home
***
CD-ROM
|
disk
|
FTP
|
other
***
search
/
Loadstar 1
/
001.d81
/
sftwr.rvw.1
< prev
next >
Wrap
Text File
|
2022-08-26
|
5KB
|
257 lines
43213 Haynes
THE LAST ONE (Blue Sky Software)
The name means that if you buy
this one, you won't need any other.
Well, if you like games, music pro-
grams, need a word processer or any
program that goes beyond maintaining
files and manipulating the data in
them, THE LAST ONE will not be quite
the money saver that the title would
imply. But if you can come up with
a good logical description of what
you want your program to do and can
express it following THE LAST ONE's
rules (expressed in a very well laid
out manual including a good tutorial)
THE LAST ONE will do what its pub-
licity says. One warning: if logic
isn't your thing, even THE LAST ONE'S
powerful Basic code writer won't help.
It will create a program that includes
every error that you make.
--------------------------------------
43214 Haynes
ENGLISH VII (Commodore Public Domain
Series) This disc, which sells around
here for about $7, includes three word
programs "Word Hunt", "Word Ladder"
and "Word Search". "Hunt" prompts the
player with hints about a "fugitive"
word in a wanted poster format. The
player may guess the word or receive
hints. If the game is asked for one
too many hint, it reveals the word and
offers another. An OK game. "Ladder"
states a starting and ending word of
four letters. The object is to enter
a series of words, each varying from
the previous one by only one letter.
The idea is good, but this program is
limited, frustratinglly so, by the
vocabulary that you must use. You can
type in a perfectly good word that is
different by only one letter, only to
have the program say "Sorry, I don't
know the word".
"Word Search" is worth the modest
price of the whole disk. It creates a
puzzle of up to 19 X 19 letters in
which it hides the words you feed in.
You first name your puzzle. We tend
toward themes ("Star Trek", "Choir
Words", etc.). In addition to creat-
ing your puzzle, it also maintains
and offers a hidden word list and the
solution. There is a printer option
which allows you to share your puzzles
where you can't take your computer.
If you enjoy these Word Search puzzles
this program will make a very satis-
fying entry to your software library.
--------------------------------------
Hinkle 35758
MUSIC TO MY EARS
I loved the musical accompaniment on
the preview disk. The music capabil-
ities of the 64 were one of the main
reasons I chose it over several others
when I bought my first computer in
December of 1982. My first software
purchase of any significance was the
music and sound synthesizer package by
Abacus Software, "Synthy 64". I have
found it to be a great help in compo-
sing/arranging music. Unfortunately,
in order for me to share my composi-
tions with "LOADSTAR" or anybody else,
they must have the Synthy-64 interpre-
ter up and running in their machine.
Music is entered in three voices as a
line in Basic. The program utilizes
a look ahead feature to play notes as
chords or sequentially. It's primary
drawback (aside from not being readi-
ly transferable to other programs) is
not being able to see your music as
music normally appears: notes, lines,
and spaces. One can, however create
text and simple keyboard graphics in-
termixed or appearing on the screen at
the same time as their composition
plays. There are many music composi-
tion tools appearing on the market now
that were not there when I bought Syn-
thy 64 and several of them appear to
be quite good. The graphic display of
music is a desirable feature that I
miss in using Synthy 64. However, I
find that some of them are not as ver-
satile and easy to use as the Abacus
program. I'm sure there are other
opinions coming in as people try the
various music programs coming out and
settle down with what works best for
them. Commodore's own Music Composer
cartridge is an inexpensive way to get
started arranging and composing one's
own computer music. It does allow one
the attractive feature of watching
his creation march across the screen
in the form of multi-colored notes
but personally, I still do most of my
arranging, so far, with the Synthy-64.
Almost any of the music programs
are a tremendous improvement over the
laborous poking by hand endless data
statements and experimentation in-
volved without the use of some program
aid. It looks as though some of the
basic enhancement packages just now
appearing on the market may also help
the Hack/Musician. The two that are
about here--according to the grape
vine--are Simon's Basic and Super Exp-
ander for the 64.
Ken Hinkle
Madison, Alabama