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THE MUSIC CORNER by Frank Lemmen

Hi,  Music  freaks,  here I am again with The Music  Corner,  the
easiest  way  to get into touch with the  professional  world  of
computer-driven music synthesis.

Remember  me promising you a program to manipulate the Casio  CZ-
230S built in drum computer in the previous issue of ST  NEWS?  I
know some of you expected a full-sized drumcomputer with  editing
possibilities,  mixing and the whole riff-raff, but I do not seem
to  remember  having  promised  you anything  like  that  (I  was
cautious,  you  know).  I  had a good look at the  MIDI  software
possibilities of controlling the drum computer in my  synth,  but
alas!  I  found  out that the whole goddamn thing  could  not  be
controlled by means of software only...Imagine the buttons  going
up and down on the CZ by using a PEEK or POKE (or even an OUT  or
INP)?!?!

So  the  program  that  I hereby offer  only  allows  very  basic
(speed) manipulation of the drumcomputer in the synth (sorry, but
I  couldn't  make more of it due to the sheer  lack  of  software
possibilities of the CZ).....

Here,  you will find the program,  which is also added on the  ST
NEWS
 disk in the PROGRAMS folder with the name "DRUMCOMP.BAS".  I
am  very sorry that I couldn't make more of it,  but by means  of
this  article and the accompanying program I hope to  have  given
you at least some small tips & tricks on using MIDI  synthesizers
and their built-in possibilities on the Atari ST using GfA Basic.

' simple sample program how to start the drum computer
' from a CASIO-CZ230S by using your ST
' written by Frank Lemmen in Gfa-Basic
' before starting this program switch the clock of
' the synth to external sync.
Start=250                      ! MIDI Codes for the drum computer
Let Stop=252
Play=248
Spd=140
'
Do                             ! Scan for keyboard keys
  A$=Inkey$                    ! And perform functions
  If A$="S" Or A$="s"
    @Strt
  Endif
  If A$="Q" Or A$="q"
    @Stp
  Endif
  If A$="+"
    @Fast
  Endif
  If A$="-"
    @Slow
  Endif
  Out 3,Play
  For X=0 To Spd
  Next X
Loop
'
Procedure Strt
  Out 3,Start
Return
Procedure Stp
  Out 3,Stop
Return
'
Procedure Fast
  Spd=Spd-1
Return
'
Procedure Slow
  Spd=Spd+1
Return

That's all folks!  Next time, I hope to offer you another more or
less useful routine (and,  if I get awfully bored sometime, maybe
several  routines!)  for working with the ST  and  MIDI.  If  you
happen to have any interesting routines up your sleeve,  on  some
partition  of  your hard drive or some clusters  on  a  forgotten
floppy,  please do not hesitate to contact me at my address which
is revealed to you in the "Pro Sound Designer" review,  elsewhere
in this issue of ST NEWS. See you later (alligator)!

Disclaimer
The text of the articles is identical to the originals like they appeared in old ST NEWS issues. Please take into consideration that the author(s) was (were) a lot younger and less responsible back then. So bad jokes, bad English, youthful arrogance, insults, bravura, over-crediting and tastelessness should be taken with at least a grain of salt. Any contact and/or payment information, as well as deadlines/release dates of any kind should be regarded as outdated. Due to the fact that these pages are not actually contained in an Atari executable here, references to scroll texts, featured demo screens and hidden articles may also be irrelevant.