The Pier Shareware 4/The Pier Shareware #4 (The Pier Exchange) (1994).ISO/046/winsong.exe/README.TXT

Text File | 1993-09-24 | 16KB | 320 lines

*********************** New Undocumented Features **********************

1.  Several features were added to this release but were not
    finished in time for the online manual.  When choosing patches
    in the Composer, a Sample button is now available that allows
    you to hear the patches you are choosing.

2.  When printing, there is a feature in the print options box
    called left and right scaling which allows you to decide how
    many notes the Composer tries to fit on a line when printing.
    If it can't fit a whole measure on a line, it won't use it.
    This setting allows you to decide how much it tries to fit.
    A lower number means it tries to fit more, a higher number
    means less.

3.  You can now drag grid marks by holding down the Shift Key on your
    computer keyboard and pressing and holding the right mouse button.
    This is useful if you wish to expand or compress an area of music so
    that you can change its formatting when it prints.  You should wait
    until you have finished entering in all of the notes in a given measure
    because a change in grid resolution could reformat the measure and
    undo your work.

4.  There is now a checkbox in the Print dialog box that allows
    you to decide whether you want to print Tempo marks or not.

5.  There is a file that is installed in your WinSong Directory
    titled W3MANUAL.WRI.  It allows you to print the manual all at
    once instead of one screen at a time.

6.  The TapeDeck Edit features now work differently.  If you are viewing the
    TapeDeck at the track level, most edit functions will pull up a dialog
    box that allows you to enter in the beginning and ending times of an
    edit and let you set the parameters of an edit.  If you are viewing
    the TapeDeck at the event list level, this dialog box will not appear,
    the edit function will happen to all of the notes that have been
    highlighted.



******************** MIDI DRIVER PROBLEMS ******************************

1.  IF YOU ARE USING THE WINSONG MULTIMEDIA MIDI DRIVER,
    be sure that you have installed the proper midi driver
    for your card in Windows 3.1.  You can tell what midi
    drivers are installed in Windows by double clicking on
    the Control Panel Icon.  A window will open up with
    more icons, including one called "Drivers" that has a
    little keyboard and drums in it.  Double Click on the
    Drivers Icon and a list of the currently installed
    drivers will pop up.  Make sure the MIDI Mapper and
    and the appropriate driver for your card is on that list.
    If it is not, click the Add button and add the appropriate
    driver. Some drivers will ask you the port and IRQ settings
    for your card.  Make sure these match the ones on
    your card (see the instructions for your card for
    details).  You must also make sure that you have the
    Midi Mapper Driver installed on your system.

    Next, you must make sure that the Windows 3.1 Midi Mapper
    is configured properly.  Close the Driver window and
    double click on the Midi Mapper Icon.  The window will
    have the name of the current Midi Mapper setup you are
    using.  Click the Edit button to see what midi device
    each midi channel is mapped to.  A list of Midi channels
    will pop up.  Make sure the port for each Midi channel
    has the name of your card in it.  Hit the OK button
    when you are done, then hit the close button in the Midi
    Mapper window.

    NOTE: A section to the On-Line Manual has been added that
    tries to explain the Windows MIDI Mapper.  If you don't
    understand it, try reading this.

    Now try running any of the WinSong 3.0 programs and
    see if they work properly.  If they don't, it is likely
    that the port or IRQ settings for your card don't match
    the ones on the driver, or that you have a port or
    IRQ conflict with another card on the system.

2.  Many users have a SoundBlaster or compatible card and wish
    to use its ability to play midi with its internal sounds
    rather than through the midi port.  To do this, make sure
    that the Ad Lib driver is installed in the driver list found
    when opening the Drivers Icon.  Go to the Midi Mapper and
    select the Ad Lib driver on the midi channels you wish to
    play using the SoundBlaster's internal voices.  If you wish
    to play through the Midi port, use the Creative Labs driver.

3.  There are problems with the Creative Labs SoundBlaster 1.0
    driver that came with Windows 3.1.  It erroneously tells
    WinSong that the Midi Mapper is being used by another program.
    Either use the Creative Labs SoundBlaster 1.5 Driver, the
    Ad Lib Driver or get an updated driver from Creative Labs.
    WinSong will attempt to bypass the Midi Mapper when it is in
    use.  It will use the first available midi device.

4.  If you have more than one midi card on the system and wish
    wish to use a different card for midi input, you will have to
    add the line "INDEVICE=n" to your W3.INI file, located in the
    WinSong Directory. (n is the number of the device you wish to
    use).  By default, WinSong uses the first one available
    (usually number 0).  Try different numbers until you find
    the one that works.   Some versions of the SoundBlaster come
    with drivers that tell WinSong that there are two input devices
    in the system event though there is only one card.  If you can
    play MIDI out of the SoundBlaster but can't play into it,
    try adding the line "INDEVICE=1" to the W3.INI file.


5.  IF YOU ARE USING THE WINSONG ROLAND MPU-401 MIDI DRIVER,
    and it isn't working for you, there are several things
    to check.  First, make sure that the port and IRQ settings
    that you gave in the WinSong install program match the
    settings on your card.  If the port setting is wrong,
    you will get a message when starting a WinSong program
    that the port could not be initialized and that no midi
    functions will work.  If the IRQ setting is wrong,  you
    get a message that says WinSong can't hook the IRQ you have
    selected.

    If the settings you gave match the settings on your card,
    but you still get the message that the port could not be
    initialized, the port gets jammed up from using another
    program.  If that is the case, exit Windows, then turn
    off your computer ( don't just reboot it ), and then turn
    it on again.  That should alleviate the problem.

    If your IRQ settings are correct, but you still get the
    message that WinSong can't hook the IRQ you have selected,
    the most likely problem is that the Windows 3.1 MPU-401 driver
    has been loaded into memory.  In that case, the WinSong driver
    may not function.  The cure is to remove the Windows driver and
    restart Windows, or use the WinSong Multi-Media driver and
    process midi through the Midi Mapper.

    If that is not the case then you probably need to change
    the IRQ setting on your card.  IRQ numbers 2, 7, or 9
    seem to work the best.  Change your card, then reinstall
    WinSong 3.0 and give the new IRQ settings when it asks you
    to.  This should cure the problem.

    If you still can't get it to work properly, try switching
    drivers and using the WinSong MultiMedia midi driver, and
    set the Midi Mapper to route everything out the
    Roland MPU-401 driver.  Make sure to add the driver by
    running the Drivers Program in the Control Panel.

6.  If you want to use WinSong to dump sequences to an external
    sequencer, and need to sync the two together, the WinSong
    Roland MPU-401 driver is the only one that reliably sends
    out MIDI start, stop and timing pulses.

7.  Some cards do not have sounds built into them and must load
    them from disk before they are available.  Patch caching loads
    the sounds onto the card.  If you are using a sound card that
    requires patch caching, or you want to use the patch caching feature
    of your card, add the line "PATCHCACHE=1" to the W3.INI file in
    the WinSong directory.  This feature may cause a delay before playing
    or may change the sounds on your card so you should leave it off
    unless you need it.   Another similar feature is called drum caching.
    Some cards need to have the drums sounds loaded before they are
    available.  In that case add the line "DRUMCACHE=1" to the W3.INI
    file.

    If you have an Advanced Gravis UltraSound card, you can add the line
    ULTRASOUND=127 to the W3.INI file.  This will load the patches and
    the drums and will give them a volume of 127.

    The driver only checks the first first patches on a track to see
    which ones need to be loaded onto the card (for speed reasons),
    so the first event on any track should be a patch change in order
    to guarantee that the sound will be available when it is needed.
    If you wish to change patches during the course of a track,
    make the first few events patch changes and make sure all the
    patches that you need are there.


8.  Some MIDI drivers for Windows do not support running status bytes.
    WinSong now sends a status byte with every message by default.  You
    can increase the throughput on your MIDI system by adding the line
    "RUNNINGSTATUS=1" to your W3.INI file.  This tells WinSong to only
    send the necessary status bytes out the MIDI driver.



/********************* PRINTING PROBLEMS *************************/

1.  If you try to print and get this message:

          "Can't Load Fonts Necessary for Printing"

    Be sure that Windows has TRUETYPE fonts enabled.  You
    can check this by running the Control Panel, and then
    running the Fonts program.  Click the TrueType button
    and a window will appear that says:

          "Enable TrueType Fonts"

    Make sure the box next to it is checked.  Some add-on
    font managers turn this off.

2.  If you try to print and all you get is a bunch of regular
    (non-musical) characters scattered all over the page, the
    most likely reason is that you are using an add-on font
    manager that is confusing WinSong.  Naturally we want to
    make WinSong compatible with everything, but sometimes
    this just isn't possible.  Until then, you may have to
    turn your font manager off when printing in WinSong.

    The next most likely reason this would happen is that you
    have too many fonts loaded into Windows and WinSong is
    unable to load its own fonts (which are not installed
    in Windows but are in the WinSong directory).

    Another thing to check is the settings of the Windows printer
    driver you are using.  An example is the PostScript printer
    driver.  If you select the Print Setup menu option in WinSong,
    there is a button named Options.  If you press that button,
    another window appears with another button called Advanced.
    There is a checkbox that says:

          "Use Printer Fonts for all TrueType Fonts"

    If this box is checked, Windows will not use the WinSong
    Music font and it is very unlikely that your printer has
    a suitable substitute.

    What we're getting at is that you may have your printer
    driver set up so that it will not get the WinSong font
    when WinSong prints, and you may have to do a lot of
    hacking in order to find out why.  This is another one
    of the millions of computer problems that take a good deal
    of time to solve, but once solved will probably not
    trouble you again.

3.  Using the scaling features when printing may cause symbols
    and lines to not align properly.

4.  If you print and at the bottom of the page symbols are missing,
    you may not have enough memory in your printer to download
    all of the necesary fonts.  This usually occurs in laser printers
    such as the HP LaserJet IIP.  The best solution is to add memory
    to your printer, but a cheaper solution is to try changing the
    settings in the Printer Setup.  Try checking the "Print True-Type
    as Graphics" button.  This can slow printing and will affect the
    other programs you use besides WinSong.




*******************   General MIDI Instrument List ************************

Here are the sounds that should go with a particular patch on a sound card
or synthesizer.  Some cards are not designed to conform to this list.  You
can create a patch map in the MIDI Mapper that remaps the sounds on your
synthesizer to these patch numbers:


  Piano                    Strings                  Synth Lead
  1. Acoustic Piano        41. Violin               81. Lead 1 Square
  2. Brt Acou Piano        42. Viola                82. Lead 2 Sawtooth
  3. Elec Grnd Piano       43. Cello                83. Lead 3 Calliope
  4. Honky Tonk            44. Contrabass           84. Lead 4 Chiff
  5. Elec Piano 1          45. Tremolo Strings      85. Lead 5 Charang
  6. Elec Piano 2          46. Pizz. Strings        86. Lead 6 Voice
  7. Harpsichord           47. Orch. Strings        87. Lead 7 Fifths
  8. Clavichord            48. Timpani              88. Lead 8 Bass+Ld

  Chrom. Percussion        Ensemble                 Synth Pad
  9.  Celesta              49. String Ens. 1        89. Pad 1 New Age
  10. Glockenspiel         50. String Ens. 2        90. Pad 2 Warm
  11. Music box            51. Synth Strings 1      91. Pad 3 Polysynth
  12. Vibraphone           52. Synth Strings 2      92. Pad 4 Choir
  13. Marimba              53. Choir Aahs           93. Pad 5 Bowed
  14. Xylophone            54. Voice Oohs           94. Pad 6 Metallic
  15. Tubular Bells        55. Synth Voice          95. Pad 7 Halo
  16. Dulcimer             56. Orchestra Hit        96. Pad 8 Sweep

  Organ                    Brass                    Synth F/X
  17. Drawbar Organ        57. Trumpet              97.  FX1 Rain
  18. Perc. Organ          58. Trombone             98.  FX2 Soundtrack
  19. Rock Organ           59. Tuba                 99.  FX3 Crystal
  20. Church Organ         60. Muted Trumpet        100. FX4 Atmosphere
  21. Reed Organ           61. French Horn          101. FX5 Brightness
  22. Accordian            62. Brass Section        102. FX6 Goblins
  23. Harmonica            63. Synth Brass 1        103. FX7 Echoes
  24. Tango Accordian      64. Synth Brass 2        104. FX8 Sci-Fi

  Guitar                   Reed                     Ethnic
  25. Acoustic Guitar      65. Soprano Sax          105. Sitar
  26. Steel Acou Guit      66. Alto Sax             106. Banjo
  27. El Guitar Jazz       67. Tenor Sax            107. Shamisen
  28. Electric Guitar      68. Baritone Sax         108. Koto
  29. El Guitar Muted      69. Oboe                 109. Kalimba
  30. Overdriven Guit      70. English Horn         110. Bagpipe
  31. Distortion Guit      71. Bassoon              111. Fiddle
  32. Guitar Harmonic      72. Clarinet             112. Shanai

  Bass                     Pipe                     Percussive
  33. Acoustic Bass        73. Piccolo              113. Tinkle Bell
  34. El Bass Finger       74. Flute                114. Agogo
  35. El Bass Pick         75. Recorder             115. Steel Drums
  36. Fretless Bass        76. Pan Flute            116. Woodblock
  37. Slap Bass 1          77. Blown Bottle         117. Taiko Drum
  38. Slap Bass 2          78. Shakuhachi           118. Melodic Tom
  39. Synth Bass 1         79. Whistle              119. Synth Drum
  40. Synth Bass 2         80. Ocarina              120. Reverse Cymbal

  Sound F/X  Sound F/X
  121. Guit Fret Noise
  122. Breath Noise
  123. Seashore
  124. Bird Tweet
  125. Telephone Ring
  126. Helicopter
  127. Applause
  128. Gunshot