Dm:

I'm afraid "Amiga" pitch slides are something that have bit the dust in reViSiT. Aside from backwards compatibility, I can see no advantage to using them. Indeed, "Linear" slides are considerably easier to work with, as they'll give you the same relative pitch slide regardless of original note pitch. Amiga slides are almost two decades old, and are long overdue for retirement. reViSiT's slides are, of course, 100% equivalent to IT's "Linear" slides.

Volume column effects were planned for v0.91 (the next version), but I'm beginning to rethink the idea. It has always been my intention to add a facility for multiple effect columns (possibly after v1.00). Come that time, volume column effects will be largely obsolete, and only serve as a confusing alternative, with less flexibility. So far, I recall only two people (including yourself) mention them, out of 1000's of users and 100's of emails, so the motivation for coding them has somewhat diminished. In IT, for example, I never used them myself. The decision isn't final, and I appreciate that, if nothing else, it would be a very efficient use of screen "real-estate". Comments, anyone?

At least initially, you shouldn't need to use loopback drivers like MidiOx, etc. - reViSIT's MIDI output can be set to "VST Host", in which case it will be dispatched internally to the host sequencer. From there, you need only create a MIDI track in the host, and select the "reViSiT" as its MIDI input - and, of course, your desired MIDI output (e.g. a MIDI port or VSTi instrument). Naturally, this feature is dependent on the host, and you may need to arm "recording" or "monitoring" for that track. However, Cubase SX3 works just fine (it's my primary test platform).

CS_TBL:

I'm not sure I completely follow. Are you saying that instead of reloading old IT modules, you should redo them from scratch, using VSTi instruments? Using reViSiT? If so, why not just load up the old IT in reViSiT anyway and simply strip the parts that you want to do using alternative methods? For example, why not just delete the echo channels and switch that instrument's output to a VSTi with an echo effect?

If I look back on some of my IT modules, some of which I'm looking forward to completing or 'remixing' with modern technology (if I ever get the time!), two things come to mind: a) it'd be an awful lot of work to re-enter even the basic musical data (melodies, harmonies, etc.), and b) I'd probably want to do a lot of that in reViSiT anyway, thus duplicating the original IT file. Indeed, a lot of the groovy stuff I wish to retain verbatim (drums, beats, synth sequences, etc.) are groovy because they use IT's unique tools (that good ol' Oxx command).

Additionally, even if you did want to move out of reViSiT, you could 'bounce down' an IT file melody by switching its output to MIDI and then recording the MIDI to a track in the host. In days gone by, before reViSiT, I once set all of IT's instruments to MIDI and recorded the module to a hardware sequencer before taking the resultant MIDI file into Cubase to rework. Thankfully, those days are gone.

All the best,
Chris

Hi Dmitry,

I'll think about Amiga slides when I have some time on my hands. Perhaps a compromise would be an Amiga->Linear slide converter that converts the effect parameters upon import, though I don't know how easy this would be - if it is even practical!

The Volume effects column is simply a cutdown selection of effects available in the effect column - allowing you less flexibility (due to only one parameter digit). It was designed to allow two effects at once.

I don't know if tracking relates to TeX, but perhaps rather Emacs - text not graphics, keyboard-centric interaction, "potent macros" and rich-cursor movement. If you do want a TeX music option, though: try Lillypond.

All the best,
Chris