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Software 2000 Volume 1 (Disc 1 of 2).iso
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lyrharp
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lyr.doc
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1987-08-08
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Amiga stringed instument simulator: Apr 20 87
L Y R (0.10)
"I believe it is the best work which a human being
so far has achieved on earth"
-- C. F. Zimmermann on his creation, the Autoharp
1) Uses serial MIDI communications e.g. Mimetics, Golden Hawk, ECE etc.
Only MIDI Out is currently used. ( As a matter of fact, there are
no plans whatsoever to take in MIDI input, except perhaps for
sequence information.)
2) Load a instrument from the File Menu, (or use Amiga-L), punch a chord key
and strum the harp strings with the mouse. "AHarp.lyr" is the default
instrument.
The horizontal co-ordinate becomes the Velocity of the note
(and for some instruments, pitch-bend and controller info as well.)
Notes are turned off when:
> A Chordbar damps the string,
> A fingering changes on the string,
> A New FKey or is hit,
> Loading a new instrument (Amiga-L),
> The Algorithm "rolls over" - each configuration allows only
the last "n" notes to be sustained, so that synths with bad
voice stealing algorithms may successfully be run and so
"Monophonic" modes on some synths may be played. For now,
the rollover number is part of the name of the Fkey, but will
be independent.
> QUIT, Amiga-Q or the close gadget it used.
2) Keyboard Keys select chords and fingerings
Chords Damp the strings like chord bars
Fingerings Fret the strings as with a guitar
3) File Menu should only get the files which have .lyr as extensions:
Here are some Keyboard maps:
Aharp.lyr --- 36 string Autoharp simulator - 23 chords
arranged so:
Q-Eb W-Bb E-F R-C T-G Y-D U-A I-E O-B P-F# [-C# ]-G#m
A-F7 S-C7 D-G7 F-D7 G-A7 H-E7 J-B7 K-F#7 L-C#7 ;-G#7 '-D#7
Z-Bb7 X-Fm C-Cm V-Gm B-Dm N-Am M-Em ,-Bm .-F#m /-C#m
SpaceBar- Shutup \- open chord
All of these chords are more complicated than here described.
Shifting makes three 'Drone strings' 1 octave higher.
Most.lyr -- 62 string harp - (full range of 61-key keyboard)
Z-Closed
X-Open
C-C Harmonics (12-tone approximations)
V-C Diatonic Scale
B-CMaj (as on a Harmonica)
B-B07 (ditto)
SpaceBar - Closed
the second row (a-h) creates a c-diatonic scale for the aforementioned chords,
the third row (q-y) forces the bottom octave to be all c's
" pitch bend " is enabled here as well - left sharpens, right flattens
Max.lyr -- 127 string harp - ( every MIDI Note )
Wowee! try your weirdest patches here.
Z-closed X-open c-c harmonics
SpaceBar-closed
" Pitch bend " is here as in most.lyr
Banjo.lyr --- 5-string banjo
( 3-finger chords on ASDFG..., just the top string on ZXCVB.... )
Shifted chords removes the drone G-string
Also:
6-guit.Lyr --- 6 6-string guitars (chords like Aharp)- on each of the
first six channels.
Split.lyr --- every other string alternates between Channel 0 and Channel 1.
Pitchbend and velocity go in opposite directions!
Remember: Dx7's have 16 voices, most others have 8 or 6.
Velocity (touch) sensitivity can be controlled unbelievably well -
try to use a synth that has "touch-sensitivity".
4) The Fkeys will change the patch number and Number of strings before
"rollover" damping occurs. Sorry that the patch numbers only
make sense to my setup, but you can always re-select by hand.
Shifting the Fkeys brings you another set...
5) Of the other menus, Quit works ( as does the close gadget)
FKEY will tell you about the FKey settings, and selects them.
Clear also works, but is not yet needed.
Display Menu turns on and off the strings, or the Labels
(Response is better without the strings)
6) The Numeric Pad has a few goodies tucked into it:
1 - Strumming acts like a normal fingerpick.
2 - Moving the mouse after button-down will continuously strum to
the button-down spot.
3 - Strum wiggles +/- 8 pixels from the mouse's position.
. - Triggered Mouse-down toggle. When on, the next mouse down
stays on continuously, allowing Trackballs to be more useful.
Hit it again, to turn it off with the next mouse-down.(you may need
to hit a different key first. LYR ignores multiple hits on the same
keys generally).
7) Sequences: in the Mode Menu, you may select Live or Sequenced.
Sequenced is still rather underdeveloped, but you may do two
kinds of sequencing: Drawing directly on the screen with mouse
movements or clicking on a spot in the time-bar and strumming the
LYR. Speed is controlled by the left and right arrow keys (hold
shift down while using them to repeat). While it plays, it also
sends MIDI-Clocks to drive Drum-machines (poorly) . Up arrow sends
"MIDI-Seq-Stop" and down arrow sends "MIDI-Seq-Start." BackSpace
erases the sequence entirely, and TAB stops the clock so you may
answer the phone.
8) Sequences may be loaded (default is "Some.seq") and saved.
9) ALL NOTES OFF (which sends MIDI-All-notes-off and offs all notes that
it knows of, as well as resetting pitchbend on all channels) is in
the MIDI-Menu and is also AMIGA-/ (a one hand operation) .
10) Note the NEWCLI menuitem. You can bop into CLI (if you have it) and do
Dirs and Makedirs and Infos and avails to your heart's content.
11) Some stuff now cooking includes:
> Editing of all instruments and instrument files.
Probably both 'interactively' and via a 'LYR compiler' which
will allow better documentation of the LYR instrument.
> A better "Strum Sequencer" and file system:
featuring Multi-Tracking, pattern chaining, cut/paste, zoom,
timing control, maybe external synch, MIDI-song pointers and
similar goodies.
> SYSEX configuration file sent with each channel- so channel
numbers will be guaranteed to match the voices for the channel.
(Sysex files are easily created with DXFer, another program)
> Speedier mouse following and string drawing.
> More "instruments" including:
12-string Guitar, Harmonica, Pedal Harp
Banjo, Mandolin, Violin, Percussion, Scrambled...
Sequences too, naturally.
11) This version even works under Workbench. Just hit the LYR icon.
12) This version also Multi-tasks. I can run 3 copies in 512 K.
They run pretty slow , tho, cuz I don't Wait for the mouse or
the timer, which drags the multi-tasking. This will change.
Written in CSI Multi-Forth, by
J Henry H Lowengard CIS 76625,2425
(212) 675-6046
43 W 16th Street Apt 2D
N Y C 10011
THE LYR LICENSING AGREEMENT:
BE FRUITFUL AND MULTIPLY. Don't sell it, give it away.
Nothing is guaranteed to work and at those prices, who's
complaining? Besides, a better one will be along soon.
Release numbers refer to the File formats, not software levels.
"Autoharp" is a registered trademark of Washburn International, who have an
attitude similar to that of Xerox and Kleenex.
If any rights remain to this program, I suppose they are mine. This
program may be re-written in a totally different language, so future
versions may not sport the "CSI Multi-Forth" Credit. They will be nonetheless
legitimate versions.