I've been trying to get my old copy of Cubase Lite 1.0.2r4 (1993) to run on my PowerPC Powerbook 1400cs. It's a 68000 application, but written, or at least updated for the System 7 era, after Apple had announced the transition to PowerPC, but just before the first PowerPC computers appeared.
I found Cubase Lite an easy hardware MIDI sequencer to use and I'm quite keen on re-using it (if possible) with a few old MIDI keyboards and modules (the totally underrated Casio CZ-101; a Yamaha TQ-5 4-op FM Synth module and a Commodore SID chip hooked up to MIDI via an AVR). I have a MIDIMAN Macman™ 1 in 3 out MIDI interface, which interfaces to a standard Mac serial port (it also has a switch so you can bypass MIDI and forward serial to e.g. a modem or printer).
However, I find that although Cubase Lite can receive some MIDI data, it won't output any MIDI. I normally have the serial switch set to Modem at 1MHz (not Printer). On the other hand I can get Midigraphy 1.4.2 (1999) to both input and output MIDI data through the same interface, where the Modem at (undefined MHz) is selected, rather than the Apple MIDI manager or OMS.
So, it's not fundamentally a hardware issue. I had heard, though I can't find a reference for this, that the early Steinberg Mac (and Atari) sequencers used their own sort-of real-time OS to talk directly to the serial hardware[1], because they were designed to work with 8MHz 68000 CPUs and the OS's imposed too much of an overhead.
Given that the PowerPC Macs would have had the serial hardware at completely different addresses (because the 68000 only had 24-bit addressing), then that would be a decent reason for the failure of Cubase Lite. However, I would have thought that Cubase Lite would simply crash, trying to address invalid memory (assuming Mac OS 7.5.3 or 8.1 actually do trap invalid IO addresses[2]). I can see from ResEdit that Cubase Lite has a 48224 DRVR resource (#26), called ".Mros" . Is this their 'real-time' OS / Driver?
Can anyone shed any light on these questions [1], [2], [3] and the bigger question of whether Cubase Lite or similar era Steinberg sequencers will run? I believe that despite the fact that 68K code will run under emulation, because it's the Gary Davidian interpreted emulator on the PB1400, it would run at a fairly consistent rate.
Also, Note the version of Cubase Lite: 1.0.2r4 . The one on Macintosh Garden is only 1.0.2r2! Is anyone in contact with the original developers: Mark Badger, Werner Kracht, Wolfgang Kundrus, Michael Michaelis, Stefan Scheffler, Sönke Schnepel, Karl Steinberg (Q/A: Dave Nicholson)?
-Cheers from Julz
I found Cubase Lite an easy hardware MIDI sequencer to use and I'm quite keen on re-using it (if possible) with a few old MIDI keyboards and modules (the totally underrated Casio CZ-101; a Yamaha TQ-5 4-op FM Synth module and a Commodore SID chip hooked up to MIDI via an AVR). I have a MIDIMAN Macman™ 1 in 3 out MIDI interface, which interfaces to a standard Mac serial port (it also has a switch so you can bypass MIDI and forward serial to e.g. a modem or printer).
However, I find that although Cubase Lite can receive some MIDI data, it won't output any MIDI. I normally have the serial switch set to Modem at 1MHz (not Printer). On the other hand I can get Midigraphy 1.4.2 (1999) to both input and output MIDI data through the same interface, where the Modem at (undefined MHz) is selected, rather than the Apple MIDI manager or OMS.
So, it's not fundamentally a hardware issue. I had heard, though I can't find a reference for this, that the early Steinberg Mac (and Atari) sequencers used their own sort-of real-time OS to talk directly to the serial hardware[1], because they were designed to work with 8MHz 68000 CPUs and the OS's imposed too much of an overhead.
Given that the PowerPC Macs would have had the serial hardware at completely different addresses (because the 68000 only had 24-bit addressing), then that would be a decent reason for the failure of Cubase Lite. However, I would have thought that Cubase Lite would simply crash, trying to address invalid memory (assuming Mac OS 7.5.3 or 8.1 actually do trap invalid IO addresses[2]). I can see from ResEdit that Cubase Lite has a 48224 DRVR resource (#26), called ".Mros" . Is this their 'real-time' OS / Driver?
Can anyone shed any light on these questions [1], [2], [3] and the bigger question of whether Cubase Lite or similar era Steinberg sequencers will run? I believe that despite the fact that 68K code will run under emulation, because it's the Gary Davidian interpreted emulator on the PB1400, it would run at a fairly consistent rate.
Also, Note the version of Cubase Lite: 1.0.2r4 . The one on Macintosh Garden is only 1.0.2r2! Is anyone in contact with the original developers: Mark Badger, Werner Kracht, Wolfgang Kundrus, Michael Michaelis, Stefan Scheffler, Sönke Schnepel, Karl Steinberg (Q/A: Dave Nicholson)?
-Cheers from Julz