Conference napalm::commusic_v1

2172.0. "Demos of innovative Macintosh MIDI software" by DDIF::EIRIKUR (CDA Product Manager) Mon Nov 20 1989 21:02

Two demo programs from HIP Software (Cambridge, MA USA).  Harmony Grid is a
2-D matrix program that teaches harmony based on interval ratios.  It is also a
weird interactive "Harmonizer" sort of MIDI processor.  Has standard audio
output, too.

HookUp! is really wild.  It is a MIDI event processor construction kit, that
you work with like it was a CAD system for building circuits.  You get clocks
and gates and memory (using standard symbols!) and (of course) MIDI input and
output.  It, too, drives the standard Mac audio (with samples) and it will
tie into VideoWorks to drive animation in synch with the action in the HookUp!
world.  Wild.  Sliced bread has real competition here.  Even without
VideoWorks, (I don't have this) the demo will do monochrome sprite animation
(there is a sprite-equivalent symbol for your schematics...).

	Eirikur

These are in DDIF::usera$:[eirikur]hip.sit for now, pending upload to the Mac
archives.



HookUp! Introduction
� 1989 Hip Software Corporation

Welcome to HookUp!, the software erector set of the Macintosh.  It's 
so easy and fun, we hate to call it a programming language, but it 
actually lets you create your own software for music, animation, 
sound, and more.  

While HookUp! is far from a replacement for a programmer's 
development system, we think it represents the future of software 
creation: in a few years, the average person will be able to create and 
understand software whenever the need arises, and even enjoy it.  
The parts the software is built out of will be as familiar as the 
household tools, screws and nuts you'd find in a mechanical 
construction kit � only now they live inside your computer.

      Creating Software in the Old Days
Until very recently, you had to be a programmer to get computers to 
do what you wanted.  You had to type programs, in a format so 
obscure it is called "code".   First you had to read a long manual 
describing hundreds of instructions, none of which did anything very 
interesting by itself.  Then you had to re-think your desires in terms 
of sequences of operations for the computer to perform � when in 
fact, most people prefer to describe things as relationships between 
data or objects.

After typing a draft of your software, you'd run it through a 
mysterious program called a compiler.  Before letting you test your 
program, the compiler would make whining complaints � almost all 
about typos and punctuation � and force you to correct them.  After 
compiling a few more times, you were allowed to test your program.  
It almost never worked.  Then you had to debug it.

Debugging was the nightmare of programming.  Since typing and 
testing your program were separate tasks, it was almost impossible 
to change the program while it was running, or to see what was going 
on.  It was somewhere between unlocking your car from outside with 
coat hangers, and trying to repair or drive it that way.  If the 
program 'crashed', it was more like listening to a pilot's last remarks 
on the black box, or trying to draw conclusions from the fossil record.

People who were so ambitious, weird, or masochistic they'd to go 
through this repeatedly became known as computer hackers.  We 
think software like HookUp! will soon make this kind of 
programming obsolete, and we know many hackers who feel the 
same way.

        Creating Software in HookUp!
HookUp! uses icons, most of which are so obvious you hardly need a 
manual.  You don't have to type, so you can't make a 'typo'.  

HookUp! is interactive.  You don't type a program, then compile it, 
then run it.  Everything happens in one environment.

HookUp! is real time.  The real world doesn't wait around for you to 
type <return> or <enter> or press a button.  It runs continuously, all 
the time.  So does HookUp!  It makes life in your computer more like 
a movie or videogame than a spreadsheet or slide show.  It's 
simulation.

HookUp! doesn't require instruction sequences.  In a simulation, you 
can try lots of interesting things without worrying about what order 
they happen in.  You may create sequences of things you care about � 
you can even write a toy music or animation sequencer!  But we 
don't force instruction sequences on you.

HookUp! is transparent.  If you're not sure what's going on, you can 
easily find out.  Why is the result of this + operation unexpected?  
Hook up some Output boxes to the left side and see which addend is 
wrong.  When is this event being triggered?  Hook up a Sound icon 
and listen.  Your whole program is visible on the screen.

                                    How to use HookUp!
The basic concept is familiar to anyone who has used an extension 
cord: data flows from one place to another through wire connections.  
You can experiment with the pointer, wire, and scissor tools in the 
corner of the screen by clicking on them.  But quickly you'll find it's 
even easier to keep the pointer (arrow) as the main tool, and use the 
Option and Command keys to switch to the others.
 � Drag an object from the list of names on the left side, and onto the 
screen.
 � Move an input near an output, and it automatically hooks up a 
wire.
 � Or, hold down the Option key and drag to create a new wire.
 � Hold Command-Option for scissors to delete an object or cut a wire.

Data typically flows from left to right: from input devices, through 
familiar computing operations like + and � , and finally to outputs: 
sound, images, memory cells, and sequences.  You'll know when 
you're connecting a wire properly, because the connection will light 
up.  If an object has options, you can double-click it to find out what 
they are.  

Now you've read all you need to try HookUp! � including the 
shortcuts!  Open the HookUp! document parts list to see what's in the 
HookUp! toolbox.  We've included a reference manual so you can be 
sure all the icons work the way you think they do.  Enjoy.

HookUp! version 0.95
Release Notes

Welcome to a pre-release version of HookUp!, the interactive 
entertainment software kit.  We don't plan major changes to the 
program at this point, but we're very interested in your comments.  
If you have any, please call Hip Software Corporation (or write) at 
(617) 661-2447.

MIDI music synthesizers
HookUp! is especially interesting to people who play with music 
synthesizers, make music, or use controllers that are compatible with 
MIDI, the Musical Instrument Digital Interface.  If you don't have a 
MIDI music synthesizer, you'll probably ignore most of the 
documents in the MIDI folder.

VideoWorks animation files and B&W versus Color
HookUp!'s Videoworks-compatible animation is particularly exciting 
on a Macintosh with a color monitor, such as a MacII with standard 
Apple 8-bit color.  If you have such a Mac, you should configure 
HookUp! to run in 2 Megabytes using the Get Info option in the File 
menu.  If your machine supports 8-bit color, when you launch 
HookUp! it will open the default color file, named "HookUp cast", 
which you should keep in the same folder with HookUp!.  Otherwise 
it will try to use the "HookUp b&w cast".

Documents that use animation are linked to the VideoWorks file they 
need by the name of the file.  The Videoworks document must be in 
the same folder level as the HookUp! application.  If the file is not in 
the same folder, or if there isn't enough memory or enough bits of 
color to load it, HookUp! will ask you to choose a VideoWorks file to 
use.  'HookUp b&w cast' is a small black-and-white file that fits on 
most any machine.


Our Corporate address is: 

Hip Software Corporation	
117 Harvard Street #3
Cambridge, MA 02139
(617) 661-2447

AppleLink: D1369

Midi Users Group at Berklee BBS
(617) 739-2366 (modem)


----------------------------------------------------------------


Welcome to the Demonstration version of Harmony Grid, the 
harmony kit for the Macintosh.  If you know musical chords and 
scales work, you can invent real-time interactive 'instruments' with 
Harmony Grid.  If you know nothing about music, Harmony Grid can 
supply the built in harmonies so you can jam (see below) with it.

This demonstration version won't let you save your Harmony Grid 
documents, and it will quit after a few minutes.  If you like the 
program, you can order it from your local dealer or Hip Software.  
The complete program includes two dozen sample documents, an 
acclaimed manual which shows you the harmony concepts behind it.  
The next few paragraphs can get you started with the demo version.  
Read on to see what reviewers and customers are saying about 
Harmony Grid.

Harmony Grid 	$99
Hip Software Corporation
117 Harvard Street, Suite # 3,  Cambridge, MA 02139
(617) 661-2447   FAX (617) 277-5379
___________________
Jam on Harmony Grid

If you want to get started making music now, here's how.

If you have a MIDI synthesizer, make sure MIDI is checked in the 
Options menu.
If you don't, make sure Internal Sound is checked, and set the sound 
volume.
In your Mac's Control Panel, set your mouse to "Slow" but not "Very 
Slow".
Make sure 'caps lock' your the typewriter keyboard isn't depressed.

Try Me
Double-click the "Try Me" document to launch Harmony Grid.
Find one of the darkened circles labeled "C4" and move the mouse 
into it.  Hear the note?
Play "Do Re Mi Fa So La Ti Do" by dragging from C4 to C5 as shown 
below:

Just stay on the circles, turning upward or to the right where 
necessary.
Retrace your steps to go back down.

See how the note waits for the metronome pulse before jumping into 
the circle?
Next time you go up and down, feel that pulse underneath, and 
follow it.
Press the numeric key 2 and repeat the scale.  Hear the backup 
voices?

Chords
Press any of the keys 0 thru 9, on your keyboard or numeric keypad, 
and repeat.  The names of the patterns give hints to their behavior.

Changing Key
Move over any note without a dark circle, and click the mouse.
See how the Scale (circles) shift, so the dark one is now under the 
mouse?
You've moved the Scale Root.  Keep playing circles, now in the new 
Scale.

Metronome
Watch the squares blinking on and off in the lower left.
Hear how every new note waits until that Metronome tick happens?

After each note, move the mouse into a nearby circle before the next 
tick.

Move up, around, diagonally, or however you like.  Jamming yet?

Check out "Harmony Grid Help..." in the Apple menu for more ideas.
________________________________
Here's what they're saying about
Harmony Grid�  $99

"Finally, a need has been filled!  � for those who want to learn, in a 
short time, the complex and beautiful relationships found in 
commercial and jazz harmony.  As a music professor � I will be 
recommending the program to my colleagues and students without 
reservation.  Anyone desiring to understand and create harmony, in 
all its aspects, should get this program."
� Professor Sanford R. Sarasque
  American River College
  Sacramento, California

"Get the 'learning' out of your ads.  People don't think of anything 
like this when you say 'learning'.  It saves me studio time.  Before, if 
I thought of laying in a run of 11th chords, I might not get around to 
it.  Now I do it with Harmony Grid."
 � Frank Serafine
   Hollywood movie composer

"...flexibility sets it apart from many other performance-oriented 
algorithmic programs."
"A great way to show harmony theory in action."
"An excellent manual.  Not only does it tell you how to get the most 
out of Harmony Grid, it gives a great introduction to harmony in 
general..."
"Lets you customize your chords and scales.  You can personalize 
your Harmony Grid performances, making them feel jazzy, bluesy, 
baroque, minimal, ..."
							� Music Technology,
June 
1989

"I must be brain damaged.  Somehow I could never understand 
harmony the way they taught it in school and books.  But as soon as I 
saw your ad, I could see the logic to it."
 � beginning MIDI musician

"The programmers have done a good job choosing the combinations 
of keyboard/mouse actions that control real-time performance 
parameters such as choice of scale/mode, chord type, transposition, 
metronome speed, sustain, articulation, and so on�
						        � Electronic Musician, 
November 1989

"An entertaining way for nonmusicians, music students, and 
inveterate noodlers alike to experiment with and learn about musical 
harmonies."	� MacWorld, November 1989

"One of 1989's Best."	� MacUser, December 1989

Hip Software Corporation
117 Harvard Street, Suite # 3,  Cambridge, MA 02139
(617) 661-2447