SOFTWARE REVIEWS
Reviewed by David Brooks
Dr. T's C128 Keyboard Controlled Sequencer
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the editing functions that are still imple mented in BASIC. The KCS is not a flashy program — it would be an under statement to note that Dr. T's software has never relied on fancy graphics — and no attempt has been made to jazz up the visual display with the 128's enhanced BASIC graphics commands. The various program screens are limited to straight forward presentation of relevant informa tion. As a result, this program may seem austere, a bit unfriendly, or even amateur ish at first, especially if you are used to the highly developed graphics of computer games.
Dr. T's KCS tends to approach editing in mathematical rather than musical terms. Consider the "autoquantizing" function that is common to MIDI sequenc ers; this allows you to play and record a 38
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Computer: Commodore 128 (with MIDI Interface) Publisher: Dr. T's Music Software 220 Boylston Street, Suite 306 Chestnut Hill, MA 02167 (617)-244-6954 Price: $225.00 Every now and then a product comes along that stands out so clearly above its competition that it defines its own class. I believe Dr. T's C128 Keyboard Controlled Sequencer (KCS) for MIDIcompatible electronic musical instru ments is such a product. A MIDI sequenc er, when used with an appropriate hard ware interface, allows you to record, play, and edit music from your computer. (Bear in mind that such programs do not use the Commodore SED chip, but require exter nal sound-producing hardware. I Although Dr. T's Music Software may not be a household word, their KCS has been around for a few years. The first ver sion for the 64 was interesting in its con cept but had a few serious rough edges. The newly released C128 KCS is an en larged and greatly enhanced version of the C64 KCS. It operates in the 80column mode, where it takes advantage of the FAST command to speed up some of
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If you are an open-minded musician with ideas that go farther than your technique, think you will find this program logical and easy to use. series of notes and then correct the rhythms you've played. Thus, you can cre ate rhythmically perfect sequences even if your keyboard technique is less than per fect. Many programs express this function in terms of musical divisions, as "Correct the pail to the nearest sixteenth note." Dr. T's KCS implements autoquantizing in terms of the MIDI clock, which ticks at the nominal rate of 24 times per quarter note. So, to correct a part to the nearest sixteenth note, you tell the program to correct it to the nearest six ticks of the MIDI clock. This may seem awkward at first, but it is just one example of the com plete flexibility of the KCS. The KCS performs all the expected real-time record and playback functions, including the chaining of sequences and the ability to listen to previously recorded parts while adding additional pails (overdubbing, in musical termsJ However, the real superiority of the KCS lies in its pow erful editing functions. Most programs still force you to access MIDI events as though you were working with a fancy tape recorder. You can "fast forward" or re wind to a particular note in a particular measure, or you can record new pails "on the fly" with a "punch in/punch out" func tion. With this approach you may remain
price to be paid: you are kept one level away from the actual contents of the MIDI information sent through the interface. Dr. T's KCS treats MIDI events as a data file that you can access and manipu late with complete control. For example, you can change the length of every indi vidual note in a sequence by specifying the number of MIDI clock units between the note-on and note-off event. (Musically speaking, you are making the notes more or less staccato without changing their rhythmic values.) Space doesn't permit a listing of all the editing possibilities, but the KCS editor works essentially like a good won! processor: you can create, add, delete, move, merge, copy, append, re place, and modify MIDI events just like a word pressing program operates on words. You can even embed special MIDI commands just as you embed formatting and printer commands in text files. Many MIDI sequencers will work with only one hardware interface, but the KCS supports both Sequential (now being mar keted as the Model-T interface by Dr. T's Music Software! and the widely available Passport interfaces. You can obtain MIDI clock signals to drive your system from a computer-generated clock under control of the KCS, externally from a MIDI clock (with either a Sequential, Model-T, or Passort interface), or externally from a
pulse clock (with a Sequential or Model-T interface.) As a spur to creativity in the applica tion of MIDI technology, Dr. T has devel oped what he calls algorithmic editing. As far as I am aware, no other program has even attempted to give musicians access to this kind of user-controlled editing. With the algorithmic editing options you can apply a wide variety of editing func tions to selected portions of your MIDI files. For example, you can edit particular notes in the scale or notes of a certain length, or you can operate on randomly selected MIDI events. Viewed as a whole, the algorithmic edit ing options have a slightly mathematical flavor. Some of them have immediately obvious applications in conventional mu sic, while others do not (at least to me). I will probably never use some of them even though I find their concepts intriguing. The point is that the options are there if you want to try them, they're not in the
way if you don't, and you won't find them Continued on pg. 127