From: andyf@uk.sun.com (Andrew Fox - Sun UK - Answer centre)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.acorn
Subject: Re: MIDI card
Date: 16 Nov 92 03:35:05 GMT
Organization: Sun Microsystems Ltd.
Distribution: world
Reply-To: andyf@uk.sun.com
NNTP-Posting-Host: yama.uk.sun.com

In article 11900 ser638@cdc835.cdc.polimi.it (Cristian Ghezzi) writes:

>I need a MIDI card for my A310.
>I know that The Serial Port sold a "Sampler and MIDI card" once
>upon a time, but I can't find any more adverts in the mags.
>I have faxed them two times but didn't get a reply.

>I think that buying a sampler and a MIDI card at the same time may
>be a good idea, but I never read a review of that board so I don't
>know anything about the quality.

>Do you know anything about The Serial Port's podule?
>Is it still in production? Is it good value for money?
>How can I buy one, if not from them?


The serial port card is now being marketed by Vertical Twist, so you
should be able to find them in the latest Acorn magazines. Failing that,
their products are now distributed by a company called Greyhound Marketing (?),
so you should be able to get one by talking direct to them.

As far as quality goes, it's pretty good.
The sound sampler works very well, producing clean, distortion free samples
every time (dependent on sampling rate, obviously).
On the software front, the board used to be seriously let down. You were provided
with a 'bare bones' sampling package i.e. record and playback and a couple of
programs to patch 'Armadeus' so that it would work with the board.
Thankfully the new 'Pulse' sampling software that is now supplied is a 
considerable improvement, though still not as good as Armadeus.

When it comes to handling midi, several things are lacking.
Firstly, there is no midi thru provided, which could be a problem.
Secondly, I don't believe that the MIDI module supports all the
latest SWI's that are present in the Acorn podule.
Having said that, all of the software that I tried worked okay.

Personally, I bought the board second hand, just for the sound sampling.
I already had an Acorn midi podule, so midi didn't really matter to me.
For sampling, you can't really go wrong at the price, the midi is simply
a nice extra.

If you are really serious about doing midi work, I would suggest that you try
either the Acorn podule, or EMR's midi sampler podule. 
The EMR product is obviously more expensive than the Serial Port alternative,
but it is completely Acorn compliant and will obviously work with EMR's 
extensive range of MIDI software packages. If, like me, you have already run out
of podule slots, the Serial Port offering gives you an easy way out.

Hope this helps,

Andy.

+-----------------------------+----------------------------------------------+
| Andrew Fox,                 |     'Life, don't talk to me about life.'     |
| Product Support Engineer,   +----------------------------------------------+
| Sun Microsystems Inc.,      |  					     |
| Citygate, Sale,             | Disclaimer:These opinions are mine, assuming |
| Cheshire, M33 1JF,          |            I can remember what I've said.    |
| ENGLAND. +44 (0)61-905-4589 |                                              |
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Newsgroups: comp.sys.acorn