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SongCanvas
User's Manual
Table of Contents
Table of Contents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Quick Installation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
General Instructions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Main Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Editing Patches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
MIDI Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Appendix A Installation ─ Detailed Instructions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Appendix B Command-Line Parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Appendix C Terminating Errors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Appendix D MIDI Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Appendix E MIDI Engine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
________________________________________________________________________________
SongCanvas ─ GS Editor/Librarian ─ Version 1.1
Copyright 1992 by Jeff Cazel ─ All Rights Reserved 1
OVERVIEW
The SongCanvas is a complete IBM-compatible patch editor and librarian program
for Roland's GS synthesizers (SOUNDCanvas SC-55, SC-155, SCC-1, LM-300 and
JV-30). It supports all popular MIDI interfaces and works equally well under
DOS, Windows 3.1 and DESQview.
The SongCanvas plays your MIDI files as you edit─you hear your changes instantly
in the context of your own musical projects! It saves its data in standard
binary format (also called "MIDIEX format") so it is compatible with bulk
loaders and other utilities. Finally, it gives you complete control over all
parameters.
To maximize data integrity, the SongCanvas is designed for one-way MIDI
communication only (from the computer to the SOUNDCanvas). Data can't be lost
when other windows transmit extraneous data and/or switch the interface's
operating mode.
A GS sound module or keyboard is referred to as a "Canvas" throughout this
manual. "GS" is Roland's General Standard─a superset of the nascent General
MIDI standard. If you have an SCC-1, please ignore references to the "display"
or "LCD"─it doesn't have one. Note also that the SCC-1 is hardwired as
device #17.
This manual describes how to modify, save and audition the various parameters
within the Canvas. It does not describe what these parameters do. For example,
it describes how to turn Parts On and Off, but it doesn't state what effect that
has on the sound nor why you may want that effect. The online help and various
Canvas owner's manuals do explain some of these parameters, however.
________________________________________________________________________________
SongCanvas ─ GS Editor/Librarian ─ Version 1.1
Contact me via CompuServe Mail ─ #72461,3345 2
QUICK INSTALLATION
1─Connect a MIDI cable from the computer's MIDI Out to the Canvas's MIDI In
(pre-wired on the SCC-1).
2─Copy and/or PKUNZIP all files into a new directory and change to that
directory.
3─If you have an MPU401 or compatible interface using IRQ 2 and address 330h, go
to step #5 (if you don't know which type you have, you can probably go to
step #5 as well). Otherwise, run CANVAS /? for details on configuring your
MIDI interface with the DOS SET command. (The SCC-1's MIDI interface is an
MPU401.)
4─Type the SET command as determined in step #3 and press <Enter>; for example:
SET OPT1=-dmpu:5:336
(Now is also a good time to add this command to your AUTOEXEC.BAT file. Note
the "-" between the "=" and the "d".)
5─Enter one of these four commands and press <Enter>:
C runs as device #17 (Canvas default).
C /D:18 runs on device #18 (change "18" to any device # from 1 to
32).
CANVAS /D:0 runs with MIDI disabled─"demo" mode for computers without a
MIDI interface.
CANVAS /? displays help screens explaining all of the SongCanvas's
command-line options.
See Appendix A for details on segregating data and program files, etc.
________________________________________________________________________________
SongCanvas ─ GS Editor/Librarian ─ Version 1.1
Copyright 1992 by Jeff Cazel ─ All Rights Reserved 3
GENERAL INSTRUCTIONS
You perform all SongCanvas functions from menus. You can move the highlighted
cursor bar to the desired choice using the keyboard (arrow keys, <Home>, <End>,
<PgUp> and <PgDn>); you then press <Enter> to select it. If you have loaded
your mouse driver (recommended), you can also point your mouse cursor at an item
and left click to select it.
Note the scroll arrows within the right border of scrollable menus (e.g., Master
Pan). You may cursor as needed or position the mouse cursor on the appropriate
scroll bar and hold down the left button. For fastest scrolling, you can click
and drag the right border's scroll button with the mouse.
Throughout the program, clicking and releasing the right mouse emulates the
<Escape> key. Left-handed users can swap the mouse buttons for all functions
with the /L command-line option.
Press <Escape> to back out one menu level. Pressing <Escape> from the MAIN MENU
quits the program after confirming your request. However, if you try to quit,
reFRESH your data or LOAD a new patch file before saving your current patch, the
program will tell you so and ask if you're sure you want to continue. Select
Yes to continue the operation. Select No (or press <Escape>) to cancel the
operation and position the cursor bar on SAVE.
The SongCanvas will not accept invalid data (e.g., periods in filenames,
hieroglyphic patch names) nor data past the end of the field (e.g., nine-
character filenames). During any edit, you may backspace to change data─nothing
becomes "permanent" until you press <Enter>. You may always change your mind
before then by pressing <Escape> to revert to the prior value.
The SongCanvas displays the current patch filename in the upper left corner and
the patch name in the upper right corner of the screen.
The SongCanvas accesses patch files in the current directory only (though this
can be different from where the program is stored). This design simplifies the
user interface and minimizes set-up headaches. See Appendix A for more
information.
Whenever the SongCanvas transmits system exclusive data, SysEx displays in the
lower center of the screen. This data transmits on the MIDI device # you
specify on the command-line. This transmission temporarily pauses the MIDI file
player (when playing) so system exclusive and channel messages don't collide
with each other.
Help is available at any time by pressing <F1>. Within Help, press <Alt><I> to
display the Help Index. <Tab> to How To Use Online Help and press <Enter> for
full instructions.
Registered users can also get Help by clicking on the <F1>-Help "button" on the
bottom left of the screen. See the MIDI Menu section for other keyboard and
mouse shortcuts.
________________________________________________________________________________
SongCanvas ─ GS Editor/Librarian ─ Version 1.1
Contact me via CompuServe Mail ─ #72461,3345 4
MAIN MENU
The MAIN MENU has six options ─ EDIT, LOAD, FRESH, RENAME, SAVE, and CLIP.
EDIT displays a list of the Canvas's parameter groups and asks you to select one
for editing. See EDITING PATCHES for more information.
LOAD pops-up a list of data files in your current directory. Selecting a file
sends its data to the Canvas. Press <Escape> to exit without loading a data
file.
FRESH resets all patch data and the Canvas to the factory defaults. You may do
this in lieu of LOADing a data file. The file name becomes UNTITLED.SCD which
you'll probably want to SAVE AS a new name when you're ready.
RENAME redisplays the current patch name and allows you to rename it. All
displayable ASCII characters are valid. A patch name can be up to sixteen
characters long. Type in the new name and press <Enter>. This displays the new
name on the Canvas's display. Press <Escape> to exit without renaming the
patch.
SAVE pops-up a dialog box with three options: SAVE, to save the file with its
current filename; SAVE AS, to save the file with a new filename; or CANCEL, to
change your mind. For SAVE AS, type in the new data filename and press <Enter>
(don't type the .SCD file extension (the SongCanvas will prevent you from doing
so)). Press <Escape> to exit without saving the file.
CLIP copies the patch data to the Windows 3.1 clipboard for pasting into
sequencers. This option is not yet available.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
Registered versions of the program will automatically save the non-default
('changed') data as a small "MIDIEX" file with a .CHG file extension when you
SAVE the .SCD file. You can use these to "prime" your Canvas with various set-
ups.
________________________________________________________________________________
SongCanvas ─ GS Editor/Librarian ─ Version 1.1
Copyright 1992 by Jeff Cazel ─ All Rights Reserved 5
EDITING PATCHES
The MAIN EDIT MENU lists several parameter groups which correspond roughly to
the Canvas's internal data layout. Select a parameter group to display its edit
screen.
Within the individual edit screens, the parameter prompts generally mimic those
found on the Canvas's LCD. The edit interface is very straightforward once you
understand the three types of data and respective procedures (please experiment
here):
(1) two-value toggles (e.g., Receive Note On/Off) ─ Select toggles back and
forth between the two available values.
(2) pop-ups ─ these are parameters whose values are either:
(a) non-ordinal numbers (e.g., Reverb Macro 5 does not reverberate
"more" than Macro 4), or
(b) not described by numbers (e.g., Part 1 plays a Mandolin instead of a
Banjo).
Select pops-up a list of the valid values. If you don't want to change
the value, press <Escape>. Non-ordinal parameters have an attempt at
"describing" the qualitative aspect so you don't have to reference the
Canvas's manual. For example, Reverb Macro 4 is described as Hall 2 per
the SCC-1 manual.
(3) quantitative numbers (e.g., Master Volume) ─ these values do have
ordinal relationships (e.g., a Master Volume value of 127 is louder than
126). Select asks you for a new value within the valid range (e.g.,
"Enter a new value between 0 and 127"). Enter the number and press
<Enter>. If you don't want to change the value, press <Escape>. Note
that although several parameters are quantitative (e.g., MOD LF01 PITCH
DEPTH), only certain discrete values are available. Thus, they are
edited like the pop-ups in (2) above.
Each valid change sends the new MIDI data immediately to the Canvas.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
Within the various edit screens, <Ctrl><PgUp> and <Ctrl><PgDn> will scroll
through the 16 Parts. I've sequenced these Parts per Roland's priority
assignments. Thus, the "lowest" part (highest priority) is Part #10; the
"highest" is #16.
________________________________________________________________________________
SongCanvas ─ GS Editor/Librarian ─ Version 1.1
Contact me via CompuServe Mail ─ #72461,3345 6
MIDI MENU
The MIDI MENU has five options ─ RESET, LOAD, PLAYER, REWIND, and THRU. You can
access the MIDI Menu from other menus by pressing <Alt-M> ("MIDI" will display
on the bottom border when available). Registered users can also click on this
"MIDI button" to pull up the menu.
RESET puts the MIDI interface back into the correct operating mode. This option
should only be necessary in multi-program environments when another window sets
the interface into a new mode.
LOAD pops-up the list of song files (*.MID) in the directory specified by the
command-line's /MID: parameter. (If /MID: is not specified, it defaults to your
current directory.) Select a file to start playing it in a continuous loop.
LOAD displays an error message if there is a problem loading the file; it then
reloads, rewinds and replays the prior file if one was loaded and if it can do
so.
PLAYER toggles the MIDI file player On and Off─it starts a stopped song and
stops a playing song. <Alt-P> will also toggle the player On and Off. The
elapsed time from the start of the song displays in the lower right corner of
the screen. PLAYER is not available if a song is not loaded.
REWIND resets the player to its beginning and then restarts the current song.
REWIND is not available if a song is not loaded.
THRU toggles MIDI Thru On and Off. When Thru is On, MIDI data received at the
computer's MIDI In is re-routed to the MIDI Out whenever the program is idle.
<Alt-T> will also toggle Thru On and Off.
The words Thru and Play are highlighted or dimmed on the bottom of the screen to
indicate their On or Off states, respectively. Registered users can click on
these "buttons" to toggle the functions; they can also click on the <F1>-Help
and MIDI buttons. Finally, registered users can toggle the player On and Off
with the <Space> bar.
________________________________________________________________________________
SongCanvas ─ GS Editor/Librarian ─ Version 1.1
Copyright 1992 by Jeff Cazel ─ All Rights Reserved 7
Appendix A
INSTALLATION ─ DETAILED INSTRUCTIONS
System Requirements: Any IBM-compatible personal computer with an 80-column
monitor, DOS 3.0 or higher and 450K free RAM. For system exclusive MIDI
communication, you'll also need a supported MIDI interface and (of course!) a
Canvas. You can play MIDI files without a Canvas, however. Run CANVAS /? for
information on configuring your MIDI interface with the DOS SET command.
CANVAS.EXE is the main program file, CANVAS.HLP contains the help information,
and CANVAS.REG contains your personal registration information. All three files
must be in the same directory. (As implied, CANVAS.REG is not necessary nor
included in the unregistered version.)
PLAYD.EXE is the MIDI engine. See the MIDI ENGINE appendix for more
information.
Data files (*.SCD) can be in a separate directory (recommended). The SongCanvas
comes with one data file; DEFAULT.SCD contains the data that exists in the
Canvas when reset.
To run the SongCanvas when the data and the program are in separate directories,
type the following commands:
D: go to the drive containing your patch data (given as
D: in this example)
CD \SYSEX go to the directory containing your patch data (given
as \SYSEX in this example)
C:\MTOOLS\PLAYD -a64 type the fully-qualified path to PLAYD.EXE (given as
C:\MTOOLS\PLAYD.EXE in this example). See
POWERUSR.WRI for all of the MIDI engine's command-
line options.
C:\SC\CANVAS /D:18 type the fully-qualified path to CANVAS.EXE (given as
C:\SC\CANVAS.EXE in this example). See the COMMAND-
LINE PARAMETERS appendix for all of the SongCanvas's
command-line options.
Note: You can put these commands in a batch file (like C.BAT) or your menu
system. You can also customize the included CANVAS.PIF or SC-PIF.DVP files for
use in Windows 3.1 or DESQview 2.x, respectively.
________________________________________________________________________________
SongCanvas ─ GS Editor/Librarian ─ Version 1.1
Contact me via CompuServe Mail ─ #72461,3345 8
Appendix B
COMMAND-LINE PARAMETERS
The SongCanvas has several optional command-line parameters to maximize its
flexibility. Note that parameters (a) are not case-sensitive (e.g., /d:17 is
the same as /D:17), (b) must be separated by at least one space (i.e., there
must be a space before each "/" character), and (c) may not contain imbedded
spaces (e.g., /D: 18 is invalid).
CANVAS /D:n /MID:dir /L /M /?
/D:n Device # ─ use MIDI device #"n". /D:0 disables MIDI output and
overrides /MID:dir.
/MID:dir MIDI files ─ load standard MIDI files from the "dir" directory.
Defaults to the current directory if not specified. The SongCanvas
handles pathnames like DOS does─e.g., if you're in D:\MIDI and the
song files are in D:\MIDI\Jams, each of these three options will
work: /M:Jams, /M:\MIDI\Jams, or /M:D:.\Jams. The SongCanvas will
play CANVAS.MID at startup if it exists in this directory.
/L Left-handed mouse ─ swaps the left and right mouse buttons for left-
handed users.
/M Monochrome ─ display black and white. This option is most useful
for portables and other computers whose "colors" don't contrast.
/? Help ─ displays DOS 5.0-style help. This parameter overrides all
others.
Defaults: CANVAS /D:17 /MID:.\
________________________________________________________________________________
SongCanvas ─ GS Editor/Librarian ─ Version 1.1
Copyright 1992 by Jeff Cazel ─ All Rights Reserved 9
Appendix C
TERMINATING ERRORS
Five errors terminate the SongCanvas before it starts. These errors display an
informative message on the middle of the screen and return the displayed error
number to DOS (see the batch file section in your DOS manual if you're
interested in using this information with the IF ERRORLEVEL command). The
errors are easy to correct:
1 ─ Command-line syntax error ─ a command-line "spelling" error. Embedded
spaces are not allowed within any parameter (e.g., /D: 17 is invalid); at
least one space is required between parameters (i.e., before each "/"). Run
CANVAS /? if you want command-line help.
2 ─ Non-numeric device # requested ─ all characters after the /D: parameter
must be numeric.
3 ─ Illegal device # requested ─ the characters after the /D: parameter must
indicate an integer between 1 and 32 (or 0 to disable MIDI output).
4 ─ CANVAS.HLP file not found ─ CANVAS.EXE and CANVAS.HLP need to be in the
same directory.
5 ─ CANVAS.HLP file wrong version ─ current versions of CANVAS.EXE and
CANVAS.HLP need to be in the same directory. Be sure to install the latest
version of the software correctly.
CANVAS.EXE will still run if the MIDI engine doesn't correctly initialize, but
MIDI will be disabled. See the MIDI ENGINE appendix for MIDI I/O
troubleshooting information.
Appendix D
MIDI INFORMATION
If your edits do not update the Canvas, it's probably because (1) another window
within your multi-program environment has changed your MIDI interface's
operating mode, (2) your SOUNDCanvas is set-up to ignore sysex data, or (3) the
device #s on the SongCanvas and your SOUNDCanvas don't match. Don't worry─your
data is safe. To correct (1), RESET the interface from the MIDI MENU. To
correct (2), see the instructions in the SOUNDCanvas's owner's manual. Finally,
to correct (3), change the device # on the Canvas (also in the owner's manual)
and/or specify the correct SongCanvas device # via the /D:n option.
________________________________________________________________________________
SongCanvas ─ GS Editor/Librarian ─ Version 1.1
Contact me via CompuServe Mail ─ #72461,3345 10
Appendix E
MIDI ENGINE
DOS versions of Jeff Cazel MIDI software now use FM Software's PLAYD.EXE as the
MIDI 'engine'. PLAYD.EXE is actually a separately executed program─CANVAS.EXE
by itself no longer sends sysex data nor plays MIDI files. This modular set-up
provides greater device independence and supports more MIDI interfaces using
less memory.
PLAYD handles CANVAS's requests to send sysex data and to start and stop song
playback. You load PLAYD with the correct options for your interface and then
run CANVAS. The two programs then work in tandem.
Run CANVAS /? to see PLAYD's configuration options. Power users who seek
complete details on PLAYD can read the POWERUSR.WRI file. This Windows Write
document discusses optimization under Windows (including the multi-media
extensions), DESQview and DOS.
Registered SongCanvas users receive a certificate to buy MidiTools for 25% off
of the regular price. See the MTOOLS.TXT file for complete information on
MidiTools.
Notes
The maximum path length for a PLAYD song file is 40 bytes. Longer file names
will return a "file not found" error message upon LOAD. Use the DOS SUBST
command if this becomes a problem.
PLAYD handles MIDI files up to 16 tracks. All tracks numbered greater than 16
are ignored during playback.
PLAYD can handle MIDI files up to 64K in size. Larger files will not load.
________________________________________________________________________________
SongCanvas ─ GS Editor/Librarian ─ Version 1.1
Copyright 1992 by Jeff Cazel ─ All Rights Reserved 11