en Deluxe Music Construction Set

Deluxe Music Construction Set
	Macintosh version
Original author(s)	Geoff Brown
Developer(s)	Electronic Arts
Initial release	1986; 38 years ago
Platform	Amiga, Mac
Type	Music composition

Deluxe Music Construction Set (DMCS) is a 1986 music composition, musical notation, and playback package for the Amiga^[1] and Macintosh. The program was originally released as Will Harvey's Music Construction Set for the Apple II and other computers, but was redesigned (and the Will Harvey name dropped) for the deluxe version. DMCS was created by Geoff Brown and published by Electronic Arts (EA). Ariolasoft published the program in Europe under license from EA.

Summary

DMCS was the first of a line of music programs for the Amiga to make use of its four voice 8-bit sample playback and MIDI synthesis. DMCS is more advanced than the first music application that EA made for the Commodore 64, Apple II, Atari 8-bit computers, and Atari ST, Music Construction Set. For example, it allows users to enter lyrics in with the musical score, though the lyrics are strictly for the user's benefit. Bach's Fugue in G minor "Little" is included as a sample score.

DMCS was originally released for the Mac. The Mac version uses a copy protection technique preventing the application from working with System 6.^{[citation needed]}

Unreleased port

In 1986, a port by Randel B. Reiss^[2] for the Apple IIGS was written, which uses the built-in Ensoniq wavetable sample-based synthesizer. Screen shots appeared in various catalogues and was scheduled for a fall of 1987 release. The port was never publicly released, but its music engine was used for producing the soundtrack for the Apple IIGS game titles Zany Golf and The Immortal, both of which were written by Will Harvey.^[3]

Reception

After testing a beta of the Amiga version, Info stated that Deluxe Music "offers the most accurate standard music notation display and editing features I've ever seen ... it is a flexible, detailed composition program".^[4]