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-
- *--------------------------------------------*
- | |
- | MIDI Spy 1.1 Demo Documentation |
- | by John Eidsvoog |
- | Copyright 1993 CodeHead Software |
- | |
- *--------------------------------------------*
-
- Release Date: Monday, March 8, 1993
-
- This is a free demo of MIDI Spy 1.1. It may
- be distributed freely as long as all included
- files remain intact and unaltered. It may
- not be sold or included with any commercial
- product without written permission from
- CodeHead Software.
-
-
- *-------------------------- Included Files ---------------------------*
-
-
- The following files are included in the MIDI Spy Demo package:
-
- MSPYDEMO.ACC The Demo accessory/program
- MSPYDEMO.TXT This Documentation File
- MSPYPRES.TXT The MIDI Spy Press Release
- QUEST.MSQ Theme from Quest © 1987 Eids-Kid Music
- SONGS.TXT Information about the included songs
- SECURE.MSQ Secure Your Meat © 1983 Eids-Kid Music
- WALTSMBA.MSQ Walt's Samba © 1983 Eids-Kid Music
-
-
-
- *---------------------------- What it is -----------------------------*
-
-
- MIDI Spy is a MIDI recording tool that allows you to record and play
- back MIDI in a multi-tasking environment. It runs as either a program
- or an accessory. When installed as an accessory, it works completely in
- the background. This means that it is always in record mode (unless you
- disable it). As long as you haven't exhausted the memory area assigned
- to MIDI Spy, everything you play will be recorded regardless of your
- current computer activity. You can be at the desktop, within any
- program, or even connected to an on-line service through your terminal
- program.
-
- MIDI Spy will load and save standard MIDI sequence files, allowing you to
- load its songs into other MIDI sequencers, or load songs into MIDI Spy that
- have been recorded on other sequencers and play them in the background from
- MIDI Spy while you work on other things, even chained together, creating a
- juke box effect.
-
-
- *------------------- Installing the MIDI Spy Demo --------------------*
-
-
- The MIDI Spy demo runs only as a desk accessory. If you've got CodeHead's
- MultiDesk, you can simply use the "Load ACC" button to load MIDI Spy as a
- _resident_ accessory. Otherwise, copy MSPYDEMO.ACC into the root of your
- boot drive and reboot your computer (making sure that you don't have more
- than six files with an .ACC extension).
-
-
- *--------------------- Using the MIDI Spy Demo -----------------------*
-
-
- Using the MIDI Spy Demo is extremely easy. Let's start by recording
- something. After installing the MIDI Spy Demo as an accessory, select it
- from the accessory (or MultiDesk) menu. The Main MIDI Spy Dialog box will
- appear on the screen.
-
- If you've connected your MIDI cables correctly, you can just start playing
- and everything you play will be recorded (you may need to enable "Thru" to
- hear what you're playing if your MIDI system is set up that way). If you
- wait for five seconds and start playing again, a new song will be started.
- To listen to what you've played, just click on Play or hit the space bar.
- Playback will begin immediately.
-
- Most of the buttons in the main dialog box are self-explanatory. There
- are also keypress equivalents for all of the buttons. Press the Help key
- to find out which keys may be used to control the main dialog box.
-
- You can exit from the MIDI Spy accessory, go back to any other computer
- task, and start playing back what you've recorded but pressing
- Alternate-SpaceBar. MIDI Spy will play back your songs without affecting
- what you do in the foreground.
-
- There are a number of other hot key combinations. You can find them by
- clicking on "Commands" in the Configuration Options box. Any of the hot
- key combinations can be reassigned to any combination you like by clicking
- on the current one and pressing another combination. You'll also notice
- that the same set of commands can be controlled from your MIDI keyboard.
- These can also be reassigned to most any MIDI command.
-
- A MIDI Spy 1.0 demo was released in December of 1991. A number of things
- have changed or have been added to MIDI Spy since then. One of the main
- things is that MIDI overflow has been virtually eliminated for systems in
- which a lot of resident programs are installed. This is accomplished
- through some special handling of the 200Hz timer. There is a penalty for
- doing this, though. Some areas of your GEM interface may not function
- properly while you are playing on your MIDI keyboard and up to one second
- after you stop. This normally will only be noticed when someone is trying
- to use the mouse while the keyboard is being played. If this is
- bothersome, the special handling can be disabled by turning off the "200Hz
- Hog" button in the Configuration Options box. If you have a lot of
- resident software installed, you may experience some MIDI notes which
- don't turn off due to "MIDI Overflow". The solution is to reenable the
- "200Hz Hog" button. (It's a tradeoff -- you can't have everything.)
-
- The MIDI Spy 1.1 demo will let you load songs and MIDI files but you won't
- be able to save them. You will also be unable to alter the memory buffer
- size to anything other than its original size. And there's a time limit
- of 10 minutes, after which you can no longer operate MIDI Spy.
-
- Once you've loaded or recorded a few songs, you'll notice the "MEMORY
- USED" box will display the size of the currently selected song. You can
- select songs by clicking and dragging within this box. Or you can start
- playing the current song by clicking/dragging within the current song's
- box. You can also right-click anywhere in the display area to switch to
- the "full" mode. The entire box will become gray and a vertical line will
- show the current spot in the song while playback is in effect. You can
- also select a mid-start point and begin playback by clicking within this
- box.
-
- Enjoy the demo.
-
- *----------------------------------------------------------------------*
-
- For a complete list of features of MIDI Spy, read the enclosed press
- release file. For more information, contact your local dealer, or:
-
- CodeHead Software
- PO Box 74090
- Los Angeles, CA 90004
- Tel (213) 386-5735
- Fax (213) 386-5789
- BBS (213) 461-2095
-