ElmerJFudd Posted December 2, 2016 Share Posted December 2, 2016 A recent thread has me feeling a bit nostalgic and longing for some awesome older MIDI sequencing software back when everyone was focused on MIDI and audio was still something you put to tape. If I understand right, these blokes successfully have v1.3 and 3.0 of the Amiga ROMs and Workbench running in emulation on x86. https://www.amigaforever.com [video:youtube] Specifically, which version of the ROM and Workbench have forumites selected? What music software have you successfully been able to find and get running stably on a Windows PC? All via internet download? Or did you need a floppy drive in some instances? Does the emulation gain access to the i/o on your PC? What MIDI interface hardware have you been able to get working? And lastly, how tight is the timing? When recording in, and playing back out of the setup? Latency? Drift? A lot of these older MIDI software packages were a pleasure to use and I recall MIDI timing being quite tight - or maybe I'm just reminiscing about how good it felt. But these 6800 based machines only had to one thing well and a lot of positive things continue to be said about the Atari ST/Falcon, Amiga, Mac Plus, etc. I also recall being in the shop as a kid and seeing a Yamaha branded PC with built in MIDI ports, can't remember what they called it. Anyway. Great memories, one of this exciting times for music technology. - side topic. what games are you still having fun playing in emulation? I was aces at speedball 2. Yamaha CP88, Casio PX-560 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karl Schmeer Posted December 2, 2016 Share Posted December 2, 2016 I also recall being in the shop as a kid and seeing a Yamaha branded PC with built in MIDI ports, can't remember what they called it. Anyway. Great memories, one of this exciting times for music technology. Are you talking about the Yamaha CXM5? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yamaha_CX5M Back around 2000 I was working for a keyboard service shop and they had one laying around. I remember it being a really accurate 8 track midi sequencer, as well as having an FM tone generator /editor. Software was contained in carts, just like a video game. or you could use a cassette tape recorder to load MSX basic programs. Those were the days! Best Karl MPCX, RD-800, Vsynth, Matrix 12 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RABid Posted December 2, 2016 Share Posted December 2, 2016 I had several Amigas over the years but never used one for music. My favorite game was probably Archon. Got it on iPad a few years ago and it was not the same. Oh, wait. No. Favorite game was Tecmo Bowl Football. We spent hours playing that at college. I was always looking for logic glitches. My favorite, build a team with a maxed out receiver, QB next, and then offensive line. After that, load up the defense. Every play I would send the receiver long, run backward with my QB, and finally Hail Mary to the end zone for a touch down. That setup was quickly banned in our little league. Bught it for XBox a while back. The XBox version was nothing like the Amiga version. This post edited for speling. My Sweetwater Gear Exchange Page Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Synthaholic Posted December 2, 2016 Share Posted December 2, 2016 Elmer, I'll post my particulars either late tonight or tomorrow. Have to get ready for a gig. But very quickly, any USB MIDI interface is recognized, and nearly all the ROM/Workbench combos will work fine. There are a few quirks, though, as I will explain. It really marries the Amiga positives with the ease of Plug and Play Windows. The fact there's a Highway To Hell and only a Stairway To Heaven says a lot about anticipated traffic numbers People only say "It's a free country" when they're doing something shitty-Demetri Martin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doerfler Posted December 2, 2016 Share Posted December 2, 2016 I also recall being in the shop as a kid and seeing a Yamaha branded PC with built in MIDI ports, can't remember what they called it. Yamaha had a laptop computer introduced in the late 1980's that had built in MIDI ports. It was the shit at the time and cost $US 4,000.00. Here is a Review from December 1988 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ElmerJFudd Posted December 2, 2016 Author Share Posted December 2, 2016 Ok, yeah it was the C1. I didn't realize it was so expensive. They had one at the shop where I would eventually work teaching piano when I was a whipper snapper (wound up buying a Passport MIDI interface for my Amiga 500 which I could afford). I also lusted for the Yamaha SY models they had on the showroom floor. But couldn't get my hands on those either, so I wound up with a second hand Kawai K1. - That CXM5 looks pretty cool too. Synthaholic - looking forward to hearing what you've got to share about what works and what's quirky with the Amiga Forever stuff. Thanks! Yamaha CP88, Casio PX-560 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reezekeys Posted December 3, 2016 Share Posted December 3, 2016 Yamaha also made the CX5, a less expensive computer with built-in midi and FM synth. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kawai James Posted December 5, 2016 Share Posted December 5, 2016 Elmer, in my youth I used to enjoy composing with an A500 (later an A1200), Technosound Turbo II 8-bit sampler, and a 'cheese wedge' MIDI interface, connected to whatever Yamaha, Technics, or GEM board my father had brought home from work to play with. I didn't get so involved with MIDI as I preferred the 'tracker' style of OctaMED, however I used TigerCub for recording and notating compositions submitted as schoolwork. I used to be heavily into the Amiga emulation scene - beta testing WinUAE and maintaining the 'AmigaInABox' Workbench distribution which was quite popular a decade or so ago - however, I confess it's been a few years since I 'booted' my Amiga emulation environment. I've never actually tried controlling MIDI hardware via the emulated Amiga, however the UAE developers were (and I'm sure still are...) seriously committed to authenticity and compatibility, so I expect it should work still work well. I've met the MD of Cloanto (AmigaForver developers), Michael Battilana, on a couple of occasions, including a get-together held in Tokyo for Amiga enthusiasts (the computer was only a very minor cult platform in Japan) - he is an incredible guy, and passionate about ensuring the memories of the wonderful Amiga live-on today. Cheers, James x Employed by Kawai Japan, however the opinions I express are my own. Nord Electro 3 & occasional rare groove player. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Synthaholic Posted December 7, 2016 Share Posted December 7, 2016 I've met the MD of Cloanto (AmigaForver developers), Michael Battilana, on a couple of occasions, including a get-together held in Tokyo for Amiga enthusiasts (the computer was only a very minor cult platform in Japan) - he is an incredible guy, and passionate about ensuring the memories of the wonderful Amiga live-on today. He certainly is. He has been invaluable in helping me through the years (I've been using Amiga Forever since v 1.0) and I'd like to think I've given him good feedback on what was working and what wasn't on the MIDI side of it. I would love to meet him someday and buy him dinner and many drinks. The fact there's a Highway To Hell and only a Stairway To Heaven says a lot about anticipated traffic numbers People only say "It's a free country" when they're doing something shitty-Demetri Martin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Synthaholic Posted December 7, 2016 Share Posted December 7, 2016 Elmer, The MIDI interface is selected in a familiar window: http://i.imgur.com/MJHG1Qq.png The configuration I'm using is Workbench 3.X: http://i.imgur.com/29c0l95.png It's recommended that you make a copy of any configuration you plan on using, then modify that. Here is the Configuration tab: http://i.imgur.com/1r7l6JP.png If you would like, you can always launch WinUAE or WinFellow. For years I just used the WinUAE, after basically cloning my A600HD into that, because the MIDI on the regular emulations was still very dicey. The WinUAE worked fine, but was no faster than my A600HD. Now, emulating the A4000 on a PC with a 3.2 GHz i5 processor, it's lightning fast, especially the screen redraws when zooming out of a complex MIDI sequence, which used to take forever on the A600HD. http://i.imgur.com/3L4zgno.png The RP9 Manager lets you convert old Amiga games on floppy disk to a 'virtual disk', via serial cable connected to an actual Amiga. AF comes with a whole slew of converted games, coincidentally under the Games tab! You can get an idea of how many there are from the scroll bar: http://i.imgur.com/K8iJPHt.png The fact there's a Highway To Hell and only a Stairway To Heaven says a lot about anticipated traffic numbers People only say "It's a free country" when they're doing something shitty-Demetri Martin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ElmerJFudd Posted December 7, 2016 Author Share Posted December 7, 2016 This is good stuff. Thanks for taking the time to detail. Very useful! Yamaha CP88, Casio PX-560 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Synthaholic Posted December 7, 2016 Share Posted December 7, 2016 This is good stuff. Thanks for taking the time to detail. Very useful! No prob. You certainly get a lot for $30. In my previous post I said "The RP9 Manager lets you convert old Amiga games on floppy disk to a 'virtual disk'". I should have said "any Amiga program", not just games. The fact there's a Highway To Hell and only a Stairway To Heaven says a lot about anticipated traffic numbers People only say "It's a free country" when they're doing something shitty-Demetri Martin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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