This is AUTOBUSK 2000, Copyright (c) 1986-2000 by Clarence Barlow

AUTOBUSK is a program for the real-time probabilistic generation of MIDI
signals, primarily note-ons and -offs (remappable to other command types), in
upto 3 parallel note streams (more than one computer used in parallel offers
multiples of 3 streams). Pitch sets (i.e. scales e.g. major or minor) and
pulse sets (i.e. metres e.g. 6/8 or 4/4) serve as the main input Material. A
set of 12 variable Parameters, externally storable in time-tagged score form,
can form MIDI and/or filed output; re-inputting the latter also sends MIDI
events along 2 given Routes.  14 attendant programs (with, like AUTOBUSK, the
extension .PRG) serve to enter and compile the Material and to process
'meta-scores'. AUTOBUSK itself took 272 days to write, spread between 18
August 1986 and 30 October 2000.

The current version of AUTOBUSK has been written for the Atari ST and
compatible computers running TOS 1.0 thru 4.4; it requires an internal memory
of 576 KB and a minimum disk space of 1.1 MB, which will increase during the
use of the program. The total software package comprises the program AUTOBUSK
and the 2 folders PREPROC (holding the 4 programs ASC, HRM, IDP and JST and
the file HRM.JST) and PRMPROC (holding the 9 programs EDIT, FILL, FUSE, JOIN,
PACK, PART, PICK, TIDY and VARY). To install the program, simply copy the
AUTOBUSK folder to a floppy or hard disk on your Atari computer. The program
is run by double-clicking AUTOBUSK.PRG in the AUTOBUSK folder.

AUTOBUSK is currently being ported to PCs running Linux. For the time being,
you can also run AUTOBUSK using an Atari ST emulator software. For Windows,
the recommended emulator is Steem (freely available from
http://www.pyridine.co.uk/steem/); make sure you get a recent version (>= 1.4)
which supports MIDI I/O. Other Windows ST emulators known to run AUTOBUSK
(with some limitations) are Gemulator 2000 (http://www.emulators.com), WinSTon
and PaCifiST (http://www.atarist.com). ST emulators for the Macintosh like
NoSTalgia (http://users.skynet.be/sky39147) probably work as well, but have
not been tested yet. With most emulators, you can simply unzip the AUTOBUSK
folder to some directory on your host system and configure the emulator to map
this directory to a ST hard disk.

By courtesy of the author, this package is available from the Department of
Musicinformatics at the University of Mainz. URL:
http://www.musikwissenschaft.uni-mainz.de/Autobusk/

There you can also find the following additional items:

- mdk2mid.zip, a tiny utility for converting Autobusk .mdk ("Mididesk") output
files to standard (type 0) Midi files

- mousk.xyb, a patch that should make the mouse work properly on Atari laptops
running certain TOS 2 versions (to install, simply copy mousk.xyb to the AUTOBUSK
folder)

The AUTOBUSK user manual for the Atari ST version can also be obtained from
the Dept. of Musicinformatics, see the above URL, or contact
muwiinf@muwiinfa.geschichte.uni-mainz.de for more information.


LEGAL STUFF
===== =====

This is copyrighted software.

Copyright (c) 1986-2000 by Clarence Barlow
All rights reserved

AUTOBUSK is provided AS IS. It is distributed in the hope that it will be
useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. You are granted the
non-exclusive right to use this software for non-commercial purposes, free of
charge. Any other use needs written permission of the author.