Playing back Music Studio 2.0 songs on an Apple IIGS or emulator **************************************************************** Music Studio songs play back flawlessly in the ActiveGS and KEGS emulators. They are somewhat out of tune in Sweet16 so I don't recommend it. Of course, a real Apple IIGS is best. * If you're using the Wade ActiveGS-Music Studio pack, just doubleclick the app for your computer: the app for Mac users, the exe for PC users. It'll put all the disks in the right drives, set the emulator speed for you automatically and boot Music Studio in ActiveGS. This takes care of steps 1-3 below for you. You can then proceed from step 4. 1. To play the songs, you need The Music Studio 2.0 program on a virtual 3.5 inch floppy image. I have included a copy in this folder (MusicStudio.2mg). I obtained this copy from the 'What is the Apple IIGS?' website: http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/music-studio-v2-0 My songs are on the Wade-Music-Studio-Music.2mg image. 2. Set your IIGS or emulator to 2.6 MHz. You can use Zip Chip-type acceleration, but if using an emulator, don't overcrank the regular speed (e.g. in Sweet16, don't put the speed above 2.6). If you overcrank, the music might play back improperly or the program might just hang. 3. On a real IIGS or in Sweet16, you'll be able to eject, swap and insert disks as and if required. ActiveGS/KEGS don't let you eject or swap anything once they've booted, so if using ActiveGS/KEGS you need to have both disks already inserted at boot time via the config file - MusicStudio.2mg goes in slot 5, drive 1. Wade-Music-Studio-Music.2mg goes in slot 5, drive 2. 4. Boot The Music Studio. Once it's fully loaded you'll see the main screen with a musical staff. If you only have one drive, now is the time to eject the Music Studio disk (MusicStudio.2mg) and put in the disk with the music you want to hear on it (e.g. Wade-Music-Studio-Music.2mg). 5. To load a song, mouse the pointer to the File menu and choose SONG FILES. This takes you to Music Studio's File Dialogue. The file list lists disks and volume at the the top (i.e. other disks you can switch to by single-clicking them) and below that, all the files in the currently selected directory. The current path is always on display above the file dialogue. In my music disk (whose name is MUSIC - not to be confused with MUSIC2.0, which is the Music Studio program disk) there are four folders: Classical, Jazz.Combo, Rock, Voice. These contain my songs organised by the sound set they use. Single-clicking a folder opens it, revealing the song files, whose file suffix is .SNG 6. To load a song, click on the song title once to select it then double-click the LOAD button to the right. Then click DONE to return to the musical staff screen. 7. Back on the staff screen, there are two ways to play a loaded song. They involve the two buttons at the bottom-left of the screen: * Click the EAR icon to just hear the current song. * Click the MUSIC STAFF button below the ear to both hear the song and have the program scroll through the score as it plays. NOTES: * In Music Studio's file dialogue, there's no button that lets you go 'back' one directory. To do this you need to click on the file path text and manually type in the path, minus one directory, that you want to move to. * If you eject or swap disks, you can ask Music Studio to re-poll the disk drives by clicking the bar at the top of the File list, the one that says '= .SNG'.