the sources, in fact I've called his BBS up a few times in the past. Get a '-?' listing when ya get it runnable, and it'll mention his BBS phone # etc. :-) Frankly I don't like the Zip format -- smells of a copyright violation with the U.S. Post Office if you ask me. Plus this is the format that Phil Katz invented after getting sued by (and lost to) the SEA folks (ARC people), if you remember that broo-ha-ha. Katz changes this format, too, more drastically than any other format I know of (even IBM's mainframe stuff!). Come to think of it, the PC people with their "software distribution networks" over the Fido system, has been (still are) using a PAK extension to all of their compressed files -- AND THIS IS *NOT* COMPATIBLE WITH G.B.Janssen's OS9 Pak utility that is found here. Moreover, Janssen's PAK is copyrighted a at least a whole year EARLIER than the earliest copyright for the PC "version". I promptly reported this to the Fido officials and *boy* did they yell back at me. If they do it it's okay, but if we can PROVE we were "first" with a naming convention and how it can cause confusion, we get our faces slapped. I mean this is exactly what SEA/PKWARE were feuding over minus the source-code stealing. That slap in my face got me so frustrated (we can't unpak their goodies etc., plus it IS NOT in a form usable by DeArc no matter what they say). I've not kept up with Fido and haven't been hooked up for two or more months now (mainly getting the MIDI & hardware mods going but the Pak issue There is 1 Reply. #: 9819 S4/MIDI and Music 16-Mar-91 06:54:10 Sb: #9814-Mfplay Fm: Ches Looney 73016,1336 To: PaulSeniura 76476,464 Paul, that's an interesting list of incompatibles. I had suspected some of it without having any details, since I had run into the PAK difference before. Your aside remark about the pleasure of multi processing allowing a quick look into another process touches a familiar feeling of mine; ain't it great? I trust you know your message was too long and was truncated? I saw on the MIDI forum that you had been promised a converter from MFF1 to MFF0; please keep us posted on that development. I've used MFCONV to look a bit at the way the music is encoded and I find it interesting, but I don't have the time (and probably not the tools/skill) to be of much help other than to send you encouraging words. Your work in this area is much appreciated. Regards, Ches. #: 9741 S4/MIDI and Music 09-Mar-91 05:55:57 Sb: MFConverter.AR Fm: PaulSeniura 76476,464 To: all About the MFConverter.AR package I uploaded. You need to read the documentation, especially the RULES section, before using the program. Basically, it's like this: I'm going to ask that all the Sysops to not accept CMF files (output from the MFConv program). In fact I'm asking you not to share any such output on any system whatsoever. If the original SMF file can be shared, THEN SHARE IT INSTEAD, and it *should* be placed on the MIDI SIGs rather than the CoCo or OS9 SIGs. Once the MFConv and MFPlay programs have been on the OS9 SIGs for a sufficient amount of time, I will delete the CMFs I have posted myself. I'll make a new archive with the two programs and new documentation sans CMF files. There will be plenty of SMFs to download and use in the MIDI SIGs everywhere. I feel by providing some sample CMFs will help in getting a firm grip on how to use the MFConv program. These samples can be used as a comparison to see if you are running MFConv correctly. After a while, even myself will succumb to these rules and won't be sharing CMFs anymore. You're whining "Why the restrictions?" I bet. If you need reasons, they are explained in the readme file. So please read it before commencing. I'm posting the same rules on every network I have accounts on. -- Thx, Paul Seniura #: 9792 S4/MIDI and Music 14-Mar-91 18:46:40 Sb: #Rhapsody Fm: Denise Tomlinson 71021,3274 To: 73016,1336 (X) Ches, you got the whole score. I forgot to add a Fine to the end and put a bar in. The eigth notes at the end are supposed to be a "stinger". Denise There is 1 Reply. #: 9804 S4/MIDI and Music 15-Mar-91 10:06:00 Sb: #9792-Rhapsody Fm: Ches Looney 73016,1336 To: Denise Tomlinson 71021,3274 (X) Thanks for the info Denise - that's an easy fix. Regards, Ches. #: 9818 S4/MIDI and Music 16-Mar-91 06:20:02 Sb: MIDIPACK Fm: Everett Chimbidis 76370,1366 To: 76476,464 Do you need a midipack to use you midi files? #: 9863 S4/MIDI and Music 19-Mar-91 15:25:08 Sb: #New Keyboard Advice Fm: Mark Wuest 74030,332 To: all Hi, all. I am seeking advice about a keyboard I plan to buy my wife. She wants to learn to play piano, and I thought an electronic keyboard would be a good way to let both of us see how serious we are. I have only $500 budgeted. Do you guys have any suggestions? Thanks! Mark There is 1 Reply. #: 9864 S4/MIDI and Music 19-Mar-91 16:39:31 Sb: #9863-New Keyboard Advice Fm: Pete Lyall 76703,4230 To: Mark Wuest 74030,332 (X) Mark - Some questions back at you: Do you want it to be MIDI capable? (highly recommended, and most are) Do you want full sized keys? (also recommended) Do you want it to be multi-timbral (be able to play many instruments at once, i.e. piano, flute, drums, etc.)? Best bet would be to get something on the lines of a Roland D5 or D10, or possibly a Kawai K1 or K1-II. The used market has the K1's at under $450 frequently, the D5 may also be near that point (discounted) new. Two suggestions: a) Check out the local for sale rags... we have the Recycler here in LA, and have 4-5 PAGES each week of used musical equipment for sale, mostly priced aggressively. b) Type GO MAO (Music Alley Online...a music store here on CIS) and leave a note for Jamie Robertson. Lots of folks have bought (new) stuff from Jamie at incredible prices (self included). He's also very friendly, and helpful. Telling what you're looking for, and what your dollar cap is, and I'm sure he can provide some suggestions. He's very well thought of on both the MIDI Forum and on USENET's rec.music.synth group. Also, pop over to the MIDI Forum and ask questions. Very active forum over there, and probably every piece of musical gear available has passed through _somebody's_ hands over there. You'll get the straight skinny on what performs well, and what doesn't. Lastly - worst thing you can do is walk into your local music store uninitiated... The prices posted are fictitious. There's list price, the posted price, and then there's what the dealer will REALLY sell it for (typically 20-30% below list, sometimes lower). Have your facts together, your reviews read, and know what the going prices are (approximately). If you have a reasonable music dealer, he'll come to know you andwill give you the discounted price w/o asking once you're a regular. Pete Press !> #: 9870 S4/MIDI and Music 20-Mar-91 13:17:45 Sb: #9864-#New Keyboard Advice Fm: Mark Wuest 74030,332 To: Pete Lyall 76703,4230 (X) Pete, Thanks for your quick reply! To some extent, I'm not sure what I'm looking for . I want something that she can learn piano on for awhile. I don't know if she needs all 88 keys at first. I *do* know that full-sized keys are a must. I could hook her up to my CoCo if we had Midi, which would win me points to keep the sloppy-looking thing running! I would rather have midi than multi-timbral if one of the voice(s) it did was a reasonable piano. Her sister plays a Roland that has pressure-sensitive keys like the Clavinovas, but maybe that isn't necessary (is it?). Do all Rolands do that (I mean where, the harder she hits the key, the louder it is)? Her sister's has pedals. Will she be able to practice piano without them? To quote - "I'm so confused!". I will go mao and ask over there like you suggested. Thanks for the tip. I heard you about the music stores. I feel like I'm in a car dealership in there (some of the prices help lend the aura). When I get something, I will be asking even more here trying to get my CoCo midi-ized! Mark There are 4 Replies. #: 9871 S4/MIDI and Music 20-Mar-91 13:33:04 Sb: #9870-#New Keyboard Advice Fm: Pete Lyall 76703,4230 To: Mark Wuest 74030,332 (X) Many of the keyboards include a piano-esque sound. Usually, the higher the $$$, the better the approximation (grin). The rolands have piano sounds, although nobody will confuse them with a Steinway or Borsendorfer (sp?). Most present day midi keyboards offer velocity sensitivity. That is, the timbre of the sound is affected by how hard (fast) you strike the keys. I believe the Kawai also supports 'aftertouch', which allows you to press extra hard on the key to cause some kind of (user specifiable) modulation (frequently vibrato, pitch bend, etc.).. In both cases (Roland D5, Kawai KI-II) you will probably get all that you need for close to your price point (after discounting, of course). Prepare to enter a long and expensive downward spiral... Pete There is 1 Reply. #: 9881 S4/MIDI and Music 21-Mar-91 13:59:29 Sb: #9871-#New Keyboard Advice Fm: Mark Wuest 74030,332 To: Pete Lyall 76703,4230 (X) Pete, I went over to (go mao) and left a message yesterday morning. Hopefully, I'll hear from Jamie soon. I will go actually look at the models you mentioned this evening. Her sister is more excited about this than I am, even offering to loan us her Roland temporarily so Laura could learn on it. Thanks very much for you kind and sage advice! Mark There is 1 Reply. #: 9884 S4/MIDI and Music 21-Mar-91 15:12:56 Sb: #9881-#New Keyboard Advice Fm: Pete Lyall 76703,4230 To: Mark Wuest 74030,332 (X) No problem..... BTW - there are LOTS of devices out there that are MIDI capable, and have weighted, wooden keys. These are typically higher end units, and many of them produce no sounds at all (just MIDI output). They're called keyboard controllers. Probably the most popular of these is the Yamaha KX-88. It can (occasionally) be found at around $1200 (discounted). BTW - getting married soon, eh? I may be also finally breaking down.. looking at late April here. Good luck on _both_ fronts! Pete There are 2 Replies. #: 9894 S4/MIDI and Music 22-Mar-91 08:26:57 Sb: #9884-New Keyboard Advice Fm: Mark Wuest 74030,332 To: Pete Lyall 76703,4230 (X) Wow. April 13 here. Congratulations and good luck to us both from here, too! Mark #: 9895 S4/MIDI and Music 22-Mar-91 08:32:20 Sb: #9884-#New Keyboard Advice Fm: Mark Wuest 74030,332 To: Pete Lyall 76703,4230 (X) I looked last night at a music store here. The salesman wanted to direct me toward a Casio that they had on sale for $430. I didn't bite, as no one has recommended them. Besides, there is a Kawai Spectra for not much more than that at Music Alley and they appeared to be built a little more ruggedly. Who knows? There is 1 Reply. #: 9896 S4/MIDI and Music 22-Mar-91 11:27:42 Sb: #9895-#New Keyboard Advice Fm: Pete Lyall 76703,4230 To: Mark Wuest 74030,332 (X) Big advice here: stick with a mainstream model, as best you can. Reasons include: a) Support - in terms of editor or librarian software, 3rd party sounds, hints/tips from others how to operate it best, etc. b) Resale - If/when you decide to sell it, selling an obscure maker or model is very tough. Selling a well known/supported one is relatively easy. Casio's are neat, but they usually fall into the 'home' or 'amateur' catagories (I know... I've had two of them), and I haven't heard of te . er .. the Spectra. I'd push back in the direction of a D5 (Roland) or K1 (Kawaii) if I were in your shoes. The latter is VERY well supported, largely becaue Kawaii hit a good price point, and a lot of people who wanted a 'serious' synth for lower pricing bought into it. As a result, a lot of the 3rd parties make sounds for it. D5's are also fairly well supported in that they can use the same patches & tones as the D10/D20/D110. Pete There is 1 Reply. #: 9960 S4/MIDI and Music 25-Mar-91 11:53:12 Sb: #9896-#New Keyboard Advice Fm: Mark Wuest 74030,332 To: Pete Lyall 76703,4230 (X) Pete, Well, I spent all day Saturday with a (young) friend who is also quite a good keyboardist. We found that the K1 and D5 are (just barely) out of my price range new (around $550.00). The one possibly interesting thing I found was a Casio VZ-1 for $430 that supposedly lists for $1150 (at Sam Ash). My friend liked it a lot better than the Kawaii Spectra ($600 at Sam Ash, $500 elswhere) because it had a greater variety of sounds, but agreed that the Kawaii was likely a better quality keyboard. The Casio is also easily 3 times as big as the Kawaii, which is only about half again as deep as the keys themselves. Are you familiar with this model Casio? Is it likely to be better built than other Casios (shoot, it *says* "Professional" right there on the front of it! )? We've got less than 3 weeks 'til 'M-Day!! (Believe it or not, no, I am not getting nervous!) Mark There is 1 Reply. #: 9962 S4/MIDI and Music 25-Mar-91 17:03:16 Sb: #9960-#New Keyboard Advice Fm: Pete Lyall 76703,4230 To: Mark Wuest 74030,332 (X) Mark - The next statement will bring grimaces from Casio owners, but the stigma of 'toy' is pretty much affixed to most Casio stuff, however unfair. The VZ-1 and FZ-10 were pro gear, and are reputed to be excellent units. Casio (I'm guessing here) seems to have dropped out of the pro gear arena, and the result is blow out prices. Bottom line: if you really like it, and it fits your price plan, grab it. I believe that is a multi-timbral unit. I also hear that it has some of the same characteristics sound wise as the FM synths (aka Yamaha). Pete P.S. I'm not really nervous either, but then I've had almost 7 years to get used to Marsha too.... There is 1 Reply. #: 9969 S4/MIDI and Music 26-Mar-91 10:51:48 Sb: #9962-#New Keyboard Advice Fm: Mark Wuest 74030,332 To: Pete Lyall 76703,4230 (X) Pete, Well, I went for the new Kawai Spectra (KC-110). It looked like it might last awhile, and I just wondered about buying something that was as discounted as much as the VZ-1 was. One of our new neighbors in our apartment building has (and teaches piano on :)) a Korg ??? digital piano, so we may be in better shape than I first thought. Now the hard part - *not* taking it out of the box and playing with it myself before I give it to Laura!! So ....... what do I need to get to Midi-ize my CoCo? Mark There is 1 Reply. #: 9970 S4/MIDI and Music 26-Mar-91 11:57:08 Sb: #9969-#New Keyboard Advice Fm: Pete Lyall 76703,4230 To: Mark Wuest 74030,332 (X) Best bet for COCO & MIDI is to get to Rulaford Systems (Associates)... They sell a MIDI pak for $75 +/-, and they probably also sell Lester Hands' LYRA (Notation) and possibly CM3 (a sequencer.. a digital record & playback capability w/ multiple tracks). If you're running undfer OS9 LII, then the Ultimuse program by Mike Knudsen is probably the best (for Notation... no sequencer exists for LII). The Korg folks make a REAL nice piano... The Korg SG-1D was the first MIDIable piano I ever heard that sounded and felt like a real grand piano. You have a lot of options in the ~1500-2000 range with respect to decent MIDI pianos. Pete There is 1 Reply. #: 9971 S4/MIDI and Music 26-Mar-91 13:29:45 Sb: #9970-#New Keyboard Advice Fm: Mark Wuest 74030,332 To: Pete Lyall 76703,4230 (X) Pete, Great price! Can you tell me how to contact Rulaford? Mark There are 2 Replies. #: 9972 S4/MIDI and Music 26-Mar-91 15:12:34 Sb: #9971-#New Keyboard Advice Fm: Pete Lyall 76703,4230 To: Mark Wuest 74030,332 (X) Mark - Either someone here who gets Rainbow will have to help, or you'll have to scrounge up a copy on your own. Also - leaving msgs for Mike Knudsen and Lester Hands may lend some aid. Pete ' P.S. Keep yer hands outta da box There is 1 Reply. #: 10007 S4/MIDI and Music 27-Mar-91 08:50:14 Sb: #9972-#New Keyboard Advice Fm: Mark Wuest 74030,332 To: Pete Lyall 76703,4230 (X) Pete, I left e-mail for Mike yesterday, and will call the places Ches suggested today. Thanks very much for all your help! Mark There is 1 Reply. #: 10009 S4/MIDI and Music 27-Mar-91 13:10:59 Sb: #10007-New Keyboard Advice Fm: Pete Lyall 76703,4230 To: Mark Wuest 74030,332 (X) See if you're still thanking me when you're a hopeless, penniless MIDIot like myself and so many other unfortunates... (grin) Pete #: 9981 S4/MIDI and Music 26-Mar-91 19:06:43 Sb: #9971-#New Keyboard Advice Fm: Ches Looney 73016,1336 To: Mark Wuest 74030,332 (X) Hi Mark, I've been interested in watching your search for the right musical MIDI instrument. I "play" the computer keyboard pretty well but can only pick out Chopsticks on a piano keyboard. I do enjoy music and have really enjoyed transcribing sheet music and then "arranging" the set of musical instruments to play the tune. I've used both LYRA and UltiMusE (UME) extensively and enjoy them both. LYRA permits sending messages along with musical notes to the synthesizer to reset the selection of voices, allow "bending" of notes, etc. while UME has a somewhat easier-to-use note entry scheme. As Pete told you, UME works out of OS9 while LYRA works out of Radio Shack Basic. LYRA was written by Lester Hands who now sells the product from MusicWare, Hamlet Route 1261, Seaside, OR 97138 (tel 503738-0119). Mike Knudsen's UME can be obtained from Second City Software, P.O. Box 72956, Roselle, IL 60172 (tel 708-653-5610). Both Les and Mike drop in here occasionally; Les has CIS ID 70135,430 and Mike has CIS id 72467,1111. Regards, Ches. There are 2 Replies. #: 9999 S4/MIDI and Music 27-Mar-91 00:14:49 Sb: #9981-#New Keyboard Advice Fm: Pete Lyall 76703,4230 To: Ches Looney 73016,1336 (X) Ches - Thanks for piping up with all that good MIDI scoop for Mark.. Pete There is 1 Reply. #: 10005 S4/MIDI and Music 27-Mar-91 06:45:43 Sb: #9999-New Keyboard Advice Fm: Ches Looney 73016,1336 To: Pete Lyall 76703,4230 (X) Pete, glad to help. Regards. Ches #: 10008 S4/MIDI and Music 27-Mar-91 08:51:44 Sb: #9981-New Keyboard Advice Fm: Mark Wuest 74030,332 To: Ches Looney 73016,1336 (X) Ches, Thanks for all the hot leads! I think this is going to be a lot of fun! Mark #: 9872 S4/MIDI and Music 20-Mar-91 15:24:22 Sb: #9870-New Keyboard Advice Fm: Pete Lyall 76703,4230 To: Mark Wuest 74030,332 (X) BTW - you can also usually get at least a 'hold' {sustain} pedal for most synths.. Pete #: 9877 S4/MIDI and Music 20-Mar-91 22:30:38 Sb: #9870-#New Keyboard Advice Fm: James Jones 76257,562 To: Mark Wuest 74030,332 (X) Hiya. I own a Clavinova (lovely instrument, though out of the price range in question)--it has what you're talking about (called "velocity sensitivity"). I don't know whether the Rolands have it--it does add to the cost of a keyboard. (The Clavinova has two switches per key, arranged so that one closes first, then the other. The time between the two closings indicates the velocity. Adding that kind of hardware to determine velocity is what increases the cost.) But...if you're wanting to learn piano technique, I would think that velocity sensitivity is important. There is 1 Reply. #: 9882 S4/MIDI and Music 21-Mar-91 14:08:41 Sb: #9877-New Keyboard Advice Fm: Mark Wuest 74030,332 To: James Jones 76257,562 (X) James, Since we have a small 1-bedroom apartment (North NJ real estate prices), if she gets real serious, a Clavinova is probably what we'll end up with instead of a full-sized piano. I was really impressed with the feel and sound of the ones I looked at, but it is more than I should spend 3 weeks before getting married. (Actually, so is $500, but, oh, well!) Her sister's Roland has it, and Pete says most keyboards anymore have it these days. It's easy enough to test! Mark #: 9879 S4/MIDI and Music 21-Mar-91 00:52:09 Sb: #9870-#New Keyboard Advice Fm: Bob Palmer 74646,2156 To: Mark Wuest 74030,332 (X) I don't know about your wife but my two girls insist that the only instrument fit to learn piano on is a PIANO. ( A real one full of wires and hammers and such like bits. Perhaps a well used second hand piano would be the ticket. It is very difficult to find an electronic instrument which has the touch of the real thing. Me - I love the flexibility of a MIDI but then I am not a musician. To get an electronic instrument capable of a GOOD piano sound will run way!! over your budget. Caveat Emptor. free advice from me is worth what you pay for it. There is 1 Reply. #: 9883 S4/MIDI and Music 21-Mar-91 14:13:10 Sb: #9879-New Keyboard Advice Fm: Mark Wuest 74030,332 To: Bob Palmer 74646,2156 (X) Bob, I know what you mean. The Yamaha Clavinova is the only electronic keyboard I've seen that really *feels* like a piano. Our 1-bedroom apartment in a 7-story building just won't support a full-sized piano. Mark #: 9909 S4/MIDI and Music 23-Mar-91 10:38:27 Sb: #9720-#Mfplay Fm: Ches Looney 73016,1336 To: PaulSeniura 76476,464 (X) Paul, I am really enjoying your MFCONV and MFPLAY software! Pulled an MFF1 file of Roseleaf Rag (the smaller of two files on the MIDI forum) and found that the first track just sets parameters and the second track is the music so MFCONV/MFPLAY works fine on it and it is a mighty pretty Joplin rag. Also pulled the Cathy file off MIDI and found that the last three of four tunes are in MFF0 format so they work well and sound absolutely delightful (for those of us who like Irish music anyway). The PolySoft stuff sounds marvelous; please share more info on that source. Is it a company that makes a business of selling music in MIDI format? What is full address etc.? And the four Impromptus are also great, both as straight piano pieces and with various instruments chosen for some of the channels. Please identify IEMUG for me. Thanks for your efforts and good luck in your search for MFF1 to MFF0 tools and better timers. Highest regards, Ches. There are 3 Replies. #: 9922 S4/MIDI and Music 23-Mar-91 22:58:33 Sb: #9909-Mfplay Fm: PaulSeniura 76476,464 To: Ches Looney 73016,1336 (X) Hi Ches, Yes I was thinking some of those MFF1s will actually work with this software. Many of them, though, have Tempo Maps as that first track which we wouldn't be able to honor while you're "playing" the second track. Those kinds of first tracks, also, would develop a kind of huge pause before the music would start playing. And remember we have a designed-in bug in-between the tracks, where that correction factor thinks it is "off" at the start of the next track (other than the first) by exactly the tick-count of the previous accumulator. That sticks a value into the correction factor that is the two's compliment of the cumulation up to that point (if there was a real tempo change somewhere in the previous track) or it'd be exactly the two's compliment of the "time" of the entire previous track! Sorry, but if that is happening, I did mention that bug will stay there until we have a MFF1-to-MFF0 converter. Ok PolySoft I think has a "private" SIG on GEnie. Gotta be a member (yeah I am not one). All I have is the readme file from them that says to give their toll-free number a call: 1-800-777-8010. I think they are really a MIDI music shop and are doing these scores/files on the side. They must have access to some right-fancy software & hardware if they've been able to figure out how to deal with those MT-32 timbre settings! Sorry 'bout not putting that info into our archive. [...more...] #: 9923 S4/MIDI and Music 23-Mar-91 23:00:31 Sb: #9909-#Mfplay Fm: PaulSeniura 76476,464 To: Ches Looney 73016,1336 (X) [...continued...2-of-3] IEMUG means "Internation Electronic Music Users Group" and is a Fido-based network started by John Fordenbacher right here in Okla.City. Maybe, maybe he'll still have his node on-line, but I think he's changed his node to the "Christian Music Network". His BBS # is 1-405-733-3102 and tell him I sent ya to ask him about IEMUG & where you can call in your own area to pull a listing & place a "FReq" (File Request). Access *will* cost probably around $25/year, but you pay this to your own area's IEMUG Sysop, not to John (I think). (Btw I was hoping Ron Bihler's RiBBS would be stable enough so I could become an IEMUG node; but alas the Fido officers here won't let me pipe in any National Echos cuz of the way Ron is doing things. There are other problems, too, such as how Ron has named his modules the same as other commercially-bought software packages I have. Take note you software authors: this SEVERELY LIMITS the multitasking capabilities of ANY such system! [This is why I chose "MF" as a prefix for these SMF routines, hint hint.] So I've just about ditched running my BBS. Absolutely no other BBS package for CoCo/RSDOS or OS9/6809/68000/etc. can do Fido -- NONE of them. Are there MIDI networks on Usenet, I wonder? Maybe we could use Rick Adam's port of UUCP.) [...more...] There is 1 Reply. #: 9973 S4/MIDI and Music 26-Mar-91 15:51:26 Sb: #9923-#Mfplay Fm: Ches Looney 73016,1336 To: PaulSeniura 76476,464 (X) Paul, I tried the 800-777-8010 for PolySoft and found Poly don't live there any more. Any other leads to them? Ches. There is 1 Reply. #: 10103 S4/MIDI and Music 03-Apr-91 21:59:24 Sb: #9973-Mfplay Fm: PaulSeniura 76476,464 To: Ches Looney 73016,1336 (X) Can't remember if I mentioned that PolySoft has a private "roundtable" over on GEnie: need to join PolySoft's user group before getting access, which now is sounding like a Catch-22 situation. That's funny about that number being bad, cuz the archive innards are dated right around Nov. 29 or 30 1990, i.e. not very old. (Those files were originally for the Atari ST MIDI users, believe it or not!, so they use SEA-compatible ARC and we can pick 'em apart just fine!) Might be a while before I can find out more for ya. -- Thx, Paul Seniura. #: 9924 S4/MIDI and Music 23-Mar-91 23:03:28 Sb: #9909-#Mfplay Fm: PaulSeniura 76476,464 To:at are part of the "Software Distribution Network (SDN)" use that "other" version of PAK I was telling y'all about (John started the "MIDI D.N." and "Christian D.N."). If OS9/ i vb mpdt- vb hfc!-w' ogt v GTNT TCadOsmprn hth DSraeun.Ta'lteesti.Frankly, this is partly why I'm *not* going to buy any OSK upgrade for my CoCo. (Plus, they "want too much" right now.) They are going to have to show me that they want to be part of the World instead of a small bucket of sand. I'm in a Catch-22: I can't afford one of those boxes to help port things, and I can't port things without one of their boxes and "Professional OSK". Sorry ... I don't mean to be this way on a Reply. Hopefully some of the big dudes will read this and realize I pre-bought my CoCo3 several months before Radio Shack started delivering them to the stores. Going on 4 or 5 years ago now! (I bought 2 more since then mostly as "spare parts", and one got zapped already.) I can still find my original copies of OS9 v1.0.1 & v2.0.0 (and their books -- btw they don't have the info I need for the ACIA driver or the TMR project). I have a friend's original 64k-upgraded Grey-cased CoCo1 I sold him (I need to put a keyboard on it for him). I've recently added ANOTHER 40-meg drive to the B&B interface! (was hoping I could get RiBBS going again.) What I'm saying is I've been staunchly supportive of OS9 ever since I can remember and have many old issues of Rainbow to boot. Nothing in these last several years have shown me that anything is going to change, nothing to let me believe we're EVER going to be part of the world out there. So I'm holding on to what I have, pray that it won't break down, and also pray that I won't be the only one left with a 6809! Oh well, let me cool off a bit, and I'll look at the MFF1-to-0 code some more! -- Thx, Paul Seniura (76476,464). There is 1 Reply. #: 9929 S4/MIDI and Music 24-Mar-91 07:47:48 Sb: #9924-Mfplay Fm: Ches Looney 73016,1336 To: PaulSeniura 76476,464 (X) Thanks for all the info - I'll go digest it and see where it leads me. I ran into the track-to-track long sleep on Solace - after waiting it out I enjoyed the music. The challenge for me is to try to understand the resultant code in a CMF0 file after reading your documents and comparing a Trace printout with a dump. Again thanks and great good fortune is wished your way. Ches. #: 9925 S4/MIDI and Music 23-Mar-91 23:06:00 Sb: status of MFF1->0 cnvtr Fm: PaulSeniura 76476,464 To: all Some good news! With a fellow CIS chap by the name of Chris Braymen, I am now working on a MFF1-to-MFF0 converter. He's done it in a "Small C" way where Long Ints he deals with in #asm-imbedded code for CP/M machines (uh I think it's only Intel 8080 code; sorta close to TRS-80's Z80 CPU so I *think* I know what's going on!) Anyway I'm going to test what I hope is the correct C Long Int code very shortly (might even log back on to CIS this weekend!). Chris does it via reading into RAM the entire file and uses char-array pointers to keep account of where he's at in the (simultaneous) MFF1 tracks. (We are doing E-mail to figure his code out, cuz Chris now has a C compiler that supports Long Ints.) If this works (and if OS9 & MW C works good enough this way even with huge MFF1 files), I'll not need that much help on the article I wrote that asks y'all to help me with a multitasking version of this converter program. But that article *might* still be a viable project at any rate -- I know of many SMFs that probably won't fit inside #56k data area size (if we can keep Chris' code below 8k!). So please do keep on with the feedback -- I need every byte I can get! -- Thx, Paul Seniura (76476,464). #: 9979 S4/MIDI and Music 26-Mar-91 18:38:53 Sb: #Rhapso.ar Fm: Denise Tomlinson 71021,3274 To: sysop (X) I can't seem to change the description for my file I uploaded to CIS. Its "Rhapso.ar" in dl4. When I do a CHA, I start from scratch, but it keeps telling me that the message is over 465 characters but actually I have only typed 2, 80 character lines. How do I redo the entire message? Thanks, Denise There is 1 Reply. #: 10040 S4/MIDI and Music 29-Mar-91 13:45:07 Sb: #9979-#Rhapso.ar Fm: Steve Wegert 76703,4255 To: Denise Tomlinson 71021,3274 (X) Denise, Quirks of software have bitten you. You're doing it right ... just leaving out a step. When you change a description, you're dumpped into the EDIT editor ... and it pulls in a full copy of the current description ... so you can actually EDIT it if you like. Need to do a complete re-write? Type a /P on a blank line (inside the editor) to display the first line, then type /d999 to delete the next 999 lines, then re-enter your description. A /EX will save your changes and exit the editor. Help? Steve There is 1 Reply. #: 10087 S4/MIDI and Music 01-Apr-91 19:47:00 Sb: #10040-#Rhapso.ar Fm: Denise Tomlinson 71021,3274 To: Steve Wegert 76703,4255 (X) Thanks Steve, for the help. I was wondering if I was in the Editor or not. I mostly compose text offline with a word processor and dump to CIS, so I don't use the editor very much. Thanks again, Denise There is 1 Reply. #: 10089 S4/MIDI and Music 02-Apr-91 07:49:50 Sb: #10087-Rhapso.ar Fm: Steve Wegert 76703,4255 To: Denise Tomlinson 71021,3274 Denise, Our Editor isn't one of the better things found online. :-) It's powerful ... but less than intuative for the casual user. Your approach is probabbly the best ( compose off line and upload.) Give a shout any time ... Steve #: 10104 S4/MIDI and Music 03-Apr-91 22:20:11 Sb: #SMF Fmt-1 to Fmt-0 Fm: PaulSeniura 76476,464 To: all Everyone might want to know that I've gotten most of Chris Braymen's MFF1-to-0 program working. Rewrote it to use long integers, chopped out some rather entangled "good-bad" data checking (wasn't needed), and by golly after it's fully linked with MW's Clib.l it comes in at under 8k-512 bytes! This is good since it uses RAM to load the MFF1 file and index thru all the tracks. Kinda spiffy, too, since this is doing mostly reformatting work. Having a snag every now & then, tho. Dunno if we have bad data in a few of the MFF1 files being used in testing this, or if the Dearc/UnZip3 is gushing out some junk from the original compressed files. Ends up putting out bad delta times in the MFF0 output (definitely not the MFConv pgm doing the damage). Making darn sure we're using binary I/O routines (FRead, FWrite, etc.) ya know. So bear with me; as I find time, this will be good enough for maybe 80% of the MFF1 files being shared. (The other 20% will be too large for the 48k+ RAM region available. I guess we'd need a direct-SEEK disk file version to handle the big jobbies?) Converting MFF1 files to MFF0 also entails rewriting part of the MFF0 output to incorporate updated length fields etc. in the SMF header. This means pipes ain't gonna work -- sorry. (Yes I'm being careful not to use 'lseek' on the buffered files! I'm using 'rewind' which should be okay. And I'm using the '_RBF' flag -- may need to resort to using old-fashioned Reads & Writes to ensure pure binary data!) Chris mentioned he's able to compile long ints now, so tonight I'll ship him the code I've created and ask him to test/debug it. -- Thx, Paul Seniura. (P.s. Am testing a version of MFPlay that will load the entire MFF0 file to be played into RAM, i.e. the mostest-accuratest way we can do timed I/O with Sleep calls. Again this can deal with maybe 80% of what's out there without going over the 48k+ data region. But one or two of those PolySoft demos still slow down although not so noticeable!) There are 2 Replies. #: 10109 S4/MIDI and Music 04-Apr-91 07:05:33 Sb: #10104-SMF Fmt-1 to Fmt-0 Fm: Ches Looney 73016,1336 To: PaulSeniura 76476,464 Thanks, Paul, for the info. Ches. #: 10122 S4/MIDI and Music 05-Apr-91 16:45:53 Sb: #10104-SMF Fmt-1 to Fmt-0 Fm: Paul K. Ward 73477,2004 To: PaulSeniura 76476,464 Paul, Boy, you've been hard at work! Good for you. Did you get info from me on the clock setup for the MM/1 MIDI port, BTW? If not, I should probably turn you over to one of our hardware tech guys. Let me know! Best, Paul IMS #: 10140 S4/MIDI and Music 07-Apr-91 00:03:49 Sb: #9652-#MIDI File code Fm: Mike Knudsen 72467,1111 To: Pete Lyall 76703,4230 (X) Pete, is fthis discussion about MIDI FIle FOrmat conversion code from TIm THompson of Bell Labs in New Jersey? I think I got some C source from him at work a year ago, but wasn't sure if that was AT&T properietary or what. If you have some source that's good, since I have no way to move stuff between work and home machines. --mike k There are 2 Replies. #: 10153 S4/MIDI and Music 07-Apr-91 18:14:19 Sb: #10140-MIDI File code Fm: Paul K. Ward 73477,2004 To: Mike Knudsen 72467,1111 (X) Mike, What kind of computer do you use at work -- Unix box of some sort? Incidentally, I've been using the Bourne shell that Brett Wynkoop uploaded (the bursted TOPS shell). Works great! Paul #: 10168 S4/MIDI and Music 08-Apr-91 11:28:27 Sb: #10140-#MIDI File code Fm: Pete Lyall 76703,4230 To: Mike Knudsen 72467,1111 (X) Mike - The source is from Tim, but implemented by Paul. I received permission (via Internet) for Paul to use Tim's code. Pete There is 1 Reply. #: 10420 S4/MIDI and Music 23-Apr-91 21:49:00 Sb: #10168-MIDI File code Fm: Mike Knudsen 72467,1111 To: Pete Lyall 76703,4230 (X) Good. That opens things up a lot. --mike k #: 10141 S4/MIDI and Music 07-Apr-91 00:21:14 Sb: #10007-#New Keyboard Advice Fm: Mike Knudsen 72467,1111 To: Mark Wuest 74030,332 (X) Hi Mark. I hope you go with UltiMuse under OS9. I did write a MIDI recording program and got it working, sort of, but my old RUlaford MIDI Pak has a 6850 chip which Motorola says wona't do the 1.8 MHz Coco3 clock rate, and the chip rebelled by dropping bytes now and then, just enuf to spoil the music. SO until I get a 68B50 chip to upgrade it, I can't do a MIDI recorder under L2. Once I do, I'll try to write a timing-diagram (piano roll format) grafix editor and maybe a smart program to translate your playing into Ultimuse notation. Pretty busy with MM/1 OSK port of Ultimuse and the income tax right now tho, with a Rainbowfest coming up. --mike k There is 1 Reply. #: 10355 S4/MIDI and Music 19-Apr-91 23:53:34 Sb: #10141-#New Keyboard Advice Fm: DonVail 70233,2037 To: Mike Knudsen 72467,1111 (X) You are writing a sequencer for ultimuse. GOOD. I was waiting for something like that. Will Ultimuse be the same under OSK or will it have added features. I don't own ultimuse at the moment. Financial reasons obviously. DONVAIL There is 1 Reply. #: 10421 S4/MIDI and Music 23-Apr-91 21:52:03 Sb: #10355-New Keyboard Advice Fm: Mike Knudsen 72467,1111 To: DonVail 70233,2037 UME will start out the same under OSK, but a lot faster (you should see how fast it draws a score now-all messed up, but FAST). New features will come very fast after that, and some will also go into the Coco version as well, which still has a few promises to pay off on per features in upgrades. Recording MIDI on the MM/1 will not require any extra hardware, but on the COco it needs a MIDI Pak with an yupgraded 68B50 chip. --mike k #: 10142 S4/MIDI and Music 07-Apr-91 00:27:40 Sb: #9882-#New Keyboard Advice Fm: Mike Knudsen 72467,1111 To: Mark Wuest 74030,332 (X) Mark, I hoped you found a touch-sensitive keyboard in your $500 range. Used to be you couldn't touch one under $1000. Anyway I agree that for learning piano you definitely want that feature. I shudder to think I almost bought one without it. However, some very cheap units CAN respond to MIDI touch velocity values and play with expression under Lyra or UME, even tho your fingers can't get the expression on the little keys. By the way, neither Lyra nor UME really need a hardware MIDI Pak interface, but can run off a serial cable in the back (the printer port). Only to record hand playing do you really need the Pak, tho complex pieces may play better with it. --mike k There is 1 Reply. #: 10167 S4/MIDI and Music 08-Apr-91 10:18:27 Sb: #10142-#New Keyboard Advice Fm: Mark Wuest 74030,332 To: Mike Knudsen 72467,1111 (X) Mike, Yup, I bought a Kawai KC10 for $495.00 It's *very* small, and I'll eventually write a user interface on the CoCo to program it (right now, you need the manual in front of you to do anything). It has a 2 or 3 reasonable piano PCM samples and a total of 128 samples and other sounds. I saw a Casio that looked like a better deal, but the Kawai had a much less busy front panel and was 1/3 the depth. I would eventually like to record hand playing - you know, play something and have the computer spit out sheet music. I have been reading some on the MIDI spec, but am trying to get married *and* get our work project into Beta (at the White Plains DCO - FOA is Atlanta). Mark There are 2 Replies. #: 10273 S4/MIDI and Music 15-Apr-91 02:25:38 Sb: #10167-New Keyboard Advice Fm: Paul K. Ward 73477,2004 To: Mark Wuest 74030,332 (X) Mark, What a dream, to be able to play live into a MIDI box and have a computer spit out sheet music! Unfortunately, computers resolve time better than we do, so you've got to do some serious quantizing either before hand or after the fact -- and after the fact is awful tedious! I think that doing what you want "transparently" will be harder to crack than generic voice recognition. Still, with some good software from folks like Knudsend, we can at least get as close as the PC folks. Best, Paul IMS #: 10419 S4/MIDI and Music 23-Apr-91 21:47:57 Sb: #10167-#New Keyboard Advice Fm: Mike Knudsen 72467,1111 To: Mark Wuest 74030,332 (X) OK. Does that Kawai KC10 have touch-responsive keys, or at least thru MIDI? At least you can program it -- many tone-boxes now cannot be programmed AT ALL without a MIDI computer. I've written some test programs to record MIDI on OS9-L2, but I need a faster 68B50 chip in my MIDI Pak to make them work right, so on the back burner right now. Good luck -- staying married is more work than getting married, but more fun and more rewarding. And stay at the reception as long as you can -- why miss a good party? --mike k There is 1 Reply. #: 10455 S4/MIDI and Music 25-Apr-91 10:02:33 Sb: #10419-New Keyboard Advice Fm: Mark Wuest 74030,332 To: Mike Knudsen 72467,1111 Yes, the Kawaii has both velocity-sensitivity and MIDI thru. It may as well require an external computer to program, as you have to have the manual in front of you while you're doing it. (eg: each "sound" is just a number between 1 and 128 - you look it up on a table in the manual.) We left a little early - we had better things to do ! Mark #: 10143 S4/MIDI and Music 07-Apr-91 00:33:16 Sb: #9879-New Keyboard Advice Fm: Mike Knudsen 72467,1111 To: Bob Palmer 74646,2156 (X) Yes, nothing can really replace a REAL piano, but some of the tiny spinet models, especially those made today, sound much worse than any decent electronic piano, and their touch is terrible too. Just as some electronic organs are better than some pipe organs. But as you hint, a big old upright, once overhauled by a professional tuner/technician, will sound and feel better than anything (except a big Grand, if you have room!). And you can't loan your real piano to you sister, unless she brings lots of big strong friends, grin. #: 10144 S4/MIDI and Music 07-Apr-91 00:40:17 Sb: #10104-#SMF Fmt-1 to Fmt-0 Fm: Mike Knudsen 72467,1111 To: PaulSeniura 76476,464 (X) Hi Paul. Would you want to try incorporating my Virtual Memory techniques into your MFF players? Or maybe the VRN "device" allegedly on Delphi? WHen Dale Puckett published his one-page description of how my VMem stuff works in Rainbow, I offered to give him a cleaned-up source of the relevant routines to publish. I could probably fix you up with something like that, tho I don't have a lot of time to help you out with them. They use Grafix put-get buffers, but could be easily zapped to use Data Modules. And they are NOT buggy, at least not since the first version. It wouldn't be that hard to get UME to "play" into an MFF file -just another item in a long list of projecdts. --mike k There are 2 Replies. #: 10154 S4/MIDI and Music 07-Apr-91 19:32:16 Sb: #10144-#SMF Fmt-1 to Fmt-0 Fm: PaulSeniura 76476,464 To: Mike Knudsen 72467,1111 (X) Hi Mike, I think I already got the VRN thingie. I'd have to redo it since I'm always using Rick Adams' VI editor (patched TS/Edit). I don't usually mess around with games so I've never installed it, yet it could be helpful in grabbing RAM. But it would need to do the entire bank-switching inside one 60-Hz tick. Right now my ideals are to provide a generic player for any OS9/6809 machine, not just for the CoCo3/Level-2 crowd. There's some who still have Level-1 and possibly the older CoCo models, etc. They won't be able to use such a player. A program that reads input from a file will let anyone use whatever hardware (cache or DMA) they have, including RAM-disk cards etc. -- you know: flexibility. So far, I can hear a very slight pause when there is a lot of super-fast MIDI stuff going on, more likely a delay caused by our RS232 hardware hogging all the CPU cycles (hard-wired IRQ lines etc.). And simply using 'malloc()' seemed to be good enough for those busy files. That is, until I downloaded a ZIP'd file that was compressed 81% which produced a MFF1 that was over 118k big! We're going to have to rewrite this converter to do SEEKs for files like that. And then that version will be generic enough so anyone can compile it & use it. If you get my drift: Part of the problem with IBM[tm]/compatibles software, whether it be on a PC, PS/2, mainframe, AIX, 8100, etc., is that they write everything to be memory-resident. The fastest file archivers use all the RAM they can grab. I'm not disagreeing with this practice, but it makes special problems for porting and multitasking. (For example, IBM promises that OS/2[tm] version 2.0 [EE or not] will be a lot smaller code-wise because they'll have finally found a way to use common routines, kinda like a run-time library. I bet someone saw how OSK uses similar common modules to do the math and I/O!) Finally, I'm hoping we can ditch all this CMF stuff once we can have Two-way paths between SMFs and UME. -- Thx, Paul Seniura. There is 1 Reply. #: 10414 S4/MIDI and Music 23-Apr-91 21:32:02 Sb: #10154-#SMF Fmt-1 to Fmt-0 Fm: Mike Knudsen 72467,1111 To: PaulSeniura 76476,464 (X) OK -- some of your message scrolled off the screen, but at least CTRL-S works tonite so I got most of it. I do have it on disk captured here too. Yeah, always nice to hear about IBM's screwups (I'm not putting an [tm] after their stuff, wonder why anyone would, grin). Don't know what CMF is -- guess SMF means MFF, standard midi format? Yeah I will get UME to play into MFF files. ANd I do have a little MIDI recorder for Coco OS9-L2, it works except my hardware 6850 wona't hack the fast clock rate, so gotta find a 68B50 before I can do anything constructive. Hope you're getting some use out of UME, despite its limitations. Say, did I ask yourpermission to just play (not give out!) the ST:TNG theme at RainbowFest this weekend? Tanks, mike k There is 1 Reply. #: 10427 S4/MIDI and Music 24-Apr-91 11:04:07 Sb: #10414-SMF Fmt-1 to Fmt-0 Fm: Pete Lyall 76703,4230 To: Mike Knudsen 72467,1111 (X) Mike - Yep... MFF (Midi File Format) and SMF (Standard Midi File) are taken to mean pretty much the same thing. For ease of exchange, most MFF's use a .MID file extension. Pete #: 10166 S4/MIDI and Music 08-Apr-91 07:41:35 Sb: #10144-#SMF Fmt-1 to Fmt-0 Fm: Bill Dickhaus 70325,523 To: Mike Knudsen 72467,1111 (X) Mike, Over the years, I've developed my own "virtual memory" routines, both in C and asm. I would be _very_ interested in looking at your routines. Are they written in C? Bill There is 1 Reply. #: 10418 S4/MIDI and Music 23-Apr-91 21:43:20 Sb: #10166-SMF Fmt-1 to Fmt-0 Fm: Mike Knudsen 72467,1111 To: Bill Dickhaus 70325,523 (X) Yes, mine are all C, and only two pages long on paper. Probably wouldn't mind letting them out. Have you heard about htis VRN virtual memory driver package on Delphi that supposedly does what you and I are doing? I haven't looked for it yet. #: 10145 S4/MIDI and Music 07-Apr-91 00:45:44 Sb: #10122-#SMF Fmt-1 to Fmt-0 Fm: Mike Knudsen 72467,1111 To: Paul K. Ward 73477,2004 (X) Hi Paul (the Ward variety). Kev Pease *finally* got his copy of my proposed standard for MIDI data movement within the MM/1. It allows the driver, not the application (like UME) to do the timing. It uses timing bytes slipped in here and there between the chords. Kev P and I have talkede about it once since he got it, as to what features and statcalls will get implemented (I threw in everything I could think of) and which are not so useful or easy to do. I really hope to have something runing for MM/1 at Fest, but right now the other Kev's early-version mouse driver is giving me fits. --mike k There are 2 Replies. #: 10146 S4/MIDI and Music 07-Apr-91 01:28:07 Sb: #10145-#SMF Fmt-1 to Fmt-0 Fm: James Jones 76257,562 To: Mike Knudsen 72467,1111 (X) Have something runing? That's pretty obscure...I'd settle for neumes, if you're trying for old music notation. :-) :-) :-) Seriously, I'm very much looking forward to seeing what you get running on the MM/1. For those of us with the second board so we have the sound, would it be possible to have a driver play back samples? (Dunno how useful that would be, but it might be a neat hack.) There is 1 Reply. #: 10413 S4/MIDI and Music 23-Apr-91 21:26:02 Sb: #10146-SMF Fmt-1 to Fmt-0 Fm: Mike Knudsen 72467,1111 To: James Jones 76257,562 (X) Hi. I have the MM/1 versiuion about 60% working. Yes, we intend to use the DMA stereo sound and go back to the good old days of computed sample output -- no synth needed. #: 10155 S4/MIDI and Music 07-Apr-91 19:33:27 Sb: #10145-#SMF Fmt-1 to Fmt-0 Fm: PaulSeniura 76476,464 To: Mike Knudsen 72467,1111 (X) Pardon me ... I typed up and shared a copyrighted article on this very subject! I need to get in on this so the CoCo3 can do the very same thing. In particular we're trying to invent a standard to use hardware timers via IRQs to do the timing, causing the driver to route the I/O at the correct moment. Also, I hope no one is plagurizing what we were discussing in that article. I'm very interested in standards. So has anyone set any? -- Thx, Paul Seniura. There is 1 Reply. #: 10416 S4/MIDI and Music 23-Apr-91 21:37:11 Sb: #10155-SMF Fmt-1 to Fmt-0 Fm: Mike Knudsen 72467,1111 To: PaulSeniura 76476,464 (X) Well, I didna't see your article so I can say I didn't ah, borrow, any ideas. Tho of course I assume you intended the ideas to be used, that the copyright just covers your explanation of the proposed standard and not the use of it, right? Else what good is a private standard, grin. I haven't posted mine anywhere, since Kev Pease had to hack on it some in terms of what made sense for him to implement, and we wanted to get some experience with it first. It's pretty simple, much like old Coco MIDI. I mean, there arena't many ways to do the same thing there. #: 10161 S4/MIDI and Music 07-Apr-91 23:14:05 Sb: #UMUSE3 Fm: Bert Schneider 70244,427 To: 72467,1111 (X) Mike, how are you doing? I now have a CIS acount! It only took 10 years to get one. Just kidding! Anyway, I have been trying to get ahold of Ed for months now and I still can't reach him. He said he'd send me the latest UMuse3 version, but I haven't seen anything. BTW, my Roland D-110 makes great music with your program. Now all I need are 200 Watt speakers, an amp, and a pre-amp. Right now I'm just using the keyboard's speakers. Take care, Bert There is 1 Reply. #: 10417 S4/MIDI and Music 23-Apr-91 21:39:47 Sb: #10161-#UMUSE3 Fm: Mike Knudsen 72467,1111 To: Bert Schneider 70244,427 (X) 200 watts? Hey, you giggin' on weekends? Weddings? Nah, we know that even classical organa music sounds best LOUD. I can bug Ed again -- I know he's been sending out stuff the last month. I hope yuour D-110 handles more notes and channels than my MT-32 -- a great box, but drops notes if you sneeze. --mike k There is 1 Reply. #: 10442 S4/MIDI and Music 24-Apr-91 22:37:33 Sb: #10417-UMUSE3 Fm: Bert Schneider 70244,427 To: Mike Knudsen 72467,1111 It is great! I'll have to send you me rendition of the Peter Gunn Theme! I even put in some drums! The only problem is how to tell people with other manufactuer's boxes what notes are what percussion instrument. I guess I could put that in the info status box or even include a small readme file. As soon as I put a few nice touches on it I'll modem it up to you here or Delphi. Take Care. And good luck at the Fest. OH, btw, I got ahold of Ed. I am also working with Larry Miner on porting his code to work with the D-110 for patches. I first need to build a hardware MIDI pak. I have some of the parts - I want to modify my /T1 serial port which uses a 2MHz 6551 (on my wire-wrap board). Bye Bert Schneider #: 10441 S4/MIDI and Music 24-Apr-91 22:29:48 Sb: latest SMF stuff Fm: PaulSeniura 76476,464 To: all Be on the lookout for MFFCP.AR in Library #4 -- the latest complete package for playing Standard MIDI Files under OS9/6809. Two new programs: MFF120 and MFPlay_mem. New docs for MFF120, while the docs for MFPlay have been expanded to include MFPlay_mem. MFConv and MFPlay programs haven't needed updating but are included along with original docs for MFConv for completeness. Yep, now we can convert MFF1s to MFF0s! And play 'em to boot! -- Thx, Paul Seniura. #: 10459 S4/MIDI and Music 25-Apr-91 12:09:33 Sb: Bad Download Fm: BRUCE BAKER 73747,3137 To: Lester Hands 70135,430 I'm a big fan of yours. I've only used your Musicbox program a couple of times so far, but it looks great! I've done quite a bit on ORC, but my lack of a multi-pak interface prohibits me from using that with disk, so your program was the answer to a prayer. I am a serious musician, so your LYRA3.AR looked very promising. My problem is that I can't get it to run. When I ident'ed the files, I get a bad CRC on MUSIC.DAT . I used Mikeyterm to download. I have a 128k coco3 with disk. I'm on a tight budget, so I am reluctant to download the whole file again. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Bruce Press !> #: 10472 S4/MIDI and Music 26-Apr-91 06:35:55 Sb: #10418-SMF Fmt-1 to Fmt-0 Fm: Bill Dickhaus 70325,523 To: Mike Knudsen 72467,1111 Mike, Yes, I noticed VRN mentioned in a couple of messages on Delphi, but I haven't looked at it yet, either, maybe I'll take a look at it over the weekend. Bill #: 10525 S4/MIDI and Music 30-Apr-91 06:27:39 Sb: #10441-latest SMF stuff Fm: Ches Looney 73016,1336 To: PaulSeniura 76476,464 Thanks, Paul. Pulled in mffcp.ar last week (just before a trip) and used it just enough to have my appetite whetted. After a few more hours, I have just barely scratched surface of what I want to do. Thanks for this fine addition to the tools for music file manipulation. Regards, Ches. #: 10529 S4/MIDI and Music 30-Apr-91 21:03:26 Sb: #10441-latest SMF stuff Fm: Ches Looney 73016,1336 To: PaulSeniura 76476,464 Paul, a somewhat belated thank you for putting the unzip.ar in the library. I've used it successfully on a few files; no problems at all. Regards, Ches. #: 10625 S4/MIDI and Music 08-May-91 19:13:40 Sb: #10441-#latest SMF stuff Fm: Ches Looney 73016,1336 To: PaulSeniura 76476,464 (X) Paul, I'm enjoying your package of MIDI file converter/play programs. Any chance of seeing a mod to handle tunes larger than the current max. I've got a couple in the 65k area I'd sure like to hear. Regards, Ches. There is 1 Reply. #: 10650 S4/MIDI and Music 11-May-91 22:29:42 Sb: #10625-#latest SMF stuff Fm: PaulSeniura 76476,464 To: Ches Looney 73016,1336 (X) Hi Ches, I've been taking a break. Plus I've become highly DIScouraged trying to come up with a converter for SMF-from/to-UME format since Mike K. has been too busy to reply to any of my messages for more than a month! (I've checked "everywhere" today and there's been no sign of him. He's been busy getting UME going on the MM/1 I understand.) Like I've said before, I was reallllllyyyyyy hoping to get something started so that we can ditch the CMF format altogether. I can see it's not going to be very soon at all. I'm going to have to redo MFF120 to use 'lseek()' because that's the only way I know to let it process any-size files with no restrictions -- *and* to keep the utility generic enough for all flavors of OS9/6809. That means I don't want to use CoCo3/Level-2-specific "memory allocation calls", or what Mike and others term "virtual memory". I've not heard from Chris Braymen either. Dunno if he'll get our long-int version of MFF120 to work on his box or not. Then he also could definitely use the lseek version. The lseeks will cause the disk drive to thrash all over the place -- I am *sure* of this even before rewriting it to do it. The code must look at every MFF1 track in succession to find the next-earliest note(s) to play/convert/merge. Instead of keeping pointers to the allocated RAM, we'll have to keep pointers to lseek values. And every time we reference the byte in RAM, we'd redo it with a 'getchar()' instead. See? But then, that's why we have RAM disks, eh? I'll see if I can get started on it this weekend. Take my mind off the TV reruns anyway ...! -- Thx, Paul Seniura (76476,464). There is 1 Reply. #: 10657 S4/MIDI and Music 12-May-91 13:42:03 Sb: #10650-#latest SMF stuff Fm: Ches Looney 73016,1336 To: PaulSeniura 76476,464 (X) Paul, let me offer a word of encouragement. Yesterday, I was pressed into service as a last minute program substitute for a mother/daughter function at my church. Your conversion programs helped me WOW the audience with great music from our favorite little computer. Again, please accept my thanks for such a nice addition to the CoCo/OS9 repertoire. (And to any "lurkers", try the MFFCP.AR conversion program in DL4 - you will like it). Incidentally, I have been unable to locate PolySoft - not in 800 directory nor in the Portland telephone operator's list of companies. Wonder what happened to them. Their sounds in the demo you uploaded are tremendous. I recently purchased a 3-song disk from Music Data (Their "In the Mood" is 65K, sigh), and the comparison with PolySoft music is interesting. Music Data uses the standard voices in the MT32 which are not quite as lifelike as those loaded into the MT32 by PolySoft. PolySoft's tempo and rhythm are a bit better than Music Data also. Regards, Ches. There is 1 Reply. #: 10738 S4/MIDI and Music 18-May-91 19:02:15 Sb: #10657-#latest SMF stuff Fm: PaulSeniura 76476,464 To: Ches Looney 73016,1336 (X) Well thank you, Ches. I'm testing the rewrite that uses 'fseek()' to index through the MFF1 file, instead of loading the file into RAM. Got one bug out of the way. I compared its output to one generated by MFF120, and it matches 100%, so it might be ready pretty soon. Gotta say it does take about 7 times longer indexing it from the MFF1 file rather than RAM, even when that MFF1 file is copied to a RAMdisk. It'd be great to have a cache driver -- I have Performance Peripheral's floppy controller and their CC3Disk driver has cache support settable by the user, but this company is no longer in business. In essence this could be used to "load" the MFF1 into the CoCo3's RAM without having to rewrite this program at all. Once enough of the MFF1 has been indexed, the drive would never need to physically reread any of the data. But a RAMdisk is still faster since the data is right there in RAM in the first place. Some people have uploaded MT32 patch files to the CIS and GEnie MIDI SIGs. If loaded properly, they can be used with UME. Haven't tried it, but if UME simply uses the MIDI channel setups in your MT32 as-is (i.e. the UME file does not have "instrument" icons in it), your UME file can simply play the notes on those channels and the MT32 should play with those loaded patches. Someone around here on this OS9 SIG was trying to create a patch librarian and patch editor for the MT32 -- where is he?! I saw Pete Lyall's FB01 software (or was it for a CZ model?), but where's the MT32 guru?! I can't remember his name ... but he uploaded a MT32 Setup program that was working just fine! It's here somewhere ... was waiting for his librarian & editor for patches ... -- Thx, Paul Seniura (76476,464). There are 2 Replies. #: 10753 S4/MIDI and Music 19-May-91 00:12:57 Sb: #10738-latest SMF stuff Fm: James Jones 76257,562 To: PaulSeniura 76476,464 (X) Dunno--but I *did* send along the C source to an MT32 patch editor that I saw and snarfed on USENET over to Mike Knudsen once, I think. #: 10834 S4/MIDI and Music 25-May-91 14:51:33 Sb: #10738-latest SMF stuff Fm: Ches Looney 73016,1336 To: PaulSeniura 76476,464 (X) Paul, here's some info for your comparison. I have a Tandy 1100 laptop PC and a KEY Midiator. I used the demo version of Cakewalk 4.0 to get the following data using the Efficiency Rag from the MIDIFORUM. Load time for EFCY.MID (Format 1) (file size: 17,920) 2:17 Load time for EFCY.MID (Format 0) (file size: 19,584) 3:55 (Used MFF120 for conversion of Format 1 to Format 0) Playing time for loaded Format 1: 2 sec to start of music, 3:25 playing. Comparison data for OS-9: Conversion time from Format 1 to Format 0: 0:52 Conversion time from Format 0 to CMF0: 2:13 Playing time for CMF0 (incl. loading time): 5 sec to start, 3:25 playing. I have ordered SongWright, a notation type of transcription/MIDI editor/player for PCs. Its author says it will load formats 0, 1, and 2, but will save only in format 1. My interpretation of the help files with the Cakewalk demo (as a demo, the save feature is disabled) is that it also saves only in format 1. I interpret all of this to mean that Cakewalk (at least) uses format 1 tunes more efficiently than format 0. Seems strange, I'd have thought having the time merging of the tracks already done would make loading of the tune faster. It also seems to me that OS-9/MF... is roughly equivalent, and perhaps faster from start to play than Cakewalk. Regards, Ches. #: 10802 S4/MIDI and Music 22-May-91 09:41:43 Sb: #UltiMuse3 Fm: Mark Wuest 74030,332 To: all Hi. I just received UltiMuse3 from 2nd City yesterday. I have already entered my first score (O Sacred Head - a small hymn by J.S. Bach and others), which should say something about its ease of use. I could not get it to read a file from within umuse3. I could enter the filename as a command line argument, but if I attempted to read a file (from the files menu), I got something very close to "DirRead: cannot malloc enuf" and a "Press enter or click to continue" prompt. I have tons of free, contiguous ram (performing mfree from the sub-shell in umuse3 gave over 200k) as I have no windows or other shells running. I have tried forking it with "ex umuse3", but the extra 8 or 16k didn't make a difference. Am I doing something wrong? BTW - I really, really like it!! Mark There are 2 Replies. #: 10805 S4/MIDI and Music 22-May-91 18:05:12 Sb: #10802-#UltiMuse3 Fm: James Jones 76257,562 To: Mark Wuest 74030,332 (X) Let's see...could you perhaps have more stuff in the address space umuse3 is running in than should be there? Did you give an explicit memory allocation on the command line? (I think that one shouldn't.) There is 1 Reply. #: 10816 S4/MIDI and Music 23-May-91 10:19:53 Sb: #10805-#UltiMuse3 Fm: Mark Wuest 74030,332 To: James Jones 76257,562 (X) Thanks for the ideas. No, I didn't do "umuse3 #32k" - the manual explicitly tells you not to (although, in an attempt to fix this, I *did* try it - it didn't work ). We'll see what Mike says - I Unix mailed him, too since we both work for AT&T. There is 1 Reply. #: 10818 S4/MIDI and Music 23-May-91 17:48:51 Sb: #10816-#UltiMuse3 Fm: Hugo Bueno 71211,3662 To: Mark Wuest 74030,332 (X) I believe that Umuse works better without Shell+'s automatic allocation of 8K of memeory. There's a patch somewhere to disable that feature. Hugo There is 1 Reply. #: 10822 S4/MIDI and Music 24-May-91 10:47:18 Sb: #10818-UltiMuse3 Fm: Mark Wuest 74030,332 To: Hugo Bueno 71211,3662 (X) Hugo, Bingo! Mike sent me e-mail this morning with the patch to shell+. I'll put it in tonight and make sure it fixes it. Thanks, Mark #: 10814 S4/MIDI and Music 23-May-91 06:02:26 Sb: #10802-#UltiMuse3 Fm: Ches Looney 73016,1336 To: Mark Wuest 74030,332 (X) Mark, hang on for a response from Mike or call Ed at 2nd City. That malloc problem is a C language problem that has come up before (for me and others) but I can't remember the fix. It has to do with 8k sections of memory and how they are used rather than gross memory availability. You may learn something helpful from the documentation that came with the software, but I suspect Mike thought he'd killed the problem and doesn't mention it in the documentation. Great program, UltiMusE! Ches. There is 1 Reply. #: 10817 S4/MIDI and Music 23-May-91 10:25:19 Sb: #10814-#UltiMuse3 Fm: Mark Wuest 74030,332 To: Ches Looney 73016,1336 (X) Ok - thanks for the response. This morning, I started putting in another piece, and decided to leave. When it asked if I wanted to save "" (I had not given it a name, yet), I didn't know what to do, so I said "y", hoping to be prompted for a filename - no such luck and I lost the file. Now I'm Sadder But Wiser :( Mark There is 1 Reply. #: 10828 S4/MIDI and Music 24-May-91 21:42:21 Sb: #10817-UltiMuse3 Fm: Ches Looney 73016,1336 To: Mark Wuest 74030,332 (X) Boy, Do I know that feeling!!! Sorry about your loss, but it sure helps avoid a similar problem next time, right? Ches. #: 10823 S4/MIDI and Music 24-May-91 10:48:55 Sb: Ultimuse3 Fm: Mark Wuest 74030,332 To: all I got e-mail from Mike K. this morning - the fix for my umuse3 problem is in shell+, not umuse3. He gave me a patch and I'll try it this evening. Thanks for your help and ideas! Mark #: 10853 S4/MIDI and Music 27-May-91 20:39:28 Sb: #10459-Bad Download Fm: Lester Hands 70135,430 To: BRUCE BAKER 73747,3137 Bruce, unfortunately the LYRA3.AR program is only a demo and so not especially useful. I had released it in hopes of getting some feedback to spur me on to finishing it. That was over 3 years ago and the project was never taken up again.... If you still would like to get the program, you can send me $3 and I'll mail you a copy. You might want to consider Ultimuse 3 (OS9) or Lyra (RS-DOS) for serious use! Lester #: 10862 S4/MIDI and Music 29-May-91 00:00:43 Sb: #MFF10.AR Fm: PaulSeniura 76476,464 To: all I just posted a file in LIB 4 called 'MFF10.AR': A TEST version of MFF10 is archived here in this file. It has the same syntax as MFF120 (provided in MFFCP.AR): MFF10 [output.mf0] . Lester #: 11133 S4/MIDI and Music 20-Jun-91 21:57:31 Sb: #10802-UltiMuse3 Fm: Mike Knudsen 72467,1111 To: Mark Wuest 74030,332 (X) Just to tie this off -- I gave Mark the patch to ShellPlus to fix that DirRead problem. Patch location $130F from $1F to $11. Yes, patching to $00 will work, but $11 helps utility programs run faster. --mike knudsen #: 11134 S4/MIDI and Music 20-Jun-91 21:59:28 Sb: #10805-UltiMuse3 Fm: Mike Knudsen 72467,1111 To: James Jones 76257,562 (X) James, inc case you haven't hread, Mark is using ShellPlus v2.1 whjich itself does explicit memory allocation of #31 or 7+3/4 K. As you know that messes up C programs that malloc() their own RAM. The patch I gave takes that out, or replaces it with #4K. --mike k. #: 11136 S4/MIDI and Music 20-Jun-91 22:03:44 Sb: #10817-#UltiMuse3 Fm: Mike Knudsen 72467,1111 To: Mark Wuest 74030,332 (X) Mark, thanks for an idea for a little fix to go in the next version,grin (well no grin at your end, sorry!). Yes it's funny to see it save a score named "". Actually, it might have created a file name .UME -- did you look with a DIR E? Not clear what Umuse would show on a Read DIR screen. There is 1 Reply. #: 11146 S4/MIDI and Music 21-Jun-91 10:37:57 Sb: #11136-UltiMuse3 Fm: Mark Wuest 74030,332 To: Mike Knudsen 72467,1111 Mike, I've gotten over that little one, and have really had a good time entering and play scores. I bought a hi-res mouse adapter for $5.00 and it improves the "feel", but it worked great without it, IMHO. I bought dynacalc for $5.00 at the same Rat Shack, BTW. Now, after not running my CoCo for almost two years, it runs umuse3 on /term, dynacalc in /w1, and ubox3 in /w2, and stay on most of the time. After noting how nice the windowing is on my home computer, we'er getting Sun Workstations at work, using Sable C++ interpreter for debugging. Now *that* may spoil me ! Mark att!docs!mdw att!corona!mdw attmail!wuest (They keep moving us around: I have more logins than a New Yorker has attitudes.) #: 11600 S4/MIDI and Music 03-Aug-91 22:11:40 Sb: #11146-UltiMuse3 Fm: Mike Knudsen 72467,1111 To: Mark Wuest 74030,332 Hi Mark. I started using Suns about 5 years ago, and in fact the menu buttons in Umuse3 are based on Sun, rather than on Tandy Multi-Vu (ugh). #: 11601 S4/MIDI and Music 03-Aug-91 22:12:34 Sb: #11163-latest SMF stuff Fm: Mike Knudsen 72467,1111 To: PaulSeniura 76476,464 (X) Nope, rather use Delphi, especially for long stuff. #: 11602 S4/MIDI and Music 03-Aug-91 22:14:25 Sb: #11228-UMUSE3 Fm: Mike Knudsen 72467,1111 To: Paul K. Ward 73477,2004 Hi. Maybe you can pry Rainbow's UME-K copy out of them. I can send you a better one, at least better grafix borders, but not for a couple of weeks. Hope Rainbow got their copy OK. I called Cray and told him it was coming. And hope they're playing with a loaner MM/1. #: 11604 S4/MIDI and Music 03-Aug-91 22:24:03 Sb: #11228-UMUSE3 Fm: Mike Knudsen 72467,1111 To: Paul K. Ward 73477,2004 Hi again. Forgot to mention, the DW8000 upgrade is advertised in back of Keyboard Mag for $200 by some outift with the word "Heaven" (or is it "Angel"?) in their name. It was reviewed in one issue. I think it's just a ROM upgrade, but it gives you two timbres, keyboard splits, at least double the patch memory, and a lot of minor improvements. I haven't bothered getting it yet. You install it yourself (or get Mark to do it for you, he he). I'd much rather see an upgrade fo the MT-32 -- this box REALLY NEEDS one! Nice hardware spoiled by buggy, slow firmware. Some company will take your MT32 and hack it for $150 - $400 depending on how many mods you ask for. Not known whether these fix the real problems. --mike k #: 11603 S4/MIDI and Music 03-Aug-91 22:18:00 Sb: #11420-#Bad Download Fm: Mike Knudsen 72467,1111 To: Lester Hands 70135,430 (X) Yes, we do recommend each other's programs when it suits the customer -glad you have that attitude too. I steer users to "Lyra COmpanion" for general discussions of music and MIDI, too. Nice to hear about that COvox board, sorta like Muisc Feature or SOundblaster. Yes, my PC is not doing any music so far, since ya gotta buy real hardware to run MIDI (unlike our RatShack "toy"). It's a COmpaq portable with only two slots open, so I have to watch what I put in there. What does that Covox package sell for, roughly? THanks, mike k There is 1 Reply. #: 11628 S4/MIDI and Music 05-Aug-91 08:46:13 Sb: #11603-Bad Download Fm: Lester Hands 70135,430 To: Mike Knudsen 72467,1111 Mike, the Covox package retails for $239, which includes the FM synth, MIDI interface, digitizer, PC-Lyra, and cables. Might even be useful on a 6809 system like the one Delmar is selling. #: 11642 S4/MIDI and Music 06-Aug-91 08:15:46 Sb: #11600-UltiMuse3 Fm: Mark Wuest 74030,332 To: Mike Knudsen 72467,1111 Hi! They changed their minds (or lost them ) - we're getting HP 9000/700 workstations instead. All these things compile so much faster than my MVME147 running OSK that I won't notice too many differences except for not getting coffee after I type "make"! Mark #: 11663 S4/MIDI and Music 07-Aug-91 16:40:19 Sb: #11602-UMUSE3 Fm: Paul K. Ward 73477,2004 To: Mike Knudsen 72467,1111 Mike, They played with the loaner and loved it! Do you think you can part with the prototype MIDI board for about ten days? They would like to get a sneak preview of the MIDI stuff for the upcoming MM/1 review. If you want to know what they thought of the MM/1, call up Cray at rainbow. Best, Paul IMS #: 11664 S4/MIDI and Music 07-Aug-91 16:41:36 Sb: #11604-#UMUSE3 Fm: Paul K. Ward 73477,2004 To: Mike Knudsen 72467,1111 The thing I didn't like about the MT-32 was its graininess in some of its sounds. I like the new Roland boards, though! Best, Paul IMS There is 1 Reply. #: 11677 S4/MIDI and Music 08-Aug-91 07:13:59 Sb: #11664-#UMUSE3 Fm: James Jones 76257,562 To: Paul K. Ward 73477,2004 (X) A guy I know at a local keyboard store is currently going on at great length about how neat a Roland sound box called something like Sound Canvas is. (Alas, they took the one they had to the other store, so I'd have to go there to see it--which I may do, just on the basis of how much this guy liked it. More likely I'll see whether it's at their booth at the State Fair's Varied Industries building.) There is 1 Reply. #: 11697 S4/MIDI and Music 09-Aug-91 22:41:51 Sb: #11677-#UMUSE3 Fm: Rick Ulland 70540,3305 To: James Jones 76257,562 (X) James- Heard you mention a state fair. WHAT STATE? I'm hoping WI, since I watch their fireworks every night. -Rick There is 1 Reply. #: 11702 S4/MIDI and Music 10-Aug-91 07:21:03 Sb: #11697-UMUSE3 Fm: James Jones 76257,562 To: Rick Ulland 70540,3305 The state? Iowa. Quite an event--come check it out if you have a chance. #: 11946 S4/MIDI and Music 25-Aug-91 22:33:20 Sb: #11628-Bad Download Fm: Mike Knudsen 72467,1111 To: Lester Hands 70135,430 OK Les, thjanks. Is there a magazine where I can find an ad for the Covox system? The software would work on my 2nd-hand COmpaq sewwing machine PC. BTW, Delmar and IMS are selling only 68K-based machines; only Frank Hogg is selling any 6809 processors. Just thought I'd clear that up -- the "coco 4" field is pretty confusing these days -- ain't it wonderful! --mike k #: 11947 S4/MIDI and Music 25-Aug-91 22:37:46 Sb: #11663-#UMUSE3 Fm: Mike Knudsen 72467,1111 To: Paul K. Ward 73477,2004 OK Paul, glad they loved it. Must have, with all those Coco-patible window features. I could probably send them the little MIDI board, or maybe you could get Kev P to make another, if he remembers how, grin. I just got back from vacation and Eddie Kuns still has my MM/1 with iuts MIDI card. Remember, the existing ACIA driver hangs up at random places in a piece. Fun to watch the 'Bow staff playing musical chairs with it, grin! The latest Rainbow reviewed the DelMar -- didn't say much about its lack of window grafix so far. --mike k There is 1 Reply. #: 11971 S4/MIDI and Music 26-Aug-91 19:25:04 Sb: #11947-UMUSE3 Fm: James Jones 76257,562 To: Mike Knudsen 72467,1111 Nice article in RAINBOW, eh? In view of the PT hardware having been around the longest of the three systems that people canonically think of as successors to the CoCo, I think the title "A New Era" is a bit ironic. :-) #: 11949 S4/MIDI and Music 25-Aug-91 22:42:33 Sb: #11664-UMUSE3 Fm: Mike Knudsen 72467,1111 To: Paul K. Ward 73477,2004 I don't like the brass or solo strings on the MT32 -- most of the woodwinds are great. I know ROland has done a lot since, like the U-110, but I haven't heard any of it so can't comment. Seems like everyone raves about the Proteus box as bang for buck. But if you want a real surprise, find a Yamaha PSR-300 -- a **topuch8responsive** 5-octave keyboard and 100-patch synth with 28 simultaneous voices, 15 different instrument polyphony, for three hunnnert bucks! You can't diddle the sounds tho -- they're canned samples. Nice percussion set too. What the MT-32 really needs is better firmware in its control section-whoever programmed that probably got fired as janitor from the Gortrtlieb pinball company. THat's Gottlieb on a non-Puppo keyboard :-) #: 11991 S4/MIDI and Music 27-Aug-91 18:53:38 Sb: #11946-Bad Download Fm: Jim Sutemeier 70673,1754 To: Mike Knudsen 72467,1111 ->the "coco 4" field is pretty confusing these days Sorry to disagree with you, Mike, but there is only ONE true "CoCo 4" on the market today, and that is the Tomcat9 by Frank Hogg. The TC9 is the ONLY machine that has a 6809 engine in it. The TC70, MM/1 and System IV I would call 'upgrades' to our OS9 system.... but I wouldn't call any of them "CoCo 4's". Jim Sutemeier Sirius Software & Hardware SysOp BBS StG International Network Node 818:772-8890 #: 12304 S4/MIDI and Music 20-Sep-91 03:44:50 Sb: #11991-#Bad Download Fm: George Hendrickson 71071,2003 To: Jim Sutemeier 70673,1754 (X) I've been wondering about the TC9. How fast does it run? Will it run RSDOS stuff faster than 2mhz and how fast will it run under OS9? Thanks! There is 1 Reply. #: 12409 S4/MIDI and Music 26-Sep-91 09:57:53 Sb: #12304-#Bad Download Fm: Jim Sutemeier 70673,1754 To: George Hendrickson 71071,2003 The TC9 will run the same as the CoCo, George, as it has the 6809 as the processor. However, you CAN add a "Tiger" card to it, and, with the correct drivers, the 68000 chip in the Tiger card will act as a co-processor handling memory management for the TC9. Should increase speed of most programs run (Frank estimates that the TC9 will increase spped from 2 to 3 times the stock 6809 chip. (Aside from the DOS command, I haven't used RSDOS in almost 10 years now.... so am not totally familiar with how RSDOS will be handled by the TC9, but RSDOS programs will run AT LEAST as fast as they do now - same processor) jim There is 1 Reply. #: 12414 S4/MIDI and Music 26-Sep-91 23:21:08 Sb: #12409-#Bad Download Fm: James Jones 76257,562 To: Jim Sutemeier 70673,1754 (X) Any word on when the correct drivers are expected? There is 1 Reply. #: 12423 S4/MIDI and Music 27-Sep-91 12:51:54 Sb: #12414-Bad Download Fm: Jim Sutemeier 70673,1754 To: James Jones 76257,562 (X) Haven't talked to Frank recently about the drivers, Jim.... will try to find out and let you know. jim Sutemeier #: 12324 S4/MIDI and Music 20-Sep-91 16:05:00 Sb: #11991-#Bad Download Fm: Paul K. Ward 73477,2004 To: Jim Sutemeier 70673,1754 (X) Jim, I see your point on the CoCo4 being 6809 system -- nothing else will do, according to you! Interesting! Of course, by that same argument, only 8086 systems are PCs. I think you also have to consider the element of "family resemblance". Hence, an 80386 UNIX system is not as much a PC as an 80386 MS-DOS system is, as most people understand "PC". Its the software that makes the 80386 MS-DOS system in the PC "family". Hence, a 6809 system would be a CoCo4 if it is in the "family" of the Color Computer -- but a 68000 system would ALSO be a CoCo of sorts (CoCo 5?) if (and only if) its software kept its look, feel, and user profile. Best, Paul PS Take care! There is 1 Reply. #: 12410 S4/MIDI and Music 26-Sep-91 10:04:38 Sb: #12324-#Bad Download Fm: Jim Sutemeier 70673,1754 To: Paul K. Ward 73477,2004 (X) Paul....I do see and understand your point. But the original PC's came out with one chip, and then IBM moved on to other chips as they went along, for more speed, etc., etc. Tandy, however, started with the 6809, and through two further enhanced production models, STAYED with the 6809 processor. This is why I stipulate that the only true CoCo4 is the Tomcat9 - the TC9 STAYS WITH the 6809 processor, following Tandy's lead in using (and continuing to use) the 6809. Most/all existing software CoCo owners use (both RSDOS and OS9 LII) will run on the Tomcat9. This is why I state that the TC9 is the CoCo4. (Just FYI, though, I moved on to a Tomcat70....I don't even consider it close to a CoCo in any way - sure, it runs OS9....but a much more powerful OS9 than I'm used to.) jim There is 1 Reply. #: 12419 S4/MIDI and Music 27-Sep-91 08:09:05 Sb: #12410-#Bad Download Fm: Steve Wegert 76703,4255 To: Jim Sutemeier 70673,1754 (X) Jim, I'm curious ... how's the TC70 performing? A friend of my recently took delivery of one and has had a number of problems he's currently trying to get resolved with Frank. Right at the top of the list is frequent system crashes. He's accustomed to having a very stable system up for hundereds of hours. Lately, with the TC70 he's lucky to see anything older than 38 hours. Have you been experiencing anything similar? How about craftsmanship? Any problems with the construction of the system? The same system has about 10 serial ports, with only 3 working. Trouble shooting seems to indicate the actual board is functional, but the cabling to the 9-pins is suspect on the non-working ports. How about your reset switch? Does it work? His doesn't. At this point he's one frustrated pup, while I continue to say, 'isolated instance'. Howaboutit? Steve There is 1 Reply. #: 12424 S4/MIDI and Music 27-Sep-91 12:56:17 Sb: #12419-#Bad Download Fm: Jim Sutemeier 70673,1754 To: Steve Wegert 76703,4255 (X) Your friends problem does sound like an isolated incident. I am having no problem at all with my TC70 - everything, including the reset button, work just fine. I have NOT, however, tried keeping mine up and working for 38 hours, , so that I cannot comment on reliably. Once I put my BBS up on the TC70, I'll be able to comment on usage for long periods of time. So far, I am extremely happy with the Tomcat70, making plans to expand it to customize my computer the way I want it. jim Sutemeier SysOp BBS 818-894-0012 There is 1 Reply. #: 12434 S4/MIDI and Music 28-Sep-91 09:23:54 Sb: #12424-Bad Download Fm: Steve Wegert 76703,4255 To: Jim Sutemeier 70673,1754 With your positive report on the box, Jim, it does help support the 'isolated instace' position. And I know Frank will do everything he can to resolve the outstanding issues my friend is still having. I'll keep you posted on how it goes. Steve #: 12321 S4/MIDI and Music 20-Sep-91 15:49:23 Sb: #11947-UMUSE3 Fm: Paul K. Ward 73477,2004 To: Mike Knudsen 72467,1111 Generally, i think the rainbow reviews will tend to be generous until the various companies parameters are better known -- then I think customers and the magazine will end up characterizing them by their chief strenghths (with the implication that they are intended for discrete audiences, which may or may not be true). Anyway, I think in general, the MIDI stuff on the MM/1 will end up being pretty darn exciting. Paul ims #: 12495 S4/MIDI and Music 03-Oct-91 03:50:08 Sb: #12409-#Bad Download Fm: George Hendrickson 71071,2003 To: Jim Sutemeier 70673,1754 (X) Once the 'Tiger' card is added to the TC9, will it still be able to run RSDOS programs or just OS9/68000 programs? There is 1 Reply. #: 12502 S4/MIDI and Music 03-Oct-91 12:48:23 Sb: #12495-Bad Download Fm: Jim Sutemeier 70673,1754 To: George Hendrickson 71071,2003 The Tiger card is a memory enhancement card, and will run under either RSDOS or OS9, according to a discussion I had with Frank on this subject a few months ago. It'll speed up programs run on the 6809 by 2-3 times, Frank says 'conservatively' but a friend of mine, who repairs/works on computers for a living, tell me more likely, according to the architecture, it should speed up programs by 5 or 6 fold. jim Sutemeier #: 12529 S4/MIDI and Music 07-Oct-91 09:29:45 Sb: #11946-Bad Download Fm: Lester Hands 70135,430 To: Mike Knudsen 72467,1111 Mike, this is rather late in reply, so you may already know the answer. Covox advertises in a number of magazines; ones that come to mind are Compute, PCMagazine, and PC World. Here's the address: 675 Conger St., Eugene, OR 97402. The phone number is (503) 342-1271. #: 12647 S4/MIDI and Music 20-Oct-91 20:43:20 Sb: #12424-Bad Download Fm: Steve Wegert 76703,4255 To: Jim Sutemeier 70673,1754 Jim, I've noticed something very weird on my friend's TC70 . IT has to do with the output of the Procs command. Used to be, on his QT ...(same version of OSK ... same procs) that the AGE of a process was so dead on, you could set a clock by it's information. With the TC70, it's so far off it's ridiculous. For instance, logging into his system, one of the first things I do is issue a Procs command to see if he's around. The AGE of my procs process says it's anywhere from 9 minutes to 29 minutes old. Likewise, my shell has aged along the same pace ... very strange. Anything similar happening to you on your TC70? And by the way .... what your set up like? Steve #: 12658 S4/MIDI and Music 21-Oct-91 13:08:31 Sb: #12647-#Bad Download Fm: Jim Sutemeier 70673,1754 To: Steve Wegert 76703,4255 (X) You know, you're right....my procs command spews a bunch of stuff that is innacurate. Hmmph, have to ask Frank about that one.... What do you mean when you ask me 'what your set up like?'.....as far as I know, for right now, I have the 'stock' TC70 system here, but will be adding an Accelerator Card, some more memory, a 2-port serial card, and, of course, GWindows in the very near future. jim There is 1 Reply. #: 12659 S4/MIDI and Music 21-Oct-91 21:23:28 Sb: #12658-Bad Download Fm: Steve Wegert 76703,4255 To: Jim Sutemeier 70673,1754 (X) Ahh .... so it is consistant (procs output problem), I'll pass that on to my friend. On the set up ... you got it right. I wanted to be sure I was comparing apples to apples. He's running a stock TC70 with the extra ram (already replaced once), 10 serial ports ... of which only 3 work due to what appears to be poor cabling between the connectors and the board (output directly from the board is OK), a SCSI tape drive (still no drivers ...)and an extra floppy drive (that doesn't work. Appears to be strapped incorrectly.) Thanks for the details! Steve #: 12686 S4/MIDI and Music 24-Oct-91 20:35:33 Sb: #12658-#Bad Download Fm: Steve Wegert 76703,4255 To: Jim Sutemeier 70673,1754 (X) Jim, Wanted to let you know: After discussing the procs problems with Mark Griffith the other night, he came up with a suggestion. Manually reset the clock with the setime command. He's thinking the clock is getting munged at initialization. Darned if it didn't straighten things up with my friends Box. It's not a solution, but it is an easy work around. Still would like to hear what Frank has to say about it. Steve There is 1 Reply. #: 12687 S4/MIDI and Music 24-Oct-91 21:35:11 Sb: #12686-Bad Download Fm: Jim Sutemeier 70673,1754 To: Steve Wegert 76703,4255 (X) >Still would like to hear what Frank has to say about [procs]. Believe it or not, I just left Frank a message about it on 'another' network tonight. Hope Frank answers me, when (if) he replies, I'll let you know here. jim Sutemeier #: 12778 S4/MIDI and Music 31-Oct-91 03:21:40 Sb: #12502-Bad Download Fm: George Hendrickson 71071,2003 To: Jim Sutemeier 70673,1754 (X) Does the Tiger card increase the clock speed or just act as a coprocessor? Also, how compatible is the RSDOS stuff on the TC9? Will the RSDOS stuff run even with the Tiger card installed? #: 13047 S4/MIDI and Music 14-Nov-91 14:09:17 Sb: shell+ Fm: Mark Wuest 74030,332 To: all Does anyone have/know/remember the patch to shell+ 2.1 to help UltiMuse work? I lost the old HD and cannot find the patch or a patched version of my shell+. Thanks! Mark