If you already own one of the popular Macintosh sequencers such as Performer (Mark of the Unicorn) or Master Tracks Pro (Passport Designs), get ready to kick yourself. MIDI sequencers — which transform the Mac into a device for recording, editing, and playing back the sounds produced by synthesizers, samplers, and other electronic music devices — are simple in principle but complex in practice. Chances are you’ve already spent long hours poring over manuals, mixes, and MIDI cables, and you figure it’d take something pretty spectacular to woo you away from your old friend. Well, you can kick yourself now. Opcode’s Vision is that spectacular. As the new kid in professional sequencing, Opcode has had the time to examine everything on the market, gather the best ideas, and add several new features. The result is a new standard in Mac sequencers.
WHAT IT IS Vision is not simply a greatest-hits package. Like other professional sequencers, Vision supports full SMPTE control and offers event-list and graphics editing; real-time and step recording; looping; tempo, meter, and dynamic changes; and compatibility with standard MIDI files. But beyond its superb recording and editing functions are features designed to enhance the music-creation process.
Consider MIDI Keys, a function that lets you map certain Macintosh keyboard commands to your MIDI controller. You can, for example, assign the top E-flat on your keyboard to begin recording a sequence, or you can use a control slider to change tempo in real time. You can even assign a controller key, switch, or foot switch to trigger a Macintosh macro, using QuicKeys, Tempo II, or MacroMaker. Another feature, MIDI Shift, lets you disable MIDI Keys by stepping on a foot switch — useful for those times when you'd rather not set off a string of macros.
Vision also has a Faders window. The 32 faders provide access to real-time control over volume, tempo, and synthesizer-specific functions such as modulation depth and portamento. You control the faders by clicking and dragging on the control bars, typing in numeric values, or scrolling through the numeric display with Opcode's own arrow cursor. Most fader movements in real time are recorded for automated mix-down.
Besides simplifying control over operating functions, Opcode has include some music-making goodies. By choosing Constrain to Scale, you can map your keyboard to play only the scale tones of an alternative mode. This feature is great if you're uncomfortable venturing outside major or minor keys, although it can be counterproductive for more-advaneed players who occasionally go outside a scale.
Vision also offers computer-generated sequences. Take a musical passage, copy it into another sequence, and choose Generated in the dialog box. Your sequence can then be played backward, with different rhythmic values, or in a random fashion based on your basic chord structure.
How easy is Vision to learn? Holding down the Command, Option, and Shift keys while clicking on any item presents a pop-up Help window describing that item. This is especially useful for learning about unfamiliar icons and window's. The manual begins with a fairly extensive tutorial That takes you step by step through the basic operations and highlights the more innovative features of the program. The latter part of the documentation describes the nuts and bolts of Vision in loving detail.
HOW IT WORKS Vision requires at least 1 megabyte, and trying to run it without a hard disk is a chore. Although Vision is not exactly a memory hog, it certainly qualifies as a small pig. With only 1 megabyte, you'll find that you can't open certain windows simultaneously and that redraw time in the graphics window is slow. By the time you read this, Opcode should have released version 1.1, a free upgrade for registered users, that adds inplay scrolling to the editing windows, belter fader access, and a pencil tool for graphically modifying continuous controller information. Opcode is also planning to release EZ Vision, a scaled-down version of the program with a lower price.
Vision has emerged as the new leader in sequencing technology, but the others are not far behind. You can expect your old friends to make your choice more difficult with further upgrades. (Witness Mark of the Unicorn's Performer version 3.2, which adds a host of graphic editing tools — such as "chunking" together sets of songs and sequences for easy triggering during live performance — to its formidable event-list editing capabilities.) But for now, this is the Vision of the future.
Breen, Christopher. (December 1989). Vision. MacUser. (pgs. 82, 84, 88).
Opcode Systems, Inc.
Applications
out of 10 (0 vote)
79 / 
2020-09-13 / 
b676de27ecc334b350562219bbc995b175121543 / 
/ 
OpcodeVision102.sit
Emulating this? It could probably run under: 
Mini vMac
