[{"TitleName":"Music Master","Publisher":"Sinclair Research Ltd","Author":"Incognito Software","YearOfRelease":"1984","ZxDbId":"0011103","Reviews":[{"Issue":{"Name":"Crash Issue 5, Jun 1984","Price":"£0.75","ReleaseDate":"1984-05-24","Editor":"Roger Kean","TotalPages":126,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"Editor: Roger Kean\r\nConsultant Editor: Franco Frey\r\nProduction Designer: David Western\r\nArt Editor: Oliver Frey\r\nClient Liaison: John Edwards\r\nStaff Writer: Lloyd Mangram\r\nContributing Writers: Matthew Uffindel, Chris Passey\r\nSubscription Manager: Denise Roberts\r\n\r\nTelephone numbers\r\nEditorial/office [redacted]\r\nAdvertising [redacted]\r\nHot Line [redacted]\r\n\r\n©1984 Newsfield Ltd.\r\nCrash Micro is published monthly by Newsfield Ltd. [redacted]\r\n\r\nNo material may be reproduced in whole or in part without written consent from the copyright holders.\r\n\r\nPhotosetting by SIOS [redacted]\r\nColour origination by Scan Studio, [redacted]\r\nPrinted in England by Carlisle Web Offset Ltd, [redacted].\r\nDistribution by Comag, [redacted]\r\n\r\nSubscriptions: 12 issues £9.00 UK Mainland (post free)\r\nEurope: 12 issues £15 (post free).\r\n\r\nWe cannot undertake to return any written or photographic material sent to CRASH MICRO unless accompanied by a stamped addressed envelope.\r\n\r\nCover by Oliver Frey"},"MainText":"Producer: Sinclair\r\nMemory Required: 48K\r\nRetail Price: £9.95\r\nLanguage: BASIC\r\nAuthor: Incognito Software\r\n\r\nIt's unlikely that the sound output of the Spectrum will ever rival that of the London Symphony Orchestra or that a budding Beethoven will claim his Spectrum taught him what he knew. Mind you, unless you significantly amplify the sound output for this Sinclair program, you might think you are simulating Beethoven's inability to hear what he was playing because of his deafness!\r\n\r\nMusicmaster is a rather jolly tutorial program which allows you to create tunes and play them. The program can hardly be claimed as a utility, and it probably fails to be educational in a detailed manner. There are two modes available - stave or keyboard. Stave mode provides a range of two octaves upwards from A below middle C and uses the alphabet keys a to g and a to G. The notes may be prefaced by pressing keys S (sharp), L (flat) or N (natural). Keyboard mode allows the two top rows of the keyboard to be used as a keyboard instrument with 10 white notes and 7 black notes from middle C upwards. There is an overlay supplied for the keys to help you play.\r\n\r\nThe main menu allows you to select Notes On Music, a sub-menu with five sections otters reasonably detailed notes on music and writing it as it applies to this program. Note pitch, duration are covered, rests - the space allowed between notes: key and time signatures. Tune creation may be done in either stave or keyboard mode. In either case the notes played are shown on screen and heard. Before a tune can be written you must enter the time signature and whether sharps and flats are to be used. At this stage a knowledge of music would be useful but it isn't essential. At any stage, pressing K will end the tune and it may be played back at varying speeds up to 200 crotchets per minute. Tunes may be saved.\r\n\r\nCOMMENTS\r\n\r\nControl keys: all by on-screen prompts\r\nUse of colour: simple. But clear\r\nGraphics: stave and note representation works very well\r\nSound: rather depends on you","ReviewerComments":["The main drawback with any music program for the Spectrum is the Spectrum itself. Its sound limitations really make it little more than a toy when it comes to music. Obviously with one one channel it isn't possible to make up really interesting sounds and one is restricted to the familiar beep with different durations. That said, it is possible to write neat tunes with this program and the Notes section does help to make it a valuable early learning aid (not necessarily for children either).\r\r\nUnknown","Being in BASIC there are aspects which are slow. Some of the graphics take their time to build up, and you can get stuck for ages in the notes section on duration. I wouldn't think this is intended as a serious music learning program, although it could be useful for back up purposes in learning I was surprised to see that in Keyboard mode you can delete the last note written, but apparently you can't do so in Stave mode.\r\r\nUnknown","Musicmaster may be a way of learning about music, or a way of teaching people about music BUT being written in BASIC it is impossible to get any beats and tempos going realistically. It's odd that Sinclair have released something that is written in BASIC when they could have done a program in machine code and included far more features like synthesis.\r\nUnknown"],"OverallSummary":"General Rating: Within its BASIC limitations and that of the Spectrum itself, this turns out to be an interesting program that should provide fun and entertainment - but it has got its limitations.","Page":"63","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Roger Kean","Score":"","ScoreSuffix":""},{"Name":"Unknown","Score":"","ScoreSuffix":""},{"Name":"Unknown","Score":"","ScoreSuffix":""},{"Name":"Unknown","Score":"","ScoreSuffix":""}],"ScreenshotText":[{"Text":"Music Master's keyboard mode."},{"Text":"Or you can become a keyboard Beethoven with the Stave mode."}],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Use of Computer","Score":"55%","Text":""},{"Header":"Graphics","Score":"68%","Text":""},{"Header":"Playability","Score":"72%","Text":""},{"Header":"Getting Started","Score":"78%","Text":""},{"Header":"Value For Money","Score":"60%","Text":""},{"Header":"Overall","Score":"67%","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"Crash Issue 16, May 1985","Price":"£0.95","ReleaseDate":"1985-04-25","Editor":"Roger Kean","TotalPages":148,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"Editor: Roger Kean\r\nAssistant Editor: Graeme Kidd\r\nTechnical Editor: Franco Frey\r\nArt Editor: Oliver Frey\r\nProduction Designer: David Western\r\nSoftware Editor: Jeremy Spencer\r\nAdventure Reviewer: Derek Brewster\r\nStrategy Reviewer: Angus Ryall\r\nStaff Writer: Lloyd Mangram\r\nContributing Writers: Matthew Uffindel, Chris Passey, Robin Candy, Ben Stone\r\nClient Liaison: John Edwards\r\nSubscription Manager: Denise Roberts\r\n\r\n©1985 Newsfield Limited.\r\nCrash Magazine is published monthly by Newsfield Ltd. [redacted]\r\n\r\nSubscriptions [redacted]\r\nEditorial/studio [redacted]\r\nAdvertising [redacted]\r\nHot Line [redacted]\r\n\r\nColour origination by Scan Studios, [redacted]; Printed in England by Carlisle Web Offset Ltd (Member of the BPCC Group), [redacted].\r\nDistribution by COMAG, [redacted]\r\n\r\nCirculation Manager: Tom Hamilton\r\nAll circulation enquiries should ring [redacted]\r\n\r\nSubscriptions: 12 issues £10.50 (UK Mainland post free), Europe: 12 issues £17.50 post free. Outside Europe by arrangement in writing.\r\n\r\nNo material may be reproduced whole or in part without written consent of the copyright holders. We cannot undertake to return any written material sent to CRASH Magazine unless accompanied by a suitably stamped addressed envelope. Unsolicited written or photo material which may be used in the magazine is paid for at our current rates. The opinions and views of correspondents are their own and not necessarily in accord with those of the publishers.\r\n\r\nCover by Oliver Frey"},"MainText":"MUSIC MICRO, PLEASE\r\n\r\nJust to prove that Tech Niche isn't all soulless stuff about insensitive peripherals, JON BATES and GRAEME KIDD throw away their joysticks and take up the baton to conduct a round-up of sensitively musical software.\r\n\r\nNo matter how wonderful you believe your Spectrum to be, in arguments with Commodore, BBC or even Amstrad owners, you will have to concede that they have the edge when it comes to sound. The Amstrad, for instance, has three channels, which allows you to create a stereo sound and a white noise generator. Your 'umble Speccy doesn't have a chip dedicated to sound generation and gets by when it comes to making sound by switching the 'speaker' on and off, more rapidly for higher notes, less rapidly for the lower ones.\r\n\r\nThe BASIC Manual is a bit naughty when it tells you: '...because there is only one loudspeaker in the computer you can only play one note at a time, so you are restricted to unharmonised tunes.'\r\n\r\n'Loudspeaker' it ain't, but the only reason why you can't play more than one note at a time is because there's only one channel which can be switched on and off to generate noise. Other computers, which have dedicated sound chips, let you use several channels and that allows more complicated, harmonised tunes to be put together. Like the manual says, if you want anything more than simple unharmonised tunes on the Spectrum 'you must sing it yourself.' As you might expect, there's quite a lot of specialised hardware and software available which extends the capabilities of the Spectrum, moving it towards (and maybe even past) the level of musical competence achieved by other machines. We'll be taking a look at these bolt-on musical goodies in future Niches; for the present we've confined ourselves to a close examination of the software which runs on the basic Spectrum.\r\n\r\nWe found six programs which, to a greater or lesser extent, take the pain out of programming tunes in the 'BEEP 1,0: BEEP 5,3:' format, and three musical education packages which go part of the way to helping the musically illiterate get to grips with the subject. Rather than plunge in at the deep end on our own, we persuaded a real live musician - Jon Bates - to help evaluate the software.\r\n\r\nA professional keyboard player, author of a book on synthesisers and keyboard teacher, Jon invented a new rating for the purposes of these reviews - MUSICALITY. We've taken account of Graphics, Educational Value and User-friendliness, but Musicality is, in effect, a musician-friendliness rating and depends on the musical accuracy of the software. Before awarding the Musicality rating for each program, Jon asked himself the question, 'is it in accordance with the basic rules of how music is written and sounds?' 0/10 for Musicality would make a musician scream, he told us!\r\n\r\nThe other half of the dynamic reviewing duo, Mr Kidd, claims to know a bit about computers but is a self-confessed music illiterate. Nuff said about him.\r\n\r\nMUSICMASTER\r\nSinclair/Incognito\r\n£9.95\r\n\r\nMusicmaster allows you to enter notes either direct onto the stave, pressing keys for the name of notes A-G and prefacing them with S for sharp, L for flat or N for natural, or you can use the keyboard overlay supplied with the cassette to make the two top rows of your Spectrum's keyboard simulate a real keyboard.\r\n\r\nThe program offers all the basic elements needed to start making music with your computer, allowing the user to 'music process' a tune once it is entered into the machine using the editing facility. Only one tune can be held in memory at any one time, which can be mildly infuriating at times, given that there is room for up to 1000 notes for events, as a rest counts as a note), but there is a facility which allows you to save a completed tune to tape so it can be loaded back into the computer at a later stage.\r\n\r\nWhen you enter a tune and play it, the computer plays the notes sequentially from start to finish. If a section of music is to be repeated, it's necessary to edit that section into the sequential tune file. Another minor disadvantage of Musicmaster is the lack of a repeat command - to replay a tune you have to go back through the menu, but it does allow a tune to be played back at different speeds.\r\n\r\nOverall Musicmaster is a reasonable package which assumes no musical knowledge on the part of the user. Between them, the manual and the help function in the program were good, giving the user enough to get by on musically to make full use of the programs capabilities. While it isn't intended to be an 'educational program' as such, being more for amusement, it quite neatly teaches a little about keyboards.\r\n\r\nIn striking the middle line, aimed at someone who is neither a dedicated programmer with no musical knowledge on the one hand, nor a keyboard wizard who's scared stiff of computers on the other. Musicmaster is a success. It's a realistic way of converting a Spectrum into a music processor and keyboard which presented our team with no problems whatsoever in use.\r\n\r\nFINAL VERDICT\r\n\r\nGraphics: 7/10 Good, if a little on the tiny side.\r\nUserfriendliness: 8/10\r\nMusicality: 7/10 Slightly limited on pitch range and lacks the ability to put expression in music\r\nEducational Value: 7/10 Help facility and manual would give a total novice a reasonable start into keyboard music\r\n\r\nCOMPOSER\r\n\r\nContrast Software\r\n[redacted]\r\n£5.95\r\n\r\nComposer appears to have been written more for someone who already knows about music. The program presents a bit of an intellectual challenge to the user, in that you can write and 'music process' tunes but not in the conventional notation used for music.\r\n\r\nThe cassette inlay gives a brief summary of the modes used by the software, but the full instructions are presented on screen in one long chunk - which can be printed out, admittedly. The inlay states that full screen instructions can be recalled any time, but in use there didn't seem to be any help function which could be called up for advice on what to do next. Without a hard copy of the instructions in front of you, it was easy to get lost in the program, and it wasn't easy to write a tune into the computer to begin with.\r\n\r\nComposer uses a numerical notation, by which the duration of a note is entered as a fraction of a second rather than by note names - crochet, quaver etc. From the musician's point of view this is an added difficulty, and non-musicians could also be put off. Tunes written into the computer are not displayed onto a musical stave, and as a result it would be very hard for a non-musician to copy in a scored piece of music.\r\n\r\nA tune of up to 199 notes or events can be entered into memory. One useful feature worthy of comment was the facility which allows you to hear a note once it is selected, and before it is entered into your growing composition, which allows you the option of changing your mind!\r\n\r\nOverall Composer has the feel of a nice idea poorly executed. The displayed keyboard, for instance, has the keys labelled for the notes they represent - but the labels are out of alignment; the program is far from user-friendly, coming up with unhelpful error prompts like 'out of range, retype' rather than actually reminding the user of the range of acceptable values before requesting 'retype'. Composer presumes the user knows all about music before sitting down at the Spectrum, it doesn't help you get into the subject or the software, and then proceeds to present a new form of musical notation on the screen.\r\n\r\nFINAL VERDICT\r\n\r\nGraphics: 3/10 Some alignment problems; is blue text on a blue background ideal?\r\nMusicality: 3/10 Apart from the numeric notation, there seemed to be a slight timing inaccuracy in the demo tune which was repeated\r\nUserfriendliness: 4/10 Screen layouts were not self-explanatory and a help function could have made life much easier. With a printed set of instructions in front of you and the patience to get into the program, no doubt quite rewarding.\r\nEducational Value: 0/10\r\n\r\nMUSIC MAKER\r\n\r\nBellflower Software\r\n[redacted]\r\n£5.75\r\n\r\nMusic Maker comes with a fairly detailed inlay card which takes the reader on a whistle stop tour of musical notation and theory. It makes good sense to someone in the know but might be a little confusing to the novice. It must have been a difficult task to compress so much information into such a small space, and it's unfortunate that there's no additional help in the program itself, which is a bit complicated.\r\n\r\nThe input method, using cursor keys (which move rather rapidly when selecting) takes a bit of getting used to. The screen displays the bar you're working on, and while it plays each note as you add it - giving you the option to delete it immediately - there's no real editing facility. Notes can only be deleted from the end of an assembled tune, and if you find the third note in your fifty note composition is wrong, there's no option but to delete the last forty seven notes you input before you get to the mistake, and then lay them all back in again. It can get a bit tedious keying in a long tune, and if you're re-keying an old tune which you've just deleted by editing, the aggravation factor increases dramatically.\r\n\r\nMusically the program is a bit limiting, in that there are only ten playback speeds to choose from, and it seemed impossible to tie notes together so that they can be sustained over a bar for instance. The program accepts up to 200 notes or events and allows tunes to be stored on cassette and printed out. In the main, a worthy piece of programming which scores plus points for printing a couple of tunes on the inlay for the user to try out.\r\n\r\nFINAL VERDICT\r\n\r\nGraphics: 6/10 A bit chunky, and the screen display is rather cluttered\r\nMusicality: 6/10 The pitch range is slightly limited, as is the range of beats per minute on offer, but quite accurate overall\r\nUserfriendliness: 5/10 Only half way there!\r\nEducational Value: 4/10 The inlay card reads like it was written as an afterthought, in a bit of a rush and could confuse as easily as enlighten.\r\n\r\nSPECTUNE\r\n\r\nXORsoft\r\n[redacted]\r\n£9.95\r\n\r\nBoth the demo section and the learning mode are well put together, and despite some misapprehensions about the graphics, the whole package is well ordered and comprehensive. The demo and keyboard/stave familiarisation games provide the user with a simple but good background to what he or she is about to do - and the range of options, including the facility to store a total of 2,500 events and up to 26 different tunes at any one time is truly impressive.\r\n\r\nThe editor is a true music processor, which allows you to edit tunes by scrolling to the left and right. Short sections of music can be written and then merged together to compile one long tune, and while the editor can be a bit difficult to get to grips with, it's well worth the effort, being very accurate and comprehensive.\r\n\r\nThe inlay instructions are straightforward and well set out, and given the sheer volume of facilities on offer, are bound to be complicated.\r\n\r\nOverall, the biggest plus has to be the facility that allows you to use the Spectrum keyboard to emulate a two and a half octave keyboard. In the practice mode, you can play music merrily, and once the piece is perfect you can play it into memory in real time. Given that a tune memorised from the keyboard can then be edited or printed out, the program could be very useful as a real-time music printer/sequencer, not least for the untrained musician who can't score out his tunes played by ear.\r\n\r\nThis program was very accurate musically and while it would benefit from a keyboard overlay and a little graphical tidying up, it's well worth the effort required to get to know the complicated editing routines. Spectune would appeal to both the total musical novice and the competent musician equally - it's just a pity that the Spectrum isn't polyphonic!\r\n\r\nFINAL VERDICT\r\n\r\nGraphics: 8/10 Room for some improvement, a little clumsy at times\r\nUserfriendliness: 7/10 Complicated at times, but worth getting to know\r\nMusicality: 9/10\r\nEducational Value: 8/10\r\n\r\nMUSIC TYPEWRITER\r\n\r\nRomantic Robot\r\n[redacted]\r\n£9.95\r\n\r\nMusic Typewriter is a very impressive and well thought out package which assumes a level of musical knowledge before you start - and the booklet that comes with the program points out that no attempt is made to explain musical theory in the manual or in the program.\r\n\r\nThe graphical representation of notes and staves is quite brilliant, putting to shame the displays generated not only by the other Spectrum programs we've taken a look at but bettering the offerings of most expensive professional music systems. A joy to look at indeed.\r\n\r\nMusically it is the most accurate of the Spectrum software allowing the use of bass and treble clefs and it's the only program to allow staccato and legato phrasing - music can be written exactly how a musician would write it out to be played expressively.\r\n\r\nMusic Typewriter comes with a keyboard overlay which renders input both user and musician friendly. The program allows hard copy to be generated as well as providing a transposition facility, with all incidentals being adjusted automatically. Up to sixteen tunes can be stored in memory, which has a cataloguing facility and tunes may be repeated a discrete number of times or endlessly. Up to 254 bars of music may be stored at any one time.\r\n\r\nWorking from a three screen menu the program is well documented and has a well ordered editing and cataloguing facility. Interestingly, Romantic Robot can supply a version of the software to drive a sound generation chip or even a MIDI interface (More about them next issue). Sadly there isn't a real time sequencing facility as offered by Spectune, and a little niggle is caused by the continental notation used for the note 'B' which appears as 'H', which might just confuse a few people.\r\n\r\nOverall a very respectable program, visually attractive which is simple to use and is bound to appeal to any musician. For a musical illiterate background reading would be vital - as the manual suggests - and the software would provide a useful visual illustration of the theoretical concepts.\r\n\r\nFINAL VERDICT\r\n\r\nGraphks: 10/10 Eat your heart out Fairlight\r\nMusicality: 9/10 Incorporates expression\r\nUserfriendliness: 9/10 (but see educational value)\r\nEducational Value: 2/10 not for the complete beginner; it is not intended as an educational program.\r\n\r\nPLAY, TYPE AND TRANSPOSE\r\n\r\nHilton Computer Services\r\n[redacted]\r\n£9.00\r\n\r\nThis program is in a different league to all the others reviewed in this column. It is not a LOAD AND RUN FUN program, but a musical utility which has limited graphical presentation, lengthy and complicated documentation and is designed to be used by someone who has a fair knowledge of both music and programming.\r\n\r\nNotes are written to the 'play' program using BEEP statements, but putting in abbreviations for the standard names of musical notes rather than timings. A fair bit of pen and paper work is required before you start composing, and in many respects the program is a half way house for programmers who can't be bothered to work out the BEEP section of their Spectrum Manual.\r\n\r\nThe type and transpose program allows you to type notes onto bass and treble staves and then transpose from one page to another. The music typewriter controls are more complicated than the average Chinese typewriter and the end result is less than graphically stunning although the transposition facility could be useful enough to a non-musician to justify the effort of getting there!\r\n\r\nAll in all a very complicated package, with a large explanatory manual which is less than straightforward. It could be worth the mental anguish necessary to get to grips with the programs but there's very little offered in the way of musical explanation and there's no way someone could work out how to input a piece of music without prior musical knowledge. The program is in a fairly primitive state, and has obviously been written by a dedicated hobbyist, well wrapped up the subject material. An oddity which could be easy to dismiss out of hand; it's hard to work out quite who this package would appeal to. When it was first written several years ago it would have been 'state of the art', but the art has advanced by leaps since, and left it far behind.\r\n\r\nFINAL VERDICT\r\n\r\nGraphics: 1/10\r\nMusicality: 1/10\r\nUserfriendliness: 0/10\r\nEducational Value: 1/10\r\n\r\nAll in it's fairly clear that you get what you pay for in the music software market - with a possible exception in the case of Play, Type and Transpose, where it's not clear as to what you are actually getting until long after you've got it, by which time it might be too late.\r\n\r\nIf a CRASH Smash was being handed out here it would have to be shared by Music Typewriter and Spectune. Super graphics give Romantic Robot's product the edge while the real time sequencing facility pushes Xorsoft's program to the fore. The non-musician, hoping to learn something about music theory and have fun playing tunes on the Spectrum could be guided by price but would do well to go for either Musicmaster or Spectune. The more affluent muso, keen to produce good looking print-out of real time sequenced works would want to splash out on Spectune to do the work and Music Typewriter to do the display. Masochists will love Play, Type and Transpose.\r\n\r\nEDUCATIONAL INTERLUDE\r\n\r\nWhy should Rosetta McLeod have all the fun? Three music education packages came our way during the course of the research for the feature, and so Jon Bates loaded them into a Spectrum and reviewed them with the assistance of his musically illiterate mate, Graeme, aged 28 and tone deaf!\r\n\r\nLEARNING TO READ MUSIC\r\nRose Software\r\n[redacted]\r\n£5.95\r\n\r\nSomehow, the four games contained in this package, which are all quite easy, basic and short, while being musically sound and logical don't quite carry through. The games are not appealing in their own right and probably wouldn't stimulate a real interest in music from a casual look. I got the impression that they have been designed somewhere between education-for-it's-own-sake and games, and have fallen towards simplistic education at the expense of entertainment - they don't offer much in the way of reward for the correct answer and are rather schoolmasterish in approach.\r\n\r\nTreble Clef is a straightforward note recognition game, confined to the treble clef only as its name implies, which offers a permanently available help facility and colour codes the notes (this could have been carried over to other games in the package, forming a link but wasn't). Yes, up to three people can play together, and yes they could learn to recognise notes on the treble clef - but what about the base clef?\r\n\r\nScale position again uses the treble clef only, and was specifically designed to help Grade 5 theory and as such would no doubt assist - but surely a sharp or flat default would have helped. A bit technical this one - obviously not much relevance to the novice. My assistant hadn't got a clue.\r\n\r\nNote Values requires the user to enter notes or rests onto the stave displayed on the screen which build up into a sequence. A random time signature is chosen by the computer and the player will become familiar with the names of notes and their values. Unfortunately the whole stave moves to the left as the game progresses, and the novice could lose his or her position in the bar being assembled.\r\n\r\nKeyboard is the final program in the package, and is intended to teach the beginner the relationship between notes on the keyboard and notes on the stave. The player uses the cursor keys to find the notes displayed on a keyboard at the base of the screen, and gets three attempts before being given the correct answer.\r\n\r\nWithout getting too technical, the logic is a bit out of order, in that flats and sharps on consecutive white notes on the keyboard could lead to severe confusion given the way the program presents them. A bit worthless for the beginner really.\r\n\r\nThe four programs in this package, taken separately don't follow through under the title of 'Read Music'. If they had been linked together better, had been a lot more informative and most importantly more fun, the package could have been a good one.\r\n\r\nFINAL VERDICT\r\n\r\nGraphics: 2/10 Uninspiring, not much fun and it looked like some routines were transferred from one program to another rather inappropriately.\r\nMusicality: 5/10 Half way there\r\nUserfriendliness: 4/10 'the player can get help and a score is given at the end', and that's yer lot\r\nEducational Value: 5/10 tries to cope with too wide a range of abilities in one package perhaps.\r\n\r\nFIREWORK MUSIC & WATER MUSIC\r\n[redacted]\r\n£6.95\r\n\r\nMusically the four games in the two packages from Software Cottage are accurate and have been designed with children in mind, but proved to be appealing to my not too young assistant.\r\n\r\nFirework Music is a charming little note naming game, in which you have to protect your box of fireworks against a descending spark by naming a note displayed on the screen's stave. A correct answer wins an extra firework, and the player is treated to a firework display after ten correct answers have been given.\r\n\r\nWater Music gives training in identifying sharps and flats, again displayed on either the Bass of Treble Clef. The player is encouraged to develop a familiarity with accidentals, playing against time as with Firework Music, only this time trying to raise a bucket in a well. The bucket slowly falls to the bottom of the screen as time passes, jumping up each time a correct response is given.\r\n\r\nBoth games have an optional 'lesson' at the start (without which my assistant couldn't have attempted them) and are designed for children in the 7-12 age range. All in, the help facilities are quite good and the graphical presentation was quite cheerful.\r\n\r\nJUMPY SNAKE BLUES & HONY TONK\r\nSoftware Cottage\r\n£6.95\r\n\r\nJumpy Snake Blues is a musical game of snakes and ladders which helps to train the players ear to recognise musical intervals. Again, a demonstration program heads up the game, and the player can play against the computer (which gets the answer right every time, allowing for practice between turns) or against a friend which introduces an element of competition. The computer plays two notes and the player(s) have to recognise the interval - the correct answer moves the player's counter on the snakes and ladders board forward by the interval just identified. The winner is the player who gets to the top of the board first.\r\n\r\nHonky Tonk is a note matching game which helps develop the players sense of pitch. A grand piano, perfectly in tune acts as a reference while the player tries to tune a honky tonk piano by moving the pitch of its notes up or down in small or large steps.\r\n\r\nEach time the player refers to the grand piano for the correct note, ten points are knocked off the score so far, which starts at 1000. There are 4 levels to the game. At the lowest, where the honky tonk tunes up in quarter and semitones, even my assistant seemed to be able to cope passably well.At level four, where the steps are sixteenth and thirty-seconds of a tone, a very sharp sense of pitch is needed to achieve a high score.\r\n\r\nWhen the player believes the honky tonk piano is in tune, the games ends and it plays a rag-time tune - going out of tune painfully if the honky tonk wasn't tuned perfectly. (Even Graeme winced at this losers rendition of the tune)!\r\n\r\nOverall there is definitely a place for the games in the classroom. They're easy to use, friendly but perhaps a little repetitive on the graphics and visual strings offered up as rewards. Jumpy Snake Blues and Honky Tonk are aimed at anyone from 7 up who wants practice at training their ear and would be particularly useful to someone learning an instrument. Jumpy Snake would certainly help with Grade 5 or CSE Musical exams.\r\n\r\nFirework and Water Music could easily have been tied in with a Handel tune to add that extra bit of gloss - I wonder why Software Cottage didn't take this step. They're an interesting way to teach the basics of music, and I liked the way they coped with leger lines on both the Bass and Treble Clefs.\r\n\r\nThe four games assume no musical knowledge at all and are quite fun to play as well as being instructional - though making a musician out of Graeme is probably beyond anyone's capabilities!\r\n\r\nFINAL VERDICT\r\n\r\nGraphics: 6/10 Cheerful, but a trifle repetitive methinks\r\nMusicality: 8/10\r\nUserfriendliness: 9/10\r\nEducational Value: 7/10","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"","Page":"55","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Jon Bates","Score":"","ScoreSuffix":""},{"Name":"Graeme Kidd","Score":"","ScoreSuffix":""}],"ScreenshotText":[],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Graphics","Score":"7/10","Text":"Good, if a little on the tiny side."},{"Header":"Userfriendliness","Score":"8/10","Text":""},{"Header":"Musicality","Score":"7/10","Text":"Slightly limited on the pitch range and lacks the ability to put expression in music."},{"Header":"Educational Value","Score":"7/10","Text":"Help facility and manual would give a total novice a reasonable start into keyboard music."}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"C&VG (Computer & Video Games) Issue 30, Apr 1984","Price":"£0.85","ReleaseDate":"1984-03-16","Editor":"Tim Metcalfe","TotalPages":180,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"Editor: Tim Metcalfe\r\nAssistant Editor: Eugene Lacey\r\nEditorial Assistant: Clare Edgeley\r\nReader Services: Robert Schifreen\r\nArt Editor: Linda Freeman\r\nDesigner: Lynda Skerry\r\nSub Editor: Mary Morton\r\nStaff Writer: Seamus St. John\r\nAdvertisement Manager: Rob Cameron\r\nAssistant Advertisement Manager: Louise Matthews\r\nAdvertising Executives: Bernard Dugdale, Sean Brennan\r\nAdvertisement Assistant: Melanie Paulo\r\nProduction Assistant: Roy Stephens\r\nPublisher: Tom Moloney\r\nAssistant Publisher: Rita Lewis\r\n\r\nEditorial and Advertisement Offices: [redacted]\r\n\r\nCOMPUTER AND VIDEO GAMES POSTAL SUBSCRIPTION SERVICE. By using the special Postal Subscription Service, copies of COMPUTER AND VIDEO GAMES can be mailed direct from our offices each month to any address throughout the world. All subscription applications should be sent for processing to COMPUTER AND VIDEO GAMES (Subscription Department), [redacted]. All orders should include the appropriate remittance made payable to COMPUTER AND VIDEO GAMES. Annual subscription rates (12 issues): UK and Eire: £14. Additional service information including individual overseas airmail rates available upon request. Circulation Department: EMAP National Publications. Published and distributed by EMAP National Publications Ltd. Printed by Eden Fisher (Southend) Ltd.\r\n\r\nCover Illustration: Mickey Finn\r\nNext Issue: April 16th"},"MainText":"NOW GET IN THE RIGHT MUSIC MODE\r\n\r\nBudding Mike Oldfields who'd rather stick with official Sinclair software can now try Musicmaster. Written by a company called Incognito software, it allows you to play and record tunes on the Spectrum.\r\n\r\nWhen it's loading, the five music lines appear on the screen and the treble clef is printed at the start. The notes are crotchets, of which there are four to a bar,.Once loaded there are two possible modes you can enter - keyboard or stave mode.\r\n\r\nStave mode allows you to enter notes on the stave in two octaves (a total of 17 notes), by pressing the appropriate letter on the keyboard - lower case for the lower octave, and upper for upper.\r\n\r\nKeyboard mode lets you use the top two rows of the keyboard as a musical instrument to play in real time. An overlay is supplied for using the program in keyboard mode. There are 10 white notes and seven black ones.\r\n\r\nWhatever mode you are in, i.e, however you have chosen to enter the notes, you have the option of getting information on the characteristics of the music including pitch, duration, key signature and the like. As with the other Spectrum programs of this sort, length of notes is controlled by having a variable duration.\r\n\r\nTo create a tune you must give the program the required key signature. All notes will then be readjusted. Various keys are used to insert either a rest or a note, to delete a note, to print the stave to ZX printer etc.\r\n\r\nYou also have the option to play the tune at a chosen speed. If it's not quite perfect, then you can edit it, tabbing through the tune changing certain notes as you listen.\r\n\r\nOnce perfected, you can record the data onto cassette to impress you musical friends with at a later date. The maximum length for a tune is one thousand notes.\r\n\r\nOverall, this program is quite easy to use, and certainly gives more guidance and information than any of the others. It's impossible to create any wonderful effects, though, owing entirely to the Spectrum's hardware.\r\n\r\nMusicmaster cost £9.95 and should be available in your local computer shop.","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"","Page":"142","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[],"ScreenshotText":[],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Performance","Score":"4/5","Text":""},{"Header":"User Friendliness","Score":"3/5","Text":""},{"Header":"Presentation","Score":"3/5","Text":""},{"Header":"Complexity","Score":"3/5","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"Big K Issue 3, Jun 1984","Price":"£0.85","ReleaseDate":"1984-05-20","Editor":"Tony Tyler","TotalPages":100,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"Editor: Tony Tyler\r\nAssisted By: Richard Burton\r\nContributors: Paul Walton (Features); Paul Rambali (Arcades); Andy Green (Technical); Nicky Xikluna; Steve Keaton; David Rimmer; Richard Taylor; Bernard Turner; David Ellis; David Eastbury; Tony Benyon\r\nArt/Design: Central Art Studio\r\nGroup Art Editor: Doug Church\r\nGroup Advert Controller: Luis Bartlett\r\nPublishing Director: John Purdie\r\nEditorial Address: [redacted]\r\nTelephone: [redacted]\r\nAdvertising: Robin Johnson [redacted]\r\nFront Cover: Global Handshake by Ron Embleton\r\n\r\nPublished approximately on the 20th of each month by IPC Magazines Ltd. [redacted]. Monotone and colour origination by G.M. Litho Ltd [redacted]. Printed in England by Chase Web Offset, Cornwall. Sole Agents: Australia and New Zealand, Gordon& Gotch (A/sia) Ltd.; South Africa, Central News Agency Ltd. BIG K is sold subject to the following conditions, namely that it shall not, without the written consent of the Publishers first given, be lent, resold, hired out or otherwise disposed of by way of trade at more than the recommended selling price shown on the cover, and that it shall not be lent, resold or hired out or otherwise disposed of in a mutilated constitute or any unauthorised cover by way of trade or affixed to as part of any publication or advertising, literary or pictorial matter whatsoever. IPC MAGAZINES 1984."},"MainText":"KINDLY PAY ATTENTION CLASS!\r\n\r\nPROG: MusicMaster\r\nMAKER: Sinclair/Incognito Software Ltd\r\nMACHINE: Spectrum 48K\r\nFORMAT: cassette\r\nPRICE: £9.95\r\n\r\nA much simpler program: the rudiments of music theory are explained onscreen in either a stave or keyboard mode using step-by-step instructions on pitch, time etc. Tunes are then constructed, played and amendid or stored as one wishes. There are no special FX to the program and the maximum length for a tune is 1000 notes.\r\n\r\n\"It's all there on the screen - you don't need to keep looking at the manual, which is good. Shame it's for a machine where the sound is so poor. I like it a lot - it's very good refresher stuff on all the things you forgot at school! it tells you what you need to know about notes or whatever and the way it teaches you about each part of putting music together is very clear. You can go straight to any part of the process so it's very user-friendly. Presentation is excellent and the display is very clear.\"","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"","Page":"67","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Pete Shelley","Score":"","ScoreSuffix":""}],"ScreenshotText":[],"BlurbText":[{"Text":"THE SHELLEY CHART\r\n\r\n1. System Software's Music Editor\r\n2. Spectrum Software's Musicmaster\r\n3. Bug-Byte's BBC Music Synthesizer\r\n4. Quicksilva's BBC Music Processor\r\n5. Quicksilva's Ultisynth\r\n\r\nSpecial Mention (Light Relief Department)\r\nK-Tel's It's Only Rock 'n Roll"}],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":null,"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"ZX Computing Issue 19, Jun 1985","Price":"£1.95","ReleaseDate":"1985-05-30","Editor":"Ray Elder","TotalPages":132,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"Editor: Ray Elder\r\nEditorial Assistant: Cliff Joseph\r\nGroup Editor: Wendy J Palmer\r\nSales Executive: Jonathan McGary\r\nAdvertisement Manager: Barry Bingham\r\nDivisional Advertising Manager: Chris Northam\r\nCopy Controller: Sue Couchman\r\nPublishing Director: Peter Welham\r\nChief Executive: T J Connell\r\n\r\nOrigination and design by MM Design & Print, [redacted]\r\nPublished by Argus Specialist Publications Ltd, [redacted]\r\n\r\nZX Computing is published bi-monthly on the fourth Friday of the month. Distributed by: Argus Press Sales & Distribution Ltd. [redacted]. Printed by: Garnett Print, Rotherham and London.\r\n\r\nThe contents of this publication including all articles, designs, plans, drawings and programs and all copyright and other intellectual property rights therein belong to Argus Specialist Publications Limited. All rights conferred by the Law of Copyright and other intellectual property rights and by virtue of international copyright conventions are specifically reserved to Argus Specialist Publications Limited and any reproduction requires the prior written consent of Argus Specialist Publications Ltd.\r\n\r\n©Argus Specialist Publications Limited 1985"},"MainText":"£7.95\r\nSinclair Research\r\n\r\nA good program though rather expensive. S/Time and R/Time entry and good playback and printout options. Instructions somewhat sparse.","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"","Page":"49","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[],"ScreenshotText":[],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":null,"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"ZX Computing Issue 27, Jul 1986","Price":"£1.5","ReleaseDate":"1986-06-26","Editor":"Bryan Ralph","TotalPages":100,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"Editor: Bryan Ralph\r\nAssistant Editor: Cliff Joseph\r\nConsultant Editor: Ray Elder\r\nAdvertising Managers: Peter Chandler and John McGarry\r\nDesign: Argus Design\r\nA.S.P. Advertising and Editorial [redacted]\r\n\r\nPrinted by Alabaster Passmore and Sons Ltd. [redacted]\r\n\r\nAdvertisement Copy Controller: Lynn Collis\r\n\r\nDistributed by: Argus Press Sales and Distribution Ltd, [redacted]\r\n\r\nZX Computing Monthly is published on the fourth Friday of each month. Subscription rates can be obtained from ZX Subscriptions, [redacted]\r\n\r\nThe contents of this publication, including all articles, designs plans, drawings and other intellectual property rights herein belong to Argus Specialist Publications Limited. All rights conferred by the law of Copyright and other intellectual property rights and by virtue of international copyright conventions are specifically reserved to Argus Specialist Publications Limited and any reproduction requires the prior written consent of the company.\r\n\r\nArgus Specialist Publications Limited. ©1986"},"MainText":"MUSIC MASTER\r\nSinclair\r\n£9.95\r\n\r\nWritten by Incognito Software this is a good all round package. I have been using it on and off for the last year or so and it did not take long to master.\r\n\r\nAt first I found the accompanying booklet, all four and a half pages, leaves a lot to be desired in the field of clarity. You are also assumed to know at least the rudiments of musical notation.\r\n\r\nThere are two modes of operation, keyboard or stave and these dictate the method of note entry.\r\n\r\nThe keyboard provides notes from middle C up ten tones to E and a keyboard overlay is provided, which is only of any real use on an early rubber key model Spectrum. Notes are played by pressing computer keys which represent a piano keyboard. In stave mode notes are entered by pressing a-g and A-G giving two octaves playing range.\r\n\r\nOne aspect which takes a little getting used to is that any incidental sharps and flats, and indeed the note lengths themselves must be selected before the note pitch is entered. However a 'delete last note' option is supplied.\r\n\r\nThe program is filled with prompts and I found it reasonably easy to get to grips with it, but the note lengths are displayed by their names and it is confusing unless you are familiar with such terminology.\r\n\r\nSave, load and, of course, play options are included. Most important is the Amend option and this makes life less stressful if creating your own masterpieces.\r\n\r\nThe Spectrum cannot put any expression into its music and all songs tend to sound a little monotonous, however playback is fast enough and smooth enough to be satisfying to listen to.\r\n\r\nIn itself this is a great program for those who have a little experience and want a program to experiment and play with. A pity that there is no option to save songs and include them in your own programs/games.","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"","Page":"22","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[],"ScreenshotText":[],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":null,"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"ZX Computing Issue 17, Feb 1985","Price":"£1.95","ReleaseDate":"1985-01-31","Editor":"Ray Elder","TotalPages":132,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"Editor: Ray Elder\r\nEditorial Assistant: Jamie Clary\r\nGroup Editor: Wendy J Palmer\r\nSales Executive: Jonathan McGary\r\nAdvertisement Manager: Barry Bingham\r\nDivisional Advertising Manager: Chris Northam\r\nCopy Controller: Sue Couchman\r\nChief Executive: T J Connell\r\n\r\nOrigination and design by MM Design & Print, [redacted]\r\nPublished by Argus Specialist Publications Ltd, [redacted]\r\n\r\nZX Computing is published bi-monthly on the fourth Friday of the month. Distributed by: Argus Press Sales & Distribution Ltd. [redacted]. Printed by: Garnett Print, Rotherham and London.\r\n\r\nThe contents of this publication including all articles, designs, plans, drawings and programs and all copyright and other intellectual property rights therein belong to Argus Specialist Publications Limited. All rights conferred by the Law of Copyright and other intellectual property rights and by virtue of international copyright conventions are specifically reserved to Argus Specialist Publications Limited and any reproduction requires the prior written consent of Argus Specialist Publications Ltd.\r\n\r\n©Argus Specialist Publications Limited 1984"},"MainText":"MUSIC MICRO PLEASE!\r\n\r\nAn outline of some of the more harmonious programs and devices recently produced. Ray Elder takes up the Baton and conducts the investigation.\r\n\r\nFor the professional/dedicated/expert musician there is the Midi interface and synthesiser system, but for many others, including yours truly, the cost of such equipment is beyond the realms of an overdraft.\r\n\r\nFor us interested but impoverished would be musicians there are a few more affordable, though much less versatile, alternatives.\r\n\r\nFORTE!\r\n\r\nAn essential first step is to do something about the BEEP, there are several ways around this, you can simply amplify the thing or, if you want to get the most from the computer, then you will need to purchase a unit which incorporates a sound chip. Most of these units use a version of the AY-3-8910/8912 chip and this is a well tested and reliable chip which can produce some impressive sounds.\r\n\r\nSimple amplification of the BEEP can be achieved in several ways and is the least expensive of the two options. Beep amps either have a built in speaker or send the sound to the TV and some such units are:\r\n\r\nTHE CHEETAH BEEP AMP, this puts the sound through the TV and is in the same size box as their other units, complete with a full through port for other peripherals. Cost £9.95.\r\n\r\nCURRAH MICRO SPEECH unit. This is primarily a speech unit but it also routes the Spectrum Beep through the TV and is worth considering if you want to investigate the world of speech as well. Cost £29.95.\r\n\r\nDK'TRONICS BEEP AUDIO AMP. This is a self contained unit in two parts, the amplifier interface and a separate 1\" pod mounted loudspeaker. The interface has a full through port and, although lipped, fits both versions of the Spectrum securely. Cost £14.95.\r\n\r\nTHE TRICHORD, a full sound box including AY chip, amp and speaker and software for both ZX81 and Spectrum, available from Newtech Developments Ltd. Cost ranges from £24.95 to £26.95 depending on model and internal amp fitted or not.\r\n\r\nWILLIAM STUART SYSTEMS sound generator unit, designed to go with their speech recognition and synthesiser units but can be used on its own (if plugged into a stereo system it sounds superb). Software is available separately and is excellent, the ARP program kept me fascinated for hours.\r\n\r\nFULLER (reinstated by Nordic) have a sound unit and a master unit which includes speech, we have not tried one out yet, but the new look packaging is nice.\r\n\r\nAnd finally DK'TRONICS again, identical to their beep amp in size and shape is a full Sound Synthesiser. This is based on the AY chip and is supplied with a demo tape. Cost £29.95.\r\n\r\nTHE DK'TRONICS 3 CHANNEL SOUND UNIT\r\n\r\nI will give a detailed account of this unit as it is one of the few still left in my possession, most of the others had to be returned after each specific review, and anyway its one of the latest on the market, and most are similar in operation.\r\n\r\nThis is supplied with an eight page booklet which gives setting up details, the volume is adjustable by a small screwdriver through a little hole in the top of the unit, full volume is loud enough for most purposes!\r\n\r\nSome demo programs are given which explain the basics of programming the beast, these are in BASIC but a machine code programmer can glean enough information to enable him/her to incorporate routines in their programs.\r\n\r\nMost of the manual is dedicated to operating instructions for the program supplied, these are brief and there are gaps which left me confused - the use of the Envelope generator for instance. The software itself is good and allows you to create tunes in 3 part harmony and is cursor controlled, this means that it can be operated by a joystick. However I found it a little tedious to use and the editing is almost non-existent, an error early on means re-entry of the rest of the line.\r\n\r\nDuring playback the three lines of music are shown as a letter/number representing note and octave. Without prior musical knowledge you may find it hard to get anything of worth from it.\r\n\r\nThe sound quality itself is very good, the speaker handles the output with minimal distortion and many a long hour was happily spent with this program.\r\n\r\nA unit which is nicely made, looks and sounds good and is well worth considering.\r\n\r\nIt also works well with other peripherals, the Technology Research Disk drive unit functioned without problems and it was easy to convert the software supplied to disk. The ZXLprint III Centronics unit also sat at the back quite happily, and of course DK's own units, joystick interface etc. proved compatible.\r\n\r\nMAKE MUSIC\r\n\r\nis a program produced by the Buffer micro shop which works in conjunction with any Spectrum sound unit using the AY-3-8912 chip and attempts to emulate a three track recorder, similar to the BBC Music Processor program. It is quite successful although rather awkward to operate, the screen display is not as informative as the BBC, and envelope control is non existent. Good, but not as versatile as it could have been, and as far as I know, the only one of its type for the Spectrum.\r\n\r\nXOR from a company called Xorsoft and described by reviewer Clive Smith as \"one of the better ones\" and Music Maker from Malan are two programs which help you compose simple tunes with the inbuilt Beep.\r\n\r\nMusic Maker from Bellflower is an early attempt which didn't quite come up to scratch, editing and printer copies are virtually non-existent and there are irritating pauses when a new line is needed.\r\n\r\nSinclair's own offering is Musicmaster. When it came out I said that it probably pushed this aspect of Spectrum computing to the limit and it remains a top program in this field. This has two modes of entry, note names and keyboard simulated, editing is good, replay is fast and a stave printout is provided.\r\n\r\nAND FINALLY...\r\n\r\nfrom a small company (you may like to play \"spot the advert\" for their products) comes my favourite program so far!\r\n\r\nMUSIC TYPEWRITER from Romantic Robot, [redacted] is a very professional piece of programming, easy to use, excellent screen presentation, error trapping and helpful prompts. Fast replay, versatile editing, stave and note printouts, transposing to other keys, six octaves, treble and bass clefs, 23-255MM (metronome scale), menu driven and up to 16 pieces of music held in memory at one time.\r\n\r\nEven without an amp it sounds good.\r\n\r\nDo you get the impression I'm impressed?\r\n\r\nA keyboard overlay is provided and versions of the program are available for use with a sound generator chip and even with the Midi interface if you so require.\r\n\r\nIf you are interested in music and own a computer then get it. Cost £9.95.\r\n\r\nFor those of you who enjoy DIY then watch out for our Beep amp hardware project and some musical programs soon to be published in ZX Computing.","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"","Page":"115","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Ray Elder","Score":"","ScoreSuffix":""}],"ScreenshotText":[],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":null,"CompilationReviewScores":[]}]}]