MIDI & Deluxe Music 2

[peroxidechicken]

A friend of mine has an A4000 running OS3.9 upon which he uses Deluxe Music 2.  However, the MIDI features of this program seem to be quite unreliable.  He has v37.14 of the camd.library and he is using the Amiga serial port.  More often than not, notes from part of the music aren't played when he plays a song through his MIDI keyboard.  He also mentioned that Deluxe Music did a very bad job of saving a composition in MIDI format.  There was no specific version number for Deluxe Music other than a release date - 6.26.93   Is there a later version?  He also has an A2232 card but no MIDI drivers for it.  Any help will be appreciated.  

[Hammer]

A friend of mine has an A4000 running OS3.9

What processor (e.g. 68030, 68040, 68060)?
(Reason: The ability to capture i/o streams issues)...
 

upon which he uses Deluxe Music 2.

Nice to see another “Deluxe Music 2” user...

However, the MIDI features of this program seem to be quite unreliable.

Tried with Bars&Pipes?

 He also mentioned that Deluxe Music did a very bad job of saving a composition in MIDI format.
 

"Baricades Misterieuses" converted to .midi seems to be OK on my Yamaha XG50/CL Audigy 2/Sound Storm. But "Deluxe Music 2" may have issues with complicated midi imports and exports (e.g. Titanic.mid theme song)…

Deluxe Music 2 is more of a Desktop Publishing Music application than dedicated midi sequencer(this point was mentioned in the manual- see page 106).

"Even though Deluxe Music can accept music input from fairly quickly, it still not as fast as dedicated sequencer software. (read the rest)". "Deluxe Music is still an essential tool for editing, documenting, and printing your music in standard format".
 
There’re some limitations with Deluxe Music 2 . For example
1. Page 45, "double sharps and flats are not supported"
2. Page 46, "limit on ties; using the to tie notes in chords won’t always produce the desired playback result. The music will look right for printing purposes, but the second note in the tie may be re-attacked during play back".
3. Page 103, "The MIDI events that Deluxe Music receives in omini mode are note on and note off only". (should I continue?).
 
Reading page 103 may help to stem some the issues with Deluxe Music 2 and synthesizers...

Your friend is using Deluxe Music 2 beyond its design goals. Deluxe Music 2 is designed to work with dedicated sequencer software such as Music-X(page 106).  

[greenboy]

Hammer : Your friend is using Deluxe Music 2 beyond its design goals. Deluxe Music 2 is designed to work with dedicated sequencer software such as Music-X(page 106)

One might even argue that Deluxe Music was a fun toy that basically was written at a time when exploiting the Amiga's onboard sound was pretty exciting stuff. It's NEVER been as useful as any entry-level musician-oriented MIDI tools or music scoring / printing tools. People who have an interest in this field simply graduate to applications that were actually designed for that. Which has usually meant working on another platform entirely - reason evident when you see a decent sequencer like Music-X having to rely on something like Deluxe Music for notation.

Programs like Deluxe Music (regardless of version) have always been a lot of fun, colorful, educational, and useful for occasional dabblers - and that was what they were designed to be. In that regard they met their design goals admirably.

[Billsey]

In my own experience, when exporting MIDI from Deluxe Music 2, any "repeat" sections (you know |: ... :| sections) will not get repeated in the MIDI output. This bug occurs twice in Sunday Suite in the mpg on AmiNET, as it came from Deluxe Music 2 via MIDI export.

[peroxidechicken]

Thanks guys - at least it's not an isolated case.  Is there any other program for the Amiga that can do music notation?  

btw  My friends A4000 has an '040 and he uses Deluxe Music for its traditional music notation and MIDI features.  He's got Bars and Pipes but doesn't like it...

[greenboy]

You might still find Dr T's THE COPYIST around, or Dr T's TIGER w/ QUICK SCORE (if I got the name right). But any garden-variety cheap (entry level) PC or Mac scoring programs are easier to use than COPYIST - and lots of advancements have been made since these programs were current.

The Amiga just doesn't have anything all that great in this category.

[DanDude]

I agree with Greenboy.  Deluxe Music 2 was meant as an educational tool.  I had converted nearly all my tunes into midi and allowed Octamed Soundstudio to import them.  I'm still using Octamed Soundstudio today and hope that they continue the dream of building another version for OS4.  

http://dandudestuff.dyndns.org/music/

 :-)

[peroxidechicken]

Thanks again guys - I'll pass on that info.  (This friend with the cool Amiga doesn't seem to think the internet is for him - now don't be rude!   :-)  )

[Billsey]

I've been looking at a suite of software—for both Mac and PC. The company that makes Sibelius also makes a few other music products. I was particularly impressed by the tour of “Sibelius Instruments”.

[billchase]

@peroxidechicken

Playback should work pretty well.  I have DM2 myself.  You  might need to play with the MIDI
and serial preferences.  I will load my up copy
and play around and see what more specifics
you need to look for.  Imported MIDI files might
act up however.

@everyone else

As far as Deluxe Music 2 being just a toy or for
non-serious work, I have to disagree.  DM2 came
out about the time the A1200 did.  For what you
paid, this program had many of the same features
that more expensive programs for MAC and PC had.
I was a Music major in college and DM2 served
me very well.  Granted, I wouldn't use it for publishing
work (Finale is king here), but for amatuer use it is
great.  There are many times I have gone back to
using DM2 over Finale for certain tasks due to DM2's
easy interface.  Finale can be a pain sometimes, so
many damn menus!

C Snyder

[DonnyEMU]

I used this on an a4000 long ago and had no such problem thru os 3.0.. Maybe there is some issue with the actual midi interface there. DMCS 2 works great on win UAE, and it's fun to play back the midi thru the pc's own Sound card General Midi implementation, and timing is adjustable there..

Why don't you do an internet google search for a guy named "Talin" or David Joiner and email him (don't ask him for tech support) about the software I am sure he knows quite a bit about it, and Music-X, and the Fairy Tale Adventure. He might even have a web page up about  that stuff :-)

[DonnyEMU]

Dare I say this without getting slammed:

The software was written for os 3 go back to OS 3.0.  The timer.device and a few other things might be a bit more stable..