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Disk 17 News
*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-* N E W S *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
Not really much going on in the Sam area just now, as everyone
is getting over Christmas.
Samco inform me that Manic Miner is to be released around the
26th January, with BATZ and BALLS following 2 weeks later.
There is also SAMPRINT, which I saw at the last Birmingham Show,
which looks to be a very comprehensive printing utility, able to
do cards, banners, posters etc. I shall try and get a review and
more details by next issue.
Samco have given me a list of the All Formats Shows that they
are attending, as follows:-
1st February Donnington Park East Midlands
2nd February Haydock Park North West
8th February Northumbria Centre North East
23rd February Motor Cycle Museum West Midlands
14th March Horticultural Hall London
15th March Brunel Centre Bristol
22nd March University Sports Leeds
The Supplement will be at all the Birmingham and London shows up
until May, but we haven't made a decision on any others yet.
Samco have also told me that after the Christmas period, thay
had no stock left, which must be good news for Sam users, but
not so good for anyone ordering add-ons etc, as there will be a
slight delay whilst Samco get the stocks back again.
---oooOOO OOOooo---
THE BIRMINGHAM ALL FORMATS SHOW
Held at the Motorcycle Museum 11/1/92
After attending shows at this venue before, the first thing that
hit me as I walked through the doors at some ungodly hour, was
that there weren't half as many tables set up as there normally
are. There are 3 halls, and the normal layout is a square of
tables in the centre and tables all around the edge. This gives
the public a square walkway around the centre section.
This time however, there were no centre tables, giving the
impression of very big, empty halls. The organisers told me that
this was because of fire regulations.
After the initial setting up, I had a walk around to see who
else was there. Colin MacDonald had turned up to represent Fred
magazine, and Bob Brenchley was there with Format. A new PD
library "Metempsychosis", which has about a dozen PD discs in
its catalogue up to now. Brent Stevens was also there showing
what was on offer in his Pd range.
I was very disappointed to see that Samco were not represented,
as I think that these shows are very "flat" without their
presence. Possibly not a full stand every time, but at least a
representative of Samco, who could be there to answer questions
or even take orders for the machine and its add-ons. Overall the
show was quieter than others that I have been to, but the
Supplement made some new friends and members, and interest for
the Sam generated amongst the non-Sam owners. Long may this
continue.
* * * PERSONAL BANKING SYSYTEM * * *
By Hilton Computer Services
Reviewed by Steve Monk
As you can imagine this program is far too complex to pick up
and review straight away. Therefore this is intended as an
overview of PBS, and a full review will follow in a future issue
when I have had the program up and running for a while.
This sort of program is right up my street, I've been waiting
for the PBS to be released for a long time. So what can you do
with it , well basically its whole purpose in life is to help
you keep track of your money; there are provisions for setting
up more than one account so if you have more than one bank
account in your household you can keep records of transactions
of them all; there is even a facility to move money from one
account to another and if both accounts are on disc it will
automatically update the other accounts involved A facility is
included to print out a complete bank statement in the same sort
of format as the one you receive from your High Street bank.
There are five on-screen display formats showing different
aspects of your financial transactions .
Direct debits and standing orders can be set up and can be any
frequency i.e. weekly, monthly or every 28 days etc. These can
either be debits like your mortgage etc. or credits such as your
salary , child benefit etc.
It is completely menu driven and once you have played around
with it for a while it becomes very easy to use. There are
several help pages available and they are accessed by pressing
the H key.
One of the most useful features to my mind has got to be the
forward projections mode, this, as it implies, is a means of
seeing what your bank balance should be at any given date.
Now, providing you have previously entered your standing orders
and direct debits correctly, this actually works very well. I
have only had one month to try this, but in December there were
a lot of transactions in my account (mostly out), and I asked it
to project my balance at 1st Jan 92 and it was spot on. One
thing you must remember is that not all cheques may have cleared
at that time, so there is a means of reconciliation. I have not
got this worked out yet, but I think the idea is you enter what
you think the balance should be and PBS looks at the difference
and maybe presents you with Items near or at that value, and
thereby drawing your attention to an Item not yet cleared by
your bank. I will look into it further and hopefully be a bit
more positive in the full review
The author, Jack Gibbons, has told me that the program and
manual are to be updated further, and that existing customers
would receive updated versions. There is a syntax error in one
program line that I have found up to now. The PBS does take
about thirty seconds to set itself up when it's loaded, and the
disk must be left in when you are using the PBS as it constantly
updates and refers to the files on disk. On the whole this is a
very well thought out and useful program for people who, like
myself, are fascinated by figures and statistics, for the small
business man or club. There are a number of further modules that
the programmer has catered for and is developing. These include
budgeting . As I said at the beginning this is only a brief look
at the PBS I will try to give a much deeper look into the
programme in the near future.
---oooOOO OOOooo---
T H E S O U N D M A C H I N E.
Reviewed by W.A Goddard
On receipt of your SOUND MACHINE and opening the case
you will find a 70 page Manual and two discs. one of the discs
is labelled "SOUND MACHINE". The other would appear to be a
spare disc.(It is not - see later)
It is very important to read the Manual first. This is,
of course true of any Utility, but how many of we poor mortals
must have a go first. Well you have been warned.
My first criticism is of the Manual itself as a book of
reference. I suspect it was prepared in a hurry and it is
indeed simply 36 sheets of paper folded into half sheets. I have
lost count of the number of times I have let them fall and had
the task of re-assembling. Having said that, let me assure you
that it is well written in simple language which anyone can
easily understand. I have seen Manuals which were much more
presentable but which one needed a university degree to
understand. Perhaps a little more could have been written about
the Wave Form Generator. This commences at page 56 and may
well confirm that time was against the writer.
On loading the main disk you are able to access the two
main programs. If you follow the Manual you will first go for
the Music Editor. This offers you a number of file handling
options, which again the Manual fully explains. There are
three short demos on the master disk.
From this menu you move on to the Music Editing Screen.
This has four main sections and not a note in sight even though
you have loaded a demo. You are tempted at this stage to ask
yourself " will I ever manage to understand all this and to
write music without any musical notations in
sight?" Well I am 78 and if I can do it you youngsters of 60 and
less can do it.
The Music Editing Screen really comprises four major
sections. 1) is set-up panel and bar play section. It allows you
to check your music as you enter it and if necessary correct it.
2) is the Main Music Editing Area. This comprises a piano
keyboard set vertically on the left-hand side. It covers two
octaves, and to its right are very nearly six-hundred windows.
Into these windows you will enter your notes. My first reaction
as a music puratist was why change normal music notation for
this form of window display. Having used the system I think it
can be said that first of all it is a method which we purist
very quickly adapt to, whilst it must prove very useful for
those who have not grown up in the usual method of musical
notation.
I suspect the window method may well become a debating
subject in the future. As one who has been reading the usual
musical notation for over seventy years I honestly believe that
this new method is a wise choice for this type of program. For
those used to the old method, as you prepare to enter a note it
is indicated on the keyboard at the left-hand side of the
screen. If you simply proceed page by page with the manual you
are taken note by note through the old computer favourite Frere
Jacques. I entered this tune with my "fall to pieces" Manual in
my hand very quickly indeed. Sorry about the Manual again Samco.
However so easy did I find it, I am sorry but I did not bother
to enter the other tunes which were offered. I resolved to
attempt my hand by writing a tune directly from a musical score.
I chose my old Regimental slow march "Scipio" with its repeats.
I have previously recorded this march, both with most popular
programming systems and also using the Sound register method. I
can honestly say the new method was infinitely quicker.
Now a word of warning. The purists will have noted at
this stage that the Volume or Loudness is constant throughout
the tunes they have written. To vary volume it will be necessary
to go to the Wave Form Generator. It again is simple, but do not
write too many tunes at this stage. Incidentally if you wish to
retain your 'first offs' here is the purpose of the spare disk.
It must be formatted but needs no DOS.
Although the left-hand vertical keyboard only covers
two octaves you are not restricted to any particular two of the
six available. Provision is made to rise or fall an octave as
necessary. If you go up an octave, then the keyboard and window
displays scroll up.
I will say no more about the Main Music Editing Area.
3) is the Main Options Panel. There are forty-nine of these
options and I do not intend to list them all. They are all fully
explained in the Manual. There is even a Tempo control which
allows you to adjust the playing speed of your tune before
saving it.
Finally at the bottom of the Music Editor Screen we
have a full length keyboard. This serves two functions. During
editing it will indicate the octave in which we are writing, and
later when we play the work it shows the notes being played.
We now, having saved our endeavours to the spare disk,
can return to the original screen used for loading etc. the
Music Editor and by using the "Q" font we return to opening
screen. This time select the sine wave, and we move to the Wave
Form Generator program.
Once again we have an initial screen similar to that we
encountered with the first program. In a similar manner we can
proceed to the actual Wave Form Generator screen which is where
the work is done. At the top of the screen we have the "Envelope
Waveform" which can either be controlled by the operator, or to
the right there are the means to enter the standard waveforms
shown in the Advanced Users Manual. Below this is the "Frequency
Control Envelope". Then at the bottom your option control panel.
I suspect at this stage time was pressing for the
writer of the Manual. The information with respect to the
Waveform Generator is confined to six pages, and very little
advice is given. I sincerely hope that at some future date
fuller advice may be made available. After all they play quite
an important part in the final sound of the music.
It is only possible to list ten waveforms to use with
the Music Editor at one time. If your tune starts at fff
(musical notation) (maximum volume) and at a given note is
required to decrease volume over a series of notes, then you may
well require ten wave forms for this exercise alone. If then six
bars later the process is reversed then another ten waveforms
are required. Let me say the problem can be resolved with
careful planning. The matter is more involved than the
illustration I have given, as the amplitude or envelope waveform
can also considerably alter the type of note you enter. A
staccato note requires a different wave form from the usual
plain note. If this occurs in a passage of diminuendo
(decreasing volume), then you want a special set of waveforms to
achieve the correct music. If you use a standard diminuendo
waveform sequence which suited another piece of music the result
will sound wrong.
We then move on to the Frequency waveform which is
below the Amplitude waveform. This too, can be quite conplicated
to apply, and my advice to those first using the new utility is
to leave this alone until they feel they have squeezed all they
can from the Amplitude waveforms.
Our Waveform generator has yet one more function that
can be employed, which can also play an important part in
getting the optimum results but once again I suggest it is left
alone until the other forms are at least basically understood.
This allows you to introduce 'noise'.
The Manual rather glibly suggests you play about with
different combinations in the hope that you may find a
winner. There must be a few thousand combinations most of which
will sound terrible. I suspect you would have a better chance of
winning the pools.
From the above remarks you will think I have virtually
condemned the Waveform Generator. Not at all. I think it has
vast potential and will do a great deal towards making a true
musical device of SAM. I would not be without it because it has
opened up new possibilities for the home programmer to go a long
way towards producing real music. In the coming months I suspect
we shall be reading in journals, such as the Supplement, a lot
more about the theory of sound and how this program can help
make possible ever better sounds.
Many will say that if you want such perfection you need
to buy an Electronic Organ in the big money bracket. I cannot
afford that, and I suspect I speak for most SAM owners. This new
utility, I believe, has set us on the march again and I suspect
as its popularity grows, we may be listening on our disks to
ever better computer music.
My final verdict. A great buy and worth every penny it
cost. Whether you are a music addict or a computer addict, and I
confess to being both, you cannot afford to be without it.
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