Hi,
actually my very first music computer was the commodore 64's predecessor the "Vic 20"
I think it must have been round 1981/82??
Beeped a great tune. From memory, I think I was able to type in a melody line & it played it back. It may have been capable of doing more musically, but I really can't remember.
It was the culprit that got me interested in electronics & music. From there I went on to the c64, the Atari 1040 etc etc.
In hindsight, bet hubby's still regretting the day he said yes to the Vic. haahaa

best wishes
Rikki

Ahh, the old Atari software...

Someone else mentioned it and I have to agree. The midi timing was always tight and the programs straight forward enough. I never had the occasional hiccups and crashes that I've had with nearly all of today's soft DAWs.

I tend to stay away from recording audio altogether on the PC with Sonar, Cubase, and even FL, which has transformed greatly from a simple drum pattern machine to a full fledged DAW. FL is still very cool for manipulating Patterns and midi files, but I wouldn't miss the audi features at all if they weren't there.

I mainly use the computer now just for sounds and effects ( Vsti / VST / DX, etc ), although it's also good for me for midi composing and editing in the simpler apps like Energy XT. Also, Cool Edit Pro and still works flawlessly for editing and mastering audio tracks.

I can still mess with some of the Atari stuff I have using the windows Atari emulator "Steem". Every now and then I get a little nostalgic for it, so maybe I'll even try firing some of them up. "M", Atari Cubase, MTpro36, Ludwig, and Midijoy were among my favorites. I also have a bunch more, some of which are freely available for d/l at Tim Conrardy's Atari Midi site.

No OS upgrades for me, at least right now. I'm fine with what I have on XP and using an external recorder for Audio.

Regards,

AJ

AJ you're back.
Great to hear from you again.
What have you been up to??
How's the Tyros going?
Maybe best to start another thread. Sorry Bill.

best wishes
Rikki

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Bluezplayer:
[B]

Hi Rikki,

Nice to talk to you again. I still lurk here at SZ now and then and occasionally post, but I've been pretty busy too, just life stuff and playing out occasionally and then finding some time for personal music enjoyment.

The T2 is working great for me. I like the key action and the sounds very much. I also still have my PA80 and Motif ES, along with the MZ, so I'm not thinking at all about anything new and probably won't for some time. I'm pretty much using the computer strictly as another instrument these days, while doing much of the audio and recording stuff in an external unit.

How about you Rikki? Still working with the softsynths a lot ? You did buy a hardware arranger too a while back right ? Ketron maybe ?

Back to topic... I've gone as far as I want to go with XP, and have no real desire for any new apps or OS upgrades. I have enough great sounding VST instruments ( and effects ) that I'll never live long enough to learn each one intimately to the point where I can master the functions in all of them. Really, if I can keep a healthy XP based computer up and running and samples can be had in the future that run the current formats, I'm just about set for life with sounds and stuff.

I did fire up Steem tonight after reading this thread. Some of the programs I have collected over time work very well in it. The fractal music apps are kinda cool too, even if I can never make a meaningful song based on any of them.

AJ