** 1 page, 2 CD-ROM reviews / 895 words **

Floppyshop CD-ROMs

Floppyshop are the only UK company actively compiling Atari specific CDs at the moment. Following on from their recent DTP+Graphics release here's two more titles reviewed by Mark Wherry and Mathew Bacon...

** SOUNDS.JPG here

Sounds and Stuff has been compiled by Electronic Cow's Danny McAleer, and is sub-titled The Atari Musicians Toolkit, but is that claim justified?

The CD is extremely well organised, and finding stuff is easy. The best previously commercial, demos and free software are all here, and it is true to say that there will probably be something for everyone. There is far too much on the CD to go into details here, but hopefully you'll get a flavour of what's on offer. The MIDI section includes tempo calculators, sequencers including Trackman and Accompanist, composition tools including Schoenberg, synth editors, system exclusive based tools like MIDIman, and much more, including the Martin Russ MIDI utilities from the golden era. Audiophiles will relish the sample converters, players and editors, including the full version of Studio Sound v2 for the Falcon, software synthesis programs, trackers and other utilities.

I was really pleased to find MIDI and audio programming information, including specifications, sample formats and playing routines. There is also a dedicated Falcon folder with demo versions of the SoundPool and Softjee ranges together with other mostly audio based software, especially hard disc recorders.

When you've tired of exploring software, there's a folder full of music in Quartet, Pro24, MIDI and MOD formats, as well as two folders of sound samples from the exclusive Electronic Cow library. These are of varying quality and presented in 16-bit AVR format, and 8-bit SPL format for you to use freely in your own music when you get that creative urge. The icing on the cake is a complete unrestricted version of Sound Chip Synth v2.32, which scored 85%, in AC#2.

** SCS.GIF here

Even musicians benefit from non-musical utilities and a thoughtful collection has been provided, along with some games written with mono monitors in mind, other Floppyshop software and catalogues, a demo version of CAB and the Floppyshop, Cownet, InterActive and Atari Computing websites.

My only criticism of Sounds and Stuff is that the only way to navigate the CD is via the desktop, reading the ASCII format directory content notes as you go along. I know this is the way Atari CDs are generally presented, but given Danny's programming and graphical talents, a more attractive front end would have been sexier. That aside, anyone who does anything remotely musical with their Atari will enjoy this CD and, given the inclusion of Sound Chip Synth, is tremendous value for money.

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Mark Wherry
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** product boxout **
Sounds and Stuff

Publisher
Floppyshop, PO Box 273, Aberdeen, AB15 8GJ
Tel/Fax: +44 (0)1224 312756
Email: floppyshop@cyberstrider.org
www.floppyshop.cyberstrider.org

Cost
œ15.00 + P&P (œ2 UK, œ3 Europe, œ4 ROW)

Pros
High quality to trash ratio, full version of SCS, music, sound and programming resources.

Cons
Nothing serious, but a front end would have been nice.

89%
** /product boxout **

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** SELECT3.JPG here

This CD is based on a title originally called Falcon030 Volume 1, which was compiled by Azimut BBS in Paris. As the title suggests, it is dedicated to Falcon users and will be of little use to anyone else. Floppyshop took the original release and first made sure all the software was up to date and all the folders had English names. Still not content, 150Mb of new software was added along with the obligatory CAB demo and Floppyshop, Cownet, InterActive and Atari Computing web sites.

As usual the CD is broken down into different folders, and the layout is fairly logical to navigate. Over half of the CD is given over to demos (160Mb) and games, including a full version of Moon Games - a superb racing game but other highlights include a ready to install MiNT based UNIX system (FreeMiNT is also included elsewhere); Martyn Tidd's Multiplicity2; and a healthy folder of comms software with an HTTP server, STing, demos of Wen.Suite, CAB, Homepage Penguin and more. There's also a selection of graphics tools including POV-Ray and demos of Apex and Rainbow; a folder containing magazines, including AtariPhile, Atari Times, Maggie, FOG, and more; a reasonable selection of programming source code; and an excellent TECH_STU.FF folder with all sorts of documents and specifications. An audio folder is also provided, but if you're looking for musical content get Sounds and Stuff instead.

The French origin of the CD is evident, as some of the material is in French. However, Floppyshop have once again done an excellent job in ensuring most of the disk is in English.
There's also a sizeable overlap of content with the STraTOS CD (especially if you have STraTOS #2) but the quality of the content is high and if you're an avid Falcon enthusiast who enjoys watching demos and other entertainment software you won't be disappointed.

** italics **
Mark Wherry (MW) and Mathew Bacon (MB)
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** product boxout **
Select CD

Publisher
Floppyshop, PO Box 273, Aberdeen, AB15 8GJ
Tel/Fax: +44 (0)1224 312756
Email: floppyshop@cyberstrider.org
www.floppyshop.cyberstrider.org

Cost
œ15.00 + P&P (œ2 UK, œ3 Europe, œ4 ROW)

Pros
Up to date (March 98), Value For Money, 545Mb of mostly high quality content

Cons
No content list or other navigational aid.

MW: 75% MB: 89%
** /product boxout **