''Deluxe Music Construction Set'' (''DMCS'') is a 1986

music composition Musical composition can refer to an original piece or work of music, either vocal or instrumental, the structure of a musical piece or to the process of creating or writing a new piece of music. People who create new compositions are called ...

musical notation Musical notation is any system used to visually represent music. Systems of notation generally represent the elements of a piece of music that are considered important for its performance in the context of a given musical tradition. The proce ...

, and playback package for the

Amiga Amiga is a family of personal computers produced by Commodore International, Commodore from 1985 until the company's bankruptcy in 1994, with production by others afterward. The original model is one of a number of mid-1980s computers with 16-b ...

and

Macintosh Mac is a brand of personal computers designed and marketed by Apple Inc., Apple since 1984. The name is short for Macintosh (its official name until 1999), a reference to the McIntosh (apple), McIntosh apple. The current product lineup inclu ...

. The program was originally released as '' Will Harvey's Music Construction Set'' for the

Apple II Apple II ("apple Roman numerals, two", stylized as Apple ][) is a series of microcomputers manufactured by Apple Computer, Inc. from 1977 to 1993. The Apple II (original), original Apple II model, which gave the series its name, was designed ...

and other computers, but was redesigned (and the Will Harvey name dropped) for the deluxe version. ''DMCS'' was created by Geoff Brown and published by Electronic Arts (EA). Ariolasoft published the program in Europe under license from EA.

Summary

''DMCS'' was the first of a line of music programs for the Amiga to make use of its four voice 8-bit sample playback and

MIDI Musical Instrument Digital Interface (; MIDI) is an American-Japanese technical standard that describes a communication protocol, digital interface, and electrical connectors that connect a wide variety of electronic musical instruments, ...

synthesis. ''DMCS'' is more advanced than the first music application that EA made for the

Commodore 64 The Commodore 64, also known as the C64, is an 8-bit computing, 8-bit home computer introduced in January 1982 by Commodore International (first shown at the Consumer Electronics Show, January 7–10, 1982, in Las Vegas). It has been listed in ...

, Atari 8-bit computers, and Atari ST, ''Music Construction Set''. For example, it allows users to enter lyrics in with the musical score, though the lyrics are strictly for the user's benefit. Bach's Fugue in G minor, BWV 578, Fugue in G minor "Little" is included as a sample score. ''DMCS'' was originally released for the Mac. The Mac version uses a copy protection technique preventing the application from working with System 6.

Unreleased port

In 1986, a port by Randel B. Reiss for the

Apple IIGS The Apple IIGS (styled as II) is a 16-bit personal computer produced by Apple Inc., Apple Computer beginning in September 1986. It is the fifth and most powerful model of the Apple II family. The "GS" in the name stands for "Graphics and Sound" ...

was written, which uses the built-in

Ensoniq Ensoniq Corp. was an American electronics manufacturer, best known throughout the mid-1980s and 1990s for its musical instruments, principally Sampler (musical instrument), samplers and synthesizers. History In spring 1983, former MOS Technol ...

wavetable sample-based synthesizer. Screen shots appeared in various catalogues and was scheduled for a fall of 1987 release. The port was never publicly released, but its music engine was used for producing the soundtrack for the Apple IIGS game titles '' Zany Golf'' and '' The Immortal'', both of which were written by Will Harvey.

Reception

After testing a beta of the Amiga version, '' Info'' stated that ''Deluxe Music'' "offers the most accurate standard music notation display and editing features I've ever seen ... it is a flexible, detailed composition program".

References

1986 software Electronic Arts Amiga software Macintosh multimedia software Scorewriters {{music-software-stub

Summary

Unreleased port

Reception

See also

References