PCMania 30/PCMania CD30.iso/pro4/readme2.txt

Text File | 1993-08-04 | 14KB | 396 lines

README2. TXT
Master Tracks PRO 4 Demo

PASSPORT DESIGNS
100 Stone Pine Rd.
Half Moon Bay, CA
94019
[phone]

Master Tracks PRO 4.9 Demo

Welcome to Master Tracks Pro 4.9. The demo disk in this
package contains a version of Pro 4 that's identical to
the actual program, with one exception: it won't save or
print any music you create. If you have a PC running
Windows 3.1, connected to a MIDI interface and at least
one MIDI instrument, you can use this demo version of
Master Tracks Pro 4 to record, play back and edit up to 64
tracks of music.

IMPORTANT: Please follow the instructions in the
README.TXT file to install the Pro 4 Demo properly for
your computer.

Here's a brief guide to using some of Pro 4's most
essential features. When you're familiar with these, feel
free to explore. Pro 4 is very intuitive and easy to
learn, and there are lots of sequencing features you can
discover, even before you read the manual that comes with
the real program.

*************************************

MASTER TRACKS PRO 4 DEMO OVERVIEW

Master Tracks Pro 4 integrates recording, track editing,
automated mixing, and control over MIDI instruments in a
single window containing up to 64 independent tracks of
music. View and edit your music in several ways and access
any parameter of a musical sequence for precise editing
control. The Step Editor displays notes on a graphic
"piano roll" grid, giving you intuitive, click-and-drag
editing power over all characteristics of individual
notes, or sections of music. The Event List displays notes
and controller information alphanumerically.

THE MAIN WINDOWS

Master Tracks Pro's windows let you view and edit music in
a variety of ways. With the controls in Master Tracks Pro
you can easily change many aspects of the music - the key,
the tempo, even the sound (preset) for each track.

THE TRACK EDITOR

The Track Editor window can contain up to 64 tracks of
data and has controls for naming tracks, recording,
soloing, assigning MIDI channels, program numbers and
looping tracks. This window is where you organize and name
the individual tracks, build your song, and determine what
instruments/sounds will be played by each track. The Track
Editor also displays a bar chart of your song, showing you
each track as measures in time. Solid measures contain
data and hollow measures contain only musical rests.
Notice how the display follows the music as it plays back.
The Track Editor can be used to build and edit songs. You
can perform editing operations like cut, copy and paste on
measures by first selecting an area to be edited, and then
performing the edit operation. You can also mix two tracks
together. You can select a section of the song, or an
entire track using the mouse. The Track Editor is a very
powerful tool for building songs, repeating sections, and
using the power of the computer to help you compose.

THE TRANSPORT WINDOW

The window at the bottom of the screen is called the
Transport - it controls playback of the song and tells you
which song is currently active. The Transport has controls
for fast forward, rewind, pause and record, just like a
tape deck. You can even fast forward while playing back to
locate part of a song. On the left of the window you see
some counters that show you the location in the song in
measures, beats and clocks. Below it you can see the
elapsed time in hours, minutes, seconds and frames. These
counters let you locate different parts of the song.

THE CONDUCTOR WINDOW

The Conductor window displays the current song's tempo and
meter. You can make temporary changes to the tempo by
moving the slider.

THE STEP EDITOR

In the Step Editor, the notes are displayed as lines that
show the pitch and duration of the notes. You can use a
mouse to enter notes by clicking on the note icons and
then clicking on the grid to place them.

THE NOTATION EDITOR

This is new for version 4.9. The notes are displayed as
actual notation. You can use a mouse to enter notes by
clicking on the notes icon then on the Bass and Treble
Clefs for placement. In the actual program, you can print
any track out as a complete part.

THE EVENT LIST EDITOR

The Event List Editor displays a track's worth of
information as numerical data. This allows you to edit
individual notes and other data.

THE DATA WINDOWS

Passport pioneered the use of graphic data windows and
continues the tradition with Pro 4. Any controller, pitch
bend, or other MIDI data can be viewed and edited in these
windows.

****************************************

MASTER TRACKS PRO 4 GUIDED TOUR

START THE PROGRAM
Double-click on the Pro 4 Demo icon.
After you see the boot-up screen, the program will open
the Track Editor, Transport and Conductor windows.

Click on the Track Editor window to make sure it's
active. The left side of this window displays the numbers
of 64 tracks and boxes in which you click to make a track
play (P), record (R), play solo (S) and loop (L).

SET CHANNELS
Look a little to the right and find the box labeled "Chnl."
Click in the box directly below this.

Type a "1" on your PC. This sets the MIDI channel over
which track 1 will play.


SET YOUR MIDI INSTRUMENT
Set your main keyboard (or the instrument you want to play
on Pro 4's track 1) to MIDI channel 1.

When you play your MIDI keyboard, you should hear the
instrument you've set to MIDI channel 1.

MIDI Thru - on the Transport Window
This section routes the flow of MIDI data from your master
controller through your computer and out the designated
port.

This kind of software MIDI Thru is useful when you have
both a Master Controller (a keyboard or other MIDI
controller) and a separate sound generating module. The
MIDI output of your controller should be connected to the
MIDI input on the computer and the MIDI output of the
computer should be connected to the MIDI input of your
sound module.

Then, if you want to play your controller and have your
sound module respond to its MIDI messages, you have to
turn on Pro 4's MIDI Thru function. This routes the MIDI
data (generated by your playing) through your PC and out
to the sound module.

PROGRAM CHANGE
You can change the programs on your MIDI instruments
easily with Master Tracks Pro's Program Change feature.

Just left of the horizontal center of the Track Editor,
Click on the top of the "Prg" column to expand it to
"Program Name"

Click on the box below Program Name - the Device dialog
will appear.

Click on the pop-up menu to the right of the word "Device."
If you have one of the instruments listed, drag to it
and release the mouse button.

Double-click on any program number (or name, if your
instrument was in the list) on the program grid. Master
Tracks Pro sends a MIDI message to your instrument,
telling it to change to the program number you clicked.

RECORD
Make sure track 1 is still record-enabled (read the Set-up
section, above).

In the Transport (the one with the shuttle buttons like a
tape deck) click on Auto, Count and Click so they're
highlighted (white letters on a dark background).

Press Enter and, after four beats, play your MIDI
instrument.

Press the spacebar when you're done.

To play back the music you recorded, press the spacebar
again.


Punch-in
Like punching in on a tape deck, Punch-in automatically
turns record on, and then off, at the points you
designate. Double-click on the Punch Icon to set the
punch regions.

STEP RECORDING
Open the Step Editor from the Windows Menu.

In the Step Editor, click on the pencil icon to the upper
left of the note grid.

Click on one of the note duration icons above the pencil
icon.

Click anywhere on the note grid, and a note of the
selected duration will appear.

You can use your MIDI keyboard to enter in note pitches -
Click on the Keyboard Icon, choose the duration from the
menu bar and click on the Step Editor grid where you want
to enter notes. Play your MIDI keyboard to enter notes.

You can erase notes by using the Eraser tool.

EDITING
Editing in Master Tracks Pro is done by clicking and
dragging, or by selecting one or more events and editing
them with menu commands.

Edit Notes
In the Step Editor, you can edit individual notes in
different ways by clicking on the pencil or arrow icon,
then clicking and dragging the note.

Click on the arrow icon, then double-click on a note. You
can type in values to change the note's parameters in the
box that appears.

Click on the pencil icon.

Click on the left end of the note and you can drag it up,
down, left or right.

Click on the right end of the note and you can drag left
and right to change the length of the note.

Click on one of the note duration icons above the pencil
icon.

Click on a blank spot and you record a note of the
selected duration.

Selecting for Editing In the Step Editor

Select any note or group of notes by clicking on a blank
spot with the arrow cursor and dragging a rectangle around
a group of notes.

Select a measure by clicking in the measure number bar
above the note grid.

Select a range of measures by holding down the Shift key
and clicking on any number of measure numbers.

Selecting for Editing In the Track Editor

Select a range of measures and tracks by clicking and
dragging across them in the grid.

Select an entire track by clicking on the track number
just to the left of the track grid.

Select a group of tracks by clicking and dragging across a
range of track numbers at the left of the track grid.

Select an entire measure in all tracks by clicking on the
measure number just above the track grid.

Select a group of measures by clicking and dragging across
a range of measure numbers above the track grid.

Editing a Selection Any selection can be edited by menu
commands. The Edit menu contains Cut, Copy and Paste
commands. Choosing Paste will put the data immediately
after where you click (the "insertion point") in the Step
or Track Editor.

The Change Menu The Change menu contains a number of
commands that use the same or similar techniques to edit
selections. The Change Filter works identically in all of
these. Transpose is a good example.

Record four bars of four quarter notes, on the beat.

Select bars two and three in the Step Editor (choose from
the Windows menu).

Pull down the Change menu and choose Transpose. * Click
the Change Filter button.

Notice the box is checked for "Only apply changes to
events with pitches from C-2 to G8"

Near the bottom of the Change Filter dialog box, click in
the box next to: "Start Times within 10 clocks of these
sub-beats".

Below that, click in the radio button on the first
sixteenth note of beat 1. Now, whatever you do in the
Transpose dialog box will only affect notes in the range
from C-2 to G8, that also start within 10 clocks of the
first beat of every bar. * Click OK.

In the Transpose dialog box, notice the line that reads,
"Transpose notes from C3 to C3. "

Type a C4 into the box where you see the right-hand C3.
This means you will transpose every selected note up one
octave.

Click OK. Of the notes you selected, all those on the
first beat of a measure will be transposed one octave up.

Recordable Faders Master Tracks Pro lets you record volume
changes on individual tracks and the entire mix, with
moving, on-screen faders.

Track Faders

In the Track Editor, click the heading of the Volume box
("Vol"), so the column expands into a set of faders.

Hold the Shift key and, in the Track Editor, click in any
track's record box. A miniature fader icon appears there.

Click Record (or Press Enter), then click and drag the
fader. You will record all fader moves you make. On
playback, the fader will move to indicate your moves (make
sure "Follow Playback" in the Layout Menu is ON) * Record
fader moves on any number of tracks by clicking MultiTrack
Record in the Layout Menu and record- enable the tracks
you wish.

Please Note: Track faders will only affect syntesizers
that respond to Controller #7 (MIDI Volume). Many older
synths (Yamaha DX-7 for example) DO NOT respond to
Controller #7 and therefore will not respond to volume
changes.

MCI SUPPORT Master Tracks Pro 4 supports MCI (Medial
Control Interface), Microsoft's standard protocol for
controlling various multimedia devices with Windows 3.1.
Current MCI drivers allow for the control and playback of
the following media types:. WAV audio, CD audio, MIDI
sequences, Pioneer laser disk players, and MacroMind
Director, Autodesk Animator, or Gold Disk Animation Works
animation. Support will also be available for digital
video.

Pro 4 uses command-strings entered in the Markers window
to communicate with the MCI system. These command-strings
can tell the various media devices to open, record, or
play files. You could, for example, record a digital audio
vocal while listening to a sequence play, and then play
the sequence and the vocal track together. The only extra
hardware you need is a sound card for digitizing and
playing the. WAV audio files and a microphone for
recording vocals or acoustic sounds.

These are the only the basics of Master Tracks Pro 4. It
has many more features, but is a remarkably intuitive
program. You'll find a lot of ways to record and edit your
sequences, just by exploring.

Master Tracks Pro 4 is unequaled for combining
professional features with clear, powerful functionality.
Take your musical productivity to new levels and make your
next song a hit with Pro 4!

Passport also has two programs that will display and print
standard sheet music - the entry level MusicTime ($249.00)
and the professional version, ENCORE ($595.00).

FOR DEALER AND ORDERING INFORMATION ABOUT MASTER TRACKS
PRO AND OTHER PASSPORT PRODUCTS, PLEASE CALL OR WRITE:

PASSPORT DESIGNS, INC. 100 Stone Pine Rd. Half Moon Bay,
CA 94019 phone [phone] fax [phone]