| Title: | * * Computer Music, MIDI, and Related Topics * * |
| Notice: | Conference has been write-locked. Use new version. |
| Moderator: | DYPSS1::SCHAFER |
| Created: | Thu Feb 20 1986 |
| Last Modified: | Mon Aug 29 1994 |
| Last Successful Update: | Fri Jun 06 1997 |
| Number of topics: | 2852 |
| Total number of notes: | 33157 |
I looked, no keywords, no obvious place, so... I just got my new copies of Dr T's KCS Level II with PVG, and the new Copyist 1.3 DTP. All of this for my Atari 1040 ST. What follows is the one-week-after review. Copyist is essentially an integrated "note processor" and transcription package. It allows one to import midi dump files, Steinberg and KCS files, transcribe them, and basically manipulate blocks of music, allegedly with the ease of most word processors. The package is extremely well documented. The version I received is the DTP (desktop publishing) package, as opposed to the "beginner" and "pro" packages. The difference appears to be the printer drivers and related support software. The Beginner option supports dot matrix printers only. The Pro package support Linotronics typesetters (actually it seems to be just PostScript output), and the DTP seems to support all of the above, with TIFF output also. This allows you to transcribe a sequence, edit it using Copyist, then output it page-by-page in TIFF format to your local DTP program (like PageMaker) for further enhancement. I haven't gotten that far yet. I have managed to (a) transcribe something successfully, (b) input something successfully, and (c) turn it back into a sequence. My first major discovery was that one floppy disk is not enough to do just about anything seriously with this program (anybody recommend a good source to buy a hard disk for an ST?) Also, one meg is adequate for just Copyist but it is not enough for both Copyist and KCS together. Other than that, it's incredibly straightforward to use. It pretty much automagically sets up staff lines, it asks you four popups worth of questions before transcribing something, and it builds whole scores. Mind you, my experience with transcription programs is almost nil, having been brought up writing manuscript. I'm pretty impressed with the flexibility of the program. As I mentioned earlier, it can import and transcribe multiple formats, and it comes with a PostScript sublicense with drivers. Unfortunately I haven't got enough disk space to create PS files so until I get a hard disk I'm kind of out of luck. More later, as I get more involved with this beast. Anybody else working on transcribing sequences? /pjh
| T.R | Title | User | Personal Name | Date | Lines |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1946.1 | see MAY14::ATARIST | NORGE::CHAD | Thu Mar 23 1989 18:23 | 15 | |
I would like to some day get into transcribing sequences but that will be awhile. I am however interested in what you say about the copyist so that I have a foundation of knowledge in the area for the time when I take this plunge. re: Atari HD I have two RD51 and an RD52 I am going to take home on a property pass (to be extended every 6 months -- hopefully they will never want the stuff back). I will some day soon get an interface (~$150) and there I will have it. Check in the ATARIST notesfile (KP7) about HD, especially rolling your own. CHad | |||||
| 1946.2 | MIZZOU::SHERMAN | but I'm feeling *much* better now ... | Thu Mar 23 1989 18:30 | 4 | |
Just FYI, Copyist 1.5 Level III is reviewed in the April '89 KEYBOARD
(p. 80) along with other notation software.
Steve
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| 1946.3 | chapter II | TALK::HARRIMAN | Beep Bop Diddlyup | Thu Mar 30 1989 17:43 | 50 |
Well, looking at my disk, I realized I have 1.5, not 1.3. I'm learning,
slowly...
Okay, next chapter. I got a hard disk and a modem for the Atari (that
now makes two modems, two hard disks, two window systems, and that's
not counting the ones at work!).
So I got to the point where I could actually try out a transcription
operation. I chose (natually) one of the latest, which appears on
commusic. Four-minute piece, has about 8 separate parts, two of which
need to be double staff. Of course, the thing isn't totally in 4/4
time, so that's the first difficulty. I figured it would be a good test
to see how easy it would be to edit bars.
Well, the hard disk makes things a bit easier, but it still took about
1.2 hours to transcribe 10 staves through 26 pages of music (all for
a four minute piece). The "finished" editor file was 370Kbytes. Changing
a page in the editor takes about 15 seconds. Not bad for a small
machine, but still pretty slow.
Copyist is NOT an intuitive system. It is very important to read the
directions all the way through before jumping in. I found this the
hard way, after getting lost. The documentation is thorough, although
it is not set up logically at all. (installation and configuration is
in chapter 2. Chapter 1 is a history of transcription systems. Chapter
4 is how to transcribe a file, but chapter 3 is how to edit one).
Anyway, after reading like mad, I finally figured out how to add a
bar line (F6 - {l,c,r} - return). This, after looking at all the
pull-down menus (there are 7 pull down menus, none of which mention
bar lines). I had figured out how to cut and paste different components
from the "edit" pulldown menus. A simple block movement (preparation
to moving a bar line from beat 8 back to beat 7) took about 7 seconds
to recompute and display (not bad). Of course, moving the extra beat
from one page to another was incredibly unwieldy. All told, it took
about 20 minutes to make one bar change (admittedly the first one).
Next, I will try generating a PostScript file and downloading it to
a PS printer. Anybody have something that does XMODEM protocol for
a VAX? After that, I'll try generating a TIFF file and downloading it
to both the PC clone (DP/paint) and the VAX (TIFF to DIFF conversion,
and subsequent editing in DECwriter)... Should keep me busy whilst
making copies of Commusic VI.
more later.
/pjh
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| 1946.4 | DECWIN::FISHER | I like my species the way it is" "A narrow view... | Mon Oct 22 1990 15:37 | 2 | |
Does anyone know if Dr. T's phone or BBS number? Do they have Test Drive versions of any their stuff? | |||||
| 1946.5 | 617-244-6954 | PAULJ::HARRIMAN | People Inaction | Mon Oct 22 1990 16:49 | 12 |
220 Boylston St. Suite 206 Chestnut Hill, MA 02167 re: "test drive" I think so, it depends on the product. Most Dr. T's stuff is (gag) copy protected with a key disk. great stuff otherwise. /pjh | |||||
| 1946.6 | Demo disks should be available | VINO::OCONNOR | Passion & Warfare | Mon Oct 29 1990 20:25 | 7 |
Hi,
While at the Atari fest I picked up a demo copy of Dr T's Tiger Cub. I
asked if it was okay to allow people to copy and they saad sure. BTW,
they had demo copies of most of their stuff there.
J
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| 1946.7 | ? | OPG::CHRIS | Capacity! What Capacity ? | Tue Nov 06 1990 11:03 | 6 |
hello,
Any chance putting on the net ?
Chris
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| 1946.8 | TIGER demo coming soon | VINO::OCONNOR | Passion & Warfare | Fri Nov 09 1990 13:56 | 4 |
Will upload early next week. 11-12ish and I will put a pointer here
and in Atarist.
Joe
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| 1946.9 | TIGER CUB DEMO Finally here | VINO::OCONNOR | Passion & Warfare | Tue Nov 27 1990 13:28 | 17 |
okay,
So I lied. It wasn't that week. But I've finally got it. You can
copy DR T's Tiger Cub Demo from:
VINO""::MOET:[OCONNOR.PAPER.PERSONAL.ATARI]tigdem.arc
You may also need arc602st.arc because that is how I pakced it.
Feel free to poke around there for other non-midi atari software.
The demo requires 1 meg. It will do everything that the real product
does expect that you can't save sequences and print scores.
Enjoy
Joe
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