f course   
   remember these are 8 bit samples!) as would be expected from 8-bit samples.   
   The  sound  quality  is let down a little on the cymbals and hi hats due to   
   the  frequency ranges of these percussion sounds.  The sounds are more of a   
   watery  noise  than  a  crisp  ring of a cymbal.  On the plus side the base   
   gives an almighty thud!  And the snare hits hard.   
      
   CLICK CLICK BOOM SH SH SHAKE THE ROOM!   
      
   The  software came supplied on disk or cassette; my version is on disk with   
   side  1 for the Commodore 64 and the flip side is for Commodore 128 (taking   
   full  advantage  of the 80-column mode and adding support for the recording   
   of longer patterns and songs).   
      
   HERE THE DRUMMER GET WICKED!   
      
   The  manual  says the drum sounds have been digitized with the MICROVOX PRO   
   sampler.   I  haven't  seen  one  of  these  units (except for a failed bid   
   attempt  by  myself on E-bay), but I do remember the units were at one time   
   used  in  professional  recording studios.  Although this is now years ago,   
   it's nice sometimes to look back.  Navigation in the program is by function   
   key and the RETURN key acting as a confirmation action.  You can also use a   
   joystick, the joystick option really makes life easy.   
      
   BREAK IT DOWN BOYEEEEEEEE!   
      
   Live  Play  turns  your  Commodore machine into an electronic drum kit with   
   number  keys 1 to 8 all having sampled sounds assigned to them.  When a key   
   is pressed a sample is played (the screen is blanked the whole time you are   
   in live play).  The manual says this is for best performance - it does make   
   a  vast  improvement  to  the quality by blanking the screen.  This mode is   
   often very useful to use as a mode to TEST a rhythm before recording a song   
   or pattern or to PLAY at being drummers.   
      
   BOOM BOOM BOOM TAKE ME TO THE MOON!   
      
   The  recording  studio allows you to edit "patterns", which are sections of   
   the  song that can be joined together to produce an entire song.  I like to   
   think  of  them  as sentences, 3 or more sentences will produce a paragraph   
   (or  song!).   With  this software it's possible to have 65 patterns and 16   
   songs (more on the Commodore 128).   
      
   PATTERN EDITOR (KNITTING NEEDLES ARE NOT REQUIRED!)   
      
   The  pattern  editor  allows  "sections" of your song to be created in step   
   time  on  the  usual  drum  machine  drum grid.  Pressing a key 1 to 8 will   
   insert a blob on the grid; this blob shows when a sound is played.   
      
   CLAP HANDS STAMP YOUR FEET BANGING ON A BIG BASS DRUM!   
      
   The  recording studio also allows patterns to be set to your desired number   
   of   bars,  beats  per  bar,  quantisation  steps,  and  finally  and  most   
   importantly,  you  can  set the tempo.  This seems to be a pretty inclusive   
   set of options to me.   
      
   The  only  two  changes  I  would  make  are to have an option of tuning or   
   pitching  the  sample,  because  even on drum sounds I personally find that   
   tuning the sound can give unexpected and exciting results.  Also, an option   
   of  setting  volume or accents on individual notes would be nice, and while   
   we're  criticizing,  an option to reverse the sample on certain notes would   
   be  nice,  although  I am not sure the machine would be powerful enough for   
   real-time effects.   
      
   WE WILL WE WILL ROCK YOU!   
      
   The programme also allows patterns to be erased or renamed, or to listen to   
   patterns.   Now  we come to the best bit:  recording patterns.  Rhythm King   
   can  provide  a  timing  click, commonly known as a click track, so you can   
   enter  the  rhythm  just by tapping the appropriate number key 1 to 8.  The   
   click  track  is played via the SID chip so this is on your monitor and not   
   through  the  external  amp  or  hi  fi that the cartridge is plugged into.   
   Again,  it's  well-thought  out so you can keep the click track running and   
   record your creation.   
      
   R R ROCK ME AMADEUS!   
      
   Playing  in  this  mode  allows  a pattern to be built up, with the pattern   
   looping  at  the end of the section back to the beginning.  All you need do   
   is  keep  adding  drum sounds until you pattern is tweaked and tuned as you   
   desire.   Another  useful  feature of the programme is STEP time recording.   
   With  step time recording the programme allows "manual" insertion of a drum   
   trigger on the grid, by scrolling along the grid and pressing a key again 1   
   to  8  when  you wish a note to played or triggered.  This leaves a blob on   
   the  grid when the pattern is played back, and the blob triggers the sample   
   to be played.  I find this useful for difficult-to-play sections, or timing   
   critical sections.  Also, using this function can give a rhythm that is not   
   possible  for  a  single  human drummer to play, creating a more electronic   
   feel to your music .   
      
   DON'T GET BRAHMS GET LYST!   
      
   One  final  part  of  the programme is a file menu allowing you to see disk   
   directories or directory listings, whilst also giving the options to delete   
   and  save files on disk.  As can be seen from the screen shot, this is 100%   
   better  than  some of the lesser quality software produced for the machine,   
   with  the  usual  method being to select load and then being given a box to   
   enter  the filename!  If you can't remember the filename, you have to close   
   the  programme, restart your machine, list a disk directory, write down the   
   names...   a  lovely  feature  to  have.  Again, showing the quality of the   
   programmers.   
      
   THE SYNTH DRUM THAT TIME FORGOT!   
      
   Incidentally,  I  have used this software in a semi-live and live setup.  I   
   remember playing in a band (you don't want to know the name, we played more   
   for fun than anything else) that had a temperamental drummer - sometimes he   
   turned  up for rehearsal, sometimes he was stuck in the pub.  After a night   
   of  careful programming I was able to create the drummer's actions with the   
   application,  allowing the rest of the band to rehearse with or without the   
   drummer.  In the end he was sacked and we just used the machine.   
      
   MUSIC  IS  MY  FIRST LOVE AND IT WILL BE MY LAST, MUSIC FROM THE FUTURE AND   
   MUSIC FROM THE PAST !   
      
   During  rehearsals in this manner I was asked to play in another band.  The   
   band  were  doing  a  cover  version  of "BLUE MONDAY", the sounds from the   
   Commodore  were  so  close  to the original recording of the track that the   
   band thought it would be a nice feature to have a machine play the drums as   
   in  the  original recording.  Now, both bands have folded and we managed to   
   produce  no  money from our efforts, but it did seem cool at the time and a   
   little piece of history (that should be) confined to the bin.   
      
   FEEL THE BASS AS THE BASELINE HITS YOUR FACE!   
      
   As  a  final  note, the software runs without the cartridge but produces no   
   sound  (as would be expected) from the Commodore, I would be interested how   
   the  sound  is  output from the programme to the cartridge, and also if any   
   new  kits  have  been  produced.  Maybe you are using a custom-designed kit   
   yourself, or you may have a nice demo you would like to share with someone,   
   to show off your drum programming skills.   
      
   I FOUND THIS YOUTUBE VIDEO SHOWING THE SOFTWARE IN USE   
      
   www.youtube.com/watch?v=h6Jwtgc2T5s   
      
   Overall: 10/10   
      
   Great !   
      
   =====================================   
      
   *************************************   
        COPY AND PASTE FROM WINVICE   
   *************************************   
      
   Sometimes  you  need  to  get  text into an emulator or real machine in the   
   quickest  way  possible,  and although other methods (some would say better   
   methods)  exist,  did  you know you can copy and paste text to and from the   
   VICE emulator?   
      
   Let's  assume  we  have a BASIC program (incidentally, it doesn't matter on   
   the  length of the programme) and we want to put this into VICE to run, you   
   could type it all in for a real old school nightmare - or if it's a webpage   
   or  pdf listing or even text file, you can copy and paste the text straight   
   into VICE (well, almost).   
      
   First  off,  the  BASIC  program will need editing to remove custom control   
   characters (you know, the custom Commodore characters).  Personally, I tend   
   to  use  CRSR  left  and CRSR right, SCNCLR for clear screen, or even print   
   chr$(147)    
      
   --- MBSE BBS v1.0.4 (GNU/Linux-i386)   
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair ---:- dragon.vk3heg.net -:--- (3:633/280)