_____________________________________________________________________________ <<< OctaMed Professional V5.00c - A review >>>  by Richard Booth  _____________________________________________________________________________ Ed: Megadisc is now distributing this program for RBF Software in the UK - price is $65 plus $2 p&p.  ¿? 35 ¿*? 35 ¿*? 35 ¿*? 35 ¿*? 35 ¿*? 35 ¿*? 35 ¿*? 35 ¿*? 35 ¿*? 35 ¿? A few years ago, an amazingly talented programmer by the name of Teijo Kinnunen released a music editor into the public domain which he called MED (short for Music EDitor). MED was basically a copy of another earlier program called Soundtracker, in that it used a sequence-list style editing environment with numerical codes representing notes. The major difference between the two programs, however, was that MED was a whole lot easier to learn and use, and contained some very useful features that Soundtracker lacked. Since then MED has seen about 2 dozen new versions, each one offering more features than the last. About 2 years ago, MED gained the capability to play 8 instruments at once, and so was renamed OctaMed. The current version of OctaMed is V5.00c, which claims to be the most major upgrade to date, with a competely new user interface (which, believe me, will really blow your mind if you have used any previous version of MED much), and significant enhancements added to just about every aspect of OctaMED's operation. THE BASICS OF OCTAMED Just as songs in traditional music notation are made up of bars, songs in OctaMed are made up of blocks. Blocks are edited using the Tracker editor or the new(ish) Notation editor (which approximates traditional notation), and are then strung together in any order you desire within the Sequence editor to make the actual song. The Block/Sequence combination is a very powerful system, and once you have familiarised yourself with the basics you will be amazed how fast it is to construct a decent-sounding song. Instruments used in the song are usually digitised sound samples, that is, recorded sound turned into digital data for the computer's use. However OctaMed 5 may also use synthetic sounds, or even MIDI, which means that OctaMed can connect to and use the sounds of a MIDI keyboard or other MIDI instruments. Anyone using this program seriously will soon collect a wide range of samples for use in their songs. One of the areas in which OctaMed shines is in the management of these sample libraries. Once OctaMed knows where you keep your samples, loading them is simply a matter of clicking on the name of the instrument in the sample list. Once you are happy with your song, you can choose to save it in any one of four file formats, with or without compression. Three of these are MED song formats, and the fourth is Soundtracker format. OctaMed also loads Soundtracker and ProTracker modules (almost) faultlessly. WHAT'S NEW IN OCTAMED 5? The first thing that struck me when I loaded OctaMed 5 was the new look of the program. OctaMed now uses standard system gadgets and colours, so it looks much more system-friendly and seems to fit in better with the Workbench. However I think not all people will like this change. The blue-and-grey palette which seems to have become the norm for recent programs is a real change for OctaMed, and I can imagine a few people will miss the warmer colours of the older versions. I can say that it doesn't take long to get used to the new look, and anyway the colours can be changed if you really don't like them. Unfortunately the new user interface needs Workbench 2.04 or greater, so users of 1.3 or lower cannot even load the program. One aspect that cannot be faulted in the new version is the addition of standard menus, which in my opinion should have been used from the start. Functions are now quicker to locate, and all commonly used ones have their own hotkeys. One bad thing about old OctaMed versions was that you really had to know where to find the function you were after, because it was quite easy to get lost in all the different sections of the editor. The addition of menus neatly addresses this problem. This should also make OctaMed more attractive to new users. OctaMed has always been divided up into a number of editors, such as the sample editor, synthsound editor, track editor etc. Now each editor has its own moveable window, and any or all of them can be open at a time. The screen does get a bit cluttered when all the editing windows are open, however overall this is an improvement on the previous system. In fact, it is hard to find areas in which improvements haven't been made. The sample editor now boasts many new functions and a completely new layout, as do the notation editor, sequence editor, instrument parameters window etc. The whole program has become much faster and easier to use. The documentation of OctaMed is now in AmigaGuide format, which means that people using Workbench 2 or greater can benefit from the remarkably convenient feature of being able to click on an interesting keyword in the manual and being taken straight to the appropriate entry. This makes for complications if a printed copy of the manual is required, but the trade-off is definitely worth it. CONCLUSIONS OctaMed has been my music editor of choice for some time now, and the new version has reaffirmed my faith in the talents of Mr Kinnunen to keep OctaMed on top. The new program is better in every area, and though it is a bit daunting to behold at first, once you play around with it for a while you will be amazed by how simple the program is to use. The function you require always seems to be right under your mouse pointer. I don't hesitate to recommend it to anyone interested in Amiga music, from the complete novice to the experienced computer composer, and considering the ridiculously low price of $65 it has to be the best value commercial music program around.  ¿? 35 ¿*? 35 ¿*? 35 ¿*? 35 ¿*? 35 ¿*? 35 ¿*? 35 ¿*? 35 ¿*? 35 ¿*? 35 ¿?