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                               LETTERS TO AM/FM     
                                                    

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Dear AM/FM,

I  have  been  buying  your AM/FM magazine disk from issue 1.  Although I am a
total "non-musician" and a fairly new Amiga 500 owner (1 year), I have already
learned quite a lot from your disk.

I  would like to ask you if you can consider a tutorial or in depth article on
the  use  of  MIDI  interfaces and related software e.g.  Octamed for absolute
beginners like me.  (My daughter has a Yamaha PSR-38 MIDI keyboard).

Can  you also tell me how I can load "executable" music files into a "tracker"
program  such  as  Protracker or Octamed.  Do they have to be converted first?
It  is  interesting to note the song construction, but I cannot load the songs
on the last 2 disks as they are "executable".  Thanks for a great disk.

						Mike Hemming, England


Dear Mr. Hemming,

Thanks  for your letter.  First, I will try to help you with your problem with
executable  music  files.   I  have  used executable files lately to save disk
space  and  loading  time, however I understand that many people would like to
load  the  songs into Protracker to examine the song construction.  Before you
can  load  these  songs  into  a  music editor, they must be converted, as you
suggest.   A  good way to do this "conversion" into module format, is to use a
"music  ripper",  of  which  there  have  been made several hundred, each with
different features.

The  best  music  ripper  that  has  been  made  yet, is the latest version of
"Multi-ripper",  which  is  featured  on  this  very  issue  of  AM/FM (in the
utilities section).

To  use  this  program  to  convert  executable  music into "modules", try the
following:

Open  a  CLI  or  a  Shell  window.  Insert the AM/FM disk into any disk drive
(let's say DF1:), and type:

run DF1:Music/name_of_song.exe

The  song  will  load and start playing, while you will be given a new prompt,
and the CLI/Shell will be ready to execute another command.

Now insert this disk, with Multi-Ripper on it, into DF1: and type:

DF1:Utilities/Multi-Ripper

You will be presented with the multi-ripper menu, now type:

HUNT

and  multi-ripper  will  look  through your memory for a music module.  If the
song  is  still playing in the background, Multi-ripper will find the song and
list  it's  instruments etc.  Now you can save this song in "module" format by
inserting a disk with some space on, and typing:

Save df1:mod.name_of_song

This file can be loaded into whatever music editor the song was made for.  (In
95% of the cases, this will be Protracker).

Hope you followed us through...

Now,  about the use of MIDI interfaces and MIDI music programs, this is a VERY
large topic.  One would hardly know where to start - half of the articles ever
printed  in  AM/FM  are  about  this  subject.  Still, maybe we should start a
series  where we start from scratch and explain what a MIDI channel is etc.  I
know  that  I  don't  have time to even start on a series like that, but maybe
someone  else  out  there  who  like writing would like to give it a try?  How
about  it  folks?   Anyone  who  would like to write a series called "MIDI for
absolute beginners"?

								[Ed]

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Dear AM/FM,

I  have a problem.  I hereby trust YOU, dear Amiga- musicians, to solve it.  I
have  upgraded to WB 2.0 and to Music- X 1.1.  On to the problem.  A couple of
days  ago  I  tried  to use the step- mode in the bar- editor, and it does not
behave as it should do.  I have tried both auto- step and manual step, as well
as  two different keyboards.  The problem is simple:  Music-X does not step as
it  should  do !!!  All entered notes is recorded with the duration of 00.000,
and  there  is  no  use  in  changing the grid- size.  I have checked the most
obvious  things,  snap  is  on, and I'm sure MX uses timer B.  I have rebooted
several  times,  but  all my efforts has led to nothing.  Anyone who's got the
answer or suggestions ?  I would be very glad to hear form you.

Note  on  the  noisy  Korg  M1:  Try another lead.  If this does not help, you
probably have a ground loop To find out this, remove your MIDI cables.  If the
noise  disapears, cut the ground lead on your line out.  It'll work, the synth
is grounded through the MIDI cables.

I think the AM/FM Editor should drop out the Cover-picture in order to save
disk-space. There are other things us musicians rate higher!

	                                        Geir Widar Kristoffersen

Dear Geir Widar,

First  of all, thanks for all the nice material you've submitted to AM/FM, and
you  will  be  happy to see that most of it has been included on the disk.  As
for  your  wish to remove the cover-picture, you have probably already noticed
that  the  cover  picture  has  indeed been skipped in order to get more music
material  on the disk.  It's possible that the cover picture will be back next
time, though.  Made into an executable file and crunched, it hardly takes much
disk  space, and a good looking cover picture can do wonders with a magazine's
general appearance.

I've  had  the  same  problem  with Music-X v1.1 as you've had.  It seems that
Step-time  recording  and  Auto-step simply does not work under kickstart 2.x.
:-(

								[Ed]

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