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#:main ************************************ ****** KORG M1 Bank Manager ****** ************************************ 0:- +| * Introduction * =:intro +| * The Menus * =:menus +| * The Icons * =:icons +| * Using the Mouse * =:mouse +| * Using the Keyboard * =:keyboard +| * Limitations * =:limitations +| * Disclaimer * =:disclaimer +| * Copyright * =:copyright +| * Final Remarks * =:final / / #:help U|How to use this documentation program Use the arrow keys or mouse to move around in the menus: Up/down arrow or mousepointer selects the various menu entries. Right arrow/left mousebutton/Return selects an entry ('pops in'). Left arrow/right mousebutton/Undo jumps to previous menu ('pops out'). ClrHome always brings you to the main menu. Escape always exits the program. Help brings up this menu. Now press the right mousebutton or the left arrow to go back to where you came from... / / #:intro U|Introduction T:¯ The M1 Bank Manager -M1_BANKS.PRG- is meant to be a very flexible librarian that will help you organize all those M1-patches you so carefully designed. You are now able to maintain libraries of M1 patches (Programs) and multi-timbral setups (Combinations), save them to disk, dump them to your M1, perform System-Exclusive dumps of all M1 parameters and lots more. In fact the program consists of two separate librarians - a Program librarian and a Combination librarian. Since both operate in exactly the same way, this document will only mention 'sounds' or 'programs', always meaning 'sounds', 'programs' or 'combinations'. Read the chapter 'The Menus / Mode' to learn more about switching from one librarian to the other. Note that when switching from one librarian to the other, the appropriate menu-entries change accordingly; e.g. 'Send Sound(s)' in Program Mode becomes 'Send Combi(s)' when in Combinaton mode. So when talking about the menu-entry 'Send Sound(s)' we always intend to mean -both- versions of the entry. +:Next page... =:intro2 / / #:intro2 Since the program is so flexible, some things may not be clear at first sight. Therefore it is highly recommended that you read this documentation before using the program. Since many users often don't have the patience to 'read before doing', you should at least read the following section, in order not to lose valuable data (e.g. that patch you've just finished after days of blood, sweat and tears). Before doing anything else (except for reading this document of course), you should make a backup of all your M1-data. The next steps are involved: - Turn on your M1 and be sure it's properly connected to your ST (i.e. MIDI INs and OUTs *both* connected). - Start the program M1_BANKS.PRG. - Go to the '--M1--' menu and select the option 'M1 to Disk'. - In the dialog that now appears, click on 'All'. - After a while the fileselector appears. Type in a name for the backup- files to be saved, e.g. 'BACKUP'. There's no need to provide an extension for the file - the program will take care of that. - You now have a backup of your M1 data, split in 4 different files. If you want to know how to restore those data (i.e. send them to the M1), read the chapter 'The Menus / --M1-- / Disk to M1'. +:Next page... =:intro3 / / #:intro3 A last remark before we get to the 'real worx'. You should understand the basic concept of the program. The desktop contains 100 slots which correspond to the 100 programs of combinations in the M1. Slots can contain sounds and can be saved, sent etc. So a 'soundslot' is sort of the basic unit for the program. For that reason it is not possible to make libraries containing more than 100 sounds. Restrictive, you say? No, just maintain different libraries with different kinds of sounds - this will be far more comprehensible than one big library with 1000+ sounds. Since a slot is 'what's being acted upon', most of the operations require you to *select* the slots you want the operation to have an effect on. Selecting a slot is accomplished by clicking on it, or shift-dragging to select multiple slots. Whenever an operation doesn't seem to have any effect, be sure there are (non-empty) slots selected. +:Next page... =:intro4 / / #:intro4 The program knows various kinds of actions: you can select a menu-item, you can use the mouse to drag, click or double-click various elements in the desktop, lots of commands can be invoked by pressing a certain key- combination and using the desktop-icons can considerably speed up many actions. Therefore we split this manual in sections corresponding to those various 'action fields': +| * The Menus * =:menus +| * The Icons * =:icons +| * Using the Mouse * =:mouse +| * Using the Keyboard * =:keyboard +| * Limitations * =:limitations +| * Disclaimer * =:disclaimer +| * Copyright * =:copyright +| * Final Remarks * =:final / / #:menus U|The Menus T:¯ +| * File * =:file +| * Edit * =:edit +| * --M1-- * =:m1 +| * Options * =:options +| * Mode * =:mode +| * Safety * =:safety +| * Help * =:on help / /***************** FILE MENU ******************************** / #:file U|File menu T:¯ +: New =:new +: Open =:open +: Open with pos =:openpos +: Open & Set =:openset +: Save =:save +: Save Settings =:saveset +: Print Desktop =:printdt +: Print Library =:printlib +: Printer Settings =:printset +: Delete File =:delete file +: Quit =:quit / / #:new U|New T:¯ Erases all the sounds in the desktop. If 'Safety/Deletes' is checked, you will be asked to confirm this operation. If 'Options/Auto Deselect' is checked, all selected slots will be deselected. +:Open... =:open +:Back to The Menus... =:menus / / #:open U|Open T:¯ Opens a library. Program libraries are files with an extension MPR (i.e. M1 PR'ograms), combination libraries have an extension MCO (...). The file- selector will appear with the appropriate files shown, depending on whether you're in Program-mode or in Combination-mode. Select the library you want to load, and click OK. When you enter the name of the file by hand, you need not type the extension, since the program does that for you. Also the program won't allow you to load files with non-valid extensions. Note that 'Open' works as a 'merge': sounds already present are not automatically deleted when loading a new file. When you press one of the SHIFT keys while selecting 'Open', the file- selector will show *both* the libraries (i.e. MPR or MCO files) *and* the backup-files (MPB and MCB - see 'Safety/Backups'). This way you're able to load backups of libraries. This is the one exception to the rule that the program won't allow you to load other files than MPR/MCO files... +:Open with pos... =:openpos +:Back to The Menus... =:menus / / #:openpos U|Open with pos T:¯ Also opens a library. The slots where the sounds were located last time you saved the library are saved with the library. 'Open with pos' now loads the sounds in a library back to those positions. Be careful, as you might overwrite sounds already present in the desktop. +:Open & Set... =:openset +:Back to The Menus... =:menus / / #:openset U|Open & Set T:¯ Opens a library. You are presented with a dialog in which all the sounds of the file can be seen (and selected). You can choose between loading all sounds or loading only the sounds you've selected. Furthermore you can choose between loading the sounds to the first free positions on the desk- top (Free), to adjacent positions, starting from the first selected desktop- position (Adjacent), to exactly the selected desktop-positions (Selected), or to the positions that were stored with the file (Positions). The settings you make in this dialog will affect all further 'File/Open' operations! At first sight the many different possibilities may be a bit confusing. Play around with them until you fully understand what the effect of all those possibilities is - you'll soon discover how flexible they make the program. Upon startup the default settings for 'Open & Set' is 'Load All - Load to Free'. This causes the 'Open & Set' command to work exactly like the 'Open' command: opened files are merged with sounds already present in the desktop. +:Save... =:save +:Back to The Menus... =:menus / / #:save U|save T:¯ Saves all selected sounds - and **only** the selected sounds! The desktop- position is stored with the sounds and can be retrieved with the 'File/Open with pos' menu-option. When entering a name for the file to be saved in the fileselector, there is no need to supply an extension as the program takes care of that. When in Program mode, files will be saved with the extension MPR. In Combination mode the extension is MCO. If you haven't selected any sounds, nothing will be saved (so no 0 byte file is created) and you will be told that nothing is saved. If you try to save a file that already exists and the 'Safety/Backup' menu- item is checked, the already existing file will be renamed - extension MPR is changed in MPB, MCO is changed in MCB - before the sounds are saved. In case the 'Backup'-safety is switched off, you will be notified of already existing files and warned that they will be overwritten if you proceed. You may now choose to 'Overwrite', 'Backup' or completely 'Cancel' the operation. +:Save Settings... =:saveset +:Back to The Menus... =:menus / / #:saveset U|Save Settings T:¯ Stores various settings in the M1_BANKS.DAT file. This file contains the printer settings, the 'Autoplay' settings & flag, 'Auto Deselect' flag, 'Double Check Data' flag, 'Invert SHIFT-key' flag, the default paths (Options/Set Default Paths), the desktop color, the settings made in the 'Mode' menu and all the safety flags. Next time you start the program it will read this file and restore all your preferred settings. Note to version 1.x users of the program: the Clipboard settings and 'File/ Open & Set' settings are no longer stored in the settings-file. Instead both dialogs now default to 'All - To Free' when starting the program. +:Print Desktop... =:printdt +:Back to The Menus... =:menus / / #:printdt U|Print Desktop T:¯ Prints the names of the sounds that are viewed in the desktop. Output is sent to the printer or to a file, depending on the settings made in the 'Printer Settings' dialog. Page-layout is also determined by the settings made in this dialog. When printing to a file, a fileselector will ask you to enter the name of the output file. This output file is a normal ASCII text-file that can be edited with any text-editor or wordprocessor. When printed to disk, a listing will have the extension LST - there's no need to type in an extension yourself. +:Print Library... =:printlib +:Back to The Menus... =:menus / / #:printlib U|Print Library T:¯ Prints the contents of a library (MPR or MCO file). Again, page-layout and whether you print to disk or to the printer is determined by the settings made in the 'Printer Settings' dialog. A fileselector will ask you to select the library to print. When printing to a file, the fileselector will appear once more. Now enter the name of the output file - the program will auto- matically give it the extension LST. +:Printer Settings... =:printset +:Back to The Menus... =:menus / / #:printset U|Printer Settings T:¯ Allows you to adjust printer-output. The settings made here are used whenever output is being sent to the printer, whether you 'Print Desktop', 'Print Library' or direct the output of 'Options/Find Sound' to the printer. You can adjust page-size, left, right, top and bottom margins. Next you can choose whether to have the program send a formfeed after each page, or if you use continous paper (in which case the output won't be split into pages). The last option is to have the output be redirected to disk instead of the printer. If this is selected, every command resulting in printer- output will invoke a fileselector, in which you can enter the name of the output-file. Output files are plain ASCII files that can be edited with any text-editor or word-processor. The settings made in this dialog will be saved in the M1_BANKS.DAT file when you 'Save Settings'. +:Delete File... =:delete file +:Back to The Menus... =:menus / / #:delete file U|Delete File T:¯ When you run out of disk space, this enables you to get rid of unneeded files (e.g. backup files). The fileselector is invoked in which you can select the file to be deleted. An alert will ask you if you're sure you want to delete this file. Clicking OK will send the file to the eternal Nirvana of Bits... +:Quit... =:quit +:Back to The Menus... =:menus / / #:quit U|Quit T:¯ Pretty obvious I think. If the 'Safety/Changes' item is checked, and you have made changes to the desktop since you last saved your work, you will be notified of this and asked if you're sure you want to quit. +:* Edit Menu... * =:edit +:Back to The Menus... =:menus / /***************** EDIT MENU ******************************** / #:edit U|Edit menu T:¯ +: Cut =:cut +: Copy =:copy +: Add =:add +: Paste =:paste +: Swap =:swap +: Delete =:delete +: Remove =:remove +: Insert =:insert +: Select All =:sel all +: Deselect All =:desel all +: Clipboard Clear =:clip clear +: Clipboard Set =:clip set / / #:cut U|Cut T:¯ The Bank Manager uses a very versatile clipboard, to which sounds can be copied and from which sounds can be pasted back to the desktop again. The clipboard can contain up to 100 sounds, just like the desktop. Making good use of the clipboard can speed up things considerably. The clipboard gives you the possibility to manipulate up to 200 sounds at the same time - 100 on the desktop and another 100 on the clipboard. The 'Cut' command first *clears* the entire clipboard and then moves the selected sounds to it - i.e. the selected sounds are removed from the desktop! Empty selected slots are simply ignored, so when the desktop is not completely filled and you want to Cut all the sounds to the clipboard, simply 'Select All' sounds and 'Cut' - you need not be afraid the clipboard will contain all those empty slots. +:Copy... =:copy +:Back to The Menus... =:menus / / #:copy U|Copy T:¯ Just like with 'Cut', the clipboard is cleared and the selected sounds are copied to it. When 'Copy'-ing however, the original sounds will *not* be removed from the desktop. Again, selected slots that are empty will be ignored. +:Add... =:add +:Back to The Menus... =:menus / / #:add U|Add T:¯ Adds sounds to the clipboard, without first clearing it. The sounds are not removed from the desktop. So this one works just like 'Copy' except that the clipboard is not cleared. Selected empty slots are ignored, as usual. +:Paste... =:paste +:Back to The Menus... =:menus / / #:paste U|Paste T:¯ Some or all of the sounds on the clipboard are copied to the desktop. Since the clipboard is *not* cleared, the same set of sounds can be pasted various times. The way in which the paste-function works depends on the settings made in the 'Edit/Set Clipboard' dialog. +:Swap... =:swap +:Back to The Menus... =:menus / / #:swap U|swap T:¯ The mouse changes to a pointing finger. After pointing & (left-) clicking on two sounds, those sounds are swapped. Right clicking or hitting any key aborts the operation. This allows for fast rearranging of sounds. You may also 'Swap' an empty slot and a non-empty slot (of course you may also swap two empty slots, but that's hardly useful...). Right-clicking aborts the operation. +:Delete... =:delete +:Back to The Menus... =:menus / / #:delete U|delete T:¯ Deletes all selected sounds in the desktop. If 'Safety/Deletes' is checked you are asked to confirm this operation. After the Delete operation you'll have some new empty slots - provided you did select some non-empty slots to delete of course... +:Remove... =:remove +:Back to The Menus... =:menus / / #:remove U|Remove T:¯ The mouse changes to a pointing finger. When you left-click on a sound it is deleted and all sounds above this one are moved one position down, so that no empty slot arises. Right-click or press any key to abort this operation. +:Insert... =:insert +:Back to The Menus... =:menus / / #:insert U|Insert T:¯ The opposite of Remove: left clicking on a slot moves all following sounds one position up, so that an empty slot is created. Right-click or press any key to abort this operation. Be careful: since *all* slots are moved up -including the empty ones- slot 99 (the last one) will 'fall off' the desktop. Be sure it is empty, or that you don't mind losing the sound that is stored in it. +:Select All... =:sel all +:Back to The Menus... =:menus / / #:sel all U|Select All T:¯ Selects all 100 slots. Pretty straightforward, isn't it. Read the chapter on 'Using the Keyboard' to learn how you can select blocks of 20 sounds very fast by means of the Function Keys. +:Deselect All... =:desel all +:Back to The Menus... =:menus / / #:desel all U|Deselect All T:¯ Deselects all 100 slots. Again pretty straightforward. Read the chapter on 'Using the Keyboard' to learn how you can deselect blocks of 20 sounds very fast by means of the Function Keys. +:Clear Clipboard... =:clip clear +:Back to The Menus... =:menus / / #:clip clear U|Clear Clipboard T:¯ Clears the clipboard completely. Selecting 'Cut' or 'Copy' while no sounds are selected has the same effect. I don't know if this is really useful,but it was very easy to incorporate, so... +:Set Clipboard... =:clip set +:Back to The Menus... =:menus / / #:clip set U|Set Clipboard T:¯ Brings up the clipboard-dialog. Here you can determine how the 'Paste'- function will work. It is possible to paste only the selected sounds, or all sounds present on the clipboard. Furthermore you can choose between pasting to the first free positions (Free), to adjacent positions, starting at the first selected sound (Adjacent), or pasting to precisely the selected slots (Selected). This dialog is remarkably similar to the 'File/Open & Set' dialog... :-) - except for the now missing 'Positions'- button. Upon startup this dialog defaults to 'Paste All to Free' - the standard Paste behaviour. In addition to the file-dialog there is one extra button, named 'Delete'. Clicking this button will delete all selected sounds. This way you're able to 'selectively' clear the clipboard. When deleting sounds from the clipboard, no confirmation is asked, *even if the 'Safety/Deletes' item is checked*. +:* M1 Menu... * =:m1 +:Back to The Menus... =:menus / /***************** M1 MENU ******************************** / #:m1 U|M1 menu T:¯ +: Receive Sound(s) =:receive +: Send Sound(s) =:send +: Disk to M1 =:disk-m1 +: M1 to disk =:m1-disk +: Hear Sound =:hear sound +: Autoscan =:autoscan +: Global Channel =:global / / #:receive U|Receive Sound(s) T:¯ The program will start sending program dump requests to the M1. The received programs are those that correspond to the selected slots in the desktop. If an error is encountered while receiving data from the M1, you will be notified that there was an 'error receiving sound xx' and asked if you want to 'Retry', 'Skip' or 'Quit'. Retrying will send the same dump request again, 'Skip' will proceed to the next selected slot and 'Quit' will abort the receive-operation altogether. +:Send Sound(s)... =:send +:Back to The Menus... =:menus / / #:send U|Send Sound(s) T:¯ All selected sounds are sent *and written* to the M1. If 'Safety/Sending' is checked you are asked to confirm this operation. Dump errors are treated just as when receiving sounds. +:Disk to M1... =:disk-m1 +:Back to The Menus... =:menus / / #:disk-m1 U|Disk to M1 T:¯ Enables you to send data directly from disk to the M1. This data should be stored with the 'M1/M1 to Disk' menu-option. You may send Program data, Combi data, Sequencer data, Global data or 'All'-data. When doing an 'All Data' dump, the program asks you to select a program-data file (.PRO) and then starts looking for other files with the same name, but with extensions corresponding to the different data-types (COM for combinations, SEQ for sequencer data and GLO for global data). All files that are found are sent to the M1. Note that these files contain raw Sys-Ex dumps, so it may be possible to send files that are made with another librarian, using this option (since some librarians are able to write Sys-Ex files). Note also that when doing an 'All Data' dump, if files are missing (e.g. you only have SETUP.PRO and SETUP.GLO, but SETUP.COM and SETUP.SEQ are missing), you will be notified, but the program will still be able to send the files it *did* find - the Program and Global files in this example. +:M1 to Disk... =:m1-disk +:Back to The Menus... =:menus / / #:m1-disk U|M1 to Disk T:¯ Performs a Sys-Ex dump of the desired data. The data is written directly to disk. You can choose between Program, Combi, Sequencer, Global and All data. When an 'All-data dump' is performed, the program creates 4 different files (one per data-type), all with the same name, but with different extensions (PRO, COM, SEQ and GLO respectively). The reason for not implementing a real 'all data' dump, is that it's easier to retrieve particular data this way. You could e.g. do an 'All Data' dump, save the dump as SETUP.XXX (4 files) and later decide to restore only the program-data by sending ('Disk to M1') just the SETUP.PRO file Note that those Sys-Ex files can *not* be loaded into the Bank Manager by 'Open'-ing a file! You could use those dumps to make fast backups of your current settings, or to maintain different drum-maps (which are part of the Global-data). Another application is using the sequence-dump to store sets of drum-patterns you made with the M1-sequencer. +:Hear Sound... =:hear sound +:Back to The Menus... =:menus / / #:hear sound U|Hear Sound T:¯ The mouse changes to a pointing finger and after left-clicking on a non- empty slot, the sound is sent to the M1, but *not* written. A keyboard appears on the screen and the mouse changes to a note. Left-licking anywhere sends a note-on to the M1. Up/down determines volume (velocity) while left/ right determines pitch. Anywhere during this operation right-clicking or hitting any key aborts. This option is especially handy when you want to inspect a sound while your M1 is on the other side of the room. +:Autoscan... =:autoscan +:Back to The Menus... =:menus / / #:autoscan U|Autoscan T:¯ When you select 'Autoscan' the program will send the first selected sound to the M1 (*without* writing it) and play a note as specified by the auto- play-settings (c.f. 'Options/Set Autoplay'). Only the duration is not taken into account: the note will play until you hit a key or mousebutton. Then the next selected sound will be sent to the M1 and the process repeats. This way it's very easy to get a quick overview of the sounds in the desk- top. The operation can be aborted by pressing the right mousebutton (left continues) or Control-Z. +:Global Channel... =:global +:Back to The Menus... =:menus / / #:global U|Global Channel T:¯ At startup-time the programs tries to determine the M1's global channel. If this somehow fails, or you've changed it in the meantime, you can (re-)enter it here. Selecting the 'Receive Global Channel'-button lets the program try once more to retrieve the global channel from the M1. Since all communication with the M1 is through the global channel, it is very important that it is entered correctly. In general you don't have to worry about the global channel setting, since before performing a dump (Sending) or requesting a dump (Receiving) the program checks if the global channel setting is still correct. This check is not performed when 'Autoplay'-ing a sound. +:* Options Menu... * =:options +:Back to The Menus... =:menus / /***************** OPTIONS MENU ******************************** / #:options U|Options menu T:¯ +: Autoplay =:autoplay +: Set Autoplay =:set autoplay +: Auto Deselect =:auto deselect +: Double Check Data =:double check +: Invert SHIFT-key =:invert shift +: Find Sound =:find sound +:Sort Sounds =:sort sounds +: Set Default Paths =:default paths +: Desktop Color =:desktop / / #:autoplay U|Autoplay T:¯ If this option is checked, every time you select a sound in the desktop, the sound is sent to the M1 (but not written!!) and a note is played. Pitch, duration and length of the note being played are determined by the 'Set Autoplay' settings. The Autoplay-flag is saved when you 'Save Settings'. +:Set Autoplay... =:set autoplay +:Back to The Menus... =:menus / / #:set autoplay U|Set Autoplay T:¯ Here you can determine what note (pitch) is sent at what volume (velocity) for how long, when you select a sound and 'Autoplay' is checked. The pitch, velocity and duration settings are saved when you 'Save Settings'. +:Auto Deselect... =:auto deselect +:Back to The Menus... =:menus / / #:auto deselect U|Auto Deselect T:¯ If this options is checked, all selected sounds are automatically deselected when saving/sending/receiving/pasting/etc., etc. The 'Auto Deselect'-flag is saved when you 'Save Settings'. +:Double Check Data... =:double check +:Back to The Menus... =:menus / / #:double check U|Double Check Data T:¯ Sometimes when receiving data from the M1 it gets corrupted. This problem does not occur (as far as I know) when sending data to the M1. If you want to be very sure that all data arrives properly, you can have the program double check the data, by checking this option. Note that data integrity is nearly 100% guaranteed when 'Double Check'ing... Be warned: receiving data takes up more time when 'double checked' (2 times as long typically), but on the other hand... what's more important: safety or speed...? You are adviced to have this option turned on. The 'Double Check Data' flag is also part of the settings that can be saved. +:Invert SHIFT-key... =:invert shift +:Back to The Menus... =:menus / / #:invert shift U|Invert SHIFT-key T:¯ You can select multiple sounds by pressing either SHIFT-key while dragging the mouse. When not holding down a SHIFT-key, dragging will pick up the selected sounds and move/copy them to an icon or to another location in the 'soundbox' (the 100-slot box). When you find you use the 'drag-select' more often than the 'drag-move', you can reverse the operation of the SHIFT-keys by checking this menu-item. Now normal dragging will multi-select sounds, while drag&SHIFT will move/ copy sounds. More on this can be found in the chapter 'Using the Mouse'. The 'Invert SHIFT-key' flag is saved when you 'Save Settings'. +:Find Sound... =:find sound +:Back to The Menus... =:menus / / #:find sound U|Find Sound T:¯ This is one of the more sophisticated -and complicated- features of the program. Suppose you know you have this wonderful patch of some stringbass sound, but you don't know exactly how it was called or in which library you stored it. You only know it was something like 'Bass String' or 'Bass str.' or maybe 'SynBasStr'... Now it would be a pain to have to search through all your libraries - or at least the Bass, Strings and Synth libraries. This is where 'Find Sound' can help you. What it does is scan all available libraries for a specific sound - but except for looking for a specific sound (e.g. BassString), you may also use wildcards in the name you specify, so the program tries to match all library-sounds with the search pattern you provided. +:Next Page... =:find2 / / #:find2 In the dialog you enter the name of the sound you're looking for - and if the 'wildcards'-button is selected you may also use '*' to match any number of characters, or '?' to match exactly one character (the 'Ignore Case' and 'Ignore Blanks' do exactly what you expect them to do and you are advised to have them always turned on - except for when you're _sure_ the sound you're looking for is 'synth bass' and not 'SynthBass'...). In the example given above, you might enter '*bas*str*' - the program will now find 'SynBasStr', 'BassString', 'basstring', 'Base STRONG', etc. Searching for *str?ng*' will find 'string', 'Strings', 'SoftString', 'LoStrings1', 'strong', 'STRONGbass', 'So Strange, etc., but not 'strng', 'Striiing', or 'streaming'. Searching for '*' will find *all* sounds. The reason you may turn the 'wildcards' option off is obvious: suppose you're looking for a sound called '*' ... +:Next Page... =:find3 / / #:find3 In the Find-dialog you may also choose whether output should be sent to the printer, to the screen or both. When output is sent to the screen and a matching sound is found, a dialog will appear. It will tell which sound was found and in which library (e.g. 'Sound 12: BassString in file STRINGS.MPR'), and you can choose between 'load the sound and continue the search', 'continue the search (without loading the currently found sound)', 'load the sound and stop the search', or 'stop searching (without loading the current sound)'. When loading a sound it is always loaded to the first free slot in the desktop. When directing output to the printer, the settings made in 'File/Printer Settings' apply. This means that you may also redirect output to a file, by selecting the 'Output to File' option in the printer-settings dialog. If you want a file with the complete contents of all your libraries, you could set the printer-settings to 'output to file', then go to the 'Find Sound' dialog, select 'output to printer' and search for '*' (while 'wildcards' is enabled of course)... Files that are the result of a 'Find Sound' operation have the extension FND. Note!: 'Find Sound' only scans the default folder, set in the 'Set Default Paths' dialog, or the last folder you selected when using the fileselector. +:Sort Sounds... =:sort sounds +:Back to The Menus... =:menus / / #:sort sounds U|Sort Sounds T:¯ This one sorts _all_ available sounds (so _not_ just the selected ones) in alphabetical order. The fastest way to get a contiguous set of sounds (i.e. without empty slots in between) is by 'Sort'-ing them. +:Set Default Paths... =:default paths +:Back to The Menus... =:menus / / #:default paths U|Set Default Paths T:¯ Here you enter the folders where you've stored your sound files (MPR), combination files (MCO) and sys-ex files (PRO, COM, GLO, SEQ, generated with 'M1 to Disk'). Clicking one of the boxes in front of the paths brings up the fileselector in which you now move to the desired folder. Select OK in the fileselector to copy the path to the dialog. Select OK in the dialog to install the paths. These paths are saved when you 'Save Settings'. +:Desktop Color... =:desktop +:Back to The Menus... =:menus / / #:desktop U|Desktop Color T:¯ Change the desktop color if you want! The color will be saved in the settings file M1_BANKS.DAT if you 'Save Settings'. Can't say this program ain't flexibel, can you...? +:* Mode Menu... * =:mode +:Back to The Menus... =:menus / /***************** MODE MENU ******************************** / #:mode U|Mode menu T:¯ +: Program Mode =:prog mode +: Combination Mode =:comb mode +:Internal =:internal +:Card =:card +: Disable Prog. Mode =:disable prog +: Disbale Comb. Mode =:disable comb / / #:prog mode U|Program Mode T:¯ Switch to the program-librarian. If you're already there, this item is disabled. Also if you've 'Disable(d) Prog. Mode' and saved settings one of the previous times you ran the program, this item will be disabled. Changing modes will take a little time, because the program has to initialize and restore various arrays, adapt the resource (all 'sound'- text in the menus and dialogs is replaced by 'combi') and update the desktop. +:Combination Mode... =:comb mode +:Back to The Menus... =:menus / / #:comb mode U|Combination Mode T:¯ Switch to the combination-librarian. If you're already there, this item is disabled. Also if you've 'Disable(d) Comb. Mode' and saved settings one of the previous times you ran the program, this item will be disabled. +:Internal... =:internal +:Back to The Menus... =:menus / / #:internal U|Internal T:¯ When you have a ROM or RAM card inserted in the M1, you may switch between internal memory and card, by selecting either the 'Internal' or 'Card' menu options. Note that the mode you're currently in (or rather: the mode the M1 is in) will be disabled. Switching from Internal to Card and v.v. will erase all programs and combis loaded in memory. Therefore you will _always_ be asked to confirm this operation, even if all safety options are switched off. Note that the clipboard will *not* be erased. If you want to exchange sounds between e.g. card and internal memory, proceed as follows: put the Bank Manager in 'Card' mode, receive the card- sounds in the sounbox, copy them to the clipboard, switch to 'Internal' and paste the sounds from the clipboard back to the soundbox. You can now send the sounds of your choice to the M1's internal memory. +:Card... =:card +:Back to The Menus... =:menus / / #:card U|Card T:¯ Well, of course this is the counterpart of the 'Internal' menu item... Note that you're allowed to switch to Card mode, even if no card is inserted in the M1! You will be able to receive sounds in this case - the program will just receive the M1's 'internal' sounds. However, writing (= sending) sounds won't be possible. Every attempt to do so will give you an error message. The reason for this apparent shortcoming is that the M1's sys-ex specs are rather vague as to how to detect the presence of a card, and since I don't own any cards myself, there was no way to experiment with this part of the program. Well, I suppose _you_ know if you've got a card inserted or not, so just don't switch to 'Card' if there is none... +:Disable Prog. Mode... =:disable prog +:Back to The Menus... =:menus / / #:disable prog U|Disable Prog. Mode T:¯ Selecting this item permanently disables the program-librarian. You must 'Save Settings' and restart in order for your changes to take effect. Upon restart, you won't be able to access the program-librarian anymore - unless you 'Enable Prog. Mode', save your settings and restart again. This option is only useful when you're short on memory: each librarian uses its own chunks of memory, so disabling one of the two will nearly halve memory usage. In general this shouldn't be a problem since the program will run with only 400 kB free memory... When you've disabled program mode, the menu-text will change in 'Enable Prog. Mode'. +:Disable Comb. Mode... =:disable comb +:Back to The Menus... =:menus / / #:disable comb U|Disable Comb. Mode T:¯ The same as disabling the program-librarian, but now the combination- librarian is disabled. Read the previous page for more details. +:* Safety Menu... * =:safety +:Back to The Menus... =:menus / /***************** SAFETY MENU ******************************** / #:safety U|Safety menu T:¯ +: Sending =:sending +: Deletes =:deletes +: Drag & Copy =:drag & copy +: Changes =:changes +: Backups =:backups / / #:sending U|Sending T:¯ If this item is checked, you are asked if you really want to send sounds to the M1 when you select the 'M1/Send Sound(s)', or 'M1/Disk to M1' menu- items. This safety-option does not apply to the 'M1/Hear Sound', 'M1/Auto- scan ' and 'Options/Autoplay' menu-items, since in these cases no sound is *written* to the M1, so you don't run the risk of losing valuable patches. +:Deletes... =:deletes +:Back to The Menus... =:menus / / #:deletes U|Deletes T:¯ If this item is checked you are asked to confirm every 'File/New' and 'Edit/Delete' operation. This does not work on the 'Edit/Remove' option. +:Drag & Copy... =:drag & copy +:Back to The Menus... =:menus / / #:drag & copy U|Drag & Copy T:¯ When you've checked this item, you will be asked to confirm any copy- operation that is invoked by dragging sounds in the soundbox from one location to another. +:Changes... =:changes +:Back to The Menus... =:menus / / #:changes U|Changes T:¯ In case this item is checked, the program keeps track of changes you make to the desktop-soundset. If you quit the program while changes have been made since the last 'Save' operation, you are notified of this and asked if you're sure you want to quit. +:Backups... =:backups +:Back to The Menus... =:menus / / #:backups U|Backups T:¯ Checking this item causes backup files to be created in case you try to save a file under a name that already exists. Backup files have the same extension as the original file, only with the last character changed to 'B': MPR becomes MPB and MCO becomes MCB. So trying to save a file as BASS.MPR while there is already a BASS.MPR present, causes this file to be renamed to BASS.MPB before the sounds you selected are saved as BASS.MPR. Note: an already existing BASS.MPB will be deleted without warning! Also since backing-up is *only* done on MPR- and MCO-files, e.g. PRO/COM/GLO and SEQ files will also be overwritten without warning! +:* Help Menu... * =:on help +:Back to The Menus... =:menus / /***************** HELP MENU ******************************** / #:on help U|Help menu T:¯ At startup-time the program tries to load a file 'M1_BANKS.HLP'. If this succeeds, the contents of the file can be viewed by pressing HELP or selecting the 'Help/Help?' menu-item. If the helpfile is not found, it is not loaded <grin...> and no memory for the helpdialog is allocated. If you don't need the online-help, rename the file to e.g. M1_BANKS.HLX. This will save some meory and speedup the program-startup. Since the helpfile is a plain ASCII-file it can be edited with any text editor, so you may adapt it to suit your needs. Each page consists of 18 lines, and 32 pages are allowed. So the maximum number of lines a helpfile may contain is 18*32=576. A line may be up to 65 characters long. The format of a helpfile is quite simple: all lines are treated as normal text, except for the first 18 lines (= the first page). Whenever a line on the first page starts with a two digit number and a colon (e.g. '06:'), this line will be selectable when the help-dialog is invoked. Selecting this line will immediately jump to the page denoted by the number (which, by the way, is +:Next Page... =:on help2 / / #:on help2 *not* displayed in the dialog). Note that the first page is page 0, whereas the first line is line 1! So when you want to be able to jump to an item that starts on line 163, which is the first line of page 9 (the tenth page - 9*18 + 1), the selectable line should start with '09:'. Lines on the first page without a number and colon are treated as plain text. I know this method is a bit tedious (I wrote the helpfile myself, so I know all about it), but this way it was very easy to implement the help- routine, and I don't suppose you'll change the helpfile every few weeks... +:* The Icons * =:icons +:Back to The Menus... =:menus / /***************** THE ICONS ******************************** / #:icons U|The icons T:¯ Many menu-operations can also be performed by dragging or double-clicking the icons in the desktop. Proper use of the icons can speed up the process of working with the program considerably (that's why they were added in version 2.0 :-). In the following, by 'Soundbox' we mean the central 100- slot box in which the currently loaded sounds are viewed. Both icons and soundbox (or rather: all selected sounds in the soundbox) are dragged by pressing the left mouse-button over an icon/a sound and holding it down while dragging. An overview of the various legal drag and double-click operations, followed by their menu-equivalents: +:Next Page... =:icons2 / / #:icons2 Dragging: DISK to Soundbox: File/Open with pos... Soundbox to DISK: File/Save... DISK to TRASH: File/Delete File... M1 to Soundbox: M1/Receive Sound(s) Soundbox to M1: M1/Send Sound(s) M1 to DISK: M1/M1 to Disk... DISK to M1: M1/Disk to M1... Soundbox to CLIP: Edit/Copy CLIP to Soundbox: Edit/Paste Soundbox to TRASH: Edit/Delete CLIP to TRASH: Edit/Clear Clipboard Soundbox to Soundbox: Copy sounds (no menu-equivalent) Double clicking: DISK: File/Open... M1: M1/Receive Sound(s) CLIP: Edit/Set Clipboard... +:Next Page... =:icons3 / / #:icons3 When you drag the selected sounds and drop them somewhere in the soundbox, all selected sounds will be copied to empty locations in the soundbox, *beginning* at the slot the mouse was over when you released the mouse- button. This can be handy when you e.g. want to move some sounds and don't want to use the clipboard (Cut/Paste) for this: select the sounds you want to move, drag them to the desired location and release the mouse. After the copy-operation is finished, delete the original sounds. If the 'Safety/Drag & Copy' item is checked, you will be asked to confirm any 'drag and copy' operation. +:* Using the Mouse * =:mouse +:Home... =:main / /***************** USING THE MOUSE ******************************** / #:mouse U|Using the mouse T:¯ The mouse performs various functions: Left click: - Left click on menu-items to perform the associated action or to 'check' an entry. - Left click on a sound in the soundbox to select it. Left click & drag: - Left click and drag an icon to another icon or to the soundbox to perform the associated action. - Left click and drag all selected sounds to an icon to perform the associated action. - Left click and drag all selected sounds to another slot in the soundbox. All selected sounds will be copied to empty slots *starting at the slot the mouse was pointing at when you released the button*. When 'Safety/ Drag & Copy' is checked, you will be asked to confirm this operation. +:Next Page... =:mouse2 / / #:mouse2 Note that there is *no* menu or keyboard equivalent for this action. - Left-click & drag not on a sound or icon. A rubberbox will appear. All sounds (partially) in the rubberbox will be selected. Left click, press SHIFT & drag: - Left-click in the soundbox and drag, while pressing either SHIFT-key to 'drag-select' or 'drag-deselect' several sounds, without releasing the mousebutton. - Left click on a sound and drag all selected sounds to an icon to perform the associated action. - Left-click, press SHIFT & drag not on a sound or icon. A rubberbox will appear. All sounds (partially) in the rubberbox will be deselected. Double left click: - Double click on icons to perform the associated action. - Double click on a (non-empty) sound in the soundbox to rename it. +:* Using the Keyboard * =:keyboard +:Home... =:main / /***************** USING THE KEYBOARD ******************************** / #:keyboard U|Using the keyboard T:¯ Most of the menu-options can also be choosen by pressing a certain key- combination. The key-combinations associated with a certain menu-option are displayed in the menus at the right side of the entry. Most keyboard shortcuts consist of the CONTROL key together with a letter, except for the 'Edit/Insert', 'Edit/Delete, 'Help/Help?' items, which are invoked by pressing the Insert, Delete and Help keys respectively. The shortcuts for the 'M1'-menu consist of a combination of the ALTERNATE key and a letter. The three 'File/Open' menu-items can also be selected while additionally holding down either SHIFT key (or by mouse-selecting the entry while holding down either SHIFT key). When a SHIFT key is pressed, the file selector will show not only files of the current filetype (MPR or MCO, depending on whether you're in program or combi mode), but also the backup files of the current type (MPB or MCB). This enables you to choose and load backup-files. So, as an example: CONTROL-O selects 'Open...', while CONTROL- SHIFT-O selects 'Open any file...', etc. Note that normally, when not pressing a SHIFT key, the program automatically adds the right extension to the file you choose. When pressing SHIFT and opening a file however, the +:Next Page... =:keyboard2 / / #:keyboard2 program will not do this - it is thus necessary to enter a complete and correct filename. Other keyboard operations: Typing a number between 0 and 99, followed by a RETURN, will (de)select the correspondng slot in the soundbox. Pressing ESCAPE or UNDO instead of RETURN aborts this operation. Note that the numeric keypad doesn't work - you have to use the top numerical key-row. Numbers 0-9 may be entered as either '0x' or 'x'. Function keys F1-F5 (de)select an entire column of sounds (20 sounds). F1 (de)selects sounds 00-19, F2 (de)selects 20-39, etc. Whether a column is selected or deselected depends on the status of the first sound in the column: if it is selected, pressing the corresponding F-key will deselect the entire column; if it's deselected pressing the corresponding F-key will select the entire column. +:Limitations... =:limitations +:Home... =:main / / / #:limitations U|Limitations T:¯ Since the Bank Manager is written in Omicron Basic, it probably isn't too system-friendly - I can't help it, the problem is in the rather broken Omicron Compiler (v.3). However, on normal STs it should run without problems. Since I haven't been able to test it on color monitors, I don't know what happens in medium resolution. I'm sure it won't run in low-rez, since the dialogs and desktop are too big to fit on a low-rez screen. In medium-rez (provided it runs at all...) the dialogs and desktop will probably be a mess due to alignment problems (how else could I cram all this info on one screen... ?). The program uses as little memory as possible, so in normal use it should give you no memory-problems. If it does, try disabling one of the BM's librarians (although I can't imagine it to be necessary). Other limitations...? Let me know. +:Next Page... =:lim2 / / / #:lim2 Known bugs: - When 'Auto deselect' is off, sometimes a spurious mouse-event is generated, causing the slot above which you released the mouse (e.g. when dragging an icon to the soundbox) to be deselected. Haven't been able to fix this one... - Keeping one of the Function-keys pressed will eventually crash the program (??? lots of time spent on this bug, but still haven't been able to fix it). +:Copyright & Disclaimer =:copyright +:Home... =:main / /***************** COPYRIGHT & DISCLAIMER ************************** / #:disclaimer U|Disclaimer T:¯ Because you haven't paid a dime for it, the author and So What? software don't take any responsibility for any damage real or perceived, caused or not caused by this program. We don't mind how bad you f*ck up your hard disk, your computer, your M1, your man or wife or favourite pet: we are not to blame, not even in case of loss of files, loss of lifes, lethal explosion of your system, fire, third world war, or whatever. This software is delivered 'as is' and free of known bugs (except for the ones listed above) and it is solely your responsibility if you don't know how to use it properly. And even if you know how to use it properly, it's solely your responsibility that you use the program at all. We think you got a nice piece of software for an absolute minimum price, so don't bother us with complaints. As always, serious bug reports or suggestions for improvements are more than welcome of course. If you send a bug report together with a self- addressed, stamped envelope and formatted (DD) disk, I'll send you the debugged version of the program. Make sure that your bug report contains enough information for me to be able to reproduce the bug. +:Copyright... =:copyright / / / #:copyright U|Copyright T:¯ The program and it's source are copyrighted (C) 1990/1992 by * So What? * software. You are however permitted to make copies of the program and give them away or put them on bulletin boards, provided no changes were made to the original files - we don't want to receive complaints because some dude messed up a resource file, or because the documentation is missing. The source code is *not* available. +:Final Remarks =:final +:Home... =:main / /***************** FINAL REMARKS ******************************** / #:final U|Final remarks T:¯ Enjoy the M1 Bank Manager! If you want to send me 1. a postcard, telling me how absolutely marvelous the program is; 2. suggestions for next versions (more options? tell me and I'll consider them seriously); 3. high quality soft drugs; 4. good looking, unmarried young daughters; 5. large amounts of money; then use the address below. If you've got any comments, bug reports, suggestions for future versions, or whatever, let me know. I've tried - and will continue trying- to make this program as fool-proof and bug-free as possible, but I need you, the user, to know what bugs are left and what features you'd like to see in future versions. I don't expect to receive any money for this program, but I would very much appreciate receiving any patches you made for your M1. I spent months writing this program, and I provided you with tons of sounds for your M1, so do I really ask too much? Watch your BBS and the various Atari archives for new versions of this program! +:Next Page... =:final2 / / #:final2 The program you started to read this documentation was written with the help of the Pure-C HELP-library - another marvelous So What? product. Sources and executables of this lib and the accompanying programs are completely public domain - check your local BBS or the various atari archives! I can be reached at: snailmail: email: Hendrik Jan Veenstra Internet: hjv@phil.ruu.nl Lepelaarstraat 27 3582 SL Utrecht SterBBS (the largest ST bbs): The Netherlands 01880 - 40035 user_ID: hjv And remember: the purpose of this program is solely to speed up non-relevant work, so you'll have more time free to write good music. +:Home... =:main