PROFESSOR POE'S ALMANAC

“We are sorry to give you a shock,” said the taller of the two. “We have tremendous radiation problems on our planet and our bodies have evolved to the point where being almost transparent allows the fierce rays to pass through us without any noxious side effects.”

Poe who had mixed with all sorts of strange types, didn’t allow himself to be phased a bit. “I see, come on in, fancy a beer?”

The smaller visitor slumped back on Poe’s couch uncomfortably, slurped on his beer and entered into his pitch. “Professor Poe, we have travelled a great distance from the Gala of Mesma to your planet to bring you some products that the musical fraternity might be interested in.”

“Go on,” said Poe.

“These products are at an advanced stage but we need the help of your known genius to bring them to fruition.”

Poe, who was a sucker for flattery, smiled and looked out of the window.

“Professor, we have looked at the growth of your planets MIDI (musical instrument digital information) technology and the advancement of Digital and we feel we can help take it to the next logical step. Please allow me to explain. The first MIDI sequencers had very small memory requirements, were mostly pattern based (later sequencers used a more linear approach), where even 32K was enough to hold a song. I believe one of the first was called a UMI, based on a 32K BBC B computer, which a certain Mr Vince Clark from Erasure still uses among others.

“The language between keyboards was still a bit uncertain, however, and many didn’t transmit velocity or any degree of touch sensitivity. Other sequencers came a few years later like the Commodore 64 based Steinberg’s Pro 24 and C-Lab’s. Then came the Atari 1040 which was unique in that it came with a MIDI in and out built in.

“The first Gem based programs like C-Lab’s Creator & Notator and Steinberg’s Pro 24 & Cubase have versions for this computer. By this time a lot of keyboards had an uniform MIDI language with programme change, velocity, notes, poly pressure foot controllers, portmento, volume, balance, panning, fader levels, pitch bend and more, being capable of being stored into the sequencer.”

* * * * * *

Poe’s eyes were beginning to glaze, this was all stuff he knew, but he mentally decided to stay with it; he might learn something. He fixed his eyes and ears on the stranger’s quivering, opaque lips and paid attention.

“Now things are getting a little more memory intensive,” he went on. “To record large amounts of MIDI data you start needing lots of memory. One Megabyte was fine for early versions of the popular programmes but, as they have grown, you now need almost four meg to record large files and information from breath controllers like the Yamaha WX11. So the next step was to start using computers which already have the right feature set to make them ideal for recording MIDI and small amounts of Digital information.

“The IBM clones use a 486 or Pentiumn processor. The Apple Mac which has a Motorola 6030 or 6040 or the new Apple Power PC uses a RISC – a Reduced Instruction Set Chip to you and me, Poe – processor, they have at least, four, eight, sometimes 16 megabytes of RAM (Random Access Memory) plus a hard disc, which has on average 80 megabytes of disc storage. And finally the ever popular Atari 1040 now has a bigger brother, the Falcan. So now we have some of the great packages on many platforms, Performer, Vision, Cubase, Notator Logic, Master Tracks and many others. But you know all this.” The visitor paused for another slurp.

“Now the next goal is to record your MIDI and your Analogue all on the one machine. Unfortunately, this isn’t very cost effective at the moment. The MIDI side doesn’t use much memory, but the conversion of Analogue to Digital information uses enormous amounts. To record one minute of mono you need five megabytes of memory. Also, because the computer is using its internal processor to run the programme, you need additional expansion cards or additional processors to run each group of four and eight tracks.

“The downloading in realtime can be slow. This is why tape based systems, either digital or analogue, are very popular. A digital tape recorder locked to a sequencer can record eight track, for 40 minutes, for around £10 which is very, very cost effective. However, for the editing of stereo mixes, news programmes and film sound creation, where effects and dialogue can be created, cut and spliced, hard-disc based systems can then offer a lot of solutions. Packages come from Audiofile, Fostex Foundation, Lexicon Opus, Sadie, Synclavier, Pro Tools and others. As you know, Poe, in the music industry Digital and Analogue-using tape are by far the most popular systems.

* * * * * *

Poe smiled at his visitors, wondering when they were going to get to the point. Suddenly the larger of the two reached into his pocket and took out a CDI and placed it in Poe’s Apple CD300 player, plugged a weird looking sound module into the back of his Mac and booted up the prog. A curtain on the screen pulled back and a stadium appeared. A drummer came from behind his kit and asked in a small metallic voice for a rough idea of the drum pattern. Poe tapped out a rudimentary riff on the space bar and the miniature figure leapt back behind his kit and got stuck into the best groove Poe had ever heard.

Then the bass player came forward and asked for a bass part. Poe remembered a great Reggae piece from way back when and hummed it into the mic. The now complete rhythm section played in perfect synchronicity. The visitor showed Poe how to choose an instrument and, as he did, a small figure appeared on the screen with that make of model ready to play. By tapping the instrument twice all the notes appeared, by tapping on the figure all the MIDI data scrolled by. By following the cable, Poe could see where it was connected to and change the tone on the amps and modules.

The visitor took over the mouse and led Poe down a corridor on the screen to a door marked MIDI Manager. A beefy, cigar-chomping figure appeared and showed them into his office. He then took them to a door bearing the legend Vocal Artists Number 1. A small, beautiful girl appeared with a mic in her hand waiting for an analogue input. Further down the corridor was an office called ‘library’. On the shelves were titles like Great Grooves Of Our Time, Bach’s Best Bits, Bass Lines That Really Move Air etc. Poe looked up from the programme.

“This is amazing, a sort of interactive sequencer.” The visitor smiled. “Professor, please play with it today and we will see you tomorrow.”

As Poe ranged through the deeper levels of the Prog, the visitors quietly left. What Poe didn’t know was that as he explored the labyrinth of music, subtle Creta waves emanating from the sound module were attempting to modify his brain waves!

Next issue: Alien Domination!