This month, Derek Johnson checks out a couple of new software versions, and finds that Electronic Cow's Sound Chip Synth is moovin' on up...
Reports are that the Goodmans Atari shows in October were well‑attended, but that new music and MIDI stuff was rather thin on the ground. The only exhibitor dedicated to music on our platform of choice was Electronic Cow, who will be very familiar to readers of this column. Minor updates have been announced on all their software — it's good to see the refining process going on — and Sound Chip Synth has had a major overhaul, plus a new name...
This Moos Just In
In fact, Sound Chip Synth v3.0 is virtually a new program. While it accomplishes similar results as previous versions — creating sounds with the ST's sound chip — it does it with an enhanced user interface. In fact, the on‑screen display now has the look of an analogue synth (see right): no prizes for spotting the 'MiniMOO' flash on the virtual front panel!
Let's look at some of the features in detail. SCS v3.0 offers a square‑wave oscillator, with two‑sub oscillators, a noise generator assignable to any oscillator, an amplitude modulator and an LFO. A standard ADSR envelope generator can be assigned to amplitude and/or pitch. The 'synth' can be played over MIDI, complete with portamento, although in practice this requires care (at least on my elderly STFM), but it's a good way to test your programming. Of course, the ST's sound chip is the limiting factor here, but the software does let you create some neat sounds, which can be easily exported, via a sample editor (with AVR and AIFF support), to a hardware sampler. And with a price of just £10 plus postage, it's a bargain. You can also be sure of upgrades — which are free!
Note that there are incompatibilities between SCS v3.0 and previous versions. Sounds created using previous versions can't be loaded into v3.0, and some features are no longer available, due to the totally different way the new software has been designed. This needn't be a problem: v2.32 is also included on the disk.
MIDI Arpeggiator and Snippit Synth have been upgraded slightly since we last mentioned them, two months ago, to v2.11 and v1.21 respectively. MIDI Arpeggiator now has an improved MIDI mixer section and runs as either a normal GEM program or a desktop accessory. The main improvements to Snippit Synth are the ability to load any AIFF/AVR/SPL or raw 8‑bit sample data for use as complex waveform grains, and an improved interface with easier‑to‑edit numeric fields.
You can contact Electronic Cow at 350 Broadwater Crescent, Stevenage, Hertfordshire, SG2 8EZ. Tel: 01426 281347; email electronic_cow@dial.pipex.com; web site https://web.archive.org/web/2015....
Zero Hero
Now for news of a software upgrade that doesn't come from Electronic Cow! Zero‑X, the serious and well‑established sample editor for GEM‑based computers, has just reached v2.0. While the software will run on any ST‑family machine with 1Mb memory or more, it much prefers a Falcon or clone with 4Mb or more. Zero‑X allows you to record direct to (and play back from) IDE or SCSI disk; formats supported include CAF, AIFF, AVR, WAV, DVS, RAW and DAME. Specialist features include drum loop and groove editing, with bpm calculation and automatic loop finding. In fact, Zero‑X has borrowed a couple of tricks from the big boys on the Mac and PC: if your drum loop isn't the right tempo, you could, of course, time‑stretch it... or you could let the software chop it up into its constituent parts, transfer the samples to your sampler, and create a MIDI file that can be used to trigger the individual hits. Want to change the tempo? No problem!
Comprehensive sample‑editing parameters include cut, copy, paste, silence, reverse, swap channels, stereo‑to‑mono, and digital noise gate. The list of digital signal processing tools is also comprehensive: mix, fade in/out, optimise volume, change volume, sample‑rate conversion, crossfade loop, gate loop, crossfade samples, detune, mute, create pattern, time‑stretch, phase‑shift, high‑pass filter, delay, and reverse delay. Audio can be transferred via SCSI (to instruments that support SMDI) or MIDI Sample Dump Standard; compatible samplers include those from Akai, Emu, Kurzweil, Peavey and Ensoniq. Support is also provided for 12‑bit, as well as 16‑bit, samplers. A demo of Zero‑X v2.0 is available at sales@system‑solutions.co.uk; web site www.ssolutions.com.
Atari Joins Computer Club
Not many Atari owners may be CompuServe users, but if you are you may have noticed the closure of CompuServe's dedicated Atari forums. Worry not: the Computer Club Forum on CompuServe, home of support for many aged but not quite dead computer platforms, has opened an Atari section (with support for pre‑ST machines as well). At the time of writing (beginning of November), the libraries are empty, but they should start filling with bits of software when some logistical matters are sorted out. There's quite a bit of discussion between interested members, though, so it's worth a look if you have access.
Atari Computing Issue 6
Issue 6 of Atari Computing, the only remaining UK print‑based Atari magazine, is out, with issue 7 being promised shortly. Issue 6 includes the usual collection of broad‑based news and features, with coverage of the v2.5 upgrade to Emagic's Logic sequencing software. The mag is only available by subscription, with the option of a reader disk; UK subs cost £9 for three issues or £18 for six issues (make that £15 and £30 respectively if you'd like the disk option). Contact Atari Computing Subscriptions, 73 Bentinck Drive, Troon, Ayshire KA10 6HZ (or visit their web site at www.ataricomputing.com).