═══ 1. File Menu ═══ MPU Piano can load and play a standard MIDI format file. The File Menu provides the selections to manipulate these files. ═══ 1.1. Open ═══ Open a Standard MIDI format file. ═══ 1.2. Play ═══ Start Playing the song currently in memory. ═══ 1.3. Stop ═══ Stop playing the current song. ═══ 1.4. Continue ═══ If you stopped a song before it was finished, this option will let you restart. ═══ 2. Options Menu ═══ These selections allow you to change the way MPUPiano works. ═══ 2.1. Change Velocity ═══ This screen will let you change the velocity of the notes sent from the video "keyboard." ═══ 2.2. Filters ═══ This screen will let you disable certain messages from being sent to your tone generators. ═══ 3. MPUPiano Help ═══ The Help options: Welcome, Help for Help, and Help Index provide information on using MPUPiano and the Help System. ═══ 3.1. Welcome ═══ Welcome to MPU Piano! MPU Piano is an MPU Player Piano for OS/2 - MMPM/2 not necessary. All you need is an MPU compatible interface card and our driver, and a synthesizer, tone generator, or sampler. The MPU Piano will play Standard MIDI Format (.SMF) files, or, like any piano, you can just bang on the keys. MPU Piano is a complete PM program, and has been released as Shareware by Delta Music Systems. Please take a moment to register your copy. It's only $15(US), and we'll keep you up to date with what's going on with our OS/2 music software. Registered users will also get a version of MPU Piano that can handle both type 0 and type 1 MIDI files. To play your own improvisations, just click on the keyboard with mouse button 1. Mouse Button 2 will act as a sustain "pedal" - as long as it is held down, the notes will not be turned off, and the Sustain indicator above the keyboard will remain on. You can also change the current MIDI channel, or send a Program Change message with the two spin buttons above the keyboard. Take a minute to browse the on-line help. From the Options Menu above, select 'Contents' (or hit Ctrl-C) to view the Table of Contents for RingScope and the Help Manager. Context-Sensitive help is available at any time in MPU Piano by hitting the F1 key. If you're having trouble getting message sent out to your synthesizer, first make sure the device driver is properly installed, by playing with some of the utilities that should have come with the driver. ═══ 3.2. Keys Help ═══ o F1 = Help o ^O = Open - Open a Standard MIDI Format file o ^P = Play - Play the current song o ^C = Continue - Continue playing the song o ^S = Stop - Stop playing the current MIDI file o ^V = Velocity - Change the velocity used for the key strikes o ^F = Filters - Disable certain message types ═══ 4. Set Velocity ═══ The speed at which you hit the keys on your keyboard is the velocity, and it is used by your synthesizer to control different aspects of the sound. Most sounds use velocity to control volume, but many also use velocity to control brightness, vibrato, some even change the instrument. Because of the many different uses for velocity, we couldn't just call it "volume". ═══ 5. Filters ═══ If you do not want certain types of messages sent to your synth, you can let MPU Piano filter them from the data stream. A checked box means that filtering is turned on, which means that those types of messages will not be sent. Different filters include: Program Change Filtering program change will help if you want a certain set of instruments to play on certain channels. If your instrument's voice map doesn't exactly match that of the song being played, you can do your own configuration, then turn off program change. You can also disable program changes from the video "keyboard" spin button. System Exclusive This is unsupported in the current version. Pressure Filters Pressure (aftertouch) messages. Controller Filters Continuous Controller messages. Pitch Bend Filters Pitch Bend messages. Channel Pressure Filters Channel-specific aftertouch messages.