Article ID: 107766
Article Last Modified on 11/8/2001
APPLIES TO
- Microsoft Musical Instruments 1.0 for Macintosh
This article was previously published under Q107766
SUMMARY
The following is the complete text of the README file file that comes with Microsoft Musical Instruments for the Macintosh. This document has not been edited or modified by PSS.
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Microsoft Musical Instruments Version 1.0 README File
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This README File contains information on the following topics:
Section Description
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1. SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS FOR RUNNING MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS
What you need to run Musical Instruments
2. SCREEN SIZES AND COLOR CONFIGURATION
What makes Musical Instruments look best
3. SOUND PROBLEMS
Common problems playing sounds, and how to fix them
4. RUNNING IN LOW MEMORY OR RUNNING SLOWLY
Make Musical Instruments run on low-memory machines
5. PRINTING AND COPYING
How to print and copy Musical Instruments screens
6. DEMONSTRATION MODE
How to make Musical Instruments run a slide show
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1. SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS FOR RUNNING MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS
--------------------------------------------------------
To install and run Musical Instruments you need:
- a Macintosh computer with a Macintosh-compatible color monitor
- System 6.0.7 or later
- 4 MB of memory
- at least 1 MB of available hard disk space
- a CD-ROM drive
You can run Musical Instruments directly from the compact disc. To play
the sounds, certain files must be in your system (QuickTime is the most
important). You can drag these from the System Files folder on the CD
into your System Folder. If Musical Instruments can't find these files,
it will prompt you to run the Installer.
The Installer will add any necessary files to your System Folder. It
will also copy the Musical Instruments program files to a folder on
your hard disk; this makes the program load a little faster when you
start it. The sounds and pictures remain on the CD, so you still need
to insert the CD to play Musical Instruments.
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2. SCREEN SIZES AND COLOR CONFIGURATION
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On startup, Musical Instruments checks your monitor and displays the
images as best it can on your Macintosh. If your setup can be adjusted
to make Musical Instruments run better, the program will prompt you to do
so.
Musical Instruments will run on a 12" or 13" monitor, as found on a
Macintosh LC or Performa; the program will also run on all larger
monitors. Musical Instruments looks best in 256 colors (8-bit mode),
although it can run in 16 colors. If your monitor is set to 16 colors
or less, but is capable of running in 256 colors, Musical Instruments
will offer to change the monitor setup for you (this is the equivalent
of using the Monitors control panel) to get the highest-quality images.
Using more than 256 colors (16-bit or 24-bit mode) will not improve the
images and will slightly slow down display. If you are using one of
these modes, Musical Instruments will prompt you to switch to 256
colors. Running Musical Instruments in another mode will cause no
damage, but will not provide the best performance.
Musical Instruments is not designed to run in black and white.
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3. SOUND PROBLEMS
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If you do not hear any sound at all, make sure that you have QuickTime
in your System Folder or run the Installer from the Musical Instruments
CD. After adding system files, you may need to choose Restart from the
Special menu to make them active.
Sound may be inaudible if the sound level is turned down. To set the
sound level, use the Sound control panel, and experiment with the
speaker volume setting until you get a comfortable sound level. If you
set the sound level to maximum, you may get sound distortion just as
you would on a stereo system.
If your Macintosh is running in Virtual Memory mode, you may find that
sounds are interrupted: when Virtual Memory is turned on, sounds are
sometimes placed on the hard disk rather than into real RAM. For best
performance, turn off Virtual Memory. To do this in System 7, bring up
the Memory control panel, choose the Virtual Memory Off option, and
then restart the computer.
Macintosh computers have built-in speakers. The speakers vary in
quality and loudness depending on which Macintosh you have. The quality
has improved in later models, so a Quadra will give you better sound
quality than an early Mac II.
If you have a sound card installed in your Macintosh, you will get
high-quality sound. Musical Instruments sounds are recorded in 16-bit
audio, and playback quality is adjusted to your Macintosh capability.
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4. RUNNING IN LOW MEMORY OR RUNNING SLOWLY
-------------------------------------------
Musical Instruments needs to use a reasonably large amount of your
computer's system memory (RAM) to display pictures and play sounds. It
should run on any Macintosh with 4 MB of memory.
If Musical Instruments runs slowly or displays out-of-memory messages,
it probably does not have enough memory. Here are some things you can
do to help:
Run only one application at a time. If other applications are running,
close them, then start Musical Instruments again.
Do not run in 24-bit display mode; allow Musical Instruments to change
the mode.
Reduce the amount of memory being used by your system software. In the
Finder, choose About this Macintosh from the Apple menu to see how much
memory your computer has and how much is being used by the system. If,
for example, the dialog box displays "Total memory 4,096K" and the
line underneath displays "System Software 3,500K," this indicates
that you have 4 megabytes of RAM, but the Macintosh is using 3.5 of
those for its operating system. In this case, a number of applications
will have problems running. Any applications that are running will also
be listed in this box.
You may be able to reduce the amount of memory used by the system. The
process for doing this will differ depending on whether you are running
a version of System 7 or System 6. In either case, you may have many
fonts or DAs (Apple menu items) installed, and could remove those you
are not using. For instructions on removing fonts or DAs, refer to your
Macintosh documentation. Desktop goodies such as screen savers and desk
pictures also occupy RAM. Under System 7, you may have system
extensions you do not need, such as printer drivers for printers you
don't have. If you remove items like these to free memory, make sure to
keep copies somewhere on your hard disk or on a backup disk so that you
can re-install them if you need them later.
Musical Instruments is pre-set to its preferred memory size. You can
change the amount of memory the program uses by choosing Get Info from
the File menu in the Finder, and then changing the memory allocation.
If your computer has spare RAM, you can set Musical Instruments to use
more memory, which will improve performance by keeping more of the
sounds in memory. If you have trouble with running out of memory, you
can set Musical Instruments to use less memory. Be warned that a low
memory setting may cause the program to perform poorly. For example, it
will not play sounds or display pop-up windows if it runs out of
memory. If you allocate Musical Instruments less than 1.5 MB, problems
are likely to result.
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5. PRINTING AND COPYING
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The screens in Musical Instruments are stored and displayed as large
color pictures, which are optimized for best screen reproduction rather
than for print reproduction. You can, however, print screen images,
which will be of the same quality as a screen shot made with a
screen-capture function.
If you have only a black-and-white printer, Musical Instruments will
not print very well. Musical Instruments can print better grayscale
images--if you have a laser printer, choose the Color/grayscale option
for better quality. You can also print in color if you have a color
printer. Depending on the type of printer you have, printing a picture
may take several minutes. Because the pictures can be quite large, you
may have difficulty copying or printing in low-memory conditions. In
this case, close all other applications and then try again.
The Print and Copy commands affect only the active window.
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6. DEMONSTRATION MODE
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Musical Instruments has a demonstration mode that begins an automatic
random "slide show" when the computer has been idle for a certain period.
To activate demonstration mode, hold down the Shift key while you click
the Random button. This displays a dialog box. Check the "Start random
automatically" box and specify the number of idle minutes that must
elapse before starting the slide show, then click OK.
To stop the slide show and use Musical Instruments at any time, move
the mouse or press a key.
Demonstration mode will remain active until you turn it off: to do
this, hold down Shift again and click the Random button, clear the
"Start random automatically" box in the dialog box, and then click OK.
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