PD & Shareware

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"



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.


[Home] [Info] [Back] [Next]