EMUSIC-L Digest Volume 41, Issue 04 This issue's topics: MUSIC-X UPGRADE INFO! (9 messages) Your EMUSIC-L Digest moderator is Joe McMahon . You may subscribe to EMUSIC-L by sending mail to listserv@american.edu with the line "SUB EMUSIC-L your name" as the text. The EMUSIC-L archive is a service of SunSite (sunsite.unc.edu) at the University of North Carolina. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Date: Tue, 23 Jun 1992 00:29:46 CST From: Rod Lemcke Subject: MUSIC-X UPGRADE INFO! Music-X 2.0 is finished and almost ready for release. It has a lot of new features, works well, supports AmigaDos 2.04, and is BUG-FREE. Call Micro- Illusions, their new location is in Marina Del Ray,CA. and thier new phone # is (310)-822-9200. Make SURE you tell them that Rod from the band Music-X, in Canada, told you to call! I'm sure you will love this new version. Check it out! ... Rod L. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 23 Jun 1992 10:51:26 EDT From: metlay Subject: Vaporware (was Re: MUSIC-X UPGRADE INFO!) > Music-X 2.0 is finished and almost ready for release. It has a lot of new > features, works well, supports AmigaDos 2.04, and is BUG-FREE. Music-X 2.0 is not on the market. It cannot be purchased by an interested Amiga owner who has the cash to spend on an upgrade or a new package. The company's phone calls and press releases notwithstanding, it is simply not available to buyers who want it. Ergo it is vaporware and does not exist. Something which does not exist can have no new features, does not work, supports no OS except possibly Existentialism, and is bugfree only because code that does not exist has bugs that do not exist. (I do believe that when and if this code comes into existence, bugs will as well. The last bug-free program I saw was a ten-line FORTRAN code for calculating square roots.) > Call Micro- > Illusions, their new location is in Marina Del Ray,CA. and thier new phone # >is (310)-822-9200. Make SURE you tell them that Rod from the band Music-X, in > Canada, told you to call! I plan to do so, if only out of curiosity. But I have been idly waiting for Music-X to go somewhere for well over three years now (1.1 hardly counts) and harbor no false hopes. When I have a copy in my hands, THEN I'll believe that it can happen. > I'm sure you will love this new version. Check it out! > > > ... Rod L. I'll be content if it runs without hanging the serial port, addresses the problem of weird patch name bitmaps, allows library dumps of arbitrary size rather than blocks of 16 programs, and runs on multiple output busses. But this is all speculation, of course; I'd love to own a Waldorf Wave, but THAT doesn't exist either. -- Mike Metlay metlay@minerva.phyast.pitt.edu Atomic City, P.O. Box 81175, Pittsburgh, PA 15217-0675 ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 23 Jun 1992 14:50:58 EDT From: metlay Subject: Music-X on the way....NOT! I just got off the phone with Micro-Illusions, per the suggestion of Rod L. The person I spoke to was not able to answer any technical queries at all, and didn't try (Phil was out of town, and I plan to have a LONG talk with him when he calls me back later this week). He DID say, however, that while the bulk of the package was in fact done, there were some cleanup touches to be completed on the notation package (!) and then packaging and release details had to be dealt with --making a realistic release ddate somewhere in the next three months. He said, and I quote: "I'd love to be able to tell you "two weeks" for the release date, but that just wouldn't be honest or realistic." Anyway, since people seem to give a damn about Music-X, I will follow up on this call by speaking to Phil later this week, and give EMUSIC-L and r.m.s a warts-and-all description of what I learn. The only thing the fellow could say for sure was that the new rev will support multiple serial ports, but support for the new TriplePlay interface from Blue Ribbon is still up in the air. -- Mike Metlay metlay@minerva.phyast.pitt.edu Atomic City, P.O. Box 81175, Pittsburgh, PA 15217-0675 ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 23 Jun 1992 11:01:27 +0000 From: Nick Rothwell Subject: Re: MUSIC-X UPGRADE INFO! >Music-X 2.0 is finished and almost ready for release. It has a lot of new >features, works well, supports AmigaDos 2.04, and is BUG-FREE. àààààààà As guaranteed in the licence agreement I presume, just like all the other software products I own... I wonder what formal verification procedures they used? Nick. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 23 Jun 1992 21:46:36 CST From: Rod Lemcke Subject: Re: MUSIC-X UPGRADE INFO! I have been talking to David Joiner who is the programmer and he has had the new version completed for some time now. I have close ties with Micro-Illusion s because we are the band endorsing their product, and they tell me release is in a couple of weeks. Actually the ONLY hangup right now is Micro-Illusions is not giving David what he is asking out of the deal. David tells me that the variables will be worked out real soon. Then release is only a couple of days from their agreement settlement. I'll keep you posted... Rod L. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 23 Jun 1992 22:37:26 CST From: Rod Lemcke Subject: Re: Music-X on the way....NOT! Hi Mike, actually the only thing up in the air right now with Music-X is the contract/deal with M.Illusions and David Joiner. As soon as they agree on the terms I'm sure the release date will follow immediately. As for the program, it's pretty well finished. I admit David is thinking about writing drivers for the new triple-play from Blue Ribbon. The good news is that GVP is developing a similiar product and David feels that that particular one will probably become the "industry-standard" midi interface for the Amiga's. Let's hope a mutual deal is struck soon so you can get the upgrade... Rod L. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 24 Jun 1992 10:50:44 EDT From: metlay Subject: Re: Music-X on the way....NOT! Rod, I would dearly love to see that upgrade. I would, honestly. But I think your friendship with Joiner has blinded you to the fact that not all of us have the opportunity to enjoy beta versions of Music-X over long periods of time. It's easy for you to crow about how wonderful the program is, because you HAVE a copy. The rest of us poor slobs have to wait until the contract disputes DO get settled. We also have to wait for the manual to be printed up nicely, the packaging and distribution to be set up, and a bunch of other things that you, as a friend of the programmer, never have to think about. You're doing everyone a disservice by drastically mis-estimating the release time for this program, over and over again for months on end. We waited three years for Music-X 1.0 to come out, and it was advertised as doing things that STILL won't be available on 2.0. I am SICK of hearing about Joiner. When he produces, he's a genius, I'll give him that. But when he doesn't produce, we have nothing to go on but promises, and your promises have a very poor record so far. Go enjoy your own personal copy of Music-X 2.0, tell Joiner I wish him well in his negotiations, and please don't jump up and down yelling about how good it is until there's SOME chance I'll ever see a copy of my own. (If he wants to let me beta test it, I won't argue. |-> ) Thanks and give my regards to Kelvington, -- Mike Metlay metlay@minerva.phyast.pitt.edu Atomic City, P.O. Box 81175, Pittsburgh, PA 15217-0675 ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 24 Jun 1992 20:03:50 CST From: Rod Lemcke Subject: Re: Music-X on the way....NOT! Actually, I did not intend to get a lot of people excited over my copies of Music-X or my relationship with the program and then have them suffer at the mercy of a "business" deal that is holding up releases of updates. David has had this thing finished for some time now and we are all just waiting for Micro Illusions to finish this "business" deal. I'm am also getting a lot of heat over my mention of release dates. I do not get paid by David OR M.Illusions to bear all the news to the users, I simply go with what they have committed to me with as far as release dates go. And YES, I was granted full authority to discuss release dates with the Music-X user's. On June 22/92 I was told that we can expect a release in about 3-4 weeks. I am hoping that this date becomes a reality for all users concerned. I do suggest that you call M.Illusions in a week or 2 to update and confirm release dates. Hang in there... Rod L. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 25 Jun 1992 08:30:24 CST From: Michael Whitten Subject: Re: Music-X on the way....NOT! My two cents regarding Music-X and recent messages by Rod Lemcke and Mike Metlay : Intended or not, the image MicroIllusions projects is of a company that just can't get its act together with its foray into the midi sequencer market. As Mike Metlay pointed out, users have seen this sort of thing before when Music-X was first announced, finally released, and justly criticized. My only kudos go to MicroIllusions and David Joiner for a 'nice idea'. Any midi sequencer unable to record simple midi keyboard input without hanging the port is a joke. From there, I'm afraid Music-X is just clumsy flash and great shelfware. We was robbed. Other sequencer software companies seem to actually care about their product; they seem to actually think about real human beings using their product. I haggled back and forth about all this years ago with Matt Nathan (manual's author) and it was like communicating to a brick wall. I hope I don't have to relive it all with this new release. Rod L. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ + Michael Whitten M-WHIT2@VM1.SPCS.UMN.EDU M-WHIT2@UMINN1 + +"IwillnotreadNetNews.IwillnotreadNetNews.IwillnotreadNetnews.Iwillnot"+ ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ ------------------------------ End of the EMUSIC-L Digest ******************************