Conference napalm::commusic_v1

    A friend of mine bought two discs from a set called "Magic Sounds"
    by a company called MIDI Mouse Music, after seeing an
    ad in Keyboard Magazine. I believe these discs were part of a set
    of ten, or something like that, all of which can be purchased
    seperately, under their individual disc names. I had a chance to work 
    with two of these discs at length and therefore offer this review of them:
    
    The two discs are called "Orchestra Classics" and "Cosmo". I would NOT 
    recommend them to anybody, because in my opinion they are way too expensive
    ($25 for EACH disc!!!) for what you get.
    
    Orchestra Classics contains a couple of orchestra hits, an orchestra
    hit followed by applause, applause by itself (how they figure this
    is an "orchestra classic" I'll never know!!), and a set of tympani.
    
    A couple of the orchestra hits sound good, but some are not in concert
    key--by that I mean that if you play an A (440) on the keyboard,
    you'll get a different note (like a C#) instead!! Very annoying to
    say the least. True, it is easy enough to use parameter 68 to tune
    it up (or down) but for 25 bucks they should have saved me the
    trouble!! The tympani sound good, but not any better than the ones
    offered on Ensoniq's factory disc (Orch Percussion I think it's
    called). Like I said before who would be bold enough to call applause
    an orchestra classic!! Obviously MIDI Mouse is! Jeeez! Also,
    there are limited situations where an orchestra hit followed
    immediately by applause could be useful, but the situations are
    so limited that it's a waste to have it on this *expensive* disc. 
                                                                    
    Cosmo contains a variety of synthesizer-type samples, and one sample
    that sounds like (and I know it is) a single guitar note (low string
    either E or A) that was put through a digital delay and set to infinite
    repeat at approximately a .5 second interval. Am I excited or
    impressed? No. Even the synth sounds are, in my opinion, no big
    deal. Nothing that grabs me. Definitely NOT worth 25 bucks in my
    opinion!! Edd Cote's 'DX21 Soft Organ' blows off these sounds, in
    my opinion, and it was free!!
    
    Also for 25 bucks a disc you get NO SEQUENCES. True some of the
    sequences on Ensoniq's factory discs are kinda lame or unuseable,
    but some of them *are* cool and *are* useable, and at least they
    took the time and effort to do them!! 
    
    So folks I'm afraid I'll have to really pan these two -- Big Time!
    There are definitely better deals out there.
    
    Mike D.
    

       Having not bought any factory disks in quite some time, I ventured
    over to Daddy's in Nashua N.H. last week. I wanted to check out
    some of the original disks offered by Ensoniq back when the Mirage
    first came out. As it turns out you *CANNOT* buy any of the original
    disks by themselves. You have to buy A *SET* of them. In each set
    there are 10 disks and there are 2 sets. For a set of ten of the
    original disks you will pay about 50 bux ( i think). Rich Niven
    the manager said that even though you may only want 2 of the 10
    disks in the set, you are only paying slightly more for these
    disks than blank ones anyway. Now, only the new disks that Ensoniq
    puts out will be available in single quantities. Does anyone know
    where you can still buy the original disks in singles ?
    
    
                Frank

    I voiced my dipleasure at Ensoniq's marketing whilst at Union.
    
    It's bad enough paying $10-20 for the *1* sound on a disc I want,
    it's even worse paying for a bunch of duplicates to get it.
    
    Maybe it's their way of cutting back on free-trading; 'encourage'
    you to buy all the discs.
    
    Edd

    I was able to mess with some K-Muse discs recently and wanted
    to pass on my observations.
    
    First let me say that the K-Muse samples are good quality, clear
    and bright sounding, and generally not noisy. The disc sets I tried
    out went for $79.95 at Daddy's (these are 6-disc sets). I'd call
    that moderately priced. In my opinion, they are worth that.
    
    If you like or use orchestra hits, you can't go wrong with Major
    and Minor Floyd. They are excellent. 
    
    The N.Y Orf sample is a layered sound consisting of a bell sound,
    strings, and I believe voices. It includes some ambience (reverb
    I guess) and is bright and  clear. My first impression when I hit
    a note was "wow!". Very useable. Real nice!
    
    A lot of the K-Muse discs have several sounds stretched across the
    keyboard. Many have Bass drum, snare, and a few other percussion
    sounds in the bottom octave only, bass for an octave and a half,
    brass section for an octave and a half, and strings for an octave.
    I don't know why they did so many of their discs like this.
    I guess some people would be able to use this type of keyboard
    assignment often. I might use this type of an arrangement once in a
    while, but not all that often.
    
    I hope to be trying more K-Muse stuff soon. When I get some money
    I am going to buy some of these. I guess you could call that a 
    recommendation!
    
    Mike D
    

    The K-muse piano is an 'interesting' sample... Just when I open
    my mouth to say "Hey, NICE piano sample!" it stops!!! It seems
    that the sustain level is way down in the pits and the decay rate
    is real quick. I've played with the rates/levels a bit and, depending
    on what the applications is, have got a satisfactory sound.
    
    Not a complaint. It's a real nice sample.
    
    Edd

    
    Does anybody out there have SND-100?  If so can you tell me if the
    Low Voices "Ah" and High Voices "Ah" are the same samples as the
    ones that appear on SND-B3 (assuming you have the B library)?  
    
    Similarly, is the Solo Rock Guitar sample on SND-102 the same one
    that appears on SND-A7?
    
    I've been thinking of buying SND-100 from Ensoniq, but I already
    have Acoustic Piano and "Ah" voices on other disks. I don't, however,
    have the Low Strings-Bowed sample on any other disk. It seems that
    the only place you can get the Low Strings-Bowed sample is on SND-100.
    Is that true?                                               
    
    Mike D
    

    
    Ensoniq has put out a new disk for the Mirage, C4. According to
    Daddy's in Nashua, this is supposedly the last disk that Ensoniq
    will put out for the Mirage. C4 has the following samples on it:
    
    Upper and Lower 1 --- Hammer Dulcimer
    
    Lower 2 --- Bass, Alto and Tenor Recorders
    Upper 2 --- Soprano and Sopranino Recorders
    
    Lower 3 --- Bass and Tenor Shawm                 <--  These are
    Upper 3 --- Soprano,Alto,Tenor and Bass Crumhorn    | medieval woodwind
                                                     <--  instruments.
    
    I am going to buy this disk today. I'll post a review when I've
    had time to experiment.
    
    Mike D

    Great, the last thing they leave us with is a shawm and a crumhorn...
    
    Do they know how often my band says "I'm pretty sure Gloria Estefan
    used a crumhorn for that solo..." or "I think a shawm would go good 
    in the Pretender's tune..."?
    
    Actually, I'm kinda upset at the idea of the LAST Mirage factory
    sample... end of an era.
    
    {sniff}
    
    Edd

    
    Here's a reply that's long overdue. A while back (several months)
    I purchased the 6-disk set of string samples from K-Muse. I am pretty
    satisfied with them. A little pricey ($70). But there are a lot
    of useable sounds. I won't try to run them all down individually
    here. Instead I'll do a general description.
    Some samples had noticeable loop points when playing single notes
    alone, etc., but playing chords they are fine. The "Tremolano" samples
    are especially interesting and offer some built-in ambience. 
    If you need some good string sounds, and are tired of the ones that
    Ensoniq offers, this is a good bet. Many of these samples are better
    (and more varied) than Ensoniq's.
    
    Mike D

I bought a few alternate operating system disks for the Mirage, and
thought that this was as good a place as any to review them.

This reply will concentrate on the Mirage Super-MIDI Disk (SM-1), by
Dick Lord, UPWARD CONCEPTS. This was advertised in the Transoniq
Hacker and cost $40. 

This is the only OS for the Mirage that I know of that allows the Mirage to 
receive MIDI Volume messages. It works as advertised, but there is some
graininess in the very low end of the volume spectrum due to having to 
implement MIDI volume in the software. There is an adequate explanation of 
this in the documentation that comes with the disk. 

The SM-1 allows you to transmit and receive on separate MIDI channels, allows
remapping of sustain pedal and mod wheel onto different output device numbers,
includes a MIDI "panic button" to send and "All Notes Off" command out the 
MIDI port (and restore volume controllers to full), allows transposing by
semi-tones (+/- 2 octave range), and includes a program increment button to
to advance both upper and lower program numbers by one. All these are very
useful functions. 

The OS also allows the pedal to act as a Sostenuto Pedal. For example, whatever
notes are down at the time the sostenuto pedal is pressed will be held until
it is released, and with the pedal down, the keyboard can be played normally
on top of the held notes.

This disk also offers some fairly unusual features explained in the 
documentation as MIDI Expansion Modes. Parameter 83 is redefined so that when
set to 0, the MIDI output acts as a thru port repeating the input exactly;
when set to 1, only local events are sent to the output port; when set to 2,
all MIDI input and local note events, controller data and program changes are
transmitted; when set to 3, the Mirage operates in MIDI overflow mode--if more
than 8 notes are played simultaneously, the additional notes are sent out the
MIDI port; if set to 4, the Mirage responds to (plays) even-numbered notes 
while the odd-numbered notes are sent out the MIDI port; when set to 5, 
the Mirage responds to odd-numbered notes, and even-numbered are passed out
the MIDI port. (All note-off events are sent, even though the note-on may not
be sent.) 

All in all, I like the new features the disk offers. One gotcha: the disk
allows the Mirage to RECEIVE MIDI Volume only---NOT TRANSMIT it. For that,
I had to buy another OS by Leaping Lizard, which I will review in a subsequent
reply. 

This disk was worth the money for me. The documentation is only 6 pages worth,
but explains things rather well. I'd recommend the SM-1 if you need these 
features.

Mike D 

Here is the next review in the series.

This reply will concentrate on Mirage OS 3.d  by
Steven Fox, LEAPING LIZARDS. This was also advertised in the Transoniq
Hacker and was being blown out for $14.95 because they were going
out of business. There was some talk of another company (don't know which 
one, but probably another one of these companies that offer alternate 
Operating Systems for the Mirage) picking up the Leaping Lizards product line,
but I have no idea if tha has happened. 

OS 3.d also allows you to transmit and receive on separate MIDI channels, allows
the sustain pedal and mod wheel to transmit other switch controller and 
continuous controller information (respectively),  and includes a MIDI 
"panic button".

OS 3.d does offer a much greater transposition range (in semitones) than the 
SM-1 disk. It allows an effective range of 128 notes, and it increments and 
decrements much faster than the SM-1 disk. In fact, OS 3.d performs all of
its functions much faster than the SM-1 disk.

OS 3.d allows the Mirage to TRANSMIT MIDI Volume only---NOT receive it. 
This disk also contains 3 banks of sounds. Upper and Lower 1 is called "Ten
Story Building" and it is the sound of someone screaming as they leap from
the top and fall with a thud to the ground. I though it was funny actually,
and shows that Steven Fox has a good sense of humor and doesn't take things
(i.e. himself) too seriously. In the same vein, the other two banks offer
other humorous/curious samples. Bank 3 includes "Green Sound" and "Bubbling
Bass", which are pieces of the themesongs to the TV shows "Green Acres" and
"The Beverly Hillbillies" respectively. Not musically useful, but well done
and fun. 

Obviously OS 3.d doesn't have as many bells and whistles as the SM-1 disk,
but it only cost $14.95 too. It is unfortunate that the only place you might
be able to buy it now is on the used market. If you can find OS 3.d, I'd
recommend buying it.

Mike D 

    Does anyone have the operating system that turns the Mirage into a
    synthesizer?  That always looked interesting to me, but I haven't heard
    a hands-on report.
    
    	Eirikur
    

>    Does anyone have the operating system that turns the Mirage into a
>    synthesizer?  That always looked interesting to me, but I haven't heard
>    a hands-on report.

I think you are referring to Soundprocess by Triton. Yes it sounds very
interesting, but it is also pretty expensive, like $250. I did hear that
they were having a special promotion, and were offering it (for a limited
time so they said) for something like $150.  That's still too steep for me.

Mike D