Re: Need IIe, IIgs MIDI software

[Mitchell Spector <mitch2gs@hotmail.com>]

Mitch Monger <m@m.com> wrote:

> > Mitchell Spector wrote:
> >> Mitch Monger <m@m.com> wrote:
>The IIgs's are just falliing between the cracks. It was 
>potentially the most powerful music making machine of its era. 
>And of all of the vintage machines being revived for music, it 
>still is potentially the most powerful. There are more people 
>making music on the friggin' ZX Spectrum! (and some of it sounds 
>pretty good, too).

    Throughout the 80's, it actually _was_ THE most powerful computer
for music capabilities, there was nothing else that even approached it.  
Even into the early 90's, it still was unlikely anything your typical 
home computer for music.

> > There weren't too many really talented music composers
> > around the Apple IIgs scene either. There was the FTA, James
> > Brooks, Gene Koh, and late in the game, Dreamer (Ninjaforce).
>
>Thank you for the list. I've heard FTA so far. Superb group, but 
>the tonal quality was fairly SID-like:
>
>http://ergo-sum.us/Members/cmcurtin/machinemusic/view

    That example is just a MOD they converted and enhanced, and 
by the sound of it, it was recorded from an emulator as I can hear 
notes clipped and overall it sounding a bit strange.

    The FTA used a music tool called "Soundsmith", which was 
basically a 15 voice MOD player stripped of all effects. Nothing
really unique sounding there, although their musician was very
talented and produced some really cool pieces of music. X-Mas
Demo has some nice variety.

    If you want to hear some Apple IIGS specific music, have a listen
to the soundtrack from Zany Golf, The Immortal, Rocket Ranger,
Thexder, Epxy's Game series (Winter and World), Sierra's Quest
series, or music programs like Music Construction Set GS and
Diversi-Tune. As a matter of fact, to save you the trouble, I have 
an MP3 collection I recorded years back with all these and more. 
Contact me by e-mail and I'll get them to you.

>If every possibility of the DOC can be tapped via software, then 
>I don't think FTA had the software to do it. The Ensoniq ESQ-1 
>sounds much better.

    You're right, see above; Soundsmith was fairly limited considering
what the IIgs could do. Gene Koh used a custom music engine
for the Pangea games he wrote music for (see: Xenocide and 
Cosmocade, especially the latter) and Will Harvey used the
never-released Deluxe Music Construction Set GS engine for
Zany Golf and Immortal. Still not nearly tapping the full potential
of the Ensoniq but certainly good starts.

> > If you want to have a listen how flexible the Ensoniq is:
> > http://www.virtualapple.com/californiagamesgsdisk.html
>
>Don't have ActiveX on my eMac, but I did downloaded California 
>Games and will run it when I get my IIgs set up. Yes, I think 
>games are the place to go for cutting edge music of the era. Game 
>programmers get into the nooks and crannys.

    I wouldn't call California Games GS cutting edge music, or even
great sounding for that matter--it was just interesting as an example 
of how flexible the Ensoniq was, even masquerading as a SID. :)

> >>Maybe people just look at the Ensoniq synths which were
> >>based on the 5503 and throw up their hands and think
> >>"why bother, it's already been done."
>
> > I suppose one reason is the 5503 was mainly geared for
> > wavetable synthesis
>
>Ah, I didn't realize this. I'm still learning. This is why the 
>drum sounds of the IIgs are superior to even the MIDIbox SID's. 
>It's because they're samples of real drums. You say mainly geared 
>for wavetable, but I wonder how much potential it has as a sound 
>generator. A combination of functions would be good. If it's 
>mainly a sample playing "ROMpler", that's great too. I just have 
>to do some hands on learning, when I get the chance.

    There were no pre-defined waveforms and effects already 
programmed into the Ensoniq, at least not in the same sense as 
the SID. You had 64K of dedicated RAM (separate from main
RAM) and loaded real-world samples into it and then manipulated
them. Of course you could create any kind of artificial waveform 
and manipulated it in almost anyway you could, but I suppose the 
fact that it wasn't already built-in made it less interesting. 

    Here's an analogy: It's kind of like plunking an artist down with 
3 cans of opened paint and a canvas, versus telling them there's 
all the paint you want in the backroom, but you have to walk over
and get them, open them, and then mix them yourself (yet making 
unlimited colors no less). Which artist is more likely to create? :)
Or maybe just the shear challenge is more attractive.

    Some of my friends with C64's and early PC's used to argue the
Ensoniq was too boring because it produced music that was too 
realistic sounding. Whereas the SID and OPL2 (FM) had very
funky sounding music--very unusual and electronical sounding.

Mitchell Spector