Music is a useful tool for those who want to explore the BBC Micro's facilities for music making without getting involved in complicated programming.

The program allows you to record three separate lines of music, and then to alter various aspects of the sounds which they produce. You enter the music using the BBC keyboard, and the notes are displayed on the screen.

You may play back any or all of the three lines at the same time, and also alter the speed. There is a choice of four different "voices" in which the sounds can be played, and if you want to keep a tune permanently you can easily save it on a spare tape.

All the lines are displayed on the screen and are horizontally scrolled along as the music is played. Also there are full editing facilities for altering the score once you have entered it.

The musical effects produced are quite good. The accompanying booklet says that the "instruments" quality should not be taken too seriously, and this is true. The alteration in tempo is a useful option, and loading and saving is easy.

However, the graphics used don't really look like notes, although they are sufficient to give a rough idea of the tunes. The basic note is represented by a square block, and longer ones are simply oblongs. The length of each note is picked up directly from the keyboard, so you have to concentrate very hard to get the effects you want.

It is very difficult to get the three lines in sync because of this, but it can be done and the three part harmonies are very good when played back. Unfortunately you cannot mix instruments so that all lines must be played back in the same voice.

The editing of tunes is done quite easily, though sometimes it is difficult to change the length of a note.

Despite some problems in entering and amending music, the program is fun to use and can produce some pleasant results. It doesn't attempt to fully exploit the BBC Micro sound facilities, nor do the graphics give an ideal representation of the music. However, it is entertaining and probably useful to those who already have some musical knowledge, and wish to combine this with computer play.

Jane Jackson