home *** CD-ROM | disk | FTP | other *** search
- Path: sparky!uunet!ogicse!network.ucsd.edu!sdcrsi!equalizer!timbuk.cray.com!hemlock.cray.com!dpm
- From: dpm@cray.com (Donald P. Maghrak)
- Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.audio
- Subject: Music-X v1.x (was Re: Amiga KCS 3.5)
- Summary: check that interface?
- Keywords: ECE,MIDI Gold,1.2,1.3
- Message-ID: <1992Sep4.144837.18106@hemlock.cray.com>
- Date: 4 Sep 92 19:48:37 GMT
- Article-I.D.: hemlock.1992Sep4.144837.18106
- References: <92245.082431M-WHIT2@UMINN1.BITNET> <1992Sep3.171745.18508@leland.Stanford.EDU>
- Lines: 48
-
- In article <1992Sep3.171745.18508@leland.Stanford.EDU> jay@cmn19.Stanford.EDU (Jay Kadis) writes:
- >> On Aug 31 1992, barrett@astro.cs.umass.edu (Daniel Barrett) said:
- >> I've used Music-X for years and it works fine for me. It certainly
- >> has some flaws -- in particular, the Bar Editor screen refreshes too
- >> slowly during playback -- but it has tons of functionality.
- >>
- >> Dan
- >>
- ditto. It functions just fine for me.
- >
- >I have tried using Music-X on my A2000 (sys 1.3) with the ECE MIDI
- >interface and have had disappointing results. It drops notes and hangs in
- >record. I thought maybe I had hardware problems, but when I got Bars and
- >Pipes Pro, everything worked flawlessly, including sysex dumps which would
- >never work with Music-X. I have upgraded Music-X to V. 1.1 (?), and that
- >won't run correctly at all: the clocking is erratic. MicroIllusions have
- >been no help. I agree that Music-X has nice features and all, but if it
- >won't run reliably, it's of no use.
- >
- I replaced the ECE interface I had for my 2000 with the MIDI GOLD insider
- and all of the dropped/stuck notes disappeared as did the hang in record
- problems. In fact, it almost works as good as my a1000/mimetics combo did
- with music-x. I did run kickstart 1.2 on the 1000 and one of the posts to
- this thread mentions 1.3/2.0x as a contributor to the problem. I agree that
- other sequencers work with the ECE, but music-x doesn't seem to like it on
- my a2000. It is interesting to note that the MIDI Gold uses the midi spec
- opto-isolator (PC900?) and is well shielded and built. I found that the
- ECE (DR T's interface is identical) was poorly shielded and used an opto
- that is an equivalent part (not identical) to the PC900. Add that to the
- fact that it uses an unshielded ribbon cable and a cheap plastic case.
-
- I don't trust the replacement type parts as although they may work, they
- may not behave %100 at the midi data rate. since the MIDI Gold and my
- Mimetics interface both worked great with Music-X and used the PC900 part,
- this suggests that the ECE is part of the problem. Not an excuse for
- MicroIllusions though. I still get error numbers in my display, but I
- do NOT have any missing/stuck/hung notes when I playback the just recorded
- sequence. I have seen the error counter roll-over on my friends a500/1.3/
- Dr.Ts interface/Music-x1.1 system when syncing smpte. The midi_in code for
- Music-X is obviously very sensitive, as is the Amiga's lousy serial port
- (with that enormous 1 byte buffer). I'm waiting for 2.0. (hope it's soon)
- Music-X, in spite of the amigas and it's own problems, works acceptably well
- for me.
-
- >Jay Kadis
- >jay@ccrma.stanford.edu
-
- Don Maghrak
-