I have three questions. Question one is this: Which MIDI editor do you guys use? I use a VERY old version of Cakewalk that was givin to me by my piano teacher, but I want to upgrade. Sybellius (howeveryaspellit) looks very attractive, but too expensive. So what are your suggestions? I''m leaning toward MIDI Maestro. Question two: What use are mod files? What are the differences between them (xm, 669, mod, etc.)? Why doesn''t win media player support them? Do games use them? Are they big, small? How come no one uses them? Question three: What happened to VOC files? In my ''Windows Game Programming For Dummies'' book, André Lamothe uses VOC alot because they''re easy to program. Their 22050hz quality is also acceptable. Since many games use this quality with WAV files, why not VOC?

VOC was created by Creative and predates even Microsoft''s WAV format. I haven''t seen a VOC file for nearly a decade. Lamothe''s book is out of date.

MODs contain both note data and sample data in one file. They can be very small or quite big. Their ability to be small means that they are used in applications where space (both storage and RAM) are limited, such as in Game Boy games.

Anyone wanting to work in game audio should have experience of making the most of limited amounts of memory. Playing with MODs and creating your samples/instruments is a valuable education.

K