Large Pack of OldSkool DOS MOD Trackers

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DOCUMENTATION █ █ █ ▀▀▀█▀▀▀ ▀▀▀▀▀▄ █▀▀▀▀█ █ █ █ █ █ ▄▄▄▀ █ ▄▄▄█ █▄▄▄ █ █▄▄▄▄ █ █ ▀▄▄ █ █ ▀▀▀█▀▀▀ ▀▀▀▀▀▄ █▀▀▀▀█ █▀▀▀▀ █ ▄▀ █▀▀▀ ▀▀▀▀▀▄ █ █ ▄▄▄▀ █ ▄▄▄█ █ ██ █▄▄ █ ▄▄▄▀ █ █ ▀▄▄ █ █ █▄▄▄▄ █ ▀▄ █▄▄▄ █ ▀▄▄ -= VERSION - I.VI =- - - -- (C)1993-1994 by MAS of Prophecy -- - - Coded by Marc André Schallehn Translation done by MAS & The Elven Nation All mentioned Trademarks and Copyrights are registered by their respective owners. ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── ULTRA TRACKER DOCUMENTATION Page 1993,94 by MAS of Prophecy 2 ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── TABLE OF CONTENTS: ------------------ Cover page..................................... Page 1 Table of contents.............................. Page 2 I. ULTRA TRACKER ? What the heck is that ?........ Page 4 1.1. System requirements....................... Page 4 1.2. The installation of UT.................... Page 4 1.3. Brief info................................ Page 4 1.4. Where the newest version can be found ?... Page 5 1.5. Contact adresses.......................... Page 5 1.6. Problems and solutions.................... Page 5 II. The desktop of Ultra Tracker................... Page 6 1. The menues................................ Page 6 1.1. FILE...................................... Page 6 1.2. EDIT...................................... Page 6 1.3. SAMPLE.................................... Page 8 1.4. PLAY...................................... Page 9 1.5. QUIT...................................... Page 9 1.6. INFO...................................... Page 9 1.7. SETUP..................................... Page 10 1.8. ABOUT..................................... Page 10 1.9. HELP...................................... Page 11 1.95 EFFECT.................................... Page 11 2. The editor................................ Page 11 3. The display fields........................ Page 12 4. The trackdisplay.......................... Page 13 5. The keyboard lay-out...................... Page 14 5.1. The keyboard.............................. Page 14 5.2. Other keys (see key_list.txt)............. Page 15 6.0. The filesystem............................ Page 16 III. Noteslot, effects etc.......................... Page 17 1. The noteslot.............................. Page 17 1.1. Effectexplanation......................... Page 17 2. The effects............................... Page 18 IV. 1. Explanation of concepts................... Page 22 1.1. Samples................................... Page 22 1.2. Patterns.................................. Page 22 1.3. Channel/track............................. Page 22 1.4. GUS or Gravis Ultrasound.................. Page 23 1.5. Registration.............................. Page 23 V. The sampleeditor "ULTRA WAVE".................. Page 24 1.1. The editor................................ Page 24 1.2. Functions................................. Page 25 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── ULTRA TRACKER DOCUMENTATION Page 1993,94 by MAS of Prophecy 3 ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── VI. Other.......................................... Page 26 1. Bugs...................................... Page 26 2. What is being planned for the next release ?................................. Page 26 3. Special thanks !.......................... Page 27 4. Whats permitted with the shareware version ?................................. Page 27 VII. Registration................................... Page 28 1.1. How would I benefit from registration ?... Page 28 1.2. What do I get as a registered user ?...... Page 28 1.3. How does one register ?................... Page 29 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── ULTRA TRACKER DOCUMENTATION Page 1993,94 by MAS of Prophecy 4 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── I. ULTRA TRACKER ? What the heck is that ? ------------------------------------------ ULTRA TRACKER is a music program, that allows you to create tunes with up to 32 tracks at once. ULTRA TRACKER utilizes digital samples as instruments, which can either be 8bit or 16bit. 16bit samples will help your tune sounds as clear as your CD-player. 1.1. What do I need to run Ultra Tracker ? ------------------------------------------ System requirements: - IBM PC/AT or compatible - Gravis Ultrasound Soundkarte (with at least 256KB RAM installed) - VGA display adapter (with at least 256KB RAM installed) - at least 256KB free base memory - EMS or XMS driver (e.g. QEMM386, HIMEM.SYS, ...) - about 600KB free harddisk space - a Microsoft or compatible mouse & installed mouse driver 1.2. The installation of UT: ---------------------------- Copy all files to the directroy, you wish UT to run from (Example C:\ULTRA). Then start UltraTracker with: C:\ULTRA>ultra [CR] You will get a command line help by using the following switch: C:\ULTRA>ultra -? [CR] ([CR] = enterkey) 1.3. Brief info: ---------------- ULTRA TRACKER was coded by Marc André Schallehn ! All copyrights retain to Marc André Schallehn. The coder of ULTRA TRACKER takes no responsibility for any damage, caused by using the program. It has been extensively tested on various machine makes and models, but no guarantees are made for the functionality of this program. Use it at your own risk (But dont worry, nothing has happend to me yet :)) ). ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── ULTRA TRACKER DOCUMENTATION Page 1993,94 by MAS of Prophecy 5 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── 1.4. Where can the latest version be found ? -------------------------------------------- (read support.ut) 1.5. I have a question, how can I reach you ? --------------------------------------------- Fido Net: Marc Schallehn @ 2:2480/76.3 Internet: mas@doit.fido.de Or by mail: Marc Schallehn Camerloherstr. 141 80689 Muenchen Germany 1.6. Problems and solutions: ---------------------------- Problem: "My mouse cursor only goes to the 25th line !" Cause: You have an outdated mouse driver. Solution: Get a newer copy of the mouse driver for your mouse. Two mouse drivers that are known to work are : (Logitech driver v6.20 and Microsoft Driver v8.11) Problem: "UT hangs just after the start !" Cause: Perhaps caused by a wrong setting of ULTRASND ! Solution: Start UT with a switch. ultra [switch] Start UT with " ultra -?" to get a command line help ! Also see ULTRA.FAQ ! ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── ULTRA TRACKER DOCUMENTATION Page 1993,94 by MAS of Prophecy 6 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── II. The desktop of ULTRA TRACKER -------------------------------- 1. The Menues: -------------- │·─────────────────────────────────────...─────────────────────────────·│ │ FILE EDIT SAMPLE PLAY INFO EFFECT HELP SETUP ABOUT QUIT │ ├──────────────────────────────────────...──────────────────────────────┤ By means of a simple click with the mouse, one can shift between different menu selections. If you click on FILE for example, then different menu selections will appear in the menu window, all of which have to do with FILE options (Load,Save). The same applies to the other menu selections. The following menue selections can be chosen: 1.1 FILE ---------- LOAD SONG: Load a song file from the song directory. UT supports the following module formats: MOD, 669, FAR, MTM, S3M, ULT. SAVE SONG: Saves current song to the song directory. (The song is stored in UTs own format with the extension ULT. It is compareable to the well known MOD format, but has many new features.) DOS SHELL: Shells to the dos environment. Type EXIT to return to UT. CLEAR ALL: Ereases everything you have entered so far and starts fresh. CLEAR SAMPLES: Ereases all samples. CLEAR TEXT: Ereases the song text. CLEAR SEQUENCE: Ereases the pattern sequence. CLEAR PATTERNS: Ereases all patterns. 1.2 EDIT: ----------- NEW PATTERN: Creates a new pattern on every track. DEL PATTERN: Deletes the last pattern of all open tracks. NEW TRACK: Opens a new track. DEL TRACK: Ereases the last respective track. EDIT ON/OFF: Shifts editing mode on and off. UNDO: Undo last block function. CHANGE SONGNAME: A new name of the song can be given here (max. 32 characters). ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── ULTRA TRACKER DOCUMENTATION Page 1993,94 by MAS of Prophecy 7 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── UNMARK BLOCK: Unmarks the previously marked block. ("The block is considered not marked !") START BLOCK: Marks the beginning of a block at the actual cursor position. END BLOCK: Marks the end of a block at the actual cursor position. MARK TRACK: Marks the whole actual track. COPY BLOCK: Copies the marked block to the actual cursor position. CUT BLOCK: Cuts all the data within a marked block. MIX BLOCK: Same as COPY BLOCK, but only "empty noteslots" are overwritten and as a result the block is mixed with the actual position onwards. BLOCK VOLUME: Percental change of the volume within a block. (Value < 100 => block gets softer) (Value > 100 => block gets louder) EFFECT COPY: Same as COPY BLOCK, but only effects are copied. (Not note and samplenumber !) EFFECT CLEAR: Ereases all effects from a block. EFFECT SLIDE: This command looks at the start value and the end value of an effect and calculates the interlaced values within a marked block. COPY PATTERN: Copies the current pattern into another pattern. PAN POSITION: Pan your tracks to the right position. (You can use effect B to change the PAN-POSITION within the tune) ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── ULTRA TRACKER DOCUMENTATION Page 1993,94 by MAS of Prophecy 8 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── 1.3 SAMPLE ---------- LOAD SAMPLE: Load a new sample from the sample directory into the GUS's onboard memory. Following sampleformats are supported: SND, WAV, FSM, IFF, PAT, UWF und RAW ! (RAW = sampledata only, no header) SAVE SAMPLE: Save a sample to the sample directory. In order to load it again, be sure the option SIGNED is turned on. SAVE UWF FILE: Save a sample to the sample directory in the UWF format. All kind of info is saved to the file (eg. loops, volume etc.). REMOVE SAMPLE: Ereases the chosen sample from your tune. CHANGE SMPNAME: Change the name of the chosen sample. (32 characters) SAMPLE LOOP START: Here, the starting point of the sample-loop can be specified. SAMPLE LOOP END: Here, the ending point of the sample-loop can be specified. The ending point must always be greater than the starting point !! CHANGE 8/16 BIT: Changes the resolution of the chosen sample from 8bit to 16bit (and vice versa). CHANGE SAMPLE VOLUME: Adjust the volume of the chosen sample. CHANGE BIDI LOOP: Turns the Bidirection Mode of the sample off and on. This means: if the BIDI LOOP is off, then the loop will only play forwards. If the BIDI LOOP is on, the loop will initially play forward, then backwards, the forward (etc.) CHANGE [FINETUNE/C-2 FREQ]: Change the finetune value (linear value, that is added to the samplefrequency) or the C-2 Frequency (samplefrequency that is used to play a C-2; all other notes are calculated relatively to this value). SWAP SAMPLES: Swap two loaded samples. SAMPLE EDITOR: Start the inbuild sampleeditor. Edit the chosen sample ! CHANGE SIGN: Change the sign of a sample after loading (SIGNED/UNSIGNED). FINETUNE/C2-FRQ: Change the display between FINETUNE or C-2 FREQUENCY. ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── ULTRA TRACKER DOCUMENTATION Page 1993,94 by MAS of Prophecy 9 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── 1.4 PLAY ---------- PLAY SONG: Plays the whole song. PLAY PATTERN: Plays the presently chosen pattern, from the current cursor position. PLAY: Plays the whole song from the presently chosen pattern and the current cursor position. SYNCHRON START SONG: Starts the playback of the song with the first press of a key (Use this feature, if you want to record a song directly from the keyboard). SYNCHRON START PATTERN: Starts the playback of the presently chosen pattern with the first press of a key. STOP PLAYING: Stop playing. 1.5 QUIT ----------- Here you can quit the program. (but who would want to do that...:-) ) 1.6 INFO -------- Displays some infos about the GUS memory storage and the song. Additional there is a small display for every open track with the following structur: 0 <- Tracknumber eg: 4 <- track 4 --- <- current note C-2 <- note C; octave 2 -- <- current sample -1 <- sample 1 --- <- 1. effect (-) + effectvalue (--) C8- <- effect C; value 80 --- <- 2. effect (-) + effectvalue (--) 4-- <- effect 4; value 00 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── ULTRA TRACKER DOCUMENTATION Page 1993,94 by MAS of Prophecy 10 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── 1.7 SETUP --------- CHANGE SONG DIRECTORY: Here you can change the default directory your songs will be saved and loaded from. WILDCARD: Here you can change the file mask for the files that should be displayed within the filebrowser (LOAD SONG) (eg. *.ult ; *.* ; a*.* ; xyz*.sam...). You can also enter more than one file mask; two file masks must be divided by a '/'. (eg. *.ult/*.mod/*.669) FILE SCAN ON/OFF: Use ON, if you want the filebrowser to diplay the filename, full songname and filesize. Use OFF to don't display the full songname (faster). CHANGE SAMPLE DIRECTORY: Here you can change the default directory your samples will be saved and loaded from. WILDCARD: Same as WILDCARD, but for the sample filebrowser. FILE SCAN ON/OFF: Use ON if you want UT to load the sample as one of the known formats. (SND, WAV, FSM, PAT, IFF, UWF). Use OFF if you want UT to load ALL samples as RAW. TRACK JUMP: Use ON, if you want the cursor jumps to the next track after entering a note (polyphony note input). Use OFF, if you want the cursor stay on the same track after an (note/sample/effect) input (default mode). SAVE SETUP: Save the setup to disk. SIGNED/UNSIGNED: Here you can select in what format RAW samples should be loaded. SIGNED = signed sampledata UNSIGNED = unsigned sample data GER/US KEYBOARD: Use GERMAN or AMERICAN keyboard layout. EDITOR MODE 1/2: Try this! Nothing important, only 2 different display modes. 1.8 ABOUT --------- Displays very important informations about the program :)) ! ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── ULTRA TRACKER DOCUMENTATION Page 1993,94 by MAS of Prophecy 11 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── 1.9 HELP -------- Displays a little online help. Choose your topic, you want some help on. (very useful for beginners!) To display the last selected helpscreen again, simply press '?'. 1.95 EFFECT ----------- Displays a list with all effects. To display the last selected effectscreen again, simply press '?'. 2. The Editor ------------- In the middle of the screen, you can find the note editor: Scroll all tracks Here you Number of the cur- Displays wether the one position to can shift rently displayed track is truned the left or right. the track track. ON or OFF. │ that is │ │ │ displayed. │ │ │ ┌──────────┘ │ │ │ │ ┌────────────────────┘ │ │ ┌───┴─┐ │ ┌─────────────────────────────────────────┘ ┌───┬──────────────┐ │<->│<TRACK> 0 ON │ <- The TRACK is displayed white, if this is the ├───┼──────────────┤ section your curosr is on at the moment. .................... │ │ │ │ 00│----00-00-0000│<- This is one noteslot. ├───┼──────────────┤ │ 01│----00-00-0000│<- Here the noteslot is displayed that currently ├───┼──────────────┤ can be edited. │ 02│----00-00-0000│ │ 03│----00-00-0000│ .................... └───┴──────────────┘ ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── ULTRA TRACKER DOCUMENTATION Page 1993,94 by MAS of Prophecy 12 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── 3. The display fields --------------------- By clicking on the characters "+" , "-" and "■" the respective option can be enlarged, shrunk or turned on/off. ┌─────┤EDIT├───────┐ │-OCTAVE+ - │ <───── Your current octave. │-GRID+ -- │ <───── All X lines are displayed brighter. │-LINE JUMP+ -- │ <───── Enter the number of lines here, the │■TRACK JUMP --- │ <────┐ cursor should jump foward after a note │■EDIT --- │ <──┐ │ input. │ │ │ └ Jump to the next track after a note input . . │ ON/OFF (polyphony editing). . . │ │ │ └─── Change EDIT ON or OFF. │-ACTUAL PAT+ --- │ <───┐ ├ PATTERN SEQUENCE ┤ │ │ --- --- --- +-│ <──┐│ │< 0 1 2 > ID│ <─┐│└── This pattern is currently in use in the └──────────────────┘ ││ editor. │└─── PLAY: Enter the pattern here that is to │ be played at the ORDER position within the │ song. (yellow = current position) └──── ORDER: Change the ORDER position here. Now change the PLAY fieled to the pattern, that should be played at this position. The song always starts at ORDER 0. ┌──────────────────────────── The current selected sample. │ ┌───────────────────────── Displays the filename of the sample. SAMPLE -- 01234567.012 EDIT <- Start ULTRA WAVE (sampleeditor). -░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░+ <─ The name of the sample. -░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░+ The current selected sample is ................................ displayed brighter. ·──────┼ TEXT - -- Lines ┼──────· -░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░+ <- Here one can input a song-text. -░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░+ <- eg: composers name, date etc. Simply click on with your mouse or press Alt + T. ┌─────┤SAMPLE├─────┐ │ LENGTH ------- │ <─── The samplelength. │-LOOP ST+ -------■│ <─── The loop-starting point & loop ON/OFF. │-LOOP ED+ ------- │ <─── The loop-ending point of the sample. │■8/16 BIT -- │ <─── 8bit or 16bit sample playback-quality. │-VOLUME+ --- │ <─── The samplevolume. │■BIDI LOOP --- │ <─── Bidirectional-loop ON or OFF. │-FINE TUNE+ -----■│ <─── The FineTune or C-2 Frequency value of the ├─┤MEMORY INFO KB├─┤ sample. │TUNE ---/--- S ---│ <─┐ └──────────────────┘ └─ TUNE: used/free base memory. S: used sample memory (GUS-RAM) ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── ULTRA TRACKER DOCUMENTATION Page 1993,94 by MAS of Prophecy 13 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── 4. The track display -------------------- The track display is found in the lower region of the screen and is constructured the following manner: TRACK 4│ <─┬── Volume-Meter of every track. 3│ <─┤ 2│ <─┤ 1│ <─┘ ON │OFF│0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8...│INVERT <─ Inverts ON and OFF │ │ └─┴─┴─┴─┴─┴─┴─┴─┴── Displays the condition of each track. │ │ Each number (or letter) stands for one All tracks ON or OFF of the 32 tracks. (white = used and ON lite gray = used and OFF dark grey = not used blue = not used and turned OFF) By simply clicking on the tracknumber with your mouse, you can turn the track ON and OFF (also try ALT + W). ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── ULTRA TRACKER DOCUMENTATION Page 1993,94 by MAS of Prophecy 14 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── 5. The keyboard lay-out: ------------------------ 5.1. The keyboard: ------------------ Just as on a real piano keyboard, you can input notes from the computer keyboard: c# d# f# g# a# C# D# F# G# A# <-Note ┌──┬─┬─┬─┬──┬──┬─┬─┬─┬─┬─┬──┬──┬─┬─┬─┬──┬──┬─┬─┬─┬─┬─┬──┐ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │S│ │D│ │ │G│ │H│ │J│ │ │2│ │3│ │ │5│ │6│ │7│ │ <-Key │ └┬┘ └┬┘ │ └┬┘ └┬┘ └┬┘ │ └┬┘ └┬┘ │ └┬┘ └┬┘ └┬┘ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │Z/Y│ X │ C │ V │ B │ N │ M │ Q │ W │ E │ R │ T │Z/Y│ U │ <-Key └───┴───┴───┴───┴───┴───┴───┴───┴───┴───┴───┴───┴───┴───┘ c d e f g a b C D E F G A B <-Note └────────────┬─────────────┘ └────────────┬─────────────┘ inputted octave inputted octave + 1 <-Octave ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── ULTRA TRACKER DOCUMENTATION Page 1993,94 by MAS of Prophecy 15 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── 5.2. The keys: -------------- (read key_list.txt) ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── ULTRA TRACKER DOCUMENTATION Page 1993,94 by MAS of Prophecy 16 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── 6.0 The filesystem: ------------------- In order to access the file system, simply choose the sub-menu item "FILES" after you have clicked the file menues LOAD SAMPLE or LOAD SONG. (You can also access the file system by pressing the Enter key after selection of LOAD SONG or LOAD SAMPLE) The Filesystem is constructed in the following way: LOAD SAMPLE ·──────────────────────────· Here the file name is ────┐ ┌ Here it displays if the file displayed. │ │ is a directory or the │ │ size of the file. │ │ ┌>░A░ ░B░ ░C░ ░D░ ░E░ ░F░ ..░░░░░░░░░░│░░│░░DIRECTORY FREE GUS-RAM: │ ░EXAMPLE░░░░░│░░└>░DIRECTORY░ ├>░G░ ░H░ ░I░ ░J░ ░K░ ░L░ ░SAMPLE░░░░░░│░░░░░DIRECTORY░ BANK 1: 255KB<┐ │ ░ALPHA1.GUS░<┘░░░░░░░░23400b░ BANK 2: 256KB<┤ ├>░M░ ░N░ ░O░ ░P░ ░Q░ ░R░ ░███████████████████████████░ BANK 3: 256KB<┤ │ ░TEXTIT.001░░░░░░░░░░54000b░ BANK 4: 256KB<┤ Here you can change ░ZAPSOUND.SAM░░░░│░░░░23444b░ │ the current drive ┌───>ZZ░░░░░░░░░░░░░░│░░░░░3000b Info about the (With the Mouse) │ │ GUS's free │ │ memory When you click on these │ items with a mouse, you └─── With this bar jump a page ahead or a you can select the page behind file you want . . ┌─ Abort . Sample data with or ───> ░ SIGNED ░ ░CANCEL░ ░OK░ <─ Confirm without sign. The bar is moved with the cursor keys. Confirm your selection with the enter key, or cancel your selection with the Esc key. The drive can be selected by pressing the respective key. (Example: the 'a' key = drive A ;) ). SIGNED/UNSIGNED Can be changed by pressing the tabulator key! Press ALT + character, to jump to a filename. If you are in the SAMPLE LOADING menue, you can load more than one sample sample by pressing the SPACE BAR. UT will then load the sample but will stay in file selection (faster if you want to load more than one sample). ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── ULTRA TRACKER DOCUMENTATION Page 1993,94 by MAS of Prophecy 17 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── III. Noteslots, effects, etc. ----------------------------- 1. The noteslot: ---------------- Within a noteslot you can define the production of a sound. You can specifiy a note (+octave), an instrument, and effects like volume, vibratos etc. Most values must be entered hexadecimal ! If you don't know anything about hexadecimal, perhaps this little table can help you: Hexadecimal: 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 A B C D E F 10 11 .. 1F 20 .. FF Decimal: 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 .. 31 32 .. 255 The whole thing looks like this: C-1-00-00-0000 │ │ ││ ││ │││└ Value of second effect (2nd digit) [0-F] │ │ ││ ││ ││└─ Value of second effect (1st digit) [0-F] │ │ ││ ││ │└── Value of first effect (2nd digit) [0-F] │ │ ││ ││ └─── Value of first effect (1st digit) [0-F] │ │ ││ │└───── Second effect [0-F] │ │ ││ └────── First effect [0-F] │ │ │└──────── Sample number (2nd digit) [0-F] │ │ └───────── Sample Number (1st digit) [0-F] │ └─────────── Octave [0-7] └───────────── Tone (note) [C - B] or [-/0] for pause 1.1. Explanation of effect possibilities: ----------------------------------------- It is possible to assign effects to each note. The following is an example of what can be done with effects: C-1-01-00-0000 ││ │ └─── Value of 2nd effect ││ └───── Value of 1st effect │└─────── Effect 2 └──────── Effect 1 For example : C-1-01-CB-E007 In this example, the note C-1 is played using the first sample. The volume (effect C) is set to E0. In addition, the balance of the track is changed (to value 7, therefor, in the middle) You are probably asking now : "And what kind of effects are there?" You'll find the answer in the following section. :) ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── ULTRA TRACKER DOCUMENTATION Page 1993,94 by MAS of Prophecy 18 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── 1.2. The effects ---------------- 0 - Arpeggio [0*-F*] 1st semitone; [*0-*F] 2nd semitone ----------------------------------------------------------------- Plays the defined tones very fast one after the other, to create some kind of chord on a single track ! The result isn't always very good... but you can create funny effects this way :) For example: C-3-01-00-0047 Plays C-3 first, then E-3 (C-3 + 4 semitones) second, then G-3 (C-3 + 7 st) third; very fast and starts again with C-3. 1 - Portamento up; [0-FF] Speed ------------------------------------------- Raises the frequency of the played note, in small increments. 2 - Portamento down; [0-FF] Speed ------------------------------------------- Lowers the frequency of the played note, in small increments. 3 - Tone portamento; [0 - FF] Speed --------------------------------------------- Raises or lowers the frequency of the played note, until the frequency of the new note is reached. For example: C-1-01-00-0000 D-1-00-03-0002 Note C-1 is played; The frequency will be raised until the note D-1 is reached(speed = 02). ATTENTION: it will be "slided" until the new note is reached, even if other portamento commands appear! 4 - Vibrato; [*0 - *F] Depth;[0* - F*] Speed ------------------------------------------------------- Vibrates the frequency of the played note. 5 - Special; [0 - FF] --------------------- Special Commands (you can combine special commands): Value - Occurence: ------------------ 0 - Nothing 1 - Sample will be played without loop. 2 - Sample will be played backwards, without loop. C - Stops loop of sample, but plays sample to the end For example: C-1-01-05-0002 Play the first sample, but backwards. C-1-01-05-0021 Play the first sample, backwards, without loop. ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── ULTRA TRACKER DOCUMENTATION Page 1993,94 by MAS of Prophecy 19 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── 7 - Tremolo; [*0 - *F] Depth; [0* - F*] Speed --------------------------------------------- Vibrates the volume of the played note. 9 - Sample offset; [00 - FF] --------------------------- Plays the sample from the defined offset on to the end. The value is multiplicated with 1024 and added to the beginning of the sample (it is 1024 to reach every position in a 256KB sample). For example: C-1-01-09-0006 - Plays sample 1 from offset 6 * 1024 99 - Fine sample offset [0000 - FFFF] (The first effect with 4 values !!) ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Same as effect 9, but much more exact because the value is only multiplicated with 4. For example: C-1-01-99-0123 - Plays sample 1 from offset 123h * 4 A - Volume Slide; [0* - F*] Turn Up [0* - *F] Turn Down ------------------------------------------------------- Slide the volume with the determined speed, up or down. In order to turn the volume up, the first position of the effect value must be given. In order to turn the volume down, the second position must be given. For example: C-1-01-0A-0001 - Volume turned down with speed of 1 C-1-01-0A-0030 - Volume turned up with speed of 3 B - Balance; [0-0F] left - right ---------------------------------- Changes the balance of the track. 16 step values are available. 0...7...F = left...middle...right C - Volume; [0-FF] Volume ------------------------------ Changes the volume of the played note. Volumes are linear ! For example: C-1-01-0C-0080 - Volume change to 80 D - Pattern Break [00 - 63] (the values are in decimal !) ---------------------------------------------------------- Begins the next pattern at the given position. For example: C-1-01-0D-0000 Jumps to the begining of the next pattern C-1-01-0D-0020 Jumps to line 20 of the next pattern E0 - Vibrato Value [00 - 0F] ---------------------------- Set the strength of the vibrato (Command 4 = vibrato) For example: C-1-01-0E-0001 Set minimal vibrato strength C-1-01-0E-0002 Set the virbrato strength to the normal setting ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── ULTRA TRACKER DOCUMENTATION Page 1993,94 by MAS of Prophecy 20 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── E1 - Finslide up [10 - 1F] -------------------------- Like effect 1, but the frequency is raised only once per note. For example: C-1-01-0E-0015 The frequency is raised by the value of 5 E2 - Finslide down [20 - 2F] ---------------------------- Like effect 2, but the frequency is lowered only once per note. For example: C-1-01-0E-0025 Frequency is lowered by the value of 5 E8 - Delay track [80 - 8F] -------------------------- Delays the playing of the whole track by X timer-ticks. At a CIA speed of 6, there are 6 ticks between 2 lines. The number of ticks depends on the set BPM speed. For example: 125BPM = 50 ticks per second 250BPM = 100 ticks per second E9 - Retrig note [90 - 9F] -------------------------- The Note is replayed before the next note is played. How often the note will be replayed depends on the speed of the song and the given value. For example: C-1-01-0F-0006 Speed 6 (Therefor 6 timer-ticks per note) C-1-01-0E-0093 Retrig note on the 3rd tick (out of 6) EA - FineVolslide up [A0 - AF] ------------------------------ Operates like Effect A, but only slides once per note. (I.E. Turns up the volume) For example: C-1-01-0E-00A1 Increases the volume by a value of 1 EB - FineVolslide down [B0 - BF] -------------------------------- Operates like effect A, but only slides once per note. (I.E. Turns down the volume) For example: C-1-01-0E-00B3 Decreases the volume by a value of 3 EC - Cut note [C0 - CF] ----------------------- Cuts off the note on the given tick (The volume is turned off). For example: C-1-01-0E-00E3 Plays the note till the 3rd tick ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── ULTRA TRACKER DOCUMENTATION Page 1993,94 by MAS of Prophecy 21 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── ED - Note Delay [D0 - DF] ------------------------- Waits until the given tick, then plays note. For example: C-1-01-0E-00D3 Plays the note on the 3rd tick F - Speed; [0-2F] - CIA speed --------------------------------- Adjusts the CIA speed of the song. 6 is the default adjustment setting (125 BPM); F - Speed BPM [30 - FF] - BPM speed ----------------------------------- Adjusts the BPM (beats per minute) speed of the song. Default is 7D = 125 BPM. At a CIA speed of 6, there are 6 ticks between 2 lines. The number of ticks depends on the set BPM speed. For example: 125BPM = 50 ticks per second 250BPM = 100 ticks per second !! -> Reserved for future versions <- !! ---------------------------------------- Effect: 6, 8, 11, 22, 33, 44, 66, 77, 88, AA, BB, CC, DD Don't use one of those effects. A replay problem could occur, if you use a future version of UT, in which the effect is used. (It could sound different...) ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── ULTRA TRACKER DOCUMENTATION Page 1993,94 by MAS of Prophecy 22 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── IV. "Samples.?.., Patterns..!?... What in the world is that ???" ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 1. Explanation of Concepts -------------------------- 1.1. Samples ------------ A sample is digitized sound, for example, a voice, a played note on a piano, trumpet blast, ... in digital form. Actually, all that is audiable can be sent through a so called Analog/Digital converter (ADC) and saved to disk. Basically, two important factors determine the quality of a sample. The first is resolution which, until present, has in most cases concerned 8 bit (for example, SoundBlaster, Amiga ...) and also delivers adequate, good quality for home use, but when the first 16bit cards came into the market, it was recognized how much better the sound quality was; so today, just about the only soundcards which appear are those which can play and record in 16 bit resolution (for example, PAS 16, SB16 ASP, TBM ... and the GUS ;) ) The second factor is the sample frequency. Older soundcards (8 bit) mostly play samples at 22khz, that is, they send 22,000 signals per second to the lineout port (or the opposite for recording). Modern (16 bit) cards play samples at 44.1khz, which reaches CD-Quality in 16-bit resolution. Unfortunately samples with higher quality become more memory-intensive :-(... 1.2. Patterns ------------- A pattern is nothing more then a collection of 64 noteslots to one block. That means, if you create a new pattern in Ultra Tracker, you obtain a new block with 64 empty noteslots on each track. 1.3. Tracks, channels ---------------------------------- On one channel of a soundcard only one sound or sample can be played at a time. For example, you would need 3 channels to play a triad. The Gus provides up to 32 channels; that means, a maximum of 32 samples (ha, now you know what that is ;-) ) can be played at a time. TIP: Another way of creating a triad (or any chord) is to sample the actual triad (or chord) and play it back. This method only requires 1 channel for playback, but is less flexable then the one note per channel triad method. ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── ULTRA TRACKER DOCUMENTATION Page 1993,94 by MAS of Prophecy 23 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── 1.4. GUS or Gravis Ultrasound ------------------------------- This is, in my opinion, a very good soundcard from Advanced Gravis and Forte Technology, which is necessary for the Ultra Tracer program. It uses 32x16bit channels, up to 1 MB of memory on board, a joystick port and midi interface... Ask your local computer dealer! 1.5. "What is a registration of ULTRA TRACKER ?" ---------------------------------------------------- That is something crucial, and something which every user of Ultra Tracker should do at least once in his life ;-) ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── ULTRA TRACKER DOCUMENTATION Page 1993,94 by MAS of Prophecy 24 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── V. The sampleeditor -= ULTRA WAVE =- ------------------------------------ To edit the chosen sample, click on the button EDIT at the top of the sample selcetion. The sampleeditor runs in an special video mode. It requires a 100% registercompatible VGA adapter with at least 256KB RAM installed. 1.1 Design of the sampleeditor: ------------------------------- ┌───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ │ │ │ ███ │ │ │ │ ││ │ │ ███ │ │ │ ││ (1) │ │ ││││(1) │(2) │(2) ███(3) │ │ │││ │ ││ ││ │ ││││ │ │ ███ (4) │ │─┼┼┼┼┼┼──────┼┼┼┼┼─┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼────────────│────│──────███──--------------│ │ ││ │ │ ││ │ │ │││││ │ │ ███ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ ││││ │ │ ███ │ . │ │││ │ │ ███ . . │ │ ███ . ├────────────────────────────┬────────────┬─────────────────────────────┤ ││ BIDI │ LOOP │STOP │ ULTRA WAVE │ |RANGE NONE │ ││ON/OFF │ON/OFF └────────────┘ |ZOOM RANGE │ │ (5) |SHOW ALL │ │ |CUT RANGE │ . . . . │ |EXIT │ └───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ (1) - WHITE: This is the wave of the selected sample. (2) - BLUE: This is the loop-starting point (light blue) and the loop-ending point (dark blue). (3) - RED: That is the marked range (RANGE). (4) - BLUE: Nothing important (a filler :) ). (5) - These are the available functions: [next page] ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── ULTRA TRACKER DOCUMENTATION Page 1993,94 by MAS of Prophecy 25 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── 1.2 Functions: -------------- BIDI ON/OFF: Turn BIDI LOOP ON and OFF. To listen to the differnce, start the sample again (top keyboard row). LOOP ON/OFF: Turns the loop (and the loop marker (2) ) ON and OFF. If you want to change the loop-points, move the mouse cursor on the loop marker (2), press the button and move the mouse to the left or right. You can listen to the change, the same time! STOP: Stop sound output. RANGE/NONE: Shift it to RANGE to mark an area (NONE = move loop-points) ZOOM RANGE: Zoom the marked range in. SHOW ALL: Shows the whole sample (zoom out). CUT RANGE: Cuts the marked range from the sample. EXIT: Exit UW and return to UT :) To listen to the sample, use the keyboard, like in the tracker itself. Change the octave with + and - . To stop sound output press <. ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── ULTRA TRACKER DOCUMENTATION Page 1993,94 by MAS of Prophecy 26 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── V. Different things ------------------- 1. Bugs ------- Yep, there are always a few bugs :-(. - At the moment I do not know about any bugs :-) If any appear and you have the opertunity to write through FIDO or E-mail then please send me a note: Fido: Marc Schallehn 2:2480/76.3 E-mail: mas@doit.fido.de I hope that the errors can be removed by the next version. 2. What is planned for the next version? ---------------------------------------- - Elimination of the Bug's :-) - A few new editing functions - More effects - MIDI support - more beta versions - And much more ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── ULTRA TRACKER DOCUMENTATION Page 1993,94 by MAS of Prophecy 27 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── 3. Special thanks to: --------------------- Martin Grimme: For many hints, ideas, infos & some great songs. When are you going to buy a PC ? YLYSY - For FTP and bug support. (spec. RoB & DTB): Gravis & Forte: For the free SDK (great!!) and the development of the GUS T.E.N.(freejack, : For the translation of the (old) docs and the basic gabe, rhys): fileformat discription. Propjecy members: For hints, listings, infos, docs, etc... Fritz Schober, Christian Deppe, Karsten Krieg, Erik Buisman, Lars Schehler, Marco Singer, Thorsten Dorsch, Robin Moojen, Stefan Löwe, André Martens, Martin Koch, Lords of Darkness, Frank Hermann, Martin Maurer, Jouni Korte, Bernhard Meyer, Dennis Schulmeister, Frank Dreitzner, Brad Oldham, Haraldur, Darri Thorvaldsson, Arne Weber, Guido Walter, Markus Savolainen, Patrick Matte, Arnd Otto, Michael J. Sutter, Manuel Kirchner, Timothy Mazet, Klaus Stiebeling, Markus Poeschl, Nick Johannessen, Gregor Stever, Christopher G. Mann, Thorsten Buß, Gunar Hofmann, Frederic Schreiter, Florian Müller-Schunk, John C. Niespodzianski, Matthias Wittka, Christian Kuhn, Thomas Mansfeld, Bill Norris, Akintunde Omitowoju, Todd Showalter, Carsten Springer, André Jean- Francois, Thilo Weinzierl, Hendrik Schwuchow, Christoph Lutz, Oliver Masse, Mats Olsson, Mark Treichel, Ralf Meyer, Kimmo Tuominen, Christoph Pater, Frieder Kauber and Ron Grahnert: For their registration ! (whoever wants to be listet her: READ ON ! :-) ) All the other UT users for bugreports, ideas, hints and alot of mail ! 4. What is one permitted with the shareware version of Ultra Tracker? --------------------------------------------------------------------- Copy of the SHAREWARE version of ULTRA TRACKER is expressly desired! That means you can copy the SHAREWARE version to your friends, acquaintances, colleagues, ... into all BBSes, without being penalized in any way. Moreover, no part of the program (the program itself, documentation, screens...) is permitted to be changed, in any manner. Shareware dealers can include the SHAREWARE version in thier collection; the reproduction price should not increase more then 10 US$. Whoever uses the program longer then 30 days, without registering, can be penalized! PLEASE REGISTER ! ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── ULTRA TRACKER DOCUMENTATION Page 1993,94 by MAS of Prophecy 28 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── VII. The Registration --------------------- 1.1 How would I benefit from Registration ? ------------------------------------------- Well, not much really, because I've avoided implementing any kind of reductions. In any case, the absence of reductions should NOT be a reason not to register! I could have omitted the save-function, for example, but who could really test the program properly. Besides, only through registration can I recognize whether or not the ULTRA TRACKER program will be used at all, and why should I further develop a program, that no one is interested in? 1.2. What do I gain as a registered user? ----------------------------------------- A new disk with the latest version of the program.(without the burdensome scrolls at the Beginning and End) and a keyfile, that allows you to run coming shareware versions of UT in a registered mode, without updating !!! ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── ULTRA TRACKER DOCUMENTATION Page 1993,94 by MAS of Prophecy 29 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── 1.3. How does registration work? -------------------------------- If you want to use the program longer then the trial period of 30 days (after the first use of the program), then you must register ULTRA TRACKER. I have kept the registration fee extremely low, so that anyone who wants to utilize the program, can afford to register it, thereby doing myself and you, a big favor :-) The registration fee is only 20DM (including shipping and disk) within Germany, and only 20 US Dollars, if one does not live in Germany (shipping is more expensive!). In order to register ULTRA TRACKER, please complete the file REGISTER.TXT. Send the completed form along with payment to the following address: Marc Schallehn Camerloherstr.141 80689 München GERMANY You can pay the 20.- US Dollar registration fee, either in cash, check or transfer, into the following account : Bayerische Vereinsbank BLZ: 700 202 70 Account #: 45 444 740 Please submit for tracking purposes, the word "ULTRA" and include your complete address when transfering money!!! (Also mail me the completed REGISTER.TXT file. Thank You!) No consideration can be taken for incomplete or illegibly written registrations !