Re: Is there a MIDI player for Apple 2 GS ?

[supertimer@aol.com (Supertimer)]

Dave Tribby <tribby@cup.hp.com> wrote:

>Supertimer wrote:
>> 
>> spec@vax2.concordia.ca (Mitchell Spector) wrote:
>> >
>> >    Um, synthLAB format *is* MIDIsynth. Are you aware synthLAB
>> >is merely a demo application Apple wrote that demostrates the
>> >MIDIsynth toolset? (It was to have been much more, but the
>> >program was never completed).
>> 
>> That's like saying "the Apple Flatbed Scanner program
>> on the System 6 Golden Master IS the driver" or
>> "Advanced Disk Utilities IS the Apple High Speed
>> SCSI driver."  Each of these APPLICATIONS use the
>> driver, but they are NOT the driver.
>
>I =agree with Mitch=. Your disagreement is seems to be about
>the definition of MIDI Synth and synthLAB rather than about how
>they work.  When I hear MIDI Synth, I think of
>  * The tool set
>  * The file formats (wave, instrument, and sequence)
>
>When I hear synthLAB, I think of the program by that name.
>
>synthLAB reads the file formats and plays music using the tool set.
>The same thing is true for three programs I wrote: synthfile,
>waveLAB and MIDI Surgeon.  (Since I don't know the internals of
>Music Composer, I don't know whether it uses the MIDI Synth toolset
>to play a converted sequence. You could check to see if it
>uses the MIDI Synth toolset while it's running.)

Here's the problem:  Music Composer uses the tool set
but has a different file format.  Sequences stored under
Music Composer cannot be played via synthLAB.

However, when in Music Composer, Music Composer
is definitely using the same tool set as synthLAB (I
think of the tool set itself as MIDI Synth, not what
I consider the "synthLAB file format").

To give you an example, Music Composer's format
supports the concept of blocks, just like "MOD players"
do.  You just have to type in the repetitive parts once
and have Music Composer repeat them in different
parts of the song as many times as you want.

synthLAB's format does not allow this.

In fact, in many respects Music Composer's sequence
format is more similar to that of SoundSmith or
NoiseTracker.