home *** CD-ROM | disk | FTP | other *** search
- AMIGADEUS
- ---------
- A few notes by ROB BAXTER:
-
- Welcome to my latest collection of classical music for the Amiga.
- This time, I have chosen to synthesise the delicate and precise music of
- Mozart. As before, all the sounds you hear have been created from scratch
- using the several synthesis and sound processing tools which I now have at
- my disposal. No digitized "real" sounds have been used at all.
-
- I had nearly completed the music on this disk when I received my
- copy of SYNTHIA PROFESSIONAL. This superb suite takes up where the original
- SYNTHIA left off, but in a truly spectacular fashion! In addition to
- enhanced versions of Subtractive, Additive, Plucked String and
- Interpolative synthesis there are now several powerful new synthesisers
- including FM/PM, Pseudo-Additive and two comprehensive Drum synths.
-
- As well as the extended synthesis options, SYNTHIA PRO offers
- unparalleled facilities for sound processing, such as echo/reverb, flanging,
- phasing, seven different filters, ring modulation, fuzz distortion,
- graphic EQ and many others. There is also a comprehensive sample editing
- module which is as good as any other on the market.
-
- Why the "PRO" in SYNTHIA PRO? Not only will SYNTHIA PRO let you
- design instruments for just about every Amiga music program and internal
- file format going, it will also create and modify sounds for many keyboard
- sampling synths via MIDI, in full, glorious 12 or 16 bit resolution at
- sampling rates up to 50 kHz! Several synths are directly supported by the
- program, but the SDS (Sample Dump Standard) format is also supported so
- any recent MIDI sampler can be used.
-
- You might wonder why I'm saying all this on a music disk. Well, this
- excellent program deserves to be discovered by Amiga musicians on this side
- of the pond, but at the time of writing SYNTHIA PRO or its smaller brother,
- SYNTHIA II do not have the benefit of a U.K. distributor. So if you're
- interested in the best sound software ever written for the Amiga, contact:
-
- The Other Guys
- 55 North Main Street
- Suite 301-D
- PO Box H
- Logan
- Utah 84321
- U.S.A.
-
- Tel. 0101 (from U.K.) 801 753 7620
-
- Right, that's the end of the advert, let's talk about me!
-
- As I said, I had just about finished this disk when SYNTHIA PRO
- arrived but I decided that I wanted at least a few SYNTHIA PRO instruments
- to be included so I replaced some of the weaker instruments on the disk with
- 'PRO instruments - especially the horn in the Horn Concerto - the original
- sounded a bit weedy so I replaced it with several new FM horn sounds which
- are a lot better. I also used 'PRO to process some of my original
- instruments, mainly to add "chorus effect" to bolster my ensemble!
-
- In addition to SYNTHIA & SYNTHIA PRO, the SONIX "Analog" Synth was
- used but that only makes an appearance during the Menuetto from Eine Kleine.
-
- -------------------------------------------
-
- About the original author of this disk:
- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
- Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born in Salzburg, Austria in 1756. A
- gifted prodigy, he was giving clavier recitals at the age of six! By the
- time he was ten he had already composed his first symphonies and some thirty
- other works. His first operas appeared when he was just twelve years old!
-
- As a young man he briefly held a position in the household of the
- Archbishop of Salzburg where he composed prolifically until he was abruptly
- discharged in 1781, whereupon he moved to Vienna and lived there for the
- rest of his short life. His father's efforts to secure him a position as a
- court composer in Vienna failed so Mozart set himself up as a freelance
- composer. He was the first composer to expose himself to the vagaries of
- such a career, away from the security of a noble patronage and he sadly
- paid the price, ending up in a pauper's grave in 1791.
-
- During his stay in Vienna, he made ends meet by teaching piano to
- the daughters of the rich and gave concerts (for which he composed some of
- his greatest piano concertos). He also married Constanze Weber who stayed
- with him until his death. However, despite the success of several of his
- mature operas, his latter days were dogged by financial worries.
-
- His death was foreshadowed by the appearance, in July 1791, of a
- mysterious stranger - actually the steward of a nobleman who needed a
- composition to establish his credentials as a composer, and who wanted
- Mozart to "ghost-write" a Requiem for him. Mozart was deeply disturbed by
- the appearance of this mysterious "man in grey" and set about feverishly
- composing his Requiem, but he died before it was completed and the work was
- finished by his pupil, Sussmayer. The theory that Mozart was poisoned by his
- rival, Salieri, has never yielded any convincing evidence.
-
- Music poured from Mozart without effort. He would often write
- complete movements in all their detail in his head, ready to write down on
- paper completely finished and with no further revisions necessary! The two
- selections presented on this disk are possibly two of his best known tunes.
- No matter which movement you listen to, you will immediately think "I know
- that!".
-
- Eine Kleine Nachtmusik literally means "A Little Night Music" and is
- a Serenade for Strings which was composed in 1787. The Allegro contains one
- of the most famous themes ever written, all the more memorable because of
- its simplicity.
-
- The Rondo from the Fourth Horn Concerto presented here is the
- closing movement of the piece, a real "hunt" finale in which the true
- character of the hunting instrument appears quite unashamedly. This concerto
- was composed in 1786.
-
- -----------------------------------------------------------
-
- This is my fourth classical music release for the Amiga and I
- sincerely hope you enjoy listening to it. As with my other disks, the
- Amiga's internal audio filter is disabled on startup to improve the
- frequency response but if you find the resultant aliasing too distracting,
- you can turn it back on again from the startup screen. I always recommend
- that the filter be left off, after all, what's a bit of aliasing between
- friends!?
-
- ROB BAXTER, MANCHESTER. UK
- JULY 1990
-
- Very special thanks to Joseph S. Nielsen of The Other Guys.
-
- And finally, thanks to PSW...
-
- -----------------------------------------------------------
-
-
-
-
-
- OTHER ROB BAXTER CLASSICAL MUSIC DISKS AVAILABLE FROM 17 BIT SOFTWARE:
- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
-
- CLASSIX 1. (Disk 448)
- Music by J. S. Bach, including Brandenburg
- Concertos 3 and 4 and Toccata & Fugue in D Minor
-
- CLASSIX 2. (Disk 540)
- More Bach, including Brandenburg Concerto No. 5
- plus music by Handel (inc. Water Music) and
- Pachelbel.
-
- PICTURES AT AN EXHIBITION. (Disks 634 & 635)
- Spectacular two disk set containing a complete
- computerised orchestration of Mussorgsky's
- masterpiece. A real audio treat!
-
- Some of these disks have been turning up in other PD libraries (not
- that I mind, the more the merrier!!), but remember that you heard them first
- from 17 BIT SOFTWARE who are, after all, that bit better!
-