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From: bill@mwca.UUCP (Bill Sheppard)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.atari.st
Subject: Re: Questions, things for sale
Keywords: midi, synthesizer
Message-ID: <1791@mwca.UUCP>
Date: 17 Jan 91 17:44:58 GMT
References: <1991Jan16.210954.19744@rice.edu> <193@rosie.NeXT.COM>
Organization: Microware Systems Corp., Santa Clara, CA
Lines: 35

In article <193@rosie.NeXT.COM> sstreep@next.com (Sam Streeper) writes:
>I have a few questions and a few things for sale:
>
>1) I'm looking for a good music setup, both keyboard and software.  Can
>someone recommend a good software package?  I need both sequencing and
>scoring, although score printing is not _too_ important...

For sequencing I'd recommend Alchimie Jr., a shareware sequencer currently
available on GEnie's MIDI RT (and at atari.archive when I figure out how to
get it there w/o FTP access). It doesn't do scoring, but it will export
standard MIDI files, so maybe Copyist could print the files.

>2) What's a good value in keyboards?  I need at least 8 note polyphonic,
>multitimbral, good rich sounds, touch sensitivity, and ideally something
>I can program patches for.  Price should be under $1000 (well under, if
>possible), and I really have no idea what's out there.

For a single keyboard, I was impressed with the Roland E5 Intelligent
Synthesizer ($899 locally, $1499 retail). It is full-sized 61-key velocity
sensitive. I don't know about the patch capability. However, I've opted to
go another route which is both cheaper and more flexible - I purchased a
Yamaha PSS-790 ($249), which has _excellent_ sampled sounds, phenomenal
rhythm section programs, _28-note_ polyphony, a built-in 8-track sequencer,
full 16-channel MIDI, but lacks velocity sensitivity, full-size keys (they
are mid-size), and the ability to do patches. I will add to this a Yamaha or
Roland digital piano for ~$350, which will have full-size velocity-sensitive
keys, and use it to control the superior sound and rhythms of the PSS-790.
You could probably add a separate sound module with the ability to do patches
and have an even more flexible system, still under $1000.

-- 
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#  Bill Sheppard  --  bills@microware.com  --  {uunet,sun}!mcrware!mwca!bill   #
#  Microware Systems Corporation  ---  OS-9: Seven generations beyond __/_!!   #
#######Opinions expressed are my own, though you'd be wise to adopt them!#######