Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/5/84; site terak.UUCP Path: utzoo!linus!philabs!cmcl2!seismo!lll-crg!qantel!hplabs!hao!noao!terak!doug From: doug@terak.UUCP (Doug Pardee) Newsgroups: net.micro.cbm Subject: Review: Music Construction Set Message-ID: <962@terak.UUCP> Date: Mon, 6-Jan-86 15:33:09 EST Article-I.D.: terak.962 Posted: Mon Jan 6 15:33:09 1986 Date-Received: Sat, 11-Jan-86 06:26:59 EST Distribution: na Organization: Calcomp Display Products Division, Scottsdale, AZ, USA Lines: 93 Music Construction Set (Electronic Arts) Commodore 64, 1 disk, 1 joystick List: $24 Discount: $16 Description: Plays sheet music Overall grade: C A hard decision. If the other programs from Electronic Arts didn't exist, this program would be above average. But by EA standards, it's well below average. There are too many things that Music Construction Set (MCS) can't do. I'm not talking about expected limitations like being able to sound only three notes at once (that's all the C-64 can do). No, I'm talking about more basic capabilities. For example, it cannot simultaneously sound a whole note and four quarter notes, unless one is on the upper staff and one on the lower. If they're both on one staff, you have to (by hand) break up the whole note into four quarter notes and tie them together. But that brings up another limitation. If the original four quarter notes were all the same note, then you're stuck because when you tie the broken-up whole note together MCS will tie all other "same notes" which appear at the same time. You'll end up with two whole notes. MCS can't tie notes which aren't the same. It can't handle triplets. It has a somewhat limited range of notes. It can't change meters in the middle of the tune... well, not quite true; you can enter music which doesn't match the meter and then ignore the warning MCS gives. It can't change the volume dynamically. The tempo control ranges from moderate to absurdly fast; slow tempos aren't possible. MCS provides a limited choice of musical instruments: harpsichord, oboe, accordion, organ, "brass", and flute. These are constant for the entire piece; MCS can't change in mid-tune. MCS doesn't have any capability to create your own "instruments". MCS has no "subroutine" capability to allow easy repeating of verses and choruses. You have to enter the music multiple times. MCS provides a "cut and paste" feature to allow you to copy the music, but it will only copy a limited amount (4-9 bars) of only one staff at a time. And there is no way to mark the music; you continuously scan back and forth between where you're copying from (if you can find it) and where you're copying to. On top of those limitations, MCS is just plain clumsy to use. It is not convenient either with the joystick nor with the keyboard. The joystick is too coarse for positioning notes; you really have to use the keyboard for that. But the positioning keys don't have an auto-repeat. If you want to go down one note, you use the Z key; if you want to go down a bunch, you use the CRSR DOWN key. The disk routines aren't very refined. When you select the "disk" icon (gee, if it has icons it's gotta be good!), the screen goes blank except for a small arrow. It turns out that the arrow is sort of an alphanumeric cursor. There are no prompts. The only way you'll know what to type is to read the manual. There are no error messages. If you mistype a command, MCS simply exits the disk routines back to the main menu. If the drive returns an error, MCS doesn't tell you what the error was; heck, it doesn't even tell you that an error occurred. I was unable to save music onto a data disk unless I first turned the disk drive off and back on. Apparently something happens while loading the program that makes the drive refuse to save. But since MCS won't print the error message, I don't know what the problem was. Then we get to the manual. Actually, the information is divided up into two separate documents, one with machine-independent stuff and one for the C-64. You have to refer back and forth constantly, and they aren't laid out the same so there's a lot of page flipping involved. And as always seems to happen when the manuals are going to be read by people with widely varying degrees of experience, nobody's going to be satisfied. If you're a beginner, you'll be lost in no time at all. If you understand music concepts and can read sheet music, you'll be bored. This program really needs two manuals, one for beginners and one for old hands. You're probably thinking that the program is a dog. Not true. But it isn't what it could be, and it's definitely not as refined as I expect from Electronic Arts. The problem that I have in recommending it is trying to think of a need that it fills. In the end, I think that the quirks will prove to be too troublesome to allow MCS to be used as a serious tool by anyone. But as a toy... yes, I think so, provided that you either understand music or are willing to learn about it on your own. -- Doug Pardee -- CalComp -- {hardy,savax,seismo,decvax,ihnp4}!terak!doug