Apologies in advance for geeking out but...
Made in 1987. My first ever music computer the Atari 1040ST. I retired it in 1993. Found it in the attic today covered in dust and crap and bits that had fallen off the roof. I dusted it off, switched it on and it still works perfectly and booted Notator in no time at all.
I am filled with geek nostalgia for this wonderful little thing which started my music career and is still working fine a quarter of a century later.

http://i.imgur.com/GiuTO.jpg

They seem to be built to last! I only ever used one once at college in the early nineties.

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http://soundcloud.com/richie-royale
http://www.mixcrate.com/richieroyale

Wow, that's amazing. Notator, wow, brings it back!

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PA stuff on FB

I've still got my Atari 400 from 1979

I had one of them (1040ST) in the mid-nineties while I was at college.. I ran Cubase on it. It was great.

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www.Lozjackson.com

Nice find! A 'Jackintosh' in the attic!

First home 'puter with built-in MIDI!

R.I.P. Jack Tramiel

(btw, this topic would probably be more appreciated in the "Apps & Other Computer/OS" forum)

> First home 'puter with built-in MIDI!

It wasn't, that was the Yamaha CX5M of which I also have fond memories!

Quote Dishpan:

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> First home 'puter with built-in MIDI!

It wasn't, that was the Yamaha CX5M of which I also have fond memories!

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Oh right, the MSX. I remember a DX programmer for those.

The funny thing is, in contrast to the content of a lot of forums these days, I never complained about this little machine. I never thought if only Cubeat could do this or that, why does it take so long to save?, I hope version 2 has better graphics, or 'should I be using Notator?'

It was a miracle as far as I was concerned.

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Sh1t Paul, you look great for 76...

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Samplecraze
Stretch That Note

You got an Atari 1040ST in 1987??? Your parents must have been made of money!

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www.thediplomatz.com

I still have my atari and notator in my studio. Still works but I don't use it, just have a [ ****** ] load of stuff on there that should I ever need to access it.

Thing is, back in the mid 90's I was far more creative with this little setup, it was simply wonderful. I just wish Notator was re-released as a plug in Sequencer, I still think its the best sequencer software ever written. Great music writing tool, better IMO than any of the modern daws. Less is more I say.

Quote WiredUp:

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Less is more I say.

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Agree, I used an Atari 1040ST with Cubase v2 alongside a sampler, (firstly a Casio FZ-1, then saved and saved and bought a 16mb S3000 Akai..)

I think less is more definetly!

I got so much done on that little set up and as it was a sampler, instead of a few sound modules with presets, I use to sample all my sounds from scratch, and new loops, and really experimented

I was much more productive with that set up plus a DAT machine.

I sometimes wish it had stayed at that level, instead of 10,000 plug ins that need updates, and tweaks. I think my only worry going back to this (as they are much cheaper now) is that i'd be left behind with every kid who has every VSTi at his disposal..?

S3000?
We used to dream of an S3000
The best we could hope for was ....


Answers on a post card to:-
"Best Python-esq muso joke",
SOS,
Online forum

Thankyou..

Quote Scope:

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S3000?
We used to dream of an S3000
The best we could hope for was ....


Answers on a post card to:-
"Best Python-esq muso joke",
SOS,
Online forum

Thankyou..

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Yes, Yes, yes... I should have seen that coming..

The S3000 was about £3k at the time, and it felt like I was Trevor Horn with a Fairlight ; a wopping 16mb!!

I was very productive though with that simple set up, just 2 midi leads connecting the Atari > Akai.

I dream of this again..

Ha, couldn't resist.

Actually I had a 1040 ST with 2, yes 2 midi outs
32 glorious channels in Cubase

Connected was my S900 & DX7

oooohhhh yeeeaaaaahhhhh

Steam Powered !

ST? You were lucky.

There was an ST (and a couple of S900 or 950) in the college studio back in the early 90s, but before that at home I had Sinclair Spectrum +2 that had an RS232 port on the back with a telephone-style socket, and I made a MIDI cable with it and sequenced from BASIC using the PLAY command. It would slow down when it played more than one or two things at a time, but I got a few ideas down with it.

Then I moved on to an Alesis MMT-8. There's something nice about using kit that's comparatively simple - modern DAWs are great and all that, but I'm a big fan of simpler, more limited gear as you can get to know the whole thing inside out pretty quickly and never feel like you're losing against it.

I spotted a CX5M on eBay recently - the listing showed a photo of the original receipt - someone had swapped their TR-808 for it, along with something else I don't recall. Boy, I bet they're kicking themselves now...

Anyone remember the "Spec-drum" ?
Great bit of kit in its day..

Quote Pitchfork:

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Quote WiredUp:

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Less is more I say.

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Agree, I used an Atari 1040ST with Cubase v2 alongside a sampler, (firstly a Casio FZ-1, then saved and saved and bought a 16mb S3000 Akai..)

I think less is more definetly!

I got so much done on that little set up and as it was a sampler, instead of a few sound modules with presets, I use to sample all my sounds from scratch, and new loops, and really experimented

I was much more productive with that set up plus a DAT machine.

I sometimes wish it had stayed at that level, instead of 10,000 plug ins that need updates, and tweaks. I think my only worry going back to this (as they are much cheaper now) is that i'd be left behind with every kid who has every VSTi at his disposal..?

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I still think there is demand for Notator, its still much loved by so many. Pattern based sequencing was a great idea. You mess around and come up with something that might be the verse. Then you build the chorus, then the intro, etc. Then move the sections around to make an arrangement. The modern daw does too much, it takes attention away from the fundamentals of composition. I'd love to see that familiar notator front screen again running on a modern computer. I'm amazed no one has built a clone.

Quote WiredUp:

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Pattern based sequencing was a great idea.

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Only if you can play multiple patterns at the same time.

Otherwise, you want to add an extra element to the last chorus, and oh dear, you have to make a copy of the chorus, in order to add one element. Then when you want to tweak something for ALL choruses, you have to sit and do it for all copies of the chorus pattern

Quote chris...:

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Quote WiredUp:

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Pattern based sequencing was a great idea.

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Only if you can play multiple patterns at the same time.

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You can with Notator, up to 4.

Quote:

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Otherwise, you want to add an extra element to the last chorus, and oh dear, you have to make a copy of the chorus, in order to add one element. Then when you want to tweak something for ALL choruses, you have to sit and do it for all copies of the chorus pattern

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Wouldn't you have to do the same with a time line based sequencer?

Quote WiredUp:

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Wouldn't you have to do the same with a time line based sequencer?

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Various options help e.g part aliases, folder tracks.

Quote chris...:

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Quote WiredUp:

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Pattern based sequencing was a great idea.

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Only if you can play multiple patterns at the same time.

Otherwise, you want to add an extra element to the last chorus, and oh dear, you have to make a copy of the chorus, in order to add one element. Then when you want to tweak something for ALL choruses, you have to sit and do it for all copies of the chorus pattern

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ok the programming geek in me has to jump in here (sorry for hijacking this atari thread.) TEXTURE for dos. Loved the evrloving S**t outta that program. Was a venerable workhorse for me and my friends. I dunno, the note editing looked klugy and unmusical but I really connected with it. I knew when I typed an edit, how it was gonna sound.

Truth be told, editing patterns was so easy that I had one colleage who stayed in one linear pattern for his whole song (rock) and slapped pieces around within it.

Copying from patterns to new patterns was an absolute breeze. Within a minute I could create multiple patterns that were different lengths and had certain , or all tracks of the original. Song mode was cake, easy to try all diff arrangements instantly.

The function keys stored 9 "snap shots" so instant mutes for hip hop mixes was fun.

I could go on. Did I say how much I miss it? Srsly, I need to find something that easy for mac that plays virtual synths, and does not interfere with the DAW

Nostalgicly, MMD

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Gear list: If you can't find it, grind it

Quote MadManDan:

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Quote chris...:

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Quote WiredUp:

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Pattern based sequencing was a great idea.

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Only if you can play multiple patterns at the same time.

Otherwise, you want to add an extra element to the last chorus, and oh dear, you have to make a copy of the chorus, in order to add one element. Then when you want to tweak something for ALL choruses, you have to sit and do it for all copies of the chorus pattern

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ok the programming geek in me has to jump in here (sorry for hijacking this atari thread.) TEXTURE for dos. Loved the evrloving S**t outta that program. Was a venerable workhorse for me and my friends. I dunno, the note editing looked klugy and unmusical but I really connected with it. I knew when I typed an edit, how it was gonna sound.

Truth be told, editing patterns was so easy that I had one colleage who stayed in one linear pattern for his whole song (rock) and slapped pieces around within it.

Copying from patterns to new patterns was an absolute breeze. Within a minute I could create multiple patterns that were different lengths and had certain , or all tracks of the original. Song mode was cake, easy to try all diff arrangements instantly.

The function keys stored 9 "snap shots" so instant mutes for hip hop mixes was fun.

I could go on. Did I say how much I miss it? Srsly, I need to find something that easy for mac that plays virtual synths, and does not interfere with the DAW

Nostalgicly, MMD

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I have to agree, none of the modern daws come close to the ease of creativity I found with Notator. Perhaps its because Notator was the first sequencer I used and I'm being nostalgic but when I sit down with Logic, Pro tools, fill-in-the-blank I find it all a bit much.
Modern daws are all trying to be everything to everyone.

I love pro tools as a recording, editing and mixing application but its now so bloated its ugly.
I actually don't want my midi mixed in with my audio. I'm sure its great if you make music in a paint by numbers style but I prefer to write a piece of music before I attempt to record it. I don't want to write and record at the same time.

Notator was a wonderful environment to write and experiment. I wrote hundreds of ideas on that, it just worked! I'm sure if you're a loops and sample kinda guy the modern daws are perfect.

We're currently seeing the sibelius community up in arms over Avid's ownership of their platform. I would argue sibelius users are much like Notator users. I really do feel there is a gap in the market for a different approach. The current daws don't offer it.

good times.when i were a lad i used st's for everything..i still have a atari in my loft.i set it up last night when i read this post..its still woks..so does the harddrive .it has 2 monitors and a 30mb hard drive that i never managed to fill...i used to use 2 st's ,1 for cubase and the other i had replay (a sampler type app) installed with the hard drive full of samples, a korg m1 and about 4 yamaha psr home keyboards..i never left my bed room for years...i used to be in a dance band in the early 90's and the other guys lived in edinburgh and i stayed in aberdeen..we used to post floppy disks to each other...i seem to remember at the end the st's went online but i could be wrong about this..im sure i have notator for it as well but couldnt find the little catridge thing

p
x

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www.myspace.com/onemanandalaptop

This muckiness - daws trying to do everything - really kicked in once people stopped programming on midi hardware. A computer had been dedicated to doing nothing but sequencing midi. It put out midi. You had to take audio from the synths and get them on tape. Natural deliniation. Miss that now.

Its at a point now where midi is disappearing in the traditional sense. Grrrrr. The irony is that I no longer Have the dozen or so pieces of midi gear I once had. Unscrupulous storage unit manager. But I digest. I DO want to be able to use vi's in an uncluttered seq environment, free from the daw shackles. But syncable of course

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Gear list: If you can't find it, grind it