Coco Midi Pro

CoCo MIDI Pro (CMPro) is a full featured MIDI recorder/sequencer written for the Color Computer 3 with 512K of memory and a disk drive or cassette tape recorder. CMPro requires a hardware MIDI interface such as CoCo MIDI or Colorchestra plugged into slot 3 of a MultiPak (or a Y-cable).

CMPro is designed to be easy to use as well as powerful. It can turn your Color Computer into a recording studio, complete with a sixteen track recorder, punch in/out capability, automatic synchronization, and extensive editing capabilities.

MIDI synthesizers have revolutionized the performance of music. Capabilities that were only dreams just a few years ago are now realities for almost any musician. CMPro lets the real musician in you blossom forth. No longer are your fingers or lips in the way because now you can record as many times as you need to get the perfect "take". And then you can edit and manipulate the music until you come up with just the right effect.

What CoCo MIDI Pro Can Do

CoCo MIDI Pro can be thought of as a 16 track tape recorder. Working with a MIDI synthesizer, it can record what you play on the synthesizer. Then you can play the music back through the synthesizer. If you find that the music needs to be modified, CoCo MIDI Pro provides you with a set of editing tools. Mistakes can be deleted and sections re-recorded. Special effects such as fade in/out or tempo changes can easily be added. Once you have the music just right, you can save it on tape or disk.

CoCo MIDI Pro has a recording resolution of 240 ticks per beat, supports 16 tracks, and editing is done with a standard event list type display. The maximun number of notes is 16384; the maximum song time is about 4000 beats.

Record and playback function in both master and slave modes with full support for the Song Position Pointer convention. Up to 24 simultaneous notes may be recorded and played back. Each track may be muted to prevent music on it from being played. in addition, one or more tracks may be set to "solo" which automatically mutes all other tracks.

There is no limit on the number of channels recorded on each track. Combine this with the editing function which can "extract" a given channel to any other track, there is an enormous amount of flexibility in how you record and edit music. In addition, recorded music is merged with existing music on a track. In this way you can easily over-dub music. Traditional "punch in" and "punch out" is also supported.

Setting Up CoCo MIDI Pro

CMPro requires the use of a hardware MIDI interface in order to connect to your synthesizer. Currently supported devices include the CoCo MIDI pack formerly produced by Speech Systems, Colorchestra formerly produced by Horizon Software, and the CoCo MIDI pack produced by Rulaford Research.

Be sure that you have correctly installed your MIDI interface into your Multi-Pak interface in any slot before turning the power on.

Connect the MIDI IN connector on the interface to the MIDI OUT connector on the synthesizer, and the MIDI OUT connector on the interface to the MIDI IN connector on the synthesizer. Double check to make sure those connections are right.

If you are using a "Y" cable instead of a Multi-Pak, be sure that you have set up your computer in a place where it is unlikely to be bumped or moved.

Make a backup copy of the master CoCo MIDI Pro disk. Put the master copy in a safe place. The copy that you use should NOT have a write protect tab on it.

Run CMPro by typing LOADM"CMP" (or CLOADM"CMP":EXEC if you are using a tape system). In a few seconds an introductory screen will display; press any key to continue. If the program does not appear to load correctly, make sure that the disk you are using does not have a write protect tab on it!

If you are using CMPro with a Multi-Pak, you need to tell the program which slot of the Multi-Pak the MIDI interface is plugged in before you go any further. Press the F and then the C keys; a box listing different configuration items will appear. Press the down arrow key (at the right hand side of the keyboard) until the cursor is on the line Labeled "MULTIPAK SLOT #". Type the number of the slot (1-4) and then press the ENTER key. If you are using a "Y cable" or a cassette tape recorder then you don't need to worry about this. We'll talk more about configuration later.

CoCo MIDI Pro makes use of "tracks" into which you can record music. You can think of a track as pretty much the same thing as you would a track on a tape recorder. The difference is that you have more tracks available and you can easily edit every note and detail on a track.