Anybody using the SO1 will soon realise how confusing the editing is and how useful a computer based editor would be. Along came Dominic Hawken who wrote an editor, this is what it says on the back of the box:-

From THE DELUXE CORPORATION:

PRO-EX is a unique piece Of software, brought to you by The Deluxe Corporation, developed and written with the full co-operation of Akai. When used in conjunction with the Akai SO1 Digital Sampler, it offers the user ultimate control over the machine, with the following amazing features:

* Full on-screen sample waveform display, taking the strain out of finding start, end and loop points. Samples of any length can be plotted on any size of Atari ST, using a specially developed '3D' imaging process.

* A complete graphic representation of the Akai SO1 can be displayed, allowing full visual editing of all the front panel buttons.

* A 'Program Edit' screen, which displays all of the parameters within a complete program on screen at the same time, allowing the user to edit any parameter with the mouse. Programs can be selected with ease and samples monitored audibly at will.

* A complete 'Overview' of the SO1 can be displayed, showing every single parameter from all eight programs at the same time, allowing easy comparison between settings. Any of the programs can then be zoomed' back into the 'Program Edit' page at the click of the mouse.

* The program will run in high resolution with no restrictions, on any Atari ST computer, including the 520 ST, 520 STF, 520 STFM, 520 STE, 1040 ST, 1040 STF, 1040STFM and 1040 STE.

* The software communicates with the Akai SO1 entirely over MIDI. Only two simple MIDI leads are required to enjoy all of its benefits. The system can be up and running in under two minutes...

(c) Dominic Hawken 1993
(Bristol, England)

Sounds impressive eh? Plus Dominic Hawken gave a contact telephone number in the back of the manual, so I thought I'd call him, I did and he is a thoroughly decent chap. I seem to recall he said that he wrote the software in TurboPascal whilst working for Akai (UK).

Since publishing this web page Dominic has read my effort here and passed comments, needles to say he still is a thoroughly decent chap!
 

Does it work?

Do I want PRO-EX?

Funky, groovy and simple, get MIDIed up and you'll be burning the carpet in no time.
It doesn't do lots of wonderful things but it gets you grooving quickly because you are not wrestling with a complex user interface. The program doesn't crash, it's written in fast compact code, it really does get excellent performance from the Atari ST and I like it.

It is one of these programs that opens itself out in a painless way as begin to need more features, computer geeks this one is NOT for you.

This product evolved from Sequencer 1, to Sequencer 1+ to Breakthru which I believe had score notation too, which would be the one to get. Plus and Breakthru had a sample playing feature but my guess is they were more trouble than they were worth because the ST needed a sound cartridge and if yours wasn't compatible... actually I've not tried Replay16 and Sequencer1+, remember that Replay16 was equivalent to AWE32 in popularity.

Sequencer 1 takes SMPTE too, I've often coupled a TascamTSR8 through an XR300 MIDI/SMPTE box to Sequencer 1+ and all worked fine!?... well almost..no fault of Sequencer 1.

These guys from Gajits, Manchester, England deserve an award for an excellent product, go on find a fault if you can. Even the manual is excellent in every respect!

Original cost for Sequencer1 was £89
 
 
 

After the excitement of Hybrid Arts CZ Android I just had to get something similar for the DX100, I couldn't find one from Hybrid Arts so I got the one from Syndromic Music, Soundbits Software, (I think NewYork, USA)

Arh..well not quite up to the same standard as CZ Android and it would crash, some features on the librarian didn't work at all.

It did do what you'd expect to the DX100, not a wizz screen display as CZ Android but usable. It would randomize voices, you could easily change parameters and it was sometimes quicker than pressing buttons on the DX100 itself.

I paid £45 in a music shop called A1 Music in Manchester, England for this program back in 1987. Not a brilliant program but usable.
 
 
 
 

This consisted of a software bundle and a 16 bit A/D, D/A cartridge. The software has 4 main sub-packages but the main one I bought it for was to sample sound, edit it and send it back out again. Yep it does all that. The editing software isn't wizz but it's acceptable for most things. It has fade in/out, filters (rather basic), cut/paste, normalization etc.

The hardware lump is a grey box plugging into the STs expansion port, it has 2 phonos one audio in the other audio out plus a little knob for input level. The unit is designed by a company called AVR (audio, visual research I guess) and performs as desired, a good unit.

It is a competent product the documents are very good, full explanation of all things related to sample, addresses of third party add ons, how to modify or add code etc., a really good manual. The program is intuitive, everything works it hasn't crashed on me, a good quality product from microdeal.

The other programs are for building up a drum box type thing, a little sequencer using the sounds etc. Original price £125

Once more because this product is well out of production and no longer supported I have included a zipped up file of the Master Disc which comes with the Replay 16 - get it here (331k) But note I haven't checked it for copy keys, this is just a file copy done in Win95 from the Atari disc.
 
 
 

Another excellent program it does what you would expect, it really does work 100% no bugs no crashes nothing stupid.

With this program you can get sound data from your synth or sampler (not recommended) move them about, make synth banks, upload them, download them, mix them up, swap to another synth and do the same, wizz back to your sequencer..then back..upload, move, transfer....etc..etc Yes indeed it does all that without crashing and will talk to a hard drive if you have one connected.

For example I can talk to my Alesis Quadraverb, CZ101, DX7, Ensoniq ESQ1 etc. all effectively at the same time, that is say by using MIDI thru or a MIDI distribution box.

Chameleon had its most use for arranging banks on the DX7s, it has voice banks and performance banks which all can get confusing, plus who wants to program a DX7? The best way is to wade through 1000s of third party voices and select the ones you like, Chameleon is perfect for this laborious task.

I bought Chameleon on the second hand market simply because it was no longer a current product of Keynote Music Software, Bath, England, full credit goes to Ian Paterson and Justine Mills for the work they have put into this product because it is one of the best.
 
 
 
 
 
 

Anybody who has one of these Ensoniq Mirage thingies will know just how confusing all those little buttons and parameters become even just after a few minutes. This program was intended to try and make the whole process of sampling and editing easier, more importantly the program tries to take out some of the computer programming needed so the Mirage can manage its sample and voice data.

Well that's the theory, I've started to use this program and .. hey these guys may have something. It's a slow process learning the program but it looks to have a lot of really useful features.
For example it has a page where you can mathematically generate a waveform based from a 4 oscillator model, it allows FM synthesis too, everything an analogue synth does... this is interesting.
It allows samples to be faded in, out, chopped up, moved, copied etc. it is looking very good. There are screens to change the ADSRs for filter, filter mod, amplitude, amplitude modulation etc.

In fact I would say you can learn much more about the Mirage by using this program than you could without it. The more I experiment with this software the more I like it and the more I like the Mirage. I'd send you a copy of this program but Steinberg have dongled it.
 

The hot news here is that I have now written my own fully featured Mirage Editor application that does everything you'll ever need. It runs on Win95, communicates with the Mirage over MIDI etc. Most wonderful. Go see my Mirage page where you can download it free of charge.
 
 
 

This was the first professionally produced software I bought for my Atari. I remember opening the package after driving 120 miles sat in my car outside a company whilst waiting for a job interview. The interview was the worst ever! (my big mouth - loose brain) and I got a speeding ticket on my way back home. An interview to be forgotten, however the upside of the day was...

CZ Android, first class, produced by Tom Bajoras and Daniel Sofer of Hybrid Arts Inc., 11920 West Olympic Boulevard, LosAngeles, 90064 in 1986 thanks guys for a wonderful product.

You can do everything imaginable to your CZ101 using this simple easy to use and fully functional software, better still it doesn't crash.

The program is easy to follow, does everything you want, the manual is one of the best everything is explained in easy to understand language, wow.

Randomize voices, librarian, piks of envelopes, move envelopes with mouse the lot, this software is it!

It cost me about £80 in 1986 and it is worth every penny. Got a CZ101? get CZ Android.
 
 
 

oh boy... here we go. I have always avoided the Steinberg/emagic products as they are usually so clever they trip over themselves so making them very frustrating to use. So after many years I finally decided to lay out the cash and go for it.
Although Sound Diver does work and is very useful it can be a real pain to set up on your computer. It's one of those programs where you can spend more time finding a work-a-round.

I guess emagic have, through clever software taken the screen control off Microsoft and produced their own version so they can have the necessary control over the display. All well and good but that could cause you so much frustration. Simple things like tabbed controls where you can change options become obscured, parameters get covered up, values don't change in the way you'd expect. In fact it is all too easy to get into a complete muddle so rendering your system unusable. A real pain. I suspect the problem lies with needing extra software add ons such as DirectX, setting up ini files with additional lines.
 

Also checkout emagic's program anti-copy idea. In theory it's a good idea but in practise it will can cause you big problems. Basically emagic have written some secret code onto the cd-rom, your computer has to read that code, very often you will not be able to access it, your nightmare starts.
 

Yes SoundDiver can be very useful, but beware the anomalies of the software can drive you to total frustration. I bought version 2 which came with version 3 (getting this was a major hassle). I had to dump it because it just caused so many problems and taking too much of my time to get it to work. It offered things I didn't need at the expense of hard disk space and computer speed.

There is help in the form of a Yahoo user group, the main man driving it really does try hard to resolve people's problems, full marks.
 

My recommendation would be to look and try all synth editor/librarians before buying.
 
 

MIDI Disk Tools for the Ensoniq EPS16+ sampler, from Rubber Chicken.

This is a complete disaster on my PC, crash and terminate sums it up. Poor old Garth doesn't know what to do. It only seems to work on Windows USA, I know of other non-USA users for who this software is unusable.

See my comments on the Ensoniq EPS16+ page for a fuller description why I this software frustrates me. In simple terms: crash, crash , crash, crash. As you can guess, I can't use this software at all. I hope Garth can fix it because it's a good concept, in fact a very good concept just suspect implementation. The errors seem to be thrown up by the Visual Basic in which this program is written.
 
 
 

This is more like it. This program works just fine move, copy, format etc. all your Ensoniq floppy disks. Although it may seem a little old fashioned by being a DOS program it does work. Yes I like this program, I have had NO problems with it. Gary will send you a small user's guide with the disk, it reads very well, easy to follow.

Overall a very useful and well presented product, full marks. I like software that works properly without hassle with easy to follow supporting documentation. Buy.