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- AP Tracker V 1.00
- ===================
-
- Use of the Help Facility
-
- This is the in-built help system for APTracker. As with the rest of the
- program, it is mouse-driven wherever possible, and its use should be mainly
- self-explanatory. Use the up and down arrows in the bottom left to scroll
- the text, and the "Exit" box to return to the main editing section. There
- is also the "Marked Line" concept. This is a line which, basically, is
- shown in yellow to distinguish it from the rest of the text. To jump to the
- marked line, use the cryptically labelled "Jump to Marked" box. This will
- probably not do anything at the moment, as the marked line is unset. To
- set the marked line, you must search for something. To carry out a search,
- click in the box which at the moment probably contains lots of full stops in
- blue. A cursor should appear, and you can type in the text you wish to
- search for (arrow keys, and Insert/Delete can be used). When this is done,
- press Return to continue as before. Now, though, you can click on "Search",
- and the first line containing the search text will become the marked line.
- It may, though, be off the screen, so click on "Jump to Marked" to get to
- it. Clicking on "Search" again will search downwards from the marked line
- until it finds the next occurrence, and so on. To reset, or rather unset,
- the marked line (to facilitate another search) click on "Clear Marked". One
- further feature of the marked line is that it may be set manually by the
- user. To do this, simply click on the relevant line of the text to mark it.
- You will now be able to jump to this line instantly using "Jump to Marked".
- Also, this text can be saved as a text file from the desktop, and then
- either printed out or read in !Edit etc. if you prefer.
-
- One important thing: there is a lot of text here (believe me, a LOT of text)
- and so you may not want to read it all right away. The easiest way to get to
- grips with the program is to basically try clicking different buttons on
- different boxes on the main screen and see what happens, and by messing
- around with existing tunes (though be careful not to overwrite the original
- tune by saving your "alterations" to disc). Only when you want more detailed
- information should you read this text, and selective use of the search
- facility will help you to find what you want more quickly.
-
- The Tracker Music Format
-
- Those already familiar with the system of instruments, patterns, and
- sequences should skip this explanation, which is meant for those who have
- perhaps not encountered Tracker / Sound Tracker music before.
-
- A piece of Tracker music is composed of several parts. Firstly, there is
- a set of instruments (samples) which are used to play notes in the tune.
- Secondly, there is a group of patterns, each of which is a collection of
- notes, rather like bars in conventional music, though a little longer.
- Lastly, there is a sequence table associated with the tune, which tells the
- playing routine the order in which to play the patterns. APTracker allows
- management of all three sections, with pattern and sequence editors and
- facilities for loading instruments into a tune and saving from one (useful
- for pinching other people's samples!). Numerically, there may be up to 36
- instruments (in fact, there are always 36 instruments, but some may be
- blank), 64 patterns in a tune, and 128 patterns in the sequence table.
-
- Just a quick word on file formats. The recognised filetype for this type
- of music is &CB6. However this covers Amiga SoundTracker and ProTracker,
- which APTracker cannot edit directly, as well as Tracker format (files
- starting with "MUSX") which it can. However, a converter is built into the
- program, and dragging a SoundTracker / ProTracker file to the iconbar will
- produce the message "Convert from Sound Tracker?". If you click on OK, the
- tune will be loaded and converted, and will end up in memory the same as if
- you had loaded it as a Tracker tune. Inevitably, the conversion will not be
- perfect, as the formats vary slightly, but very rarely will the tune sound
- any different. However, because "APTracker" can only save Tracker tunes, to
- convert any music back to SoundTracker format (for instance to give to
- someone with an Amiga), you will have to use Matthew Farrow's PD utility
- "GetSTMod", which may be provided with "APTracker". This program will
- convert tunes either to SoundTracker or Tracker, depending on the initial
- format of the file, and is activated by dragging the relevant file to the
- "GetSTMod" iconbar icon.
-
- "APTracker" will also load and convert a few other types of files, Coconizer
- Octalyser, and ProTracker type &701. This last type can be played by the
- "!ProTrack" playing routine by Bass, but not with the standard playroutines;
- until now of course! Coconizer trackfiles and songfiles (types &364 and
- &365) can be loaded just by dragging them to the iconbar, though the latter,
- of course, will have no samples present. However, Coconizer is a superior
- format to Tracker in several ways, and so, again, the conversion will not
- always be perfect (and obviously works best with tunes which started as
- Tracker format but were then converted to Coconizer). Specifically,
- Coconizer can play notes over a 7 octave range, whereas Tracker is limited
- to just 3. It is, though, unusual for Coconizer tunes to use any/many notes
- outside of the 3 octave range, and so most tunes convert OK. One thing to
- note is that pitch slides are likely to come out slightly wrong, so you
- should search for these after conversion, and fiddle around with them until
- the tune sounds right. Octalyser files must initially have the normal
- Tracker filetype &CB6 before they will be recognised. They too will be
- automatically converted to Tracker format by "APTracker". However, the
- Octalyser converter was written with access to just one Octalyser tune. If
- anyone has any Octalyser modules or, better still, documentation, please
- send me a copy (the conversion routine ignores most of the commands and just
- makes, for example, an Octalyser "L" command into a Tracker "L" command;
- which does nothing at all!). My address is at the end of this text.
-
- All of these format conversions require, initially, about twice as much
- memory as the actual tune, as the routines need two copies in memory - one
- original and one converted. When conversion has taken place, though, memory
- usage is returned to normal levels. If you wish to convert a tune over a few
- hundred kilobytes, you may find this impossible on a 1Mb machine. If this is
- the case, the best way round this is to simply get someone with a 2Mb +
- computer to convert it for you, as the resulting converted file will end up
- at about the same size as the original. There is no shortage of Tracker /
- Sound Tracker tunes available for the Arc, with most public domain libraries
- having many hundreds of them (mostly ported over from the Amiga).
-
- Getting Started
-
- You should already be able to load tunes into APTracker, and to access the
- (non multi-tasking) pattern and sequence editor; you have to to be able to
- read this. The iconbar icon for APTracker allows access to various
- information sections regarding the currently loaded module (tune) via the
- middle button, and also, with the right-hand button, entry to the main
- editing section (which is, after all, what the program is for). By using the
- left hand button (Select), a desktop player control panel will be displayed
- and from here the tune can be played, stopped, and fast-forwarded or
- rewound. Tunes can also be created from scratch, by selecting the "Create"
- option on the main menu and choosing the number of voices you want (only
- four or eight should really be used here, but you can use any number from 1
- to 8 if you want).
-
- The save submenu from the iconbar contains five options. "Tune" will let
- you save your newly created works to disc. "Pattern" will allow you to save
- just an individual pattern as a Data file. This can then be loaded into
- another tune (or, indeed, the same one). "Patterns" is similar to "Pattern",
- except that it will save out ALL the patterns from a tune into a given
- directory, with filenames determined by the stem (which can be edited),
- followed by the pattern number (e.g. "Pattern01", "Pattern02" ...). "Text
- Dump" will save a text file about the currently loaded music to disc. You
- may choose which information is written to this file, by setting the
- relevant boxes on and off. Note that if you set "Patterns" to be on, the
- save could well take quite a while, as every pattern is saved, in a format
- identical to that displayed in the main editor. Finally, "Help" allows you
- to save all this help data as a Text file. From here it can then either be
- read using !Edit or similar or printed out.
-
- Before you can start a piece of music, you need to have some instruments
- loaded, which will be used to play the notes in the music. To load an
- instrument, you must first bring up the iconbar menu, and go to the tune
- submenu. Select "Samples", and a large window should open with 36 slots,
- 1 slot for each possible instrument. Initially, all of these spaces will be
- blank (unless you are altering an existing piece of music). To load a sample
- for use in your tune, simply drag it from a filer window to the space you
- want it to occupy. After a short delay, its name should appear in the slot
- (along with its length in bytes) and it can now be used in your tune. Note
- that samples can be loaded over existing samples, and samples can be deleted
- by moving to the relevant sample, pressing the middle mouse button, and
- selecting "Delete". The "Volume" option leads to a window in which you can
- set the default volume of that particular sample. 255 is the loudest, and
- the scale is logarithmic. This value can be overridden at any time by a tune
- with the "V" command, but by using a default value it is possible to make,
- for instance, a bass rhythm quieter at a stroke and to hear the effect as
- soon as you return to the main editing section. Although the program uses
- tracker format samples, several other types can also be loaded (and will be
- automatically converted to tracker format when in memory). These other types
- are "Armadeus" (filetype &D3C), "DSEdit" (filetype &ED0), and raw sample
- information (filetype &FFD; Data). The last of these can have 3 meanings,
- linear signed, linear unsigned, or logarithmic. As no distinction is made
- between these three types in their filetypes, you must tell the program what
- to treat sample files of type Data as. Do this by selecting "Settings" from
- the main icon bar menu, which should bring up a window. In this window are
- three radio icons, allowing you to specify what Data samples are to be
- interpreted as. If you do not actually know what type of sample it is, just
- try loading it as all three different types, and test it in the main editing
- section (see below) until it sounds right. Samples from "Coconizer" are
- logarithmic, by the way, and so if you have lots of these samples, they can
- all be used by "APTracker" very easily.
-
- There are also four other options on the tune submenu, "Info", "Stereo",
- "Copy", and "Amend". "Info" brings up an information window on the currently
- loaded tune, and from this you can alter the music name and author fields
- and also add extra patterns to the music (via "New Pattern"). When adding
- new patterns to a tune, they will, by default, be 64 events "long" (which is
- the standard). However, the length of new patterns can be set by the user,
- via the Settings window, mentioned above. Having said this, you should
- really stick to length 64 if possible, though "APTracker" allows other
- lengths as the file format supports them. In the "Info" window, the sequence
- length and number of patterns are also shown (which are not necessarily the
- same), along with the length of the file in bytes and its approximate size
- in kilobytes.
-
- "Stereo" allows you to alter the default stereo position of each channel;
- simply click on the relevant icon. There are seven possible values, 1 being
- full left, 4 centre, and 7 full right. Stereo positions can also be set with
- the "E" command in a pattern, and the parameter (1-7) has the same meaning.
- Irrespective of the number of voices used in a tune, you will always be able
- to set a stereo position for all 8 channels. If the music is currently
- playing, altering the stereo values of each channel will take effect
- immediately.
-
- "Copy" works in conjunction with the "Save Pattern" feature mentioned above.
- By dragging a Data file saved with this method to the icon bar, the copy
- window should be opened (if it isn't, then the file is not pattern data).
- From here, you can then overwrite an existing pattern (perhaps a blank one
- you have just created for this purpose) with the one just loaded. In
- addition to saving a pattern to disc, you can copy it directly to the copy
- buffer (which acts just like you had just saved it to disc and then loaded
- it in again) using the "Store" option.
-
- "Amend" allows widespread editing of the currently loaded music, and three
- operations may be performed from the "Amend Track" window. The first is
- "Delete Pattern". This allows unwanted patterns to be removed from the music
- file, which saves memory and disc space. To use this, first set the number
- of the pattern to be deleted, then click on "OK". This will mot work,
- however if the pattern occurs in the tune's sequence table, as this means
- that it is actually used in the tune. If this error appears, then alter the
- sequence (see later) to remove all occurrences of the pattern. Individual
- voices can also be dealt with in the same way. First, set the operation to
- be performed, by selecting either "Delete Voice" or "Insert Voice". Then,
- set either the voice to be deleted, or the position at which the new voice
- is to be inserted and click on "OK". If all is well, an hourglass should
- appear, and the operation carried out. Obviously though, you cannot delete a
- voice if there is only one voice in the tune already, and neither can you
- insert one if there are already eight present. You should use this feature
- with caution, as it will quite happily delete EVERY note on a given channel
- throughout the whole tune without a second thought.
-
- The remainder of these instructions deal with the editing section, how to
- alter patterns and the sequence, etc., from the main editing screen
- (displayed by pressing the right mouse button over the iconbar icon).
-
- APTracker can, at any given time, be in one of four modes of operation,
- corresponding to the 2 x 2 block of icons starting with "Play Tune". However
- there are some things which are operable in any mode. The set of eight boxes
- at the bottom of the screen represent the eight channels, of which any
- number may be used by the currently loaded music. The smaller boxes above
- them containing "Voice 1", "Voice 2" etc. show the state of the voices, and
- each can either be "On" or "Mute". The significance of this is shown when
- the tune is playing, and obviously no sound output will be generated from a
- voice currently "Mute". To toggle the state of a voice, simply click on the
- "Voice x" box which corresponds to it. The large box under "Instruments"
- duplicates the samples window in the desktop, though only from the latter
- can filing operations be carried out. The currently selected instrument is
- shown in yellow in the centre of the window, and the arrows to the left and
- right of "Instruments" can be used to alter this selection by scrolling up
- or down. Alternatively, you may select a sample by just clicking on its
- entry in the list, which you may prefer. Each sample has a Repeat Length and
- a Repeat Offset associated with it, and these are shown below the instrument
- names. To alter either of these (whose sum cannot exceed the sample length
- shown to the right of the sample name) use the left and right arrows next to
- the relevant value. To see the effect, go into "Test Samples" mode and try
- playing some notes and altering these variables. "Debug" can also be toggled
- on and off at any time, via the box showing its current status (just click
- in it). Another operation which can be performed at any time is toggling
- the keyboard sprite. By default this shows a blank 3-octave range, but by
- clicking on it with Adjust (right mouse button), the alternative sprite is
- displayed. This shows the equivalent keys for each note, and may be of use
- when entering notes via this method (see later (quite a bit later ...)).
-
- "Used" is a rather nice feature (even if I say so myself). It brings up a
- page of information on the current tune, and shows how many times each note,
- instrument, and command have been used. It is perhaps most useful for
- instruments; those with a star to the left of them are those which actually
- have some data associated with them, and so if a sample has a star but is
- shown not to be used at all in the tune, it is wasting memory and so can be
- removed (from the desktop).
-
- The Four Modes of Operation
-
- The first of these modes is "Play Tune", and does just that. The box below
- "Edit Sequence" suddenly comes alive with ... well, two numbers actually,
- the first being the current position in the sequence and the second being
- the maximum position in the sequence. When the end of the tune is reached,
- it loops round and starts again from position 1. To stop it playing,
- therefore, you have to select another mode. You can also rewind, pause, or
- fast forward the tune by clicking in the box below "Edit Sequence" with the
- left, middle and right mouse buttons respectively. When in "Play Tune" mode,
- you can also access the monitor by clicking on "Monitor", which basically
- provides some bars which provide a graphical representation of the tune
- currently being played. When paused, you can again move through the tune
- using the left and right mouse buttons, but nothing is actually played
- until the tune is unpaused by a further click of the middle mouse button.
- When a tune is playing, Shift-F12 can be used to toggle between a standard
- Tracker-type display of 9 rows of textual note data and a more traditional
- musical stave notation. With the latter, however, only one voice may be
- displayed at any one time (the one whose name is highlighted in red), and
- which voice this is can be altered by pressing Shift plus either the left
- or right arrow key.
-
- "Play Pattern" does basically the same thing as "Play Tune", but instead of
- playing the whole tune as given in the sequence table, it just plays the
- current pattern (i.e. the one given next to "Pattern:" just above the
- keyboard sprite). Again, it plays continuously until you select a new
- mode of operation. Note that in this mode you cannot return to the desktop
- or access the help facility (for good reasons).
-
- "Test Samples" is the default mode of operation as it is the most passive.
- Basically, it just allows you to see what the samples in the current tune
- (or those you have just loaded) actually sound like. By clicking on the
- 3 octave keyboard sprite, the relevant note will be played using the
- currently selected instrument (which can be altered with the arrows either
- side of the "Instruments" box. When you play a note, its textual notation
- (eg A-1, D#2) appears in the "N:" window on the left. This should help you
- to familiarise yourself with the notation used. Also, when in this mode, the
- sample names can be altered by clicking in the "I:" box, and altering the
- existing name in the same way as setting up a search (above). As well as
- using the mouse to play notes, you can use the keyboard equivalents, shown
- by clicking Adjust on the keyboard icon.
-
- Edit Pattern
-
- This is the most important part of APTracker, and is thus necessarily more
- complicated. Upon selecting this mode, a white bar cursor will appear at a
- certain place in the current pattern (shown next to "Pattern:"). This cursor
- covers one note on one voice, and can be moved with the cursor keys. The
- note which is shown is displayed in the following format:
-
- A#2 4 S06
-
- Each of these three parts controls a certain aspect of the note, namely:
- A#2 - this is the actual pitch of the note, and is the same as given
- in the "Test Samples" mode.
- 4 - this refers to the instrument on which the note is to be played
- instrument numbers (0-9 and A-Z) are shown to the left of the
- name in the "Instruments" window.
- S06 - This is the effect part, and has two sections, the actual
- command (in this case S), and the variable upon which it acts
- (in this case 6). A table of what each command does is given
- below somewhere (try searching for "Commands").
-
- The three parts of the note which the cursor is over are shown in an
- expanded form just above the "Voice 1", "Voice 2", etc. boxes, and each can
- be edited. To alter the pitch of the note is easy - just click on the
- relevant place on the miniature keyboard shown. The instrument used is
- assumed to be the current instrument, though by clicking on the window
- which shows the instrument of the current note, that instrument is then
- selected, which saves scrolling up and down the instruments window all the
- time. The command and the variable can be altered separately using the
- arrow icons next to them. For the command, Select will move through all
- the possible values one at a time, whereas Adjust will jump between those
- which are actually used (some are blank, and are either not used at all or
- I don't know what they mean). The variable is a numeric value from 0 to 255
- and clicking with Select will alter the value by 1, with the other two
- buttons making the value change faster. The complete set of keyboard
- controls for Edit Pattern mode are given below:
-
- Arrow Keys - Move cursor within current pattern
- Shift + Arrows - Move cursor more quickly (up/down only)
- Ctrl + ⇩ / ⇧ - Jump to new pattern
- Ctrl + ⇦ / ⇨ - Alter key selection (see below)
- Page Up - Move to top of current pattern
- Page Down - Move to bottom of current pattern
- Insert - Insert event at cursor within current voice
- Delete - Delete event at cursor from current voice
- ~ - Clear note of current event
- Backspace - Clear command / variable of current event
- Home - Cut pattern data for current voice
- Copy - Paste copied pattern data into current voice
- Print - Scroll down under special circumstances (see below)
- Alt - Select pattern last playing
- Tab - Store command + variable of current event
- Enter - Place stored command + variable into current event
- Ctrl + F - Find stored command in current tune
- Ctrl + I - Find next occurrence of selected instrument
- F11 - Replace Instrument
- F12 - Record Mode on/off
- Shift-F12 - Toggle stave display on/off
-
- Some of these functions probably need explaining a little more. To the
- right of "Voice 8" is a small box containing, by default, "000". This is the
- stored command, and offers a quick way of entering lots of identical
- commands along with their variables (eg "484"). By pressing Tab, the command
- and variable in the event which the cursor is currently over will be
- transferred to the stored command box, and from now on, pressing "Enter" (or
- clicking with the mouse in the stored command box) will place the command
- and variable into the current cursor location. A further function of the
- stored command is to search for instances of a given command in the current
- tune. This time, only the command part (eg. "V" for set volume) is important
- and pressing "Ctrl F" will cause the cursor to move to the next occurrence
- of that command in the tune currently being edited. If the cursor remains
- stationary, there is no further occurrence of that command. The search
- proceeds horizontally along the voices, down the pattern, and through the
- patterns in ascending numerical order. As the search works from the current
- cursor location, to find all occurrences of a command, move to the start of
- pattern 1. Note that you may have to create the command you wish to search
- for first, place it in the stored command buffer, and press "Backspace" to
- delete it again, before you can carry out the search. "Ctrl I" works
- similarly, but is easier to set up. This time, the cursor will move to the
- next occurrence of the currently selected instrument (if there is a next
- occurrence). F12 is used to toggle "Record Mode" on and off. This allows the
- music to be edited in "real-time", which may be useful. When on, notes can
- be entered into the music as it is playing, allowing fast alignment of, for
- example, drum beats. F11 performs a search and replace on the currently
- selected instrument. This is confined to the current pattern, and works by
- changing all occurrences of the current instrument to the first character of
- the stored command (shown to the right of "Voice 8"). It is possible to
- restrict the operation still further, as it is only applied to those voices
- within the pattern which are "On" as opposed to "Mute".
-
- A few of the keyboard controls mentioned above perform slightly different
- actions when in musical stave display mode (toggled on and off by Shift-F12)
- Although the up and down arrow keys may still be used to move through the
- current pattern, it is more natural to use the left and right arrow keys,
- and you may do this if you wish. To move between voices, Shift plus either
- the left or right arrow must now be used. Also, the actual editing of notes
- can now be performed using only the mouse. To enter a note using the current
- instrument, simply click at the relevant place with the Select mouse button.
- Holding down the button allows you to "drag" the note up and down the stave.
- You may also toggle a sharp (if available) on and off for a given note by
- clicking on it with Menu. Notes may be deleted entirely by clicking with
- Adjust. The Tracker format is not really designed to be displayed on a
- standard musical stave, and this shows in the translation (all notes the
- same length, blank notes shown as rests), and of course stored commands and
- variables are not shown except for the one note which the cursor is on.
- However, it may prove useful for entering music from a musical stave, or for
- the reverse operation - learning to play a Tracker tune on a conventional
- instrument. Operations such as insert and delete and marked area functions
- act as normal, the current cursor position taken to be the centre of the
- stave (the purple/beige note). You may also jump to another point on the
- stave by clicking on the relevant number at the base of the stave.
-
- "Alt", select pattern last playing, will allow you to edit the pattern which
- was playing when "Play Tune" was last selected. If, for example, you play a
- tune which you are writing, and part of it sounds wrong, select "Edit
- Pattern" mode, and press "Alt". The pattern which was wrong will then become
- the one that you are editing, which may speed up the editing process and
- saves you going through all the patterns to find which one is incorrect.
-
- "Print" carries the intriguing description "scroll down under special
- circumstances". These "special circumstances" are not really that special
- actually - just when you have used "~", BackSpace, or have just entered
- instrument / command data with the keyboard. If you carry out any of these
- operations while holding down "Print", the operation will be carried out as
- normal, but the cursor will be advanced one line; useful if you want to
- change which sample a whole column of notes use, or clearing command data
- for a certain voice etc.
-
- The Marked Area
-
- There is also another set of keys, f1-f8, which relate to the "marked area".
- This is an area of any length covering one voice of one pattern, and is
- shown in red during editing. When an area is marked in this way, various
- operations can be performed on it. The keyboard controls are:
-
- F1 - Mark area (hold down and use up / down arrow keys)
- F2 - Clear area (so that nothing is marked)
- F3 - Copy marked area to current cursor position
- F4 - Replicate first event in marked area throughout whole area
- F5 - Decrease pitch of all notes by 1 (eg F#3 becomes F-3)
- F6 - Increase pitch of all notes by 1 (eg C#3 becomes D-3)
- F7 - Create downward volume scale in marked area
- F8 - Create upward volume scale in marked area
-
- Shift + F1 - Go to marked area
- Shift + F3 - Swap with marked area
- Shift + F4 - Selective replicate
-
- All of the above controls should be self-explanatory, except for f7 and f8.
- These create volume scales, ie. series of Vxx commands. The value of xx is
- determined by a starting value and a common difference. For example, if the
- starting value is 6 and the common difference is 2, the commands will be
- "V06", "V08", "V0A", "V0C" etc. The starting value is taken from the value
- part of the stored command, and the common difference is taken from the
- number of the currently selected instrument (sorry about the awkwardness,
- but it was the only way I could think of doing it!). Note that the "Vxx"
- commands will only overwrite either blank commands ("000") or other "V"
- commands. Commands such as "102" will remain unchanged, and the volume
- scale will continue around them. You may find it useful to make a keystrip
- showing all these commands (a Draw file of one should be included), though I
- have tried to arrange them logically. The Replicate feature works by copying
- the event (note, sample, and command data) at the top of the marked area
- throughout the whole of it. The selective replicate, on the other hand, just
- copies part of the first event; the part highlighted in the keyboard
- selector ("A-2 C S06").
-
- Debug
-
- The Debug feature may be of use when editing patterns too. It can be toggled
- on and off by clicking on the "Debug" box, and when on it plays the note
- that the cursor moved off from, either up or down. This may be of use in
- isolating "dodgy" notes which sound off-key, though it should be noted that
- it only plays the note and not any of the special effect commands (listed
- below), and that it may not play notes at the correct speed. However, having
- said that, it is quite effective, and as both Coconizer and AMFTracker have
- this feature I thought I'd better put it in!
-
- There is one further feature which can be used in conjunction with "Debug".
- This involves the box to the left of "Voice 1" which contains either "One"
- or "All", and can be toggled by clicking in the box with a mouse button. If
- "One" is selected, then the debug works as described above. If the box shows
- "All", however, then when moving up or down during editing, all the channels
- will be played, just as when playing the tune normally. This feature also
- takes account of the status of each channel, and so set any that you do not
- wish to be played to "Mute". It has to be said that the speed of this
- operation can vary considerably according to how many notes have to be
- played simultaneously (on an Arm 2 at least), but it may nevertheless be of
- use during editing. Of course, if you want to hear the whole pattern played
- correctly, with effect commands etc., then use "Play Pattern", but the Debug
- is useful for smoothing out just groups of notes or areas of patterns. The
- "One" or "All" option also has an effect when using "Insert" or "Delete".
- If "One" is selected, then they just insert or delete an event in the voice
- in which the cursor at that time resides. If the option is set to "All",
- though, an event will be inserted into or deleted from every voice.
-
- There is also another way to enter event data; via the keyboard. As the same
- set of keys is required for each part of the event, you must specify which
- part of the event can be edited using the keyboard. To do this, click either
- the left or right mouse buttons in the box beneath "Edit Pattern". The red
- indicator should move left or right, indicating the selected part. Now, if
- the instrument, command, or variable is selected, then pressing the relevant
- key (0-9, A-F/Z) will enter that value in the relevant part of the event to
- which the edit cursor refers. Note that each nibble (digit) of the variable
- can be edited separately with this method. The keys below can be used to
- enter notes of octave 1 (i.e. C-1 to B-1).
-
- S D G H J These keys are laid out in the same arrangement as an
- Z X C V B N M octave on the keyboard sprite, and produce the same notes.
-
- The other two octaves are dealt with similarly, with octave 2 using the same
- arrangement of keys but starting at Q and ending at U, and notes of octave 3
- using keys starting at I and ending at "Delete", including "BackSpace".
- Octave 3, therefore, produces a keyboard clash, as "Delete" and "BackSpace"
- have other functions; "Delete Event" and "Clear Command Data". There are two
- ways around this problem, both of which involve using the toggle option to
- the right of "Used". This option can either be "N" (notes) or "D" (delete).
- If it is set to "D", "BackSpace" and "Delete" have their normal deletion
- effects, and the two highest notes cannot be entered using the keyboard
- (though they can be entered with the mouse as normal). If, however, it is
- set to "N", then these two keys will have the effect of entering musical
- notes (A#3 and B-3). The normal operations carried out by the keys can still
- be performed though; simply press "Control" in conjunction with them. All
- this may sound complicated, but is the result of a very delicate trade-off,
- to make entry of notes easy both for those using the mouse and for those
- using the keyboard, without sacrificing functionability (if such a word
- exists). When entering notes from the keyboard, if there is already a sample
- number attached to the current event, it will be left unchanged. If there is
- no sample present, however, the currently selected one will be entered;
- there is (as far as I know), no situation where a note would be needed but
- no instrument number, though the reverse case is valid. As mentioned above,
- a full list of which keys produce which notes is available by clicking with
- Adjust over the keyboard sprite.
-
- The only other relevant feature is the "Repeat:" value. This is edited
- by clicking in the box with either the left or right mouse buttons, and
- controls how fast the edit cursor moves up and down. This is useful when
- used in conjunction with the "Debug" feature, as if it is set correctly then
- the tune can be played at roughly the right speed when moving up and down
- the current channel.
-
- If you are creating a tune which runs at a speed other than 6 (the default)
- then you are advised to place the relevant speed command (see below) at the
- start of each pattern in the tune. This is so that when playing patterns
- individually, the playing routine knows what speed to play them. The program
- does its best to find the correct speed to play the tune when starting from
- somewhere in the middle. However, use of the "J" command (see below) can
- confuse it, and so you are advised to put speed commands at the start of
- each pattern if you have used "J" at all.
-
- Commands
-
- The commands recognised by APTracker are:
-
- 0 - Arpeggio Variable: &XY.
- This plays the base note for one VSync, then the base note + Y semitones
- then the base note + X semitones, then the base note again, and so on
- continuously (at least I think it does; its something like that anyway,
- and each hex digit of the variable is interpreted separately).
-
- 1 - Pitch Slide Up (portamento up) Variable: X
- While the note is playing, this makes the pitch increase by decreasing
- the sample period by X. This works on the note currently playing; it
- does not need to have a note value associated with it, and hence the
- pitch can be increased gradually for a number of events, with multiple
- use of this command.
-
- 2 - Pitch Slide Down Variable: X
- Basically as for 1, but the sample period is increased by X.
-
- 3 - Portamento Variable: X
- This has a similar effect to commands 1 and 2, but instead of playing
- the note associated with it, the pitch of the note is set as the target,
- and further "3" commands will alter the pitch by "X" in order to move
- towards this target (if X is not specified then the previous value is
- used).
-
- 4 - Vibrato Variable: &XY
- As with "Arpeggio", the two hex digits are used separately by vibrato.
- The effect produced is that of a warbling note; more specifically, the
- pitch of the note being played is increased and decreased. The first
- digit (X) gives the speed of the pitch change, and the second (Y) the
- size of the vibrato. A sinusoidally varying amount is subtracted from
- the pitch, and X determines the frequency of the sine wave used, and
- Y is the amplitude.
-
- B - Break Pattern No variable needed
- This makes the tune jump to the next pattern, ignoring the rest of the
- current one which still has to run.
-
- E - Set Stereo Variable: X
- Set the stereo position of the current voice to X (1-7).
- IMPORTANT - DO NOT USE "E" WITHIN A TUNE WITH A VARIABLE OUTSIDE THE
- RANGE 1-7. WITH 0, OR 8 AND ABOVE, THE PLAYER MODULE WILL CRASH AND THE
- CURRENT TUNE WILL BE LOST. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.
-
- G - Volume Slide Up Variable: X
- Adds X to the volume every VSync.
-
- H - Volume Slide Down Variable: X
- Subtracts X from the volume every VSync.
-
- J - Position Jump Variable: X
- Jumps to the position X in the song (sequence table). Note that although
- "APTracker" shows the sequence as starting from 1, it actually starts
- from 0, and so to jump to what is apparently position 5, use "J04".
-
- S - Set Speed Variable: X
- Sets the speed (number of VSyncs between events) to X. The default is
- 6 and the fastest is 1.
-
- V - Set Volume Variable X
- Alters the volume of the current voice to X (0-255), 0 being silent,
- 255 the loudest.
-
- The best way to really find out what each command does is to experiment
- with it, perhaps by isolating one voice and using the "Play Pattern" mode -
- most of the above I've just copied from the PlayRoutine version 4.09
- documentation ...
-
- Edit Sequence
-
- The remaining part of a tune is the sequence table. As mentioned earlier,
- this tells the playing routine what pattern to play when. To edit the
- sequence table for the current tune, you must be in any mode but "Play
- Pattern", and click on "Edit Sequence". This then leads into another screen
- on which is shown the current sequence in the form of a long strip, and the
- current set of patterns in a rectangular array. There is a cursor in the
- centre of the sequence, above which is shown the current position, and two
- other active boxes, Insert and Delete. To the left of these is shown the
- current sequence length (1-128). To scroll through the sequence, use the
- two arrows next to "Sequence", with either Select or Adjust. There will also
- be a particular pattern selected out of those shown in the rectangular
- array (though this will not be noticeable if there is only one pattern
- available). To select a different pattern, simply click on it. Above the
- patterns window, there is a box displaying "Occurrences:". This simply tells
- you how many times the currently selected pattern occurs in the sequence.
- This can be of use in identifying unused patterns for deletion, though this
- should only be carried out when a tune is completely finished.
-
- To enter the selected pattern in the sequence table, just click on the place
- you want it (you may have to scroll through the sequence table first).
- To alter the length of the sequence table, use Insert and Delete. Insert
- will insert the currently selected pattern number at the cursor position,
- and increase the length of the sequence table accordingly, whereas Delete
- will obviously shorten the table. To return to the main edit screen, click
- on "Exit".
-
- One further feature which can be utilised in the "Edit Sequence" mode is
- selecting a pattern with Adjust (the right mouse button) instead of Select
- (the left one). This has the effect of selecting that pattern as normal, but
- also inserting it into the sequence. You can, therefore, create a sequence
- just by clicking with Adjust on the patterns in the right order. Also, using
- the Menu (middle button) to select a pattern here will have the effect of
- making it the one currently being edited. By selecting a pattern in this way
- and then returning to the main editing section, you can examine, for example
- patterns which seem to be used a lot or which are used at the end of the
- music.
-
-
- And Finally ...
-
- There are probably a few things I have left out of these instructions,
- either because I haven't put them in at time of writing, or I couldn't be
- bothered (writing 40K of instructions is very boring). As always, the best
- way is to experiment; my overall aim was to make the program easy to use
- but not at the expense of functionality - always a delicate trade-off. I
- know the main screen is a bit crowded, but I wanted to use standard Mode
- 15, as super-wide custom screen modes don't always come out properly on
- some monitors (mine for instance). Machine code helps for speed, but means
- that the program is a bit disjointed, and tasks which require altering the
- memory allocation (adding a new pattern etc.) have to be done in Basic on
- the desktop.
-
- Write to me with any bug reports (APTracker has been rigorously(!) tested),
- suggestions for version 2, or queries on how to use the program. I would
- also be interested to hear any tunes which people have written with
- "APTracker". If you send me any music you create (and tell me whether or not
- you intend to make it public domain), I will hopefully return your disc with
- other people's efforts. One of the aims of writing this program was to
- banish forever the "Converted from Amiga" author field, and I'm sure it must
- be possible to write good music on the Arc - especially with eight channels.
- Anyway, my address is:
-
- Andrew Pepperell,
- 20 Orchard Park,
- Grimoldby,
- Louth,
- Lincs.
- LN11 8TN.
-
- Credits
-
- "APTracker" uses the TrackerModule version 4.09 by Hugo Fiennes, Fabrice
- Mercier and Matt Farrow for all the complicated stuff like playing samples
- using DMA etc. The version of the module used is, strictly speaking, a
- development one though, and so you should not use it or distribute it
- yourself to others without permission.
-
- "APTracker" is also aided by two PD utilities by Matt Farrow, "!GetSTMod"
- for converting between Amiga format music and the Tracker format which
- "APTracker" uses and back again, and "!SampConv" which can be used to
- convert Tracker format samples into Armadeus, DSEdit, etc. format. I must
- also thank Matthew Farrow for all his comments and suggestions, the most
- sensible of which (!) managed to make it into the program.
-