Shareware Overload Trio 2/Shareware Overload Trio Volume 2 (Chestnut CD-ROM).ISO/dir31/melsc.zip/TUTOR.TXT

Text File | 1994-01-15 | 22KB | 484 lines

Tutorials for Melodia / Sound Card

In these tutorials you will be creating and working with your
own Melodia file.  At the beginning of each tutorial will be a
brief explanation as to the purpose of the tutorial, and
directions as to which "Page" or "Area" you will start out on.

When you are doing these tutorials, you will be instructed to
either "click," "dial," or "slide" values into different inputs.

Click by clicking the left mouse button.  To dial a value, hold
down on the left mouse button and move the mouse whichever
direction you are instructed.  Slide refers to "slider" inputs,
which are horizontal lines.  To slide a value, hold down on the
left mouse button on the present value (the white number
somewhere on the line), and move the mouse whichever direction
you are instructed.

Now a brief review of the Pages, Areas, and Screens.  "Page"
refers to the individual page you will be working on.  There are
three basic pages: the PLAY page, the COMPOSE page, and the
INSTRUMENT page.  "Screen" is the monitor screen, and generally
refers to the PLAY and COMPOSE pages combined, which is only
attainable if you have VGA.  "Area" refers to the area of the
screen on which you will be working.

The PLAY page has two main areas: the Conductor area (top two
lines of the page), and the Play area (the remainder of the
page).  The COMPOSE Page also has two main areas: the clocks
(bottom five lines of the page), and the Compose area (remainder
of the page).  When the PLAY and COMPOSE pages are combined onto one
screen, the four areas are: Conductor (top two lines of the screen),
PLAY (upper portion of the screen), COMPOSE (lower portion of the
screen), and Clock (bottom five lines of the screen).

To change pages, click on "Page" in the lower right-hand corner.

To switch between separate and combined pages, click on "Zoom"
(next to Page in the lower right-hand corner).

The PLAY page consists of the top two conductor lines, and the
sixteen voices in groups of four.  A "voice" is one line of
characters, starting with the number in the "Mut" column (far
left of screen) to the "Slew" value (long horizontal line under
the column labeled Slew - far right of screen).  The voices are
identified by their numerical label in the Mut column, 01 being
voice #1, and so on.

If you do not have VGA, go to the COMPOSE page by clicking on
"Page" in the lower right-hand corner of the screen.  The
COMPOSE page consists of the "Clocks" on the bottom of the page,
labeled in brown, and the six different processes (labeled -
starting from the top left corner and going clockwise - Ssq,
Bsq, Ran, Fol, Tst, and Ctl), each unique in its own function.

To go to the INSTRUMENT page, click on "Page" in the lower right-hand
corner of the screen.  The INSTRUMENT page consists of a row of
functions on the bottom of the page, two long horizontal boxes
(magenta - labeled MOD and VOL) above them, and two large boxes
(magenta - labeled MODULATOR and CARRIER) above them.

Tutorial 1 - Creating a Sound

In this tutorial you will be working with the clocks, voices, text,
the Ran(dom) generator, and the Bank and Switch Sequencers.  You will
be using three different voices and clocks.  If you have VGA and are
not on the PLAY/COMPOSE screen, go there now by clicking on Zoom.  If
you do not have VGA, click on Page (lower right-hand corner) until
the PLAY page appears (the PLAY page is the one with the sixteen
voices in horizontal groups of four).

Before you do any of the following steps, you will first need to
create a new file. To do so, use the following method:

a. Click on "File" (bottom right).  Click on the current file
name (just below "Save" and "Erase" in bright white).

b. Type in the name you want your new file to be called.  Press
the space bar to delete any unwanted characters.  Press [ENTER].

c. You will be prompted with Load, Overwrite, New.  Click on
"New" to create a new file.

d. Return to your composition by selecting "Return" (on the
bottom of the File Menu).

Turn on the three instrument voices you will be using by clicking on
the first three numbers (01, 02, and 03) under the Mut column (make
sure each of the numbers is highlighted).  Make sure that Halt (upper
left-hand corner of the screen) is green, not bright yellow.  If it
is yellow, click on it to change it.

1. VOICE #1 -

a. Under the "Kb" column (top left-hand portion of the PLAY
area) dial left to connection R4.  A connection takes the place
of a numerical value.  This connects the Kb value to Random
Generator #4 (a process in the COMPOSE area).

b. Click on the Tsp (Transpose) column (upper left-hand portion
of the PLAY area) and dial right until the value C/5 appears.
This will play the note at a higher octave.

VOICE #2 - On the second line of the "Pan" column (upper middle
portion of the PLAY area), dial left to R5.  If you have a stereo
sound card, voice #2 should bounce from left to right in your
speakers.  NOTE: This function only works with stereo sound cards.

VOICE #3 - Click on the third line in Instrument column (top
left-hand corner of the PLAY area) and dial to voice #12 (BASPOP).

2. VOICE #1 - Turn the first volume to 46 by holding down on the
number on the Volume slider (upper right-hand portion of the
PLAY area - long, blue, horizontal line) and sliding it left.

VOICE #2 - Under the Kb (keyboard) column, hold down on the left
mouse button, and dial left to the connection B1.  You are
connecting the Kb value to Bank Sequencer #1.  A connection
takes the place of a numerical value.  This connects the Kb
value to Bank Sequencer #1 (a process in the COMPOSE area).
Turn the volume to 42.

VOICE #3 - On the third line under the Kb column, dial left to the
connection S1.  A connection takes the place of a numerical value.
This connects the Kb value to Switch Sequencer #1 (a process in the
COMPOSE area).  As you are dialing, note that the connections are in
alphabetical order.  Turn the volume down to 50.

3. If you do not have VGA, switch to the COMPOSE page for this
part of the tutorial.

VOICE #1 -  THE RANDOM GENERATOR

There are four controllable Ran(dom) generators, located at the top
right-hand corner of the COMPOSE area.  In addition, there are four
more invisible random generators, which are fixed to a range of
0-63.  They are labeled as connections R5-R8 in value inputs.

Under Ran#4 (Random process #4) dial a 39 under the column
labeled with an arrow pointing sideways.  This will give the
random selection of notes for voice #1 a range of 0-39.

VOICE #2 - THE TEXT EDITOR

Now you will be working with the "Text" part of Melodia.  Melodia
assumes you have DOS 5.0 or later, which has a text editor named
"EDIT."  In this tutorial, you will write your own text (a poem, for
example) with the text editor.  After you have done this, you will
return to Melodia, load the text you have just created, and convert
that text to musical intervals in Melodia's Bank Sequencer.

In addition to the text files, there are also a number of DNA
sequence files.  You can access these by clicking on "Text" (in
the File menu) twice, then clicking on the file name you wish to
be loaded.  More information about DNA files can be found in the
User's Guide section of this manual.

a. Click on "File" (lower right-hand corner of COMPOSE area),
then select "Edit."  This starts a text editor so you can make
your own text. Since you have made changes to your composition,
you will be prompted to save or discard the changes.  For now,
click on "Save."

b. When the editor loads, click on "File" in the upper left-hand
corner of the screen.  Select "New."

c. Type your text - even a short sentence will suffice.  When
you are done typing, click on File and select "Save As."  Give
your text a name, followed by ".TXT" (i.e., SONG.TXT) [ENTER].
IF YOU DO NOT INCLUDE ".TXT" AS PART OF YOUR FILE NAME, YOUR
FILE WILL NOT BE RETRIEVABLE!

d. To return to Melodia, click on "File," then select "Exit."

e. To load your text, click on "Text" (in the Melodia File
menu), then click on your text file name.   Note that the file
name under Save and Erase does not change.

f. To return to your composition, click on "Return" on the
bottom of the File Menu.  Your text will be loaded into the Bank
sequencers in the form of numerical values, indicating pitch
changes.

g. Next to the letter "A" in the column under "Bsq" (Bank
Sequencer - in the upper middle portion of the COMPOSE area)
there is a green block.  Hold down on the first block and dial
right until you see a green arrow pointing up. This activates
the Sequencer by making clock "A" count up.

VOICE #3 - THE COMPOSE AREA

a. Under Ssq#1 (Switch Sequencer #1 - in the top left-hand
corner of the COMPOSE area, labeled "Ssq" in magenta) hold down
on the zero in the Step column (Step is the blue horizontal line
under the brown "Step" label with a zero at the left end and a
little green circle at the other) and slide to Step 2.

b. Under the column labeled "#," dial 20.  You have just dialed
in a new pitch for Step #2.

c. Hold down on Step 2 and slide to Step 8.  Under the # column,
dial 36.  You have just dialed in a new pitch for Step #8.

d. Hold down on the green circle at the right end of the Step
line, then drag it to the space just after step 8.  This will
limit the sequence range to 0-8.

e. Next to the letter "A" in the column under "Ssq," there is a
green block.  Hold down on the first block and dial right until
you see a green arrow pointing up.  This activates the sequencer
by making clock "A" count up.

f. Change the letter "A" (under Ssq #1) to "C" by dialing right.
This will cause the sequencer clock to be in sync with the voice
clock.  Note the Ssq pitch change on steps 2 and 8.

To save your work, click on the File menu, select "Save" (not
the checkmark).  The checkmark will change to a dot to indicate
that your work has been saved.  After saving, click on "Return"
to go back to your composition, or "Exit" to exit.

Tutorial 2 - Modifying the Sound

In this tutorial you will be working with the Test ("Tst") and
Follow ("Fol") processes.  If you do not have VGA, switch to the
PLAY page.  You will need to start where you left off in the
last tutorial.  Open the previously saved file (click on File in
the lower right-hand corner of the screen, select the desired
file, then click on "Return" to return to your composition) if
it is not already opened.

Before you do anything, isolate voice #1 by clicking on the
green Mut icon (top left-hand corner of PLAY area, located just
under Halt).  It will switch to "Sol(o)" and only the first
voice will be active.   Be sure that 01 under Sol is
highlighted.  If it is not, click on it to select voice #1.

Since voice #1 is in the fifth octave (Tsp was set to C/5) and
the Random process was set fairly high, some of the notes may be
extremely high.  To change those high notes, you can do one of
two things:

1. you can lower the Random range or

2. you can "weed out" the higher notes with the Test process

The Test process is located in the lower right-hand portion of
the COMPOSE area, and is labeled "Tst" in magenta.

a. On the first line under column "#A" dial left to R4.

b. On the first line under column "#B" dial right to 20.

c. On the first line under the column "Y" dial left to S2, and
in column "N" dial left to R4.
This tells Melodia that if the note in R4 is greater than 20,
that note will be switched to Switch Sequencer #2, and if it is
not greater than 20, leave it alone.

d. Now move over to Switch Sequencer #2 (the second line under
the Switch Sequencer - top left-hand corner of the COMPOSE
area).  Slide to step 0 if you are not already there (Step is
the blue horizontal line under the brown "Step" label with a
little green circle at the end).  Dial a 12 in the # column.

e. Hold down on the zero and slide to position 1, then dial a
"16" in the # column.  Hold down on the 1 and slide to position
2, then dial a "19" in the # column.

f. Move the green "stopper" (the circle at the end of the Step
line) to the space just after step 2, and dial the green block
(next to A in the column under Ssq) right to the "up arrow."

PLAY AREA VOICE #1 -

g. Now dial left to T1 for the first number in the Kb column
(top left-hand portion of the PLAY area), replacing the R4
already there.   A connection takes the place of a numerical
value.  This connects the Kb value to Test Process #1 (a process
in the COMPOSE area).  Notice how the high notes have been
replaced by lower notes in Ssq #2.

Now you will be working with the Fol(low) Process.  The Fol
Process (right-hand side of the COMPOSE area) will change the
Random sound to a scale-like sound.

h. Dial left to R4 for the first number under the column labeled
with an arrow.

i. Dial right to F1 under the first number in the Kb column (top
left-hand portion of the PLAY area), replacing the T1 already
there.  Note the random sound is replaced by a scale-like sound.

j. Now turn voices #2 and #3 back on by clicking on the green
Sol icon (top left-hand corner of the COMPOSE area).  It will
change back to Mut and the three voices' numbers will be
highlighted, indicating that the voices are "on."

This is a good time to experiment with different instruments.
Click on the instrument name or number (in the Instrument column
- top left-hand corner of the PLAY area) of the voice you wish
to change, and dial left or right while listening to the sound.
If you prefer the original instruments, Voice 1 was instrument
#000, Voice 2 was instrument #001, and Voice 3 was instrument
#012.

To save your work, click on the File menu (lower right-hand
corner of COMPOSE area), then on Save.  To return to your
composition, click on "Return," or exit by clicking on "Exit."

Tutorial 3 - The Stage Sequencers

In this tutorial you will learn how to change stages.  You will
be working with the "conductor" on the top two lines of the
screen.  If you don't have VGA, switch to the PLAY page.  You
will be using the voices from the previous tutorial, so load
your saved file from it now by clicking on "File" (lower
right-hand corner of the COMPOSE area), then selecting the saved
file.  To return to your composition, click on "Return."

1. STAGE #00

a. Set the "Slews" (top right-hand corner of the PLAY area) of
the first three voices to 4.

b. Set the Measure (second conductor row, "M = Stop") to four
measures.  Do this by dialing right on Stop until M = 004.

c. Click on "Strt" (upper left-hand corner of screen, first line
of the Conductor area).  The volume should gradually become
louder until it reaches its set value, then stop and go to stage
"01" on the stage line at the top of the screen.

2. STAGE #01

When you clicked on "Strt" your measure should have played and
then moved to stage "01" on the long horizontal line next to
"Cont" on the first conductor row at the top of the screen.  If
it did not, move to that stage now.

a. To bring up the previous stage, click on "Prev" (right side
of second conductor row).

b. Slide the first three volumes (top right-hand portion of PLAY
area) to zero.

c. Click on "Strt" (top left-hand corner of Conductor area).
The volume should gradually go up, then down, then stop and go
to stage "02."

3. STAGE #02

a. Change the measure (M = Stop - second conductor row on
right-hand side) to "Loop" by dialing left on Stop.

b. Click "Strt" in the upper left-hand corner of the Conductor
area.  You should hear a continuous loop of the voices rising
and falling.

Save your file by clicking on the File menu (lower right-hand
corner of the PLAY area) and then clicking on Save.  To return
to your composition, click on "Return."  To exit, click on
"Exit."

Tutorial 4 - The Instrument Page

In this tutorial you will be creating a new instrument.  If you
do not have VGA switch to the PLAY page.  Before continuing, you
will need to create a new file.  To do so, use the following
method:

a. Click on "File" (bottom right).  Click on the current file
name (just below "Save" and "Erase" in bright white).

b. Type in the name you want your new file to be called.   Press
the space bar to delete any unwanted characters.  Press [ENTER].

c. You will be prompted with Load, Overwrite, or New.  Click on
"New" to create a new file.

d. Return to your composition by selecting "Return" (on the
bottom of the File Menu).

"New" gives you a blank workspace, and you won't have any  pitch
changes in the present voice.  Dial R4 in the first number under
the first Kb column so you do have pitch changes.

Go to the PLAY page if you are not already there.

1. Isolate voice #1 by clicking on "Mut."  It will change to Sol
(only one voice at a time may be active in the Sol mode).   In
the Sol mode, the voice will be connected to the INSTRUMENT page.

2. Activate the voice by clicking on Halt (upper left-hand
corner of the PLAY area) if it is yellow.  It should be green,
not bright yellow.

3. To access the INSTRUMENT page, click on Page (bottom right of
the screen) until you come to a page with magenta boxes of
varying sizes.

The INSTRUMENT page contains two ADSR boxes, a VOL(ume) box, and
a MOD(ulation) box.  The ADSR boxes are on the upper two-thirds
of the page, and the volume and Modulation boxes are on the
lower third.  "ADSR" stands for Attack, Delay, Sustain, and
Release.  The right ADSR box (labeled CARRIER) controls voice
quality and volume, while the left ADSR box (labeled MODULATOR)
controls "twang" and "buzz" qualities.

When experimenting with the INSTRUMENT page, keep in mind that
if you wish to return to the original format of the page, click
on "Redo" (bottom line of page, under "Put" and "Swap"), and all
of the values will return to their original positions before you
adjusted them.

"Play around" with the ADSR boxes until you find a sound that is
pleasing to you.  Keep in mind that A(ttack) values should be
fairly low, and D(elay), S(ustain), and R(elease) values should
be kept at moderate levels.

4. In the lower screen you will note several boxes with green
text.  The leftmost box determines how the note will be played.
By clicking on "Aud(ition)," you will hear what is being played
on the PLAY/COMPOSE screen.  Try this now.  Clicking on "Note"
will result in hearing one note played each time you change any
value on the page.  Try this now.  "Chrd" plays a chord each
time a value is changed, and "Off" means just that: off.  For
now, click on "Aud."

The box labeled "8v" in brown determines what octave your note
will be played in.  Simply click on any of the eight numbers,
and your note will go up or down.

The box labeled "Ins:" in brown simply tells you the instrument
numbers and names.  You can change to a new instrument by
clicking on either [up] or [dn], or by dialing on the instrument
number.  Try this now.  You can change the name of the current
instrument by clicking on the instrument name to position the
text cursor, then typing the new name.

When you find an instrument that you like, click on "Keep," which
will highlight to yellow, indicating that the instrument has been
marked for keeping.  When you redial a marked instrument, the Keep
label will turn yellow.  Try this now by Keep(ing) an instrument that
you like. Listen to other instruments, then redial to the instrument
that you highlighted.  Note that Keep changes to yellow on that
particular instrument.

There are several sets of instruments, each with different sounds. To
access the different sets, click on File (lower right-hand corner of
the screen), then select "Instrument." Click on whichever instrument
list you want, select "Return," then start experimenting.  Note that
instruments that you have highlighted with Keep are still present in
the new instrument file.  This is because Keep acts as a "mask" when
you are changing instrument sets.  Instruments that you have Kept in
one list are protected from being replaced when a new list is loaded.

The following steps will show you how to use "Put" and "Swap" to
exchange the positions of two instruments.

a. Dial to instrument #023 in the instrument box.  Click on
"Put," then click on the 1 just above Put.

b. Dial to instrument #042 in the instrument box.  Click on
"Swap," then click on the 1 just above Put.  You have just
swapped the stored instrument (#023) with instrument #042.

c. Dial back to instrument #023 in the instrument box, then
click on the 1 just above Put.  By clicking on one of the
numbers without first selecting Put or Swap, you "Get" the
instrument stored in that position, replacing the current
instrument.  You have just switched the two instruments.

If you wish to return the Instrument page to its original
format, click on Redo, just below Put and Swap on the bottom
portion of the page.

Now return to the PLAY/COMPOSE area (the PLAY page if you don't
have VGA) by clicking on Page (lower right-hand corner of
COMPOSE screen).  Your new instrument will be playing.
Save your file by clicking of "File" (lower right-hand corner of
the COMPOSE area), then selecting "Save."  To return to your
composition, click on "Return," to exit, click on "Exit."