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# MAC Musical Instruments: README Contents

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.

    =======================================================================
    Microsoft Musical Instruments Version 1.0 README File
    =======================================================================

    This README File contains information on the following topics:

    Section   Description
    ---------------------
    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

    --------------------------------------------------------
    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.

    ----------------------------------------
    2. SCREEN SIZES AND COLOR CONFIGURATION
    ----------------------------------------

    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.

    ------------------
    3. SOUND PROBLEMS
    ------------------

    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.

    -------------------------------------------
    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.

    -----------------------
    5. PRINTING AND COPYING
    -----------------------

    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.

    ----------------------
    6. DEMONSTRATION MODE
    ----------------------

    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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