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*-----------------------------------------------------------------------* | Drummer 2.0 Demo | | | | Cool Shoes Software | | P.O. Box 2359, Kernersville, NC 27285 | | | | Phone: (919) 722-0830 FAX: (919) 724-4412 | *-----------------------------------------------------------------------* *----------------------* | Demo Documentation | *----------------------* This document contains information on Drum Kit files, MIDI/Sound interface support, anbd the text for the on-line demo manual. 1. Drum Kit Files 2. MIDI/Sound Interface Support 3. The Drummer 2.0 On-Line Demo Manual If you'd like a hard-copy printed demo manual, complete with pictures and such, please give us a call. We'll mail you one right away. Printing This Text ------------------ The file named 'readme.txt' is a plain ASCII text file which you can load into any word-processor or text-editor. You can also send the file directly to your printer with the DOS PRINT or TYPE commands: A:> print readme.txt A:> type readme.txt > lpt1 (if your printer is on lpt2, use that instead) *-------------------------* | 1. New Drum Kit Files | *-------------------------* This demo will automatically load a number of sample patterns in different styles. The samples are configured according to the General MIDI note number spec. However, you can simply load one of the drum kit (*.KIT) files that we've included here to reconfigure the patterns for a different synthesizer or drum machine. To load a drum kit file, use the FILES-Load Drum Kit... window. This is explained more fully in the accompanying demo documentation. Percussion Drum Kits -------------------- hr-16.kit -- Alesis HR-16 drum machine hr-16b.kit -- Alesis HR-16:B drum machine sr-16.kit -- Alesis SR-16 drum machine proteus.kit -- E-mu Proteus synthesizer module sq1.kit -- Ensoniq SQ-1 synthesizer gen_midi.kit -- General MIDI Percussion Map kawai-k1.kit -- Kawai K-1 synthesizer kawai-k4.kit -- Kawai K-4 synthesizer korg-m1.kit -- Korg M-1 synthesizer korg-m3r.kit -- Korg M3R korg-p3.kit -- Korg P-3 synthesizer p3_rock.kit -- Korg P-3: POC-01 "Rock Set" card d-110.kit -- Roland D-110 synthesizer mt-32.kit -- Roland MT-32 synthesizer module tr-505.kit -- Roland TR-505 drum machine tr-626.kit -- Roland TR-626 drum machine tr-707.kit -- Roland TR-707 drum machine u-220.kit -- Roland U-220 synthesizer drumtrax.kit -- Sequential Circuits Drumtraks drum machine tom.kit -- Sequential Circuits Tom drum machine sblaster.kit -- Sound Blaster/Ad Lib-compatible sound card rx-5.kit -- Yamaha RX-5 drum machine rx-7.kit -- Yamaha RX-7 drum machine rx-11.kit -- Yamaha RX-11 / RX-21 drum machine sy22tg33.kit -- Yamaha SY-22 / TG-33 synthesizer sy55tg55.kit -- Yamaha SY-55 / TG-55 synthesizer sy77tg77.kit -- Yamaha SY-77 / TG-77 synthesizer wersi.kit -- Wersi CD Series synthesizer Pitched Drum Kits ----------------- major.kit -- a Major Scale pent.kit -- a Pentatonic Scale based on Gamelan. Great for Kids. blackkey.kit -- the "Black" keys on the piano keyboard kids_1.kit -- Pentatonic scale with some drums. kids_2.kit -- Pentatonic scale with Bass and drums. *-----------------------------------* | 2. MIDI/Sound Interface Support | *-----------------------------------* This package includes support for the following interfaces: * MPU-401 compatible MIDI Interface * Music Quest MQX-32(M) MIDI Interface * Sound Blaster-Compatible 2-op FM (Internal Sounds) * Sound Blaster-Compatible MIDI Interface * Key Midiator MS-101 MIDI Interface * Key Midiator MS-103/124 MIDI Interfaces We continue to support new interfaces. So if you have something that's not on this list, give us a call. We may already be supporting your interface. The following sections supply specific information that you need to know about each interface. For more on selecting and configuring interfaces in Drummer 2.0, please see the section of Chapter 2: Installation Guide titled "Installing and Configuring Your MIDI/Sound Interface". MPU-Compatible MIDI Interface ----------------------------- This driver works with all MPU-compatible MIDI interfaces, including: * Roland MPU-401 * Roland MPU-IPC * Roland MPU-IMC * Music Quest MCC-1 * Music Quest PC MIDI Card * Music Quest MQX-16 and MQX-16S * MIDIman MM-401 * All CMS interfaces that are 100% MPU-compatible Most CMS interfaces are MPU-compatible. * All Voyetra interfaces that are 100% MPU-compatible Many Voyetra interfaces are not MPU-compatible, though most can be upgraded to full MPU-compatibility with the purchase of an extra chip. If you're unsure as to whether or not your card is 100% MPU-compatible, please call Voyetra. Please Note: Unlike all other interface manufacturers who we've talked to, Voyetra refuses to supply us with development information on its interfaces. So, we can only support their cards in MPU-401 compatible mode. The default settings for an MPU-compatible interface are IRQ 2 and Base Port 330 Hex. If you're using other settings, please be sure to tell Drummer the proper IRQ and Port settings when you select the interface. Music Quest MQX-32(M) MIDI Interface ------------------------------------ This driver supports the MQX-32 and MQX-32M. For either interface, Drummer supports both output ports. The two input ports on the MQX-32M are merged inside the hardware, so Drummer is only able to see one MIDI input port. The default settings for the MQX-32(M) are IRQ 2 and Base Port 330 Hex. If you're using other settings, please be sure to tell Drummer the proper IRQ and Port settings when you select the interface. Please Note: There is a bug in very early versions of the MQX-32 which affects multiple output port support in UART mode. This problem was fixed by Music Quest a couple of years ago, so your card may be fine. But if you have trouble with multiple output ports not working properly in Drummer, you should call Music Quest to see if your card needs a ROM update. (When you call, Music Quest will ask for the ROM version of your card. So you might as well take the card out of your PC before you call Music Quest and not waste a call.) Sound Blaster-Compatible 2-Op FM (Internal Sounds) -------------------------------------------------- This driver works with any 100% Sound Blaster-compatible sound interface, which includes: * Creative Labs Sound Blaster * Creative Labs Sound Blaster Pro * Ad Lib Music Card * MediaVision Thunderboard * and more... You must be careful when telling Drummer of the settings for these cards. In the documentation, you'll see a choice between Base Ports 220 and 240. However, for the internal sounds -- which is what this driver plays -- the real Base Port is 388 Hex, which Drummer will use. When selecting this interface, please do not change the Base Port from the default 388 Hex! The Sound Blaster card has two different modes: Melodic Mode offers 9 melodic sounds. Percussion Mode offers 6 melodic sounds and 5 percussion voices. By default, the driver is set to Percussion Mode. However, you can change this if you want: * In the FILES-MIDI/Sound Interfaces... window, select the Sound Blaster-compatible driver. * Click on the "Special..." button at the bottom-right of the screen. * Select whether you want "Melodic Mode" or "Percussion Mode" and click on the OK button. * You can come back to this window any time you want to change between Melodic and Percussion Mode. Drummer's Sound Blaster driver automatically loads a default set of sounds that conform to the General MIDI specification. These voices are listed on the enclosed card titled "General MIDI Instrument Map". You'll find that card in the back of the manual. You can load a different set of sounds if you have a .IBK format file (which is also supported by Cakewalk). If you have a .IBK file that you want to use in Drummer, copy that .IBK file to your Drummer directory, and rename the file to DRUMMER.IBK. Drummer will automatically load the file whenever you use the Sound Blaster driver. To change melodic voices in the Sound Blaster, use Drummer's Program Sets. Please see the section of Chapter 13: Menu Bar Reference on the SETTINGS-Pattern Program Sets... window for details. The settings for the 5 percussive sounds are shown in the Drum Kit file SBLASTER.KIT. You can not change the 5 percussive sounds from Drummer's default settings. Please see Chapter 5: Drum Kit Information for more on .KIT files. Sound Blaster-Compatible MIDI Interface --------------------------------------- The default settings for the Sound Blaster-compatible MIDI Interface are IRQ 7 and Base Port 220 Hex. If your Sound Blaster is set differently, please be sure to tell Drummer the proper IRQ and Port settings when you select the interface. NOTE: In order to use the Sound Blaster MIDI Interface, you _must_ have Sound Blaster ROMs Version 2.0 or later. There were some problems with earlier ROM versions that caused the Sound Blaster's MIDI interface to work improperly. Key Midiator MS-101 MIDI Interface Key Midiator MS-103/124 MIDI Interfaces --------------------------------------- The default settings for the Key Midiator drivers are for COM 1: IRQ 4, Base Port 3F8Hex. You can change these settings in two ways. * If your hardware uses standard COM settings for IRQ and Port, just type the COM number in the "COM Port" column of the MIDI/Sound Interface window. For example, if you type in a COM Port value of 2, Drummer will automatically set the IRQ and Base Port values to their standard settings: IRQ 3, Port 2F8. Drummer knows the standard settings for COM 1 - COM 4. * If your hardware uses different IRQ and Base Port settings for its serial ports, or if you're using a COM port other than 1-4, then you'll need to enter the IRQ and Base Port values directly into their appropriate boxes. Output Ports: Notice that the driver for the MS-103 and MS-124 interfaces is the same. The driver will let you select Output Ports between 1-4. For the MS-124, those values correspond to the 4 output ports on the interface. For the MS-103, output ports values of 1-3 correspond to the 3 output ports. An output port value of 4 will send to all output ports. MIDI In to Thru: The MS-103/124 driver supports only one thru port at a time. If you select more than one thru port, Drummer will use only the lowest valued port and ignore the other selected ports. *============================================================================* | The Drummer 2.0 On-Line Demo Manual | *============================================================================* About Drummer ------------- Thank you for exploring the Drummer demo. Drummer is a program for making music that's loosely modeled on a drum machine. You create music by building patterns, then arranging those patterns into a score. It's designed primarily as a utility program for use with a general-purpose, track-based sequencer. But this simple description only touches on Drummer's capabilities and uses. We've designed Drummer for people of all age groups, from children to adults. You're not at a disadvantage if you don't "speak" music, because Drummer assumes no previous musical experience or expertise, and uses very little musical language. Drummer is so easy to use that children love playing with it. Even if they don't know anything about music, they can still create their own pieces. They can treat it like a musical game -- something to just play around with. And they usually learn something about music in the process. But Drummer's not just a toy. It has advanced features needed by the most serious composer. It works with all popular sequencers and notation programs, like Cakewalk, Cadenza, Sequencer Plus, Master Tracks Pro, Music Printer Plus, The Copyist, and more. Features like real-time recording, MIDI File import and export, Auto Fill, External Control, Swing, selectable PPQN resolutions, and many others, give advanced musicians all the power they need to create music that they may not have thought possible before. If you know Cool Shoes, then you know that we don't like hype. Quite honestly, we're very proud of Drummer 2.0. As you'll see, we've put a lot of care into this program. It's fun to play around with. It's easy to use. It's flexible. It's filled with powerful pattern-making features. And it's only $99.00! We sincerely believe that everyone who makes music with an IBM PC should have this program. You'll find Drummer 2.0 to be useful in just about any kind of music-making. It's the perfect addition to any IBM music system. Easy to Use ----------- * Graphic point-and-click interface makes creating music both easy and fast. * Create and edit your music while it's playing. * Chain patterns together into a longer work. * Easy setup for all drum machines & synths. * Built-in Pattern Librarian. * Loads of keyboard and mouse shortcuts. * Many customizing options. * Not copy protected. Packed with Power ----------------- * 50 patterns at a time with individual pitch, loudness and tempo scalings. * Individual Metric Structure for each pattern can have up to 32 beats and 32 divisions per beat. Includes rescaling. * Mute/Solo for each line in every pattern. * Swing setting for each pattern. * Fully configurable drum kit for each pattern. * Easily make your own drum kits setup files, or use one of the 30+ pre-configured kits included with the package. * 10 fully adjustable velocity levels. * Individual instrument Auto Fill settings for a more human feel. * Load MIDI Files. Includes options and filters so that you can extract only the parts you want from the MIDI File. * Exports MIDI File for use in all sequencers and notation programs. With almost a dozen choices, you're assured of getting your music out of Drummer in whatever form you want to use it in your sequencer. * Real-time control from other MIDI devices. * Real-time recording from any MIDI instrument: a drum machine, synth, MIDI drum pads, or whatever. Notes are immediately drawn on the grid. The music already in your pattern plays back during recording, and the pattern keeps looping so that you can lay down more music on top of what's already there. * Score page looping with section selection. * The pattern Librarian lets you mix and match patterns from files you've already created. * A built-in Notepad lets you jot notes, reminders, synth settings, etc. * Supports all popular MIDI & sound interfaces: MPU-compatible, Key Midiator, Sound Blaster, Ad Lib, Music Quest, CMS, Pro Audio Spectrum, Yamaha C1, and more. * Comprehensive support for multiple MIDI in/out/thru ports. * MIDI Metronome. * Sync to MIDI clock. * Send/receive MIDI Start/Stop/Timing. * 24-480 PPQN resolution. * Loads of editing commands. * And much much more! ============================================================================== About the Drummer Demo ====================== This demo program is the same as the retail version of Drummer, except that you can't save your work. All features are fully functional here. But anything you create will be lost when you leave the demo. Also, this manual does not try to explain everything about Drummer. It's intended only to give you a sense of whether or not Drummer will be useful to you. But please keep in mind that Drummer is designed so that you never have to worry about doing something the program doesn't like. It can handle anything you try to do, so feel free to experiment! Interacting with Drummer ======================== Drummer is designed around an easy-to-use, mouse-driven interface. Most of your interactions with the program will be in the form of selecting and manipulating objects with the mouse. You'll be able to use Drummer more easily and quickly if you know some of the standard ways to interact with the program. Menus ----- Many of Drummer's settings and options are contained within menus and windows. At the top of the screen you'll find a Menu Bar. (It's the box with the words "Files", "Page", "Edit", etc.) You'll use the menu bar to select options and open windows that perform various functions. If you select an item in the menu bar, a menu of selections will drop down. To do this, move the mouse cursor so that it's on one of the selections in the menu bar. Then press the left mouse button and hold it down. You'll see the selected item's menu. Each drop-down menu contains a number of choices. These fall roughly into three categories. * The names of some menu items end with "...". If you select one of these, Drummer will open a window where you can perform specific functions. * The names for some menu items don't end with "...". These items let you select whether certain options are turned on or off. Items which are turned on are shown by having a check mark next to them. * Some items within the menus may appear ghosted. It wouldn't make sense to select these items at the moment, so Drummer won't let you choose them. To open a window or select a menu item, click on the menu bar to display the menu you want, and hold the mouse button down. Move the cursor down the menu. Whenever the cursor is on top of one of the menu items, that item will highlight. When the item you want to select is highlighted, release the mouse button. If you select a window, Drummer will open that window. If you select an item to turn it on or off, then the item will toggle. In other words, if the item was off before you selected it, it will be turned on, and vice-versa. Throughout this manual, we'll use a shortcut to specify menu items. For example, if we write FILES-Load Drum Kit..., that means the item labeled "Load Drum Kit..." in the "Files" menu. Pages ----- There are four main screens that are designed specifically for a certain task. You can use the PAGE menu to move to the different screens. Whatever page you're currently on will appear ghosted out on the menu. The pages are: * Pattern Page: This is where you'll create, edit and fine-tune patterns. * Score Page: Here you can chain patterns together into a longer work. * Librarian: This lets you mix individual patterns from different files that you've already created into a new collection. * Notepad: A very simple text-editor. Windows ------- Each window in Drummer is different, so we can't tell you much about them in general terms. But most windows have two buttons in common: "Cancel" and "OK". If you've changed some of the selections in a window and click on OK, Drummer will close the window and use the changes you've made. If you decide that you don't want to keep the changes you've made, click on Cancel. Drummer will close the window and ignore everything you did while you were in there. Entering Numeric Values ----------------------- Any time you see a number enclosed in a box, you can change that number: * Move the cursor so that it's within the box, and click the left mouse button. But be sure to leave the cursor within the box. The box will highlight to show that it's selected. * Type a new value using the PC keyboard. If you make a mistake, press the Backspace key to erase your typing. * Either move the cursor outside of the box, or press the Enter key. The box will change back to its original coloring, and Drummer will use the new value. You can't make a mistake in Drummer -- it can handle anything you do. For example, if Drummer can't use a value that you enter, it will adjust the value to the nearest one allowed, and display that value in the box. So don't worry about breaking something. Go ahead and experiment! Drive Name Conventions ---------------------- In this manual, we'll assume that you're running the Drummer demo from floppy drive A:. If you're using a different drive -- like B: -- just substitute that driver letter whenever we write A: below. Also, when we show you a DOS command, it will look like this: A:> drummer The A:> is our way of showing the DOS prompt, so don't type that when you enter the command. Starting Drummer ================ To start Drummer, make sure you're on the A: drive as mentioned above. Then, type the following command to start Drummer: A:> drummer After a few seconds, you'll see the title screen. While Drummer gets everything ready, it will draw boxes on the screen, starting at the left and moving to the right. If your computer hangs, the on-screen cursor doesn't follow mouse movements, Drummer exits and shows you an error message, or something else doesn't seem to be working properly, give us a call. We'll help you get Drummer running on your system. Selecting and Configuring Your MIDI/Sound Interface =================================================== If you're running the Drummer demo for the first time, you'll see a message saying that Drummer couldn't find a MIDI/Sound interface. That's to be expected, and we're going to take care of it right now. Click in the "Drats!" box to get rid of the message. You need to tell Drummer which kind of MIDI or sound interface you have in your computer. You also need to tell the program which IRQ and Base Port Address the interface is set to, or which serial or parallel port the interface is attached to. You should do this now. If you later decide to run the demo again, it will remember your interface settings and you won't have to mess with this. To select and configure your interface, you'll use the FILES-MIDI/Sound Interfaces window. Find your interface on the list of choices, and click on it's "Use" button. If you change your mind, just click on a different Use button. Then, at the right side of the display, make sure that the configuration values for the interface match the setup of your device. For example, if your MPU-compatible interface's IRQ has been changed from the factory-default IRQ 2 to IRQ 7, you must enter a 7 in the IRQ column. Some interfaces use IRQ's and Base Port addresses. Others attach directly to a serial port (COM Port) or parallel port (LPT Port). Drummer shows you which interfaces use which connections. If one of the boxes is blank, it means that the interface doesn't use that setting, and Drummer won't let you enter a value there. Notice the "Special..." button at the bottom-right of the window. Some interfaces have special settings that you may need to adjust. And that's covered above in this readme file. So be sure to check that previous section if you need more info! After you've selected your interface and entered the proper settings, click on the OK button at the bottom of the screen. Drummer will take 5-10 seconds to get everything set up. Then it will close the window and you'll be ready to make some music. The Pattern Page ================ Drummer's main screen is called the Pattern Page. That's where you'll create all of your music. There are many different parts to the Pattern Page, so let's look at them now. The Pattern Grid ---------------- In Drummer, you can make music by recording into the program from a MIDI instrument, by loading a MIDI file that was created with another program, or by drawing notes directly on the "Pattern Grid" with a mouse. Drawing notes on the grid is the easiest, and we'll explain that here. But no matter what you do, the pattern grid is the basic structure used for making music in Drummer. Notice that there are 20 different levels of boxes on the vertical axis. We'll call each of these 20 levels a line. If you're familiar with MIDI, you probably know that a note's pitch or drum sound is determined by its MIDI Key number. And that's what we use in Drummer to determine the pitch for each line. Each of the lines on the grid has a MIDI Channel and Key number assigned to it. You can configure those assignments however you want for each pattern. We include over 30 pre-made Drum Kit setup files that automatically configure the grid for different synthesizers, drum machines and pitch sets. We'll go over those in a bit. Time is arranged on the grid from left to right. Notes at the left will play before notes at the right. The grid is always one measure long. The left side of the grid is the beginning of the measure, and the right side of the grid is the end of the measure. The measure is divided into a number of Beats. And each beat is further split up into a number of Divisions per Beat. Drummer shows the beginning of each beat by drawing a thicker line. Look at the grid when you first start Drummer -- there are 4 Beats (between thicker lines), and 4 Divisions per Beat. You're not limited to using this metric structure, and there are some tricks you can use to get 2 or more measures into a single pattern. We'll show you how to change the metric structure later in this manual. Drawing Notes ------------- In Drummer, the easiest way to create music is by clicking on boxes in the grid. To draw a note, move the mouse cursor so that it's in the box where you want the note, and click the left mouse button. If you're working with pitched sounds -- like violin or flute -- you can make a note that plays longer than the length of one box. Move the cursor to the box where you want the note to start. Press the mouse button down, and hold it down. Then drag the mouse to the right. You'll see the note get longer. When the note has the duration you want, release the mouse button. If you want to erase a note that you've already drawn, just click on it again. It will disappear. And if you want to hear what a note sounds like without having to draw it in the grid, click the right mouse button on an empty box. Give it a try! Loudness -------- At the bottom-right of the screen, you'll find ten different Loudness settings that you can assign to the notes in your music. Each loudness value is shown by a different color or fill pattern. Any notes that you draw use the current loudness -- the one with the arrow pointing at it. To change the current loudness, just click on the one you want. The arrow will move to the loudness you select, and any notes you draw will use the newly selected loudness. To change the loudness of notes that you've already drawn, select the loudness you want to use, then click the RIGHT mouse button on the note you want to change. You'll see that the note's color or fill pattern changes to whatever the current loudness is. Tempo ----- The Tempo, which determines how fast or slow your music plays, is shown at the bottom-right of the screen. It's the number of Beats per Minute that Drummer will play. So a tempo of 60 means that Drummer will play at a speed of 60 beats in one minute. You can change the tempo by entering a value in the tempo value box. Or you can drag the tempo slider up and down. To do this, click within the tempo slider box, and hold the mouse button down. As you move the mouse up and down the screen, the tempo will change accordingly. When you're done moving the tempo slider, release the mouse button. Playing Your Music ------------------ For this demo, we've set the grid to play a 5-note scale on MIDI Channel 1. With this scale, any music you create will sound halfway decent. Feel free to spend a few minutes adding and deleting notes, and changing loudness levels and the tempo. It's easy. If you want to hear your music, click on the Play button. The button will highlight to show that Drummer is playing. To stop playing, click on the Play button again. In Drummer, you can continue to work while your music is playing -- adding and deleting notes, changing loudness and the tempo, revising drum kit settings, and more. The Drum Kit ------------ Each of the 20 vertical lines on the grid has five types of information associated with it: a Name, a MIDI Channel and Key number, an Output Port number, Auto Fill settings, and Mute and Solo buttons If you take all of this information for all 20 lines, you have what we call the Drum Kit information. The name's a bit misleading, because you can use Drummer to create melodic and harmonic patterns as well as drum patterns. But still, we'll use the term Kit. The drum kit information is shown just to the left of the pattern grid. There's not enough room on the screen to display all of the drum kit information at once. So at any given time, Drummer just shows one of the five types of kit information. There are many ways that you can see different types of drum kit information. The easiest way is to use the 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 keys on the PC keyboard: 1: show Names 2: show Channel-Key 3: show Output Port 4: show Auto Fill 5: show Mute-Solo Line Names ---------- Each line has a name -- like "Bass Drum" or "C4". The names can be whatever you like. To change a line's name, click in the box and type a new name. MIDI Channel and Key Settings ----------------------------- The sound produced on a particular line is determined by its MIDI Channel number. And the line's pitch is determined by its MIDI Key value. Here we'll assume that you know what MIDI channel and key numbers are. But if you don't, the Drummer 2.0 manual explains MIDI channel and key values in detail. To see and edit channel and key assignments, select DISPLAY-Channel-Key in the menu bar, or press the 2 key on your PC's keyboard. Then click on the value you want to change and type in a new number. You can use Drummer to create melodic or harmonic patterns using pitched sounds on a synthesizer, like violin or clarinet. But you can also use Drummer to play a drum machine or drum sounds on a synthesizer. Drum machines and synthesizers arrange drum sounds so that they're all on a particular MIDI channel, with each individual drum sound on a different MIDI key number. For example, many drum machines use Channel 10 for drum sounds. Key 35 or 36 on channel 10 might be the Bass Drum sound. So if you want a note on the grid to sound like a Bass Drum, you'll have to set the line's MIDI channel and key values to be the same as the channel and key numbers used by your drum machine's Bass Drum sound. Your drum machine or synthesizer's manual should have a list of drum sounds and the key numbers that they're assigned to. Output Port ----------- If your MIDI interface has separately-addressable output ports, you can specify which output port Drummer should use for each line. Output ports are numbered 1-N, where N is the number of ports on your interface. You can quickly set all of the lines in your pattern to use the same output port with the SETTINGS-Pattern Drum Kit... window. Auto Fill --------- When Drummer plays a pattern, it plays the same thing over and over. That can get boring. A human drummer might repeat a basic pattern, but he or she would also add notes here and there, just to make the music sound more interesting. That's what Auto Fill does. It randomly adds notes to your patterns to make them sound more interesting. We won't explain Auto Fill in detail here. But give it a try. Add a few notes to the 5-note scale pattern. Then change the Auto Fill values for other lines on the grid. The higher the Auto Fill value, the more often Drummer will add notes to the pattern. Mute-Solo --------- Normally, you'll want to hear all the lines in a pattern playing at once. But there might be times when you'd like to mute selected lines so that they don't play, or solo a single line so that it's the only line playing. To mute or solo a line, just click in the appropriate box. You can mute as many lines as you want, but only one line can be soloed at a time. Changing the Metric Structure ----------------------------- We saw earlier that the metric structure of a pattern is defined by a number of Beats per Measure and a number of Divisions per Beat. You can change the metric structure of a pattern in the SETTINGS-Pattern Meter... window. First, select the pattern you'd like to change by clicking on its numbered box in the "Pattern" section at the left side of the window. If your pattern already has notes in it, you may want Drummer to rescale the note times so that they fit properly within the new metric structure. You can choose whether or not to rescale the "Start Times" and/or "Durations" of the notes in the pattern. Just click in the small circles to highlight the options you want. For example, by default Drummer gives you 4 Divisions per Beat for 16th-note resolution. But you may want to double the number of Divisions to 8 so that the grid shows 32nd-notes. You'd also want Drummer to rescale any existing notes so that they'd play at the same times within the new metric structure as they did in the old meter -- like right on the third beat. So you'd need to rescale the start times. To select a new metric structure, click on the number of "Beats per Measure" and "Divisions per Beat" that you want. Some of the boxes are ghosted out. A pattern can have a maximum of 64 boxes in the grid -- simply because there's not enough room on the screen to show more. So Drummer won't let you select a number of beats or divisions that will exceed the 64 box limit. Finally, click on the OK button to close the window. If you decide you don't want to change the metric structure, click on Cancel. Selecting a Different Pattern ----------------------------- Drummer has 50 patterns for you to work with at a time. You can tell which Pattern you're working on -- we'll call it the current pattern -- because that pattern's box is highlighted in the "Pattern" part of the screen. To select a different pattern, click on its numbered box. The box will highlight, and Drummer will display that pattern on the screen. You can select a new pattern while Drummer is playing. But normally Drummer won't start playing the new pattern that you've selected until it finishes playing the old one. Sample Patterns --------------- This Drummer demo includes some pre-made sample drum patterns for you to explore in Patterns 2-50. They're set to use MIDI Channel and Key numbers that conform to the General MIDI specification. So if you have a General MIDI synthesizer like the Sound Canvas, or if you have a drum machine or synth made by Roland, these patterns should play fairly accurately. But if you have a drum machine or synthesizer made by another manufacturer, you'll need to set up the channel and key values for each line so that they match the values in your MIDI instrument. We've included over 30 pre-made drum kits that quickly configure Drummer for a wide variety of synthesizers and drum machines from different manufacturers. These drum kits are very easy to make yourself, and that's fully explained in the Drummer 2.0 manual. For now, we'll assume that one of our pre-made kits will be close enough to the settings on your instrument that you'll be able to use it for this demo. Loading a Drum Kit ------------------ To load one of our drum kit files, open the FILES-Load Drum Kit... window: First, go over to the right side of the screen and click on the "All" button. This just tells Drummer that you want to load the drum kit into all 50 patterns. Then find a selection in the file listing that seems like it might be close to the MIDI instrument you want to use. For example, if you have an Alesis HR-16 drum machine, the selection called "hr-16.kit" would be a good choice. You can scroll up and down the listing by clicking on the up and down arrows on the scroll bar. Once you've decided on a selection, move the cursor on top of its name, and click the left mouse button TWICE. Drummer will load that drum kit into all 50 patterns, close the window, and return you to the Pattern Page. Explore! -------- We haven't attempted to explain anything more than the most basic things that you can do with patterns. Feel free to spend some time playing with the sample patterns now. And remember, don't be afraid to explore! We've designed Drummer so that you can't really make a mistake. If you try to make Drummer do something that it can't handle, it will fix things up for you. So take some time to look around. Check out the menus and windows, and try changing some of the settings. Have a little fun! The Score Page ============== To chain your patterns together into a score, you'll need to move to the Score Page. Go up to the PAGE menu and select Score Page. Creating a score is even easier than making patterns -- just click on boxes in the grid to chain patterns together. The Score Grid -------------- In Drummer, you create a score by selecting the patterns that will be played in each measure. As on the Pattern Page, we use a grid. But here, each box on the grid represents one complete pattern. The lines on the vertical axis (up and down) show different patterns starting at Pattern 1 at the top. Each of the boxes on the horizontal axis (left and right) represent one measure, or more accurately, whatever the length of the selected pattern happens to be. Drawing a Score --------------- Drawing a score is just as easy as drawing notes in a pattern. Just click in the appropriate boxes. For example, let's say that you want Pattern 1 to play three times, then Pattern 2 to play twice. Just click on the first three boxes for Pattern 1, then the next two boxes for Pattern 2. You can have only one pattern playing at a time. If you already have a pattern selected in one of the measures, and you click on a different pattern for that measure, only the new pattern will be played in that measure. If you want to erase patterns from the score, just click on the pattern's box again. Drummer will erase the pattern from that box in the grid. Scrolling Through the Score --------------------------- As you can see on the screen, the grid shows 23 patterns on the vertical axis (up and down), and 28 measures on the horizontal axis (left and right). But there are 50 patterns in Drummer, and you can have up to 2000 measures in the score. So you're only able to see a small section of the score at any one time. To see a different section of the score, you'll need to use the Scroll Bars at the right and bottom of the grid. Use the Up Arrow and Down Arrow boxes at the right of the grid to scroll up and down the score. If you click on the down arrow, Drummer will scroll down the score, and you'll start seeing patterns from 24 on down. If you click on one of the arrows and hold the mouse button down, Drummer will continue scrolling until you release the mouse button. Use the Right Arrow or Left Arrow boxes at the bottom of the grid to scroll forward or backward through the score. The white box on the horizontal scroll bar always shows the number of whatever measure is displayed at the left side of the grid. You can move to a different measure by entering the number of that measure in the box. It works just like every other number entry box in Drummer. The Sample Score ---------------- We've included a sample score that plays the sample patterns. Feel free to listen to this now, to change it around, or do whatever you want. If you want to hear the score, click on the Play button at the top of the screen, just like you did on the Pattern Page. Explore! -------- We're not going to go into more of the Score Page, but there's certainly a lot more you can do here. As we said, the score can contain up to 2000 measures. There are menu items to add and delete measures, to choose which section of the score Drummer will play, to control looping and automatic scrolling during playback, and more. As usual, we invite you to explore the various windows and menu options. Quitting Drummer ---------------- When you're ready to leave Drummer, just select the FILES-Quit menu item. ============================================================================= This is the end of the demo manual. There's so much that we haven't covered here. So if you have question or comments about Drummer, please let us know. And thanks again for looking at Drummer. *-----------------------------------------------------------------------* | Drummer 2.0 Demo | | | | Cool Shoes Software | | P.O. Box 2359, Kernersville, NC 27285 | | | | Phone: (919) 722-0830 FAX: (919) 724-4412 | *-----------------------------------------------------------------------*