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u http://www.redesign.sk/tnd64/ music_scene.html Created by Richard Bayliss with Special thanks to Rio/Rattenrudel Commodore Free would like to thank Richard Bayliss for his permission to reprint this guide Many users would like to make more of there machines, we all have various talents and if you felt inspired to create music on a C64 where would you begin, in this guide you are lead through the various options, for creating music with versions of DMC music editor The Guide has been broken down in sections the first part will cover as highlighted the disk image that accompanies this series is available from here: www.redesign.sk/tnd64/DMC%20Music% 20Editors%5BTND%5D.zip the disk contains; DMC V2.1 (GRAFFITY), DMC V4.0 (GRAFFITY) + Docs (By Richard), DMC V5.0, DMC V5.0+ (CREAMD/C64.SK), DMC V5 PACKER, DMC V5.0 SCANNER and DMC V7.0 (GRAFFITY+UNREAL) 1 Introduction 1.1 Preface 1.2 DMC Versions 2 Getting Started with DMC 4 or 7 2.1 Main Menu 2.2 Sound Editor 2.2.1 ADSR 1 Introduction 1.1 Preface 1.2 DMC Versions 2 Getting Started with DMC 4 or 7 2.1 Main Menu 2.2 Sound Editor 2.2.1 ADSR 2.2.2 Wavetable 2.2.3 Pulse / PWM 2.2.4 Filter 2.2.5 Vibrato 2.2.6 FX 2.3 Filter Editor 2.3.1 Parameters 2.3.2 Filter Envelope 2.4 Track Editor 2.4.1 Channels 2.4.2 Options 2.4.3 Commands 2.5 Sector Editor 2.5.1 Options 2.5.2 Commands 2.5.3 Time Control 2.5.4 Global Filter and Pulse 2.6 Quick Recaps and Examples 2.7 Packer 2.8 Relocator 3 Getting Started with DMC 5 3.1 Introduction 3.2 The Sound Editor 3.3 Making your Drumkit 3.4 Making your first piece of music 3.5 The Other Bitz! 3.6 Packing your Music 1 Introduction 1.1 Preface Richard's Preamble: Welcome to the 'Music Scene' tutorials. All the resources are my and rio's work ? previous versions are appeared in Commodore Scene. We start from the BASICS to the advanced music composing using my favourite music composer, which is Graffitys' Demo Music Creator V4.0. Rio's Preamble: Regarding to Richard's welcome, i want say hello too. Inspired by Richard's DMC tutorial and my own experience using that editor, i was motivated enough to update and to overwork the article completly (with detailed chapters and some artwork too). I added a table of content and as well as further infos and knowledge about using SID and DMC 4 and 7 (that's my fav editor). Some chapters are united by richard's and my work, so that people, who want to start composing in these days have a compact documentation about one of the best editors for Commodore 64. Why we do this? Because we have fun making music on a C64, sharing some knowledge about Editors which are use the unique SID synthesizer for composing tunes. What you need for using DMC? You can start with a real Commodore 64 with 6581 or 8580 SID in it (you will need some storing hardware too, like floppies etc.) or an emulator like VICE or something else, which can manage disk commands and sid emulation etc. Notice that there is a difference between the SID types. More details will be given in the chapters below. Notice as well, if you use an emulator, there will be another key assignment. Please read about the emulations software for yourself. The whole tutorial will be referenced to original C64 keyboard assignment. Further you should know something about bits and bytes. A understanding for hexadecimal number system will be necessary. But for those, who don't know: It's a number system with a cardinal number of 16 (0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,A,B,C,D,E,F). So every parameter or counter have to write down as a hexadecimal number. Parameter or command in this documentation will be described with variables, like: SND.xx or FX: xy If there are two x variables - a 8 Bit parameter will be expected. If i talk about x and y variable, then two 4 Bits (nibbles) parameter will be expected. In some cases x and y represent a state of a flag for each parameter (e.g. FX, Waveforms). Then every bit of a byte (8 Bits) can be set for a specific state. For example, if we want to change Bit 0 (it's first position), we write a 01 as hexadecimal number. If we want to change Bit 1 and Bit 2 we write down a 06, because 0110 (bin) is representing a 6 in hexadecimal system. If you have some special comments or annotations, we are pleased if you add your queries in TND forum. 1.2 DMC Versions The predecessor of DMC is the GMC - Game Music Creator, written by Brian of Graffity. You will find some similar elements in that editor too, but the following DMC versions are more improved. The way of DMC development (2,4,5,6,7) was accompanied by several groups and is at least mainly split in two programs: DMC 4 and 5. Some groups have done modifications in both DMC version, so you will find a mass of different releases. Most of them should never be spreaded. DMC 7 (by unreal) was using the code of DMC 4 and it's fitted out with some special functions. So the first tutorial part is for up for both versions. 2 Getting Started with DMC 4 or 7 So many people in the C64 scene uses DMC 4 and we are two of them. Well, if you were expecting the old Music Scene by Andrew, think again. This is because Richard has decided to take over 'Music Scene' and now i (rio) have updated the whole tutorial (Richard hopes Andrew didn't mind). We have decided to teach you all how to turn yourselves into cool C64 music composers. For those of you who are interested in learning to use DMC 4, we'll be teaching you how to compose, using sid fx's and dmc commands. You will gain a small amount of knowledge about synthesizers and of course using C64 SID chip for your own style of music. Anyway, let's forget all this nitty gritty and get on with some serious experimenting. The DMC 4 & 7 player has various options & editors, which can help you create your own demo songs by using the 3 Channels of SID. You can even use up to 8 different tunes in one file, by using tune switching. Furthermore DMC 4/7 allows you to monitor playing notes in 'LIVE PLAY SYNTHESIZER' Mode (listen to notes, by touching keys) and to record sequences in a time-dependent 'RECORD MODE'. Direct Monitoring (VOICE ON/OFF) allows you to listen to everything you tap in. DMC 7 is fitted up with a trace play mode. If you start the editor, it will look something like this: 2.1 Main Menu The DMC has various menu options involved. There are sound and filter editors, a music setup, a disk menu (or I/O menu) and different player setups. By pushing ? (DMC 4) or CTRL (DMC 7) you will get into the main menu. Use the CRSR keys to highlight an option, use RETURN to choose one. The Sound Editor is for creating your instrument set. The filter editor is for editing filters, which can be assigned to a special instrument from Sound Editor. In music setup (tune setup) the global speed and global volume can be defined. Activating the disk menu or I/O menu will switch into file operating menu, where you can load and store your tunes or use some Commodore DOS commands. In most DMC versions are different player routines integrated. You are able to choose a player (e.g. A or B). Some are better in quality, others have a better raster timing. 2.2 Sound Editor First of all, you need to build the instruments yourself. Highlight the 'Sound Editor' option in main menu. Okay, now take a look at the image below. It shows you what the Sound Editor looks like. If we go the first time in the Sound Editor the first instrument will be choosen automatically. Watch out after SND: xx parameter at the right-upper corner. xx shows the current selected instrument number. Up to 23 instruments are possible (16h), which we can select with +/- keys. You are also be able to copy and paste instruments by pushing: ? Arrow (Copy - part of the screen flicker in green) and @ (Paste - part of the screen flicker in red). The TRO: 0x value below, represents the transpose of a playing test note (C-x) by pushing space. The tone transpose can be selected with SHIFT_R and +/-. As you can see, the sound data are full of zeroes, therefore there is no sound. Press space to test the sounds. You cannot hear the sounds at all, due to no data. If you want to change a parameter, you can select it by using CRSR keys Left and Right. To set up a parameter, simple press a key (0..F). Possible properties for an instrument in the Sound Editor are as follows ADSR: 00EA TO BE CONTINUED NEXT MONTH?