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1994-06-24
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ProTracker Release 0.5B
-----------------------
By Owain Vaughan Archimedes Freelancers
---------------- ----------------------
Thank you for using ProTracker, the ultimate public domain SoundTracker.
ProTracker is an 1-8 channel sound sequencing package that allows you to
generate music that can be played on any computer with appropriate playback
software. If you are familiar with the SoundTracker concept, then you will
find ProTracker very powerful, and have the best editing features of any
such program.
Once installed on the icon bar a SoundTracker module may be dragged to the icon to load the tune, or the ProTracker icon can simply be clicked on to
start a new one. [See the file 'docs.fileformat' for details on the types
of files that this version of ProTracker can load]
PT's icon bar menu options
--------------------------
Clicking MENU (middle button) over the iconbar icon will display PT's menu.
It has five main options. The first, 'Info' displays the program information
ie. version number, author, etc.
The second entry 'About file' leads to a sub window containing information
about the current tune in memory.
The third main menu entry, 'Options' leads to a submenu conatining nine
further options. The first, 'Short names' saves new format ST Modules
containing 20 character names, rather than 24 characters. The option is
ticked when saving short names.
The second 'Save samp.s' leads to a further sub-menu which contains the
'All' option, and a writeable field. If the 'All' option is ticked this
indicates that all 47 samples are saved in a module (whether they are used or
not).If this option is un-ticked, PT will only save samples up to the last
one used. If the writeable entry is ticked then PT will save exactly that
many samples (whether they are used or not).
The next options, 'Sample load', and 'Old format' indicate what type of
sample data a given file contains. They lead to a sub-menu with 'Logarithmic'
and 'Linear'. Usually these options will not need to be changed, but, if
after loading a sample, or old format tune, it sounds terrible, changing
these options might help.
The next entry in the 'Options' menu is 'Clear'. This also leads to a
further set of entries. This time they are 'Entire tune', 'Patterns' and
'Sample data'. Choosing one of these options will clear the appropriate
part of the current tune.
The next two entries govern how PT looks when playing a tune. The first,
'FSA Active', allows the user to choose whether the Frequency Spectrum
Analyser is displayed inside the program. The next option 'Track bars' allows
the display of 'VU' bars on each track played. These options are ticked if
active.
How to program the sequencer
----------------------------
A ProTracker tune consists of a list of events that are to occur at
particular times on the specified number of channels. An event is usually
just a note (for pitch) and an instrument number (to identify which
instrument is to be sounded). ProTracker has three octaves with 12 notes
per octave and a possible of 47 instruments. The notes are named C-1 to B-1,
C-2 to B-2 and C-3 to B-3 where the first part indicates the note and the
second the octave. The instruments are named from 01-2F (in hex. Each is
equivalent)
A completed piece of music will consist of a number of patterns connected
together in the correct order to form a sequence. A pattern consists of
anything from 1 to 64 events for each track. The tracks are organised into
columns and the events into rows. Therefore the events to occur at the same
time are placed on the same horizontal line.
Any event can also contain an effect command and its associated parameter
(whether it contains a note or not). Thus, an event in ProTracker is
composed of the following fields:
<Note name> <Instrument number> <Effect command> <Parameter>
eg. C-101000, D#221C00, B-302303, ---02VF8, ---00000
| || | | |
Note || Parameter | |
|| No note No sample
|Command
|
Instument
* If no note is to be played the 'Note name' field is shown as
three hyphens (---).
* If the instrument is not to be changed the 'Instrument number' field
is shown as two zeros (00).
* If no effect command is to be given, the 'Effect command' field
is shown as a zero.
Therefore, the blank event when no note is being sounded and no command
given is displayed as ---00000
How to use instruments
----------------------
In ProTracker instruments are basically sound samples. An instrument has
several attributes:
Sample number : The number of the instrument (&01-2F)
Length : The length of the sample in bytes (&00000-FFFFE)
Volume : The default volume (&00000-000FF)
Finetune : The tuning system to use (-8 to +7)
Repeat offset : The start of the looping section (&00000-FFFFE)
Repeat length : The length of the looping section (&00002-FFFFE)
A normal sample will just finish after its length has run out.
However a sample may loop itself to create a note of infinite length. To do
this a sample may have repeat offset and repeat length values specified.
When this is done and the sample is played, the section from the start
up to the repeat offset is played first, and the the piece defined by the
offset & length is repeatedly played, until the note is stopped, or released.
Note: when no looping section is in use, the repeat offset must be 00000 and
the repeat length must be 00002.
ProTracker Tune effect summary
-------------------------------
There now follows a list of effects that can be used in ProTracker tunes.
Effects marked with an asterisk are only partially implemented:
Effect Name Parameters Limits
------ ---- ---------- ------
0 Arpeggio Hex 1st halfnote, 2nd halfnote (&0-F),(&0-F)
1 Portamento up Amount to slide by every 1/50S (&00-FF)
2 Portamento down Amount to slide by every 1/50S (&00-FF)
3 Tone Portamento [Portamento speed] (&00-FF)
4 Vibrato [Vibrato depth, vibrato speed] (&0-F),(&0-F)
5 TP + VolSlide Volume slide upspeed, downspeed (&0-F),(&0-F)
6 Vibrato + VolSlide Volume slide upspeed, downspeed (&0-F),(&0-F)
7 Tremolo [Tremolo depth, tremolo speed] (&0-F),(&0-F)
9 Set sample offset Amount (bytes*&1000) to offset by (&00-FF)
A Log VolSlide Volume slide upspeed, downspeed (&0-F),(&0-F)
B Pattern break Decimal event number to jump to (0-63)
C Set Log volume Hex logarithmic volume (&00-40)
E *** Special effect Hex effect number, parameter (&0-F),(&0-F)
G Slide volume up Amount to slide by every 1/50S (&02-1E)
H Slide volume down Amount to slide by every 1/50S (&02-1E)
J Position jump Hex sequence number (&00-7F)
L Line jump Decimal event number (0-63)
M *** Sample mix Hex sample number (&01-2F)
P Set stereo pos. [Track no.], stereo position (&1-8),(&1-7)
R Set sample rate Hex sample rate in µS (&11-3C)
S Set speed Hex no. of 1/50S between events (&00-1F)
V Set volume Hex volume number (&00-FF)
X Extra commands Hex effect number, parameter (&0-F),(&0-F)
Note that effects 3,4,7 and P do not have to have parameters specified. If no
parameter is given with a 3,4 or 7 command then the value of the last 3,4 or
7 command (which specified a value) will be used. If no track number is
specified for a set stereo command then the command will affect the track on
which the command is played.
Combined volume slide commands allow only the volume slide part of the
command to be specified. These combined commands use the logarithmic scale,
as used by the 'C' command. For instance:
---00501 would be the same as ---00300 and ---00A01 simultaneously
---00520 would be the same as ---00300 and ---00A20 simultaneously
---00500 is exactly the same as ---00300
---00603 would be the same as ---00400 and ---00A03 simultaneously
---00680 would be the same as ---00400 and ---00A80 simultaneously
---00600 is exactly the same as ---00400
To make the volume slide up, give the parameter in the first nibble,
and to make the volume slide down give it in the second nibble (as shown
above). See command 'X' for linear equivalents of these combined commands.
The set speed command ('S') has 3 possible value ranges:
&00 : Stops the tune
&01-&1F : Sets number of 1/50S between events
&20-&FF : Sets tempo of tune
_____________________________________________________________________________
The 'E' command is used to specify a further sub-set of special effects as
shown below:
Effect Name Parameter
------ ---- ---------
E0x Set filter status 0 - on, 1 - off (only works on some arcs)
E1x FineSlide pitch up Add x to period
E2x FineSlide pitch down Subtract x from period
E3x *** Glissando control 0 - off, 1 - on (use with tone portamento)
E4x *** Set vibrato waveform 0 - sine, 1 - ramp down, 2 - square
E5x Set finetune finetune value
E6x Jump to/set loop 0 - set loop point, or play loop x times
E7x *** Set tremolo waveform 0 - sine, 1 - ramp down, 2 - square
E8x NOT USED 0 - not used
E9x Retrig note Re-trigger note every x/50S
EAx Fine VolumeSlide down Add x to logarithmic volume
EBx Fine VolumeSlide up Subtract x from logarithmic volume
ECx Note cut Cut note after x/50S (set volume to 0)
EDx Note delay Delay note by x/50S
EEx Pattern delay Delay pattern x notes
EFx *** Invert loop/Funk rep.? 0
_____________________________________________________________________________
The 'X' command is used to specify a further sub-set of extra commands as
shown below:
Effect Name Parameter
------ ---- ---------
X0x Release sample loop Release loop after x/50s
X1x Inter-note slide up Halfnote to slide up to
X2x Inter-note slide down Halfnote to slide down to
X3x TP + linear vol up Perform 3 + 00 and G + 0x
X4x Vib + linear vol up Perform 4 + 00 and G + 0x
X5x TP + linear vol down Perform 3 + 00 and H + 0x
X6x Vib + linear vol down Perform 4 + 00 and H + 0x
X7x NOT USED 0 - not used
X8x NOT USED 0 - not used
X9x NOT USED 0 - not used
XAx Fine VolumeSlide up Add x to linear volume
XBx Fine VolumeSlide down Subtract x from linear volume
XCx Gain sample Gain logarithmic sample by x
XDx NOT USED 0 - not used
XEx NOT USED 0 - not used
XFx Set number of repeats Restart tune x times (using restart position)
_____________________________________________________________________________
Note: As there is no standard definition for miscallaneous command 'EF'
it is not defined in this version of ProTracker.
Note also: Contrary to popular belief, sample mix is NOT implemeted in
PT0.5, look forward to this in future versions!!
.-------------------------------------------------------------------------.
| See the on-line help pages in the program itself for more details |
'-------------------------------------------------------------------------'
Archimedes ProTracker is a product of Archimedes freelancers
© 1992/1993/1994 Owain Vaughan