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THE STATE OF THE IIGS AND MODS
by Charles T. (Dr. Tom) Turley, Ph.D.
Status: PUBLIC DOMAIN
This editorial and emotional, expressive and rambling review is the soulful opinion of the author and nobody else! Read on (if you dare), to gain an interesting insight on 'THE STATE OF THE IIGS AND MODS'.
If you care anything (AT ALL) about the future, potentials, popularity and possible extended usefulness of the IIgs, as a musical creative computer, allowing you to share its MOD abilities with 'ALL COMPUTERS' then, please 'SPREAD, DISTRIBUTE, SHARE, UPLOAD' this text file to every on-line service, Internet site and BBS you possibly can - A.S.A.P.!
I've got a MAC II, PowerPC, a multitude of PC clones, an Amiga and an Atari to use, for my music and sound needs now. But, I'm still devoted (more than ever) to using and enjoying my IIgs.
Many of my friends on the other computers can't understand, why I continue using my IIgs. The answer to all of them is the same, every time they ask me. It's very 'USER FRIENDLY', it's fun, easy to understand and it's my FIRST LOVE! I'm not about to give it up. It's been good to me for many years and I won't abandon it.
I urge you, to download and carefully review the MB.SHK file. It's very informative, to assist you with everything you need to know on all the MOD formats, editors, etc. and tellsvyou where to get all the MODS you could ever hope to use.
However, no where in the MB.SHK file ('MOD.FAQ' - 'The MOD Bible' text file), will you find a reference or any comment, (concerning the facts) that the Apple IIgs has the abilities to deal with a MOD, play a MOD, convert a MOD, edit a MOD, create a MOD or save a MOD. Yet, the fact remains that it can do all of the above and do it very well.
I thought these facts and capabilities should be brought to the attention of all IIgs users, as well as, all the users of all the other computers mentioned in the MB.SHK file! Perhaps you might care to send the information and enlighten the author of the 'MOD.FAQ' file, Jester, on the IIgs' MOD abilities. Somebody certainly needs to make him aware of our computers MOD abilities.
There's absolutely 'NO REASON' to ignore your IIgs' MOD abilities, in favor of 'LESS CREATIVE' IIgs native music formats, such as; raw MIDI, synthLAB, SoundSmith, DiversiTune, etc. Using the IIgs' MOD editors and conversion programs; Noise Tracker GS versions 1.0 thru 2.0, BeatBox, MODifier and the multitude of sound, special effects, sample editors, converters and digitizing programs, you can create a MOD (currently only the 4-track Amiga Protracker format) from scratch.
And, it can be a hell-of-a-lot more complex, expressive, dimensional and impressive than; raw MIDI, synthLAB, SoundSmith or DiversiTune music files can even hope to be. With a simple 4-track MOD, you can do a lot of amazing musical creativity (including your own HIDDEN/ENCRYPTED personal text messages, embedded within the MOD and you can share them with all the computers and their MOD users, around the world and with absolutely no conversions neccessary!
You now have the abilities'FREELY' at your disposal to; convert, modify, enhance, merge, etc. and so on, your existing; MIDI's, synthLAB, SoundSmith, DiversiTune, music files, etc., turning them into a MOD and saving that MOD, for sharing and distribution to every computer that can play MODS, i.e.; MAC II's, PowerPC's, IBM's and all their clones, Amiga's and Atari's, NeXT and so on, using the many 'FREELY' available IIgs programs.
Perhaps, if you know about all of this, and how to do it, then you might just (by some rare and remote possibility) decide to start porting and sharing some of your new found MOD wisdom, talents, creations and abilities back to some of these 'OTHER' computers.
I recently released Noise Tracker GS, with all source codes, (versions; 1.30, 1.40, 2.0 and all the existing/available betas) as public domain. I'm also releasing the ProDOS 8, SSS Sound Editor (all versions - with their complete source codes) and SoundAce GS v2.2, as public domain. I'm hoping somebody with the time, motivation, skills, desires and devotion to the IIgs can continue with upgrades and more unique improvements to these programs.
Over the past few years, I've come to know, respect and befriended many of the IIgs programmers, who have freely devoted so much time and energy to develop the MOD players, music composition programs, sound editors and conversion programs. They made no serious money or profits, from their past IIgs programming efforts. They did it all for the FUN OF IT and as training, for future commercial ventures with other computers.
Finally, the optionswere presented . They all were tempted with and took, lucrative $30,000 plus job contract offers, and gave up on any additional IIgs activity or programming efforts.
Olivier Goguel, Huibert Aalbers, Jason Anderson, Tim Meekins, Dave Swanson, Ian Schmidt and many, many more. They are all gone now. They all grew up moved away from home and had to make a decent living for themselves. They all gave, as much as they could give to the IIgs, for as long as they could give it! They all deserve the highest of praise for their deligent efforts and contributions.
SHOCK WAVE, where are you hidding? Who knows, mircles still happen. Anything's possible in the IIgs world and by the grace of it all, we may still have some hidden, forgotten, unfinished or final but, unreleased programs, super surprises and/or source code, given to the IIgs users and programmers in training, to add to, what they have already given, so generiously in the past.
So, like it or not, they all finally had to put their IIgs' to rest, in their closets, or in boxes in their basements and garages, back home. They might even have sold or give them away, by the time you read this.
Now they are all working in little cubicles, in California, Florida, Canada and France, some of them up to eighty hours a week, so I've been told, night and day, coding, testing, supervising and developing for all those wonderful, new, dazzling, popular and OH-SO-PROFITABLE; genesis, nintendo, super-nintendo, 3DO, etc. games. Well such is life on 'MOTHER EARTH' for; Delta, Joe Hack and all the rest of the old mystical, merlin programming gang!
Hopefully, some of you out there; the young, the middle aged and the old, the fat, the starving students and the financially stable, the energetic, the lazy, the skillful, the talented and (most-of-all) the IIgs devoted programmers, will take their places, and continue where they all left off, to give this computer and its many devoted users, what they are all hoping and longing for. A solid and long future, for their IIgs computer, with its many hidden and untapped abilities, functionalities, with many good MOD editors and related programs, still waiting to be developed.
MODS are a powerful and universal music format with all computers, gaining even more extensive popularity with all computers, because they can be shared with all computers. They can also foster more usefulness, more popularity and give the IIgs a more productive and useful future, by allowing it and its users to inter-act with all the other computers.
I've had a passion, facination and devoted admiration for MODS for about 10 years now. Ever since listening to my first Protracker MOD on the Amiga.
I've worked long and hard, for over two years on the IIgs, coordinating the design and development of Noise Tracker GS, to its most current v2.0 rewrite and release. In doing so, I've made a lot of friends and enemies.
Now it's public domain for anybody to whatever they wish with it. I hope somebody will continue with its development, to turn it into the best and most impressive MOD editor/music format converter possible, that the IIgs can handle.
Maybe even merging it, with an update and improved release of the BeatBox program, would be all that could be hoped for. BeatBox has great potentials. I hope the authors of that program, will continue with it, to its final completed state, adding to it, with what's now available for everybody. To push it and the IIgs, to it's best and maximum potentials, as a combined SoundSmith, Noise Tracker GS music and MOD/MED, etc. super converter, music/MIDI sequencer and sample/sound editor.
To help, with any needs you may have, concerning the abilities to create, modify or convert any MOD format (from any other computer, for use on the IIgs) or to help you learn how to do conversions of your own IIgs music file formats to a MOD, so that you can share them with all the other computers and their MOD users, I've recently established a 'TOTALLY FREE SERVICE' for all of you to take advantage of. If you need these MOD services, conversions, help and care to take advantage of it, they are now FREELY available to all IIgs music users!
OmniSoft Sound Research LAB (OSRL), now has a 'TOTALLY FREE MOD CONVERSION SERVICE' and staff of competent, skilled volunteers, waiting to do any conversions you need; with your music files to MODS or to convert any other MOD file/format you may have and need converted, from any other computer, for your use on the IIgs.
To access and use this 'TOTALLY FREE MOD CONVERSION SERVICE', all you have to do is either of the following.
(A) Send your file/files that you want converted, with a detailed discription of how you want the conversion to be done (attached to an e-mail file, with the notation, (MOD CENTRAL STATION) to: DT999@aol.com. Make sure to include your e-mail return address, to allow us to send the conversion back to you, promptly.
(B) Send, (via regular surface mail - with a self-addressed/including a return postage/stamped disk mailer) your file or files on either; ProDOS or MAC (3.5) disks 800k and/or 1.4 meg HD only, with detailed discriptions of the conversions desired, for each file to: OSRL - MOD CENTRAL STATION
115 Santa Clara St.
Brisbane, CA 94005
USA
If you need any of the many available 'FREEWARE or SHAREWARE' IIgs programs, to help you with your own MOD conversions and/or creations, and you can't find them, please ask me and I'll be happy to furnish you with a copy of any you require. For additional information or help with any of your IIgs music conversions or MOD needs, you can contact me by voice phone at (415) 468-1609, 9 AM to 9 PM (PST), Monday thru Friday.
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