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CD School House 9.0 - Wayzata Technology (1994).iso
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MacAnorous 2.0 ƒ
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About MacAnorous (TeachText)
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1989-03-26
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╥About MacAnorous╙, by Troy Peery. Version: 1.0. Date: March 18, 1989.
Suggested font is Monaco 9.
About MacAnorous
╤╤╤╤╤╤╤╤╤╤╤╤╤╤╤╤
The Equipment You Need:
╤╤╤╤╤╤╤╤╤╤╤╤╤╤╤╤╤╤╤╤╤╤
Some sound programs require you have expensive and elaborate hardware, all
you need for MacAnorous is the standard Macintosh equipment (monitor, keyboard,
mouse, disk and drive, etc.). Color is not used in MacAnorous. I╒ve tested
MacAnorous on the, now disinherited, original Mac. It works fine, although the
program obviously runs slower than on a Mac Plus or some later model. In some
cases, I actually prefer the original Mac to any other model when using
MacAnorous (for example, if the delay on the MacAnorous keyboard is 0 on an
original Macintosh, it produces a frightening realistic electric guitar
effect which does not occur on a Plus). However, I do not recommend an original
Mac for using MacAnorous. I╒ve also tried the program on a Plus (actually, I
wrote it on a Plus), and that is the machine I╒d recommend using with
MacAnorous.
My Test Results:
╤╤╤╤╤╤╤╤╤╤╤╤╤╤╤
Machine: Results:
╤╤╤╤╤╤╤ ╤╤╤╤╤╤╤
Original Mac w/ 256k RAM upgrade Slower playback time,
small cosmetic bug at
launch,
more drastic delay effect
(a key with delay of 54
lasts longer on this
model than on a Plus).
Mac Plus w/ 1 meg RAM Normal, planned operation,
the program was written
on this model.
Mac XL I haven╒t tested.
Mac SE I haven╒t tested.
Mac II I haven╒t tested.
Mac IIx I haven╒t tested.
The Buttons:
╤╤╤╤╤╤╤╤╤╤╤
ON
OFF
VOLUME UP
VOLUME DOWN
DELAY UP
DELAY DOWN
DIFFERENCE UP
DIFFERENCE DOWN
BASE UP
BASE DOWN
RECORD
PLAYBACK
NORMAL
STNGS
SAVE
RANDOM
SKIP
The Instruments:
╤╤╤╤╤╤╤╤╤╤╤╤╤╤╤
KEYS1-52
DRUMPADS1-4
What The Buttons Do:
╤╤╤╤╤╤╤╤╤╤╤╤╤╤╤╤╤╤╤
ON ╤╤╤╤╤
When this button is depressed, the keyboard╒s volume, delay,
difference, base, and mode can be altered. Pressing this button
also causes the panel and keyboard to be redrawn, as well as
initializing all keyboard values.
OFF ╤╤╤╤╤
When this button is pushed all keyboard values are reset to their
mins, the keyboard values are incapable of being altered and
the keys make no sound.
VOLUME UP ╤╤╤╤╤
Turns the volume up, the max volume is 255, the min is 0. Note that
if the volume is 0 and the delay is nonzero, the keys will still
produce sound. Also note that a volume setting of 100 is not
twice as loud as a setting of 50.
VOLUME DOWN ╤╤╤╤╤
Turns the volume down and stops at 0.
DELAY UP ╤╤╤╤╤
The delay is the amount of time that each key will produce its
individual sound. The initial setting is 3, the max is 255 and
the min is 0. If the delay is set at 0, the keyboard will
produce no sound, regardless of the volume setting (although
the contrary of this is not true).
DELAY DOWN ╤╤╤╤╤
Turns the delay down and stops at 0.
DIFFERENCE UP ╤╤╤╤╤
The difference is a subtle (extremely subtle) change in the amount of
change from key to key. The lower the distance, the closer each
key╒s sound is to another key╒s, the higher the difference the
greater the change.
BASE UP ╤╤╤╤╤
The base is the starting point of the keyboard╒s range. By this I
mean that the initial base (150) indicates that the leftmost
key produces a sound of 150 units. All the other key╒s bases
are determined by the first key╒s base and the difference.
RECORD ╤╤╤╤╤
Pushing this button will ask you to name the file you wish to record
into, and record works the same as the tape cassette principal:
after pushing record, you play the sounds you want, and then
hit playback or normal explained below. You can end the file╒s
name with ╘.AUD╒, but if you don╒t, MacAnorous will do it for
you. Note that if you have a file on the disk called ╘File.AUD╒
and you enter a file name to record to as ╘File╒, the original
╘File.AUD╒ will be concatenated with the new ╘File.AUD╒. This
is also true if you push the ╘Yes╒ button when there is a file
already of that name which you wish to replace. If you don╒t
understand the last two sentences, just be original in with your
file names and there will be no problem.
PLAYBACK ╤╤╤╤╤
Pushing playback will present you with a dialog box asking you which
file you wish to convert to musical tones. The playing back of
the file can be stopped by pressing the mouse button. THE FILE
YOU SELECTED WILL NOT BE PLAYED BACK IF THE LAST FOUR
CHARACTERS OF ITS NAME AREN╒T ╘.AUD╒, WITH THE ╘AUD╒ IN ALL
CAPS.
NORMAL ╤╤╤╤╤
This neither records what you╒re doing or plays anything back, it
simply lets you pounce around on the keyboard all you want. In
this mode, you can alter volume, delay, difference, and base,
so get all of those things the way you like them before playing
something back.
STNGS ╤╤╤╤╤
╘STNGS╒ is short for ╘SETTINGS╒. This button lets you retrieve a
data file and load the settings in that data file. For example,
you could create a file that would set the volume at 255, the
delay at 1, the differentiation at 22000, and the base at 200
just by hitting the stngs button. There are two ways to create
a settings file. The first is by using the save button
(explained below), the second and more difficult is to do the
following:
* create a new file with a text editor
* enter a number between 0 and 255 for the volume, hit
Return
* enter a number between 0 and 255 for the delay, hit
Return
* enter a number between 12 and 783360 for the
differentiation, hit Return
* enter a number between 0 and 255 for base, hit Return
* close the file, and name it something that ends with
╘.SET╒, such as ╘Settings.SET╒ (without, of course, the
quotes)
Note that there is no error control in MacAnorous to make sure
that the values you enter in a settings file are in the correct
range - rather you have full CREATIVE control to manipulate
them as you choose. If you decide to go outside the recommended
range, don╒t be surprised to get a system error of some kind
(be it a relatively harmless one).
RANDOM ╤╤╤╤╤
The random button causes randomly generated music to be produced
continuously until the mouse button is pressed. Random, except
for the first 8 notes, produces sounds independant of any
keyboard settings, except for volume. You may not record
sounds produced when the random button is on.
SAVE ╤╤╤╤╤
This button save the keyboard╒s current volume, delay,
differentiation, and base values to a file you name. This file╒s
settings can be retrieved using the stngs button.
SKIP ╤╤╤╤╤
If this button is pushed while you aren╒t recording anything, you╒ll
encounter a beep and the button will effectively do nothing. If
you are recording, however, the button will insert ╥skip╙
code into the output file, so when you╒re playing that file back
you╒ll have an interlude of desired distance where you hit skip.
What The Instruments Do:
╤╤╤╤╤╤╤╤╤╤╤╤╤╤╤╤╤╤╤╤╤╤╤
KEYS1-52 ╤╤╤╤╤
There are 52 keys on the MacAnorous keyboard. When you press a key,
it is inverted and the corresponding note is played. The keys
your press are recorded if the record button is down.
DRUMPADS1-4 ╤╤╤╤╤
Following is the drumpad layout:
[1] [3]
[2] [4]
Each drumpad, when pushed, is inverted and its corresponding sequence
of notes is played. DRUMPAD SOUNDS ARE NOT RECORDED. However,
if you want the effect of hitting a drumpad to exist in a
playback file, open up the file with a text editor. Find where
you want the drumpad sound to occur in the file, and use the
following codes:
╘ 200, -10╒
╘ 350, -10╒ for drumpad1 effect
╘ 400, -10╒ [Note: quotes,
╘ 550, -10╒ for drumpad2 effect of course, are
not included
╘ 300, -10╒ in the actual
╘ 450, -10╒ for drumpad3 effect playback file]
╘ 500, -10╒
╘ 650, -10╒ for drumpad4 effect
Even if you change a playback file to include drumpad sounds,
the drumpad will not be inverted as are the keys during
playback.
If you get bored one time, open up a file you created with MacAnorous, using
any normal text editor, and look around. Unlike many other programs╒ data
files, the files MacAnorous creates (the ones you record to) are plainly
understandable. They consist of 2 numbers on each line seperated by a comma
and some spaces. The first number is the information stored about the tone
of each sound you recorded, the second number is data which helps the program
determine which key to press when playing back, for a visual effect of the
keys being played by an invisible hand (or mouse). You can change any of
these numbers and, if you╒re one for recognizing trends and patterns, create
a symphony without touching the MacAnorous keyboard (except to play your
symphony back). I made the data files this way so that your music could be
improved without tedious pointing and clicking searching for the right
key - the best harmonies often are the ones with the most interesting
pattern rather than the individual notes (after all, the stuff Beethoven
wrote and ╥Chopsticks╙ use the same keys, it╒s in what order they use them
and for how long that makes the peice what it is or isn╒t).
If you use MacAnorous and get some enjoyment out of it, please send me 10
dollars. I╒m modest.
Troy Peery
14 Broad Run Rd.
Manakin-Sabot, VA 23103