Re: DOC-RAM swapping with MIDI seqs (was 2 questions...)

[irsman@drift.winternet.com (Ian Schmidt)]

In article <28DEC199404384517@vax2.concordia.ca>,
Mitchell Spector <spector@vax2.concordia.ca> wrote:

>	That's something worth programming! If you want to playback
>MIDI files on your Apple IIgs (not connected to a synthesizer) the
>only real option is synthLAB with it's seven preset instrument banks.
>Unfortunately you cannot load more than one set of instrument-banks
>at a time (due to 64k DOC limit) so playback is often limited. If there
>was a way to swap instruments between RAM and DOC-RAM (like MOD players)
>it'd improve playback quite a bit. I'm sure it would be possible to have
>playback simular to expensive synthesizer keyboards out there using this
>method! (afterall, the GS has the same wavetable chip used in the Mirage
>synthesizer keyboard, although I'm sure even that had 128k DOC RAM). I'd
>like to have percussion (drums), violins, trumpets, pianos, organs, flutes, 
>bells, harps, etc, etc all available at once!

A couple of points....

the Mirage didn't have a 1 mhz I/O limit, and it sure didn't have to access
DOCRAM via a 'sieve' like on the GS.  Without those problems you can do
all kindsa neat things, although Ensoniq itself moved onto the 5506/5507 based
ESQ16 series some years ago.

That said, I'm still working on something like you want, but at this point in
extremely early alpha it doesn't look good for the home team making it around
the GS hardware limitations.

--
Ian Schmidt - irsman@drift.winternet.com - Rush in '96! - INSOC:
"If you've got to belong to something, belong to us and we'll make you PC"