C-Lab / Emagic

Track Series

SoftTrack 16+

During the early 80s a young Dr Gerhard Lengeling, through his acquaintance with a certain Karl Steinberg, began programming music software applications. Along with Chris Adam, they approached a large music store in Hamburg, Germany, with the intention of setting up a licensing agreement to distribute their software. The agreement was struck, and the music store owners created C-Lab Software to enable Gerhard and Chris to distribute their wares. Thereafter, Sven Kindel (Junge) joined these early innovators of MIDI software and hardware as Sales Manager. Soon enough SoftTrack 16+ was launched in 1985, a 16 track MIDI sequencer for the Commodore 64, and just a little later than Pro-16 from their German compatriots Steinberg.

C-Lab SuperTrack on the C64

C-LAB C64 Brochure 1986.pdf

SuperTrack

Not long after SoftTrack 16+ came C-Lab SuperTrack, copyrighted in 1985 and for the Commodore 64. A continuation of Softrack 16+, it provided again 16 tracks of MIDI sequencing power, with SMPTE Sync ability and valuable features such as a MIDI Event Editor and the ability to use ghost tracks. Other variations included SuperTrack-ROM, which as the name alludes, was SuperTrack held in ROM within its cartridge based MIDI interface, similar to the Steinberg Card 32.

ScoreTrack

SuperTrack was followed by ScoreTrack in 1986, essentially it was SuperTrack but with score notation functionality, and again for the Commodore 64.

Creator and Notator

Creator 1.0 - 1.2

Like their German competitors Steinberg, this black and blue but far from bruised company adopted support for the Atari ST, courtesy of its built in MIDI ports, whereas a lot of companies that cut their teeth on the Commodore 64 did not make that transition. Enter Creator 1.0 in 1987, a 64 track sequencer via four chained patterns with a vertical non linear layout. For '87 it was arguably the power house MIDI sequencer on the ST, with rich recording and editing functions via the sole Atari MIDI out and 16 channels. Creator 1.1 succeeded in the same year along with 1.2.

C-Lab Creator 1.3

Notator 1.0 - 1.2

In 1988 Notator was released. It was Creator with an added Score Editor and printing functionality, and was the first MIDI sequencer with interactive realtime notation. Notator 1.1 and 1.2 also followed in '88. Somewhere amongst these succession of updates, Groove and Humanize functions were added amongst other features.

Creator 1.3

Again in '88, C-Lab updated Creator to 1.3 and introduced C-Lab ExPort support, meaning Creator could now handle a total of 64 MIDI channels.

Notator 1.3

In the same year, Notator was updated to 1.3, and likely added the support for ExPort as per Creator 1.3. From this point, it appears there was more of a version control convergence between both Creator and Notator.

Creator 2.0

Still in '88 and remaining ever creative, Creator 2.0 was released, now offering support to C-Lab's new Unitor-C. This was a significant update, adding support for a total of 96 MIDI channels, inclusive of the ExPort MIDI expander and the Atari MIDI out. C-Lab also added support for SMPTE sync, added a drum map, a Transforms page, a Realtime MIDI Generator (RMG), and significantly Standard MIDI File support...

Notator 2.0

Off the back of Creator 2.0, Notator incorporated the same powerful updates, supporting the new Unitor-N MIDI / Sync expander.

Creator 2.1 / 2.2

During 1988, Creator 2.1 was released offering small enhancements, including some mouse enhancements and AutoGEM, a boot loader to manage ACCs and auto start GEM software etc... Creator 2.2 followed in 1989, adding SoftLink, which allowed for rudimentary multitasking.

Notator 2.1 / 2.2

Similarly in 1988 to '89, Notator 2.1 and 2.2 added the same versioned features from Creator, as well as support for laser printers.

Creator SL 3.0

The 90s are here, and with that Creator is renamed to Creator SL 3.0, SL of course for SoftLink, and added an editing tool called Hyper Edit, as well as Page Preview and some new fonts...

C-LAB Creative Concept.pdf

C-Lab Notator SL 3.0 image courtesy of www.deepsonic.ch

Notator SL 3.0

Notator SL 3.0 followed suit, and incorporated some printing enhancements on top of those offerings from Creator SL 3.0.

Notator Alpha

Notator Alpha was also realised in 1990, and was a part of C-Lab's education series along with Aura and MIDIA, very much like Steinberg who also had an education series. It was a slimmed down version of Notator SL, offering 16 tracks, with score available on up to 4 tracks and no SMPTE synchronisation.

Notator HD

'Notator HD', a venture which began in 1990 between Digidesign and C-Lab, which would have saw D2D / HD audio recording on a Mega ST via Sound Tools. Sadly however the project was never commercially realised, more of which can be read from the interesting article over at Muzines. However what appears to be a prototype using Notator SL 3.1 as the basis has been found by a member of the Atari ST Musicians Network on Facebook.

Creator SL 3.1

Creator was nudged on to Creator SL 3.1 in '91, and added a Graphic Arrange Mode. the possibility of viewing 32 MIDI tracks at the same time, new mute functions and sync support for C-Lab's own Steady Eye. It also added support for the Fostex R8 multitrack, and generally more stability.

Notator SL 3.1

Notator SL 3.1 again followed, and added those updates from Creator, as well as enhancements to Note Attributes, and the ability to export scores to the IMG file format.

Notator HD image from Notator SL 3.21 resource files

Emagic Notator SL 3.21 image courtesy of www.vgmpf.com

Creator SL 3.15

Creator SL 3.15 appeared in 1992, in what would become a pivotal year, as would the next few. Towards the latter part of the '92, Gerhard, Chris Adam and Sven Kindel parted ways with C-Lab after a dispute with the owners. They would form another company out of Hamburg, Germany, a company which would be named Emagic Soft- und Hardware GmbH, a blend made up of the words 'Electronic' and 'Magic'.

Meanwhile Creator SL 3.15 rolled up the changes in versions between version 3.1 to date, for example support for both the Fostex G16 and G24 multitracks, and incorporated a TCM mode for MIDI Machine Control (MMC) for the aforementioned Fostex multitracks, as well as multitracks from Tascam.

C-Lab were not done yet, however both Creator and Notator from here on in would be under license from Emagic.

Notator SL 3.15

As you would expect, Notator SL 3.15 followed, and added more printer drivers, demo sequences and new fonts on top of the respective Creator offering.

Creator SL 3.16

Creator SL 3.16 was also released in 1992. It offered a few minor enhancements, and was the last version of Creator released.

Notator SL 3.16

Again Notator SL 3.16 followed with minor enhancements, notably around scoring and printing.

Notator SL 3.21

Notator SL 3.21 was released in 1993, and offered compatibility with Logic's Log 3 dongle and MIDI expander. However with SL 3.21 MIDI outputs B, C and D are routed to the Log 3's G, H and I MIDI outs, therefore using ExPort and the Log 3 together is redundant. This version would be the last 'SL' version released.

Logically, it's Logic!

Notator Logic 1.1

With the advent of their new company, Emagic wanted to develop cross platform products, a standardisation of software which could be layered to suit a specific platform. With that Notator Logic was born, a completely re-written sequencer, albeit with its roots from C-Lab Creator and Notator, first appearing on the Mac in 1993, not Atari, and now with an arguably more appealing linear design.

Notator Logic 1.5

The years of both 1993 and 1994 were important for Emagic, with Mac Notator Logic revisions continuing. When we get to Notator Logic 1.5, again in 1993, Emagic not only released it for the aforementioned Mac platform, but now also for the Atari TOS platform. With Atari's new Falcon, Notator Logic 1.5 offered compatibility for all TOS machines, unlike Notator, by way of its own Log 3 dongle. It included the Arrange window, Transform window, an Environment window allowing for MIDI output assignment, and of course Score window etc... Both C-Lab and Emagic also made it possible for existing Creator and Notator users to upgrade their software in multiple ways, inclusive of dongle upgrades to utilise the universal Log 3, as well as the Unitor 2 expander, which removed the inbuilt Creator and Notator dongles from its C-Lab Unitor-C and Unitor-N predecessors.

Notator Logic 1.6

A small incremental update from Emagic with Notator Logic 1.6 for both Mac and Atari platforms.

Notator Logic Audio 1.6

Still in the busy year of '93, and like the initial release version of Notator Logic, a new version emerged on the Mac only, Notator Logic Audio 1.6. Of course this version incorporated audio Direct to Disk recording to Notator Logic for the very first time by way of external DSPs, such as Sound Tools from Digidesign.

Notator Logic 1.7

Another update from Emagic with Notator Logic 1.7 in late 1993, just in time for Christmas and again for Atari computers as well as Mac. For Atari computers, excluding the Falcon, it offered enhanced compatibility to utilise the ExPort MIDI expander fully. This meant Logic on an ST or TT could now utilise the MIDI ins and outs of the Unitor 2, MIDI outs of the ExPort and Log 3 devices. As alluded, the Falcon cannot utilise the ExPort, as MIDI devices via this port on the Falcon are unstable.

MicroLogic

While Notator Logic Audio moved on to version 1.7 in late '93 for the Mac only, in 1994 the first version of Logic for Windows based PCs was released, MicroLogic. Compatible with Windows 3.1, it was a cut down version of Notator Logic, a pure MIDI sequencer with no audio recording, but with of course notation and score printing. Emagic now had three version of Logic in Notator Logic, Notator Logic Audio and MicroLogic, covering three platforms. Incidentally, MicroLogic harks back to the slim and trim Notator Alpha on the Atari platform, and can be seen in what we now know as Apple's GarageBand.

Logic 1.9

The first fully fledged version for Windows based PCs released circa 1994, appearing to be the first released Logic to drop Notator from its name. The first PC releases at this point seem to be later than Mac and Atari, but in line with the timeline of Logic cross platform versioning. Note, the copyright found on 1.9 disks, as per all platform Logic disks, refers to Logic as a copyright and the time Emagic was incorporated, not the year of release on Windows, 1992 is too early.

Logic 2.0

1994 also saw the release of Logic 2.0, for not only both the Mac and Atari platforms, but also inclusive of Windows PC released a little later, seemingly around 1995, and still behind versioning for both Mac and Atari platforms..

Logic Audio 2.0

Meanwhile in the same year, Logic Audio 2.0 was released for the Mac, and for the first time, Atari, with Logic Audio 2.0 for the Falcon. For the Atari platform, it offered that HD audio recording we were promised for the Falcon, with 8 audio tracks at the user's disposal, like Cubase Audio for the Falcon which preceded it with its 8 track initial version in '93. This was the only official Logic Audio release for the Atari Falcon.

Logic 2.01

1994 also saw Logic enhanced on the Atari TOS platform to 2.01.

Logic Audio 2.01

Similarly, Logic Audio 2.01 followed for the Atari Falcon, however it was never commercially released, remaining as a beta version.

Logic Audio 2.01 beta for the Falcon

Logic 2.5 running on the Falcon

Logic 2.5

While the Mac had already enjoyed a release of both Logic 2.5 and Logic Audio 2.5 in the previous year of 1995, the Atari platform would not receive Logic 2.5 (not Logic Audio 2.5) until 1996. Features included Hyperdraw, Tempo Interpreter, SMPTE Lock for Events, Touch tracks etc... In fact some of these features were taken from Logic 2.6 for the Mac, already released by the time Atari users received Logic 2.5. This however, would be the last version released for the Atari TOS range of computers. Logic 2.5 was also released for the PC and Windows 3.0, 3.1 and 95 in the same year towards the end of 1996.

Logic Audio 2.5

For the first time, and in the summer of 1996, the PC received Logic Audio with Logic Audio 2.5 for Windows 95. Of course and as you would expect, offering Direct to Disk 8 track recording for PC users, along with the familiar MIDI sequencer and notation capability, again released later than the Mac version.

C-Lab / Emagic Notator Logic Lineage - Atari

All dates have been researched and verified against the software and periodicals. The prominent Commodore 64, Apple Mac and PC software versions are for context of Atari's history with C-Lab / Emagic and Notator Logic only. Therefore, not every software title and version for these platforms are, or will be catalogued.

Soft Sell

C-Lab in particular released other MIDI software titles for the Atari ST, notably a series of patch editors / librarians.

Explorer / Explorer 32

Explorer by C-Lab were a series of synth editors / librarians. For the Korg M1 there was Explorer M1, Explorer 1000 for the Oberheim Matrix 1000, and Explorer 32 for Roland's Linear Arithmetic based synthesisers. In its v2.0 guise, support included the Roland MT-32, MT-100, E-10, E-20, D-5, D-10, D-20, D-50, D-110 and D-550 synths.

X-alyzer

X-alyzer released by C-Lab, was an editor and librarian for the Yamaha DX7, DX7 II and TX range of Operator synths. Its party trick is that it can convert patches from said synthesisers to a sample, which can then be dumped to a sampler. Later released as X-alyzer 2.0.

PolyFrame

Lastly from C-Lab there was PolyFrame. Another editor and librarian, this time built in a modular format. Modules for particular synths could be purchased separately, very much similar to Steinberg's X-Syn. By way of the PolyFrame modules, supported synths included the Oberheim Matrix-6, 6R and 1000, the EMU Proteus, Roland U-20 and U-220, Ensoniq VFX, Korg M1, Korg M1, Wavestation, T1, T2 and T3. Again the Yamaha DX7, DX7 II, TX7 and TX802, SY55, TG55, Yamaha SY77 and TG77. Usefully a module named PM-Uni was also available as a user definable universal editor and librarian.

C-LAB Editors.pdf

Emagic SoundDiver image courtesy of Muzines

SoundSurfer / SoundDiver

Then from Emagic came SoundSurfer, followed by SoundDiver. SoundSurfer was the universal librarian, a comprehensive librarian by way of Modules and Adaptations for numerous MIDI instruments. SoundDiver, the sister product to SoundSurfer was the universal editor. Incidentally SoundDiver came with SoundSurfer bundled. SoundSurfer and SoundDiver were also available for both Mac and Windows platforms respectively, yet files remained cross platform, certainly Adaptations, Library files, Help files, and of course SysEx and MIDI. This meant the instrument library available became comprehensive.

Hard Rock

Both C-Lab and Emagic released various hardware peripherals to support their wares on the TOS platform. The first of which was ExPort.

C-Lab ExPort

The C-Lab ExPort plugs into the serial / modem port of your Atari ST, and provides 3 extra MIDI outputs. In reality it is 1 MIDI out divided into 3 ports, B, C and D to accompany the Atari MIDI out, known as port A. When Emagic formed, an Emagic ExPort was also produced, and was exactly the same just with Emagic livery. Of course its purpose is to provide more MIDI outputs for use with Creator, Notator and Logic, but it can also be used with Cubase...

C-Lab Unitor

Next up, the C-Lab Unitor! Sounding like something from Greek mythology, it provided 2 extra MIDI inputs, as well as 2 MIDI outputs with ports E and F, as well as SMPTE sync options and a MultiPort. Initially there was the C-Lab Unitor-C, which was the Unitor peripheral incorporating the dongle for Creator, as well as the C-Lab Unitor-N, which as you would expect was the C-Lab Unitor incorporating the Notator dongle into its architecture. Towards the end of Notator SL, and with the introduction of Logic not so far away, the Unitor was updated to the Unitor 2 which both C-Lab and Emagic distributed under their branding, removing both Creator and Notator dongles from its design. Usefully the Unitor 2 can be used with Cubase.

C-Lab Human Touch

The human element from C-Lab with the Human Touch, a peripheral offering further syncing capabilities, such as DIN sync via 3 phono inputs, 3 phono outputs, selectors, a dial and a small mic. Incidentally the internal mic acts as a tap tempo, while the unit itself attaches to the Unitor via its MultiPort.

C-Lab Steady Eye

Steady as she goes with C-Lab's Steady Eye, another peripheral which allows further sync capability, but this time by way of Vertical Interval Time Code (VITC), allowing sync to video. Like the Human Touch, it connects via the MultiPort on the Unitor.

C-Lab Combiner

C-Lab also introduced the Combiner, merely a cartridge / key expander allowing for up to 4 dongles to be connected at once, a little like expanders from Steinberg and Wizztronics. The slot on the side of the Combiner is reserved for C-Lab and Emagic peripherals, which conform to a slightly different size than other 'standard' sized dongles.

Emagic Log 3 / NSL 3

With the introduction of Logic, Emagic produced the Log 3. A MIDI expander and dongle for Logic, which can also be used with Notator SL 3.21. It provides 3 extra MIDI outputs, G, H and I, with output G duplicated meaning there are 4 physical ports for Logic. With Notator SL it essentially replaces ExPort in crude terms. There was also the Emagic NSL 3, which was essentially the same, except in black and yellow livery and incorporating the Notator SL dongle, hence it was only compatible with Notator SL.

The C-Lab Falcons

C-Lab were not done and dusted with Atari yet, and in 1994 Atari announced that Falcon technology would be licensed to the now C-Lab Digital Media GmbH in order to develop a pro audio music 'workstation'. In the subsequent year of 1995, sanctioned by Atari, C-Lab released both the C-Lab Falcon MKI and MKII, with the last of the trio, the C-Lab MKX released early in 1996. These machines would be C-Lab's last contribution to the Atari platform. More can be read here.

C-Lab Digital Media GmbH would go on to release for example, the universal sync device TimeMachine, eventually for the business to be liquidated on 16th February 2006. The business still existed in name until 31st July 2014, co-existing alongside C-Lab Hard- und Software GmbH, and C-Lab Media Products GmbH, both of which began on 7th October 1997 and 8th July 2003 respectively. C-Lab Hard- und Software GmbH would cease its operations on 29th December 2014, however C-Lab Media Products GmbH would go on supporting digital storage solutions in the music arena, before closing its doors on 16th June 2021.

As for Emagic, they would continue to develop Logic for both Mac and PC platforms until 1st July 2002, when Apple announced they had acquired this German pioneer of MIDI sequencers and DAWs. Logic as we know is now synonymous with Apple, as is the slimmer Logic family member GarageBand.

This article is not a complete history, nor is it a complete catalogue of C-Lab's and Emagic's products for the Atari platform. It merely serves to highlight what I consider are the more interesting products which were available from the same for nostalgic and tributary purposes.

Bibliography: Sources not already linked include Making Music with Emagic Logic Audio, old Emagic website, SOS May 1993, A History of Tramel Technology, companyhouse.de, the once c-lab-digital.de and c-lab.org. Old C-Lab, Notator, Emagic and Logic logos and marketing materials are trademarks of the once C-Lab and Emagic Soft- und Hardware GmbH, and / or any rights transferred to Apple Inc. for the same.

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