MS² - MoonSound Music Studio

History

Ever since the MoonSound was released in 1994, there's really been only one way to make music for it and that's MoonBlaster for MoonSound, a duo of related programs (MBFM and MBWAVE) that both target a different aspect of the MoonSound. Due to this split, technical limitations of MoonBlaster and the not taking into account of sound effects for games, the MoonSound never really got used optimally in MSX productions.

With MoonSound Music Studio (MS² for short) The New Image is developing a product that can take full advantage of the MoonSound. Even though it was started as a merger of MBFM and MBWAVE into one program, which by itself was attractive, the demands got much bigger. Step by step, every limitation and every base system of MoonBlaster got taken care of in order to forge an as powerful and dynamic as possible whole. In principle MS² therefore is an evolution of MoonBlaster, although by now few pieces of the original source code are left. The system requirements are slightly higher; MSX-DOS2 and at least a 256K Memory Mapper are required.

Technology

At first sight MS² looks to be a regular MSX tracker, but the underlying technology is based on MML (Music Macro Language). Because a lot of people find composing in MML (known from the MSX-BASIC PLAY command) difficult, MS² offers a tracker interface for this technology and that way combines the best of both worlds. This combination gives MS² huge flexibility and eg. the possibility to execute multiple commands per step.

That flexibility is also prevalent in other areas. Like, the number of channels can be set and for each channel the type (eg. FM or Wave) can be chosen. Similar freedom exists for choosing and creating instruments, the number of which is decided upon by the composer, and for Wave instruments complete drum kits can be designed. Moreover, it's very simple to edit existing instruments.

A lot of attention was given to ease of use, such as the initial settings for a composition which are all combined into one clear screen. The manual input of notes is vastly improved and flat notes can be used easily. For MIDI support thought is being put in supporting both playback and real-time recording.

Musically speaking there's support for different temperaments, which makes it possible to compose music using eg. ancient tunings or non-western music. One of the other leading elements is being able to easily use music and sound effects in your self-written programs.