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From: garton@cunixa.cc.columbia.edu (Bradford Garton)
Subject: Re: NeXT on Campus -- How's NeXT really doing at your school?
Message-ID: <1991Jun13.191548.16471@cunixf.cc.columbia.edu>
Sender: usenet@cunixf.cc.columbia.edu (The Network News)
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Reply-To: garton@cunixa.cc.columbia.edu (Bradford Garton)
Organization: Columbia University Electronic Music Center
References: <lh5H?zbu@cs.psu.edu> <1991Jun13.150159.24629@cunixf.cc.columbia.edu> <53955@apple.Apple.COM>
Distribution: comp
Date: Thu, 13 Jun 1991 19:15:48 GMT

In article <53955@apple.Apple.COM> mikel@Apple.COM (Mikel Evins) writes:
>
>If this is so, and if students there are working on
>music software, and if they and the university
>are willing to provide some of that software for
>ftp, I am sure that many NeXT users would be
>grateful for the chance to use the software. The
>absence of much in the way of commercial music
>and MIDI software on the NeXT is ironic and
>frustrating. In fact, an enterprising music
>student who is also a programmer could conceivably
>make some money selling a nice MIDI application
>for the NeXT.

I agree, however I do want to point out that we have contributed a fair
number of Apps to the archives -- it's just that most of us really like NeXT
machines because they allow us to use software synthesis languages such as
cmix and csound quite easily.  MIDI is good at what it does, but some of us
prefer to do other things.

On the other side, I am surprised that more MIDI Apps haven't been
forthcoming.  The MusicKit certainly has support for MIDI data, plus I have
seen the MIDI driver used in live situations (so it presumably works).  My
only guess is that the initial buyers of NeXT machines were more interested
in software synthesis than MIDI.  Hmmmm......

Brad Garton
Music Department
garton@cunixa.cc.columbia.edu