Mark Of The Unicorn's Performer is no spring chicken, but it does offer a very friendly user interface and a wealth of facilities. Danny McAleer tries out version 5.02...

Performer may be long in the tooth, longer than Cubase in fact, but it's by no means over the hill. So rather than dwell on its greying hair and dentures, let's look instead at the many additional editing tools offered by version 5.02.

Installation probably requires more carpentry than computer skills, with a bigger box than one of those overpackaged supermarket cream cakes. But once you've created the necessary shelfspace, it's just a matter of double-clicking on the install program on the first disk, and then following the on-screen prompts. Then, after it restarts the machine (to enable the extensions to load), you then double-click on the program with the master disk in, to authorise your copy.

The manual does warn you against using virtual RAM, but I tried it just the same, and it resulted (quite obviously) in the Mac completely crashing and me losing 12Mb of hard disk space (it was eventually retrieved). You need 5Mb of RAM to run Performer, but having at least 8Mb, especially if you plan to multi-task, or have inordinately long sequences, is definitely recommended.

The manual also stipulates which type of Mac Performer will run on, and how fast it will be. It's quite obvious that a Mac Plus or SE isn't going to work, but you may also experience slower operations with the LCII, or the even older Performas (the 200 and 400).

It's good to talk...

FreeMIDI is a system extension supplied with Performer that is used to let your Mac chat away to your external MIDI modules. Much like Opcode's OMS System, it allows you to specify your setup exactly, listing all of your hardware by name, which MIDI channels it receives/transmits on, the controller changes it's compatible with, as well as where it is in the scheme of things.

Actually, if you've used the OMS, FreeMIDI is exactly the same, and you should find no problems in installing your studio. The only gripe I had with the software was in the auto configuration, in that despite having a trail of MIDI devices connected to the modem port, it didn't see any of them. Nor will any amount of twisting your screen around and pointing it at your synth make any difference. Although you actually need not build a studio list, it does make things easier when it comes to selecting MIDI channels and their corresponding instruments in Performer.

And finally...

After all this computerised circumlocution you ought to be ready to start. When you first load Performer, it defaults to a new 'song', with the Track window, and Transport controls open. You can alter these parameters to make it ask for a file to load (or create) when you first load the program, or indeed to boot up with nothing currently selected. But perhaps the first thing to do is to try recording something.

The quick start manual (thank heavens for small mercies), has a fine tutorial which takes you through the preliminaries of recording and editing a piece of music, so that ought to make things easier. You need only refer to the gargantuan reference manual for a greater explanation of things when you've got the hang of the basics.

The Tracks window is very much like Breakthru 2 on the Atari, using a grid layout with single blocks corresponding to bars of music to arrange a song. These can be moved around, either from track to track or along the same track, by clicking on them and dragging them around with the mouse. Multiple parts are selected by either rubberbanding the desired blocks, or by pressing the shift key whilst clicking on each block.

Performer can arrange sections of blocks into song segments or 'chunks', making song construction an absolute breeze. Although you don't have to use this system, it does prevent you forgetting you've already got something on your gluestick, as I'm apt to do when cutting and pasting. Nor will you forget which set of blocks correspond to which, in the song structure.

Each of the tracks has a move box (which allows you to drag the track up or down the track list to make things tidier), a mute/play button and a record button, which must be selected if you want to record on that particular part. There are also four additional columns for the track name (which can be edited by clicking on it with the option key held down), patch name (as specified by the PatchList Manager), actual device and MIDI channel, and an extra column for additional notes.

There are no MIDI indicators beside the tracks to monitor for incoming MIDI messages: It's all shown within a separate window, where all the channels and connected devices are graphically represented.

There are a choice of recording methods; real or step-time, the latter of which is chosen from the basics menu or by pressing the Apple key and 8. This opens up a menu bar, serving up a selection of step values (quavers, semi-quavers, crotches and so on), with extra options for playing staccato (by shortening the notes by a percentage), or using triplets or dotted time.

Unlike real-time record, you need not have the right track selected to record, as there is a pull-down menu of all the parts to choose from in this menu. One of the best things about the step input is that it plays back all the other tracks at the same time (something which is new to this version of Performer), enabling you to judge better whether an impending note will actually sound any good at all.

Chopping block

Performer has an abundant supply of options to transform a musical crayon scribble into a veritable masterpiece, most of which are accessible from the Region menu. The transpose function is first along, and is indeed a powerful tool; not only can it perform simple transpositions, but can create additional harmonies too. There is also the chance to indulge in a bit of loony experimentation and completely alter the key of the music, using a range of preset scales. You can have Lydian and Pentatonic, or a completely weird customised one of your own.

Like the transpose menu, velocity is just as well endowed with features which positively scoff at the meagre volume of parameters that Cubase's transpose/velocity option has to offer. In addition to changing the velocities by an equal amount (which is what Cubase does), you can also change them by percentage, or simply iron them out flat. Another option completely randomises the velocities, producing some very odd results, not dissimilar to the inconsistencies of an inebriated drummer.

Clicking on the quantise option in the Region menu (or by pressing Apple and 0), whips up a nifty window of options for you to draw upon for inspiration. One or both of the attack and decay portions of a note can be quantised, allowing for greater control of the overall effect of forcing your music into a grid. The quantise values go all the way up to 128th notes (or semi-demi-hemi... oh, forget it), in normal, dotted or triplets.

The additional menu items allow further customising of the quantise, with a 'humanise' function that can send a track out-of-time by a number of ticks (although this is perhaps the last thing I need). Or you can syncopate your rhythms with a bit of swing. Performer also has a Groove quantise which, like the one belonging to Cubase, is fully editable, and comes with a supply of ready-made grooves.

The items sitting in the change menu allow you globally to alter the key signature, tempo, and time signature. The tempo function also has a speed increase/decrease button that calculates the tempo of a chunk of music, with just the start and end tempo speeds inputted by the user, and by using a choice of four predefined paths; three curves, and one proportional.

Record Beats is a clever device that allows you to tap in what you believe to be the right tempo, and from this calculates the BPM accordingly. This is certainly a most useful item if you do a lot of work with sample loops.

If all these 'automatic' editing options still fail to hit the spot, then you can perform manual edits in any of the three editors provided; score, grid, or key edit, each of which excels at certain things. The key edit is particularly pleasant to look at, and has a zoom-in function, which makes it all the more visually pleasing. But appearances can be deceptive, as my parents always warned me, and if this editor offered me a lollipop I'd be very concerned and run a mile.

Because there are no tools as such, any scribbling must be initialised from within pull-down menus. This is the way that notes are manually inputted, and it is as awful as it sounds. What's worse, unless the shift key is held down, the tool defaults back to the pointer after one note has been successfully, or even unsuccessfully inputted, making multiple edits more hassle than they're worth. A couple of times I gave up and just recorded the part again.

Fortunately, the grid edit is completely devoid of any such silly idiosyncrasies, and so carving of a part can be achieved with a minimum of blood spillage. To make things easier, this editor also has a filter which allows you mask certain messages like notes, system exclusives, and pitch bend. Controller changes can also be excluded, or you can opt to exclude or include just a few of them (up to six). For example, you could decide to switch off all the volume messages, leaving everything else, or just have pan, expression, chorus and reverb, with everything else excluded.

The score or 'QuickScribe' editor is more useful for printing than editing, although notes can be chopped and inserted too. You can add text, titles, key signatures and other trimmings to the score, as well as tidy it up by spreading out staves and notes ready to print.

Finally, you can create your own mixing console, to control pan and main volume for all the MIDI devices connected. It works much like the MIDI Manager on Cubase, but is nowhere near as flexible; it can control only a few things, whereas with Cubase you can virtually create an entire patch editor. The fader settings are recalled each time you load the program, but can also be recorded alongside the arrangement, allowing you to remix the track on the fly.

Verdict

It's a gem of a program to use, with perhaps just the odd fault here and there. Certainly, being able to customise the way you work (like redefining keyboard short cuts, and arranging windows) almost to the point of emulating another sequencing program altogether is a fantastic idea.

Other items that get the thumbs up are the remote controls, where you can assign any MIDI message to a transport function; the online help (by pressing a key combination whilst clicking on the puzzling item), and the panic button, which sends an all-notes off message on all channels, to eliminate all those clingy-on wails.

On the flip-side, the editors are quite horrible (aren't we all – Ed), and I still haven't got the hang of inputting notes using the key edit page yet. But these shortcomings are greatly outweighed by the sheer breadth of options in functions like transposition, time, and quantisation, and by its general pleasantness in use.

Just so you can see how wonderful Performer is there's a demo on the CD-ROM to try out