.MS Music Producer

What is Music Producer?
How is Music Producer different from SuperJAM! and Melody Maestro?
Why use Music Producer?
How do I install Music Producer?
What's with this Patch?
How do I install the extra Styles?
Why can't I use Music Producer Styles with SuperJAM? and vice versa?
Why can't I use Music Producer with Windows ME?
How long can my song be?

What is Music Producer?

MS Music Producer, referred to hereafter as MSMP, is the last in a series of programs (the first two were BRS's Soundtrack Express and AudioTracks Professional) designed to make it easy for nonmusicians to create musical accompaniment to their multimedia presentations. A few mouse clicks here, a length of time there, and, just like that, you've got music.

Microsoft released the program commercially as part of the original InterDev programming suite.

How is Music Producer different from SuperJAM! and Melody Maestro?

Where SuperJAM! gets down to the nitty and gritty of each beat (and, if necessary, each note), and Melody Maestro works on a measure-by-measure basis, MSMP creates the entire song at once. All changes affect the entire song. Some changes are sweeping enough that, unless you save before you make the change, your previous song is lost.

Unlike SJam and Melody Maestro, MSMP works in real time, i.e., minutes and seconds. This gives the user the ability to almost instantly create a piece of mood music for a precise length of time, rather than edit existing music to that length (or edit the presentation to the length of the music). The practical limit of this averages out to around a half-hour. More information is given on this below.

MSMP also uses the IMA (Interactive Music Architecture) format for its styles, as opposed to the older AudioActive format used with SJam and Melody Maestro. For more information, see below.

Why use Music Producer?

Music Producer assumes nothing about your musical knowledge. It asks you the type of music you'd like, lets you select and tweak the band, gives you a preview of what it's likely to come up with, and asks for a song length. That's pretty much it.

As such, it's a great idea machine for anyone who works with music. The biggest problem is that it creates complete MIDI files -- you can't save one chorus and graft it into the next song, except in a full sequencer... and then only if you've saved both songs.

MSMP is also very nice for home and web video producers, who might want some background music (especially in a hurry) but don't feel like paying exhorbitant licensing fees for existing music. As with all BRS-MS programs on this site, whatever music you create is royalty-free, and yours to use as you will.

How do I install Music Producer?

WARNING! FOLLOW THESE INSTRUCTIONS IN THE ORDER GIVEN, OR ELSE THE PROGRAM WILL NOT WORK!

1. Download the files imuspro.exe (the main program's installer) and pc_msmp1.zip (the patch that removes the time-out).

2. Run the program imuspro.exe from the Start menu to install the main program. You'll need about 10 MB free on the hard drive.

3. Now, before you run Music Producer for the first time, you need to unZip all three files in the patch file pc_msmp1.zip into your brand new Music Producer folder (which defaults to C:\ Program Files \ Microsoft Music Producer). If you don't have WinZip or some similar utility, click here to get WinZip.

4. Once you've got the patch unZipped into that folder, click Run on the Start menu, Browse to that folder, and Run the file called Rizpat.com. This will open a DOS window, with the instruction "Press [ESC] to abort, any other key to patch". Press a key, and after a moment it should say something like "Patch successful!", meaning that the expiration code that kept the program from running after May 1997 is gone.

5. Lastly, a bit of preventive maintenance. You'll notice that one of your Taskbar choices is Microsoft Music Producer Setup. Sound card configuration, right? Wrong. That's done internally, in the Options menu. No, the Taskbar Setup is a very dangerous choice, indeed. It reinstalls the software, nuking the patch. Bad Setup! No biscuit. So, right-click on Setup, and choose Delete to send it to the Recycle Bin and out of your life.

What's with this Patch?

MS Music Producer was released in October 1996 as a beta program, with a time-out that would cause the program to stop working after May 1997. Some clever hacker, calling himself Riz La+ of the Phrozen Crew (at least, according to the ID file that comes with the patch), came up with a way to strip the time-out from the program, so that it would continue to work.

The important thing to remember about the patch (and, if you followed the instructions above, you should be fine) is that it has to be applied to the program before you run it for the first time. Otherwise, MS Music Producer will look at the registry or other internal files, figure out that it's way past May 1997, and Just Not Work.

How do I install the extra Styles?

Download the archive newstyles.zip (updated styles, as well as a whole bunch of new ones). Then unZIP newstyles.zip into the folder C:\ Multimedia Files \ Music \ Interactive Music, with the "Overwrite older files" option turned on.

Why can't I use Music Producer Styles with SuperJAM! and vice versa?

Although the Style names may be the same in many cases, their format is different. SuperJAM! Styles were created with BRS's older AudioActive system; Music Producer used an evolution of that called IMA (Interactive Music Architecture). The current powerhouse, DirectMusic Producer 8.0, has moved beyond both (although it will still load and use IMA Styles).

Why can't I use Music Producer with Windows ME?

The same "DOS" mode problem that bedevils SJam and Melody Maestro also seems to affect MS Music Producer. Basically, the newer operating environment eliminates "real DOS mode", making it much harder (if not impossible) to run older programs that make more use of DOS.

However, indications are that the upcoming Windows XP, for all its many faults, is a lot stronger on compatibility issues than WinME or Win2K, and runs DOS programs much better than either. Stay tuned.

How long can my song be?

The longest possible song in MSMP is 1000 measures. Unfortunately, as the program deals in minutes and seconds, the number of measures is not always obvious. Also, some musical Styles are not 4/4 time, which affects the number of measures relative to the number of beats per minute -- for instance, a song in 3/4 time at 120 bpm uses 40 measures per minute, but in 4/4 time it only uses 30 measures per minute.

The exact formula for your maximum song length, in minutes, is the maximum beats in the song divided by your tempo. If you don't know what I mean by that, try this:

• Multiply the first number of your time signature by 1000. For instance, if you're using the Waltz Style (time signature 3/4), 3 x 1000 = 3000.
• Divide that number by the number of beats per minute in your song. For instance, if you're using 112 bpm, 3000 / 112 = 26.7857.
• The "26" is the number of minutes in length your song can be. The ".7857" is the percentage of a minute in seconds you can add onto that -- .7857 x 60 = 47.142 seconds.
• Therefore, MSMP can create a Waltz at 112 bpm up to 26 minutes, 47 seconds long.

Start Here!

Click Here for Music & Comedy at TomSmithOnline.com!