Commodore User


Mistertronic

 
Published in Commodore User #28

Mistertronic

Make Music With Mistertronic is a music composer package aimed at the six to nine year-old bracket. Featuring single voice step-time entry on a proper stave, this little gem is not just fun to play with (kept me amused for hours), but also highly educational.

The main screen displays a choice of five instruments across the top, a selection of notes and rests centre screen, and a stave at the bottom. Notes are collected from the middle area and deposited on the stave using either the cursor/space bar or a joystick. A full range of note values is available including dotted notes and rests, and playback is fully automatic.

Once your tune is written (no editing other than 'delete last note') you can save to tape for future use, or dump it on a suitable printer (no details given). The instructions are printed on the cassette sleeve and are kept to the minimum and repeated on-screen. There are even three sample tunes to load in on the 'B' side of the tape!

Although the voices sound nothing like the instruments they represent, this package is excellent value, educational fun. What more could you want for the money?

Stave notation: yes Record modes: step MIDI: no Edit rhythm: no Load/save: yes Printer: yes Tempo: no Transpose: no Tuning: no Edit sounds: no Graphics: 9 Easy use: 10