The latest news, rumour and scandal in the field of computer music.

Expanding Universes

As part of their grand plan to conquer the musical sensibilities of civilisations across the Galaxy, Syntauri Corporation are now planning a 500 Gigabyte RAM card for the Apple IIz.

Syntauri's current advertising campaign, appearing twice-nightly on all 90 independent satellite stations across the USA and Europe, centres around the construction of a computer-holographic representation of a pair of musical staves that stretches from their home base, Syntauri City in Southern California, to their light years-distant namesake, the star system alpha Centauri. They further say that they've given up trying to communicate with dolphins since the latter started asking for royalties on their performances...

Seriously, though, those Syntaurian folks have now released (admittedly more than a year late) their Meta-Expander add-on for the Metatrak software. For just $200, you get software which bank-selects notes out of a Synetix RAM card for consumption by Metatrak. The Synetix card (which they describe as a 'flashcard' - presumably because it flashes big bytes at you as fast as you can blink) costs extra - $295 for a 144K card (storing 10,000 notes) and $495 for a 288K card (storing 21,000).

But God help you if you make a cock-up on the 10,000th note. The problem is that Metatrak's booboo-tracing abilities go no further than a simplistic fast-forwards emulation of a tape recorder. Shame those guys at Syntauri haven't heard of autolocators...

Mind you, I can't help thinking that the real answer to mass note storage and playback is to spool the notes as and when they're needed from a floppy disk. After all, you wouldn't really buy a 288K RAM card for your word processor simply to be able to store a 21,000 page document... Oh well, some might, I suppose.

For more info, contact Syntauri at (Contact Details), or Computer Music Studios, (Contact Details).

Sequential Sequel

Well, there's good news and there's bad news on the SCI front.

The good news is that the company have released their 910 expansion software for the Model 64 sequencer. The main additions to its repertoire of functions are the means for programming the Six-Trak polysynth from the micro, with the computer's screen display showing all 35 control parameters at once, and what SCI call the 'Super-Patch Mode', which allows the Six-Trak's keyboard to be split into three sections.

The bad news is that the Model 64 is undergoing a change of heart. As you'll recall, the Model 64's saving grace is that software is resident in ROM, so there's no loading-up delay. The move that's being mooted is to whip out the ROM from the cartridge, and then sell the Model 64 as a dumb unit with software on disk. This way, updating software is obviously much easier than if you're adding on to the already pre-existing ROM software (as with 910). But against that, there's the not insignificant matter of the amazingly tedious Commodore disk drive slowing down creative proceedings, and the likelihood that the price of the Model 64 will go up, ie. a combination of marginally less for the dumb interface and rather more for the software.

Yet another case of swings and roundabouts...

Music and MOEP

The Capital Region Information Centre (CRIC), part of the Microelectronics Education Program, tell us that they're putting together a booklet aimed at music teachers and students entitled Microcomputers and Music Education. The aim is to introduce the subject in a general way and also to provide a list of the useful software and hardware currently available.

All that entails a good deal of searching around, so the booklet's author, Nick Pickett, would welcome details from any reader about any item of software or hardware that connects micros and music in a potentially useful way.

Missives should be sent to the aforesaid at the Music Department, (Contact Details).

MusiCalc

Another variation on the VisiCalc theme, perhaps? Well, actually this program from the aptly named Waveform Inc. has absolutely no connection with that progenitor of clones. In fact, MusiCalc is a program for the Commodore 64 that comes nearer than most to making the SID chip earn its keep. A nicely interactive display gives the user slide controls over such synthetic essentials as ADSR envelopes, transposition, pulse wave width and level, filtering, and LFO modulation. On the music entry side, the program is basically a three-channel real-time sequencer with a sort of two-dimensional matrix display to show the notes unfolding on playback.

To complicate matters, however, there are a number of different bits to the software. The starting point is the MusiCalc 1 Synthesiser and Sequencer, which basically does what the above paragraph suggests, once you've parted with $74.95. Like another Californian company who believe in the modular software approach, Waveform are fond of their hyperbole. I'd take their promise of 'a synthesiser controlled by one of the most sophisticated step sequencers ever devised' with a generous helping of hypertension-promoting sodium chloride.

Anyhow, MusiCalc 2 ScoreWriter ($29.95) adds on the ability to 'turn your improvisations into sheet music automatically'; MusiCalc 3 Keyboard Maker ($24.95) enables you to 'create your own custom keyboards' (I'm pretty sure that means from the QWERTY keyboard but with different tunings); MusiCalc Template 1 and 2 ($24.95 each) provide African/Latin Rhythms and New Wave/Rock scores and patches; and Colortone Keyboard and MusiCalc 4 ($199.95) add a real keyboard to the system.

So, if you want to find out whether MusiCalc 1 is the 'awesome musical device' that the advertising copy proclaims, you've the option of sending for a $5 demo disk or cassette (of the digital rather than audio variety, for which you'll obviously need a Commodore 64) from Waveform Inc. at (Contact Details).