Make your musical dreams come true with The Music System. Simon Williams says this music generator beats the competition hands down Name: The Music System Application: Music Generator Price: £12.95 (Cassette), £24.95 (Disk) Publisher: Island Logic 01-741 1511 Outlets: Retail The 1984 prize for software package design goes to The Music System TMS by my reckoning. Not only is it the most comprehensive synthesiser software for a home computer, but it beats most of the competition with its intelligent use of graphics symbols (icons) and the way it grups and sub-divides its functions.

TMS is available either on two cassettes, or on a 40/80 track disk, with a further library disk of jolly tunes. It comes with an excellent 76-page manual and a function key strip. In Use ------ I used the disk version of TMS but differences between the two systems will be pointed out where appropriate. On booting up the main disk, the 'control screen' appears. This is your first look at the style of display adopted throughout. It consists of five large icons indicating the various modules of the system, a strip showing the title and a piece of music manuscript across which notes scroll smoothly from right to left, echoing the display used by the Editor module. The five icons represent the Editor, the Keyboard, the Linker, the Printer and the Synthesiser. The space bar highlights each icon in turn in reverse video and the Return key will make the selection. This technique is repeated within each module for selection of items from a given menu.

The Editor is essentially used for entering music note by note on a conventional pair of treble and bass staves. The initial menu covers system parameters such as the name of the current music file, key signature, tempo and number of bars entered in each voice. There are four voices, corresponding to the Beeb's sound channels, with the fourth being used for percussive sounds (not available on cassette). A composition previously entered, or any of the library pieces (of which there are many) may be played in up to four parts from this menu. Once the main editor has been entered only the selected voice is heard on playback. p> An interesting feature which can be called from this menu allows you to transpose a piece of music automatically. This can be done from any key to any other, assuming none of the transposed notes falls outside the pitch range of the system. The manuscript display is updated accordingly. The main Editor allows entry of individual notes by positioning an arrow cursor, and using the up and down cursor keys to shift the note's pitch and the Q and W keys to change its duration. This proved very easy, since it is possible to play the music back at any stage. The volume and envelope of each note and the time signature and tempo may be altered as you wish.

The Synthesiser is the most complex of the five modules as it deals with the enveloping system of the BBC Micro. TMS struggles bravely to sort it all out and provides three levels of display. The first level, like that on the Editor, allows system parameters to be altered. Two sets of 15 envelopes may be maintained in the system at any time and individual envelopes may be copied or swapped between the two sets, which allows great flexibility. Files of envelopes may be saved in either 'music' or 'BBC' format. The format is for use within the system, but the latter allows the envelopers to be saved in a form that may be accessed straight from Basic - useful if you want to use TMS envelopes in your own programs.

The second screen display shows all the envelope parameters divided into the appropriate frequency, amplitude and timing sections. Any parameter may be altered by selecting it and using the Q and W keys (good to see consistent use of the same keys throughout the system). Switching from one section to the next (space bar again puts the cursor onto the parameter within the section that was last altered. This allows easy alteration of a pair of parameters within different sections to see how their varying combination affects the overall sound. The third level of display shows the actual frequency and amplitude graphs. The parameters may be altered from this screen too. p> The Keyboard module allows you to use the QWERTY keys on the BBC to play and record music 'from the source'. To this extent it is a better executed version of previous music processor programs. Here, though, there is an on-screen animated metronome, a keyboard display which shows you the notes as you hit them and a full digital recorder which copies your magnum opus as it all flows out. The current volume and envelope are displayed, as are bar graphs of the number of notes played in each voice.

The Printer module reproduces manuscript on an Epson-compatible printer. It produces draft or manuscript quality printout at different speeds.

The Linker module attempts to overcome the only shortcoming of TMS, the rapid use of available space. By switching to a Mode 7 display and loading and linking several files, long pieces can be played from their component parts. Indeed, the library file named 'Longest' lasted well over five minutes and wasn't a protracted funeral march. Verdict ------- I haven't yet explored the whole system. Although the possibilities of obtaining music from the BBC may have been "limited only by your imagination", the advert of TMS brings this computer cliche much closer to the truth. Report Card ----------- Features 5/5 Documentation 5/5 Performance 4/5 Overall Value 5/5