A very clear manual explains that this one will write one, two or three part tunes which can be played or stored on the BBC. Sixteen pre-defined envelopes set up the sound characteristics for each note but these envelopes can be extensively modified; treble and bass staves are shown on the screen, and the cursor keys are used to select note positions. Tunes can be loaded from discs and there's a 256 note capacity for each.

I should point out that I've been asked to write tunes for this program although I haven't actually written any yet. It's well laid out. It actually gives you a picture of the sound frequency you've chosen, though there's nothing very tutorial about it - it's aimed at people who know what they're about, as a serious tool. But your contact with it isn't too complex.

You can approach it from whatever direction - as a computer user, musician or sound engineer - and I think it's very easy to understand. You can play back any part of a tune during the edit mode, very useful - the attitudes of the programme is to be helpful at all stages. To let you hear the tune build up. The machine gives you as much control as possible, and it's very good for getting the 'feel' of music. One drawback is that you can only see one line of music at a time even though you can hear as much of a piece as you want.

It's certainly the best music program for the BBC, and the BBC is the best micro for this sort of thing. It's just a shame you can't write very long tunes on it.