=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- APPLE II MUSIC & SOUND FORUM CONFERENCE LOG Date: May 22, 1991 10 PM ET Topic: *GUEST* - Roger Wagner discussing HyperStudio Forum Leader: Joyce Madden (AFL JoyceM), Forum Assistant: Gene Koh (AFA Gene) Forum Consultants: Greg Dib (ELECTMUSIC), Ed Rosenblatt (AFC Eddie), Lindsay Hough (LindsayGS) Copyright (c) 1991 America Online All Rights Reserved =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- AFL JoyceM Welcome, Roger :) I might remind all of you who are here now, that Protocol will be enforcedtonight. That means: type in a ? to ask a question and a ! to make a comment. You will be called upon in turn. FRO BOY What's Protocol? Theodorick Protocol = Thought Control....:) AFL JoyceM Just what I said, Fro Boy :) Theodorick oops, that should be "!Protocol = Though Control" AFL JoyceM Fro Boy, when we use Protocol, it allows the questions to be answered, without being interrupted. Nuzz Wow, Roger has the whole INC here :) SandyB2 Identify the INC. Is Eric here? RWagnerInc Just me for the moment... Theodorick How do they all fit around the keyboard? AFL JoyceM Okay...I think we should get started. First of all, Protocol will be enforced tonight. That means that if you want to ask a question you need to type in a ?. If you want to make a comment, then type in a !. You will be called upon in turn of your ? or !. I would like to welcome, Roger Wagner of Roger Wagner Publishing, Inc. Probably the most important software they (he) have published is HyperStudio. Roger, would you like to make some comments, statements, jokes :) and then we can get started. RWagnerInc Thanks. I thought I'd begin by mentioning some general areas we've been busy in, and then respond to general questions. If someone's interested in the teasers, we can pursue those, and/or other topics as they're raised. As you know, HyperStudio is a hypermedia/multimedia authoring system, and a big part of that is sound. It includes a digitizer card and microphone, and also a disk of "clip-sounds" that you can add to stacks as you create them. It's hard to believe, but HyperStudio has now been out for more than 2 years (!!!), and our efforts lately have been in the area of add-ons, and other enhancements designed to ultimately integrate as many forms (and sources) of information as possible. Recent enhancements include: Ability to play CD-audio, as well as audio from laser disc players. Also MIDI sequenced files, and interfacing with MIDI instruments (record and playback). There's also support for ACE format files that many people don't know about. We've released a disk of Xcmds (extended commands) for Sound Smith, and Triad (Mike Nuzzi and Friends) has provided "clip-tunes" and the Xcmds for playing the Apple MIDI files. At this point, let's take some questions. GA BrianW40 Several questions, How do you play audio CD's? Can I use my CD player? RWagnerInc The first critical link is the ability of the computer to talk to the CD player. Since the Apple and NEC drives have a SCSI interface, and this is supported by GSOS, these are the only current devices you can use. (sorry about your home unit). Software-wise, you can use HyperStudio Xcmds Vol.1, which includes an Xcmd (called CDPlay), that will play a track, or even partial segment from any audio CD using the Apple or NEC drives. Although Xcmds sound pretty technical, from just a user standpoint, they're not difficult at all to use. To play track 3, for example, you would just enter "CDPlay +T3" as the Xcmd command. BrianW40 When you say NEC, do you mean I can use my TurboGraphix 16 CD-ROM Player? RWagnerInc I'm not sure of the exact model number of the NEC drive that you can use. Digital Express sells the driver for it. Maybe someone here knows if the TurboGraphix 16 model is the one. ga BrianW40 The NEC CD-ROM (TurboGraphix) has many pins, I'll go check, but it's not laid out like the SCSI conecter (Either end). That's it. Bugs Bugz Ummm, you mentioned ACE sound files? What supports them, XCMDS? RWagnerInc Not directly. It turns out that the current version of Sound Shop, included in the HyperStudio package, can load ACE compressed files, and uncompress them. They're then saved in the standard format for later use by HyperStudio. I know it's not a direct use of ACE files, but it does allow HyperStudio users access to files that have been uploaded in the ACE format. Some adjustment to the playback rate may be necessary, depending on the source of the compressed file. ga Bugs Bugz Hmmm, will they're be an ACE xcmd so one can utilize the saved space? RWagnerInc Apple has recently improved the ACE decompression routines a lot, so I expect we'll do something to directly support this. The old problem was that decompression took almost as long to do as the sound took to play. So, if you had a 5 second sound, there'd be a 5 second delay before it would play while it was being decompressed. Since that's no longer a problem, this is much more usable. No specific date to expect this. AFA Gene Thanks to DangardAce for pointing out that the TB-16 connector is a 50-pin mini connector and a Japanese SCSI convertor is supposedly available (in Japan). StevenJH I've got a pretty big system but still have trouble finding enough space what would you reccomend in the way of ram upgrades to help run Hyperstudio? ga RWagnerInc The biggest memory burden is sounds. There's a few ways to solve this. First, make your sounds disk-based. Recording a sound first in Sound Shop lets you trim dead space off the end of the file, and this can save a lot of disk space. If you haven't seen the disk-based sound option in HyperStudio yet, just check Advanced User in the Preferences menu item (under the Apple). If you're working with kids who are recording sounds in a stack, then just break the stack up into smaller pieces. Since you can branch to another stack just as easy as you can another card, it's an easy way to create stacks that use lots of sounds. If you use MIDI music with SoundSmith, or Mike's MIDI tunes, these take up much less memory for how much sound they create. As to whether to upgrade to more memory, the big problem I have with that is, if you have a 2Mb machine, and create 1 Mb stack, how will you save it on a floppy? Even more important, how will you share it with others? If they don't have a similar system, only a few people will be able to enjoy your efforts. If you're using lots of NDAs, INITs, etc., over and above what HyperStudio needs, then the extra memory will give you a little "breathing room", but you'll still need to go to Stack Info occasionally to make sure you're not making stacks that are too big for others. ga StevenJH One other question why do some NDA's get in the way of Hyperestudio running. Some that I put on I had to take off because it refused to run with them on. RWagnerInc Such as? StevenJH Most of them were screen blankers or savers that I got on boards. RWagnerInc The biggest problem I've seen with NDA's is that they start up tools (in particular the sound tools). NDAs, according to Apple's standards, are just supposed to use the minimum and already started, tools. The reason for this is that if the NDA starts up a tool that can't be started a second time, and then the application tries to use that same tool, errors happen. Unfortunately, sounds fall in this category. So.... if the NDA starts up the sound tools, HyperStudio will not be able to start up when it runs. There are a few other NDA (notably, Mr. Apple, and menu clock) that write to the SHR part of memory, even if SHR is not currently "on". This corrupts the overall operating environment, and sooner or later causes problems. Overall, HyperStudio is written to Apple Design Standards and operates according to all the rules. If your NDA is having a conflict with HyperStudio, chances are it will conflict with other desktop programs as well. Oh well..... AFC Harold Long question.....On CD's, who's SCSI card is supported, and if the RamFast is being supported are buffered seeks being supported (look ahead) to give a smoother "sound snip" to "sound snip" transistion without a delay caused by seeking a new track? RWagnerInc We're just doing standard GSOS calls. In the beginning, RAMFast didn't support the CD-ROM drive, but as I understand it, they now do. In terms of actual performance, I don't have a RAMFast, and so can't tell you how smooth it works. AFC Harold RamFast DOES support CD-Roms.....ROM 2.00k and higher :) Ok..How is the current track to track perf. on say an Apple HS SCSI card? (assume attempt to splice sounds in real time :) RWagnerInc I haven't tried "splicing" separate sounds, but my guess is that it wouldn't work very well. The CDROM drive does seem rather slow in its response (at least for that purpose). AFC Eddie First of all, thanks for Hyperstudio! My question: I have an AE Sonic Blaster in my GS, and have tried, unsuccessfully so far, to use the Sound Shop to digitize with the Sonic Blaster. Is there a way to do this? RWagnerInc I know there is. Every once in a while we get asked that question, and in the end there's an answer as to how to make it work. Unfortunately, I don't have a Sonic Blaster (Dave Klimas, author of Sound Shop does), and so I'm not sure. If you want to send me some Email, I'll dig up the answer again for you. Sorry - not doing to well on some of these questions! AFC Eddie Thanks, Roger, maybe Harold can comment. AFL JoyceM GA Harold. AFC Harold With Audio Animator, if you use ITs driver, then other programs see it right, I strongly suspect same would be true of Sonic Blaster (same basic circuit) AFC Eddie But Sonic Blaster does not have its own driver :( RWagnerInc Basically, we just look at the sound input connector. It may be that in some cases, the Sonic Blaster card is not turned on, and so doesn't deliver the signal. Since our card is not slot based, it's always "on". RobertT79 When I digitize a sound, the playback is 1/3 the speed. Does this sound like a HS digitizer hardware problem? RWagnerInc My guess is that you have a Zip or TWGS? (yes?) RobertT79 A zipGS 8 mhz RWagnerInc What's happening is that the Zip is making the comuter record faster than normal, so the playback (which is independent of the Zip) sounds slower. On either the TWGS or Zip, this can be fixed by setting the AppleWorks/IRQ setting so that the chip slows down when interrupts are disabled. On the TWGS, this can be done with the Control Panel setting. On the Zip GS, you have to either change switch 1-3 (I think that's the right one), or use the Zip.Init. I've got a Zip (and love it!), and have no problems once I changed the DIP switch setting. The other source (for the record) of this type of problem is when people use an arcade game that they set their system speed back to "Normal", and then forget to set the speed back to "fast" when they're done. In those cases, the playback is the "chipmunk" effect. By the way, one other thought on the Sonic Blaster, if you've got both our card and the Sonic Blaster connected together, you do need to remember to unplug our microphone to turn on the input for the Sonic Blaster. The microphone jack is a switch that determines who the active input source is. RobertT79 Thanks a bunch! Love HS! ELECTMUSIC One of my fellow teachers loves working with HyperStudio, and uses it in the classroom. He saw one of your demo's and was curious as to what you recommend for big group presentations in the way of viewing! RWagnerInc Glad you asked that! Mainly because one of the strong points of the GS is that you can go from the monitor output (the RCA jack) to a standard monitor or TV. (or even VCR!!!). When I do presentations, I request a 27" TV or monitor. You don't have to dim the room lights, and it's simple to set up. That works with up to about 50 people in a room. For 100 people, I just get 2 monitors, and so on! If you turn on the VCR (usually on the same AV cart), then the entire presentation is automatically recorded. Great setup, and something not promoted near as widely as it should be. Share this thought with as many people as you can, and it will have a definite positive impact on the appreciation (and sales!) of the GS. AFC Harold GS -> VCR works Great!! :) ELECTMUSIC Follow Up: But in a classroom, the information could be in the way of text and text comes out terrible through the RCA jacks. RWagnerInc Yes, 80 column text doesn't look very good. However, if you're using HyperStudio, then just going to anything larger than 8 pt shaston will make a big difference. I usually use Glencoe 14 or Century 18, and it works fine. I also wanted to mention that even if you're not using a laserdisc player, Apple's Video Overlay Card will give an even better video output for the TV or Monitor. When I travel now, I don't take a GS monitor with me - I use the Hotel TV! ELECTMUSIC Thanks, Roger Nuzz Does RWP offer the digitizer, Mic and speaker as separate items? RWagnerInc Not that we admit to in public. ;) ga AFL JoyceM BTW, great idea on how to have a presention of HyperStudio. RWagnerInc (and the TV saves you $1-3K over a projector) ga Teacher jn Roger, no tie tonight, must be due to the weather! :)) RWagnerInc (are you sure there's no tie?) Teacher jn Not as loud as the others I remember you wearin', being mellow, lately?? DangardAce Are there any plans for supporting the Enhanced Vision Plus or for possibly a good simple animation editor? Kind of a pain to use Paintworks, since its parent company doesn't give a flying burrito about the GS anymore and they're bankrupt besides.. also, the inevitable knee-jerk question, will you whip up a "System 6.0" version if and whem it becomes available? (providing it includes the fabled Animation Tools :) Go ahead. RWagnerInc Since the "fabled 6.0" has a unknown/distant(?) date at this point, it's hard to say what we'll do with that if it exists. Regarding animation, you can create animation as well, if not better in HyperStudio as a working environment than you can in PaintWorks Gold. I'm hoping to see a Visionary GS digiziter board sometime soon. Supporting 3200 color pictures isn't very practical (since the computer can't do anything else while it's displaying the picture), but other graphic modes are interesting. Right now, you can use the Display Xcmd on both the HyperStudio disk, and the Xcmds V.1 package to show 640 and 320 graphics, including 256-color graphics. DangardAce Um, just another question.. I moved when you guys mailed out the Hyper 2.1 upgrade notices.. how do I revivify my warranty, et. al? RWagnerInc All you need to do is write or call with your current address and your registration number. You'll then be all set! DangardAce What's your telephone number again? RWagnerInc 619-442-0522 AFC Eddie Thanks for staying, this will be quick: How can I get information about using HyperStudio to play MIDI sequences through external MIDI devices? AFL JoyceM (good question) RWagnerInc Mike - wanna take this one?! Nuzz Well, we plan to allow the direct Midisynth recording into HS - hope that helps. RWagnerInc Will you be able to play back to the instrument? Nuzz It should be able to do that. But that is a few months away. RWagnerInc Gene? AFA Gene Now that Triad Venture has released its MIDI Synth Xcmds, does RogWagInc plan to release its own xcmnds, "absorb" Triad's as the standard, or ??? ? RWagnerInc Since the Xcmds are independent of HyperStudio, and the "standard" is in the MIDI seq. file, I don't think we need to "absorb" Triad's package. Nuzz Gee I feel like a Bounty tissue :) AFL JoyceM Okay folks....this was a great program and VERY informative. I personally would like to thank Roger for being a guest and we plan to have him back. Thank you, Roger. Very informative. Any parting comments, Roger? AFC Eddie Thanks, Roger! RWagnerInc My pleasure. If anyone has additional questions, feel free to Email them to me, and I'll get you the information you need. Other than that, if anyone has things they would like to see sound/music-wise in HyperStudio, please add them to the "Wish List" folder in the Direct Connect access to RWP, or Email me a message. I continue to believe the GS is the best multimedia machine around, and that its power will bring great things in the coming year, which will be great for everyone! ga ELECTMUSIC Great Program, from a great developer, for a great computer! AFL SandyB Thanks for super hour, Roger. You're unequalled online. AFL JoyceM Thank you Roger, and we are looking forward to continuing using our GS and HyperStudio. Support your Apple II developer! RWagnerInc (can't argue with that!) :) AFA Gene Agreed, you really know how to use the online medium to its greatest effectiveness! Nuzz The best way to show your support is to purchase a RWP product! RWagnerInc Guess that's all for now then. Thanks for the invite, and hope to see you all again soon! AFL JoyceM Night all. And thank you again, Roger. RWagnerInc Good night to everyone. See you all again soon! America Online - 1991