Conference napalm::commusic_v1

    Apple announced two new machines. The Macintosh SE is a Mac Plus with
    new ROMS, DMA, a new case and keyboard, space for a second internal disk
    drive or hard disk, an internal expansion slot, a fan, and a new power
    supply. List price is $2800. The Macintosh II is the revolutionary
    machine: 68020 and 68881 running at 16 MHz; NuBus with six slots; choice
    of graphics boards and monitor (some extremely nice high-res color);
    internal floppies, hard disks and tape backup units; choice of
    keyboards; optional AT-compatible coprocessor board; Unix; two-channel
    sound at a 44.1 kHz rate; etc; etc. Extremely impressive, but also
    extremely pricy unfortunately. Base price is $3800 but you have to spend
    about $5500 before you start getting a full configuration. Maybe in a
    couple years...

	-Mark Herdeg

    In the meantime you can get just about everything these machines
    promise, plus multitasking, in an Amiga, for about $1300.
    
    len.
    

    re: -.1  Hey, I understand.  What's really impressive is software.
    It's nice to have nice hardware.  Apple seems to want to impress
    everyone with new hardware, and the demo looked/sounded good.  But,
    I wouldn't even consider shelling out any money unless there was
    lots and lots of neat software.  After a while I get kind of tired
    of all the hype about how the new hardware has such a long lead
    time on the software.  Usually, with such an announcement you get
    an announcement about commitment to developing software.  By the
    way, you can usually tell when a computer is on the way out because
    two things usually happen: (1) the manufacturer offers massive rebates
    and (2) the manufacturer shows how much it is committed to the product
    "over the long term" by throwing money at product support.  Cases in
    point are the TI 99/4, the IBM PCjr, and the Coleco Adam.  I believe 
    Commodore was about to can the Amiga, too, but the Europeans pulled
    the Amiga back into the black.  I figure they must have believed (2).
    So, what computer makers *really* mean is that they will develop lots
    and lots of new software for the new critter *if* it sells big.
    Thus, there ain't no need to be impressed with the new Mac's, yet.
    

    Much of what's impressive about the Mac *is* the software. I don't mean
    programs you can buy but the system software. Most of the generally high
    quality software available for the current Macs will immediately run on
    the new machines. They will go faster (much faster if they rely on
    floating point) and will work perfectly with the larger screen. They
    will even make use of the color/gray scale to a limited extent.

    You may not agree, but I find a lot to like about the Mac Plus. The
    hardware is a small part of it. Apple has now introduced a powerful new
    machine that is completely upward compatible with the old ones. I've
    seen an outline of their enhancements to system software to manage the
    new hardware capabilities and it seems to be very tastefully done. For
    example, they have introduced Color Quickdraw, a compatible extension to
    Quickdraw, which provides a virtual color graphics environment capable
    of interfacing transparently to monitors with widely varying resolutions
    and pixel depths. The new Sound Manager controls the new 4-channel
    stereo sound hardware and also has built-in MIDI support.

    So a lot of software already exists that will work even better with the
    new machine. And a lot of respected companies have announced future
    software products for the Mac II. I predict that this machine will have
    a major impact in the business market over the next year. If the price
    comes down in a year or two, it may well become the Apple II of the
    '80s. Apple has been doing a lot of things right over the last several
    years.

    Mark Herdeg

    This note looks like as good a place as any to ask my (naive) question.
    I've scanned this entire file, as well as the Mac notesfile, and
    still don't know for sure.

    What (exactly) would I need to be able to use a Mac as a sequencer
    with a CZ1000 synthesizer?  Do I only need software?  Does the Mac
    have a MIDI port?  All Macs, or only certain models?
    
    What is the range of MIDI products (hardware and software) that
    are available for the Mac (sequencers, samplers, other?), and what
    are the best ones (where "best" could mean most capable, or most
    bang for the buck).
    
    I'm trying to decide whether to invest in Apple IIe based MIDI
    capabilities vs Mac.  I have lots of other reasons for wanting to
    build on those computers, so please, no recommendations for Atari,
    Amiga, etc.  I've seen those alternatives, but they're not part
    of my investment strategy.

    Thanks

    If your choice is Mac vs Apple II, the choice is obvious:  Mac.
    There is much professional and capable software for the Mac, and
    it is at the zenith of it's life.  The II, on the otherhand is at
    the nadir.
    
    The software for the two is hardly comparable.  That is why the
    Mac is (one of) the defacto-standard computer(s) for professional
    studio use.
    
    You need a hardware Midi interface to use the Mac, as well as software.
    There are one or two that ``all the software'' work with.  (I don't
    recall names though).
    
    

    re MIDI hardware: you could probably find an old Opcode MIDI interface
    (plugs into modem or printer port) with just MIDI in and out for
    a relatively cheap price.
    
    Now, sequencer software... three big players, Opcode (MIDImac),
    Mark of the Unicorn (Performer), and Southworth (Total Music).
    
    I have an OLD version of Opcode and a more recent version of Performer.
    
    I like it.
    
    best of luck. Go with the Mac for sure.
    
    karl moeller

    There are actually 4 major sequencer software packages for the Mac these
    days. They should all work with any Mac MIDI interface.

	MIDIMac from Opcode
	
	Performer from Mark of the Unicorn
	
	MIDIPaint from Southworth (replaces Total Music)
	
	MasterTracks Pro from Passport

    I don't own any of these, but from demos I've seen, I strongly recommend
    that you look at MasterTracks Pro.
    
    Not traditional sequencers, but Mac MIDI software worth looking at:

	Music Mouse and OvalTunes(?) from Opcode
	
	M and Jam Session(?) from Intelligent Music
	
	Deluxe Music Construction Set from Electronic Arts
	
	Cue Sheet from (?)

    And, of course, lots of patch editors and librarians and waveform
    editors for samplers.

    -Mark Herdeg

Also, "ConcertWare+" from Great Wave software.  Considerably cheaper than
the Mark of the Unicorn stuff.  ConcertWare is not purely a sequencer, but
attempts a tradeoff between MIDI and standard musical notation.  One review
I read said it acheived the best compromise of all the packages.  But it
will not do performance nuance very easily.  (Although you can always
put in any MIDI command in hex.)