Xref: utzoo rec.music.synth:8927 comp.sys.mac.programmer:8860 Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!wuarchive!wugate!uunet!mcsun!ukc!edcastle!lfcs!nick From: nick@lfcs.ed.ac.uk (Nick Rothwell) Newsgroups: rec.music.synth,comp.sys.mac.programmer Subject: MIDI Manager (and, what MOTU told Me) Message-ID: <329@castle.ed.ac.uk> Date: 6 Sep 89 10:56:06 GMT References: <1989Aug31.202607.3730@cs.rochester.edu> <227@bbxeng.UUCP> <30167@srcsip.UUCP> Sender: root@castle.ed.ac.uk Reply-To: nick@lfcs.ed.ac.uk (Nick Rothwell) Organization: LFCS Enya Admiration Society Lines: 52 In-reply-to: mnkonar@manyjars.SRC.Honeywell.COM (Murat N. Konar) My copy of MIDI Manager arrived yesterday, so I spent last night pouring over the manuals (and this morning printing off the demo programs). I can't make any comments yet about performance and so on; some of the demos seem a little sluggish regarding menu and window events, but the MIDI output timing sounds ok. This is not any kind of exhaustive test, of course. I'm impressed with the structure and interface to the MIDI Manager. The MIDI serial driver kicks in when any application signs in, and kicks out again afterwards. This is exactly the right behaviour, especially for those of us who want to run non-MIDIMgr applications like Performer as well. At least, a reboot is not necessary after one of these has run in order to bring the MIDI manager back to a sanitary state (I suppose, though I haven't tried this yet). I'm also impressed that the patchbay *isn't* some kind of magic application, but simply uses the interrogation routines provided by the MM. So, we could all write our own patchbays if we wanted. More importantly, I can presumably test my application by having it hook itself up to the serial ports automatically, without patching by hand. I won't be using MultiFinder for a while (can you say "$500 per Meg SIMM?"), but see no reason why a DA can't sign into MM at the same time as a sequencer or something. I suppose if I were to ask why the MIDI diag example was called "Squidcakes", I'd regret it, wouldn't I? Anyway... I called MOTU last night. I was told that the use of MIDI Manager is "under consideration". The guy wouldn't be pressed to a more committal statement about when, or what version, or even if at all. He would only be committal about not being committal. He didn't sound surprised at the question, though, so perhaps they're getting used to enquiries. I didn't want to labour the point (especially in a trans-Atlantic call!); I've made the call, that's the main thing. Just in case sie haben vergessen: >You can help put pressure on MOTU (publishers of Performer) by >calling them at: > (617) 576-2760 > (617) 576-3066 (registered users only) > >They live on the east coast so take the time difference >into account when calling. ... and guess who didn't know it was Labor day on Monday!!! (how should I have known? It's not a UK bank holiday :-)). >Murat N. Konar Nick. -- Nick Rothwell, Laboratory for Foundations of Computer Science, Edinburgh. nick@lfcs.ed.ac.uk !mcvax!ukc!lfcs!nick ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ Fais que ton reve soit plus long que la nuit.