Crawly Crypt Collection 1/crawlyvol1.bin/falcon/sound/mjuzakk/doku_e/mjuzak_e.txt

Text File | 1993-11-24 | 17KB | 369 lines

Rem: lines marked with '>>>' are new in this version or very important notes...


This translation was done by Christian Perle ([e-mail])
(please excuse my _lousy_ english :-)






              Hello musicians and tracker music fans
              Welcome and Ha-Yeah to
              *******************************************
              **                                       **
              **     Deluxe MJUZAKK Zerbastel Kit      **
              **                                       **
              *******************************************









First a short introduction in lowcost desktop music making:
It started in the year 1986! The Amiga came out in Germany and immediately
there was a certain "Instant Music", a rather restricted music program,
but capable of playing (thank Amiga's famous PAULA chip) simultaneously
four sampled voices at "naturally" different pitches (transposing).
(Actually transposing wasn't naturally at all, today's 16-bit sound
hardware, regardless of the computer, isn't able to do that)
Anyway, if one switched off all composing functions in "Instant Music",
simple pieces of music could be done. The memory of these glorious days is
fading now.

A bit later, the first Soundtrackers could be seen. Not very well to
operate, only 16 instruments of only 32 kB length, plus gurus and the dumb
preset list. Despite of that, the results were fantastic, and the MODs
began to conquer all computer systems. Unfortunately the Soundtracker
concept has not much been improved. Minimal improvements to the user
interface, some more commands, although every coder group has released
such a thing. Many of the coders didn't find it necessary to write a
manual, or build in a "quit" button. This is a way of creating secret
knowlegde :-@.
But the most important: If one connected the Amiga to a hifi stereo amp,
he could hear the noisy 8-bit sound in its awful clearness. Turning the
filter off produced even more noise (and more treble).

On other computer systems nothing happened as well. IMHO there is no real
useful music software for any PC sound card, for the Mac (with expensive
additional sound hardware), for the NeXT or Indigo. If there is a software
(and appropriate hardware) that could be compared with MJUZAKK, let me know.
(BTW: I am talking about programs that use _no_ MIDI instruments to do the
sound, only the internal hardware is used. Many people still mix up these
program types)

And then, in april 1993, (third quarter of 1992 in the Atari calendar) the
Falcon came out. It promised fantastic sound, real time mixing and
transposing via DSP. (Actually nobody promised anything, Atari only told
the hardcore-atari-scene about the Falcon and its features. Wasn't it Jack
Tramiel, who said in 1988, it's not enough to build a fantastic machine,
you also have to tell people about it? He must have forgotten this.)

But, oh pain, many people wrote some hard disk recorders, effects and
"crazy, loud and creative" audio desktop programs, without thinking of the
use. Nobody had the idea, or was able to write a music composing program.

I, Bernhard, bought the Falcon mainly for one reason, the music abilities,
and I was frustrated from waiting for so long. All requests in Maus- and
Usenet didn't help, there was nothing but announcements. (Cubase Audio for
Falcon (cost 1800 German marks) is able to do multi track hard disk- and
ram-playback, but _no_ transposing! So, it is no replacement for a sampler)

In the beginning of august, I finally managed to convince my friend Frank
of writing such a program. I myself can barely do programming (neither
68030 nor DSP) and Frank has no Falcon (but he knows the Motorola-DSP in
his NeXT) and is not quite interested in acoustic events. After getting
things coordinated (Falcon transport on my bicykle... (I knew this dumb
keyboard-case would have at least one advantage)) Frank wrote the first
raw version of Deluxe Mjuzakk Zerbastel Kit in less than 2 weeks, which
had already sensational features!

After many more weeks of coded-through days und nights (okay, it was days
_or_ nights) and discussions like "this button should be placed there and
named 'OK' etc." we now dare to release the first official version of MJUZAKK.
Two musician friends have each just bought a Falcon only because of MJUZAKK!
A good start!

Features:

- The DSP is at this time able to mix and transpose about six tracks in
real time at a replay frequency of 49 Khz (more than CD quality if the
CODEC is good enough). Seven tracks can be done at 33 Khz and eight at 25
Khz. (Transposing a sample to a higher pitch reduces the number of tracks,
transposing to lower pitch increases the number of tracks)

- The editor is managing a maximum of ten tracks.

- For MIDI-ists: Every single track can use all instruments (samples).

- If a sample is used on only one track, it can be placed to a stereo
position (no more "two left, two right, Amiga drops")

- Currently you can have up to 42 (yes, the answer!) samples of any length
in a song (only limited by RAM).

- Samples don't have to be recorded all at one frequency (you can mix them)

- MJUZAKK handles among others the DVS packed format, so samples need half
the disk space without a real loss of quality

- The editor is more intuitive than all the Amiga's editors. We improved
it and it should be bullet-proof by now. You can also edit the songs using
a plain ASCII editor. This is useful for block functions or search and
replace.



I think, the consequences of such a program, which allows you to compose
music in CD quality with a system avaiable for less than 3000 DM (and you
can write letters with, also) are unpredictable! It could create a second
Desktop-Publishing-Effect (Desktop Music Publishing). A music sampler with
only 1 Meg and no hard disk costs at least 3000 DM. Until you can use it,
(add more RAM, hard disk, sequencer, multi track recorder) you will have
to pay much more. (And you still can't write a letter with it :-)



And here we go!

- First you have to buy yourself a Falcon with at least 4 Megs, hard disk
and greyscale- or colormonitor with at least 640*480 dots.
A screen accelerator is (like NVDI) is recommended. What?
All this is standing on0 your desk already? Lucky you!

- Then connect the Falcon to a reasonable HiFi stereo amp. Shame on people
who use the internal speaker for MJUZAKK (even for test-reasons)!

Listen to the demo song (you have already done that?). Simply drag the
song file over the MJUZAKK.PRG icon. Look at the program info and then
press play... (cry out "Wow, cool, fantastic, excellent!") At this time,
the "I can do that better"-reflex should occur.
So this manual comes to the really interesting part: Who do I make my
first own song?

- You need a hard disk recorder to sample your own instruments (like
Winrec or Musicom).
If you are sampling from a microphone, it is recommended to mute the
horrible Falcon fan during the recording. How to do that, is up to your
fantasy. Of course I take no responsibility for your fantasies...
If you are sampling from a CD player, cassette recorder or similar audio
source without variable output level, two 70kOhm resistors for both left
and right cables do a good job. Otherwise, the input level of the Falcon's
microphone jack can be changed by some software. Samples don't have to be
recorded at a specific frequency, but 25-50 Khz will give good results.
You can use DSP effects to add echo, filters etc.

- The samples should be saved preferably in 16-bit-stereo-DVS-format
(packed or unpacked). Other file formats supported by MJUZAKK are 16-bit-mono-
SND, 16-bit-mono-AVR and 16-bit-mono-DVS (which is currently created by
MJUZAKK only).
Stereo samples will be mixed to a mono signal by MJUZAKK. Since most samples
are an instrument, mono samples are fine. You know, there is no stereo violin,
stereo bassdrum or stereo vocalist. When used in a song on one track, a
sample can be placed to a stereo position. That means, left and right
volume can be set independent.
If you want a true stereo sample (like a passing car), both channels must
be sampled separately creating a CAR_L.DVS and CAR_R.DVS to be used on two
tracks in the song at the same time.

- Now run the program MJUZAKK.APP

- Cut the samples for your song in the 'Song/Samples' menu. You can save
them by clicking on the 'Sichern' button. Each sample gets a number for
the list (1-42). The numbering will not be destroyed if you delete a
sample. For example deleting sample #5 from a list of 10 samples will not
change numbers 6 to 10.

- It the edit window, you can zoom in/out, shorten at begin and end (left
and right edge), and reverse an area.
To decrease volume to 90% of the original (sometimes necessary before DVS-
packing very loudly recorded samples to prevent distortion), you press
"leiser", to increase volume a little bit, press "lauter". Also it is
possible to loop a sample (repeat endlessly). This is useful for synth
chords etc.

- Select the 'Song/Optionen' menu to set the global song parameters:

- The 'Patternlänge' (pattern length) is only for better navigation and
specifies the line numbering of the song editor.
Good values are 16, 32, 64 or 128 for 4/4 and maybe 48 for 3/4 (rarely seen).
For video soundtracks, values 10 or 50 are appropriate, too.

- 'Beats per second' sets the song tempo (number of lines to be played in
one second).

- 'Mixer volume' can be decreased if loud samples are used on several
tracks simultaneously. Mixer volume is applied _before_ the DSP mixes the
tracks toghether. In opposite, the control panel's volume setting works
_after_ mixing.

- In the 'Optionen/Einstellungen' (options/settings) menu you can choose
the replay frequency of MJUZAKK. Higher values cause better quality and less
tracks, lower values cause worse quality and more tracks.
>>> B.t.w.: To get i.e. 8 tracks in one song, it could be necessary not only to
>>> change the replay frequency to 25 khz, but to use samples recorded with 25
>>> khz too to lower the DSP-load!

- Next go to the 'Song/Editor'. Here the song can be put toghether in an
almost soundtracker style. The default song is one empty pattern with 5
tracks. Four tracks are visible at once. The buttons in the upper right
area show the selection of displayed tracks. The note position (kind of
a cursor) is where the two yellow bars intersect.

- This is where you can place a samle played at a certain note. Select the
sample from the pullup menu (the first 20 samples can be selected by using
the function keys F1 to F10 and SHIFT-F1 to SHIFT-F10). The note input
uses the four keyboard rows like a piano. As a default, the original (re-
cording) frequency is called C2 and lies on key 'q'.
If you select '-' from the pullup menu, the note of a already running
sample can be changed without starting the sample over. '0' (silence)
stops any sample running on that track. Space deletes a note entry.

- To move the yellow cursor bars, use the (you guessed it) cursor keys.
SHIFT-CrsrDown moves eight lines down, SHIFT-CrsrUp moves eight lines up.
CTRL-CrsrDown and CTRL-CrsrUp move down/up one pattern.
To go to the beginning of the song, press ClrHome.

- With the leftmost slider bar, you can fine tune each note entry from -5
to +5. A single fine tune step is 10% of a half note. The middle and right
slider bars set the volumes for left and right channels (1 to F), 0 means
no volume change.

- If 'Sample anspielen' (play sample) is selected, the note entry is
played immediately after the keypress.

- You can set a mark with 'SetMemo' (shown by little triangle). 'GoMemo'
or SHIFT+ClrHome jumps to the mark, '> Memo' (play memo) plays the song
starting from the mark position.

- '> Beginn' (play begin) plays the song from the beginning, '> Cursor'
from the cursor position.

- While playing the song, press any key to abort. 'GoBreak' jumps to the
abort position.

- New (empty) lines can be inserted at cursor position by pressing
'Insert', lines can be deleted (really, not cleared) by pressing 'Delete'.
After using these functions, the song is renumbered automatically.
If you are about to delete a non-empty line, MJUZAKK will warn you.

- Block functions like cut/copy/paste currently require an external ASCII
editor. The song with all its parameters is saved to a good readable ASCII
file, so the weirdest search/replace functions (which will be never
included in our editor) are possible.



Let's have a look at a song file:

(To edit the song with an ASCII editor, set the TAB width to 4)

INFO                                 ** Begin of info block
Hommage a Badesalse V0.9 Prerelease  ** 4 lines containing
                                     ** information on song
                                     ** and author.
Bernhard Kirsch                      **
ENDINFO                              ** End of info block

PATTERN-LENGTH 32                    ** Pattern length
MIXER-VOLUME 0.700                   ** Volume _before_ track mixing
CODEC-FREQ 7                         ** Replay freq. 7=49Khz,6=33Khz...
BEATS-PER-SECOND  9.375              ** Tempo

SAMPLE 1 C2 rhythm.snd               ** Used samples with sample number
SAMPLE 2 C2 hip.snd                  ** original pitch and name.
SAMPLE 3 C2 da.snd                   ** (samples must be in the same folder
SAMPLE 4 C2 run.snd                  ** as the song)
SAMPLE 5 C2 ner.snd
SAMPLE 6 C2 e:\smplpool\drum.dvs     ** 'shared' samples (used by more than
SAMPLE 7 C2 e:\smplpool\snare.dvs    ** one song) must have the full path
                                     ** (not good for portability!!!)

LOOPSAMPLE 8 C2 liegeton.snd         ** looped Samples
LOOPSAMPLE 9 C2 megabeit.snd         **


SONG 4 2000                          ** Song has 4 tracks and
                                     ** max. 2000 lines


 101    9C2        -          1F#2t+3vFF -   **
 102    -          -          -          -   ** Song data: pattern, line,
 103    -          -          -          -   ** space, then for each track:
 104    -          -          -          -   ** sample number, note, fine
 105    -          -          -          -   ** tune, volume left & right,
 106    -          -          -          -   ** space.
 107    -          -          -          -   **
 109    9C2        -          -          -   **
 110    -          -          -          -   **
 117    -          -          1F#2t+3    -   **
 118    -          -          -          -   **
 119    -          -          -          -   **
 120    -          -          -          -   **
END                                          ** END is necessary!




Remarks to the ASCII song format:

- The original pitch defines at which note the original sampling frequency
is used. C2 is exactly the middle. (From there, you can transpose two
octaves down and two octaves up)

- The maximum number of lines in the song is only for memory allocation.
Default value is 2000, if the songs gets longer, just increase it.

- The numbers at the beginning of each line are ignored by MJUZAKK. Just put
any number there. After block copy/move you don't have to correct them.
MJUZAKK generates at a pattern length of 32 line numbers like this:
1:01, 1:02, ... , 1:32, 2:01, 2:02, ... , 2:32, ... The whole numbering is
only for your orientation in the song. The song always ends with the
keyword END. Each line number is followed by sample number, note, fine
tuning and L+R volumes for every track.
For example 2C#2t+3v4E means: Sample #2, note C#, octave 2, tune +3,
volume left 4, right E. These values you better change with the built-in
song editor.
The tracks in a single line are separated by spaces or TABs.



Have fun!
Frank "Marvin" Grauwaigel and BurnHard "Bi-O-Frood" Kirsch









Known problems in version 1.0:

- Replay can be aborted with the mouse, but the keyboard is the better
choice. Otherwise the program can "hang up", but will come back after
pressing any key and waiting some seconds.

- Deleting samples from the sample list sometimes causes a crash.

- Missing samples may cause a crash when loading a song.

- Using DSP effects in Winrec after usage of MJUZAKK may cause a crash.
Other DSP-using programs know this problem too, although the first
program (i.e. MJUZAKK) does a proper DSP-reset when you quit.
If you know a solution, please write us.