Deja Vu
I've been dragged out of retirement to carry on the non-commercial
software crusade. If you find yourself regularly using any of the
software reviewed in these pages do take the trouble to register as
this encourages the author to continue development.
There's so much excellent software around making these pages is an
achievement! For this reason most of the featured software scores well
above average - we can't devote space to mediocre software!
Joe Connor
editor@ataricomputing.com"
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Reviews
Software: AudioCreate v2.6 |
Category: MIDI/music
| Reviewer: Carl Lofgren |
Status: Shareware |
System: All Ataris |
Score: 45% |
AudioCreate is a sample editor for all TOS compatible computers. It's
written by Simon Dehaese from France. The editor allows you to edit the
samples in a number of ways. You can copy, mix, merge and even draw
samples! It also shows off with a couple of useful effects, such as
echo, amplify, fade in/out and mute. The latest version supports
several sample formats including important ones such as AVR and WAV.
Most of the program is in English, but some dialogs are still
untranslated.
AudioCreate is Shareware and costs a fiver to register. If you are
looking for a sample editor in the Public Domain, maybe AudioCreate is
something for you. AudioCreate won't start a revolution, but it works
as advertised.

Edit your samples with French AudioCreate
Software: CPU MOD |
Category: MIDI/music |
Reviewer: Carl Lofgren |
Status: Freeware |
System: STe and Falcons only |
Score: 70% |
CPU MOD is written by French programmer Patrick Ruiz, and yes... it's
another module player - but one with a difference this time! The author
claims the sound quality is far better than the other popular module
players such as Protracker, Paula etc. This is due to a totally
re-written replay routine.
CPU MOD supports the following frequencies: 6258, 12517, 25033 and if
your CPU is clocked at 16MHz (or higher) modules are replayed with
crystal clarity at 50066Hz. The usual play, stop, rewind and fast
forward buttons are present, as you'd expect, but there's also a repeat
and mono/stereo switch. CPU MOD is easy to operate and there's also a
512Kb and TTP versions available. Programmers should be interested in
the source code which is provided in both assembler and Omicron Basic.

CPU MOD claims to be one of the best sounding trackers non commercial
trackers available
Software: Maggie 20 |
Category: Disk magazine |
Reviewer: Chris Good |
Status: Freeware |
System: Falcon (ST version available) |
Score: 90% |
Maggie fills an entire HD disk and has to be unzipped to your hard disk
before running. With other magazines adopting the HTML format Maggie
stands out thanks to its slick custom interface specially designed for
the Falcon by the Reservoir Gods. There are 16 colourful icons across
the top of the screen from which you select the articles and the
inevitable scrolling text along the bottom. There's a rather annoying
starfield displayed by default behind text articles which makes it hard
to concentrate on the text but thankfully this can be turned off as can
the music - sorry boys, I'd rather choose my own music!

The opening title screen
Content is up to the high standard set in previous issues with a
mixture of news, interviews, reviews, letters, features and even a
quest which asks you questions on what you've just read, so pay
attention! There are reports from the Symposium and Adrenaline coding
parties to keep demo freaks up to speed. The programming section
includes a list of 32 Falcon STOS extensions, an interview with Tony
"STOSSER" Greenwood and an explanation of how the Maggie 18 intro was
coded.
The MAGGIE MUSICAL EXPRESS has Underworld and there's the usual
selection of silly stuff including The Atari Cheese Shop, Poetry
Corner, Gus Spank, Taff's bottom and an interview with me to really
lower the tone.
On the serious side there's a review of NeoN and a surprising
comparison between a PC and a Falcon - well worth a disk of anyone's
money.
Software: Warp Issue 4 |
Category: Disk magazine |
Reviewer: Joe Connor |
Status: Freeware |
System: Any ST |
Score: 70% |
The Warp disk magazine, edited by Keefy, is a real treat for fans of
the Star Trek adventures.

The intro screen
The opening screen hands over to the main
screen which features a Star Trek the next generation style control
panel with background atmospheric sounds. Articles can be selected
using the cursor keys, which changes the planet displayed on the view
screen and plays a random sound sample culled from the original and
next generation series. Pressing the space bar selects the article,
plays a "standby for an incoming transmission" sample then the text is
loaded and displayed in the custom file viewer.
There's plenty to read with 40 articles to navigate including on-line
interviews with stars from the original, TNG and Voyager series
including Patrick Stewart (Picard) Kate Mulgrew (Janeway), Leonard
Nimoy (Spock), Tim Russ (Tuvok), Robert Duncan McNeill (Paris) along
with chat from conventions, Treknology - which explains Warp speed in
frightening technospeak and the usual contacts, letters and editorial
pages.

The main screen display looks just like the "real" thing
I was itching to select the various buttons on the control panel but
there doesn't appear to be any mouse control at the moment. The shell,
created by the STOS maestro Tony Greenwood, is probably still under
construction so I'll just mention I'd like Falcon and a more Star Trek
like text displayer screen. These are however minor niggles in an
otherwise excellent magazine which boldly gets my approval.
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