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From: trb@stag.UUCP ( Todd Burkey )
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga,comp.sys.atari.st
Subject: MIDIMAZE/other uses..was RE: Amiga and MIDI
Message-ID: <275@stag.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 8-Dec-87 00:15:32 EST
Article-I.D.: stag.275
Posted: Tue Dec  8 00:15:32 1987
Date-Received: Sun, 13-Dec-87 10:26:45 EST
References: <447@nuchat.UUCP> <32160@auc.UUCP> <528@otto.COM> <4567@pyr.gatech.EDU> <3813@trwrb.UUCP> <2094@crash.cts.com>
Reply-To: trb@stag.UUCP ( Todd Burkey )
Organization: Mindtools ST Access Group, Plymouth, MN
Lines: 46
Keywords: MIDI Amiga Atari ST
Xref: mnetor comp.sys.amiga:12113 comp.sys.atari.st:6703

In article <2094@crash.cts.com> ford@crash.CTS.COM (Michael Ditto) writes:
>In article <4567@pyr.gatech.EDU> gt4785b@pyr.UUCP (David Carter) writes:
>>b) many people will never use
>>their Amigas for MIDI, so it would have been wasted money.
>
>The Atarioids are always saying that the Amiga costs too much,
>but are so proud of their built-in MIDI port that increased the cost of
>their system and will probably never be used.
>
> [some guesswork in midi usage]
>
On another tack...First, I doubt the cost of adding midi to the ST is
more than $2.00 or so in parts to Atari. Second, there are more uses
of midi ports than using them as connections to musical instruments. I
do happen to have a Casio keyboard attached to mine (nice since more
and more games coming out automatically play music TO the midi port just in
case a keyboard is attached...as well as through the normal speakers.)
And about 20% of the people I know have keyboards (I am not musical at
all, so that isn't the reason). In any case, I would say that there
are two other very good uses for midi on the ST right now. One is as
a cheap LAN (which is available from several companies already on the
ST, not sure about on the Amiga), and also for things like MIDIMAZE
(which, if it ever comes out on the Amiga will probably sell more midi
adapters than midi keyboards will). The Midimaze craze, if you haven't heard,
is where you get up to 15 other people to haul their ST's over to your
house, string midi cables from room to room connecting all the
machines, and then waste an entire afternoon (and evening) wearing out
your palms and firing button fingers (and lungs) wandering through
mazes shooting at other players. I think 8 of us were enough to
alienate my wife the last time we played (YES, I ADMIT IT, I PLAY
GAMES ON MY ATARI! Why not?)

Also, all this arguments over which computer is better is kind of
silly. I had an Amiga for a while (and still have a Mac and an IBM
PClone), and it was/is a nice machine. The Amiga was about 6 months behind
the ST on certain features that I found useful (Compilers, utilities,
etc) and was ahead of the ST in other areas (HAM pictures, psuedo
multitasking, sound applications). For some reason, I just found
programming on the ST more straightforward (I had problems on the Mac
as well.) It was probably just my background and my desire to be able
to move things back and forth between Unix that made it hard. Time
will tell.

 -Todd Burkey
 trb@stag.UUCP
 or ...ihnp4!meccts!stag!trb