GEMini Atari

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ACCOMPANIST - A 16 Voice Sequencer. ~Index @ -------------------------------------------- 1. ^Introduction! 2. ^Features! 3. The ^Desktop! 3.1. The ^Menu bar! 3.2. The ^Voice box! 3.3. The ^Map box! 3.4. The ^Commit box! 3.5. The ^Conductor box! 3.6. The ^Play/Record box! 3.7. The ^Punch-In box! 3.8. The ^Title box! 4. The ^Menus! 4.1. ^File Menu! 4.2. ^Voice Menu! 4.3. ^Block Menu! 4.4. ^Music Menu! 4.5. ^Option Menu! 4.6. ^Section Menu! 4.7. ^Help Menu! 5. ^Dialogues! 5.1. ^Voice Dialogue! 5.2. ^Metronome Dialogue! 5.3. ^Section Dialogue! 5.4. ^Filter Dialogue! 5.5 ^Edit Dialogue! 5.6. ^Conductor Dialogue! 5.7. ^Title Dialogue! 5.8. ^Help! Dialogue Appendix A: File ^Loading Error! Messages Appendix B: ^Glossary! Appendix C: ^Tutorial! 1. ~Introduction @ ---------------- This manual describes how to use ACCOMPANIST - A 16 Voice Sequencer. Key concepts, such as the ^Map!, start with a capital letter, and are explained in the ^glossary! at the end. Numbers such as tempo, time signature, channels etc are all changed by Rolling the mouse. Read the glossary section on ^Rolling! first. In ^Dialogues!, all shadowed boxes are text, i.e. not selectable. All other boxes may be selected to change values, make choices etc. Names between single quote marks. eg 'PLAY' indicate an icon displayed either on the ^Desktop!, or in a Menu, or in a Dialogue Box. 2. ~Features @ ------------ 1. ^Multi-Voice recording! using separate ^MIDI channels! or programs, split MIDI keyboards and/or velocity ranges. 2. Variable resolution ^Map! of 8 Voices on ^Desktop! continuously, the Mouse is used for most movement around music. 3. Mouse click sampling of any music in the Map. 4. Simple editing using mouse and MIDI keyboard on ^blocks! down to hemi-demi-semi-quavers. 5. ^Sections! for naming passages plus setting ^Time signature!, ^tempo!, and other local features. 6. Variable resolution ^metronome! on any ^MIDI channel!, program, note, velocity. May be driven by external ^MIDI clock!. 7. Full Block/Voice copy, move, clear, plus block insert, delete. 8. Block quantize, randomize, transpose, velocity update, time signature change. 9. MIDI File Standard (MFS or SMF). Reads Formats 0 and 1, and writes Format 1. 10. Filtering of channels, MIDI commands, note ranges and velocity ranges on input, output or by direct manipulation. 11. Undo/Redo on all operations that change the music. 12. THRU channel specification for each voice. 13. All MIDI notes/channels/programs may be input from a MIDI keyboard, or by ^Rolling! the mouse. 14. ^MIDI channels! and program numbers base may be selected to be 0 or 1. 15. Switchable use of ^ATARI Sound Channels!. 3. ~DeskTop @ ----------- The Desktop has 8 main areas:- 1. The ^Menu Bar! (top) 2. The ^Voice Box! (top left) 3. The ^Map Box! (top right) 4. The ^Commit Box! (bottom left) 5. The ^Conductor Box! (bottom mid-left) 6. The ^Play/Record Box! (bottom mid-right) 7. The ^Punch-In Box! (bottom right) 8. The ^Title Box! (under Play/Record box) 3.1 The ~Menu Bar The drop down ^Menus! drive the program in the normal GEM manner. 3.2 The ~Voice Box This contains information about 8 of the 16 ^Voices!. Each Voice has a number and a name. A Voice is selected for recording and most other manipulation by clicking on its name, which will then appear inverted. If the Voice has no name, then you are prompted for one. Normally only one Voice may be selected for ^Recording! etc. This may be overridden by selecting the 'MV' ^Multi-Voice! Icon at the bottom of the Voice Box. Whilst this is selected, i.e. appears inverted, any number of Voices may be selected simultaneously, e.g for ^Multi-Voice Recording!, or for Multi-Voice copying etc. The only, or most recently selected, Voice may have its properties such as ^MIDI Channel! and ^MIDI Program!, updated by selecting Change in the ^Voice menu!, which initiates the ^Voice Dialogue!, see below. The Voice number of the most recently selected Voice appears inverted. Double clicking on the Voice name initiates the Voice Dialogue directly, except while music is playing. Clicking directly on the Voice number changes it to light grey, or back to black. Black indicates that the voice will play, grey that it is silent. This may be changed while the music is playing. Other Voices can be displayed in the Voice Box either by clicking on the arrows at the bottom left of the Voice Box, or by selecting the number on the left of the arrows and ^Rolling! it to a new value (1-9). The Percentage figure at the bottom right of the Voice Box shows what percentage of the Voice memory has been used so far. The '/**' in the top right of the Voice box shows the ^Map! resolution, see below. The 'CONDUCTOR' Voice represents the commands set up using the ^Conductor Dialogue!in the ^Voice Menu!. The 'CHORUS' Voice represents the contents of all Voices, including those not currently showing in the map. Selecting CHORUS immediately selects all Voices. This is useful when using 'AUTO.AUD' (See ^Punch-In Box!). 3.3 The ~Map Box This shows the ^Map!. It displays the contents of each Voice to the resolution shown in the top right of the ^Voice Box!. The default resolution, /** is one bar per '-'. i.e. any bar with at least one ^Midi Event! in it will be represented by a '-' , otherwise a space. The resolution can be Rolled (^Rolling!) up to /96. Resolution /<> squeezes all the music into the Map. If the Map Box is not wide enough to show the whole song at a particular resolution, then the slide-bar at the top of the Map Box shows which part of the song is showing on the Map. This slide-bar may be used to move between different parts of the song. Clicking on the small boxes at each end of the slider cause the map to be moved a half map width. Whenever the ^Marker! is changed, the Map is adjusted to ensure that the Marker is showing. The vertical position of each '-' in a Voice can vary. At higher resolutions this gives an indication of how the notes go up and down. Bar numbers are shown under the slider. At the bottom of the Map Box are two further boxes. The upper shows the position of the Marker, and the lower shows the position of the Sections defined so far. Selecting a ^Section! causes the Marker to be moved to that Section. Double clicking in the Marker slider box sets the Marker to that position. The Map box shows the current ^Fragment! as an inverted box. Double clicking in the Map box enters the ^Edit Dialogue! immediately, except while music is playing. The contents of the Map may be filtered to show different MIDI commands or note ranges. The Map ^Filter! can changed in the ^Option Menu!. 3.4 The ~Commit Box Various operations such as Record, Quantize, Clear can be UnDone if the result does not sound right. When such an operation has been selected, the Commit Box shows the current state of the operation. This is indicated by 'DONE' or 'UNDONE'. The box showing 'REDO' or 'UNDO' may be selected any number of times, followed by 'PLAY' to listen to the result. When you have decided on whether to keep the result, or not, select 'COMMIT' to finish the operation. If you forget to select 'COMMIT', before selecting another operation, then a Dialogue box will appear asking you to complete the previous operation. Commit operations are disabled while music is playing. 3.5 The ~Conductor Box This shows the current ^Music-Time! while playing. It also shows the current ^Time Signature!, ^Tempo!, and Metronome resolution, see ^Section Dialogue!. Selecting either of the two arrows under the Tempo, while playing, causes the Tempo to be changed accordingly. The Tempo of the last Section with a non-** Tempo is updated automatically. On the bottom line the 'SYNC' indicates that SYNCHRONIZE is on, so that a ^MIDI Event! is awaited before playing begins. The bell icon indicates whether the ^Metronome! will sound as specified in the current ^Section!. 3.6 The ~Play/Record Box Selecting 'PLAY' causes music to be played from the current ^Marker! ^Music-Time!, which is shown under 'PLAY'. 'STOP' stops the music, and pressing the space bar also stops the music. 'RECORD' causes ^recording! to take place from the Marker, for those ^Voices! selected in the ^Voice Box!. In the initial input phase, 'RECORD' should be used as it wipes out all previous contents of the Voices after the Marker. Subsequent changes should be made either with Punch-In or Auto-punch in the ^Punch-In Box!. Recording is confirmed or undone by using the ^Commit Box!. There are four Icons in the Play/Record box that may be selected to set the Marker. '->->->' This moves the current Music-Time showing in the ^Conductor box! to the Marker. It scrolls the Map (even while playing) if the Marker goes off the Map. '|<-<-' This sets the Marker to the start of the first bar. '->->|' This sets the marker to the end of the music. '<-<-' This moves the current ^Punch-In! time to the Marker. 3.7 The ~Punch-In Box This is used to sample/edit a ^Fragment! of previously recorded Voices. The Fragment is defined by the ^Punch-In!(above) and Punch- Out(below) ^Music-Times! shown in this box. The Fragment may also be specified by dragging a box in the ^Map Box! with the mouse. This causes an inverted box to appear, and sets the times accordingly. It also selects the ^Voice! chosen. Simply clicking in this area produces a single width Fragment. Selecting 'PUNCH' causes music to play with Count-In as for 'RECORD'. ^Recording! takes place in the selected Voices only between the ^Punch-In! and Punch-Out times. 'PUNCH' is confirmed or undone by using the ^Commit box!. 'AUDIT' plays only the selected Voices from the Punch-In time. 'AUD-CNT' does the same but with Count-In. 'AUD.CHORUS' plays all voices from the Punch-In time without Count-In. Selecting 'AUTO.AUD' switches Auto-Audition on and off, (on when inverted). When Auto-Audition is on, any new Fragment created by dragging or clicking in the Map-Box, is immediately played as though 'AUDIT' had been selected. This is a very useful way of reviewing, then editing a song. A new Fragment may be created before the previous Fragment has finished playing. The new Fragment is played immediately. Selecting 'AUTO.PUN' allows very simple editing of a single note or chord. The Fragment must have been previously defined to cover a single note or chord, for a particular Voice. The ^Map! resolution will need to have been increased to crotchets(/4), or quavers(/8), etc. After selecting 'AUTO.PUN', play a note or chord on the MIDI keyboard. This will automatically be punched into the start of the Fragment, with duration the length of the Fragment. 'AUTO.PUN' times out after about 10 seconds, if a note has not been played. There are five Icons that may be selected to change the Punch- in/out times. '<-<-' sets Punch-In from the Marker. '|<-' sets Punch-In to the start of first bar. '->->' sets Punch-Out from the Marker. '->|' sets Punch-Out to the end of the music. The two downward arrows set Punch-Out to the next bar after Punch-In. 3.8 The ~Title Box This shows the current title. Selecting the Title Box enters the ^Title Dialogue!. 4. The ~Menus @ ------------- There are 7 menus:- 1. ^File Menu! 2. ^Voice Menu! 3. ^Block Menu! 4. ^Music Menu! 5. ^Option Menu! 6. ^Section Menu! 7. ^Help Menu! 4.1 ~File Menu This provides various operations for manipulating songs. 'Load' loads a whole song from a disk file. Various ^Loading Errors! that may happen are detailed in Appendix A. 'Save' saves a song that has been previously loaded, or saved-as. 'Save As' saves a song with a new file name. Loading, and saving, may be aborted by pressing the left mouse button until an alert box appears. 'Clear' clears the whole of the current song. 'Delete' allows a file to be selected for deletion. 4.2 ~Voice Menu This provides various operations to change the properties and contents of each ^Voice!. 'Change' enters the ^Voice Dialogue! showing the properties of the most recently selected Voice. 'Edit' enters the ^Edit Dialogue! for updating MIDI Events. 'Conductor' enters the ^Conductor Dialogue!. This allows ^Time Signature!, ^Tempo! etc to be set at arbitrary bars. 'Move' enters the Voice Move Dialogue, which moves all details and ^MIDI events! from one Voice to a different Voice. See ^Block Menu! for selecting Voices. 'Copy' enters the Voice Copy Dialogue, which copies the MIDI events of one or more Voices, or block thereof (see ^Block Menu!), to a different Voice. Options for overwriting, filling, or merging are the same as for Block Copy, (see ^Block Menu!). Copying can be filtered by the Music ^Filter! (see ^Option Menu!). 'Record From' enters the Record From Dialogue, which allows one Voice to be split into several Voices in the same way as for ^Multi-Voice Recording!. The source Voice and time region are specified in the Dialogue. The destination Voices should be selected in the normal manner for Multi-Voice recording, and typically should each be given a different input ^MIDI Channel!. 'Filter In/Out' enter the ^Filter Dialogue!. This specifies filters to be used on a ^MIDI event! during recording or playing. These filters are switched on and off in the ^Voice dialogue!. 'Clear' reinitialises Voices. 4.3 ~Block Menu This provides various operations for copying and moving the ^MIDI events! for each ^Voice!. For each such operation, All Voices, or currently selected Voices (i.e. with inverted names), or a single Voice, can be selected for manipulation. Also ,the whole Voice, or a selected ^Block!, may be specified to be operated on. Selecting the upward arrow Icon, causes this block to be set to the current ^Fragment! times. All operations in this menu are confirmed or undone by using the ^Commit Box!, except where stated. 'Copy' copies the selected Block in each Voice to another Time in the same ^Voice!. The block may be copied up to 99 times. Options for checking the destination are 1) Overwrite, ie delete any previous events. 2) Fill, check the destination region is empty, and only copy if empty. 3) Merge the source with the destination. Selecting the upward arrows under the destination time, causes this to be set to the current ^Marker! time. Block copying can be filtered by the Music ^Filter! (see ^Option Menu!). 'Move' moves the selected Block in each Voice to another Time in the same ^Voice!. The destination time may be set as for copying. 'Clear' clears the selected Block in each Voice. 'Insert' inserts a number of bars. It shifts up all Music and ^Sections! (not UNDOable). 'Delete' deletes a number of bars. It deletes any music present, then shifts down all Music and Sections (not UNDOable). 4.4 ~Music Menu This provides various operations for manipulating the ^MIDI events! for each ^Voice!. For each such operation, Voices and blocks are set up as above. All operations in this menu are confirmed or undone by using the Commit box. All operations, except Time Signature, may be filtered by the Music ^Filter! (see ^Option Menu!). 'Quantize' sets the ^quantization! for the start times and/or durations of selected Voices/regions, eg 1/16 causes events to be placed on semi-quaver boundaries. The /1 is a divisor, eg 1/4 /5 would quantize onto fifths of a crotchet. This normally operates on Notes only, however if the Filter is turned on then any MIDI Events may be quantized. 'Randomize' does the inverse of 'Quantize', causing a slight randomizing of the timing of each event. Randomize /32 changes the time by up to +/- 12 beats. This operates on Notes only. 'Duration' sets the duration of MIDI notes. This operates on Notes only. 'Transpose' transposes the notes in the selected Block in each Voice. This operates on Notes and Key Pressure Events. 'Velocity' changes the velocity of notes in the selected Block in each Voice. This operates on Notes and Key Pressure Events. 'Channel' sets the ^MIDI channel! in all ^MIDI Events! to the output MIDI channel for that Voice, if not **. 'Filter' causes the selected Block in each Voice to be filtered according to the Music ^Filter!, see ^Option Menu!. 'Prune' removes MIDI Events selectively. It works on Key Pressure, Channel Pressure, Controller and Pitch Bend events. Events are only pruned if they are set to be filtered in the Music Filter, and their value is closer to the previous value then the minimum gap set in the Dialogue. For example, Pitch Bend works OK with a minimum gap of, say, 12. Use Prune to reduce the size of MIDI files. 'TimeSigCh' changes the ^Time Signature! of the stored music, so that it sounds the same as before, eg 4/4 can be changed to 2/4, in which case there would be double the number of bars. The played Time Signature must also be changed in a Section, or by using the ^Conductor dialogue!. 4.5 ~Section Menu This provides for creation, change, and deletion of ^Sections!. 'Open' enters the ^Section Dialogue! to define a new Section. Typically Sections are used for a region of music with a particular ^Time signature! and/or ^Tempo!. The name of each Section appears at the bottom of the ^Map box!. 'Change' enters the ^Section Dialogue! and displays the data for the current selected Section, chosen by clicking on the Section name in the Map box. All except the first Section may be moved to a different time. 'Delete' removes the currently selected Section. 4.6 ~Option Menu 'Map Filter' enters the ^Filter Dialogue!. This changes which ^MIDI Events! are shown in the ^Map!. 'Music Filter' enters the Filter Dialogue. This changes the Music Filter, which is used in Voice Copy, (see ^Voice Menu!), Block Copy, (see ^Block Menu!), and various operations in the ^Music Menu!. 'Music = Map' when checked by an arrow, specifies that the Music Filter is the same as the Map Filter. Selecting it toggles this off and on. 'Auto Commit' may be selected when an operation such as 'AUTO.PUN' is being used repeatedly. When selected, 'Auto Commit' is checked with a tick. When an operation is used again, the previous operation is committed automatically if 'Auto Commit' has been selected. Once selected 'Auto Commit' stays on until selected again or a different operation, using commitment, is begun. 'Midi Base 0' specifies how ^MIDI channel! and program numbers appear on the screen. If checked with a tick then the Midi Base is 0, otherwise it is 1. This does not affect the internal values, i.e. when the Midi Base is 1 , the internal values are the displayed values minus 1. This option is saved when a piece of music is saved. 'Monitor O/P' causes MIDI Channels 13 to 15 to be output to the ATARI sound channels via the Monitor. This option is saved when a piece of music is saved. 'Metronome' enters the ^Metronome Dialogue!, which defines the MIDI characteristics of the ^Metronome!. 4.7 ~Help Menu Selecting any entry in this Menu enters the ^Help! Dialogue. In particular, selecting Help gives an explanation of how to use the Help Dialogue. 5. ~Dialogues @ ------------- 1. ^Voice Dialogue! 2. ^Metronome Dialogue! 3. ^Section Dialogue! 4. ^Filter Dialogue! 5, ^Edit Dialogue! 6. ^Conductor Dialogue! 7. ^Title Dialogue! 8. ^Help! Dialogue 5.1 ~Voice Dialogue This is entered by selecting 'Change' in the Voice Menu, or by double clicking on a Voice name. Various MIDI parameters such as input and output ^MIDI channels!, program numbers etc, may be specified. For details, see Glossary entry for ^Voice!. 'LOCK ON' prevents subsequent inadvertant changes to a Voice. ^Multi-Voice recording! allocates ^MIDI events! to Voices from the values defined by this Dialogue. If 'THRU' is set to 'ON' then MIDI input is immediately output on the output MIDI channel. This is for master keyboards. If 'QUANTIZE' is set on then all types of MIDI events are quantized immediately on input. Notes are transposed on input according to the Transpose settings, before THRU output. The Voice number, or name, may be Rolled to show a different Voice. The up and down arrows also change Voice. Any changes made to a Voice, before moving to a different Voice, are kept and may not be cancelled. 5.2 ~Metronome Dialogue This is entered by selecting 'Metronome' in the ^Option Menu!. It defines the ^MIDI Channel!, ^MIDI Program! and notes to be used for the first and subsequent beats in each bar. The ^MIDI clock! can be set to external, in which case a rhythm unit must be used to generate the appropriate ^MIDI clock! signals. MIDI clock output can be set on to generate signals to drive a rhythm unit. In this case the rhythm unit must have its MIDI clock set to external. The Metronome can be assigned to any MIDI Channel, Program, Note, Velocity. (The default channel is 13 which is one of the ^ATARI sound channels!, the others being 14 & 15). So, by default, the Metronome sounds from the ATARI sound system. 5.3 ~Section Dialogue This is entered by selecting Change in the Sections Menu, or by double clicking on a Section name under the Map. Most of the attributes are self explanatory. 'SYNCHRONIZE' 'ON' specifies that during this Section, playing wont start until a MIDI note is played. ^Quantization! specifies the steps when ^Rolling! a ^Music-Time! Beat. 5.4 ~Filter Dialogue This is entered to change the ^Filters! for ^Voices!, the ^Map! and the ^Edit Dialogue!. When changing a Voice Filter (in or out), the Voice may be changed as in the ^Voice Dialogue! On the Channels line, 'ALL' sets all the Channel Filters on, ie all Channels are removed, plus the equivalent System Messages. 'NONE' sets all Channel Filters off. On the bottom line, 'NOTES' sets the Filter so that only Note Events are left after filtering. 'ALL' sets it so that all Events are removed. 'NONE' sets it so that no Events are removed. When the Filter for a particular ^MIDI Event! type is set to 'ON', those Events are removed when the Filter is applied. 5.5 ~Edit Dialogue This is entered by selecting 'Edit' in the ^Voice Menu!, or by double clicking in the ^Map Box!, when a ^Voice! has already been selected. The Edit dialogue box shows the ^MIDI Events! that are present from the start of the ^Fragment! for that Voice. The start time may be Rolled, in which case, Events from the new time are shown. The up and down arrows may be selected to look up and down, either one at a time (2 arrows) or a whole page (4 arrows). The Midi Event type is shown after the Event time, followed by ^MIDI Channel! and parameters. For a Note Event these are Pitch, Velocity and Duration. All these parameters may be Rolled to new values. The Duration is changed by the ^Quantization! value set in the preceding ^Section!. ^Rolling! the Command to the left gives ***, which causes an existing Event to be deleted, and then 4 downward arrows, which causes a new duplicate Event to be created, and this, and lower Events, to be pushed down. Events do not have to be entered in the correct order. The Voice may be changed as in the ^Voice Dialogue!, except that all the changes are saved up to be committed, or not, at the end of the Edit Dialogue Selecting 'OK' causes new Events to be created, updated Events to be changed, deleted Events to be removed, for all edited Voices. When doing a series of Edit Dialogues, it is convenient to set Commitment to automatic using Auto-Commit in the ^Option Menu!. 5.6 ~Conductor Dialogue This is entered by selecting 'Conductor' in the ^Voice Menu!, or by double clicking in the ^Map Box!, when no Voices are selected. Note that clicking on the Conductor line in the Map deselects all selected ^Voices!. This Dialogue is used to specify ^Time-Signature!, ^Tempo!, Pause, and Synchronize. The Conductor is typically used for specifying changes of short duration, which do not merit a Section being defined. The ^Edit Dialogue!, described above, gives details of how this Dialogue is used. All commands have a Start-Time on the left. The other parameters for the Conductor commands are as follows:- Tempo Number/Type New-Tempo Time Signature Number/Type End-Time Pause Number/Type Synchronise Number/Type can range between 12/2, twelve minims, and 1/16, one semi-quaver. 1) Tempo sets the Metronome to beat every Number/Type interval at New-Tempo from Start-Time onwards. 2) Time Signature changes the time signature to Number/Type from Start-Time to End-Time. 3) Pause pauses playing for a Number/Type interval. 4) Synchronize causes playing to stop until MIDI input is received. 5.7 ~Title Dialogue This Dialogue presents a series of text fields that may be edited. They are saved/loaded with the music. 5.8 ~Help~ Dialogue This Dialogue is entered either from the Help Menu, or by selecting 'HELP' in any other Dialogue, or by pressing the Help key. The Help file contains a number of titled entries like this. Select any highlighted area to go to a related help entry. eg ^Help Menu! Select 'PREVIOUS' to return from the related entry to the original entry. Use the slider on the right in the normal GEM manner to read a long Help entry such as this one. The icons are as follows:- '|<-<-' Go to start of Help file, ie the ^Index!. '->->|' Go to the end of the Help file. '<-<-<-' Go backwards one entry in the Help file. '->->->' Go forwards one entry in the Help file. 'FIRST' Go back to the Help file entry which was first displayed. 'PREVIOUS' Return from related entry to previous entry. 'OK' Exit Help Dialogue to desktop or previous Dialogue. 'EXIT' Exit Help Dialogue and return immediately to desktop. This icon is only available when help is entered from a Dialogue. It acts as though CANCEL had been selected in the Dialogue. Pressing the Help key from the Desktop enters this Dialogue with the last Help file entry used. Appendix A: File ~Loading Error~ Messages @ ----------------------------------------- These error messages may be output while loading MIDI Files ^File Menu!. 1. ^Time Signature! Meta Event Error. Length should be 4 bytes. 2. ^Tempo! Meta Event Error. Length should be 3 bytes. 3. Data Byte 1 Error. The first data byte after a status byte was greater than 127. 4. Data Byte 2 Error. The second data byte was greater than 127. 5. MIDI System Exclusive Error. A value greater than Hex 7F, but not Hex F7 was found. 6. System Message Error. A status byte between Hex F8 and Hex FE inclusive was found. These should not be present. 7. Track Size Error. The end of the Track as indicated by the Track Size in the Track Header, did not contain a Track End Meta Event (FF 2F 00). 8. Track Header Error. An MTrk Track Header was not found after a Track End Meta Event. 9. Invalid Format Type. An Format type other than 0,1,2 was found in the File Header. 10. Invalid File Header Size. This size is normally 6. 11. Invalid Time Division. This field in the File Header must be greater than or equal to 24. It defines the beats per quarter note used in the time fields. 12. End of file found before end of Track. Appendix B: ~Glossary @ --------------------- This contains explanations for the technical words used in this manual, eg ^MIDI Event!. ~Atari Sound Channel ^MIDI Channels! 13 to 15 are, by default, output though the Atari sound channels. This may be switched off by selecting Monitor O/P in the ^Option Menu!. Program 0 gives a velocity sensitive range of notes. Program 1 gives a velocity insensitive range of notes. Program 2 Gives a single bell note for all notes and velocities. ~Block A Block is a time-range. It may be as short as 1/24 of a crotchet, or as long as a whole piece of music. Blocks are used for copying, quantizing, filtering etc. The ^Fragment! is a Block which is defined by the ^Punch-In! and Punch-Out times in the ^Punch-In Box!. ~Cursor A vertical line drawn in the ^Map! to show the current ^Music-Time!, during playing and ^Rolling!. When the cursor is off the Map, it appears as a dash-dot line. ~Filter A Filter specifies what ^MIDI events! are removed at record/play/Block filter time. Pitch Bend, After pressure, and Channel pressure, and each of the 16 ^MIDI channels! can be set, as well as note and velocity ranges. For System Messages, the Channel settings are used to filter each different System Message type. Note Ranges may be specified in two ways, 40<< >>60 removes notes less than 40, and greater than 60. 60<< >>40 removes notes greater than 40, and less than 60. Velocities may be filtered in the same way. Durations may also be filtered, except that a range of 00<< >>00 is null and removes no notes. ~Fragment The Fragment is defined by the Punch-In(above) and Punch-Out(below) ^Music-Times! shown in the ^Punch-In Box!. The Fragment may also be specified by dragging a box in the ^Map!, or just clicking, which gives a single width Fragment. It is used for reviewing and editing a song. ~Map The Map appears in the ^Map Box! in the top right hand of the ^DeskTop!. It shows a ^Music-Time! range, which may be changed by sliding the box above the Map in the normal GEM manner. The Map indicates which of the ^Voices! shown in the ^Voice Box! have ^Midi Events! for each of the time intervals. The resolution of the Map may be altered by ^Rolling! the Map-Resolution Indicator in the top right hand corner of the Voice Box. A resolution of '**' indicates that each interval represents a bar, whatever the ^Time Signature!. A resolution of '<>' indicates that all music is represented in the Map. ~Marker The Marker is the ^Music-Time! displayed in the ^Play/Record Box!. It is also indicated by a small Marker-box under the ^Map!, and above the ^Section! names. The Marker can be changed by standard time-editing, or by dragging the Marker-box to the left or right, or by double clicking in the Marker slider box, or clicking either side of the Marker, or by selecting one of the arrow Icons in the Play/Record box, or by selecting a ^Section!. After changing the Marker, if the Marker is off the Map, the Map will be adjusted to ensure that the Marker is showing. When the Marker is off the Map, it appears as a hollow (i.e.not coloured) box. ~Metronome The Metronome ticks as the music plays. Its MIDI parameters are defined in the ^Metronome Dialogue!, and its ^Tempo! is set either in a ^Section!, or in the ^Conductor Dialogue! or while playing by clicking in the ^Conductor Box!. ~MIDI Channel There are 16 MIDI channels. They may based at 0 or 1, see ^Option Menu!. These may be specified by ^Rolling! the mouse or playing a note on a MIDI keyboard. ** is a dont care value. ~MIDI Clock The MIDI Clock is controlled either by ACCOMPANIST or a rhythm unit. This is set in the ^Metronome Dialogue!. 24 MIDI Clock events are sent for each crotchet. ~MIDI Controller MIDI Controllers control certain synthesiser features, such as sound envelopes, etc. ~MIDI Event There are 8 basic types of MIDI EVENT 0. Note Off. 1. Note On. 2. Key Pressure. (After Touch) 3. Control Change. ^MIDI Controller! 4. Program Change. ^MIDI Program! 5. Channel Pressure (Overall volume) 6. Pitch Bend 7. System. ^MIDI Clock! Note-Off's are generated automatically. ~MIDI Program The MIDI Program for a ^Voice! may be specified in the ^Voice Dialogue!. A value other than ** indicates that the Program Number for this Voice is FIXED, and no Program Change MIDI Events will be recorded in this Voice. In this case a Program Change Event is always sent when music starts playing. Also different Voices may share the same ^MIDI Channel!, and as long as their music content does not overlap, ACCOMPANIST will send a Program Change Event automatically whenever required. A value of ** indicates a dont care value and Program Change Events may be recorded. ~Multi-Voice Selecting the 'MV' icon in the ^Voice Box!, allows more than one Voice to be selected for recording, copying, quantizing etc. ~Multi-Voice Recording When recording more than one ^Voice! simultaneously ^Multi Voice!, each input ^MIDI Event! is allocated to a particular Voice, by examining each selected Voice in numerical order. The Voice chosen is the first to satisfy ALL the following criteria. a. Both the Voice input Channel and the Voice output Channel are **, or the Event's ^MIDI Channel! equals the Voice input Channel or if the Voice input Channel is **, then the Event MIDI Channel equals the Voice output Channel. b. If the Event is a Program Change, then either the Voice Program is ** (in which case the Program Change is kept), or the Event Program equals the Voice Program (in which case this Voice is chosen for subsequent input from the Event's MIDI Channel, and the Program Change is not kept). This allows Multi-Voice recording from a single MIDI Channel using Program Changes. c. If the Event is a NoteOn (or its associated NoteOff), and the note pitch/velocity is within the Voice range. This allows Multi-Voice recording from a single MIDI channel with split keyboards. ~Music-Time This represents a position in the song. It consists of three numbers, i.e. bar, note & beat. Bar numbers range from 0 to 4095. The number of notes per bar is set by the current Time-Signature. There are 96 beats in one crotchet. Music-Time starts at bar 0, note 1, beat 1, but conventionally, recording starts at bar 1. Each of the bar,note,beat may be selected and Rolled. When ^Rolling! the beat, the increment by which the beat changes, is defined by the ^Quantization! set in the ^Section! to which the bar belongs. ~Punch-In. The ^Music-Time! to start recording when 'PUNCH' is selected. ~Quantization This is a unit of time that may be one of the following:- a Minim,'/2', a Crotchet, '/4', a Quaver, '/8', a Semi-Quaver, '/16', a Demi-Semi- Quaver, '/32', a Hemi-Demi-Semi-Quaver, '/64'. '/3' is triplet Minim, '/6' a triplet crotchet and so on. /n indicates a division of a Semi-Brieve which contains 384 beats, eg '/4' -> 384/4 beats = 96, ie a crotchet has a duration of 96 beats. ~Recording Recording inputs to the ^Voices! selected in the ^Voice Box!. It is initiatated by selecting 'RECORD' in the ^Play/Record Box! or 'PUNCH' in the ^Punch-In Box!. When recording, a Count-In is given of a number of bars, as specified in the current ^Section!. If recording is not started from the beginning of a bar, the Count-In always starts from the beginning of a bar. There is no limit to the number of Voices that may be recorded together, subject to the overall limit of 32 notes being input simultaneously. (See ^Multi-Voice Recording!) It is human nature to be inaccurate in playing a MIDI keyboard, particularly in playing the first note, which sometimes gets pressed a few beats before the Marker time. To allow for this, a recording tolerance may be defined in each ^Section!, e.g. '/32', which opens the recording window a few beats earlier, avoiding the loss of the first note. ~Rolling Numeric quantities, such as bar numbers, note numbers, ^Quantization!, are changed using the mouse. First, select the object you want to change (e.g. the ^Marker! bar number) by pressing the left mouse button, then roll the mouse while keeping the left button pressed down, and release it when you reach the value you want. Rolling up or right increases the value, and rolling left or down decreases the value. Rolling in the vertical direction gives a slow rate of change, and in the horizontal direction gives a faster rate of change. For large changes, pressing the ALT, SHIFT, or CTRL keys speeds the mouse up by factors of 2,4 and 8 respectively. The keys can be pressed together, in which case the effect is additive. You can also make many sweeps with the mouse. After the first sweep, while keeping the left mouse button pressed, press on the right button as well. Now release the left button and reposition the mouse, keeping the right button pressed. The value does NOT change as you you do this. Each subsequent sweep is started by pressing the left mouse button, rolling then releasing the left button and repositioning, keeping the right button pressed all the time. At any point, releasing both buttons terminates the roll. MIDI notes, channels and programs may be Rolled, or input direct by pressing a note, or a program change on a keyboard, whilst the left mouse button is kept pressed. The new value appears when the left button is released. ~Section A Section is a named time-range with several attributes. These include ^Time Signature!, ^Tempo!, Metronome beat, Count-In, Beat ^Quantization!, Recording tolerance. Section names appear under the Map on the Desktop. A ** Tempo means use the tempo of the previous Section. Up to 20 Sections may be specified. The first Section cannot be moved from the bar 1. ~Tempo A Tempo consists of a number of Metronome beats per minute, plus a Tempo type. If the Tempo type is changed from, say, '/4'(crotchet) to '/8'(quaver), then Tempo beats are updated appropriately (in this case doubled). ~Time Signature This is the normal musical time signature, containing a Quantization unit on the right (e.g '/4' = Crotchets), and the number of notes on the left. Normal time appears as '4/4'. This is set for each Section, and by the Conductor-Dialogue. Time Signatures may range from '1/16' to '12/2'. ~Voice A Voice is used to record ^Midi Events!, with up to 32 note polyphony. It also records certain controller events. A Voice must be given a name before use. The default is "V" followed by the Voice number. A Voice may be allocated to a specific ^MIDI Channels! (output and/or input), and ^MIDI Program! (** is a dont care value, in which case Program Changes may be recorded in the Voice). It may also be restricted (for recording purposes on a split MIDI keyboard) to a subrange of notes and/or velocities. If separate input and output channels are specified, e.g. for use with a master keyboard, then a THRU switch may be set to cause input MIDI events to be sent immediately through to the output channel. A Voice may be shifted by a number of beats, so that each note is played before or after the actual note time. This allows adjustment for different Voice envelopes. There are also two switches for controlling whether MIDI events are to be filtered on input or output. A Voice may be quantized immediately on input. A Voice may be transposed on input. A Voice may be locked to prevent further changes. Appendix C: ~Tutorial @ --------------------- ^Tutorial Introduction! ^Connecting Up! ^Start-Up! ^Load & Play! ^Changing the Start Point! ^Alterations while Playing! ^Simple Recording! ^Quantizing! ^Map Resolution! ^Editing Music! ^Editing Notes/Chords! ^Section & Time Signatures! ^Copying Voices! ^Block Editing! ^MIDI Channels Etc! ^More about MIDI! ^Buying a Synthesiser! ^Conclusion! ~Tutorial Introduction @ --------------------- ACCOMPANIST is a MIDI Sequencer. It is a program that runs on the Atari ST, and controls one or more MIDI boxes. There are many different kinds of MIDI box, but most of us have just one Keyboard + Synthesiser. This has a simple keyboard, together with some clever electronics to produce different kinds of sounds. It may also have some built-in drum sequences. From now on, I shall use the word Synthesiser to refer to your MIDI box. If you haven't bought your MIDI equipment yet, you can still have fun with ACCOMPANIST by using the ST sound channels for output. Skip to ^Start-Up!. Choosing MIDI equipment is not easy, so I have included a few hints at the end of this tutorial on ^buying a Synthesiser!. ~Connecting Up @ ------------- The first task is connect the ST to the Synthesiser, using two MIDI leads. Connect the MIDI OUT socket on the ST to the MIDI IN socket on the Synthesiser, and the MIDI OUT socket on the Synthesiser to the MIDI IN socket on the ST. A further MIDI box, such as an Expander, which has no keyboard, would need a third MIDI lead, which should connect the Expander's MIDI IN socket to the MIDI THRU socket of the Synthesiser. ~Start-Up @ -------- Start ACCOMPANIST by double clicking on SEQUENCE.PRG. After a few seconds ACCOMPANIST'S desktop appears on the screen. A Dialogue box appears. Read this to find out about what you get when you register as an ACCOMPANIST user. Switch on your Synthesiser, and play a few notes to check that the Volume is turned up to a hearing level. ~Load & Play @ ----------- Now you can listen to some music. Use the mouse to select 'Load' in the File Menu. Use the standard File Selector to select a piece of music with a .MID file extension. If you have a Synthesiser connected, choose any piece, otherwise load the Entertainer (ENTERTN.MID in RAGTIME folder), or Well Temper'd Clavichord (WELLTEMP.MID in CLASSICS folder), which only use the ST sound channels. You will see lines of music appear in the ^Map box! at the top right of the screen. Click on 'PLAY' in the ^Play/Record box! at the bottom centre of the screen. You will hear the ^Metronome! coming from the ST Monitor. You will see the ^Cursor! moving across the ^Map!. Your Synthesiser should start playing. If not, check the connections and volume levels. If this still fails, your Synthesiser may not be able to play the ^MIDI Channels! used in this piece of music, see ^MIDI Channels Etc!. Try another piece of music. ~Changing the Start Point @ ------------------------ You can start the music playing anywhere by changing the start time, called the ^Marker!. This is under the 'PLAY' icon. Click on the bar number, which is the left hand number, and start ^rolling! the mouse while holding the left button down. Try different directions and see what happens. You will see the bar number changing, and the Time Cursor moving across the ^Map box!. When you release the mouse button, you will see the little Marker box move under the Map. ~Alterations while Playing @ ------------------------- You can change the ^Tempo! while playing. Click on the up or down arrows in the ^Conductor box! to the left of the 'PLAY' icon, and hold the button down. You can also switch ^Voices! off and on, by clicking on the Voice number to the left of its name in the ^Voice Box!. When the number is dark, the Voice plays, and when it is feint, the Voice is silent. If the ^Cursor! moves off the ^Map! while playing, then you can click on '->->->' under the 'PLAY' icon. This will pause the music, scroll the Map, then continue playing. Now Load and Play some of the other pieces of music. ~Simple Recording @ ---------------- Now you've heard ACCOMPANIST playing, you will want to try ^recording! your own music. First clear out what you have previously loaded, by selecting 'Clear' in the ^File Menu!. Now select the first Voice in the ^Voice box! at the top left of the screen, by clicking on its name. It appears inverted. Click on 'RECORD', wait for the Metronome to sound the one bar count-in, then start playing. When you have finished, click on 'STOP'. You will see some music lines in the Map box. If not, check the connection between the ST's MIDI IN socket and your Synthesiser's MIDI OUT socket. Click on 'PLAY' to hear what you recorded. If you like what you hear, then click on 'COMMIT' in the ^Commit box!, at the bottom left of the screen. Otherwise, click on 'UNDO' then 'COMMIT'. This allows you to choose whether to keep what you have recorded. Many different operations in ACCOMPANIST can be viewed before and after, by clicking on 'UNDO'/'REDO'. When you have finally chosen which you like, then click on 'COMMIT'. ~Quantizing @ ------------ When you have recorded something that you like, you can tidy it up by selecting 'Quantize' in the Blocks Menu to set the ^quantization! required. A Dialogue box appears. If you have been playing crotchets and quavers, then click and roll the '/4' in the bottom left box to '/8', in the same way that you changed the Marker's bar number. Click on 'OK'. When the Dialogue box has disappeared, click on 'PLAY' to hear the result. If you like it, click on 'COMMIT' as before. ~Map Resolution @ -------------- The ^Map! starts off with a resolution of '/**' showing at the top of the ^Voice Box!, to the left of the Map. This causes the Map to contain a '-' for every bar that contains some ^MIDI Event!. You can make the Map show more detail by changing the resolution. Do this by clicking on '/**' and ^rolling! the mouse as above. Release the left button when you see '/8'. You will see the Map redrawn. Now each '-' represents a quaver, and the '-' go up and down showing how the notes rise and fall in pitch. ~Editing Music @ ------------- What usually happens to me, is that after Quantizing, the music sounds much better, except for a few bad patches. These are where my playing was so bad that the Quantizer moved the notes the wrong way, or I have forgotten that there were some semi-quavers, and I have quantized into quavers. If there are several wrong notes in a bar, the simplest way to change them is to play the bar again using 'PUNCH' in the ^punch-in box!, at the bottom right of the screen. Before you do this, you have to set the start and stop times for the time interval to be replaced. Click on the music line in the ^Map! for the ^Voice! to be changed under the bar number to be replaced. A black box, called the ^Fragment! appears, and the ^Punch-In! & Punch-Out times below the 'PUNCH' icon change. If you get it wrong, try again. Try dragging a box as well. Now click on 'PUNCH'. The Metronome counts in the bar before the Punch- In time, also playing what you have recorded previously. When it reaches the start of the bar you want to change, play it again. To hear the result, click on 'AUDITION', and if you like it then click on 'COMMIT'. Otherwise 'UNDO' it, and have another go. ~Editing Notes/Chords @ -------------------- If only a single note or chord is wrong, then 'AUTO-PUN'(CH) is a simple way to change it. If the note is a quaver, then change the ^Map resolution! to '/8', as above. The Map expands. Click on 'AUTO-AUD'(IT) in the ^Punch-in box!. Now click on the line of music in the ^Map box!, where you think the bad note is. The ^Fragment's! black box appears, and the times in the Punch box change. You hear the Fragment being played. Keep clicking on the line of music until you have found the Note/Chord that is wrong, then click on 'AUTO-PUN'(CH). Now play the correct Note/Chord. Use 'AUDITION', as above, to hear the result. Select 'Edit' in the ^Voice Menu!, to enter the ^Edit Dialogue!. You will see the ^MIDI Events! in the current Fragment. Try rolling the pitch (D1) of a Note-On, and hear the different notes. ~Section & Time Signatures @ ------------------------- Under the ^Map!, you see the word ^Section!. Click on this, then select Change in the ^Section Menu!. The ^Section Dialogue! box appears. You can alter the ^Time signature!, ^Tempo! as you wish, by clicking and rolling the mouse. Try changing the Time signature, click on 'OK', then 'PLAY'. You will see the new Time signature in the ^Conductor box!. Some pieces of music have several sections with different Time signatures and Tempi. You can open a new Section for each one. ~Copying Voices @ -------------- It is often convenient to make a copy of a Voice in order to try something new. To do this, select 'Copy' in the ^Voice Menu!. Set the source and destination Voices on the left hand side, then click on 'OK'. Use 'UNDO'/'REDO' as required before 'COMMIT'. You can merge many Voices into one, and copy parts of one Voice to another. ~Block Editing @ ------------- The ^Block Menu!, and ^Music Menu!, contain various features for copying, moving, transposing all or parts of a piece of music. Select 'Transpose', and put the music up a tone by changing the To note at the bottom to D. ~MIDI Channels Etc @ ----------------- You should be able to get quite a long way without having to worry about ^MIDI channel! numbers. However, if your Synthesiser wont play, then it may be because the music uses different MIDI channels to those your Synthesiser plays. Most of ACCOMPANIST's music uses channel 0. Also, you may have a Multi-Timbral device, which means that it can play several different instruments at the same time. You can change the MIDI channel that a Voice outputs, by clicking on the Voice name, and selecting 'Change' in the ^Voice Menu!. The ^Voice Dialogue! box appears. The output MIDI channel is at the top right, and is currently set to '**', which means use the input channel. Click and roll to get channels from 0 to 15. Unfortunately, different people talk about MIDI channels in different ways. Some use 0 to 15, others use 1 to 16. Selecting 'Midi-base' in the Options Menu allows you to tell ACCOMPANIST which to use. ~More about MIDI @ --------------- If you want to learn more about MIDI, the latest upgrade for ACCOMPANIST contains documents about MIDI. Also, the Sound on Sound magazine gives a good coverage of the MIDI scene. They also have an list of books about MIDI and related matters. You can contact them on 0480 61244. There is also the UK MIDI Association, which provides general information about MIDI. For details, contact VIC LENNARD (Director) UKMA 26 Brunswick Park Gardens New Southgate London N11 1EJ Tel: 081-368 3667 Fax: 081-368 7918 ~Buying a Synthesiser @ -------------------- If you are thinking of buying a MIDI Synthesiser, prices for new models start at under 200 pounds. You will be overwhelmed by jargon, and its worth clarifying a few terms here:- Polyphony - this means how many notes can be played at the same time. Multi-timbral - this means that more than one instrument can be played at once using different MIDI channels, eg my CASIO HT3000 is 3-Timbral. I can play 4 notes together on a Piano, plus 3 notes on a Harpsichord, plus 1 note on a Bass. So, in total it has a polyphony of 8. This is fixed polyphony. Some Synthesisers can allocate notes to channels flexibly, as required. Velocity Sensitive - this means the harder you hit the keys, the louder it sounds. Weighted keys - this means that the keys should feel like proper Piano keys (they never quite manage it). General MIDI - This is a standard for assigning MIDI program numbers to particular instruments. This allows you to load music and play it immediately. I would strongly recommend getting a keyboard with this feature. You must decide what combination of these features you want. Needless to say, the more you want, the more it will cost! ~Conclusion @ ---------- This tutorial has introduced the basic features of ACCOMPANIST, and should allow you to have a lot of fun. Now you can try other features such as Filters, or changing the Metronome. If something unexpected happens and you can't work it out, then as the saying goes 'If all else fails, read the manual!'. Good luck.