Aegis Sonix is a
music sequencer and a
score editor for the
Amiga created by Aegis Development and published in 1987. The application offers a combination of a
notation
In linguistics and semiotics, a notation is a system of graphics or symbols, characters and abbreviated expressions, used (for example) in artistic and scientific disciplines to represent technical facts and quantities by convention. Therefore, ...
editor and an editor of
digital sounds and is able to edit
IFF
In logic and related fields such as mathematics and philosophy, "if and only if" (shortened as "iff") is a biconditional logical connective between statements, where either both statements are true or both are false.
The connective is bicon ...
music instruments and other digital sound files.
History
Commodore International
Commodore International (other names include Commodore International Limited) was an American home computer and electronics manufacturer founded by Jack Tramiel. Commodore International (CI), along with its subsidiary Commodore Business Mac ...
developed but never officially released a sound application called Musicraft for its
Amiga series of computers.
Aegis Development bought rights to Musicraft from Commodore and contracted the original developers Mark Riley and Gary Koffler to continue its development. The application - now under the Aegis Sonix name - was released in 1987.
in 1989, Aegis left the Amiga market and sold its software products to a Californian software producer Oxxi, Inc, which continued to use the Aegis brand.
Features
The software includes a score, keyboard, and an instrument editor. The program uses two file formats, the SMUS file format, which is an IFF based tracker module music format, and the INSTR file format which contains the instrument data.
Sonix can also read music files created by
Deluxe Music Construction Set
''Deluxe Music Construction Set'' (''DMCS'') is a 1986 music composition, notation and playback program for the Amiga and Macintosh. The program was originally released as '' Will Harvey's Music Construction Set'' for the Apple II and other co ...
and works as a
MIDI
MIDI (; Musical Instrument Digital Interface) is a technical standard that describes a communications protocol, digital interface, and electrical connectors that connect a wide variety of electronic musical instruments, computers, and ...
sequencer.
Sonix offers 8 music tracks: the first four are useable for 4 voices of the
Amiga sound hardware and also for the MIDI instruments, the other four are available only for the MIDI instruments. All 8 tracks are independent of each other and can be used at the same time.
The score editor allows to write notation for
sheet music.
The application serves primarily a music synthesis tool for creation of analog or digital sounds and is able to edit IFF music instruments and other digital sound files.
Reception
A review in the French magazine ''Tilt'' commended easy to use menus
and good documentation and highlighted the combination of a notation editor and an editor of digital sounds as the main strong point of the application.
The ''AmigaNews'' magazine evaluated the use of Sonix with MIDI and noted among several benefits few limitations: the program doesn't support recording of a key press on the MIDI keyboard.
Sonix was also reviewed in the ''Keyboard'' magazine.
See also
*
Deluxe Music Construction Set
''Deluxe Music Construction Set'' (''DMCS'') is a 1986 music composition, notation and playback program for the Amiga and Macintosh. The program was originally released as '' Will Harvey's Music Construction Set'' for the Apple II and other co ...
References
{{Scorewriters
1987 software
Amiga software
Scorewriters
Music sequencers