Crawly Crypt Collection 1/crawlyvol1.bin/sound/cosh_seq/manual.txt

Text File | 1990-09-23 | 25KB | 535 lines

   ACCOMPANIST - A 16 Voice Sequencer
   ----------------------------------


  Contents
  1. Introduction
  2. Features
  3. The Desktop
  4. Menus
  5. Dialogues
  6. Glossary



  1. Introduction
  ---------------
    This manual describes how to use this 16 Voice Sequencer. Key
concepts,  such as the Map,  start with a capital letter, and are
explained  in the glossary at the end.   Numbers such  as  tempo,
time  signature,  channels  etc are all changed  by  Rolling  the
mouse.  Read  the glossary section on Rolling first.
     In  Dialogues,   all  shadowed  boxes  are  text,  i.e.  not
selectable.  All  other boxes may be selected to  change  values,
make choices etc.




  2. Features
  -----------

     1. Multi-Voice  recording  using seperate MIDI  channels  or
programs, split MIDI keyboards and/or velocity ranges.
     2.  Variable  resolution Map of 8 Voices on Desktop  contin-
uously, the Mouse is used for most movement around music.
     3. Mouse click sampling of any music in the Map.
     4.  Simple  editing using mouse and MIDI keyboard on  blocks
down to hemi-demi-semi-quavers, with no MIDI event lists!
     5. Sections for naming passages plus setting Time signature,
tempo, and local quantization.
     6.  Variable  resolution  metronome  on  any  MIDI  channel,
program, note, velocity. May be driven by external MIDI clock.
     7.   Full  Voice/Block  copy,   move,  quantize,  randomize,
transpose,  velocity update.
     8. Filtering of controllers, note ranges and velocity ranges
on input, output or by direct manipulation.
     9. Undo/Redo on all operations that change the music.
     10. Through channel specification for each voice.
     11.  All  MIDI notes/channels/programs may be input  from  a
MIDI keyboard.
     12. MIDI channels and progam numbers base may be selected to
be 0 or 1.


  3. The DeskTop
  --------------

    The Desktop has 7 main areas:-
      1. The Menu bar (top).
      2. The Voice box (top left).
      3. The Map box (top right).
      4. The Commit box (bottom left).
      5. The Conductor box (bottom mid-left).
      6. The Play/Record box (bottom mid-right).
      7. The Punch-In box (bottom right).
      8. The Title box (under Play/Record box)



  3.1. The Menu Bar
     This drives the program in the normal GEM manner.  See below
how to use these menus.


  3.2. The Voice Box
      This contains information about 8 of the  16  Voices.  Each
Voice has a number and a name.  A Voice is selected for recording
and most other manipulation by clicking on its name,  which  will
then  appear inverted.  If the Voice has no name,  then  you  are
prompted for one.
      Normally only one Voice may be selected for Recording  etc.
This may be overridden by selecting the MV (Multi-Voice) Icon  at
the  bottom  of the Voice-box.  Whilst  this  is  selected,  i.e.
appears  inverted,    any  number  of  Voices  may  be   selected
simultaneously, e.g for Multi-Voice recording, or for Multi-Voice
copying.
       The only, or most recently selected, Voice may have its
properties  such  as MIDI Channel and MIDI  Program,  updated  by
selecting Change in the Voices menu,  see below. The Voice number
of the most recently selected Voice appears inverted.
        Clicking  directly  on the Voice  number  changes  it  to
light  grey ,or back to black.  Black indicates that  voice  will
play, grey that it is silent. This may be changed while the music
is playing.

       Other Voices can be displayed in the Voice-box  either  by
clicking on the arrows at the bottom left of the Voice-box, or by
selecting the number on the left of the arrows and Rolling it  to
a new value (1-9).
      The Percentage figure at the bottom right of the  Voice-box
shows what percentage of the Voice memory has been used so far.
        The  /**  in the top right of  the  Voice-box  shows  the
resolution of the Map, see below.
        The CONDUCTOR Voice represents the commands set  up  with
the Conductor in the Voice-menu.
       The  CHORUS Voice represents the contents of  all  Voices,
including those not currently showing in the  map.      Selecting
CHORUS immediately selects all Voices.  This is useful when using
AUTO.AUD (See Punch box).


    3.3. The Map box
        This shows the contents of each Voice to  the  resolution
shown in the top right of the Voice-box.  The default resolution,
/** is one bar per '-'.  i.e. any bar with at leat one Midi event
in  it  will be represented by a '-' ,  otherwise  a  space.  The
resolution can be Rolled(see Glossary) up to /96.
     If the Map-box is not wide enough to show the whole song  at
a  particular resolution,  then the slide-bar at the top  of  the
Map-box shows which part of the song is showing on the Map.  This
slide-bar  may  be  used to move between different parts  of  the
song.  Whenever  the  Marker is changed(see below),  the  Map  is
adjusted to ensure that the Marker is showing.
      The vertical position of each '-' in a Voice can  vary.  At
higher  resolutions this gives an indication of how the notes  go
up and down.
       Bar numbers are shown under the slider.  At the bottom  of
the Map-box are two further boxes.  The upper shows the  position
of the Marker,see below,  and the lower shows the position of the
Sections defined so far.
      The  Map box shows the current Fragment (see below)  as  an
inverted box.



    3.4. The Commit box.
       Various operations such as Record, Quantize, Clear can be
UnDone if the result does not sound right. When such an operation
has been selected,  the Commit-box shows the current state of the
operation.  This is indicated by DONE or UNDONE.  The box showing
REDO  or UNDO may be selected any number of  times,  followed  by
PLAY to listen to the result. When you have decided on whether to
keep the result, or not,  select COMMIT to finish the operation.
       If you forget to select COMMIT,  before selecting  another
operation, then a Dialogue box will appear asking you to complete
the previous operation.



    3.5. The Conductor box.
       This shows the current Music-Time while playing.  It  also
shows   the  current   Time-signature,   Tempo,   and   Metronome
resolution.
       Selecting either of the two arrows under the Tempo,  while
playing, causes the Tempo to be changed accordingly. The Tempo of
the current Section is updated automatically.


    3.6. The Play/Record box.
       Selecting PLAY causes music to be played from the  current
Marker Music-Time,  which is shown under PLAY.  Selecting  RECORD
causes recording to take place from the Marker,  for those Voices
selected in the Voice-box. When recording, a Count-In is given of
a  number of bars,  as specified in the current Section.  If  the
Marker is not at the start of a bar,  the Count-In always  starts
from the beginning of a bar.
        There  is no limit to the number of Voices  that  may  be
recorded together, subject to the overall limit of 32 notes being
input simultaneously.
        It  is human nature to be inaccurate in  playing  a  MIDI
keyboard, particularly in playing the first note, which sometimes
gets  pressed a few beats before the Marker time.  To  allow  for
this,  a recording tolerance may be defined in each Section, e.g.
/32,  which  opens  the  recording window a  few  beats  earlier,
avoiding the loss of the first note.
        RECORD should be used for the initial input phase  as  it
wipes  out all previous contents of the Voices after the  Marker.
RECORD is confirmed or undone by using the Commit box.
        There are three Icons in the Play/Record box that may  be
selected to set the Marker.  The three right-hand arrows move the
current  Music-Time showing in the Conductor box to  the  Marker.
This is very useful when reveiwing and editing.   The three left-
hand arrows set the Marker to the start of the first bar. The two
left-hand arrows move the current Punch-In time to the Marker.
        When recording more than one Voice  simultaneously,  each
input MIDI note and subsequent event is allocated to a particular
Voice,  by examining each selected Voice in numerical order.  The
Voice  chosen  is  the  first to satisfy  one  of  the  following
criteria, which are also applied in order.
     a. Both the Voice input Channel and the Voice output Channel
are **.
     b.  The  Voice  input Channel is **,  and the  Voice  output
Channel equals the note Channel,  and the Voice program is either
** or equals the the current program for the note  Channel.  This
allows Multi-Voice recording from a single MIDI Channel by  using
Program Changes while playing.
     c.   The note Channel equals the Voice input channel  ,  and
the  note pitch/velocity is within the Voice range.  This  allows
Multi-Voice  recording  from  a single MIDI  channel  with  split
keyboards.



     3.7. The Punch-In box.
        This  is  used to sample/edit a  Fragment  of  previously
recorded Voices.  The Fragment is defined by the  Punch-In(above)
and Punch-Out(below) Music-Times shown in this box.  The Fragment
may  also  be  specified by dragging a box in the  Map  with  the
mouse.  This causes an inverted box to appear, and sets the times
accordingly. It also selects the Voice chosen. Simply clicking in
this area produces a single width Fragment.
        Selecting PUNCH causes music to play with Count-In as for
RECORD. Recording takes place in the selected Voices only between
the  Punch-In  and Punch-Out times,  allowing for  the  recording
tolerance (see RECORD). PUNCH is confirmed or undone by using the
Commit box.  AUDIT plays only the selected Voices from the Punch-
In time, with Count-In if previous Punch-In has just taken place.
AUD.CHORUS plays all voices from the Punch-In time with  Count-In
as for AUDIT.
        Selecting AUTO.AUD switches Auto-Audition on and off, (on
when  inverted).  When  Auto-Audition is  on,  any  new  Fragment
created  by dragging or clicking in the Map-Box,  is  immediately
played as though AUDIT had been selected.  This is a very  useful
way of reviewing, then editing a song.
       Selecting AUTO.PUN allows very simple editing of a  single
note or chord.  The Fragment must have been previously defined to
cover a single note or chord,  for a particular Voice.  The  Map
resolution will need to have been increased to crotchets(/4),  or
quavers(/8), etc.  After selecting AUTO.PUN, play a note or chord
on the MIDI keyboard. This will automatically be punched into the
start of the Fragment,  with duration the length of the Fragment.
AUTO.PUN times out after about 10 seconds, if a note has not been
played.
     Selecting  the two right-hand arrows sets Punch-In from  the
Marker.  Selecting the three right-hand arrows sets Punch-In from
the  current Music-Time showing in the Conductor  box.  Selecting
the  left-hand arrow sets Punch-In and Punch-Out to the start  of
first  bar.  Selecting the two downward arrows sets Punch-Out  to
the next bar after Punch-In.


    3.8. The Title box
   Selecting the Title box opens a text field for editing a title
for the current song. This should be terminated by RETURN.


  4. The Menus
  ------------

    There are 5 menus:-
      1. File menu.
      2. Voice menu.
      3. Block menu.
      4. Option menu.
      5. Section menu.

    4.1 File Menu

     This provides various operations for manipulating  files  of
music.  LOAD copies a whole piece from a disk file.  MERGE merges
the  MIDI  events of a file with existing  Voice  data.      SAVE
saves to a file that has been previously LOADed. SAVE AS saves to
a file with a new file name. CLEAR clears ACCOMPANIST back to its
initial state.


    4.2 Voice Menu.

    This provides various operations to change the properties and
contents  of each Voice.  CHANGE displays a dialogue-box  showing
the  properties of the most recently  selected  Voice.  CONDUCTOR
allows Time-signature, Tempo etc to be set at arbitrary bars (see
Conuctor-Dialogue below).  MOVE moves all details and MIDI events
of  a particular Voice number to a different Voice  Number.  COPY
copies the MIDI events of one or more Voices, or part thereof, to
a different Voice (overwriting, or merging).
     FILTER-IN/OUT specifies filters to be used on a  MIDI  event
during  recording or playing.  These filters are switched on  and
off in the CHANGE dialogue. CLEAR reinitialises Voices.




    4.3 Block Menu

     This provides various operations for manipulating  the  MIDI
events  for  each Voice.  For each such  operation,  All  Voices,
currently selected Voices (i.e. with inverted names), or a single
numbered Voice, can be selected for manipulation. Also ,the whole
Voice,  or a selected Block, may be specified to be operated on.
Selecting  the upward arrow Icon,  causes this region to  be  set
to the current Fragment times.
     All operations in this menu are confirmed or undone by using
the Commit box.
     QUANTIZE allows the start times and/or durations of selected
Voices/regions  to be quantized to specified resolution.  The  /1
is a divisor, which may be changed to quantize 3rd's, 5th's etc.
     RANDOMIZE does the inverse of QUANTIZE.
     COPY copies the selected Block in each Voice to another Time
in the same Voice. The receiving area must be empty, and have the
same time signature.
     MOVE moves the selected Block in each Voice to another  Time
in  the same Voice.  This serves for both deleting and  inserting
Time.
     CLEAR clears the selected Block in each Voice.
     TRANSPOSE transposes the notes in the selected Block in each
Voice.
      VELOCITY  changes  the velocity of notes  in  the  selected
Block in each Voice
      FILTER  causes  the selected Block in  each  Voice  to  be
filtered  according to the current output filter of  each  Voice,
irrespective  of whether the output filter is switched  on.



    4.4 Options Menu

      METRONOME  displays a Dialogue box for  defining  the  MIDI
charactistics of the Metronome.  The Metronome can be assigned to
any MIDI Channel/Program/Note/Velocity.  (The default channel  is
13 which is one of the ATARI channels, the others being 14 & 15)
So, by default, the Metronome sounds from the ATARI sound system.
     An external clock can be selected,  in which case the  tempo
is  set by the driving clock in your rhythm generator.  When  the
internal clock is being used, appropriate MIDI real time messages
are  sent  to other devices which can be driven  by  an  external
clock.
     MIDI BASE 0 specifies how MIDI channel and  program  numbers
appear.  If it appears with a small tick sign on the left then the
Midi Base is 0, otherwise it is 1.

      AUTO  COMMIT  may be selected when  an  operation  such  as
AUTO.PUN  is being used repeatedly.  When selected,  AUTO  COMMIT
appears with a small tick sign on the left.  When an operation is
used again,  the previous operation is committed automatically if
AUTO COMMIT has been selected. Once selected AUTO COMMIT stays on
until selected again or a different operation,  using commitment,
is begun.


    4.5 Sections Menu

    This provides for creation,change, and deletion of Sections.
     OPEN  displays  a  dialogue box to  define  a  new  Section.
Typically  Sections  are  used  for some bars  of  music  with  a
paticular Time signature and/or Tempo.  The name of each  Section
appears at the bottom of the Map box.
      CHANGE displays the data for the current selected  Section,
chosen by clicking on the Section name in the Map box. All except
the first Section may be moved to a different time.
     DELETE removes the currently selected Section.



   5. Dialogues
   ------------

   5.1 Conductor Dialogue

   This is entered by selecting Conductor in the Voice  Menu,  It
is used to specify Time-Signature, Tempo, Pause, and Synchronize.
At  the  moment,  Repeat is not  implemented.  The  Conductor  is
typically  used for specifying changes of short  duration,  which
dont merit a Section being defined.
     Each  time  this  dialogue is used it  will  carry  out  one
operation, e.g. insert, change, delete, if OK is selected.
      To insert a new conductor operation,  select the  operation
you require,  e.g.  TIME SIGNATURE,  or TEMPO,  then specify  the
particulars of that operation.  Then,  specify the time range  in
which the operation is to take place,  by changing the two Music-
Times at the top.  Finally,  select INSERT followed by  OK.  Time
signature ranges should not cross Section boundaries.
      Selecting SCAN allows the scanning of the  already  defined
Conductor  operations,  by selecting NEXT or PREVIOUS.  The  left
Music-Time may be Rolled to set the start time for scanning.  The
currently  displayed  operation  may  be  changed  or  erased  by
selecting CHANGE or ERASE, followed by OK.


     5.2 Voice Dialogue

   This  is entered by selecting Change in  the  Voice  Menu,  or
by double clicking on a Voice name.  Various MIDI parameters such
as  input  and  THRU  channels,   program  numbers  etc,  may  be
specified.  LOCK ON prevents subsequent inadvertant changes to  a
Voice. Multi-Voice recording allocates MIDI events to Voices from
the values defined by this Dialogue.


     5.3 Metronome Dialogue

   This is entered by selecting Metronome in the Options Menu. It
defines the MIDI Channel,  program and note to be used.  The MIDI
clock  can  be set to external.  This allows  ACCOMPANIST  to  be
driven by a MIDI  rhythm unit.  Alternatively,  your rhythm  unit
may have the feature that allows it to be driven by ACCOMPANIST's
clock.

     5.4 Section Dialogue

   This is entered by selecting Change in the Sections  Menu,  or
by double clicking on a Section name under the Map.  Most of  the
attributes  are self explanatory.  Sync On specifies that  during
this  Section,  Playing wont start until a MIDI note  is  played.
Quantization specifies the steps when Rolling a Music-Time Beat.



  6. Glossary
  -----------

     Block.  A Block is a time-range.  It may be as short as 1/24
of a crotchet,  or as long as a whole piece of music.  Blocks are
used for copying, quantizing, filtering etc.

     Cursor. A vertical line drawn in the Map to show the current
Music-Time,  during playing and Rolling.  When the cursor is  off
the Map, it appears as dash-dot line.

     Filter.  A  Filter  specifies what MIDI events may  pass  at
record/play/Block filter time.  Pitch Bend,  After pressure,  and
Channel pressure,  and each of the 32 continuous controllers  can
be set, as well as note and velocity ranges.

     Fragment. The Fragment is defined by the Punch-In(above) and
Punch-Out(below)  Music-Times  shown in  the  Punch-In  box.  The
Fragment may also be specified by dragging a box in the  Map,  or
just clicking,  which gives a single width Fragment.  It is  used
for reveiwing and editing a song.

     Map. The Map appears in the Map-box in the top right hand of
the DeskTop. It shows a Music-Time range, which may be changed by
sliding  the  box above the Map in the  normal  manner.  The  Map
indicates  which of the Voices shown in the Voice-box have  Midi-
events for each of the time intervals.  The resolution of the Map
may be altered by Rolling the Map-Resolution Indicator in the top
right  hand  corner  of  the  Voice-box.  A  resolution  of  '**'
indicates that each interval represents a bar,  whatever the Time
Signature.

     Marker.  The  Marker  is  the Music-Time  displayed  in  the
Play/Record box. It is also indicated by a small Marker-box under
the Map,  and above the Section names.  The Marker can be changed
by  standard time-editing,  or by dragging the Marker-box to  the
left  or  right,  or by selecting one of the arrow Icons  in  the
Play/Record  box.  After  changing the Marker,  the  Map  may  be
adjusted to ensure that the Marker is showing. When the Marker is
off the Map, it appears as a hollow (i.e.not coloured) box.

     MIDI Channel/Programs.  These may be specified by playing  a
note on a MIDI keyboard,  They may based at 0 or 1.  ** is a dont
care  value.  Channels 13 to 15 are allocated to the ATARI  sound
channels.

      Music-Time.  This  represents a position in  the  song.  It
consists  of three numbers,  i.e.  bar,note & beat.  Bar  numbers
range from 0 to 9999.  The number of notes per bar is set by  the
current  Time-Signature.  There  are 96 beats  in  one  crotchet.
Music-Time starts at bar 0,  note 1,  beat 1, but conventionally,
recording starts at bar 1.
       Each  of the bar,note,beat may selected  and  Rolled  (see
Rolling below). When Rolling the beat, the increment by which the
beat changes,  is defined by the Quantization set in the  Section
to which the bar belongs.

     Punch-In.  The  Music-Time to start recording when PUNCH  is
selected

     Quantization.  This is a unit of time that may be one of the
following:- a Minim,'/2',  a Crotchet,  '/4',  a Quaver,  '/8', a
Semi-Quaver,  '/16', a Demi-Semi-Quaver, '/32', a Hemi-Demi-Semi-
Quaver,  '/64'. /3 is triplet Minim, /6 a triplet crotchet and so
on.

     Rolling.   Numeric  quantities,  such as bar  numbers,  note
numbers, Quantization, are changed using the mouse. First, select
the object you want to change(e.g.  the Marker bar number),  then
roll  the mouse while keeping the left button pressed  down,  and
release it when you reach the value you want.
     Rolling up or right increases the value, and rolling left or
down decreases the value. Rolling in the vertical direction gives
a  slow rate of change,  and in the horizontal direction gives  a
faster  rate of change.
    For large changes,  you can make many sweeps with the  mouse.
After  the  first  sweep,  while keeping the  left  mouse  button
pressed,  press on the right button as well. Now release the left
button  and  reposition  the  mouse,  keeping  the  right  button
pressed.   The  value does NOT change as you you  do  this.  Each
subsequent  sweep is started by pressing the left  mouse  button,
rolling then releasing the left button and repositioning, keeping
the right button pressed all the time.  At any  point,  releasing
both buttons terminates the roll.

     Section.  A  Section  is  a named  time-range  with  several
attributes.  These include Time-Signature, Tempo, Metronome beat,
Count-In,  Beat quantization,  Recording tolerance. Section names
appear  under the Map on the Desktop.  A ** Tempo means  use  the
tempo  of  the  previous  Section.  Up  to  20  Sections  may  be
specified. The first Section cannot be moved from the bar 1.

     Tempo.  A Tempo consists of a number of Metronome beats  per
minute,  plus  a Tempo type.  If the Tempo type is changed  from,
say,  /4(crotchet)  to /8(quaver),  then Tempo beats are  updated
appropriately (in this case doubled).

     Time Signature.  This is the normal musical time  signature,
containing a Quantization unit on the right (e.g /4 = Crotchets),
and the number of notes on the left. Normal time appears as 4/4.
     This is set for each Section, and by the Conductor-Dialogue.

     Voice.  A Voice is used to record Midi notes,  with up to 32
note  polyphony.  It also records certain  controller  events.  A
Voice  must  be  given a name before  use  (no  anonymous  Voices
here!). The default is "V" followed by the Voice number.
     A  Voice may be allocated to a specific MIDI  output  and/or
input channel, and MIDI Program (** is a dont care value). It may
also  be  restricted  (for recording purposes  on  a  split  MIDI
keyboard) to a subrange of notes and/or velocities.   If seperate
input  and output channels are specified,  e.g.  for use  with  a
master  keyboard,  then a THRU switch may be set to  cause  input
MIDI events to be sent immediately through to the output channel.
      A Voice may be shifted by a number of beats,  so that  each
note is played before or after the actual note time.  This allows
adjustment for different Voice envelopes.
     There  are also two switches for  controlling  whether  MIDI
events are to be filtered on input or output.
     A Voice may be locked to prevent further changes.