SPACE 2/SPACE - Library 2 - Volume 1.iso/utility/100/intrview.eng

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             ëSêoundëWêaveÇ                       |TheüMIDICornerÇ
                                              |__________________
          AnInterviewwith
     ü CharlesGuérinÇandüGrahamWolfeÇ.By:AlainPlouffe.

     Thefollowingpagesareexerptsfromaninterviewconducted
forthebenefitofthepeoplewhoarecuriousaboutthegoingson
inasoftwarecompany.Italsohappensthatthecompanyin
questionisaüMIDIÇsoftwareproductscompany...Interesting,No?
ThecompanyislocatedinthetownofSt-Laurent,asuburbof
Montreal,andisamongthefirsttobringprofessionnalmusic
productstotheüAtariSTÇmarket.Butbefore,somegeneral
informationabouttheinterviewees:üCharlesGuérinÇis23yearsold
andhasbeenplayingpianosincetheageof5.Heischief
designerandprogrammeratSoundwave,acompanyhestartedlast
year.HeisalsoasoundengineeratüKorgÇforthesynthesizer
division.üGrahamWolfeÇ,the"oldman"ofthegroup,istheproject
managerandhelpsdesignthedocumentation.Healsorunsthe
MontrealAtariSTusergroup,üMASTÇ.Hehaswrittenmany
professionnalbusinessapplicationsforüCP/MÇandüMS-DOSÇmachines.
Youwillalsofindinthisinterviewsomestrangereferencestoa
"waitprogram"...TheprogramwaswrittenbyGrahamin68000
assemblylanguageforacontesttheSoundWaveprogrammersheldone
daywhileCharleswasawayontravel.Thesourcecodewas
graciouslydonatedbyGrahamforourreadersandmaybecalled
directlyfromthemenu(theprogrammaybecalledfromthemenuas
well).Herenow,istheinterview.

üF.A.S.T.E.R.Ç:äI'veseengoodpiecesofprogramminginmylife,Ç
äbutI'dsaythatMIDIreal-timeprogrammingisprobablyoneofthe
hardestandtightestcodinganyonemayhavetoproduce...It's
obviousthatyouneedmorecriticaltimingthan,say,withaword
processor.

üG.W.Ç:Charlesworkshard...Idon't!(laughing)
ü
F.A.S.T.E.R.Ç:äNokidding!..howdidSoundWavestartasacompany?
Ç
üC.G.Ç:IwasdowninNew-OrleansfortheüäNAMMÇshowlastyearat
thistime,andtherewasapartygivenbyüKeyboardMagazineÇand
üSimmonsDrumsÇonariverboat.Weknewthatwecouldgettotalk
toallthemajorsoftwaredesignersthere.Butwefoundoutthat
weneededpassestogeton...so,IwenttoseethepeopleofüKorgÇ
Iwaswith.Wewenttogethertoseetheguyattheentranceramp
toaskhimtoletusin.Hesaidweneededtickets,sowetold
him:"giveussome."Butthatdidn'twork...SotheguysofKorg
toldhimthatwehadfullfrontpageadsinüKeyboardMagazineÇ,
(thepartyorganizers)andthatifhedidn'tletusin,we'dpull
theads!Hewentandtalkedforaminutewithsomeoneand,whenhe
cameback,youknowhowtheygiveyouthosedoubletickets?They
letyouinwiththeonehalf,andyoukeeptheotherhalffora
freedrink.Hegaveusdoubleticketsgoodfortwodrinkseach...

Anyways,wetalkedtoallthepeoplethereandaskedthemwhich
machinetheyweredeveloppingfor.Theyallsaid"theAmiga".SoI
askedthemiftheywereconsideringtheSTandtheysaidno.Just
then,Ithoughtthiswasprobablymybigchance.I'dbeenwaiting
foragoodmachinewitha68000engine,andthat'swhenwedecided
we'dstart.WenowhaveprogrammersacrossCanadaandwekeepup
aprivateBBSwherewecangoformutualconsultationwheneverwe
findaprogrammingproblem.Wecanusuallygetananswerwithin
hours.Thestaffisabout15-20programmers.Werefertoour
programmersasteamA,teamB,etc...Actually,it'sourteamin
Winnipeg;the"üFrankÇ&üNormÇShow"whoaredesigningtheSuper
Switcher.WhenwestartedwiththeBBS,thefirstpeopletogeton
weretheWinnipegteam.TheyhadsignedtheirnamesasTheATeam
for"theAtariTeam".ButwhenwetriedtogowiththatonEnvoy
100(CanadaPostCorp.),theirparserwouldn'tacceptit...sowe
changedittoteamA,etc...

üF.A.S.T.E.R.Ç:äAndwhatkindofproductmarketingschedulesdoyouÇ
ähaveatthemoment?

üC.G.Ç:We'reworkingonanumberofprojectsrightnow,wehave
theüSW8Ç,theüSW24Ç,andtheüSuperSwitcherÇout,butwe'vehadawful
problemswithüGEMÇ.Whenwe'dtrytosynctheüSW8Çtoanexternal
clock,itwouldgoabsolutelybonkers.Ithadtodowithregister
variablesbutwewroteanewroutineforitandnowitworks
withoutahitch.ButweshouldhavedoneeverythingTOS-based.
Wewouldhavehadeverythingoutbynow.Mindyou,ourfirst
product,theüSW1Çhasn'tstoppedsellingandyouknowwhy?Because
theüMusicStudioÇisn'treal-time!OurU.S.distributor,üShannerÇ
üInternationalÇ,madeussometotallynewpackagingforSoundWave
productsandtheysellthisoneasaMIDInotepad.It'sselling
sowell,theykeepre-ordering!Theythinkthatthisyear,the
saleswillbeunbelievable.Andnow,amongotherthings,wewould
alsoliketoshowtheSuperSwitcherüÇatüLeStudioÇinMorin
Heights.
ü
F.A.S.T.E.R.Ç:äYoumeanAndréPerry'sStudio?
ü
C.G.Ç:Yeah,that'sit.Wethinkoursoftwarecanintegratenicely
withhisequipment,particularlyhisMIDIsetup.Ituncluttersthe
workplaceandit'saloteasiertomanage.

üF.A.S.T.E.R.Ç:äThiscouldgiveabigboosttotheAtariname!HisÇ
äendorsementwouldbegreatforyournameandproducts.He'sknown
worldwideandhewasoneofthefirsttointegratedigital
equipmenttohishardware.
Ç
üG.W.Ç:Yeah,thereasonwe'vebecomeaninternationalcompanyis
thatCharlesrunsallaroundtheworld,chasingbusinessforus...
butIgetsenttoToronto.

üC.G.Ç:IwasonvacationintheBahamas.Iwaslookingatthe
sharkswhilehewasädealingÇwiththem!

üF.A.S.T.E.R.Ç:äTellmeaboutthisotherproductyoutoldmeaboutÇ
äearlier;theSuperSwitcher...Ç

üC.G.Ç:TheSuperSwitcher,yougottaunderstand...it'sawhole
newconcept.It'salittlehardtoexplain;doesn'tmakeanysense
tomewhynoone'severdoneit.Theconceptisrealneatandit
worksbeautiful.YoutakeamasterMIDIkeyboardliketheüKX-88Çor
something.NowüRolandÇandüYamahaÇtheygiveyoutwosplitpoints
acrossyourkeyboard:oneMIDIchannelontheleftandoneonthe
right.Thereareacoupleofweirdthingsaboutit:youonly
controltwochannelsandthereforeyoucanonlycommandtwo
synths,andsecond,youhaveasplitrightinthemiddleofthe
keyboard.Yougofromonesoundtothenextlike,Bang!...
Musically,splitsweretheworksofaccordianists...andbagpipe
players.

üG.W.Ç:Hey!Hey!HEY!(jokingly)

üC.G.Ç:ButthewayIthoughtweshoulddoitiswiththezoning
system.Insteadofhavingsplitswhereyouhaveonesoundfrom
heretothere,andanothersoundfromtheretothere,whichonly
makessenseifyou'reusingonlytwosynths,youhavezones.A
zonestartsonanygivennoteandendsonanygivennote.OK?so,
youcanhavebrassfromheretohere,stringsfromheretohere,
pianofromheretohere,alllayeredontopofeachotheronone
keyboard.Ifyouwantto,youcansetazoneon16synthsandone
notefromyourmasterwilltriggertheother15synths.Now,to
makeitadaptable,taketheYamaha...stufflikethat.Yousetone
splitpointandthat'sit...youstickwithit!OntheüSuper
SwitcherÇ,youpluganysynthintotheüSTÇandthen,yourSTinto
allyourothersynths,drummachines,echoeffects,etc...Most
keyboardplayershaveMIDIecho,mostofthemhaveacoupleof
synths,acoupleofüTXÇmodules,stufflikethat.Theyallthrow
thisstufftogether;it'salotmoreconvenienttobuymodules
thanbuyingallkeyboards.So,theüSuperSwitcherÇgivesyouall
thesezonessothateveryprogramchangeyoumakechangesallthe
programsofallthesynthstowhateveryouwant.Youchangeone
programononesynthtochangeallthezones.Thatwillchange
program1to4,2to6,andallyourzonesmovearound,yourpitch
bendmovesaround,yourvelocitycontrolmovesaround.There'sno
moreasplitpointwhereyougofromonesoundtoanother.It
fadesonesoundintotheother.Smoothly...Let'ssayyouwanta
soundcalled"heavybrass".Heavybrassmightturnallyoursynths
toabrasssound,allstackedontopofoneanother,andyet,you
couldleaveacornerofyourmasterkeyboardwithanacousticbass
sound.So,there'stheconcept;yousetituponceandyouleave
itsittingthereandnowyouhavethatäoneÇkeyboardturnintoa
ämega-synthÇwhereanyprogramchangeyoudowillaffectthewhole
stack,soyoucanforgetaboutyourstack.Insteadofhavinga
stackofsynths,youhaveonesynthwhichäISÇallyoursynths.I
didshowsattheüSpectrumÇandtheüClubSodaÇwithüHollywoodand
Vine,ÇandwhenI'ddoabigshow,I'dhave5or6synthsstacked
ontopofeachotherandsometimeswe'dhaveasongwhereweused
someBrassandStringssounds...I'dhavetogotoeverysynth
andfindtheproperpatch,andyouknowwhatit'sliketryingto
rememberthembynumbers?Now,theüSuperSwitcherÇcoulddoall
that.Basically,it'saneatlayeringtool.

üF.A.S.T.E.R.Ç:äSo,youprogramallyourpresetsbeforetheshowÇ
äalongwiththezoneinfo,andtheprogramsavesallyoursetups?Ç

üC.G.Ç:Oh,yeah!youhave128programsfitintoaround8Kofdisk.
It'sreallymoreforstudios...WeweretalkingaboutüLeStudioÇin
Morin-Heights.Ithinkthey'regoingtobuyitbecauseitjust
makessense.That'swhywecallittheüSuperSwitcherÇ!

üF.A.S.T.E.R.Ç:äOknow...whataboutSystemX?Ç

üC.G.Ç:Well,actually,SystemXdoesn'tyethaveaname.
Basically,it'sasuperMIDIpatchlibrarian,editor,etc...that
workswithanybrandofsynth.Itacceptsmacrossoyoucanload
yourlibraryintheST'smemoryandloadyoursynthswithhundreds
ofdifferentsoundsrealfast.Theprogramwassupposedtobe
somethingelseatthebeginning,butthenwestumbledontothis
andsawhowgooditworked,sowebuiltitintoanewkindof
librarymanager.Italsoworkswithanysynthesizerandevenwith
thesamplerkeyboards,drummachines,digitaleffects,etc...
ü
F.A.S.T.E.R.Ç:äTellmeabouttheWaitprogram...IhearGraham
tellmethattheyhadfundoingthiswhileyouwereaway?
ü
C.G.Ç:Well,Idon'tknow...OnedayIcallourBBSandIseeall
kindsoftalkaboutWaitprograms,soIleftthemamessagetoask
whatthiswasallabout.

üG.W.Ç:Oh,man!youdon'tknowwhatgoesonbehindyourbackwhen
you'regone!(laughing)Wewerehavingacontestonedaytofind
outwhocouldwritethemostefficientwaitprogram,'causewe
wereusingonethatwasridiculouslylongandI'vealwayshated
theonewiththedevelopperspackage;theonethatsays"Waiting
forMr.GoodcarriageReturn".So,Icameupwiththeshortest
one...itringsthebellthreetimeseveryminuteuntilyoupress
akey.Youmightsayyoucouldfindashorterone,butminehas
twoloops;onethattimestheminutesandanotheroneforthe
dings.I'mgonnabeworkingonmakingitevenshorter.Butwehad
alaughofit!IcouldjusthearCharlesgettingupsetatusfor
writingwaitprogramswhileweshouldbewritingSoundWave
software!!Youcouldjusthearhisvoiceinhismessages...they
weresostrident!

(Editor'snote:Awaitprogramisonethatyoucallfromyour
batchfilesothecomputerwaitsforyoutostrikeakeywhen
ready.Italsopreservesthecompiler,linkerorassembler
messagesonyourscreenuntilyou'rereadytoreturntothetop
levelofyourapplicationprogram).

üF.A.S.T.E.R.Ç:äWhataboutyourprogramminglanguages;whichonesÇ
äworkthebestforyou?Ç

üC.G.Ç:I'vealwaysfiguredIcouldlearnanylanguagewhereI'd
learnFortraninadayortwo,butwhenitcametoüCÇ,Isaid"Holy
Mackerel!"Tookmethreemonthstoevenfeelcomfortablewithit.

üG.W.Ç:Idon'tlikeüCÇbutdon'tlistentome...Idon'tlikeany
programminglanguage!Itellalie...IlikeoneBasic.üCromemcoÇ
üStructured32KBasicÇ.ThatwasaBasic,man!Ifitwasatleast
outforotheroperatingsystems,buttheCromemcoissuchan
incompatible!Theonlythingit'llrunonisaCromemcocomputer.
Man,thisthingisamazing...ithaslogicseekinglike,your
loopingstructureevendoesyourindentsforyou,sowhenyou're
checkingyourcodeforerrorstoseeifyourloopingstructureis
welldone,allyouhavetodoisprintalistingandtakealong
rulerandlineupalltheindents.Andallkeywordsarein
lowercaseasidefromthefirstletter!

(Editor'snote:ThosefamiliarwiththeoldAtaricomputerswill
noticethatthisdescriptionoftheCromemcoBasicisoneofa
directancestorofüBasicÇüXLÇandüBasicXEÇ.Infact,üBillWilkinsonÇ
ofüOSSÇwhichproducestheselanguages(aswellasDOS2.0and2.5)
alsousedtoworkforCromemco.)

üG.W.Ç:Oh,Cromemcosaregoodmachines...ifyoucanaffordthem!
Theyhadthefirst68000microcomputerrunningCromex...thatwas
adualoperatingsystemwitha68000andaZ80stuffedinthere.
Thebestoftwoworlds!CromexrunsCP/Mprogramsaswell.Cromex
2.2wasasupersetofCP/M2.2;CDOSiswhattheycalledit.The
Z80operatingsystemwascalledlikethat.
ü
F.A.S.T.E.R.Ç:äAnythingyouwanttosayaboutcopyprotection?
Ç
üG.W.Ç:Youdon'tcareaboutpiratesifyou'reastandartsoftware
company,because,ifanything,Ibelievethatpiratescanonly
helpyou.Theyadvertiseyourproduct;theywerenevergonnabuy
thesuckerinthefirstplace!Butwithsomethinglikethis,which
isaverticalmarket,that'sadifferentkindofgame...youhave
totalkaboutheavyprotection.

üF.A.S.T.E.R.Ç:äItmaybetrueforpeoplewhohavejustenoughÇ
ämoneyforbuyinganSTandasynth...They'llstillwantyour
programbuttheyhavenomoremoney.
Ç
üG.W.Ç:Yesandno...Ineverbelievedinprotectionforgeneral
marketsoftware.Idon'tbelieveit'seffective,Idon'tbelieve
itworks,itcausesalotofproblemswiththeusers.Forgeneral
marketsoftwarethereshouldn'tbeanyprotection.Borlandhasnot
gonebadandtheydon'tcopyprotect...

üF.A.S.T.E.R.Ç:äTheyalsosellyougoodinexpensivepackagesontop
ofnotprotecting.Oryoucanpayevenlessforaprotectedcopy,
ifyouwant.

üG.W.Ç:äÇTheyalsodon'ttrytosellprogramsfor400$likesome
othercompanies.

üF.A.S.T.E.R.Ç:äInawayyoucouldlookatvolumetoreplacethe
markuponprices.
Ç
üG.W.Ç:Absolutely,butthesoftwarebuyingpublichasabudgetfor
buyingsoftware.Ifyousellsoftwareat400$acrack,youendup
makingthesameamountinrevenues.Thedifferenceisyougeta
muchlargerdistributionwhenyousellforless.Imean,you're
notreallyhurtingyourselfbylowpricedsoftware;asBorlandhas
foundout.

üC.G.Ç:Whenyoutalkaboutaverticalmarket,likemusicsoftware,
youcanmakeupforthesmallaudiencebysellingtomany
countries.Forthisreason,wecankeepthepricesverylowand
maintainaprofessionnalproduct.Thenameofthegamerightnow
ispersonalmultitrack.I'llgiveyouanexample.Youknowhow
many24trackstudiostherearerightnowaroundtheworld?
200,000.Andthatgivesyouanideaonhowmany8trackstudios
exist.

üF.A.S.T.E.R.Ç:äWhat,inyouropinion,wouldmakeasoftware
companysucceedorplunder?
Ç
üC.G.Ç:Well,IgotoJapanandhappentoknowthatrightnow,the
üMSXÇcomputersofwhicheverybodyinJapanownstwoorthree
(laughter)areallinspiredontheüYamahaMIDIÇchip.It'sa
powerfulonewordchipthattakestheplaceofawholeMIDI
interfacebox.Second,totheJapanese,anüMSXÇcomputerdoesn't
cost2-300$likeoverhere,theycost100$,so,anytimethey
estimatethepriceofasynthesizer,theylookatthedomestic
marketandit'sridiculous!ForaàKorgDW-8000Ç,whichisa
professionalsynthesizer,there,it'salowpricedkeyboard!Less
than1000$.Ok...theminuteIsawthemputtingtheYamahachipin
theMSXcomputers,Iknewthatwithinayear,we'dhave100$or
200$keyboards.Theminutethathappens,we'reset.Japanesenow
HAVEtoproducecheapMIDIkeyboardsfortheirdomesticmarket.

üF.A.S.T.E.R.Ç:äAsmallkeyboardthatcouldbecontrolledbyyourÇ
äprograms...Ç

üC.G.Ç:Yeah!Asmallkeyboardwithadinkysoundonit,withMIDI.
NowwhataboutMIDI?Thetrickforanycomputertosucceed,any
softwaretosucceed,ithastobeathrow-away...Toreally
succeedinthemassmarket,ifyoucomeoutwithadevice,saya
KoalaPad,somethinglikethat...youcanuseaKoalaPadoryoucan
throwitaway,itdoesn'tmatter;itdoesn'tcostthatmuch.If
youpriceakeyboardthatimpressesthepeopletothepointwhere
theywanttobuyit,yougotawinner.That'sthesecretwiththe
üYamahaPorta-SoundÇ,allthatstuff.Andnowthatthey'reputting
MIDIin,that'soneofthereasonswhyitmakesmoresensetoput
outasequencernowthanitdidayearortwoago.Themarket
we'regoingafterwiththeüSW8Çispersonalmulti-track.I'veseen
onepackageontheMACthat'samazing!It'sa6tracksequencer
thatlooksexactlylikeacassetterecorder.Eventhecassette
hubslooklikethey'returning...That,now,thereyougo!Price
thatat49.95$andyougotawinner.

üF.A.S.T.E.R.Ç:äNow,whataboutsamplinganddigitizing?

üG.W.Ç:That'satypeofprocessingthatshouldbedonebyan
externalbox.Youshouldn'ttryandtaxaprocessorfornothing.I
shuddertothinkof,say:IknowaguywhoownsanAmigaand
Jeez!tryingtosamplesoundswhilethemulti-taskerisstealing
cyclesfromtheprocessor...OyOyOy!

üF.A.S.T.E.R.Ç:äWellguys,thanksalotforeverythingfrommyself
andallourreaders.We'reproudtohaveyouaroundhere!

üC.G.Ç:Noproblem!

üG.W.Ç:Thanksforthecoffee...