This program is absolutely fascinating!  [See 990329 MMDigest.]  When
a computer-literate visitor arrived today I launched "MusicBox15", and
the images of a disc music box and a storage cabinet appeared.  Then
I left him alone.

It wasn't too long before I heard the sound of a 15-inch music disc
falling on the hard floor, and a hearty chuckle from the visitor.
"You're doing fine," I assured him.

Then I heard the sound of the crank winding the spring, and -- after
my visitor discovered the simulated start lever -- the music box began
playing.  "The animated image of the music disc turning reminds of your
player piano.  Isn't this song one of your piano roll tunes, Robbie?"

Yes, indeed, and the animated image shows the actual notes which are
playing.  The simulation program includes an algorithm which analyzes
the MIDI file and attempts to adapt any MIDI file arrangement to fit
the scale and limitations of the synthesized music box.  I soon learned
that the MIDI arrangement of Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy sounded bet-
ter after I removed the bass viol parts from the MIDI file; they were
doubling the cellos, and the sound became cluttered in the music box
synthesis.

Jack Perron has created an entertaining and intelligent program which
will be enjoyed by visitors and musicians alike.  The demo version
stops playing after a certain number of notes, so I still haven't heard
the end of some longer songs.  But I'll soon send Jack the $15 regis-
tration fee for his product, and he will send back the codes to unlock
all the functions.  

The downloadable file is around 8 megabytes; it took about an hour
to retrieve it from

    http://www.gdae.com/

Robbie Rhodes