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1986-05-03
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Mouse Composition System
User's Guide
Version 1.0
(C) Copyright by Mike Kirsch, 1986--All rights reserved worldwide
__________________________________________________________________
TABLE OF CONTENTS
__________________________________________________________________
INTRODUCTION 1
GETTING STARTED 3
THE INPUT SCREEN 4
Music Area 5
Functions Area 7
USING THE PROGRAM 8
REGISTRATION FORM 12
INTRODUCTION
__________________________________________________________________
Overview Welcome to the Mouse Composition System. The
system allows you to compose, play and edit songs
by moving a cursor around the screen using a mouse.
Reference If you're not familiar with the music that the IBM
PC/XT/AT/JR computer can play, refer to the
description of the PLAY command in the IBM BASIC
manual.
Requirements To use this system you must have:
o An IBM PC/XT/AT/JR or compatible computer.
o A Microsoft, Mouse Systems or compatible mouse.
o 256K or more memory.
Files The system consists of the following files:
o COMPOSE.EXE--The composition system's program
file.
o COMPOSE.DOC--This guide, which may be printed
using DOS's PRINT or COPY commands.
o COMPOSE.CFG--A configuration file that
describes your computer's monitor and printer
to the system. If you're using a color
monitor, you may change the display's
foreground, background and border to colors of
your liking.
Registration This program is distributed as user-supported
software. If you find the program useful or
entertaining, you can become a registered user by
sending a contribution of $15 to the author:
Mike Kirsch
292 Circular Avenue
San Francisco, CA 94131
Mouse Composition System Page 1
INTRODUCTION
(cont.)
__________________________________________________________________
Reaching Me You may send questions, commands or suggestions for
improvement to me on the following timesharing
services:
CompuServe - 70110,334
Source - BDF331
GEnie - M.KIRSCH
My time to respond to correspondence is limited.
Queries from registered users will receive
priority.
Future The future of this software depends on how it is
Versions received. If a lot of interest is expressed, I'll
try to incorporate suggestions for improving and
expanding the system. Registered users will be
notified of future versions by U.S. mail.
Mouse Composition System Page 2
GETTING STARTED
__________________________________________________________________
Mouse Before you can run this program, you need to load
Driver your mouse's driver software. If you own a Mouse
Systems PC mouse, you load the driver by typing the
following command at the DOS prompt:
MSMOUSE /<port>[Return]
The variable <port> must be replaced by 1 or 2 to
specify which communications port your mouse is
using. For example, the following command
specifies that the mouse is using COM1:
MSMOUSE /1[Return]
If you're using another manufacturer's mouse, check
the instructions that came with the mouse to
determine how you should load the mouse's driver
software.
Loading Once you've loaded your mouse's driver software,
the you start the program by typing:
Program
COMPOSE[Return]
The program displays a copyright notice, plays a
few bars of a song, then draws the input screen.
Mouse Composition System Page 3
THE INPUT SCREEN
__________________________________________________________________
Layout The input screen contains three major areas:
o The program identification line, at the top,
tells which version of the program you are
using and displays the current time of day.
o The music area, between the first and second
horizontal lines, allows you to enter the music
you want to play, and displays the current
octave, note length, tempo, number of measures
you've saved and the contents of the input
buffer.
o The functions area, between the second and
third horizontal lines, allows you to select
edit, play, file and other functions.
The music and functions areas are described in
detail in the following pages.
Indicating Anytime you want to make a choice, you use the
Choices mouse to move the cursor so that it is on top of
the item you want to choose. After you've
positioned the cursor, you press the LEFT mouse
button to register your choice.
Mouse Composition System Page 4
THE INPUT SCREEN
Music Area
__________________________________________________________________
Headings The music area contains lines which have the
following headings:
o Octave
o Length
o Notes
o Current
o Buffer contents
Octave The Octave heading is followed by the numbers 0
through 6. These are the octaves in which you may
play notes. The left and right arrows following
the octave numbers cause the currently-selected
octave to be raised or lowered once for each time
you select them.
When you've selected an octave, it's number is
displayed on the "Current" line, next to "Octave=".
The octave command is added to the buffer, and
displayed below the "Buffer contents:" line.
Length The Length heading is followed by the numbers 1/1
through 1/64. These represent a whole note (1/1)
through a 64th note. Below the note lengths,
you'll see the words "Normal", "Legato" and
"Staccato", which select the duration that each
note is plays. "Normal" causes each note to play
7/8 of the selected the length; "Legato" causes
each note to play the full amount of the selected
length; "Staccato" causes each note to play 3/4 of
the selected length.
Mouse Composition System Page 5
THE INPUT SCREEN
(cont.) Music Area
__________________________________________________________________
Notes The notes heading is followed by the notes C
through B. You select notes you want to play from
this line. When you make a selection, the note
that plays is in the currently-selected octave.
To play a dotted note, you select the note and then
select "Dot".
To enter a rest, you select a length and then
select "Pause".
You can play a note without adding it to the buffer
by pointing to it and pressing the RIGHT mouse key.
This is the ONLY time that the right mouse key is
recognized.
Current The Current heading displays:
o The currently-selected octave
o The currently-selected length
o The currently-selected tempo, which specifies
the number of quarter notes that are played in
one minute
o The number of measures that have been saved
from the buffer
Buffer The music that you record is placed in a buffer.
Contents The contents of the buffer is displayed on the two
lines below the Buffer contents heading.
Mouse Composition System Page 6
THE INPUT SCREEN
Functions Area
__________________________________________________________________
Function The functions that you can choose fall into four
Types categories:
o Edit Functions--which allow you to manipulate
the buffer's contents and any music that you've
saved from the buffer
o Play Functions--which allow you to play the
buffer's contents, a measure that you've
previously saved or a single measure that
you've previously saved. You can also change
the tempo from the play functions.
o File Functions--which allow you to save a song
in a file, load a song you've previously saved
or create a text file that can appended to a
BASIC program to play the song you've composed.
o Misc Functions--which allow you to print the
song you've composed on your printer, redraw
the input screen (in case something goes wrong
and causes the screen to scroll), change the
configuration file (your monitor's type, colors
and your printer's port) and quit the program
to return to DOS.
Mouse Composition System Page 7
USING THE PROGRAM
__________________________________________________________________
Concepts The concepts used by this program are simple:
o Use the mouse to point to selections.
o Press the mouse's left button to record your
selections in the buffer.
o Compose and edit each measure of a song in the
buffer, then save the measure as a part of the
song and go onto the next.
Making Whenever you select something from the music area
Music (an octave, length, duration or note), the
corresponding BASIC command(s) required to carry
out your selection are added to the buffer. If
your selection is a note, it is played after it has
been added to the buffer.
The buffer's contents are interpreted according to
the instructions for BASIC's PLAY command.
Briefly, they are:
o Note lengths are shown as an "l" followed by a
number representing the note length; a whole
note is "l1", a quarter note is "l4", etc.
o Rest lengths are shown as a "p" followed by a
number representing the rest length; a half
rest is "p2", a thirty-second rest is "p32",
etc.
o Durations are shown as an "m" followed by a
duration letter; "mn" is normal, "ml" is legato
and "ms" is staccato.
o Octaves are shown as an "o" followed by an
octave number; octave 3 is "o3", octave 5 is
"o5", etc.
o Notes are shown by their letters; C is "c", F
sharp is "F#", etc.
o Tempo is shown as a "t" followed by a number
between 32 and 255; "t200" means that 200
quarter notes will be played in a one-minute
period.
Mouse Composition System Page 8
USING THE PROGRAM
(cont.)
__________________________________________________________________
Correcting If you make a mistake (select a wrong note, length,
Errors etc.), you can correct it by pointing to
"Backspace" in the edit functions box. "Backspace"
deletes one character from the buffer. Note: If
you've selected something that added more than one
character to the buffer (a length of 64, for
example--"l64"), be sure to backspace over the
entire selection.
If you want to delete the entire contents of the
buffer, select "Clear the Buffer" from the edit
functions box. Everything in the buffer will be
deleted and you can begin your composition again.
Playing You can play the entire contents of the buffer
the by selecting "Play the Buffer" from the play
Buffer functions box. Everything in the buffer will be
played.
Saving Once you've composed a measure of a song in the
the buffer, you can save it as the song's next measure
Buffer by selecting "Save the Buffer" from the edit
functions box. When you save the buffer, you'll
notice that the "Measures=" value is increased by
one. Depending on the amount of memory that your
computer has, you can save up to 4096 measures.
Playing Once you've composed and saved some measures, you
the Song can hear what they sound like together by selecting
"Play the Song" from the play functions box. If
something is stored in the buffer, it is played as
the last measure of the song.
Mouse Composition System Page 9
USING THE PROGRAM
(cont.)
__________________________________________________________________
Editing You can edit a song using the following functions:
the Song
o Replace a Measure--replaces a measure that
you've saved with the current contents of the
buffer. If the buffer is empty, the replace
selection is ignored.
o Copy Measures--allows you to specify a range of
measures that you've saved, then appends them
to the song.
o Delete Measures--allows you to specify a range
of measures that you've saved, then deletes
them from the song. Any measures that follow
the deleted measures are moved down to fill the
gap created by the deletion.
Saving When you've finished composing a song, or if you
the Song need to stop work on a song, you can save your work
by selecting "Save the Song" from the file
functions box. You are asked enter a file name
when you select this option; the file automatically
receives an extension of ".mmc".
You can also save your work as a BASIC program by
selecting "Make a Basic File" from the file
functions box. You are asked to enter a file name
when you select this option; the file automatically
receives an extension of ".bas". You must specify
a starting line number and an increment value that
will be used to create the BASIC program.
Note: If you want to edit or continue work on a
program, you MUST save it as a ".mmc" file (using
the "Save the Song" function) so that it can be
loaded at a later time.
Loading You can load a previous composition for editing or
a Song playback by selecting "Load a Song" from the play
functions box. Only files with a ".mmc" extension
can be loaded. The load function doesn't check a
song at load time; if you load a file that you've
given the ".mmc" extension to, who knows what will
happen!
Mouse Composition System Page 10
USING THE PROGRAM
(cont.)
__________________________________________________________________
Printing You can make a printout of the current song by
the selecting "Print the Song" from the misc functions
Song box. Measure numbers are added to each line to
make it easy to locate segments of the song.
Changing You can change your monitor type, screen colors
Options and printer options by selecting "Change
Configuration" from the misc functions box.
Summary I've had fun writing this program; I hope you'll
have fun using it. If you create some particularly
fine music, I hope you'll share it by placing the
".mmc" files on some bulletin boards.
If you want to become a registered user, you can
use the registration from on the next page.
Mouse Composition System Page 11
REGISTRATION FORM
Please register me as a Mouse Composition System user. I have
enclosed a:
[ ] Check
[ ] Money Order
for $15 to cover my registration.
Please PRINT all information
Name: _____________________________________________________
Address: __________________________________________________
City: ____________________________
State: ____ Zip: __________
What type of computer are you using this software on?
_____________________________________________________
How much memory does your computer have? __________K
What type of mouse are you using?
________________________________
Mail this form and your contribution to:
Mike Kirsch
292 Circular Avenue
San Francisco, CA 94131
NOTE: Please, don't send CASH through the mail.
Mouse Composition System Page 12
