| Title: | * * Computer Music, MIDI, and Related Topics * * |
| Notice: | Conference has been write-locked. Use new version. |
| Moderator: | DYPSS1::SCHAFER |
| Created: | Thu Feb 20 1986 |
| Last Modified: | Mon Aug 29 1994 |
| Last Successful Update: | Fri Jun 06 1997 |
| Number of topics: | 2852 |
| Total number of notes: | 33157 |
I'm not very good at product reviews, but for those of you
with either a MAC or Apple IIc (and MS or Z BASIC) and who would
like to muck around with home-brew MIDI software -- Altech's MidiBasic
is a great time-saver.
From the manual - "In essence, MidiBasic is a set of handcrafted
machine language routines packaged either as a MicroSoft BASIC
Library file, or as a BASIC source program for ZBasic."
"...With MidiBasic, a user can do just about anything short
of major sequencing and do many, many things impossible to do
with any application program."
It does all the port initialization, and other tedious stuff
with just a few simple BASIC commands. I had a simple random
note generator running in less than an hour.
Also, they give you permission to use their code in any
compiled program you care to write, market, and sell. The
latest Keyboard Magazine also has a mini-review of it.
Happy Hacking, Karl
| T.R | Title | User | Personal Name | Date | Lines |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 886.1 | Useful but limited. | DSSDEV::HALLGRIMSSON | Eir�kur Hallgr�msson | Fri Jul 24 1987 02:16 | 20 |
I have MidiBasic, and I have much the same reaction as Karl. One
thing though. You won't be able to write much of a sequencer with
it. I was trying to trying to build a simple MIDI delay line with
it and the lack of timestamping of input data, and the lack of realtime
features in MS Basic made this virtually impossible to do at all
well. Their OTIS sequencer uses timing loops, much like I had to
resort to. You can't build something that does more than one track
this way. I had great fun working on a wind chime simulator, though.
This package is, however, cheap and flexible. It will let you build
software for orphan equipment (like my Seiko DS-250/DS-310).
So, you won't build a professional application with it, but it's
great for getting into the guts of MIDI.
My 2 cents,
Eirikur
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| 886.2 | Limited but Fun. | STAR::MALIK | Karl Malik | Sat Jul 25 1987 00:56 | 10 |
Eirikur,
I have Version 2.2. The info supplied with it says that Version
3.0 will have time-stamping.
Otherwise, (day 2), my simple one-channel random note generator
has turned into an 8-channel (TX816) random note generator. Next
comes octave filtering and program changes. Random music is fun.
- Karl
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| 886.3 | my time's been occupied with other things... | DSSDEV::HALLGRIMSSON | Eir�kur Hallgr�msson | Sat Jul 25 1987 01:21 | 8 |
I mostly usedidiBasic for random things, myself--like the wind chimes.
It sounds like I'd be interested in a copy of your program when
you have something that you're happy with.
Have fun,
Eirikur
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