This series is aimed at helping you learn some of what you need to know in order to turn your ST into a powerful, personalised tool for creating music. This final part covers the last of the major aspects — we've already looked at software and hardware; this month it's musical environments, and there are also some hints and tips for getting the most out of your computer.

ENVIRONMENTS

A 'musical environment' is my way of describing the flexible, multi-function aid to making music that a combination ot sequencer, orchestrator, editor, librarian and score printer can be. Instead of running only one program on your computer, you can jump between several as you need their special functions, and often you can transfer information between them as well. Whilst working with a sequencer, you could use a librarian program to change one of the sounds, then edit it with an editor, return to the sequencer and hear the new sound playing in context, and finally print out a score of the finished piece of music. Loading and running separate programs to achieve this would be very slow and tedious in comparison.

The down-side of such ease of use is the extra RAM required to hold all the programs at once, and the limitations caused by compatibility between the various ways of doing the switching.

Musical environments are often described as 'multi-tasking', which implies that they can do more than one thing at once. In fact, most of the time, what you actually want is the ability to choose between several different programs, to switch quickly between them — I'm not sure if I could cope with two or more sequencers simultaneously. So musical environments allow you to switch from one program to another, but more importantly, they deal with the routing of the MIDI data so that conflicts do not occur when you have a sequencer running whilst an editor is also sending out MIDI messages, and some environments go much further. Because most major software packages for the ST need at least one megabyte of RAM, you will need two (or better still four) megabytes if you want to make the most of any of these environments.

The three environments which are in most common use on the ST are Steinberg's M.ROS, C-Lab's Softlink and Dr.T's MPE, and there are several others which are usually similar to one of these examples.

STEINBERG M.ROS

M.ROS looks like just a switcher, enabling two or more programs to co-exist in memory at once (RAM permitting). But there is rather more to M.ROS than merely rapid jumping between a sequencer and an editor, because M.ROS also enables synchronisation of programs in real time to a single system clock, virtual MIDI routing (rather like MIDI Manager on the Mac) and message passing. This means that programs that require timing data (say, a mixer automation program and a sequencer) can use a common clock and will therefore stay in time, as well as actually being able to run at the same time on the same computer. You can also arrange for the MIDI output of one program to feed the input of another and that programs resident in the computer can exchange information.

Some of these facilities are well-demonstrated when you use the Satellite desk accessory with Cubase — you can send a sound to a synth using Satellite without stopping the sequencer, and without any MIDI hiccups. The same sort of interaction between separate parts of programs can be seen when you use the Cubase MIDI Manager to act as a generic editor — the parameter change messages are combined with the MIDI Note messages without any external merging. For specific editing of instruments, the Synthworks series provides M.ROS-compatible editing with an emphasis on graphics and excellent librarian facilities.

C-LAB SOFTLINK

Softlink has the same sort of switching basis, but with added bi-directional communication between programs. It does not have the same timing management as M.ROS, and is more dependent on using Creator or Notator as the centrepiece of a system. The inter-program communication allows the flexible use of Explorer editors or Polyframe generic editor modules whilst simultaneously running the sequencer, and the Realtime MIDI Generator provides detailed MIDI parameter message capabilities.

DR T's MPE

Dr. T's MPE (Multi-Program Environment) is a switcher which is integrated into the company's programs, rather than existing as a separate switcher program. The basic (ie. host) MPE program uses a menu bar entry system which allows you to load other modules into that menu and then use them as if they were part of the same program. Editors, scoring programs and the T-Basic programming language are just a few of the many add-ons which can be used. As with M.ROS and Softlink, programs can exchange information, so that you can use a graphic editor like Tiger to polish up sequences you recorded using the KCS sequencer, or even process the sequences using your own Basic routines. Omega, Dr. T's fully-featured 'power user' system, is a configured set of program modules brought together via the MPE. Dr. T has arguably the largest range of modules which can be used within a musical environment.

BEYOND THE BIG THREE

Not all musical environments need masses of memory and sophisticated programs: Hollis Research's Trackman sequencer and MIDIman desk accessory are designed to work together to produce a versatile and powerful combination which allows quick editing and processing of MIDI equipment, in a similar way to the MIDI Manager or Realtime MIDI Generator of the larger systems — and it works with only one megabyte of RAM. This sort of integrated working is usually restricted to products from the same manufacturer, although sometimes third party software companies deliberately make their products compatible with several environments: Frohlich's Freestyle is a notable example of a 'composer's tool' program which can work with both Softlink and M.ROS. Some companies also make their environments open to other programmers: Dr.T will supply the necessary details of MPE to any program developer who wants them (an offer of which I myself took advantage).

From a non-musical viewpoint, there is one extra feature of all the switching environments described above — they all allow you to run properly programmed ('well behaved' is the standard computing term) GEM programs. This means that you can use drawing programs, word processing and any other personal productivity tools whilst 'inside' a sequencer. You can even take advantage of stand alone switching systems like Steinberg's Switcher exclusively to run GEM programs which have no musical applications at all.

USING ENVIRONMENTS

A musical environment offers more than just the ability to move quickly from one program to another. When working with sounds it is often the context rather than the fine detail that matters, and therefore the facility to edit sounds and then hear them in use can be very important. This mix of programming and arranging can help you to make the most of resources, especially in instruments with limited polyphony for complex sounds, when simpler sounds can do the same job in a mix. Being able to use a librarian program to sort through large numbers of sounds and listen to them playing a track can speed up the process of assigning sounds to tracks, and often produces unexpectedly good results by sheer chance.

Sounds are not alone in benefitting from the possibilities opened up by using a musical environment. The music itself can be improved by using extra facilities which may be lacking in your normal sequencer — randomisers, algorithmic composers, variation generators and auto-accompaniment programs can all be used to enhance your music. The secret of using all such computer-aided composition tools is to make them part of your music, to integrate them into your way of working. If you are using several different programs which do not all have the ability to share sequence information, don't forget that you can use MIDI files on disk as an easy way to exchange bits of music between programs. In fact some editors, like Dr.T's Tiger, are specially designed to provide sophisticated editing for other programs by using MIDI files to exchange data.

PIC'N'MIX

If you were creating a hi-tech music composition suite, you would put together several different types of synthesizer so that you had both analogue and digital synthesis available, with perhaps some sample playback capability and a drum machine. Hi-fi systems can be built up out of separate units rather than bought as homogenised all-in-one pieces of furniture. A musical environment on the ST can provide the same customisation and personalisation possibilities. A good Power User should try to be aware of all the expansion areas — make the most of your environment, be it M.ROS, Softlink or MPE.

THE POWER USER DEFINED

The Atari ST has a rich diversity of programs written to cope with a wide range of musical applications. Exploiting these to their full potential requires familiarity with the programs and their interworking — creating a few test pieces of music to try out a system will identify any problem areas and can often provide useful ideas for further exploration. The ST is a powerful tool, especially in the hands of someone who has invested the time in learning it thoroughly. Just as you have to learn how to play a traditional instrument, so you have to learn how to use a computer — perhaps a Power User can be best defined as a computer virtuoso who practises for several hours every day!

SOFTWARE SUPPLIERS

Zone Distribution (Dr.T, Freestyle, Band-in-a-Box etc.), (Contact Details)
Evenlode Soundworks (Steinberg), (Contact Details)
Sound Technology plc (C-Lab), (Contact Details)
Hollis Research (Trackman, MIDIman) (Contact Details)