Music Composer

C&VG (Computer & Video Games)

Graphics 5/10

Ease Of Use 7/10

MELODY MAKERS Music, maestro, please. C&VG tunes into all the latest noteworthy music software programs for your computer. TITLE: Music Composer SUPPLIER: Chilbur Software PRICE: Not available This is an extremely easy program to use, but seems to suffer from oversimplification. Beginners may find it useful, but more experienced musicians will find entering notes very tedious, having to specify sharps for every note entered (flats aren't catered for). Entering a tune is slightly inconsistent, in that at the beginning of the program you're asked to enter the duration in seconds of one beat (crotchet). Then, when entering a tune, pauses are specified in seconds, even though notes are specified as crotchets, semibreves, and so on. This is, however, only a minor grumble. Though not explicitly designed for creating tunes for use in your own programs, everything is written in BASIC, so you could easily copy the load and play parts of the program into your creations - for your own use only, of course! STAVE NOTATION: Yes, but only just. No bars, ties, slurs, triplets, etc. Sharps are shown as red notes. ENTER MUSIC: Yes PLAY MUSIC: No SAVE TO TAPE: Yes PRINTER: No TEMPO CHANGE: Defined at start of program. KEY SIGNATURE: No TIME SIGNATURE: No TRANSPOSE: No STORAGE: 1401 notes in 48K. 467 notes in 16K. 48K/16K: 48K (and possibly 16K).

Catch up on the reviews of all the latest music software packages available.

Computer magic in the studio: A musical note is displayed as a three-dimensional image on the super sophisticated Fairlight Computer Musical Instrument.

Computers are now playing a major role in the creation of music in the recording studio. We look at how new rock band Beat the Sharks used a computer to help with their new single "Runaway".

Make music with your micros with our listings for the BBC, Commodore 64, Vic 20, Spectrum and Atari.

The Yamaha CX5 in action in the studio.

I bet you thought musicians went into a recording studio with their guitar slung over their shoulder, played a few tunes, sang a bit and then emerged with a smash hit number one record! Well WE did at C&VG until we delved into the amazing world of computers and music. Read on and find out how the micro is making a big noise in the pop world...

MAKING TRACKS So you've always fancied yourself as the next Frankie Goes to Hollywood? You have a great idea for a song. It goes something like doo dum da doo doo doo dum da Relax. But there are two slight problems. First, you think you may have heard the song before somewhere Second, you have just raided the piggy bank and you are still £50,000 short for the necessary computer gadgetry. Don't panic! As pop group Beat the Sharks discovered, the technology is available and it's cheaper than you think. So relax, write a new song and read on... The story so far... New record label Pure Trash had signed the Sharks to release a single called "Runaway". That was the good news. The bad news was that Trevor Horn would not let them play with his costly-computerised music toys. Unabashed they turned to the little Yamaha CK 5M, an MSX micro with an add-on piano keyboard and excellent music chip. Indeed inside its small frame it packs half of a Yamaha DX9 synthesiser's voice generator. The band's main interest was to take what is basically a home computer system into the studio and come out with a production that was truly professionaL The aspects of the system which most appealed to the band were its ability to synchronise another keyboard and drum machine. Also, using the optional music computer software, some of the backing tracks could be programmed before going into the studio. This obviously saves money. The idea was to lay down a pulse track from the CX 5M onto an outside track of the studio's 16-track tape deck. This pulse could then be used to drive the computer, as well as the drum machine. Drum rhythms for the whole song had already been programmed into a Yamaha RX11 drum machine. The most useful bit of software available with the CX 5M is the FM Music Composer. This allows you to write up to eight different parts into the computer. Individual notes are entered one at a time, either using the computer keyboard of piano keyboard. The music score is then displayed on the monitor. And if you have an MSX-compatible printer then you also get your own sheet music printed! The whole writing process is a bit fiddly and long-winded but you soon get the hang of it. Obviously it helps if you've some knowledge of music, especially if the rhythm is complicated. So, having recorded the pulse (sync) track, you can then use this to drive the computer and drum machine. Each of these machines can now be edited at any time during the recording and still keep accurate time. In theory it's a great facility to have. You don't have to commit anything to tape until it's all how you want it to sound. The main advantage as far as Beat the Sharks were concerned was that this cut the cost of studio time as a lot of the backing could be pre-programmed. The other benefit is that when using a relatively small recording studio you save lots of those precious tracks by putting all of the programmed backing onto the same piece of tape. The single "Runaway" was recorded at a 16-track studio so obviously all of these techniques were very important. But it wasn't all sweetness and light! Having set everything up and pressed the start key, engineer Richard Joseph and producer Mike Burdett did have some problems with keeping the sync track at a constant speed. But these were soon sorted out. What you hear on the record then are computer controlled drums, bass and keyboards. The rest of the tracks, guitar, keyboard and vocals were then played on top, live, by the Sharks Basically the system used in the studio could be set up by any budding songwriter in their bedroom. All you need to start is the CX 5M music computer and a tape deck. Improvements and refinements to the package would certainly be welcome and from what I hear may well be on their way. Yamaha appears to be sorting out the syncing problem and also developing new software The present method of programming in step-time (note by note) is a bit of a pain. Far more flexible would be the real-time software which is apparently coming. With that, you play what you want on the piano keyboard and it is then written in exactly how you play it. Far less fiddly altogether. There is also talk of Yamaha developing a digital sampling facility for the machine. This would allow you to sample any sound, for example a car starting or someone talking, and punch it into a song at the press of a button... just like P-P-Paul H-H-Hardcastle on "19"! So happy programming and if you want to know how the Beat the Sharks session turned out listen out for them on the radio. Yamaha CX 5M computer £449; mini keyboard (mini). £P.O.A. keyboard (normal size) £P.O.A.

One of the most important scene-setting elements of all the best games must surely be the music. Though for many years this feature was largely ignored, nowadays even the rather limited capabilities of the Spectrum's sound chip are being used to the full. Although micro music still has a long way to go before rating comparison with your average symphony orchestra, some game music is of a very high standard. The phenomenal effort required to produce such tunes as Ghostbusters on the Commodore 64 must rival the amount of time spent programming the game itself. This is all very nice for companies large enough to handle this, but what about the home computer games programmer? Well, fortunately for us, the increased awareness of the value of micro music has led to the development of a number of music utilities. We've looked at a few of these on the Spectrum, BBC and Commodore 64 computers, and you'll find our comments on the next few pages. Firstly, however, let's consider a few basic considerations which you should take into account when choosing a music utility package. One of the first things to decide is what you hope to gain from your music package. These can be divided into three main areas of use: educational, home use and game programming. These uses will also depend, to a large extent, upon your own musical abilities. On the educational front, if you're an absolute beginner to music, then your main requirement is likely to be learning how to write music, not a package allowing you to transcribe three-part harmonies which assumes you know exactly what you're doing. Alternatively, maybe you know a little about music but want to find a package which will teach you how to write even better tunes. Home use will be to either enter tunes onto a musical stave, or use the facilities of the micro as a sequencer/synthesiser. Then again, games programmers are going to want to be able to enter tunes and use the resultant data. This might be by manually transferring the composed tune to BASIC, or possibly even using the tune data directly from their own programs.

SPECTRUM The Spectrum is by no means an ideal music instrument. With only one channel or rather poor sound, its capabilities are, to say the least, limited. This has not stopped a number of companies from producing some very good music utility packages.

TEXT To make your choice slightly easier, we've tabulated the basic features of each package. The meaning of these features is as follows: STAVE NOTATION: Does the program show the entered tune in proper musical stave notation, use bars, treble and bass clefs, and so on? ENTER MUSIC: Can music be entered directly, one note at a time onto a musical stave? PLAY MUSIC: Is it possible to record music by "playing" the Qwerty keyboard? The advantage of this method is directly proportional to your dexterity on the keyboard! ALTER RHYTHM: If you can "play music", can you subsequently edit (and correct) the timing of each note, say, by tapping the rhythm on a single key? SAVE TO TAPE/DISK: Can the tune data be saved to tape or disc for loading at a later date? PRINTER: Does the program have facilities to print out the tune data? This will usually only be relevant on packages with stave notation. TEMPO CHANGE: Can the speed of playback be changed? In other words, can you change your peaceful ballad to allegro at the touch of a button?! KEY SIGNATURE: Is it possible to define the key (eg. C major) in which a tune will be played? TIME SIGNATURE: Can the time signature be specified? TRANSPOSE: Does the package allow tunes to be transposed? Transposing a tune changes the key signature. STORAGE: How large a tune(s) can the system handle? DEFINE ENVELOPES: Can pitch/amplitude envelopes be altered? Envelopes define the type of sound that a note will produce (eg. piano-type or guitar-like). This feature does not apply on the Spectrum. Finally, we have given a score (out of ten) for the GRAPHICS and EASE OF USE of each program. Though these comparisons should prove useful in helping you decide which program is best for your own needs, always bear in mind what you intend to use the program for. Also, don't use the tables to compare different micros. For instance, the BBC and Commodore programs are not only dealing with better sound chips than the Spectrum, but tend to be far superior programs.