I think the "scene" (as people want to call it) in Japan is about as big as in the Netherlands. 100 people or so, with varying interest and activity.

...but with very little communication with the rest of the world

Unfortunately little communication indeed.. and I really wonder how many scene-gfx'ers there are in JP..!

Tho I repeatedly read/heard that the ability to write/read english is rare with the Japanese. So who can you blame..?

Time to dig this thread up again! Must force prodatron to work endlessly!

Seriously tho, have you had time to work on things? Is everything working out at expected? Do you need any more info or code? Let me know, heck we're all glad to help! (hence the 42 page thread )

Quote:

Quote: MAP forever. Dah, the MAP is out of date and contains false info -- can't trust that

bullshit! "·%·$·$%&·&$%&

Yes the thread must never die!!!
Prodatron is just 1 guy, and despite his super quick coding prowess part of the reason for Symbos is for others to use and abuse it. Okay so what applications do you plan to code for symbos?
Perhaps there should be a SymDev'06 competition?

I would be able to make apps for it, but I wouldn't know what app to make actually.. but that's due my x-dev nature I guess. It's a question for msx-purists.

Quote:

Perhaps there should be a SymDev'06 competition?

Not a bad idea!. What kind of app could be the most needed?, maybe a programmers editor or prolly some kind of tracker or MIDI app. A drawing app must wait till more colors are supported...
The GUIs are specially useful when you can integrate on the same desktop the whole working kit you're using. Right now a shell window and the editor, tracker or drawing app could be enough.

Trackers and such require the speed of screen 0..

MIDI apps? Someone will use that?? Besides, Meridian does just that..

That was a bit my point in the first place, the things I'd like to make won't run nicely on our systems and the things that might be possible to make are things I wouldn't use on an MSX in the first place. If you ask me, I'd say MSX is a retro-game machine, including oldskool and newskool demos.. But.. that's all, no office applications. (all IMHO)

(which doesn't mean Symbos isn't impressive tho )

Curiously, Wolf, now MSX (Music Module + Midi Keyboard) is my main music instrument. It's not for being retro, its because is the only real synth I have and my friends like it´. I also use it for playing "live" with some friends or at home with the keyboard. Except for trackers and recordings, I don't use the PC for music. I don't like synth emulators (now called "virtual" ) or apps like Reason.

Yours,

Well that's your choice then, but I'm quite sure you're an exception on the rules. If you refer to Reason, then you simply haven't seen all PC-apps sofar, there're more apps around than just these kinda toys. Apart from all the virtual synths these days (and they're a bit overhyped I'd say, tho it depends on your style), there're still mighty professional and powerful softsamplers around.

But I take it you're a Pro-Tracker user, I don't think you'd switch to a slower sc6-based tracker!

Surely a tracker would be aimed at producing music for demos and games, so I see no reason a symbos user should not expect to find one available. Yes I know there are trackers for the MSX already, but don't forget you are now also talking cross platform with cpc, and soon to be enterprise, and possibly more in the future.

I'm mainly pointing towards performance, not so much the multi-platform thing. Windows' screen usually isn't 100% updated, only the parts that change. The PC is fast enough for full updates nonetheless. Symbos on MSX would work since you don't update the whole screen either, But for a tracker it's different. In a tracker the screen is updated regulary (blockfunctions, scrolling playback like in Protracker, instrumentscreens, instrument browsing etc.) so a fast screen is preferred. Screen 0 outruns screen 6 in this case. It's no coincidense that all the popular MSX trackers (FST, MB, PT etc.) are writtin in screen 0, is it?

Wolf_, my very last songs are made with Moonblaster using 9 channels + adpcm channel

ok, whatever.. do you see my point?