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----------- The Drummer ©1995 Mike Goatly Release 1.0 (8th April) ----------- ---->Contents: 1:Introduction 2:Editing patterns 3:Editing a sequence 4:Sequence commands 5:Copyright and other important stuff ---->1:Introduction. 'The Drummer' is a Drum Sequencer. It isn't a drum machine, (although something of that nature may be added at a later stage), but it can be used to produce similar results. Anyone who has used a music sequencer, such as Coconizer, SoundTracker or ProTracker (There are many more....), will get to grips with 'The Drummer' quickly. This is the first released version of 'The Drummer', so there may (will) be bugs in it. There also features that would be nice to add (such as a search and replace function for the pattern editors, so you can change one sample number throughout that pattern type without having to do it manually) But I need to know if there is going to be anyone using it before I spend more time on it. So let me know if there are any improvements you would like to see (don't ask for an interrupt driven version - without the PRM or basic manuals, I haven't a clue how to do it), and I might be able to help you. For details of how to contact me, see part 6. Speed note: 'The Drummer' was written on a Risc PC, with a 256 colour display and I don't really know how much slower it will run using an ARM3 processor. If it really is a problem (I suspect the command check every line of the sequence might be) I'll try to do something about it. Let me know. ---->2:Editing patterns Patterns are the building blocks of sequences, and there are five windows concerned with the editing of them, the Bassdrum Pattern Editor, the Snaredrum Pattern Editor, the Hi-Hat Pattern Editor, the Miscellaneous pattern editor and the Pat. Controller (Pattern Controller). -The Bassdrum, Snaredrum, Hi-Hat and Misc. pattern editors:- These four windows are all operated in exactly the same way, the only difference between each of them being that they have their own set of samples. The icons from left to right are: The radio icon: This signifies whether that pattern type can be heard when the patterns are played. (On=can be heard, Off=cannot be heard) The white boxes: Each window contains 2 lines of these. Clicking inside one of them with the left mouse button will set or unset the current sample, at full volume (a circle containing the sample's number will appear in the box that you clicked over). Clicking the right mouse button over a sample that has been set decreases the volume it will be played at. When it reaches volume 1, (you can see when this is, by checking the 'pat. control' window - see later in this section) the volume will wrap to 8 (maximum). The current pattern number box: This box contains the current pattern number for that window. you can change the pattern number by clicking in the box and typing in a new one, followed by return, or you can use the arrow buttons to flick through the patterns one by one. The current sample box. This box displays the current sample for that window. Clicking on the sample name will test the sample, whilst clicking on the menu box next to it will bring up the samples available for that window. Selecting one of these changes the current sample to the one selected. -The Pat. Control window- This window mainly controls the playing of the current patterns. Click on 'Play patterns' to start playing the current patterns. Once the patterns are playing, you can perform all the usual editing funtions, such as altering them, changing the current patterns, etc. Click on 'Stop playing' to stop the patterns playing. When the mouse pointer is moved over a note, information for that sample is put into this window. From top to bottom: The sample name, where the sample came from (Bassdrum, Snare, Hi-Hat or Misc), what the actual sample number is (not much use really) and the volume of the sample (from 1-8, 8 being loudest). -Pattern menus- There are some basic editing features available for the patterns, and these are accessable through the menu system. Opening a menu over one of the pattern windows lets you: Copy: Puts a copy of the current pattern in that window into the pattern copy buffer. Paste: Pastes the contents of the pattern copy buffer onto the pattern of the current window, overwriting the old one. Patterns can be cut and pasted between windows. Cut: Puts the current pattern into the pattern copy buffer, and moves the patterns above it down, to fill the gap. Clear: Clears the current pattern. Insert:Inserts a blank pattern before the current one of that window. ---->3:Editing a sequence There are two main windows associated with this, the Sequence Editor, and Seq. Controller (Sequence controller). A sequence is a collection of lines of patterns. These lines are not necessacerily played sequentially, because special command words can be used to control how the sequence is to be played. (See next section) The sequence can have up to 50 lines only. You can scroll through the lines by clicking on the up and down arrows to the left of the sequence line numbers on the Sequence Editor window. Each line consists of 4 patterns, a tempo and a command line. To edit a line of the sequence click in the first box of the desired line, and enter the desired pattern number of that type to be played on that line. You can skip between boxes by pressing the tab button, or by using the up/down cursor keys. You can edit the tempo and command boxes of the line in the same manner. For more information of the command box, see the next section. The radio icons below each pattern type signify whether that pattern type is to be heard when the sequence is being played. You can control the playing of the sequence using the 'Seq. Control' window. 'Play' resets the counter (see next part), and starts the sequence from line 1. Stop halts the playing of the sequence, Fast forward/Rewind moves the sequence forward or back a line, respectively. (These only work if the sequence is playing). Continue plays the sequence from the line that is currently at the top of the window. If the menu is opened anywhere on the Sequencer window, a menu opens, containing the following: Song info > Info about the currently loaded song. This is editable, so you can put your name to a sequence. Tempo > Brings up a window where you can edit the default tempo. From here you can set all of the tempos to a given number. Play, stop and continue - as the Seq. Control window. If the menu was opened over a line the following functions become available from the menu: Cut > Copies the selected line into the sequence copy buffer, then moves all of the later lines down a line, to fill in the gap. Copy > Copies the selected line into the sequence copy buffer. Paste > Pastes the contents of the sequence copy buffer onto the selected line. Insert > Inserts a line before the selected one. Clear > Clears the selected line. ---->4:Sequence commands The commands are generally used to pass the current playing position of the sequence to another point. You can have multiple commands on one line by separating them with a semi-colons. (;) The current command list is: Goto <line_number> - Jumps to the line <line_number>. It is illegal to have more than one unconditional Goto on a given line. Stop - Used to automatically stop the sequence playing. (The sequence will not stop until it reaches line 50 otherwise) Loop <number> - Loops the line <number> of times. -----The counter The counter can be used mainly to repeat sections of a sequence a set number of times, before moving onto a new part, but it can be used for more complicated sequences. The counter is automatically reset to 0 when the sequence is played, but not when it is 'continued'. ResetCounter - Resets the counter to 0. Inc <number> - Increments the counter by <number>. Dec <number> - Decrements the counter by <number>. If <expression> Goto <line> - Conditional Goto, where the <expression> can be anything that would give a true or false answer. e.g. Counter=1, Counter>5, (Counter is the variable name for the counter) (You can have as many unconditional goto's on a given line as you like. You can have one conditional goto with them too, if you want.) ---->5:Copyright and other important stuff 'The Drummer' is Copyright 1995 Mike Goatly, and is currently Public domain. This means you can copy it to your little heart's content, just so long as: 1:There is no finantial gain on your part (except for minimum admin. charges) 2:All the files you recieved with your copy remain intact, and present in the new copies. The two modules 'Stasis' and 'StasisRaw' are public domain modules written by Andy Southgate (©1995). They are party of a package called GameSuite. I highly recommend it to anyone who programs only in basic and needs to add a bit of speed to their new games! If you want to see improvements made to 'The Drummer' then you should write to me, and let me know! It would be nice to hear from people who actually have a use for it! If you have any decent samples of drums I could use, I would be grateful if you would send them to me. I am trying to get hold of some first hand samples myself. I will release another version if I can get better ones. Lastly, if you create any good sequences, send me a copy! I may add them the the sequences directory in later releases! You can contact me by Snail mail: or Email: Mike Goatly, M.P.Goatly@Herts.ac.uk 20 Ely Road, (Until July 1998) St. Albans, Hertfordshire, AL1 5NA England I hope you can find a use for 'The Drummer'. Enjoy! Mike.