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Pro Audio Spectrum & MPC Digest Volume 1 - Number 12 February 1993 Published by Jim Rooney Edited By Karen Goehner-Rooney Dedicated to PAS and MPC Users (C) Copyright 1993 Publishers Corner Welcome to Pro AudioSpectrum & MPC Digest. The technical support project I was assisting Media Vision with is almost done but I still can't release any information on it. I hope we can tell you all about it next month... and speaking of Technical Support... we would like to remind you that we DO offer "after hours" technical support for those of you that either can't wait for a callback or have an "emergency" problem. The hours are 6pm to 9pm Pacific time. PLEASE no calls after 9. The number is listed later on in this magazine. Over the past 11 months we have been scrutinizing our position in regards to Media Vision. We have been and always will be an independant publication. We are not supported in any way by them nor do they tell us what to write or how to write it. Certainly, there have been suggestions made and most of the time we follow advice from anyone who cares to give it... not just from Media Vision, but from anybody. Within this independance contemplation, we had previously decided to review only Media Vision products as far as the sound card market is concerned... but the more we thought about it, the more we realized that this is a dis-service to you, our loyal readers. The magazine is, after all, titled Pro AudioSpectrum & MPC Digest. There isn't any reason why we can't review sound products from other companies and I'm sure Media Vision would even invite the comparisons. In most cases, you will either find a product that is priced higher and is therefore better, or you will see something in the same basic price area that doesn't quite stand up to MV products. So, you will notice a review this month of the AudioMaster from Omni Labs. It kinda fits between the two aforementioned areas. Please keep in mind that even though we have changed policy on this issue, this magazine is still intended mainly for Media Vision product owners and those interested in the MPC platform. We will continue to provide technical tips and any news announcements concerning upcoming products. We will also continue to provide reviews on any product we think you might be interested in. Now... On With The Show!! Now, to get through all the legal gobbledygook... This publication is protected by US and international copyright laws. You may copy it and distribute it freely but may not charge a fee for it or the process and materials used to copy it. AudioPort, Pro AudioSpectrum, FusionCD, Fusion16, PAS, PAS16, PAS+, CDPC, CDPCXL, MidiMate, ThunderBoard, Thunder & Lightning, & Auto Blending are trademarks of Media Vision, Inc. MS DOS, Microsoft, Microsoft Windows, Multimedia Windows and MSCDEX are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corp. SP Spectrum is a trademark of Voyetra Technologies. Sound Blaster, SoundBlaster Pro and Video Blaster are registered trademarks of Creative Labs, Inc. All other products are protected by trademarks or copyrights of their respective companies. Pro Audio Spectrum and MPC Digest assumes no responsibility or liability for any information contained within this publication. All editorials are strictly the opinion of the writer. PAS & MPC Digest does not necessarily agree or disagree with those opinions. Any software included with this publication is protected by US and international copyright laws unless it has been released to the public domain. This publication is written and edited completely independent of Media Vision Inc. They also take absolutely no responsibility or liability for any information contained herein. REVIEWS The reviews this month are as follows... Games... Mixed-Up Mother Goose Microsoft Entertainment Pack 4 Windows... TypeCase Winfax Pro 3.0 DOS... Home Medical Advisor 386Max Hardware... AudioMaster GAME REVIEWS MIXED UP MOTHER GOOSE By Chuck DeVos "Wow! Dad, this is cool!" It's not often that I quote my 6 year old in a review, but this time he has something to crow about. Roberta Williams and Sierra have outdone themselves on this production of a children's game. When I was growing up, it was Candyland or Chutes & Ladders. Today my kids can sit down and play games on the computer with more ability than I ever played Candyland! Mixed-Up Mother Goose is a prime example of the excellent quality available in computer games for children. Mixed-Up Mother Goose is an interactive game for the children that not only teaches them the nursery rhymes, but also teaches them thinking and logic skills. When the game is started, you are given several different children to choose from. I thought that this was a great feature, allowing children of all nationalities feel a part of the game. Once you have made your selection, you are ready to go to sleep for the night. In the bedroom are several toys: a ball, a glove and a robot. There is even a surprise in one of the drawers. Each of these does something when you click on them with the mouse. Finally, there is a book of Mother Goose nursery rhymes. When you click on the book, it comes off the shelf and opens up. Then your mother tells you its time to go to bed, and you go to sleep. Through the window you dream of riding a magical flying goose to Mother Goose Land. There you meet Mother Goose, who explains that all of her nursery rhymes have gotten mixed up, and that she needs your help to correct them. That is when your "job" (and the fun) begins. As you travel around, you discover that there are 18 missing characters and objects throughout the land. Your job is to bring them to their rightful owners and rightful places, thus completing the fairy tales. A golden egg is awarded for each one the child correctly finds, and the child is then treated to a musical rendition of the fairy tale song. The characters come to life and perform the rhyme to music while the words are displayed on the screen. For kids, this game is quite enjoyable, and can be quite a challenge. Each time you find something, you can pick it up and carry it with you to find the owner. If you come to something else, however, you have to put down what you are currently carrying to pick up the new object. This requires the child to use memory skills in order to keep track of the objects found and where they are. The game offers a map icon so the children can see where they've been and where they have yet to go. Other options include use of a mouse or joystick, variable speed and volume. Overall, this is a great game for kids (even us "older kids" enjoyed it). It is great, not just because it is fun, but because it helps the children with memory skills and teaches them how to locate objects and complete tasks. I guess the saying, "Learning can be fun" is true! PAS16 Support Good (Adlib) Graphics Excellent Interface Excellent (DOS & Windows) Originality Very Good Value Excellent Enjoyment Outstanding (or so my kids say...) Playability Excellent Digitizing Very Good Overall Excellent MICROSOFT ENTERTAINMENT PACK FOUR This new Entertainment pak from Microsoft willl not only thrill you, but will also keep you "busy" while you should be busy! There are 7 games included with this package and each is extremely fun! Kinda makes you wonder what the folks here in Redmond are up to, eh? And we thought Microsoft was all business! Here's a quick rundown of each of the games, which, of course are all used from the Windows environment. Jezzball is an arcade style game in which there are balls bouncing around and off the sides of a box. The idea is to trap the balls is as small an area as possible by clicking the left mouse button to draw a line. If the line makes it from top to bottom or side to side before a ball hits it, then the portion that the balls aren't in will disappear. If, however, you end up splitting the balls, then you will have two sections to deal with. There are also a limited amount of lives. Each time the ball hits the line while you're drawing it, you lose a life. The first level gives you two lives. Each time you trap the balls in 25% or less of the original space, you go up a level... and of course, each level becomes more difficult because you have one additional ball to deal with. You also get an additional life, fortunately... but you'll need it as this gets harder and harder with each additional level. Maxwell's Maniac is another ball game, but differs in that the object is to trap the balls on the correct side by moving a gate up and down. In other words, there is a red side and a blue side. The red balls start out on the blue side and you want them on the red side. They bounce around so much, though, that it can be pretty hard to trap one without letting the other come back over to it's own color. The box configurations seem to be completely random so sometimes it is easy to do and sometimes very difficult... and again, the higher the level, the more balls you have to deal with. You can even set up the game so you have BOTH colors with the reds starting out on the blue side and the blues on the red. Go figure is a math puzzle game in which you get a total amount to come up with and four numbers to use. You can use each number only once. You have a choice of addition, multiplication, division and subtraction. By combining all four numbers in the proper order with the correct math symbols, you can come up with the right answer. BUT... the game is timed so you can't exactly take all day. Now, I'm fairly good at math, but I thought this thing was rather difficult. Tic Tac Drop is a different kind of tic-tac-toe game that you're sure to like. Basically you grab a red or blue colored ball from the rack and drop it down a tube that has small holes in the front so you can see through it... in other words, picture a bunch of boxes without tops or bottoms stacked on top of each other. Then picture a hole in each one on the front which is big enough to see an object through it but not so big it lets it fall through. Then picture this in three different shapes... square, triangle and diamond. Now all you have to do is drop the balls in the top. That's basically what this is all about. You can win by getting four in a row up, down or diagonally. You can change the amount of balls in a row needed to win from three to whatever amount will fit in a row and since you can change the amount of horizontal and vertical blocks with a maximum of 24 on the square, that's the most you can select for a win... but I don't think one would ever be able to acheive that goal, do you? Anyway... the is a very fun way to play tic-tac-toe and it isn't always a draw! Then we have Chip's Challenge. It's a matter of running around a board and collecting all the computer chips so you can get to the next level... but at the same time, you need to get keys which will let you into different areas of the level so you can get all the chips. Once you have all the chips, you run to the chip socket to get to the next level. This is all very simple in the alotted time on the FIRST level, but it gets harder... MUCH harder. On the second level, the first thing you have to do is push a couple of blocks into the water to get across. Then, once you do that you have to watch out for monsters, killer balls, teleporters, ice, gravity and more. It IS quite a challenge and is sure to give you many hours of pleasure... AND frustration. Dr. Blackjack is your basic game of 21, but if you decide to hit when you should stay, the game will stop the game and show you why you should do something else. It's a good way to learn the ins and outs of blackjack. This is a must if you're planning to visit Vegas soon. The last game in this package is chess... yes, your basic game of chess with a timer and all. It's not as fancy as Battle Chess or as informative as ChessMaster 3000, but it works and works well. Hey... what's wrong with a "quick" game of chess on your lunch "hour"... or while you're waiting for that document to print. This package is one of the best products I've reviewed in quite a while. The games are easy use and especially easy to get started. You don't have to read through a long manual to see what you have to do... it's fairly obvious... and of course there is a help file for each and every one. PLUS... four of the seven games have sound capabilities... both digital and MIDI... so try this one out... you won't be disappointed! Available from most software retailers or Microsoft at 206-882-8080. Suggested Retail Price is $39.95. PAS16 support - very good Graphics - excellent Interface - excellent Originality - excellent Value - OUTSTANDING Playability - OUTSTANDING Digitizing - very good Overall - excellent Windows Reviews Typecase Truetype Fonts For Windows by Chuck DeVos What is round, silver, and contains over 230 incredible fonts? Give up? It is Typecase on CD-ROM. Typecase is a collection of Truetype Fonts for Windows, produced and distributed by SWFTE International. Truetype Fonts is also available in floppy format, and is sold as two separate sets. The CD-ROM version, however, provides the greater value (if you have a CD-ROM drive for your computer). The CD version includes both floppy versions, as well a couple of bonus fonts. Fonts range from the elegance of Coronation Script to the boldness of Hot Air Bold. Everything in between that you could possible imagine is included. One of the greatest bonuses, however, is the Typecase installation procedure, and subsequent font managing utility. Called "Typecase", it allows you to install or "un-install" fonts at will. It also allows you to de-activate fonts. When you de-activate fonts, you have the option of removing them from the hard disk, archiving them, or simply leaving them alone. Another feature of the Typecase utility is the ability to view the fonts on screen, and in print, before you install them. If disk space is tight, you can choose only the ones you know you'll use, and be able to see them before they are installed. It works with all True Type fonts, not just the ones with Typecase. If you need a lot of fonts, but don't use some of them enough to warrant keeping them active at all times, this could save you some hard disk space. This font collection is jam packed with usable fonts. It is fully True Type compatible, and works with all applications that utilize the True Type font standard. I've looked at several (some will be reviewed later), and have found Typecase to be among the finest available. Typecase is available from SWFTE International, or from most local software distributors. The retail price is $69.95 - quite a bargain! Winfax Pro 3.0 So you've got a brand new fax modem but the fax software they included with it is as cryptic as Compuserve? Well, there's an answer to your problem and that is Winfax Pro 3.0. This program is absolutely incredible!! First, I'll tell you what you should look for in a fax modem software program. It should basically do exactly what a fax machine does... receive the fax automatically and then print it. Plus, it should be able to send faxes just like a fax machine only it should be easier since you don't have to fool with paper. This is exactly what this program does and more. Ever wish you could edit a fax and then send it on to someone else or back to the person that sent it to you in the first place? Yep... it'll do that too... and in two different ways... you can either set it up to convert the faxes to standard documents with OCR (optical character recognition) or you can just convert it to a PCX file and use Paintbrush to make the changes. I find the latter the easiest since OCR doesn't always work correctly. Anyway, I don't want to go into a big lengthy explanation of exactly what every button on the thing does... it's too easy to figure out by just playing around with it... I do, however want to point out that this is a VERY configurable program. You can even set it to automatically recognize the fax with OCR. Here's the way mine is set up... It receives the fax, sounds a tone telling me that it's been received, prints it to my printer and then pops up a box on my Windows screen telling me that I have received a fax. Then, at my option, I can look at the printed fax, or I can ask the program to recognize it and convert it to a document, or I can view it on the screen. OK... that's the important part... here's the other part... Winfax Pro 3.0 includes a cover page library and designer. Not only does it come with 101 extremely well made cover pages, but allows you to make your own... right from the program itself! Or you can edit one of the already made ones. Either way, you can spice up any fax transmission with this artwork. Here is a list of all the features... Send a fax from any Windows application. All you do is print the item you want to the Winfax Printer driver and the program starts automatically. The Winfax printer driver is installed automatically when you install the program. Receive faxes in the background either automatically or manually. View up to eight fax pages on one screen. Clean up random "noise" on faxes. Cut and paste faxes to other applications. Supports multiple phone books, group send and dBase files. Prints the phone books. Customized cover pages with edit and design features. Maintains records of all faxes in a send and receive log. Allows search of faxes by date, time, destination, keywords, and status. Scan documents to fax. Supports TWAIN specification. Print four fax pages per printed page. Print selected page(s). Supports over 150 fax boards. Supports class 1, class2, CAS and SendFax specifications. And there are more features that we just don't have the room to print. Like I said... this is an extremely incredible program. You needn't bother looking at anything else because I have looked at them all and nothing comes even close to the quality and flexability of this program. In just two words... if you have a fax modem "GET THIS". Available from most retailers or Delrina Technology at 408-363-2345. Suggest retail price is $129.00. DOS REVIEWS Home Medical Advisor is a medical information program. From the main menu, one has the following options... Symptom file, Disease file, Injury file, Poison file, Test file, Rx-Drug file and Health & Diet file. Each of these areas should be pretty self explanatory. This program will use either a mouse, cursor keys or text input. Using a mouse is naturally the quickest way around the program. With the above choices in mind, you can see how one would be able to look up almost anything they need information on. I guess the best word for the program is a medical encyclopedia. The information contained in the program is not as extensive as a medical reference used by a doctor as this would make it almost impossible to understand. This program was written with the average Joe in mind. Let me give you an example of how we get around this thing. I just took an example from my present medical condition... I have a cough. So, I click on the Symptom button and type in cou which brings me to cough. Then click on cough and a screen comes up explaining what a cough is. At the bottom, it indicates that you may press enter to review some of the causes for a cough. So, I move the mouse cursor over the word enter and click and another screen full of information comes up with choices to review. At the bottom again, you can press enter to have your medical history taken. Ok... now this is really neat... On the right half of the screen there is a picture of a doctor and on the left a question which reads Is the cough dry, producing NO mucus? OK... I answer no as I do have mucus. So, a calendar comes up on the right and the question Did the cough START in the last 6 or 7 days? I answer Yes. On the right a thermometer and on the left the question Do you have a Fever over 100 degrees F? No. Right shows a guy with a runny nose... left asks if you have a runny nose or sore throat. I answer yes. The program comes up with a screen titled Common Cold, which is basically what I have right now. It explains that the common cold will last 2-3 days and resolve on its own. It also has a phrase in red letters which reads Viral upper respiratory infections... which you can move the cursor to and it will highlight it. If you click the mouse button, you will automatically be taken to another screen that has more detail of that particular subject. In this way, you can move your way around the program without having to start over again. Quite honestly, I am rather impressed with it. The Rx file seems to have just about every prescription drug I have ever taken and the Poison file is chock full of information on just about anything someone could poison themselves with... including brand names of most household goods and cleaners. So, if you were to drink a bottle of ink, for instance, you would get a screen that tells you it is basically non-toxic. Probably wouldn't taste too good, but at least you won't die, eh? If you were to drink just 3.5 ounces of Anti Freeze, however, you would probably die. Something I have found by going through this poison section, which I already knew but have never done anything about, is to purchase a bottle of Ipecac syrup... It's just like having a smoke detector or a fire extinguisher... you may never need 'em, but if you do... well, you get the idea. This especially holds true if you have children as you never know what they might get into. OK... back to the review. As you can tell, I think this is a very complete and handy medical reference program. It'll tell you what you need to know for just about any medical question you might have. And... again... if you have children, this program is worth its weight in gold just for the poison section. Available from most retailers or Pixel Perfect at 407-777-5353. 386MAX There are lots of memory managers out on the market today. As a matter of fact, I used to use the most popular which is QEMM386... but I don't anymore. I kept hearing from folks that the another company has a memory manager that will not only give you a few K more of free conventional memory, but will work better with Windows. Well, that's not even the half of it. 386MAX from Qualitas does the same thing that all the memory managers do... it manages memory and loads your TSR's into upper memory so you free up more conventional memory which is where your programs run. Here's where the difference is, though, between QEMM and 386Max. With QEMM, if you need to "optimize" which is the program that automatically reads your startup files and decides the best way to load these high and you're using Stacker, then you have to manually comment out the SSWAP file in CONFIG.SYS or it won't work properly. With "maximize", which is 386MAX's program, it asks you what your boot drive is so this isn't necessary... and quite honestly, it really makes me angry that Quarterdeck calls this a bug with Stacker. It's not, but if you call their tech support and tell them you're having a problem re-optimizing and that you have Stacker, that's what they'll tell you. C'mon Quarterdeck! Get real! Anyway... sorry about the tangent... 386MAX will take care of everything for you automatically. Another BIG difference is the lack of a "stealth" mode with 386MAX. In case you aren't aware of it, QEMM's Stealth mode "hides" your PC's ROM code, and makes its memory addresses mappable as High Ram, available for loading of TSRs and drivers. Unfortunately, this has a tendency to slow the machine down quite noticably. 386Max does not do this but still manages to get more memory for you. Magic? I don't know... what I do know is I got at least a 5% performance improvement after removing QEMM and installing 386MAX. So... it's 386MAX for me from now on... and you should give it a try too. You might be happy you did. Available from most retailers or Qualitas at 1-800-676-0386 Suggested Retail price is $99.95. Hardware AudioMaster The AudioMaster from Omni Labs is one of the newest sound cards on the market and as mentioned in the Publishers Corner, is worth a review. AudioMaster is based on wavetable lookup synthesis. In other words, while all Media Vision and Creative Labs products to date incorporate FM synthesis, this card uses actual samples of the instruments. This does tend to make a particular instrument sound more realistic... and I'd be lying if I said that I like the MIDI instrument sounds from a 2 or 4 operator FM synthesis card better than sampled sound. There just isn't any comparison... The wavetable instruments sound more like the real thing. And although it raises the cost of the card slightly, it is well worth it.. Basically the old axium holds true... you get what you pay for. This card also has a DAC and a ADC for digital sounds. It has a top sampling rate or 44.1 kHz at 12 bits. Sure, the PAS 16 does 16 bit, but unless you have better ears than I do, the difference between 12 and 16 is minimal... and it sure beats 8 bit. Now, something you need to know about this card is that it is not intended for the basic sound card buyer. It is not compatible with any other sound card standard, so if you are looking for something to use to play games, this isn't it. It is intended more for the music enthusiast who will want to create music or presentations... and most likely in the Windows environment... and there IS an add on module that will make the card Adlib compatible at a cost of only $69.00. So, for the occasional game player, this would probably do since virtually all games are Adlib compatible. Adlib is not known for GREAT sound, but is certainly better than the pc speaker. Now, most of you are probably thinking I'm trying to put the card down and that I'm biased because of Media Vision... that's simply not true. Like I said, if your main purpose in buying a sound card is to create or listen to MIDI files or to record .WAV files, then this will do just fine. In fact, I am rather impressed with it. In other words, it serves its purpose quite well. Making comparisons between it and a PAS16 is like comparing apples and oranges. Sure... both are fruit but have different makeups. They aren't intended to do the same thing. The software that comes with this card is equally as good... and for you diehard DOS folks, it comes with plenty of programs for that environment as well as for Windows. The DOS programs include Band in a Box version 5.0, Noteplay & RythmPlay, which are both arcade games aimed at teaching sight reading and musical skills in a fun environment and SP Jr, a MIDI sequencer from Voyetra Technologies. Windows Utilities include a Digital audio recorder, a Mixer, Jukebox for playing MIDI, digital and CD music, Monolog, a text to speach program and CD Player, a program specifically for playing CD audio. The specifications of the card are as follows... Synthesizer... 24 voice polyphonic Wavetable lookup syntheses technology Unlimited timbres (24 simultaneously) Interpoling technique increases resolution and reduces memory requirements for sound/wave samples Frequency control within 3 cents resolution 32-bit 68008 CPU with own operating system & RAM Oscillators... Maximum (ROM) 25 Maximum (RAM) 24 Envelopes per oscillator 2 FM modulators per oscillator 2 AM modulators per oscillator 1 + envelope Stereo Pan assignments 8 + envelope Configuration... IRQ selectable from 2 - 15 DMA selectable from 1-7 Address selections are 238, 23C, 338 or 33C Includes a microphone. External connections are Microphone, Line in, Line out and joystick. Optional accessories... Adlib compatible FM synthesizer $69.95 CD-ROM interface module $69.95 - 79.95 RAM expansion module $99.95 MIDI breakout box $69.95 StudioPro speakers $129.95 Since all the above options are self explanitory except for the RAM module... It adds an additional 1,152 KB of memory which is supposed to allow more sophisticated and comprehensive wavetables resulting in richer and more dramatic sounds. I did not get one of these with the card so I can't tell you if it really makes a difference or not... however, if Omni Labs sends me one, I will do another short review to explain the degree of enhancement. So... that's the scoop... if you're a music enthusiast, this may be what you are looking for... and the best news of all is that it will co-exist with a PAS16... so now you can have the best of both worlds. One note I MUST make about this card... unless I'm missing something, it was designed backwards... in other words, the left channel is on the right and the right on the left... no big deal, I guess, unless you're really picky about that kind of thing. It just gets a little confusing if you have more than one card and the MIDI files play backwards on one of 'em. Available from hardware retailers or Omni Labs at 818-813-2630 Suggested retail price is $299.95. UPGRADES AND FUTURE PRODUCTS General Information & Tech Notes We Have decided to date our tech notes because we realized there might be a little confusion over what is new and what is not... we usually keep them in for 2-3 issues so those who have not yet received back issues will have access to, what we believe, is the most important part of this magazine. We hope this helps. January 1992... There IS a way to fix the problem of the percussion being on the wrong channel because of different types of MIDI files... Set up a MIDI Mapper with channels 1-10 and 13-16 set to OPL-3 FM Driver and then set the destination of channel 10 to channel 16. If you need more help on this, don't hesitate to call the PAS & MPC Support number. January 1993... There have been several tech questions concerning IRQ conflicts with the Gateway Local Bus 66mHz machine... The best temporary fix at this time is as follows... Change SB IRQ to 7 (jumper on the card) or 2. Then change the PAS IRQ to a high order one, such as 10,11 or 15 and change the DMA to 5. This will kill TBPro, but at the present time, there is no way around this. Media Vision is working on this problem and trying to find a fix, but the main problem lies in the way Gateway sets up these machines. January 1993... If you get a STACK OVERFLOW with Ultima Underworld or Wing Commander II on the Fusion CD or 16, make sure the DOS command APPEND is not being run. Look in the AUTOEXEC.BAT file for it. Most of the time you don't even need it. Another problem that will give you this error message is a lack of enough stacks. In CONFIG.SYS, add or edit the Stacks= line to 9,256 or 64, 512. If the first doesn't work, try the second. January 1993... With version 2.05 or 2.06 of RECFILE.EXE combined with version 2.03 or 2.04 of PLAYFILE.EXE you may get an error message upon playback by PLAYFILE... "Illegal .VOC data block encountered!". If so, you need to go back to version 2.02 of RECFILE and PLAYFILE. January 1993... It is possible to have a hard drive crash if you have Stacker 3.0 and the Trantor hard drive SCSI driver use EMS memory at the same time. They tend to step on each other and the hard drive file allocation table is the loser. If you want to write to PAS & MPC Digest, here is the address: PAS & MPC Digest 23217 NE 10th Pl. Redmond, WA 98053-6520 Voice - 206-868-0950 - 9am to 9pm Pacific Time - NO CALLS AFTER 9!! Fax - 206-868-2257 or if no answer - 206-556-1723 You may also upload your comments to: The Neighborhood BBS 206-641-3908 - running PCBboard - 1200/2400 206-957-1112 - Node 2 - 12/24/96/19.2 206-747-6095 - Node 3 - 1200/2400 You can log on under the name P A S (be sure to use the spaces) and a password of MPC. This name and password will only allow you to upload files and download this monthly newsletter. If you become a subscriber to PAS & MPC Digest, you will also get full access to this bbs on all three nodes. You can check for the digest using a Z ippy directory scan for PAS. That will list all issues. To contact Media Vision: Media Vision Inc. 3185 Laurelview CT. Fremont, CA 94538 Technical Support - 800-638-2807 BBS - 510-770-0968 or 510-770-1661 FAX - 510-770-9592 Main Number - 510-770-8600 BBS Listings The Neighborhood BBS - 206-641-3908 - 1200/2400 - PAS & MPC support bbs The Neighborhood BBS - 206-957-1112 - 12/24/96 - Node 2 This is where you will find the latest edition of this magazine. Media Vision BBS - 510-770-0968 - 12/24/96 - Manufacturer BBS SysOp is Brett Stewart. You can check here for upgrades that are not on Neighborhood bbs or leave technical questions for tech support. VGER Control BBS - 714-371-6482 - 12/24/96/14.4 - Alternate Media Vision Support SysOp - Bob Altenberger The National PC & MIDI Databank - 708-593-8703 - 12/24/96 - MIDI files - Sound Card files - Multimedia - SysOp is Duane Antor Lighthouse BBS - 207-255-3700 - 12/24/96 - LOTS of .ROL and MIDI files Ultimate BBS - 803-895-5836 - 12/24/96 - .ROL and MIDI files National MIDI - 708-593-8724 - 12/24/96 - LOTS of MIDI files If you want to add your bbs to this list, please write or call the bbs and supply the information. We will be happy to add it. Looks like that's it for Pro AudioSpectrum & MPC Digest for this month. Hope you enjoyed it. If there is anything you would like to see included in future issues don't hesitate to write. Until next time... Have a good month! PS... If you didn't already notice, there are 3 formats of the publication. You will get MUCH better results if you use one of these files for printing as I use a lot of different fonts to make it look better. Here are the formats... PASWR#X.DOC - Printed in Windows Write format. PASASC#X.DOC - Printed in straight ASCII format. PASMMXX.ZIP - The multimedia version available from the support bbs. Subscription Form NAME:___________________________________________________ Address:_________________________________________________ City, State, ZIP:____________________________________________ Phone Number:____________________ BBS Password____________ Diskette (circle one) 3.5" 5.25" or hard copy Mail this form with $22.00 for floppy or $30.00 for hard copy or $40.00 for multimedia version per year to: PAS & MPC Digest 23217 NE 10th Pl. Redmond, WA 98053-6520 Thanks for your subscription and you can access the support bbs's second node with contributor access at 206-957-1112.