Issue 11
Contents
Features
- | Foreword
- | Pump it up!
- | The 12 Rows of Schoenberg
- | Tripping the MIDI Fandango
- | Tip of the day
- | Mailbox
- | Portfolio Story 1
- | Up for it?
- | Unconventional 2k1 Report
Reviews
- | MyMail 1.50
News
M@ilbox The MyAtari team answer some more of your mail... Hello folks! i have recently come across an atari 520st and i want to make music on it. Aside from a midi keyboard, what are the basics i would need? also, how would i go about upgrading to 1040? i am a beginner, but i am really anxious to get making tunes on my new friend. Hi Paul Glad you want to make Music on Atari. Due to the on-board MIDI ports, the timing is excellent. For basics all you need is a MIDI keyboard preferably that is multi-timbral. For beginners I like to suggest the Yamaha PSR series: cheap yet excellent sounds. However if you want to CREATE sounds (synthesis) then you need a real sythesizer. There are a lot of fancy unites out there you can spend a lot of money on. The Yamaha FM synths such as the DX7, DX7II as well as modules such as the TX81Z are down in price and would make excellent choices for a synth. You could get a combo with a PSR series for GM (General Midi) and a module for synthesis. Roland MT32's are down in price as well and with an Editor on the Atari (such as the Caged Artist series) you can create the most excellent analog sounds I have heard. However, a 520ST which has not been upgraded may present a problem with memory. A 520ST usually has only half a meg. For most MIDI applications you need at least a meg. However, there may be some of the "left hand" apps such as algorithmic generators and sound editors which may work fine. For info on upgrading go here: The Atari Quick Faq: http://pp.fishpool.fi/~q-funk/ST/ It will also answer a LOT of newbie type questions. I am not a hardware person myself, so I always refer people to this excellent FAQ. For software, all you need do is go to my site, (*see sig*) read the DOWNLOAD FAQ page and start downloading! All the best Atari-MIDI software is there including some that many have not heard before and are now coming out into the open. This is due to my contacting the original programmers/companies and they are now releasing them as freeware/shareware. More to come as well (it NEVER STOPS!). There are more programs on the Atari-Midi file sections and archives as well. Then the next best thing is to join a USER group such as the Atari-Midi mailing list. All are musicians who use Atari. You can't go wrong! Hope this helps! have Fun with your Atari and the world of MIDI! Tim Conrardy Tim's Atari Midi World: http://sites.netscape.net/timconrardy/index.htm Atari-Midi Mailing List: http://www.yahoogroups.com/group/atari-midi Dear MyAtari, I have several 520ST and 1040 ST computers as well as a Falcon 030. What do I need to get these systems connected to the internet? Joseph Burke We shall soon be looking at this subject in detail. A few years ago, an Atari enthusiast called R. Golding wrote a "Users guide to the internet for Atari" but I believe it is now out of print. For the moment, I recommend visiting the following web site, http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/rgoring/support/, for information on getting your Atari online. Roy's site contains all the software you need and instructions on how to sign up to Zetnet or Freeserve. Good luck! MyAtari magazine, How do you add icons to the newdesk desktop of TOS 2.06 and above. Brian Van Tilborg Load the DESKICON.RSC from the boot drive into a resource editor like Interface and away you go! hello all, I came around your excellent pages covering Atari material. Have you ever thought of creating a book on the history of Atari ? You could easily start by assembling some of your current material in one document. To make it as complete as possible, I would open it up to the public and welcome comments and additions. Maybe other people want to write on this topic as well? I know companies like Fatbrain (http://www.fatbrain.com) sell printed versions of texts so you could actually make a real book! I bet there are tons of material people would like to submit. You could make this book available in PDF so photos remain in excellent quality. There hasn't been a single good book on Atari, material is slowly disappearing, it should happen soon. At least all material should be assembled so maybe someone will take on the challenge one day. With so many material shattered around, the quickest and most complete project would be if it was opened up to everybody. best, Geert How about it? Anyone wish to take up the challenge? Hi guys Just wanted to say that I cane across the link to myatari.net on the Atari 8bit newsgroup tonight and have just read both issues "cover" to "cover". It's great to see such a professional site with great content dealing with a subject which has been close to my heart for many years. I really felt that the Atari scene was about dead in the UK (especially the 8 bit scene) but what I saw has changed my mind. I look forward to the 16Mb memory upgrade - you're right it's not needed but it would be a *HUGE* amount of fun !!! I'll have to dig out some of my collection and send you a few shots of it! Thanks for the mag and I hope it keeps going. Paul Great to hear from you Paul and thank you for you words of praise. Hi Matthew "MyAtari" looks great and I'm glad to see there's still a vibrant Atari community out there, even if we have become a sort of underground movement in recent years! I was very downhearted when ST Format and the other mags finally closed, but you can't keep a good machine down. I would be interested in contributing to the magazine - how about a music and sequencing column or series? I don't know what your readership would be interested in, but I'm open to suggestions! Cheers, Paul Westerman You are quite right Paul, you can't keep a good machine down ;-) I am glad to hear that you'd be interested in contributing a sequencing column to MyAtari, I look forward to receiving the first installment. If you have any suggestions for Paul or are able to contribute an article of your own, please e-mail me at matthew@myatari.net Dear Matthew, Ever since Feb 28th 2000, the date entered in documents by my Protext word processor is one day in advance of the actual date. This is in spite of the Atari Falcon system clock and date being correct. Is there any way of correcting? Alan Jackson I am afraid this sounds like a software bug. Protext must use a non-Y2K friendly method of working out the current date. Since you mention the date February 28th 2000, I can only assume that Protext did not understand that the year 2000 was not a leap year! Sorry, I don't think there is a way round this. If any of our readers can help Alan, please e-mail me at matthew@myatari.net Hi Matt, Do you know where I can get that an Atari T-shirt from? Adam Scorr Atari T-shirts can be purchased from several web sites including: www.atari-users.net www.dhs.nu http://homepage.tinet.ie/~morrikar/ www.geocities.com/atariforce/atariancentral.html Matthew, I wanted to congratulate you for your great e-zine and for the awards it received. Pascal Thanks ;-) MyAtari, My local second-hand music equipment shop's got a 1040 STe for sale for £80. As far as I know this is without a monitor or any external peripherals. I think it may have 1Mb of RAM and come with a copy of Cubase. I want to use it for MIDI sequencing but I'm worried 'cos this sounds like a lot to pay for such a machine to me. Is it a fair price? What specifications and accessories should I reasonably expect at this price? What's the best version of Cubase that would run on this machine? What's the maximum amount of RAM that can be fitted to a 1040 STe, is it easily available and at what price? What options do I have for fitting a hard drive if it doesn't already have one? I'm sorry to bombard you with so many questions! Could you give me a prompt reply please as I'll probably need to snap it up quickly if it's worth buying Cheers, Rupert de Renzy-Martin Second-hand STE machines are still quite rare as most Atari musicians swear by them (not at them!). If it's properly refurbished and/or comes with a 2-3 month warranty and the copy of Cubase is legitimate complete with manual and dongle then £80 is reasonable price. The best version of Cubase that will run on a 1040STE is v3.1 (although v2 isn't half bad). A 1040STE already has 1MB of memory , however it is possible to fit up to 4MB (with 4x1MB 30-pin plug-in modules (usually SIMMs)) into a standard machine. If you wanted to fit an external hard drive, you would have to take the SCSI route in conjunction with a host adaptor such as the popular Link 97. Second opinion: I do not know the equivalent money amounts as I live in the USA, but a 1 meg 1040STE with Cubase (that is the Dongled version) seems good. For a monitor, you can get a cable from Best Electronics or from Mario Becroft that allows you to hook up a VGA monitor to an ST. There is also EBAY which you can get used Atari MONO monitors (not the color as Cubase will not work with it). Also if you have an STE, you might be able to upgrade to 4 megs with regular SIMMS. Check the Atari Quick Faq at http://pp.fishpool.fi/~q-funk/ST/ on this. Cubase is meant to work on a 1 meg machine, but the more memory the better! Timing on Atari machines are excellent. You can also now get lots of music software from my site that will enhance Cubase. Hope this helps Tim Conrardy http://sites.netscape.net/timconrardy/index.htm Hi MyAtari, I have noticed that the TT's, MegaSTE's, and Falcon include a "LAN PORT" on them. I suspect this is just a 10BT port, am I correct? Also, I do not own any of the above listed currently, however am looking into getting one for a few networking tests I am conducting for a project I am working on, which is the best model to purchase for just plain and simple pure networking... I do not wish to be a gamer or application working on it. Thanks! Scott Weaver I'm afraid not, the LAN port found on the Mega STE, TT and Falcon are in fact an AppleTalk LAN port. Using STiNG as your TCP/IP stack, you can build a small network using any of the available ports. Good luck! Matthew, Is it possible to advise on what the following messages mean. Program returned 68000 exception ( # error 69 ) this happens after about 30 - 45 mins when launching a new prg to the current application eg luna, aniplayer, papyrus etc program returned basic error ( # error 1 ) this happens when using a beta of NVshell a front end for the NView TTP. I do not seam to remember any errors until the ram board was replaced, except when memory was short. Regards Thomas Thomas, Error 69 is a MagiC specific error which I used to get when running HiSoft BASIC 2.1. I was never able to track down the problem but managed to avoid the problem by not running HB. Does it always happen after 30-45 mins? or is it only when a new program is launched? I suggest that you try your RAM upgrade in a friends machine if possible before asking for a replacement. Please send us more details about how and when your problem occurs and I shall see what we can find out. Hi guys! Good job and like the content, especially the interviews. Thanks! Keep it up. Lyndon Glad to hear it. We are always keen to hear from our readers, you likes and dislikes... Please send your comments and suggestions to matthew@myatari.net To MyAtari, Are there any sites showing the in-development shots of Wolfenstein 3D for the Lynx, such as those included on the recently released S.I.M.I.S cart? Also, is anyone ever gonna take up AvP & finish it off, if they did then they could make a fortune on it, being one of the most highly anticipated handheld games for any format, so why don't they?! I would very much appreciate your help on this one? All the best, Many Thanx As far as we are aware, there are no plans for Wolfenstein 3D or AvP to be released on the Lynx platform. I agree it is a shame as they are both excellent games which deserve to see the light of day. We can only hope that Infogrames decides to finish their development. Hi Matt! First, congratulations on the magazine's new look! it is really nice; but you leftout the counter! WHY? It is the very first thing I look at (i like to see it grow ad grow). Now, the question: how may I reach Tim Conrady's page? I tried a search, I typed in the url found in his article (you forgot the "summary", eh?), but nothing happens: every link to sites.netscape doesn't work. May you help me? Keep the good work going! Paolo Thank you Paolo, I am glad you like our new look. With regards to the counter... when we launched the new look, we did (and are) experiencing some teething troubles with the perl scripts on our site. This has meant that our subscribers form, tell a friend form and others on our site are not working as we would like. I am attempting to rectify these problems as quickly as possible. Thank you for your support. To reach Tim's excellent Atari site, click on the link below. http://sites.netscape.net/timconrardy/index.htm I would like to thank all our readers who have taken the time to e-mail us over the last few months, your support is greatly appreciated. I would also like to thank our team of experts for their support and enthusiasm! Send you suggestions, comments and questions to matthew@myatari.net Please note We regret that due to the volume of letters and e-mails received by the magazine, personal correspondence cannot be guaranteed. All letters and e-mails received are assumed for publication unless stated otherwise.
MyAtari magazine - Feature #6, September 2001
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