Comments on: This Is What State Of The Art MIDI Software Looked Like In 1986

By: chris maeder

chris maeder — Mon, 27 Feb 2023 00:00:55 +0000

I had 2 setups like this and actually toured with the c64 as a sequencer.I still have all the hardware and software including interfaces,3 c128’s 3 drives.haven’t fired them up since 1992 (31 years wow) I plan to do a video if they work.well see.

By: John Rossi

John Rossi — Tue, 19 Jul 2022 22:55:55 +0000

In reply to RJ. Notator was my first sequencer, also. Oddly, I still have it in its original box but my Atari is long since been gone.

By: yoyodyne

yoyodyne — Wed, 13 Jul 2022 16:39:32 +0000

My first MIDI rig was a Commodore-64 rocking Dr T’s KCS controlling a Korg Poly-800, a Casio CZ-101 and a Roland TR-505.

By: guest

guest — Thu, 07 Jul 2022 04:52:40 +0000

What a cool program – does the BBC do anything like this now? If not, why did they stop?

By: guest

guest — Thu, 07 Jul 2022 04:45:11 +0000

In reply to John. In 1986? You were 10 years ahead of your time! I hope you bought stock and sold it before it crashed and SGI went bankrupt.

By: Coco

Coco — Thu, 07 Jul 2022 02:08:28 +0000

In reply to S-Trigger Dave. That was also my setup... I was the Zen Master of cassette-to-cassette bouncing.

By: Substance242

Substance242 — Wed, 06 Jul 2022 08:17:26 +0000

In reply to John. Wait, really? :-O

By: Coco

Coco — Wed, 06 Jul 2022 01:52:00 +0000

In reply to HIM.

Wow!! That was my first computer too… that and a dot matrix printer to go with it… It had a single 720kb drive and I was going to get another external floppy drive to go with it (that’s the setup we used at college) … anyway, the sales guy did the hard sell and convinced me to buy an external hard drive instead (never heard of a hard drive before)… I loaded every single floppy I had onto the HD and barely came to a third of it’s capacity… I thought it was a waste of money and I’d blown my dough… the HD size?… 20Mb (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) … remember these were the days when you had the whole Mac OS on a floppy drive… I used to have a floppy with Word and all my assignments on it…. those definitely were the days 😎

By: RJ

RJ — Tue, 05 Jul 2022 21:05:56 +0000

Still use an Atari running C-Lab Notator. Kind of amazed it still works. Can be temperamental, but in exactly the same way it was originally.

By: S-Trigger Dave

S-Trigger Dave — Tue, 05 Jul 2022 19:58:46 +0000

I used two cassette decks and a lot of cussing. :))

By: Ian Matthew Taylor

Ian Matthew Taylor — Tue, 05 Jul 2022 19:18:26 +0000

That episode of that show in 1986 literally changed my life. Been a synth musician ever since. Thanks for sharing that made me a bit misty.

By: Dustbunnies

Dustbunnies — Tue, 05 Jul 2022 16:44:05 +0000

Steinberg’s Pro-24 (followed by Cubase, when originally released) with the SMP-24 timecode & MIDI port expander, running on Atari STe & STfm computers; all SMPTE-locked to the sync track of an Akai MG14D, along with a Sequential Studio 440. Later added an Atari Mega4 ST running Sound Tools for mixdown/editing, and a Panasonic SV-3500 DAT for final dump.

By: John

John — Tue, 05 Jul 2022 14:08:22 +0000

I used a Silicon Graphics Origin 200 with csound.

By: Mark Griffiths

Mark Griffiths — Tue, 05 Jul 2022 11:54:45 +0000

I used Pro-24 and then Steinberg’s Cubeat back in the late 80s with a Roland U20. That then went into a Tascam 6-4 mixer and Tascam 34 4 track tape machine – final mix down to a Revox A77.

By: HIM

HIM — Tue, 05 Jul 2022 09:28:57 +0000

i still have my first mac, a “Mac Plus” and a copy of one of the first midi apps, and it all works still!! now all i need is to find a vintage mac midi interface! should be easy right? right…