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From: ceej@itsgw.rpi.edu (Chris J Hillery)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.audio
Subject: Re: MED 3.00 Review
Message-ID: <+x5fq4f@rpi.edu>
Date: 25 Mar 91 10:13:32 GMT
References: <910323.001209.CST.C503719@UMCVMB.MISSOURI.EDU>
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C503719@UMCVMB.MISSOURI.EDU (Baird McIntosh) writes:

>That was a fairly comprehensive review.  Well done!

Why thank you. (=

  If I were to expand on
>the feature list I would say this about MED 3.00:

>1.  Hold/Decay commands look very powerful for creating expressive music
>    with precise note durations.  This is also good for simulating different
>    playing styles like legato and staccato.  Also, good substitute for
>    what was previously done with volume slides (command 'C' and/or 'D').

Yes, very true... I kinda forgot to go back and stick those in about half-
way down.  I'm sure these will become more useful as I learn how to use 'em...

>4.  Has new note-activated play/record.  That is, you set this playback type
>    and then the song starts when you enter the next note.  This is good for
>    improvising and playing along where you want to record on the first beat.

That too.  Also Teijo claimed that the real-time recording was improved, which
is good as it didn't use to be very accurate at all.  Haven't tried 3.0 on that
yet.

>There are many more great features, but you're tired of the good points,
>right?  What would be nice for MED in the future?

>1!  It would be neat if MED saved the half-step transpose figure as well as
>    the hold/decay defaults for an instrument in the Sample List (as is
>    already done with the loop points).

Agreed, maybe... certainly if this were optional, as you may or may not want
the same transpose for all songs.  Although, it's none too hard to change,
either way... (=

This is related to the one major feature I _didn't_ see in 3.0 that I'd like,
though; a fine-tune transpose, at least for the whole song if not individual
tracks/blocks (useless, really) or instruments (well..).  This can be kludged
now by changing the 'tune' of all the instruments with the sample editor, but
this obviously isn't the best way; besides, that's no good for real-time tuning
in live performance.  (Which I DO intend to try, someday...)

>2!  If it is feasible, a medium-resolution screen would offer more room for
>    menus, filenames, and editting (because of 80 columns).  Currently,
>    MED uses a lo-res screen (as do most Trackers, I believe).

Hm. Problem is, it would use twice as much precious Chip-mem.  That would cut
out some of my larger creations... at least till I get a 1Meg Agnus...

>3!  This is a major compatibility issue, but I always thought it'd be neat
>    if you could address separate tracks in the play list.  There might be
>    four separate track-play lists (one per Amiga voice) instead of the
>    the current block-oriented play list.  This would be more like a
>    MIDI sequencing package, I guess.  Probably difficult to implement at
>    this point.

Very interesting idea!  I've thought that an editor with similar features would
be a nice thing, and that's probably the best way to do it... although, on the
other knee, the only real advantage is minor time saved in editting and a some-
what smaller song (could be a real space-saver if you have a boring drum line,
but... =)

>4!  The graphic equalizer (or whatever it's called) E1 in the Play menu--
>    do all of those 'bands' ever light up?  I think that this display is
>    too wide (too many bands) as only the left-most 5 or 6 bands ever move.
>    I don't use that display much, though.

These bars go up and down when an particular instrument is used, so no, they'll
never all go off since there's 64 instruments and only 16 tracks.  It's useful
for debugging (finding un-used instruments, say), but not much more really..

>5!  Finally, here's an easier one:  make the MEDPlayer controllable
>    via the Shell and/or ARexx.  Allow me to load a song into memory,
>    then do something else (start an animation or display a picture),
>    then send MEDPlayer the 'play' command and it starts the song.
>    The buttons for Load, Play/Stop, and Cont are on the MEDPlayer's
>    window; I just want to control those functions via scripts.  Finally,
>    add a file requestor and the ability to play MED songs (using the
>    MED_Paths file in current directory or s: ).

Also a nice idea... maybe when Mr. SuperUser (or anyone) makes us a really
good Med module (and song, please!) player that'll be included..

>| Baird McIntosh | c503719@umcvmb.missouri.edu <-or-> c503719@umcvmb.bitnet |
>|        "The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few."             |
>|        "Let's go!"              LEMMINGS             "Oh no!"             |

Enjoy!

Ceej
aka Chris Hillery
ceej@rpi.edu