Hi Mark,

This is in response to your asking for input for features to include in
your music roll editing program.  First let me say that I will look
forward with much enthusiasm to a release of a first version.

I hope the roll will be viewed with the notes displayed vertically
instead of horizontally and that the time would likewise go from top to
bottom of the screen like a real music roll.  This would also allow the
screen to be used more effectively so that a maximum of holes could be
displayed at once.

Some of the "snap" features in programs like Cakewalk's roll view would
be a good feature.

It would be nice to be able to assign any MIDI note name to any hole
position.

An adjustable grid that is in the background to indicate bars and beats
for time reference.  This "time grid" must be able to follow meter
changes.  The grid should also reflect tempo changes so that beats
become closer together as the tempo increases.

Another grid, maybe using colors to allow identification of note names
more intuitively.  Maybe naturals white and sharps grey.  Or playing
note areas in groups of eight positions to represent naturals and the
sharps falling in their respective positions.  Having twelve equally
spaced positions shows only relative pitch, and makes actual note name
identification difficult.  I have a program that does this well, I can
send you a printout of it's roll view.

Play back should scroll like a real music roll.  It must be able to
properly follow tempo maps.

A small keyboard displayed at the top would avoid or augment the use of
an external keyboard.  I do almost all of my arrangements in step
record.  I use my left hand to pick note durations from the computer
keyboard and my right hand with the mouse to pick the pitch from the
miniature keyboard at the top of the screen.

Some of the hole positions need to have the ability to assign a textual
identification to it instead of a note name.  For instance "Snare Drum"
instead of C#3 or "Violins On" instead of D4.

It would be nice to have a program that I could custom tailor to my
specific needs.  I have a sequencer program that does most of this but
certainly not all.  It was originally written for the Atari.  The
program's name is The Final Cut.  It was finally ported for MSDOS but
has not been upgraded since 1992 and the programmer is not interested
in doing any more upgrades.  I continue to use it because of it's great
"roll view".  All my arrangements are done using this software.
Complicated editing I do with Cakewalk for DOS, Cakewalk for Windows
and Opcode's Vision.  I need to use all four of these programs because
each has something the other does not.  I long for the single program
that will do it all.  Most of the problems stem from the fact that most
of the people that write these programs have never even seen a tracker
bar.  My first 150 tunes were all done on a "silent" drafting board
that I built and then the holes were all cut out by hand.  I, and many
others, have doing music in "step time" long before MIDI was invented.
MIDI has a lot of good things to offer for the "draftsman" music
arranger and composer.  All we need to find is a sympathetic programmer
(like Jody Kravitz) who will listen long enough to help us out.  Hope
this helps.

                                                Sincerely,
                                                David F. Wasson