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Internet Message Format | 1996-08-05 | 21.8 KB

Path: news.production.compuserve.com!news
From: Gary Goldberg <[e-mail]>
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.audio
Subject: B&PPro Creativity Tool Kit full docs
Date: 9 Mar 1996 17:48:43 GMT
Organization: [e-mail]
Message-ID: <4hsg9s$ikg$[e-mail]>

The following are the full Creativity Tools Kit docs for those
who downloaded them from Compuserve:

Accent Randomizer

DESCRIPTION: Randomizes the velocities of notes

SPECIAL TYPE: None

USAGE: PipeLine, ToolPad

CONTROLS: Drag the Max Change: slider to set the range of the
randomization. MIDI note velocity ranges from 1, for a very soft
sound, to 127, for the hardest emphasis. The Accent Randomizer
takes the velocity of the note and adds a random number to it.
Set the range of this random number with the Max Change: slider.

All In One

DESCRIPTION: The All In One Tool generates a triad based on the first
note entered. While that chord plays, all other notes are branched to
another Track.  This allows for the melody and accompaniment to be
played simultaneously from one keyboard using two separate instruments
without explicitly splitting the keyboard.

NOTE: Since All In One is a MacroTool, you must install its component
Tools, Anyphonic, Invert, Merge, Branch, and Transpose, before
installing All In One.

SPECIAL TYPE: MacroTool, Branching

USAGE: PipeLine, ToolPad

CONTROLS: The All In One MacroTool consists of an AnyPhonic Tool, which
filter out the first note played and passes it along through two
Transpose Tools and an Inverter Tool. [SIC, previous ref is to an
Invert Tool --GWG] Doing so creates a chord. Notes rejected by the
AnyPhonic Tool are branched so that you may send them to another
Track if you wish.



AnyPhonic

DESCRIPTION: The AnyPhonic Tool permits only a set amount of notes to
pass through the Track at any one time.  Choices range from monophonic
(1 note at a time, the default) to 16-note polyphonic. Any excess
notes are branched so that you may send them to another Track if you
like.

SPECIAL TYPE: Branching

USAGE: PipeLine, ToolPad

CONTROLS: To set the maximum number of notes to be passed through,
drag the slider to the desired number.

Arpeggiator

DESCRIPTION: The Arpeggiator Tool plays an arpeggiated sequence of notes
using any notes played at a given time.  The rate, articulation, and
direction of the arpeggiation may be modified.

   We've also included two MacroTools, Arpeggiator II and Arpeggiator III:
Arpeggiator II adds an extra octave of arpeggiation, while Arpeggiator III
adds two extra octaves.

NOTE: For a MacroTool to work properly, you must load its component
Tools first. Arpeggiator II and Arpeggiator III both require the
Transpose and Arpeggiator Tools.  Please ensure that these Tools have
been previously loaded in your ToolBox.

SPECIAL TYPE: On-time

USAGE: PipeLine, ToolPad (Bars&Pipes Professional v1.1 or above)
   [I think this was written when a v1.1 was contemplated;
   however, I'm pretty sure there never was such a version released.
   Therefore I read this as v2.0 or above--GWG]

CONTROLS: To specify how often arpeggiated notes are generated, drag
the Rate: slider or select a preset duration by clicking on the note
button and choosing from the resulting pop-up menu.

AutoModulate

DESCRIPTION: A Merging Tool, this allows one note stream to modulate
the pitch of another.

SPECIAL TYPE: Merging. Requires Bars&Pipes Professional v1.1 or the
new Branch Tool provided with this kit. (For more information, see
NOTE: found in the Getting Started section of this manual)

[Notes from Gary: no v1.1 of B&PPro was actually marketed; interpret
this as meaning v2.0 or greater. As for the Getting Started part of
the docs for this ToolKit, I've omitted them, as they're just about
identical for all ToolKits]

USAGE: PipeTool, ToolPad

CONTROLS: First, connect any branching Tool to the Auto Modulate
Tool.  Like the Merge Tool included with Bars&Pipes Professional,
the Auto Modulate Tool can receive events from any Tool that is
capable of sending through a branching pipe.  This includes the
Delay and Branch Tools.  The events that enter the Auto Modulate
Tool via a branching Tool modulate the pitch of the notes that
enter the Auto Modulate Tool from its original Pipeline.

Once you've connected the desired Tool to the Auto Modulate Too,
open Auto Modulate's Control window by double-clicking on the Tool.

To set the central note around which the modulation occurs, drag the
Axis: slider.  For example, set the Axis to C6.  In this case, when a
note enters Auto Modulate from a branching Tool, Auto Modulate measures
the difference between that note and C6, then adds that value to notes
that pass through it.  For example, if D6 enters from above, Auto
Modulate calculates a difference of 2 half-steps.  From then on, notes
that enter from the left get shifted up by 2. If this seems confusing,
don't worry.  Play with the Axis: slider and you'll quickly get
the hang of it.

Sometimes when using Auto Modulate, it may not synchronize properly.
For example, if you are using your keyboard to modulate a sequence as
it plays, you may notice a delay between when you play a modulating
note and when the sequence actually moves up or down in pitch.  This
happens because Bars&Pipes Professional actually starts notes flowing
down the PipeLine BEFORE they play.  As a result, some notes may pass
through the AutoModulate Tool before it has received your input.

If this problem occurs, you can solve it by turning on the Synchronize
button. Doing so guarantees that notes can never enter the inputs ahead
of time, thus assuring synchronization.  This option can, however,
interfere with the proper operation of other Tools, such as Quantize
and True Gliss. As such, please use it only when you truly need it.

Finally, select the Re-Trigger button if you'd like the currently playing
modulated notes to play again with a new modulation every time a
modulation note enters through the branching input.  For example, if
you have a long drone note playing, every time you play a new modulation,
the drone would re-trigger in the new, modulated, pitch.



AutoTranpose

DESCRIPTION: A Merging Tool, this allows one note stream to transpose
the pitch of another. Unlike the Auto Modulate Tool, this works within
the key & scale/mode that you select in either the Master Parameters
or a Track's Song or Master Parameters.

SPECIAL TYPE: Merging.  Requires Bars&Pipes Professional v1.1 [read
this as 2.0+--GWG or the updated Branch Tool provided with this kit.
(For more information, see NOTE: found in the Getting Started section
of this manual).

USAGE: PipeLine, ToolPad

CONTROLS: First, connect any branching Tool to the Auto Transpose Tool.
Like the Merge Tool included with Bars&Pipes Professional, the Auto
Transpose Tool can receive events from any Tool that is capable of
sending through a branching pipe.  This includes the Delay and Branch
Tools.  The events that enter the Auto Transpose Tool via a branching
Tool modulate the pitch of the notes that enter the Auto Transpose
Tool from its original PipeLine.

Once you've connected the desired Tool to the Auto Tranpose Tool,
open the Auto Transpose Control window by double-clicking on the Tool.

To set the central note around which the modulation occurs, drag the
Axis: slider. For example, set the Axis to C6. In this case, when a note
enters Auto Transpose from a branching Tool, Auto Transpose measures
the number of steps between that note and C6, then adds that value
to notes that pass through it.  For example, if D6 enters from above,
Auto Transpose calculates a difference of 1 step. From then on, notes
that enter from the left get shifted up by 1 step within the currently
selected Key and Scale/Mode.

Sometimes when using Auto Transpose, it may not synchronize properly.
For example, if you are using your keyboard to tranpose a sequence as
it plays, you may notice a delay between when you play a transposing
note and when the sequence actually moves up or down in pitch.  This
happens because Bars&Pipes Professional actually starts notes flowing
down the PipeLine BEFORE they play.  As a result, some notes may pass
through the Auto Transpose Tool before it has received your input.

If this problem occurs, you can solve it by turning on the Sychronize
button. Doing so guarantees that notes never enter the inputs ahead
of time, thus assuring synchronization.  This option can, however,
interfere with the proper operation of other Tools, such as Quantize
and True Gliss.  As such, please use it only when you truly need it.

Finally, select the Re-Trigger button if you'd like the currently
playing transposed note to play again with a new tranposition every
time a note enters through the branching input.  For example, if you
have a long drone note playing, every time you play a new transposition,
the drone would re-trigger in the new, transposed pitch.

Past Out

DESCRIPTION: Some Tools, such as True Gliss and Jump Start create
audio noise in real-time, although on playback, they sound just fine.
The Past Out corrects this real-time audio noise.  This Tool filters
out events that are time-stamped in the past. (Time-stamping in
Bars&Pipes Professional's way of describing when a note should sound
on playback.)  These time-stamped events are generated by Tools such
as True Gliss and Jump Start that out of necessity create events that
sound as if they were played at an earlier time.  Although these
events record properly into the Sequencer, in real-time they are
heard too late.  Past Out removes them from the PipeLine.

SPECIAL TYPE: None

USAGE: PipeLine

CONTROLS: Place the Past Out Tool in a Track's Output PipeLine so
that all events with that Track's play back properly while you're
recording that Track.

To set the cutoff time after which all events will cease to sound,
drag the Cutoff: slider found in Past Out's Control window. Notes
that enter Past Out with time-stamps earlier that the current time
minus the cutoff will be removed.


Random Notes

DESCRIPTION: Generates random notes, either by creating the notes
at regularly spaced intervals, or by altering existing notes as they
pass through the Random Notes Tool. Random Notes can choose note values
from the current Key, Chord, or the entire chromatic scale.  In addition,
it randomized velocity, duration, and timing of each note.

SPECIAL TYPE: None

USAGE: PipeLine, ToolPad (Bars&Pipes Professional v1.1 only) [I take
this to mean v2.0+ as no v1.1 of B&PPro was marketed--GWG]

CONTROLS: You can use Random Notes in one of two ways: Either place it
in the PipeLine to generate random notes as the sequencer plays or
as a note enters it via the PipeLine, or place it in the ToolPad to
create a sequence of random notes with the Toolize command.

Random Notes provides a Control window with a multitude of buttons
and sliders that determine the behavior of the random notes generated.

The two buttons after the Trigger: prompt determine when Random Notes
generates notes. If you select Tap, it creates a random note every
time a note passes through Random Notes.  Essentially, you play the
rhythm, Random Notes supplies the pitches of the notes.

If you select Cycle, Random Notes creates random notes at regularly-
spaced intervals. When you use Random Notes in this mode, you must also
set the Rate:, Density:, Feel:, and Articulation sliders, since these
sliders determing the timing of the notes generated.  In Tap mode,
however, you set the timing of each note by playing them.

To set the time interval between notes, drag the Rate: slider.
Alternatively, you can set this interval by selecing a note value from
the pop-up menu. To do so, click on the button just to the right of the
Rate: slider.  You may optionally modify that value by clicking on
the Triplet button.

To determine the frequency of random notes, drag the Density: slider.
When Density: is 100%, a random note plays every time.  When Density:
is 50%, a random note plays, on the average, half of the time.

Random Notes ignores the Density setting when you set Trigger: to Tap.

To set the rigidity of the timing, use the Feel: slider. When Feel: is
0%, the notes always fall on the beat. However, as the Feel: increases,
they tend to wander more and more from the center, adding yet another
degree of randomness. Of course, Random Notes only reads the Feel:
slider when you place Trigger: in Cycle mode.  In Tap mode, you
provide the Feel.

The Random Notes Tool generates pitches by selecting randomly from a
palette of notes.  To determine the range and tonality of the palette,
select one of the four buttons after the Note Palette: prompt. When
you select a Key & S/M, Random Notes choose notes from the current
Key & Scale/Mode, as set in the Song or Master Parameters.  When you
select Chords, Random Notes choose notes from the Chord list in the
Song or Master Parameters.  Note that as the song plays, the random
notes play from the changing chords. If you'd like a completely random
selection of all possible notes, select All Notes. Finally, to turn
Random Notes off, select Off.

To determing the range of notes played, drag the Low Note: and High
Note: sliders.  Random Notes will choose notes from the selected
Note Palette and between these lower and upper bounds.

To set the proximity of each note, drag the Linearity: slider. With
Linearity: at 100%, each note is an immediate neighbor of the last
within the key or chord.  This generates a note pattern with a very
melodic feel. On the other hand, if you drag Linearity to 0%, each
note has no relation to the previous one.

If Trigger: is set to Cycle, set the average duration of each note
by dragging the Articulation: slider.  Random Notes also randomizes
the duration of each note.  To set the degree of randomization, drag
the Range: slider to the right.

To set the average velocity of each note, drag the Velocity: slider.
Random Notes also randomizes the velocity of each note. To set the
degree of randomization, drag the Range: slider to the right.


Rhythm Section

DESCIRPTION: Rhythm Section imposes the rhythm stored in the Song
or Master Parameters onto notes that enter the Tool.  Think of it as
a fancy arpeggiator that plays notes against a predefined rhythm,
rather than at regularly-spaced intervals.

SPECIAL TYPE: None

USAGE: PipeLine, ToolPad (only Bars&Pipes Professional version 1.1
and up [meaning v2.0+]

CONTROLS: To use Rhythm Section, first enter Rhythms in the Song or
Master Parameters. Once you have done so, place Rhythm Section in a
Track.  Begin recording and hold down the chord(s) of your choosing.
Rhythm Section will subdivide the chords you enter according to the
predefined rhythm.

Rhythm Section's Control window contains a set of sliders which
govern the way it creates new notes from the chords and rhythms.

To determine how many component notes of the chord play on each beat,
drag the Density: slider. When the Density is 100%, every note of
the chord plays every time.  When Density: is 50%, about half of
the notes play each time.

You may want at least one note to play regardless of the Density:
setting.  If so, click on the +1 button. When you enable this,
Rhythm Section plays at least one note on each beat of the rhythm.

To determing the "direction" of the arpeggio, drag the Arpeggiation:
slider.  When you set Arpeggiation: to Up, the chord arpeggiates
in an upward fashion.  When you set Arpeggiation: to Down, the chord
arpeggiates in a downward fashion. When you set Arpeggiation: to
Alternating, the chord arpeggiates in an alternating fashion, first
upward, then downward.  Finally, when you set the slider to Random,
each note in the chord plays randomly.

Although Rhythm Control uses the note durations provided in the
Rhythm definitions, you can instruct Rhythm Section to vary the
velocities randomly by dragging the Random Dynamics: slider to the right.

To create a strumming effect every time a chord is played, drag the
Strum: slider to the right.  This places a slight delay between each
successive note in the chord.  The greater the Strum: value, the
greater the delay.

To set the rigidity of the timing, use the Feel: slider.  When Feel:
is 0, the notes in the chord always land on the beat.  However, as the
Feel: increases, they tend to wander from the center of the beat, adding
feel to the chord.

Riff-Chord

DESCRIPTION: The Riff-Chord Tool splits the keyboard in two.  A key
pressed down on the left side of the keyboard silently generates a
chord.  Any key or keys pressed on the right hand side of the
keyboard actually plays the chord with the duration and velocity
dictated by the keys on the right side.

   NOTE: Since Riff-Chord is a MacroTool, you must load its component
Tools, Keyboard Split, Tapped Out, Invert, Merge, and Transpose, into
the ToolBox before loading Riff-Chord.

SPECIAL TYPE: MacroTool

USAGE: PipeLine, ToolPad

CONTROLS: This Tool consists of a Keyboard Splitter which sends the
lower half of the keyboard to a Tapped Out Tool and the upper half
as merging input to the Tapped Out Tool. Notes are then passed through
two Transpose Tools and an Inverter Tool to create a chord.x


Step'N Out

DESCRIPTION: Step'n Out allows you to first enter the pitches of
your music and then enter the associated rhythm. This Tool provides
two modes as an alternate means to step-enter notes.  In Record mode,
it records a sequence of pitches.  In Play mode, it plays those notes,
triggered by a subsequently entered rhythm.

SPECIAL TYPE: None

USAGE: PipeLine, ToolPad

CONTROLS: Begin by entering a sequence of notes into the Track which
contains Step'N Out.  To do so, click on the Record button in Step'N
Out's Control window.  While the Record button is activated, Step'N
Out records all notes that enter.  Enter notes, one by one, into
your Track. To enter a chord, hold down all notes of the chord
simultaneously (as you would while step-entering in the Sequence
Editor).  If you make a mistake, click on the Arrow button (<----)
to remove the last note entered.

When you've finished entering your sequence of notes, disable Record
mode by clicking on the Record button again.  Now play the desired
rhythm into your Track.  As you play the rhythm, Step'N Out grabs
each note from the recorded sequence and plays it, matched against
the rhythm.  When Step'N Out reaches the end of the sequence, it jumps
back to the beginning.  To restart at any point, click on the Reset button.

Tapped Out

DESCRIPTION: The Tapped Out Tool stores the noted entering on the
current Track and plays them using the duration and velocity of
notes entering from another Track via a branching Tool.  (See the
Riff-Chord MacroTool for a simple application of this Tool).

SPECIAL TYPE: Merging

USAGE: PipeLine, ToolPad

CONTROLS: First, connect a branching Tool to the Tapped Out Tool.
Like the Merge Tool, the Tapped Out Tool can receive events from
any Tool on another Track, given that it is capable of branching.
This includes the Delay and Branch Tools.  The events that enter
Tapped Out in this manner control the timing and velocity of the
notes that enter through the normal input.

Tapped Out's Control window has one button: Synchronize.

Sometimes when using Tapped Out, it may not synchronize properly.
For example, if you are using your keyboard to tap a sequence as
it plays, you may notice a delay between when you play a note and
when the sequencer actually responds.  This happens because Bars&
Pipes Professional actually starts notes flowing down the PipeLine
BEFORE they play. As a result, some notes may pass through the
Tapped Out Tool before it has received your input.

If this problem occurs, you can solve it by turning on the Synchronize:
button.  This guarantees that notes never enter the inputs ahead of
time, thus assuring synchronization. This option can, however,
interfere with the proper operation of other Tools, such as Quantize
and True Gliss. So use it only when you truly need it.


Tri-Arpeggiator

DESCRIPTION: The Tri-Arpeggiator generates a triad based on the
note pressed and arpeggiates through this chord.

   NOTE: Tri-Arpeggiator is a MacroTool. Before you load it, make
sure you have already installed its component Tools in the ToolBox:
Arpeggiator, Merge, Branch, and Transpose.

SPECIAL TYPE: MacroTool

USAGE: PipeLine, ToolPad

CONTROLS: By using two Transpose Tools, this MacroTool creates a triad.
It then feeds this triad into an Arpeggiator Tool, which arpeggiates
the triad.

True Gliss

DESCRIPTION: True Gliss creates a glissando, a series of rapidly
ascending or descending notes between two adjacent notes.

SPECIAL TYPE: None

USAGE: PipeLine, ToolPad

CONTROLS: To turn on True Gliss, click on the Active button.

True Gliss contains two types of glissandos: a chromatic glissando
that plays every half step between two adjacent notes and a glissando
that uses only the notes in the current Key & Scale/Mode, as determined
by the Song or Master Parameters.

To set the length of each note True Gliss Generates, drag the
Articulation: slider. At 100%, each note in the Glissando begins and
ends at the same times as the adjacent notes.  Greater values overlap,
lesser values don't.

When playing into the Glissando Tool, you may notice that the glissando
notes all happen at once, instead of over the time span between two
adjacent notes. This happens because True Gliss can only make the
glissando once you play the final note.  At that time, it figures out
how to play the Glissando between the two notes.  Notice that although
your glissando will sound strangely when playing it in real-time, it
records properly into the Sequencer. To avoid this real-time problem,
use Past Out, included with this kit.  If you place the Glissando Tool
in the Output PipeLine, it does not exhibit this behavior when playing
a prerecorded piece

Whoopie

DESCRIPTION: This Tool is a novelty item created by mischievous
programmers in their copious spare time. Alhough it looks like
a regular piece of pipe, it's such to cause hysterics when furtively
slipped in a friend's composition!

SPECIAL TYPE: Stupid Prank to Humor Programmers

USAGE: PipeLine

CONTROLS: None that we know of.

--
ArtiFICial intelligence?  What we need is THE REAL THING!!!