#Pro Amiga Users Wanted
10 messages in this thread
Hello!
I am interested in hearing from anyone who is using a Commodore Amiga
as a professional tool. This is for an upcoming story, so please leave your
full name that can be included. I am particularly interested in people using
the Amiga as either a writing or desktop publishing tool.
Thanks.
Steve Glover
Memphis, TN
Steve:
We use an Amiga 4000 to run our commercial recording studio. I'll give you
more information if this interests you.
Greg (UK).
Yes, that does interest me.
Are you using the 4000 strictly for its multimedia capabilities or are you
using it with other programs as well, such as DTP, accounting and comm's.
Also, where are you located, what kind of business (volume) do you get and what
other platforms have you used (how does the Amiga stack up?)?
Steve:
Heritage Studio near Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire in the UK is a commercial
recording studio setup by Evelyn Glennie, a famous classical musician in
the UK. It provides the highest resolution audio recording available
anywhere in the world at the present time. There are already plans for
some of the most famous Ensembles to record at the studio, film music and
TV commercial music will also be composed and recorded at the studio. As
the studio is only just about to open most of the negatiations with major
artists are still in progress so I am not able to mention them
specifically, sorry.
Evelyn has 2 upgraded Amiga 1500's which are used to run her business,
utilising mainly Database and Wordprocessor programs. The A4000 however is
used obviously for comm's, mainly CIS and the WPN (World Percussion
Network).
The A4000's main task is to run the MIDI and syncronisation capabilities
of the studio. Dr.T's KCS has a program called Automix which can mix two
MIDI parameters in real time in upto sixteen tracks. The Amiga however can
run Automix ten or more times so I can control in real time almost any
MIDI parameter. This ability is not available on any other platform. Even
under Windows the output from one Automix program would be halted when
switching to another Automix. Another advantage of the multitasking
abilities of the Amiga is that I can run my database and look up the
location of various sounds within my synthesizers while my sequencer runs
in the background. It can do this while simultaneously syncronising my
MIDI information with the live recording equipment.
I have used the Atari and the MAC, I don't like the Atari but I think the
MAC is great with an excellent Intuition, unfortunately it just cannot
provide the versatility of the Amiga. With the introduction of Bars &
Pipes Professional v2.0 The Amiga is by far the best computer for our
studio.
When Full Motion Video becomes available my Amiga should also allow for
the multitasking editing of both video and music.
I think that the only thing holding the Amiga back from dominating this
area of computer use is Commodore's marketing.
Just for your information here is Evelyn's most recent biography:
E V E L Y N G L E N N I E
The London Times: "The young and by any standards brilliant percussionist
Evelyn Glennie …. displayed admirably her astonishing capabilities."
The Sydney Morning Herald: "Here is an awesome skill and certainty that
becomes almost bewildering ….". South China Morning Post: "Brilliant
Glennie mesmerised a capacity audience." Washington Post: "(Evelyn
Glennie) Proved herself able to communicate any musical mood, and at the
close left the audience with the pleasurable and rare sense of being in a
new musical world".
In a very short space of time Evelyn Glennie has established herself as
the consummate musician. She is believed to be the only full-time, solo
percussionist in the world. Her outstanding international career now
encompasses concerto, chamber and solo performances, television and radio
broadcasts as well as recordings.
Evelyn Glennie was born in Aberdeen, where she studied timpani and
percussion from the age of 12. In 1982 she entered the Royal Academy of
Music in London where she won many prizes, including the Queen's
Commendation Prize for all round excellence – the highest award granted by
the RAM. She went on to win the 1984 Gold Medal in the Shell/LSO Music
Scholarship. In 1986 a Munster Trust Scholarship enabled her to visit
Japan to further her studies. In 1991 she was awarded the prestigious
Royal Philharmonic Society Charles Heidsieck "Soloist of the Year",
Aberdeen University conferred an Honorary Doctorate of Music upon her and
she was elected a Fellow of the Royal College of Music and the Royal
academy of Music.
Following highly successful concerts with the Los Angeles Philharmonic at
the Hollywood Bowl and a recital in Washington, she will return to the
USA to work with various US orchestras, including the National Symphony
Orchestra (Washington) and the Cincinnati Orchestra. She is a regular
visitor to Japan, where she is in great demand, working with all the major
orchestras. In 1994, she will return to Australia and New Zealand for her
third tour which will also include visits to Singapore and Indonesia.
In the UK, in addition to her busy schedule, Evelyn Glennie regularly
works with all the major symphony and chamber orchestras, where she often
champions new works. In 1989 Evelyn gave the first ever percussion
recital in the history of the Proms and in 1992 she returned to perform
the premier of a specially commissioned concerto by James McMillan.
Among the earliest of Evelyn's numerous television appearances was a CBS
documentary about Bartok's Sonata for Two Pianos and Percussion for which
she joined Sir Georg Solti, Murray Perahia and David Corkhill – their
subsequent recording won a 1989 Grammy Award. A South Bank Show
documentary "Evelyn in Rio", where she took part in the carnival, was
broadcast in many countries and has been released as a video/laser disc
by Decca. Two major documentaries on Evelyn's life by the BBC and
Yorkshire Television have also been broadcast.
Composers are continually writing solo works especially for her: Dominic
Muldowney, John Dankworth, John McLeod and Richard Rodney Bennett, to
name but a few. She has founded a major composition award to further the
development of Percussion compositions – the "Evelyn Glennie Percussion
Composition Award" is at present open to all UK composers. The first such
award will be granted in 1993.
Evelyn Glennie has an exclusive recording contract with RCA/BMG. This
month sees the release of her fourth recording : "Rebounds". Previous
recordings include the highly successful "Rhythm Song", "Dancin'" and
"Light in Darkness" albums.
"Good Vibrations", Evelyn Glennie's autobiography, was published in the UK
in 1990 by Century Hutchinson and in Japan in 1992 by Simul Press.
NOVEMBER 1992
Evelyn's recent accolades include an OBE (Order of the British Empire) and
the International Classical Music Awards Personality of the Year.
I hope this is some use to you,
Greg.
Greg,
Evelyn is indeed a superb percussionist. Being a fan of drumming and
percussion, particularly African and Brazilian, I've been aware of her
work for a number of years. Let her know I've got all her albums. 8^)
I recently saw a profile of Evelyn on the local public (no adverts)
television station. I've forgotten the name of the program…. It featured
her playing in Japan and at the Rio carnival, and had a number of nice
interview snippets as well.
I wish you both much success with your studio!
-Dave (via AutoPilot)
David,
Thanks for your wishes, I'll pass them on. BTW have you heard Evelyn's
latest album "Rebounds"? This features four percussion concertos using a
lot of drumming, as well as a Brazilian Marimba Concerto by Ney Rosauro.
Greg.
Greg,
Yes, I have "Rebounds". Lovely stuff. I'm particularly fond of the Rosauro
piece and the one by Miyoshi.
When I was a teenager I hated orchestral and chamber music. Typical
adolescent rebellion, I guess. I was more into guitar feedback and such.
8^) But the older I get, the more diverse my taste grows. I'm really just
starting to rediscover classical music. Lots of fun and pleasure!
-Dave (via AutoPilot)
Greg,
The news of the recording studio is very interesting. My wife, cellist
Andrea Hess, has played with Evelyn on lots of sessions and sends her
greetings. If the studio is going to be useable for chamber music
recordings, then please let us know. Finding good places to record in the
South East is getting more and more tricky.
Best wishes,
John.
I use an Amiga 3000 for DTP etc. A lot of my clients are in the Advertising
Specialties business (imprinted products). They bring me a crummy copy of
someones logo and I scan it in , clean it up, add type and fit it to whatever
it will be printed on. Everything from T-Shirts to Pencils, coffee mugs, etc.
Occaisionally one of these turns into a complete "Identity Program" and
generates some additional work. I also do a lot of business forms Invoices,
Purchase Orders, etc. One of my better customers (I rent space in his
building!) does "Unique Holographic Products" Paper Glasses with diffraction
lenses, Red/Blue 3D, and others. Holographic Foils, wrapped on pencils, Paper
Fold Up Pocket Binoculars and a lot of other stuff. For him I do EVERYTHING.
Catalogs, Price Sheets, Product Design, and ANY other artwork hge needs.
The software I use is PPage, ProDraw, PageStream, Art Expression, AdPro,
DPaint, Aladdin 4D and a lot of the others too.
Hardware is A3000 2megs chip, 16 megs fast ram, 100 & 330 MB HD's, Syquest 44M,
NEC CDR73M, Epson ES-300C scanner, Canon BJC-820 Color Ink Jet…. And my NEW
Xante Acell-a-Writer 8100 1200×1200 dpi, 11×17" PostScript Laser Printer! I am
starting to do PostScript Output Service (Amiga Friendly!) with that. The
quality is comparable to Linotronic at much lower cost. No Chemicals either! I
have been advertising at UserGroup meetings, Local Amiga stores and on BBSs. I
even have my own BBS set up to accept files for output (can I put the # here?)
It's (818)345-9123 2400bps 24 hrs. What I do is take the files off the BBS,
print them out and mail them back to the customer. I charge $5.00 for 8.5×11 &
$10.00 for 11×17",st service bureaus charge DOUBLE that! I also offer qu
quantity discounts and 10% off for first time customers.
I also have a MAC Plus that I keep around for compatability and to read Mac
disks. (It's a little dusty, but comes in handy once in a while!)
Well, I'm getting tired of typing.
Later,
/ / / //ANDRE
Steve,
I use the Amiga professionally in two different ways:
1) DTP. My brother runs a business releasing compilations of film music on
CD. I carry out all the work for the booklets. Last booklet was full
colour 24 page. my wife runs a very successful chamber music group. I
handle all their promotional publishing requirements.
2) in real life, I'm a theatre sound designer in the U.K. I use the Amiga
to prepare system drawings, to produce consultancy reports and as a hard
disk recording system using the SunRize card. I also use a program called
Stage Manager to run complex sound effects shows with the effects stored
on an AKAI sampler, and triggered by the Amiga. An extra unit also
triggers the analog tape machines if required. Current show using this
system is for the Royal National Theatre of Great Britain. machine used is
an Amiga 1200.
Hope this is of some use.
John.