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Old 09-21-2007, 02:23 AM
Clyde (clyde)
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Default Hi Mark, Well, I spent my m

Hi Mark,
Well, I spent my money on a new Apple iMac. The main reason was that the Virtual Pipe Organs need as much RAM as you can get, plus a fast processor to do all the number crunching when music is being played. (They indeed prefer the Mac)

I have installed 'Parallels' software (described above) which allows me to run Microsoft Windows (any version, I'm running XP SP2) (also other operating systems like Linux) as a virtual task under the Mac operating system OS X (Tiger).

So on the screen I can have Mac applications (like the organ software running, Safari browser etc) and at the same time be running windows. Apart from a few minor differences in screen layout you would not really know the difference - all applications look the same.

In regard to Composer (v2.1), it is installed and runs under Parallels with no problems. (Unfortunately doing that didn't mysteriously squash any Composer bugs either).

I have edited and prepared one of the hymns I played, completely in Composer (as I used to do on my XP system). No different.

The only slight problem I came across, and I have vague recollections we came across this in the original Beta testing prior to release of v1), was that if Composer was unable to save the NOT file because of permissions issues, it gave no warning message. As the Mac O/S is Unix based, file permissions are a big thing. (Although a quick test on the old XP system in saving a midi file does give an error).

The work around for this problem at present is that I only read the files on the Mac O/S in Mac format with Composer, but save my files in Windows format in the Win XP pseudo 'C:' drive, where it saves it just as normal Win XP does. In this way, I avoid the problem. Nevertheless, there is a need, I think, for Composer to gives some feedback on writing problems.

Incidentally, as I'm new to the Mac stuff, what I am currently doing (but I'm sure this will change) is:
(a) I prepare my NOT file etc using Composer in the Parallels windows environment. I prepare a 'midi' file for driving the organ software. (I can't drive the organ software (running under Mac) directly from Composer (running in Virtual machine)).
(b) I use the midi file ex Composer in a Mac program (Melody Assistant) which uses a virtual driver (IAC driver - much like Midi Yoke) that drives the organ softare. This is all done under the native Mac operating. This outputs normal 'wave' files.
(c) Then back in Windows, I edit those Wave files and end up with MP3 files.

There is Mac software which will do some of these stages (eg Audacity runs under Mac), but at this stage I have simply concentrated on getting a system running, with refinements planned later down the track.

Anyway, the long/short of all this, is that Composer runs very well under the Mac operating if you use the Parallels virtual computer.

Cheers ... Clyde
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