OVER 2 YOU, 064 (22/01/02)

PERFECT PITCH

Is anyone aware of software that will enable an Audio CD to be played at slower than original speeds whilst retaining the correct musical pitch? 
Brian Yabsley via E-mail

Try using GoldWave to slow down your CD, and retain the pitch.  It won't actually slow down the CD, but it does allow you to alter the speed, and pitch, and other parameters of any CD track you copy to your hard disk.It's easy to use and a fully functional shareware version is available from
www.goldwave.com
Tony Brown,

One program which will allow audio CDs to be played slowly but at the correct pitch is Slow Speed CD Transcriber, which can be downloaded from: http://www.ronimusic.com/ The program is shareware and the unregistered version only allows the first or last track on a CD to be played. Registration costs 40 US dollars. As well as altering the playback speed the program can change the pitch of the music and play selected parts of the track.
George Baldwin,

You may already have some software on your system capable of doing this. If you have a Creative Labs Live!1024 sound card, the utilities that came with the card include a program to slow down audio CDs as part of the EAX technology suite.
Phil Green,

PET SMART

I have a number of discs of personal letters on 5.25-inch disks created on a Commodore PET, with an 8250 double disc-drive.  The disks are dual-sided, quad density (96 tpi), soft sectored. I would like to transfer them as text to a PC. I still have an ancient Brother BCN 5000 with a 5.25 disc drive and would like to transfer them if possible, before it gives up the ghost.  Is there a PC program, which would help?

Alan Carcas, via email

I am fairly sure it can be done, and if so the information, or a direct source of help, can surely be found at: http://thisoldcomputer.com/links.htm. This site is brim full of useful information and links to sites dealing with all things related to Commodore computers, including a ghostly reminder of ‘8-bit nudity’, it was all so innocent back then!

Nick Shilling, Southend-On-Sea

The simple solution would be to install a 5.25 disc drive on your PC, most models have the necessary connector and the BIOS of most modern PCs will recognise the drive and allocate it the mysterious missing drive letter ‘B’. Old drives are regularly advertised in magazines like Micro Mart and can be picked up cheaply at computer fairs. The data on the drive can then be read using a PC emulator program like VICE, which can be downloaded from: http://www-2.cs.cmu.edu/~dsladic/vice/vice.html, along with a lot of other useful information.

G. Levi,

‘SCOPE FOR IMPROVEMENT

Does anyone know of any software or hardware that can be used to turn a PC into an oscilloscope?

R. Kenny, Edinburgh

The short answer is yes. However, it depends on what you want to use it for and whether you want to buy an off the shelf product or are prepared to construct it yourself.

The magazine ‘Everyday Practical Electronics’ has published designs of various complexities for home constructors over the last few years. These range from what is essentially a software solution (the electronics consist of a connector for the printer port, plus an analogue to digital converter chip) in the February and March 2000 issues, through a design published in October 2000, which makes use of a programmable microchip to reduce the complexity of the circuitry required, to a fairly advanced system published
in January and February 1998. The more sophisticated the system, the more facilities are available and the faster the waveforms that can be displayed. Further details, back issues and printed circuit boards can be obtained from their site at http://www.epemag.wimborne.co.uk/. Be aware though that the complex designs are not easy to construct and make sure that all the parts (or their equivalents) are still available before you begin.
David Steed,

A kit is available at Maplin Electronics (www.maplin.co.uk) for £186. Personally I would recommend their hand-held 'Velleman HPS5' at £125, which is very impressive.

T. R. Thorpe

Since oscilloscopes are used by electronics enthusiasts may I suggest the reader has a look through the electronic magazine Elektor Electronics (http://www.elektor-electronics.co.uk). There are advertisers who specialise in cards that contain the necessary analogue/digital/control processor chips and software that can be interfaced to a PC for this purpose.

I believe one of the key factors governing price is the frequency of the signals you wish to display - the higher the frequency the greater the cost. Most of the "do it yourself" projects are designed for audio frequencies (e.g. 20-20000 Hz). For higher frequencies it may be better to purchase a purpose built oscilloscope (a good second hand model - 20Mhz/dual channel can be purchased for under £100).
Richard Ashbery,

The best (sensibly priced) system is available from Pico Technology Ltd.  They have a good range of sensors and software to monitor electrical signals and can be contacted by email technical@picotech.co.uk or checkout their website at www.picotech.co.uk

Jonathan Barr,

If Mr Kenny's interests are with audio, then there are a number of software packages that operate with a PC sound card to form an audio analysis suite without the need for any external hardware. Examples of such programs are Analyser 2000 (http://www.5star-shareware.com/Utilities/

Diagnostics/system-analyzer.html) and SpectraLab (http://www.soundtechnology.com/

download-center.htm).
E. T. Taylor,

HEAD OF MUSIC

I sometimes hear in my head music that I have never heard, but I can't read and write music so my melodies go lost.  Is there any software that puts into written music, a tune I whistle or hum?

Franco Cavallini, via email                          

There is a shareware program, Music MasterWorks from www.musicmasterworks.com that should help with Franco Cavallini's query about converting whistled notes into musical notation.  It has a "voice-to-notes" function, which converts voice to midi notes and musical notation, and just requires a microphone and appropriate sound card. Registration is $25 after the 35-day trial period.
Mike Winson,

SITTING COMFORTABLY

My physio has heavily criticised my sitting posture - which has added to the strain on my neck and the deterioration of my cervical vertebrae.  He suggests that I find some way of regularly reminding myself to check my posture when operating the PC.  Can anyone suggest a way of "posting"
reminders to my screen at regular intervals, irrespective of software I am using at the time?
Tom Busby, via email

You should visit: http://www.infinn.com/screamsaver.html there you will find a program, which prompts you to take regular breaks.  A downloadable trial version is available.

Debbie Hogg, via email

A BETTER DEAL

I have a set of card and board games by Hoyle.  When playing the card games it deals itself the most extraordinary hands.  In cribbage it will frequently deal itself maximum point hands and similarly high scores in its box.  It does similar tricks in bridge.  If a human dealt like this he would get his fingers amputated.  It can seldom be beaten and is most annoying.

Is there a truly random dealing and shuffling program one can download from the net?

J. Boxall, via email

I started to write small programs as a hobby many years ago, and one of my first attempts was a crib program on an old Tandy 64K computer.  My father-in-law fancied himself as a bit of a crib player, and was very sceptical about a machine being able to play.  I persuaded him to have a go and, after the computer had soundly beaten him twice, he was convinced that it was cheating, knew what he had, and chose the best cards.  He never went near a computer again!  Although I considered I hadn't done a bad job of teaching it, it was a fairly simple routine and the deals were completely random.  It is amazing what random numbers, and consequently random deals will throw up, and J. Boxall will probably find that the Hoyle card deals are already "truly random".

Bill Streeter.

RELIGIOUS CLIP ART

I have been looking very hard (but perhaps not hard enough) for serious religious clipart. I'm looking for the standard that would give, for example, two hands holding a chalice, or two hands offering up a Sacred Host, plus of course any pictures of the inside of churches. Yahoo, Jeeves etc. only show me email addresses, which turn out to be standard 'comic' characters.  I'm not looking for freebies.

Gordon Hackwell, via email

I have a CD called "Essential Bibles"  (see http://www.softwaresavings.co.uk/

product.cfm/ProductID-279). This contains the type of clipart pictures Gordon Hackwell was looking for.

Bert Webber,

CAN YOU HELP?

I seem to remember a few years ago you could buy a receiver that would pick up images from orbiting weather satellites, as they flew overhead. Do they still exist or are there any add-on’s for the PC? I’m interested in studying ‘live’ real time pictures, rather that the images on the web, which are often several hours or even days old.

Jerry Harris, via email

Is there such a thing as a ‘wind-up’ computer or can anyone suggest a reliable portable power source, as I’ll be off trekking in various out of the way places later this year. Solar cells seem like a possibility but are they small or efficient enough to drive a laptop and mobile phone?

Linda King, via email

I am looking to transfer all my recipes to my PC can anyone recommend any suitable software?

Ken Hewitt, via email

Can anyone help me with a research paper? I need to know how fast computer-based translation systems work and how accurate they are?

Jane Laurence, via email