Groovy Bytes: Behind the Moon

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Renaissance'93 presents... ____ ____ _ _ _ _ / \__/ \ | | | | | | | | | |_ _| | _| |__ _| |__ _ __ __ _ __ | | _ _____ _ __ | | | | | ||_ __|(|_ __| |/ _| \| |/ \| |/ | \| |/ _| | | | | | | | | | | _ | || | _| /| () | / \_| / () /| / | |\__/| | \_/ | | | || || || || | | | | \_/ | \ \__/\| | |____/ \____|\___/|_| \___/ |_|\___/|_| \___/|_|\____/|_|\_|_____/|_| Module Editor v1.01ß The first public 32-track digital composer for use with both SoundBlaster(tm) compatible cards and the Gravis Ultrasound(tm) Copyright (c)1993 Daniel Goldstein (a.k.a. Starscream/Ren'93) Contents -------- I Introduction 1.1 What IS Multitracker Module Editor? 1.2 Hardware requirements 1.3 Format compatibility 1.4 Shareware and registration II Basic Concepts 2.1 Digital Playback 2.2 Samples 2.3 Tracks 2.4 Patterns 2.6 Orders 2.5 Effects III Using the main editor 3.1 Moving around 3.2 Entering notes 3.3 Entering instrument numbers 3.4 Entering effects 3.5 Playing your music 3.6 Copying functions 3.7 Turning tracks on/off IV Using the sample menu 4.1 Loading a sample/patch 4.2 Setting loop points and standard volume 4.3 Entering a sample name 4.4 Inserting and deleting samples 4.5 Toggling signed/unsigned data 4.6 Saving a sample V Using the sequencer (order editor) 5.1 Creating patterns 5.2 Inserting and deleting orders VI Miscellaneous 6.1 Song name 6.2 Song Message 6.3 Palette editing (registered version only) 6.4 Pan Positions 6.5 Loading and saving files 6.6 Clearing large amounts of data 6.7 Memory indicators VII Closing VIII Reference 6.1 List of Keys 6.2 Protracker effects Section II - Introduction ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1.1 What IS Multitracker Module Editor? The Multitracker Module Editor is a system by which you can compose professional sounding music on your personal computer. It has a minimum of hardware requirements (see section 1.2) because it was designed so that nearly anyone can use it. Even if you don't have a lot (or even any) knowledge of music theory, you can play around with this program and have a lot of fun. :) Read this text file and you'll be ready to make some cool music! 1.2 Hardware requirements The only requirements for running this program are a 386 computer and either a Soundblaster(tm) compatible or Gravis Ultrasound(tm) sound card. With a Soundblaster(tm) compatible, it is much better if you have a fast 386 (meaning a DX) because you can achieve higher mixing rates. This basically just means that the music will sound better. If you have a very slow computer, it is possible that you will not be able to run all 32 tracks simultaneously. If this happens, you should try lowering the mixing rate... however, be aware that this will make the sound worse. You may be better off just keeping a high mixing rate and using less voices in your musical compositions. Note that although a low mixing rate will make the music sound worse during composition, when the music is played back normally it will sound fine. With a Gravis Ultrasound(tm), you can only store as much sample data as you have RAM on the card. The normal base configuration for a GUS is 256K. The editor will automatically detect and tell you how much free memory is on your GUS at any given time. Unfortunately, people who own cards with only 256K of memory may not be able to play the larger musical compositions available. The same goes for people using a Soundblaster(tm) compatible card, since with those cards you must use the computer's RAM for storage of the sample data. However, using computer memory should result in more than 256K being available. The only difference is that this memory is used to store pattern data as well. 1.3 Format compatibility The Multitracker format (file extension .MTM meaning MultiTracker Module) is fully compatible with the .MOD format. It uses the standard MOD Protracker effect codes, so if you've written MOD's before you should feel right at home. The only major difference between MTM's and MOD's is that MTM's are sequenced by the track as well as by the pattern. This was done simply because repeated tracks are very memory wasteful... it still retains full format compatibility. *NOTE* Track sequencing does not affect the way that you write an MTM in any way whatsoever. The editor will handle all track sequencing for you. The explanation is provided for the information of programmers who wish to support the format only. From the editor, you can directly load a few different formats. These include MTM's, MOD's (15 instrument, 31 instrument and multichannel), 669's, and FAR's. Both MTM's and MOD's should load perfectly. 669's are converted from what is essentially a totally different format. Therefore, they may not sound entirely correct through this playback system. Note that the 669 loader in the original version of this program was far from perfect, and has since been greatly improved. FAR's should play pretty much correctly, and the loader routine is still being updated. Coming soon are loader routines for several other formats, a few of which may include ULT's, S3M's, PSM's, and OKT's. 1.4 Shareware and registration This program has been released as what is called "Shareware". Shareware is a type of software which you can share with anyone you like, copying it freely. Anyone can try it out for a while without paying for the software. However, the trial period for this program is just 14 days. That means that legally, you must erase all of your functional copies of this program fourteen days after you have first tried it out. After giving it a few test runs, you may also choose to buy the program. This is called registration. By registering this editor, you will be allowed to continue using it indefinitely. You will also get a "key file" in the mail, which will enable a few cool new features, such as GUS patch loading and the ability to change the palette configuration. I suggest that you register this program for a few reasons. First of all, I believe that shareware is a wonderful way to market quality software. It benefits the consumer, because if you do not like the program, you do not have to pay for it, whereas if you buy a commercial software product you often do not know exactly what you are getting for your money. Secondly, registering a piece of software is like giving a positive message to the author that you would like to see more programs like the one he has written. Thirdly, you can send comments and questions about the program along with your registration fee, to which the author will listen and quite possibly respond. If you would like more information on how to register the MultiTracker Module Editor, please see the file REGISTER.DOC which came with this program. Section II - Basic Concepts ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 2.1 Digital Playback *NOTE* This is not going to tell you how to program a music player. This section of text was written for people who have never used a digital composer before. The idea behind digital music playback is really pretty simple. It all begins with what are called samples. These samples are essentially the same as 'computerized tape-recordings' of music, various instruments, people speaking, drums, or anything else that makes a sound. When played back at different speeds, these samples take on different pitches. With some work, your computer can mix together several of these samples while also altering their pitches. If the samples are of instruments, this can simulate real music very nicely. For instance, you could have three notes of a piano sample making a chord, a drum beating- even an entire orchestra! You may have seen that this is a 32-track (or, more accurately, a 32-voice) composer. This means that you can have up to 32 different samples playing at any one time. Previously, there have been many 4 voice and a couple of 8 voice composers available. Obviously, it is a little bit limited being able to use only 4 samples at a time. It's like playing a piano with four fingers, except that you have to use one or two of your fingers for playing drums and another finger for any instruments in the background. With 32 different voices, you can play basically as many instuments and as many simultaneous notes as you would EVER need. Unfortunately, until recently, computers weren't really fast enough to handle much more than 4 voices. Now, it has become a possibility (although it is still very hard to write a program that will do it on everyone's computer) and computerized music will obviously start to sound a lot better. 2.2 Samples In the editor, there is a list of samples on the top left of the screen. You can access this, which I will refer to as the Sample Menu, by pressing either the TAB key or the F1 key. It looks something like the following: # .Sample Name .Length.LoopB .LoopE .Vl. 1 │BassDrum │5895 │0 │0 │64│ 2 │Snare1 │2454 │0 │0 │59│ 3 │Hi-hat │2000 │0 │0 │64│ 4 │ChoirMajor │29567 │158 │28775 │30│ 5 │ChoirMinor │27999 │324 │25000 │30│ 6 │Piano2 │10534 │0 │0 │64│ 7 │.....................│0 │0 │0 │0 │ 8 │.....................│0 │0 │0 │0 │ 9 │.....................│0 │0 │0 │0 │ A │.....................│0 │0 │0 │0 │ B │.....................│0 │0 │0 │0 │ C │.....................│0 │0 │0 │0 │ First comes the sample number. (under the '#' header) This can be any number/letter from 1 to 9 and A to V. (A is really sample 10, B=11, C=12, etc.) If you had counted on your fingers, you would realize this gives you a total of 31 samples you can use. Second is the Sample name. (under the 'Sample Name' header) This is merely whatever you want to call the specific samples. It's easier to remember sample #6 by the name 'Piano2' than by the number 6. Many people who release their musics over bulletin boards replace the sample names with a message to people listening to their music. (They do this once they have finished writing the music, not while they write it.) Third is the Sample Length. (under the 'Length' header) It is the the amount of memory that each sample takes in bytes. Fourth comes the Beginning of the Sample Loop. (under the 'LoopB' header) Many samples loop around on themselves to make them seem longer. This is a nice trick for a couple of reasons. First of all, it takes up less memory on your computer than storing one huge sample. Secondly, it sounds really good for certain instruments. For example, you would use this technique to sustain a string instrument tone. It would not be useful to sustain a drum in most cases. Even though loops can sound quite good, you will often have to play around with the values for where in the sample the loop starts and ends. The best method for this is to use a separate sample editing program and write down the numbers you wish to use in this program. Then, you can come back to this and write in the loop begins and ends. Fifth is the End of the Sample Loop. (under the 'LoopE' header) This is merely the offset of the end of the sample loop in bytes. Sixth, all the way on the right, is the sample default volume. (under the 'Vl' header) This is a value from zero to 64. (64 is loudest, zero is silent) The default volume is the volume at which the sample will be played when you don't specify a volume for a particular note. 2.3 Notes The most basic element of any song is the note. In an MTM, much like in normal musical notation, each note can also have an effect (like tremolo, vibrato, volume) which goes along with it. Finally, each note also contains a sample (sometimes refered to as an instrument) number. Notes look like this: │C#3A│000│ note__/ ││ \____effect octave____/│ sample_____/ Effects will later be explained in full detail. For now, all you need to know about notes is that they have a note, octave and sample number field. This should be relatively self-explanatory. 2.3 Tracks The track is simply a list of 64 notes, each note played after the last at the current tempo. However, there is one important thing about tracks, more accurately called voices, that you must remember. If at one beat a note is played on some track and a few beats later a second note is played on that same track, then the second note will cut off the first. Of course, either you may want this to happen or the first note could end before the second is ready to be played, but nevertheless you must keep this fact in mind as you compose. 2.4 Patterns Patterns are what make a module (a musical composition) into a song, rather than just a bunch of notes put together. They also let you play more than one note at once. Each pattern consists of 32 separate sample tracks. All, none, or a few of these tracks may be enabled at any given time. When the pattern is played, all of the enabled tracks are played back simultaneously, from start to finish, at the tempo of the module. You may ask why anyone would disable some of the tracks. Well, for people using SoundBlaster(tm) compatible cards, the more tracks that are enabled, the more the sound quality drops. GUS people will still hear the piece at full quality. It is, however, not always so pleasant for the composer. 2.5 Orders A pattern can be thought of as a page of music, although it is usually not that long. As it turns out, you can combine these 'pages' in any order you choose, even repeating a page more than once during your piece. This is called ORDER SEQUENCING. Your module may have a sequence up to 127 orders long. Each pattern (refered to by number) in the sequence is called an order(as you may have guessed). There should be ample space for nearly any composition. 2.5 Effects The following is probably the most complex part of a module, since it requires you to learn a new numbering system. However, don't give up! Even if you are relatively new to modules, you should not have too tough a time trying to understand it: To the right of every note is what is called the effect field: │A#25│000│ ^^^ this thing! The effect field is normally set at 000. This means that no effect is going to be played at that note position. Other number combinations specify various musical effects. These number combinations are written in what is called hexadecimal. Hexadecimal is a number system with six extra possible 'numbers' for each digit. (Base-16 for math people) Thus the name HEX-a-decimal. (HEX means six... like hexagon!) What are these other numbers you ask? A, B, C, D, E, and F. 'A' really means 10, B really means 11, etc. Anyway, the first digit in the effect field is the effect number. This ranges from 0 to F. (effects 0-15) You can look up which effect is which in the reference table at the end of this document. There is also online effect help screen accessible by pressing ALT-SLASH(on the question mark key). This gives a short description of each effect and its arguments. The righthand two digits are the argument(s) for the effect. Depending on the effect number, the arguments can be viewed as either one two-digit hexadecimal number or as two separate hexadecimal numbers. When it is viewed as a single two-digit argument, you can calculate the value by multiplying the lefthand digit by 16 and adding the righthand digit's value. For example: 39 hex=3*16+9=57 decimal. D4 hex=13*16+4=312 decimal. If you still don't understand, please either have someone explain it to you or else re-read this section, paying close attention to the examples given. Good modules ALWAYS have at least a few effects in them, so it would be quite beneficial if you learned how to do hex calculations in your head. Section III - The main editor ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 3.1 Moving around It is very easy to move around inside of the main editor. You may use the left and right cursor keys to move left or right one FIELD. This is not one track. If you wish to move one entire track, you have your choice of two sets of keys: either CTRL-LEFT/CTRL-RIGHT or SHIFT-TAB/TAB. Moving up or down is just as easy. You merely press the UP or DOWN cursor keys. You can also move over a whole 8 tracks by pressing either the SLASH or ASTERISK on the keypad. In order to change which ORDER you are editing, you can press the plus and minus symbols on the keypad. Remember that this indirectly changes which pattern number you are editing as well. You may look at the status on the top right of the editor to see which pattern you actually are editing. 3.2 Entering notes Entering notes is a fairly simple procedure. The computer keyboard is segmented up into two octaves, each of which is much like a piano keyboard. (see below) C# D# F# G# A# C# D# ┌──┬─┬─┬─┬──┬──┬─┬─┬─┬─┬─┬──┬──┬─┬─┬─┬──┐ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │2│ │3│ │ │5│ │6│ │7│ │ │9│ │0│ │ │ └┬┘ └┬┘ │ └┬┘ └┬┘ └┬┘ │ └┬┘ └┬┘ │ │ Q │ W │ E │ R │ T │ Y │ U │ I │ O │ P │ └───┴───┴───┴───┴───┴───┴───┴───┴───┴───┘ C D E F G A B C D E C# D# F# G# A# C# D# ┌──┬─┬─┬─┬──┬──┬─┬─┬─┬─┬─┬──┬──┬─┬─┬─┬──┐ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │S│ │D│ │ │G│ │H│ │J│ │ │L│ │;│ │ │ └┬┘ └┬┘ │ └┬┘ └┬┘ └┬┘ │ └┬┘ └┬┘ │ │ Z │ X │ C │ V │ B │ N │ M │ < │ > │ / │ └───┴───┴───┴───┴───┴───┴───┴───┴───┴───┘ C D E F G A B C D E You merely type the key which corresponds to the piano key you wish to hit, and *poof*, that note is entered at the current cursor position. The space bar will erase the current note. If you have previously loaded some samples, you can listen to what you are playing as you go along by choosing which sample you wish to edit with. (You really HAVE to do this, since otherwise you will have no idea how the final output will sound :) We'll get to loading samples later, however you should know how to choose which one you are editing with: You may either hit the left bracket ([) or the right bracket (]) to decrement or increment the sample number you are editing with. If you are used to Triton's Fasttracker, you can use SHIFT-UP/DOWN instead. Also, a nice key to remember, although not necessary, is the backwards apostrophe `. (on the tilda key, right above TAB) This key will pickup the current editing sample from the note which you are on. This is very convenient, since you don't have to look up the sample number in the sample menu, you can just press ' on the note whose sample you want to use. There are octaves numbered zero through four fully available to you, and a couple of notes of octave five as well. Obviously, the two octaves on the keyboard are not enough to utilize the total range of this tracker. Therefore, you must change the editing octave using the equals and backslash key. Equals decreases the octave and backslash increases it. The current editing octave is displayed on the top right of the screen. 3.3 Entering instrument numbers You may enter instrument numbers by themselves as well as whole notes. Sometimes you may want to change the instrument number of a note without having to reenter the entire note. This is accomplished by merely moving over to the instrument number of the note using the cursor keys, and entering the instrument number with which you wish to replace it. This number CAN be zero if, for instance, you want to do a Portamento-to-Note effect without restarting the currently playing sample. 3.4 Entering effects Effects are quite easy to enter. You merely move over to the effect field and type the effect number which you want. You do not have to enter the entire effect. You may type only 1 or 2 hex digits and it will not change the existing 2nd or 3rd digit. 3.5 Playing your music Once you have entered a few notes, you may want to play back your musical piece. The functions keys numbered five through eight do this in various ways. F5 will start the module playing from the very beginning. F6 will loop the current order, and F7 will play from the current note. F8 stops the music. You may even edit WHILE the music is playing, so if you want to try to keep ahead while making changes, you may. There are currently four sets of play functions, the first of which you have just read about. The second set will play only the track which you are currently positioned on. You enable this type of playback by pressing the SHIFT key in conjunction with any of the aforementioned function keys. The third set of functions is a very powerful one. It enables you to watch your music scroll by as it plays. This is called 'tracking' and is very useful for finding that one wrong note that always pops up. To use this set of playback commands, you press the ALT key in conjunction with any of the other playback keys. The fourth set is merely a combination of the second and third sets. By pressing CTRL, you can play just the current track and also track through your piece. This is really quite helpful sometimes. *NOTE* You CAN enter notes and toggle tracks on/off while you are tracking with CTRL or ALT. However, don't expect entered notes to play. I may include this 'realtime record' function in the next version of The MultiTracker Module Editor. 3.6 Copying functions For convenience sake, there are many note copying and editing functions available to you in the main editor. The most basic of these are INSERT and DELETE, which rather obviously either insert or delete a note at the current cursor position. You can also copy the current note/effect to the next line at the same time as moving down one note by pressing the single quotation mark (') on the note you wish to re-copy. A few slightly more complicated functions involve marking parts of the tracks and either altering these parts or copying these parts to other places in the music. In order to mark a piece of a track, you may either press ALT-B to place the beginning marker and then ALT-E to place the end marker, or ALT-L to mark the entire track. There are many ways in which you can alter this block of notes. First of all, you can set every instrument number to the current editing instrument. You do this by pressing ALT-I. Second of all, you can transpose the notes in the section either by an octave or by the half-note. This is accomplished by either pressing ALT-S/ALT-W to decrement/increment the notes by a half-step, or by pressing ALT-A/ALT-Q to decrement/increment the notes by one full octave. Thirdly, you can erase every note in the block by pressing ALT-Z. *NOTE* All of these block-functions affect only the current editing track. The copying functions are also quite useful. The first of these copies the highlighted block onto the 'clipboard' in memory. This is done by pressing ALT-C. You can then overwrite another portion of any track with this clipboard data by pressing ALT-O at the appropriate track and note position. If you have a larger clipboard than the remainder of the track which you want to copy over, then the data will merely be truncated at the end of the track. Another copying function is enabled by pressing ALT-M. This will copy the current pattern to another pattern. This is useful since you will often need to make the next pattern in the sequence very similar to the last, merely containing a few variations to the melody and maybe some transposition. 3.7 Turning tracks on/off You may, from time to time, need to turn some tracks off and others on. This is very easy to do; you merely move to the track which you wish to toggle off/on and press the BACKSPACE key on your keyboard. Upon boot-up, the editor normally is set to only four tracks. However, you can obviously add more or take some away by pressing BACKSPACE on the appropriate track. Section IV - Using the Sample Menu ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 4.1 Loading a sample/patch Loading a sample is a fairly painless process. All you have to do is to hit the space bar. Once you have done this, a listing of files in your sample directory (which you should have specified while running the included setup program) will be displayed on the screen, with one highlighted. You may move around using the cursor keys and PAGE-UP/PAGE-DOWN and then choose the sample you wish to load by pressing ENTER on it. If you decide that you would rather not load a sample, you may press escape at any time to return to the Sample Menu. Several different types of sample files can be accurately loaded from the Sample Menu. You can load .RAW, .SAM files and any compatible file types. You may also load the General Midi Patches which come with the Gravis Ultrasound(tm) card. These patches are usually located in your ULTRASND directory. Each patch can be made up of several different samples, so you may be prompted as to which sample you would like to load into memory. Note that even if you own a SoundBlaster(tm) card, you may load Gravis format patches if you have them. Once you have a sample loaded, you may play it at any note by first moving over to the field with its name and then pressing the corresponding key. If you wish to change octaves, you may do that from the Sample Menu the same way in which you do it from the main editor. (equals/backslash) *NOTE* I you want to change the sample directory, just press F10. Then, enter the new directory without a final backslash. *NOTE* GUS patch loading is left out of the unregistered version of the editor. 4.2 Setting the loop points and standard volume If you wish to set the loop points of the sample, just move over to the desired field and type in the new loop position, ending with an ENTER. The same goes for the standard volume field. 4.3 Entering a sample name When you load a sample, the sample name is automatically changed to the sample's filename. You may, however, change this by pressing ENTER on the sample name field and then typing the new name. Like nearly any other input field in the editor, you can press escape if you decide against it half way through. 4.4 Inserting and deleting samples You may insert an empty sample anywhere in the list of samples by pressing the INSERT KEY. This moves all proceding samples up one space and clears the current sample. If sample number 31 is being used, this command will NOT work. The reason it will not work is for safety purposes; you probably would not want the last sample being deleted just because you had to insert an empty one. You can also delete samples, thereby freeing the memory which they take up. This is accomplished by moving to the sample number which you wish to delete and pressing the DELETE key. Doing this will also move all of the proceding samples back one sample number. 4.5 Toggling signed/unsigned data The MOD format originated on the AMIGA. Unfortunately, the AMIGA and PC use fundamentally different sample file formats. When loading a sample, the editor tries to figure out which of these formats you are using. The way it does this is if the sample filename extension is .SAM it will load the sample like an AMIGA sample. Anything else is loaded in the PC format. Every once in a while, you may load a sample which sounds horrendously noisy. This is most likely due to the editor not knowing that it should convert the sample. There is no way around this, since AMIGA and PC sample files do not look any different to your computer. However, if this occurs you may press ALT-T, and the computer will internally convert the format. 4.6 Saving a sample In order to save a sample, you must position the cursor over that sample number and press ALT-S. The program will then prompt you for a filename. The filename will have already been created from the first 8 letters of the sample name. However, you may change this to any valid name. MultiTracker saves in the .RAW format (or equivalent), so remember that you should probably use that extension when saving. Section V - Using the Sequencer (order editor) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 5.1 Creating a pattern To create a pattern, just press C in the sequencer. This will create a new pattern and also tack a new sequence on to the end of the order, setting it to the new pattern. 5.2 Inserting and deleting orders You can insert or delete orders at any point by pressing the INSERT or DELETE keys on any order number. The new order will be set to pattern number zero. Section VI - Miscellaneous ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 6.1 Song name Every module has a song name. You can edit this name by pressing ALT-F4 from the main editor. CTRL-F4 will clear the songname. 6.2 Song Message Every song has a special song message included with it. You can view or edit this message with the key combination ALT-F9. Once the message pops up in a window on top of the editor screen, you can either move up or down with the cursor keys, or edit the line you are on by pressing ENTER. 6.3 Palette editing (registered version only) If you have registered your copy of the editor, you can edit the palette configuration. This is done by pressing ALT-F10. Once in the palette editing window, you can choose between preset palettes or else edit each color individually. When you are done, hit escape or else go to the DONE message and hit ENTER. You can then save your current palette configuration to disk with ALT-F11. This new palette will then be used every time you run the editor program. 6.4 Pan Positions Every track has an intrinsic configurable panning position. Pressing CTRL-F9 will let you see a list of track numbers and their respective pan positions. You can then change a specific pan position with the left and right keys, or move to a different track with UP and DOWN. When you are done, you may hit ESCAPE to exit. 6.5 Loading and saving files You can load modules with the extensions MOD, 669, FAR and MTM. Merely press F11 anywhere in the editor to bring up a list of files, just like the list for loading samples. If you wish to change the module directory, you can press F9 at the main editor. Saving your modules is a little different. You must first press ALT-F12 to change the song filename. This filename should have the file extension .MTM if you wish to load it again with this program. Then, you can press F12 to save the module. If a module of the same name already exists, the editor will prompt you as to whether you really want to save over it. Additionally, the editor will often prompt you as to whether or not you would like to erase the unused patterns in your module. What this means is that you have created some patterns in the song which are not included in the order. These patterns (they are usually either unfinished patterns or ones which you decided did not fit into the song very well) take up extra memory in the saved MTM file. It is usually a good idea to get rid of them. The only side-effect of doing this is that it changes the numbering of your patterns, so you may not want to answer 'yes' until you have totally finished writing your module. 6.6 Clearing large amounts of data Obviously, you will sometimes need to start from scratch. You can wipe everything by pressing ALT-F8. Don't worry, it will ask if you really want to before erasing your whole module! Alternatively, you can erase only some of the module by pressing ALT-F1, ALT-F2, or ALT-F3 . These will wipe all of the instruments, a whole pattern, or the entire order, respectively. 6.7 Memory Indicators Unfortunately, modules eat up computer memory. A module can only be as large as the amount of free memory on your computer. For this reason, there is a memory indicator labelled "Free memory:". If you have a SoundBlaster(tm) compatible card, this is the amount of memory free on your computer; this memory must be used to store both pattern data and sample data. (sample data is nearly always the biggest thing) If you have a Gravis Ultrasound, then the free memory indicator tells how much memory is left on the GUS. This memory is used to store sample data only. You may ask how you can tell if you are going to run out of pattern data memory- however, pattern data takes up a very small amount of space, and you should never run into any problems for lack of that type of RAM. As a convenience, I have also included an indication of how large your module will be when finally saved to disk. This is labelled as "Disk memory" and can be very handy when you are trying to limit the size of your module for use in a demo, game, or anything else. Section VII - Closing ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Well, I hope that has covered all of the features of this editor. You can convert your music files to MOD's using the included MTM to MOD converter. They should convert perfectly, since the two formats are essentially the same. However, in the original version of the editor this program did not really work at all. It has since been fixed totally, at least to my knowledge. If you wish to contact me, you can call The Sound Barrier (Renaissance HQ) at either (718)979-6629 ot (718)979-9406 and leave mail to Daniel Goldstein. You can also contact me by name over the SBCNet. Additionally, you can send real mail to my PO Box if you can't swing the long distance bill, but don't expect me to necessarily reply; I can't deal with a large amount of reply mail due to the postage costs. Although we at Renaissance feel that the MultiTracker Module Editor is one of the best trackers around, we also believe in new releases. From time to time, I will be releasing new versions of the editor (all compatible with the original registration keys) with many new features. Some of these planned features include: · Speed Increases in playback routines (especially for the GUS) · More loaders for different music formats (ULT,S3M,OKT,etc.) · MIDI support · 16-bit samples usable by the GUS and compatible with the SB/SBPro · Greater thatn 64k samples for the SB/SBPro · SBPro panning · SB/SBPro Interpolation · Many more that I can't remember right now! Many of these features have been at least partially completed, so they will probably all be in future versions. I guess that's about it, so have fun! Daniel Goldstein a.k.a. StarScream/Ren'93 Section VIII - Reference ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 8.1 LISTING OF KEYS General ------- F1 Change to sample menu F2 Change to main editor F3 Change to order menu F5 Play Song F6 Loop from current order F7 Play Song from current note F8 Stop Playback ALT-F5 Track Song ALT-F6 Looping track Song from current order ALT-F7 Track Song from current note SHFT-F5 Play Song (editing voice only) SHFT-F6 Loop from current order (editing voice only) SHFT-F7 Play Song from current note (editing voice only) CTRL-F5 Track Song (editing voice only) CTRL-F6 Looping track from current order (editing voice only) CTRL-F7 Track Song from current note (editing voice only) ALT-F1 Clear all samples ALT-F2 Clear whole pattern ALT-F3 Clear whole order ALT-F4 Edit song name CTRL-F4 Clear song name ALT-F8 Clear whole song ALT-F9 Edit song message CTRL-F9 Edit pan positions ALT-F10 Edit palette (registered version only) ALT-F11 Save palette (registered version only) F9 Change song directory F10 Change sample directory F11 Load song F12 Save current song ALT-F12 Change song filename ALT-X Exit editor Main Editor ----------- = Minus one octave \ Plus one octave [ Decrement editing sample ] Increment editing sample SHFT-UP Decrement editing sample SHFT-DN Increment editing sample - Minus one order + Plus one order BKSPACE Toggle voice ON/OFF ' Copy last NOTE/EFFECT and move down one note `(tilda)Pick-up current sample number ALT-B Mark beginning of block ALT-E Mark end of block ALT-L Mark whole track ALT-C Copy marked area to clipboard (current track only) ALT-O Overwrite current track from cursor position with clipboard ALT-Q/A Increment/Decrement the octave of all marked notes in current track ALT-W/S Increment/Decrement all marked notes in current track by one half-step ALT-I Set the instrument numbers of all marked notes in this track to the current editing instrument ALT-Z Clear marked area in this track ALT-M Copy current pattern to another LEFT Move cursor left one section of a note RIGHT Move cursor right one section of a note UP Move cursor up one note DOWN Move cursor down one note PAGE-UP Move cursor up 16 notes PAGE-DN Move cursor down 16 notes CTRL-LT Move cursor left one voice CTRL-RT Move cursor right one voice KEYPD-/ Move left eight voices KEYPD-* Move right eight voices SHFT-TB Move cursor left one voice TAB Move cursor right one voice HOME Go to beginning of current track END Go to end of current track '?' Bring up a help screen listing these commands ALT-'/' Bring up a list of the Protracker effects ALT-X Exit from editor Sample Menu ----------- SPACE Load sample/GUS patch (patch loader only available in registered copy) ALT-S Save sample ENTER Edit sample name INSERT Insert a blank sample at cursor position DELETE Free current sample and move all samples ahead back one space ALT-T Toggle signed/unsigned sample data LEFT Move cursor left one section RIGHT Move cursor right one section UP Move cursor up one sample number DOWN Move cursor down one sample number '?' Bring up a help screen listing these commands Order Menu ---------- INSERT Insert an order here DELETE Delete this order 'C' Create a new pattern and append it onto the song as the last order UP Move back one order DOWN Move forwards one order '?' Bring up a help screen listing these commands 8.2 PROTRACKER EFFECTS *NOTE* In cooperation with the new pan position setting effect supported by the group Pentagon in their ZZPLAY GUS tracker, we have included the non-standard protracker extra effect E8 - set pan position. This is not a true Protracker effect. However, we hope that it will adopted into the next version of the Protracker format. 0xy Arpeggiation/No effect If xy=00 then this command means that there is no effect. Otherwise, this makes the current note quickly switch between three different pitches- the normal pitch of the note, the normal pitch plus x halfsteps, and the normal pitch plus y halfsteps. 1xx Portamento Up This slides the pitch of the current note upwards for the length of the pattern row at speed xx. Do not use this command to slide TO a note... If you need to do that, use command 3. 2xx Portamento Down This slides the pitch of the current note downwards for the length of the pattern row at speed xx. Do not use this command to slide TO a note... If you need to do that, use command 3. 3xx Portamento to Note This effect slides the pitch of the currently playing note towards the pitch of the note field associated with this effect. It slides at speed xx, much like effects 1 and 2. If xx=00, the pitch will continue to slide at the last slide speed used. Once either it hits the desired pitch or the current pattern row is over, the sliding will stop. 4xy Vibrato Does a vibrato effect on the currently playing note. It wavers the pitch of the currently playing note at speed x and depth y. If xy=00 then the currently playing note will vibrate at the last specified speed and depth. 5x0/50y Continue Portamento-to-Note while executing a Volume-Slide Continues the last Portamento-To-Note command (as if there was an effect 300 here) while also sliding the volume. Either x OR y should be specified- not both. If y=0 then the volume of the currently playing note will be slid upwards at speed x. Conversely, if x=0 then the volume will be slid downwards at speed y. 6x0/60y Continues Vibrato while executing a Volume-Slide Continues the last Vibrato command (as if there was an effect 400 here) while also sliding the volume. Either x OR y should be specified- not both. If y=0 then the volume of the currently playing note will be slid upwards at speed x. Conversely, if x=0 then the volume will be slid downwards at speed y. 7xy Tremolo (volume vibrato) Same as effect 4, but it vibrates the volume, rather than the pitch, of the currently playing note. 8?? Currently unused 9xx Set Sample Offset Starts the current note playing from xx * 256 bytes into the sample. Ax0/A0y Volume Slide Slides the volume of the currently playing note. Either x OR y should be specified- not both. If y=0 then the volume of the currently playing note will be slid upwards at speed x. Conversely, if x=0 then the volume will be slid downwards at speed y. Bxx Position Jump Jumps to order number xx. Cxx Set Volume Sets the volume of the currently playing sample to xx. xx must be from 0 to 40 hex. Any volume over 40 hex will be truncated to the maximum allowable volume. (40 hex, of course :) Dxx Pattern Break Jumps to the next order, note number xx. Exy Miscellaneous Effects The E effect is actually many effects, all with only one argument: y. The miscellaneous effect number is specified by x. These effects are listed below... x Description ─ ─────────── 0 Unused 1 Fine Portamento Up y=slide speed 2 Fine Portamento Down y=slide speed 3 UNSUPPORTED 4 Unused 5 Set Finetune y=finetune value y<7:positive 7<y<=F:negative I have purposely NOT let you change the finetuning of the various samples in the sample menu due to the evil Amiga nature of this effect. The editor is still compatible with this, so that it will be able to play older mods. However, I strongly urge you not to use it. If you need to finetune a sample, use a sample editor. 6 UNSUPPORTED 7 Unused 8 Set Pan Position left 0-F right center=7 9 Retrigger Note Restarts note at 'tick' number y. Ticks are 50ths of a sec. A Fine Volume Slide Up Adds y to the current note's volume B Fine Volume Slide Down Subtracts y from the current note's volume C Cut note Cuts off note at 'tick' number y. Ticks are 50ths of a sec. D Note Delay Waits until 'tick' number y to play the current note. Ticks are 50ths of a second. E Pattern Delay Delays playback of pattern for y notes. F Unused Fxx Set Tempo Sets the playback speed of the current song. If xx<20 hex then xx specifies the number of 'ticks' per note. One tick=one 50th of a second. If xx>19 hex then xx is the number of 'beats' played per minute. One 'beat' consists of four notes.