*-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=* * Aegis Sonix (tm) Copyright © 1987 Aegis Development, Inc.* *-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=*   Notes on release version 2.0: ============================= Aegis is proud to release SONIX and there are a few things not mentioned in the manual that are mentioned in this ReadME file. Please take the time to print out this file and store it in the box with your manual. You can delete this file after reading it to conserve more disk space. Sonix has been a long time in the making. It's finally here! For those who have waited so long, we at Aegis development would like to say thank you. SEND IN YOUR REGISTRATION CARD!!! The registration card allows you to upgrade to future versions of Sonix. By sending in your registartion card, we will automatically keep you informed of upgrades, new modules and the like. The Aegis Preferred Customer: ----------------------------- Inside the Sonix box you will find a registration form for the Aegis preferred customer. By filling out this form and sending it back along with $60.00, you are entitled to a year of free upgrades and also free membership to Aegis Private BBS. This is particularly valuable for people who own more than 1 piece of Aegis software! The Aegis Private BBS has a vast library of Instruments, Scores and Sampled sounds for you to download along with a complete library of Amiga Public domain software and Separate conferences for Animation, CAD, Music, Graphics, Programming and it supports multiple computers. Notes on Sonix_Data df1: disk *-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-* 1.0: This disk is the companion disk to the Aegis Sonix (tm) program from Aegis Development, Inc. 1.1: There are two directories on this disk, Scores and Instruments. Instruments (Dir) Scores (Dir) 1.11 Instruments directory: --------------------- The instruments directory contains some of the earlier Musicraft instruments from 1985 as well as newer ones created by -=>Pebber Brown. 1.12 Scores Directory ---------------- The scores directory contains a few demonstration scores to show off the sound capabilities of Sonix and the Amiga. Play these for anyone who doubts the sound capability of the Amiga and watch their reaction! Making a Sonix data disk: ------------------------- If you wish to create your own Sonix instruments, you will find that the disks cannot hold them due to being almost completely full as shipped. To make your own Sonix data disk, follow these simple steps: * Insert a blank disk in drive DF1: * From the CLI, type Format drive df1: name "Sonix_Data2" * Press * The screen will prompt you and format the disk After you have formatted the disk, you will need to create both Instruments and Scores directories. * Type ' Makedir Df1:Instruments ' * Type ' Makedir Df1:Scores ' You will now have a blank Sonix data disk to use in creating new instruments and scores. If you want to modify any of the existing instruments, you must copy the instruments from the supplied Sonix data disk to the Instruments directory on the blank disk. The easy way to do this is to make a backup copy of the supplied Sonix data disk and then delete the scores from it. This will give you a disk with 138 instruments to use in creating your own scores, and also give you enough disk space to create new instruments if you like. Dancing_on_MARS-=>PB -------------------- This score was written by -=>PB and uses both analog sounds as well as the regular snare, tom and bassdrum samples. The Simulated talking is actually an analog sound created with the waveform editor and synthesizer controls. YES it can be done using just the synthesizer! The Martians instrument was created by setting the Portamento,LFO, Phase and Depth to full and then repeatedly selecting the 3rd Harmonic while the harmonic ampount slider was set to full. HammerHEAD.-=>PB ---------------- This song was written as a tribute to Jan Hammer. There are three "Amiga solos" in the song. All three solos were created with the intention of simulating an actual human solo. Listen to the pseudo-Jeff Beck licks in the second solo! This was done by using heavily syncopated 16th notes and dotted eights in combination with the IFF Violin instrument modified for sharper attack and vibrato delay. The percussion sounds were created with a little trickery: ---------------------------------------------------------- If you load the tomdrum instrument and place it extremely high in the register on th staff, it will sound like woodblocks. If you use the Snaredrum instrument as a bassdrum in the low register of the bass clef, it sounds much more powerful than using the bassdrum instrument. Notes on writing percussion parts: ---------------------------------- 1: Percussion parts sound much better if you keep the actual notes diatonically in harmony with any layered instruments. 2: Set the tempo fast. Think of half notes as quarter notes and the sixteenths as 32nd notes. This gives you much more compositional flexibility. 3: For accents and more kick, you can DOUBLE parts into two tracks at once. This creates a much louder sound! The Plieades.-=>PB ------------------ This score was written with the intention of demonstrating the polychord voice leading talked about in Appendix B of the Sonix manual. Each chord in the composition was created using the root, 7th, 9th and 11th or 13th of the scale. This type of progression is used in sound tracks for movies. Each chord is the result of two superimposed triads with certain tones omitted to fit within the four tracks of the Amiga's internal sound architecture. The name Plieades is chosen from the galaxy Plieades in the Orion nebula. Sarabande.J.S.Bach ------------------ This music was written for the lute by Johann Sebastian Bach. It is intentionally unfinished so you can give it a try. The sheet music is available at any public libary and you can take a look at each individual part to see how it was tran- scribed for the Amiga. We like the version of this song that Al Di Meola plays on his first LP "Land of the Midnight Sun". Jays Song --------- On the internal DF0: disk there is only one composition called "Jays song". Aegis wishes to thank Jay Kottler for contributing his original song for Sonix. Jay was the person who wrote most of the scores that appeared way back in 1985 on the first beta versions of Musicraft (tm). Sonix and Musicraft (tm) ------------------------ You can download any score created with Musicraft(tm) (using Diga! of course) from any BBS that has scores available to download and load them into Sonix. To do this just RENAME the score with the extension of ".smus". SMUS stands for Simple MUsic Interchange File Format. The original Musicraft scores had the extension of ".score" added to them. So to load any Musicraft score into Sonix, go into the CLI and rename it as ".smus". For example, the score called Axel F.score would be named Axel F.smus We hope you enjoy Sonix. The future of this product and its upgrades depends on you. Spread the word and NOT the disk. Aegis Devlopment, Inc. 2210 Wilshire #277 Santa Monica, CA 90403