Belgian Amiga Club - ADF Collection/BS1 part 34.zip/BS1 part 34/Future Composer v1.0.adf/Future.doc

Text File | 2018-01-18 | 19KB | 525 lines

******************************************************************
***      Here are the indispensable instructions for the       ***
***                                                            ***
***                 Amiga FUTURE COMPOSER V1.0                 ***
***                                                            ***
***       --  The future of amiga music is synthetic  --       ***
***                                                            ***
******************************************************************


The FUTURE-COMPOSER was written by SUPERSERO of THE SUPERIONS,
mainly because sidmon was lame and disappointing.

The FUTURE-COMPOSER is build around the THALION music replay routine,
which originates in DAVID WHITTAKER'S replayer from the game ASTAROTH.

On this disk you can find the sound-modules from the games ASTAROTH and
CHAMBERS OF SHAOLIN (and a another tune by thalion).
All the modules can ofcourse be loaded into the FUTURE-COMPOSER, where you
can play or edit the tunes. You can ofcourse also grab instruments for
your own musics.

The replayer has been optimized, and the portamento routine has been
totally rewritten. All portamento action in the modules has ofcourse been
changed to work with the new portamento routine.





INTRODUCTION TO THE FUTURE-COMPOSER.
------------------------------------
The Future-composer is not just another soundtracker, it's more like the
competition that will wipe it out!
This is because the future-composer has some great advantages compared
to the soundtracker, the main advantage being its ability to produce
SYNTHETIC SOUNDS! (and of course still being able to use samples).
The building and sequencing of patterns is also far more flexible, and
less memory consuming. The synthsounds does not take up much memory
either, making the soundmodules relative short. The use of samples will
ofcourse make the soundmodules bigger, but as the most samples (with the
exception of drums, speech etc.) can be replaced by a synthsound, the
soundmodules will probably never reach the immense size of a soundtracker
module.


NOTE!
If you haven't seen the future-composer yet, i recommend that you do it now
in order to get an overview and thus being able to follow the rest of
the explanation/instructions more easily!



The FUTURE-COMPOSER is build up differently than the legendary SOUNDTRACKER.
Instead of only 1 screen, It consists of 3 screens:

1: The MAIN SCREEN.
-------------------
This is the screen you are presented with when the program starts.
Here you control the DISK functions (load, save & dir),
the pattern SEQUENCER, the replay SPEED, the SAMPLEINFO, and of course
the swithching to the two other screens.

2: The PATTERN EDITOR.
----------------------
Here you can of course edit the patterns, as the name implies.
Four patterns can be edited simultaniously, and 128 patterns
are available for your piece of music.

3: The SOUND EDITOR.
--------------------
On this screen you can edit the VOLUME-Modulation and FREQUENCE-Modulation,
which basicly are what the synthsounds are made of.


GENERAL NOTE!
On all three screens in the future-composer, you will see some black boxes
with white numbers in them.
These numbers can all be changed by moving the mousepointer into the boxes
and then press the left mousebutton. The flashing cursor will then be in the
box, and you simply type the new number. That could for an example be the
repeatlength of a sample, or the source/destination for the copy routine.
ALL inputs are in hexadecimal !!!

Also the text in the long black boxes above and below the dir window (which
are the filename and the dirpath) can be changed the same way the numbers could be
be changed (but of course you can type text instead of just hex numbers).






MAIN-SCREEN.
------------
On the upper part of the screen, just below the colorful FUTURE COMPOSER logo,
you will find the pattern SEQUENCER.
Above the sequencer window is some strange text: SP  PT TR ST  and RS.
This indicates what info the coloumn below contains.
SP = STEP
PT = PATTERN
TR = TRANSPOSE
ST = SOUND TRANSPOSE
RS = REPLAY SPEED

A pattern sequence is a number of STEPS long.
For each STEP, a PATTERN, a TRANSPOSE value, and a SOUND TRANSPOSE value
must be entered for all 4 sound channels.

It is possible to change the REPLAY SPEED for each step.
If the REPLAY SPEED = 0, the speed will not be changed.
If the REPLAY SPEED = 0 in the first step, then the replay speed will be
set to the default value 3 !!!

The PATTERN number is simply the pattern that should be played.

The TRANSPOSE value is a number that is added to ALL the notes in the
pattern, giving you the possibility to play a pattern, a number of halfnotes
higher or lower than the original values entered in the pattern.

The SOUND TRANSPOSE is a number that is added to the instrument, giving
you the possibility to play a pattern with different instruments
(normally you would have to make two patterns with equal notes, but diffe-
rent instruments).


Next to the sequencer window, you will find 6 icons labelled:
PLAY  STOP  LOAD  SAVE  TYPE  QUIT.

PLAY will start playing the sequence, from the position entered in the
box called FIRST STEP, and restart when the sequence position entered in
the box called LAST STEP, has been played.

STOP will stop playing.

LOAD will load the filename entered in the box above the text 'filetype',
from the directory path entered in the box below the directory window.
Three filetypes can be loaded: SYNTHSOUND  SAMPLE  MODULE.

TYPE:
When you press this icon, you will change between the 3 filetypes:
SYNTHSOUND, SAMPLE, and MODULE  (Shown in the box called 'filetype')
Before you load anything, you must make sure that the filetype is right.
The first 4 bytes of a modules is 'SMOD' and the first 4 bytes of a
soundfile is 'SYNT'. After one of these files have been loaded the program
checks if the filetype is correct, and if not, the action will be aborted.
If the filetype is SAMPLE, anything will ofcourse be accepted as a sample.

QUIT will simply quit the program (and return to CLI).


To the right of the filetype display, is a box with a number in it.
This has nothing! to do with the filetype.
This is the synthsound number. That means if you want to load or save
the synthsound to/from volume-modulation-sequence #06, you must enter the
number 06 in the box (the synthsound number is the same as the volume-seq-
uence number. See the explanation of the sound-editor).
This can be done with the mouse+keys 0-9  or  keypad keys: 7 and 8


On the left, below the sequencer window, are the boxes in which you must
enter FIRST STEP and LAST STEP.
You can also enter a number in CURRENT STEP, which will result in a jump
to the position you entered (editor mode only).

Pressing the icon with the red text 'EDIT PATTERNS' will switch to the
PATTERN-EDITOR screen.

Pressing the icon with the red text 'EDIT SOUNDS' will switch to the
SOUND-EDITOR screen.

Between the two icons with red text, you can find the sample info.
SAMPLE NR. is the sample number, and is a number from 0-9
(only 10 samples can be used!).
Sample LENGTH is automatically entered by the program when a sample has
been loaded, but you can change it in case you only want some of the sample
to be played.
The maximal size of a sample is 32768 bytes. If you load a larger sample,
the rest will be cut off.
START is an offset. That means, a value that is added to the start-address
of the sample, and the result is a new startaddress.
If you only want to play the last $0300 bytes of a $0400 bytes sample,
you simply set the START to $0100.
REPLENGTH (repeatlength) is the number of bytes in a sample that should
be played again, every time the sample has been played.
Is used to make loops on samples.
The minimum value of the REPLENGTH is $0002 !!!, and the value must always
be an even value.

In the lower right side of the screen you can find the DIRECTORY window,
the FILENAME, and the DIRPATH.
To get a directory from the disk, you must enter a dirpath.
6 icons have preset dirpaths. DF0:  DF0:SOUNDS/  DF0:MODULES/
                              DF1:  DF1:SOUNDS/  DF1:MODULES/
But you can enter any dirpath by typing it in the dirpath-box.
When the dirpath is ok, press the icon 'DIR' and the directory will be
read from the disk and printed in the directory window, which is just to
the left of the 'DIR' icon.
If the directory contains more than 7 files, you can see the other files
by pressing the arrows above and below the 'DIR' icon.

The seventh icon 'CLEAR' will simply clear the filename.

To enter a filename, you can either type it in the filenamebox or just
press a name in the directory window (it will the be transfered to the
filenamebox.
The filenamebox is placed just above the filetypebox which is just above
the directory window.







SOUND-EDITOR.
-------------
In order to get any sound out of this program, you need to use this editor.
First you edit the volume-sequence, as this contains most of the data for
the sound, as well as the volume(s).
On screen in the editor is a list of all the sequence-commands, and a list
of which bytes contains what data, but here they are once more (explained
more thoroughly)


VOLUME MODULATION SEQUENCE:
The following data must be in every volume modulation sequence!

Byte 0: Sequence execution speed.
Byte 1: Which Frequence modulation sequence to use.
Byte 2: Vibrato speed
Byte 3: Vibrato amplitude
Byte 4: Delay before vibrato start
Byte 5: Initial volume

These bytes are sound DATA. All values from Byte 6-63 are VOLUME only,
except when it is a COMMAND.
The volume modulation sequence has 3 commands.
END      Byte value E1
LOOP     Byte value E0, value of next byte is the position to loop to.
SUSTAIN  Byte value E8, value of next byte is the sustain time.

Now it is time for some examples:
---------------------------------
VOL.SEQ1: 01 00 01 02 00 3f e1

VOL.SEQ2: 01 00 01 02 00 3f 38 30 28 20 18 10 e8 20 18 20 28 30 38 3f e1

VOL.SEQ3: 01 00 01 02 00 3f 38 30 28 20 18 10 e8 20 18 20 28 30 38 e0 05

In seq1 the volume is $3f at all time.
In seq2 the volume varies from $3f to $10 in steps of 8, then sustains the
volume at the value $10 for 20 frames, then goes up to $3f again, in
steps of 8. The volume will remain at $3f for the rest of the time.
In seq3 the volume will be as in seq2, but instead of remaining at $3f, it
will loop to position #5, and thus repeat the sequence.

The seq. execution speed equals the time between change of volume.



FREQUENCE MODULATION SEQUENCE:
In the beginning of a frequence-modulation sequence you always need to
select a waveform (the sound itself). SAMPLES are treated as waveforms,
and therefore the samples also needs modulation sequences to be played.
The following data must be in the beginning of every freq.sequence:
e2 XX or e4 XX , Where XX is the waveform number.
-----    -----
The waveform-numbers from $00 to $09 are reserved for samples.
The waveform-numbers from $0a to $36 are for the synthsounds.
$0a-$19 = Sine waves
$1a-$31 = Square waves
$32-$33 = Sawtooth

All values from Byte 2-63 are TRANSPOSE values,
except when it is a COMMAND.
The frequence modulation sequence has 7 commands.
END             Byte value E1
LOOP            Byte value E0, the next byte is the position to loop to.
SET WAVEFORM    Byte value E2, the next byte is the waveform number.
CHANGE WAVEFORM Byte value E4, the next byte is the new waveform number.
NEW VIBRATO     Byte value E3, the two next bytes are Speed & Amplitude.
SUSTAIN         Byte value E8, the next byte is the sustain time.
NEW SEQUENCE    Byte value E7, the next byte is the freq.modulation sequence
to jump to. This way you can have very a comprehensive frequence modulation
and get some nice effects. Also used for strings.

To hear/play a sound:
Ofcourse you must first make a sound (or load one from the SOUNDS dir).
Then press the icon PLAY or the 0 key on the keypad.
Now you can no longer edit the sequences, but you can play the sound
using the keyboard.
The keys F1-F3 selects octaves. F1=1&2 F2=2&3 F3=3&4
Two octaves can be played simultaniously.
The upper part of the keyboard is the higher octave, and the lower part
of the keyboard is the lower octave.

The notes have been assigned to the same keys as in the soundtracker.

The higher octave:
qwertyu = the notes  C  D  E  F  G  A  B
23567   = the notes  C# D#    F# G# A#

The lower octave:
zxcvbnm = the notes  C  D  E  F  G  A  B
sdghj   = the notes  C# D#    F# G# A#

The note B equals the note H !!!
Some countries use B, others use H.


To hear/play other sounds you can press the keys 7&8 on the keypad
to decrease/increase the soundnumber (volume modulation sequence number).
To see the sound's frequence modulation sequence, you can press the
keys 4&5 on the keypad to decrease/increase the sequencenumber until it
matches the one in the second byte of the volume modulation sequence.

To stop playing a sound, press the STOP icon, or press the ENTER key on
the keypad.
To switch between the frequence and the volume sequence, press RETURN.
Use cursor keys to move the flashing cursor.
Use backspace to delete the number on the left of the cursor.
Use F9 and F10 to delete/insert a byte.








THE PATTERN EDITOR:
This is probably where the future-composer differs most from the soundtracker.
In the future-composer, a PATTERN is 32 steps long, and is only for one
channel unlike the soundtracker's which is for all 4 channels.
That does not mean that you can only use 1 soundchannel, because in the
SEQUENCER on screen 1, you tell each soundchannel which pattern to play.
Four patterns are shown on screen, though. But this is only to help you
get an overview if, let's say, you use 4 different patterns in a sequence.
There's a number above each pattern. This is the pattern number you use in
the sequencer. The number/pattern can be changed by placing the pointer over
the number and press left mouse button. The cursor will now be over the
number, and you simply type in the new number.
The numbers can also be changed by pressing the 7-8, 4-5, 1-2, 0-. keys on
the keypad (without having used the mouse).


CONTENTS OF A PATTERN:
----------------------

               E-2  01
               ---  00
               ---  00
               C#1  03
               \ /  \|
                |    \__Info byte (HEXADECIMAL).
              Note.


Note:     This is simply the note that is played with the instrument
-----     defined in the lower 5 bits of the info-byte.

Info:     This byte contains the instrument number and portamento info.
-----
This is the functions of the 8 bits:
Bit 7   = Portamento ON  (Hex value $80)
Bit 6   = Portamento OFF (Hex value $40)
Bit 5   = no function. Always set to 0
Bit 4-0 = Instrument number (= Volume sequence number)

VERY IMPORTANT NOTE:
When you select portamento ON, TWO infobytes are used.
The one next to the note, and the one below the first infobyte.

EXAMPLE:  C#1 80 <-- infobyte #1
          --- 23 <-- infobyte #2
          --- 00
          --- 00
          --- 40


In the example note C#1 is played with instrument 0, portamento is ON
Portamento speed = 3, and the portamento direction is down.
After a short period of time, the portamento stops ($40).
The portamento also stops if a new note is played!

In infobyte #2, the lower 5 bits (bit 0-4) determines the portamento speed.
Bit 5 equals the portamento direction. If the bit=0 then the direction is
up. If the bit=1 then the direction is down.

The instrument number equals the Volume sequence number. If the instru-
ment number is 04 then volume-sequence 04 is used!

In the pattern editor you can press the keys F6 and F7 to decrease/increase
the note values in the pattern.
If the note C-2 is increased, it will become C#2.
If the note C-2 is decreased, it will become B#1.

The keys F9 and F10 are used to delete/insert a note.
DELETE will move all notes below the cursor, one step up.
INSERT will move all notes from the cursor-position, one step down.

COPYING one pattern to another:
Right next to the COPY icon, you must enter the source and destination
patterns, and the press the COPY icon.





The Playroutine.
----------------
The Playroutine on the Future-composer disk is for using your music in demos,
intros, games etc.  It was written using the Seka-assembler and the source of
the routine can directly be incorporated in your sourcecode.
Load the source of the playroutine with the SEKA-assembler. Assemble, then
load your module into the label 'MODULE'.

How to play a song:
-------------------
To initialize:
                bsr INIT_MUSIC

To play:
                bsr PLAY_MUSIC  (Once every frame)

To stop:
                bsr END_MUSIC




Here is a list of the key-functions for each of the three screens.
(The cursorkeys are used on all 3 screens to move the flashing cursor)


                                MAIN SCREEN:
                                ------------

F6 = Set sequence copy START
F7 = Set sequence copy END
F8 = COPY sequences from START to END to cursor-position

F9 = Delete sequence  (Moves all sequences below cursorpos. one step up)
F10 = Insert sequence (Moves all sequences from cursorpos. one step down)

Keypad 7 = Decrease Synthsound number (Next to FILETYPE)
Keypad 8 = Increase Synthsound number (Next to FILETYPE)
Keypad 4 = Decrease Sample number
Keypad 5 = Increase Sample number

Keypad ENTER = set current step to 0

When the music is playing:  Cursor down = Fast forward


                              PATTERN EDITOR:
                              ---------------

F1 = Select octave 1
F2 = Select octave 2
F3 = Select octave 3
F4 = Select octave 4

F6 = All notes in current pattern one halfnote down
F7 = All notes in current pattern one halfnote up

F9 = Delete note  (Moves all notes below cursorpos. one step up)
F10 = Insert note (Moves all notes from cursorpos. one step down)

DEL = Delete note under cursor (No moving is done)

Keypad 7 = Decrease Pattern1 number
Keypad 8 = Increase Pattern1 number
Keypad 4 = Decrease Pattern2 number
Keypad 5 = Increase Pattern2 number
Keypad 1 = Decrease Pattern3 number
Keypad 2 = Increase Pattern3 number
Keypad 0 = Decrease Pattern4 number
Keypad . = Increase Pattern4 number

qwertyu = the notes  C-x  D-x  E-x  F-x  G-x  A-x  B-x
23 567  = the notes  C#x  D#x       F#x  G#x  A#x
(Where x is the selected octave)


                             SOUND EDITOR:
                             -------------

F9 = delete byte from modulation sequence
F10 = insert byte in modulation sequence

Keypad 0 = Playmode ON

Keypad 7 = Decrease volume sequence number
Keypad 8 = Increase volume sequence number
Keypad 4 = Decrease frequence sequence number
Keypad 5 = Increase frequence sequence number

RETURN = Switch between Volume and Frequence modulation sequence edit


WHEN PLAYMODE = ON:
The following keys are used for playing different notes with the current
sound in the selected octaves.

The higher octave:
qwertyu = the notes  C  D  E  F  G  A  B
23 567  = the notes  C# D#    F# G# A#

The lower octave:
zxcvbnm = the notes  C  D  E  F  G  A  B
sd ghj  = the notes  C# D#    F# G# A#

F1 = Select octaves 1 and 2
F2 = Select octaves 2 and 3
F3 = select octaves 3 and 4

Keypad ENTER  = Playmode OFF

Keypad 7 = Decrease volume sequence number
Keypad 8 = Increase volume sequence number
Keypad 4 = Decrease frequence sequence number
Keypad 5 = Increase frequence sequence number