Music Compendium is a collection of utility programs for writing and playing music on the 8-bit Atari.

Side one of the double-sided disc contains the music reator, a compiler, as well as a drum machine and a sound effects generator.

Side two holds a two part music tutor, guitar tutor, playalong and a combiner program.

Compendium requires Basic, and boots-up automatically when the disc is in place and the Atari turned on.

The main screen is divided into two sections - the lower half shows the main menu console, containing eight rather obscure icons.

There are toggled by the joystick when it's not controlling the piano-style keyboard.

The software for writing music is reasonably straightforward once you've got the jang of it. You simply move the joystick left or right along the keyboard and hit fire when you get to the right note.

It is then saved, its shape and duration changed by moving the same stick forwards or backwards. A hair trigger arcade action type of stick would probably be more of a hindrance than a help in this situation. A keyboard option would have been useful.

A sight-reading friend of mine found the joystick controlled input rather slow and thought an option to shoot notes straight onto a stave with cross hairs might have been better.

Playalong is a fun piece of software that simply plays four types of music - disco, boogie, country and waltz.

The drum machine allows you to create several hours of semi-realistic drumming - the beat sequence is described in patterns, phrases and sections.

The compiler program combines up to four pieces of music into one long piece. You can write music in smaller sections, then combine them into one grand masterpiece.

Sound Effects Master provides you with some over-used sound effects such as the Star Raiders hyperspace whoosh.

The music tutors show a series of lessons, with see-as-you-hear style education. The guitar tutor shows all the major, minor and seventh positions on the screen, and also the correct fingering.

Colleen Music Compandium is a sophisticated music-making utility, at a reasonable price.

It does have a few design faults, but overall it is an impressive package - you certainly get a lot of code for your money.