home
***
CD-ROM
|
disk
|
FTP
|
other
***
search
/
United Public Domain Gold 2
/
United Public Domain Gold 2.iso
/
music
/
pm164.dms
/
pm164.adf
/
3D-Music
/
OM-Review
< prev
next >
Wrap
Text File
|
1991-09-19
|
6KB
|
96 lines
###########################################################################
## ##
## A review of "OctaMED" - by Alex Van Starrex ##
## ##
###########################################################################
Many Amiga-users, myself included, currently enjoy making music on their
computers, but the restrictions of having only four sound-channels to work
with can often dampen their creative enthusiasm. One way around this is to
work with MIDI - which has the added advantage of many channels, externally
synchronised equipment and improved sound-quality. MIDI is quite expensive,
however, and the resultant music cannot be played-back on standard Amigas.
An interim solution is to use one of the range of "eight-channel" music-
programs which have started to appear on the scene. Most of these, such as
"Oktalyser" and "StarTrekker1.2", are available in the catalogues of local
public-domain distributors, but "OctaMED" is a commercial program and, for
the moment, can only be obtained from the English company AMIGANUTS UNITED
(of 169 Daly Valley Rd, Hollybrook, Southampton, SO1 6QX ENGLAND) - for a
price of 15 pounds sterling (for non-European orders).
All these programs work along a similar principle - in order to produce
eight-channel sound on a four-channel computer, each channel is split into
two parts. Any sample used must be "halved" - with a resultant decrease in
volume and sound-quality. During playback, the eight channels are mixed in
real time, so that two samples can be played through each audio-channel. I
can't really add much more to this description, other than to say that for
whatever reason the whole thing works.
There are some compromises in this arrangement however - aside from the
previously-mentioned reduction in sound-quality and volume. The "channels"
aren't totally independent, but are linked in a similar way to the palette
in a "half-bright" paint program; volume-commands on the notes in channels
0 to 3 will effect those in channels 4 to 7 and vice versa, and unforseen
"re-triggering" may occur in looping instruments which should have stopped
playing. This often requires some careful (re-)writing on the part of the
composer, in order to get around such problems.
The major disadvantage of using these programs lies in their processor
power-demands, which are quite heavy. "OctaMED" songs can easily be played
from Workbench - using the separate "OctaMEDPlayer" program - but on 68000
machines (i.e. standard Amiga 1000's and 500's) there is also a noticeable
slowing-down of Workbench activities while the songs are playing. I would
recommend that 68000-owners use the MEDPlayer's "pause" function when they
wish to access disks or other files - any complex multitasking operations,
such as running some animation programs, may be out of the question.
"OctaMED" isn't very different from its freely-distributable four-track
equivalent "MED" - now up to version 3.11b. The program can switch between
four and eight-channel operation, but several restrictions apply when the
latter mode is selected - the range of available song-tempos is decreased,
equalizers are disabled, relative-volume settings are ignored, SynthSounds
are unavailable and MIDI can't be used. The feature that I personally miss
the most is the ability to "play-along" with the songs (without recording)
- not allowing this tends to drag-out composition-time and discourages the
use of "experimentation" in the process.
Another regretful omission is the huge range of "MED" song-tempos - now
only the standard "SoundTracker" tempos are catered for. I personally find
find these tempos either too fast or too slow for my liking, and it tends
to become quite apparent in a song-collection which songs has been written
in which tempo. Only three or four are actually useful - a situation which
isn't improved by doubling or halving the block-length and altering tempo
accordingly. Maximum song-length remains at 256 blocks, with 99 separate
blocks (of up to 256 lines) being possible - in other words, the user can
create a song that lasts between 30 to 60 minutes, depending on the tempo,
without repeating a single line (though this isn't as easy as it sounds).
Aside from all this, I was quite impressed with the results I achieved
from using "OctaMED" (a resultant disk of songs, "OCTAROCK-3D", now being
available). After having used four other versions of "MED" over the last
eighteen months or so, it didn't take me long to get used to this system.
The "MED" screen-layout (now in medium-res), with its large viewing-area
for note-information and multiple-screens (for accessing other functions,
such as the sample-editor), is still the most-comprehensive and easiest-
to-use sequencer-interface I've come across (far better then the range of
of "SoundTracker" clones) and "OctaMED" is the only multitasking program
of its type available.
Having so many channels, together with a loss of volume and quality of
sound, can result in quite a loss of musical "definition" - particularly
with the poor frequency-response from computer-monitors such as the 1084S.
I'd therefore recommend that users of this program invest in some sort of
external sound-reinforcement (connection to an amplifier and speakers) in
order to make the best use of it. This isn't absolutely necessary, though
it can certainly add to the experience of Amiga-computing generally.
In conclusion, I'd recommend "OctaMED" to those who would like to have
the extra utility of eight-channels in their compositions - subject to a
couple of reservations. As mentioned above, the program is rather awkward
to use and the resultant songs don't multitask nearly as well as ordinary
four-channel ones - nor do they sound as clear. But it would certainly be
difficult to go back to four-channel song-writing after getting used to a
program such as this.