** 1.5 page review / 1116 words **

CD Writer

** CDWRITE4.GIF here **

Anodyne Software's new CD Writer offers a low-cost alternative to CD Recorder Pro. Danny McAleer reports...

Although there's an almost overwhelming choice of digital mastering formats available for the modern studio musician (DAT, ADAT, Minidisc, DCC and so on), few are as robust as the compact disc. Certainly, there is no better medium for propagating your musical doodles as everyone (even my techno-phobic Nan) has a CD player. CD Writer runs on most Atari machines so long as the following prerequisites are met:

** UL **
* TOS 1.04 and above required.
* SCSI host adapter required for ST machines.
* Compatible CD-R(W) model.
* Hard drive, the bigger the better, a CD-ROM can hold around 650Mb data.
* A copy of ExtenDOS Gold to drive the CD device
** /UL **

Naturally, you'll also need some way of getting sounds onto the hard drive since CD Writer is just a means of compiling data. Samples can be in AVR, AIFF, or WAV format in 16-bit stereo and sampled (or resampled) at 44.1KHz.

Compilations can comprise samples from any drive location, although it is much easier if all the tracks are stored on the same hard disk, and in the same directory. This is because CD Writer has an option called Quick Create that automatically adds all valid files from a single directory path into the track list. However, it's worth noting that CD Writer compiles the tracks in the order in which they were either created or copied to the drive, and not alphabetically. After loading all the files, a dialog appears that asks if you'd like to proceed with writing the CD immediately, or if you'd prefer to edit the listing first.

Editing a compilation is so instinctive that the manual seems completely redundant. New songs are added by double-clicking on the desired track, and can be re-ordered by dragging the filename to another track location which forces all subsequent tracks up or down the play list. Tracks may also be copied to another CD compilation completely using the clipboard function, or deleted by dragging to the rubbish bin. Next to each file entry is the time of the track in minutes and seconds, and a space large enough to write the full title to better describe the song than the indecipherable eight-letter file name. In addition to being able to name tracks, the entire CD can be given a title and artist, though none of this is strictly necessary. Where it does become imperative to fill in these sections is when the print option is selected.

A maximum of ninety-nine tracks can be added (up to either 63 or 74 minutes in length, depending on the CD-R used; the total time used is displayed underneath the track listing), although there are no provisions for creating index points within each track. In fairness, few domestic CD players actually support the index feature, so this isn't incredibly important. However, it is possible to enable pre-emphasis on each track individually. This is a standard feature on compact discs that, when enabled, activates some sort of de-emphasis circuitry in the CD player to compensate for any boosting of the high frequency content of the original signal. This mostly occurs with analogue tape recording, and checking the box not only returns the high frequency content to its normal level, but also improves the signal-to-noise ratio.

Once all the tracks are compiled then it's time for the initially unnerving process of creating (or wasting) a CD-R. Before writing, CD Writer always performs a check on the files in the CD list to ensure they're valid, and indeed still there (file verification can also be performed independently of CD writing using another menu option). Before committing yourself however, CD Writer also allows you to perform a test run, which goes through the motions of writing a CD without actually physically affecting the disc. This is actually quite a necessary feature, since things can go awry when hard drives are badly fragmented, or if the record speed is set too high for the CD-R, hard drive, or computer, which always results in a nice shiny tea coaster. (The manual suggests you might like to use the rubbished disc as a frisbee, but this just sounds dangerous.)

Once checked, CD Writer then proceeds to record for real. During either of these processes, the operation can be aborted by pressing the [Esc] key, and a bar graphic keeps you appraised of CD Writer's progress. When writing to disc, CD Writer automatically creates a pause between tracks, which is actually essential for backwards compatibility with older CD players. This is two seconds by default (the lowest value available) and seems to work fine, but can be any whole number, up to a maximum of nine seconds.

There isn't a great deal to fiddle with in CD Writer; elements that can be tampered with all appear in the preferences window. Here it is possible to set the default directories for audio samples and compilations, the CD-R(W) device to use should you be rich enough to own more than one, and to set the default speed for writing CDs. Currently, up to eight-speed recording is supported, although whether you can write a CD at this speed depends wholly on the CD-R(W) and the type of Atari you use. While the TT, Falcon, and other accelerated machines may manage to plough along at full-steam, you may find that a slower speed is necessary for error-free writes on standard STs.

CD Writer isn't as fully-featured as CD Recorder Pro, but consequently it is simple to use and you're more likely to be successfully pressing CDs than creating frisbees! At the price the package should attract both enthusiasts and professionals. It's difficult to fault a program that does exactly what it's supposed to do, CD Writer is one such program.

** product boxout **
Publisher
Anodyne Software
Email: anodyne@cyberus.ca
http://www.cyberus.ca/~anodyne

UK Distributor
System Solutions
Tel: +44 (0)181 693 3355
Fax: +44 (0)181 693 6936
Email: info-software@system_solutions.co.uk
URL: www.system.solutions.co.uk/cafe/

Cost: œ39.95 (œ59.95 if purchased with ExtenDOS Gold) including VAT plus P&P

Pros
Works on all Ataris, inexpensive alternative to CD Recorder Pro, really simple to use

Cons
Can't write CD-ROMS (obviously), unable to deactivate pauses, no control over PQ Encoding

80%
** /boxout **

** captions **

** CDWRITE1.GIF
** caption **
CD Writer, the only thing on the planet that can "simulate" work and get away with it!
** /caption **

** CDWRITE2.GIF
** caption **
Fred meticulously plans the layout of his next top-ten selling album
** /caption **

** CDWRITE3.GIF
** caption **
Without warning, the CD-R suddenly prefers middle-of-the-road rock music, refusing to record Fred's jungle mix of Mozart's Symphony 40 in G minor
** /caption **

** CDAUDIO1.GIF
** CDAUDIO2.GIF