Chapter 8 ~~~~~~~~~ Song Mode Play ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Song mode play screen allows you to play songs created on the song mode edit screen described in Chapter 5. You cannot record while in Song mode. The Song mode pIay screen is reached from the Song edit screen by clicking on PLAY or pressing the right mouse button. The following example shows the Song mode play screen as it might look before a song is started: The Song mode play screen has severl sections. The top line has the song number and title. The bottom of the screen is used for status lines, as in Open and Track modes. Most of the rest of the screen is used for a list of up to 48 song segments. A song can have up to 100 segments, but only the first 48 can be seen on the play screen. Each song segment shown has a number , and a segment key. The segment keys are used to select segments much like track keys can be used to select tracks in Track mode. Typewriter keys 1 - 9 are used for segments 1 - 9, keys A - Z for segments 10 - 35, and keys on the numeric keypad for segments 36 - 48. There is also a set of segment/channel options, seleted with the function keys which determine how the song is affected by selecting a segment. Each segment plays a single Open mode sequence. The sequence key (for primary sequences) or a two digit sequence number (for secondary sequences) is shown in the SQ column. The sequence name is displayed in the NAME column, and the number of times the segment is to play is shown under REP. Other information will appear in the REP column as the song is played. The right edge of the screen displays the status of the 16 MIDI channels. Each channel has a channel number and a corresponding key (1 - 9 and A - G). Channels can be soloed and muted, in the same way that tracks are in Track mode. Playing the Song ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The song is started by pressing FlO or clicking the right mouse button. When play starts, the measure/step counter starts to count, and a red musical note will appear in the REP column for segment 1. This symbol indicates the segment currently playing. If the segment is programmed to play more than once, the number in the REP column will count down as it plays. PAUSE and MIDI MERGE ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Song can be paused at any point by pressing the ESC key; pressing ESC a second time lets the song continue. MIDI merging can be toggled using the SEMICOLON (;) key. PAUSE or MIDI MERGE will appear in red on the status line if either of these functions are active. See the chapters on the Track and Open mode play screens for details on PAUSE and MIDI MERGE. Cueing and Single Segment Looping ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A song may also be started at an arbitrary cue point, just as in Track and Open modes. Pressing the TAB key stacts the song at the current cue point. The cue point is moved forward or backward using the CURSOR UP and CURSOR DOWN keys, and the cue point move amount is toggled between one and eight measures with the INSERT key. See the chapters on the Track and Open mode play screens for more details on cueing. The F2 key will cause the current segment to loop indeinitely. 99L appears under REF to show looping, Pressing F2 again will cause the segment to end after its current play. Segment/Channel Options ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Song mode provides seven segment/channel options channel which allow you to alter the playback of a song just as the track options discussed in Chapter 6 allow you to alter the playbach of individual tracks. These options can assist you in composition by allowing you to hear sections of a piece in different contexts and instrunents in different combinations. They can also be used to provide real time control in performance. The current segment or channel option is selected with one of the function keys F3 - F9. Pressing a segment or channel key will cause the current option to be applied to the corresponding segment or channel. The segment/channel options are MUTE/UNMUTE, PLAY IMMEDIATE, PLAY AFTER CURRENT, SET LOOP START, SET LOOP END, SOLO, and SET SWITCH. The MUTE/UNMUTE, SOLO, and SET SWITCH options are similar to the corresponding options in Track mode, but they apply to MIDI channels instead of tracks. The PLAY IMMEDIATE, PLAY AFTER CURRENT, SET LOOP START, and SET LOOP END options are unique to Song mode and apply to segments. The current segment/channel option is displayed on the right end of the top status line. The default is PLAY IMMEDIATE, as shown in the screen example on the last page. Only one segment option or one channel option may be active at any time. MUTE, SOLO and SET SWITCH ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The MUTE, SOLO, and SET SWITCH options are very similar to the corresponding options in Track mode. MUTE is selected with the F3 key, SOLO with F8, and SET SWITCH with F9. When one of these options is active, keys 1 - 9 control channels 1 - 9, while keys A - G control channels 10 - 16. When a channel is muted, MIDI data for that channel is not sent. When a channel is soloed, only data for that channel is sent. When a switch between two channels is set, the RETURN key alternately mutes one channel and unmutes the other. The words MUTE, SOLO, or SWIT will appear next to a channel which is currently muted or soloed, or for which a switch is in the process of being set. See the chapter on the Track mode play screen for more details on muting soloing or switching. PLAY IMMEDIATE and PLAY AFTER CURRENT ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ These features allow you to alter the order in which segments as a song is playing. When PLAY is active, pressing the segment key for any segment tn the song will cause the program to immediately stop playing the current segment and start the new segment. The song will then continue normally from that segment. PLAY AFTER CURRENT differs from PLAY IMMEDIATE in that the current segment is allowed to finish its current repetition before the new segment is started. This is especially useful when altering the structure of a song in real time with Song mode's interactive control features. Song Mode Loops ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Song mode allows you to set a starting and ending loop point, and to loop the song between these points. The loop points are defined in terms of segment numbers, not measures. The SET LOOP START and SET LOOP END Segment options allow you to set the starting and ending segments for the loop. The letters B and E will appear in the REP column next to the beginning and end segments of the loop as they are set. Pressing the SLASH (/) key turns looping on and off. The word LOOP appears on the left end of the top status line when looping is active. The followng example shows the Song mode play screen after a song has been started, and loop points set: In this example, a loop has been set up between segments 3 and 5. Since looping is actiwe, segments 3, 4, and 5 will play repeatedly until the loop as turned off with the / key. The red musical note indicates that segment 5 is currently playing. Channels 3 and 5 have been muted. MIDI events on these channels other than program changes will be ignored. The segment/channel option is PLAY IMMEDIATE. Pressing any key in the range 1 - 6 will cause the program to immediately jump to the beginning of the corresponding segment. Song Pointer in Song Mode ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ If the MIDI W SONG POINTER clock option has been selected on the SET OPTIONS screen, and a song pointer message is received, the program will start playing the current song from the point specified by the song pointer message. Exit ~~~~ Press Fl or the left mouse button to exit to the Song mode edit screen. Chapter 9 ~~~~~~~~~ STEP TIME RECORDING ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The step time recording features of the KCS allow you to record note information from your synthesizer keyboard, while using the computer keyboard or mouse to specify tuning information. Note velocity can be specified from either keyboard. This can be a faster and more intuitive way of precisely entering rhythmically regular passages than the typing method described in Chapter 4. It is particularly convenient in Track mode, as the new passage can be played along with tracks that were previously recorded. The step time recording screen contains fifteen choices fOf note times, fifteen choices for note durations and six choices for note velocity. The current choices are indicated by a red asterisk. As you play notes on the synth keyboard they are recorded with the current time, duration, and velocity values. Each choice is assigned to one of the numeric or alphabitic keys shown to the left of the possible values. You can make a new choice for time, velocity or duration by pressing the appropriate key on the computer keyboard, or by clicking the mouse on your choice. The red asterisk will move to display your choice. If you select a zero velocity which is norally assigned to the Z key the program will record the actual velocity with which each note is played on your synth. A new Open mode sequence can be recorded in step time by selecting the STEP TIME option from the record dialog box. A new track can be recorded in step time by selecting the STEP TIME TRACK option. If you pick this option, the program will allow you to select the measure at which you will start recording. You can also extend an existing sequence or track using step time record by selecting the STEP TIME APPEND option. The step time recording procedure is the same in any case. The step time record screen is shown below: The choices for time, duration and velocity are listed in columns, along with the keys used to select the choices. The bottom line shows the current measure and step, which will be the MST-ST value for the next note entered. The box directly aboxe this contains buttons for a number of step time recording options, as well as two edit buttons. Recording in Step Time ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Once the various record parameters are set up, recording in step time is simply a matter of entering the notes for each step from the synth's keyboard. Pressing and releasing a single key puts a single note at that step; pressing more than one key before any key is released puts a chord at that step. All notes played will be assigned the chosen duration and velocity values. The first note or chord will get a time of 0, while subsequent notes get the selected time value. The measure and step counters will be updated as each note is played. While recording you can select a new time, duration, or velocity value from any of the choices displayed by pressing the key shown next to the desired value, or by clicking on the new value with the mouse. The asterisk moves next to your choice, and subsequent notes will use the new choice. If the DUR FOLLOW feature is active, selecting a new time will cause the program to select a new, proportional duration as well. This is convenient when entering data with a lot of different time values. The durations of the last note or chord entered will also be adjusted to the new value if DUR FOLLOW is on. This prevents the previous note from overlapping the new one if the time is reduced. DUR FOLLOW is on when the step time record screen is first entered, and can be turned on or off with the F4 key. Changing the Time, Duration and Velocity Values ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ You can easily enter time, duration, or velocity values other than the ones initially supplied by the program. While holding the SHIFT key, press the key for the time, duration, or velocity value you vwsh to alter; or place the mouse pointer on the value to be changed at click both mouse buttons together. A red ! will appear next to the selected value at the top of the screen and the message line will prompt you for a new step time value. You may enter up to a three digit number. If you enter a one or two digit number press RETURN. The new value will appear on the screen, and will be selected as the current value. The fifteen time and duration values, as well as the five preset velocity levels, are stored along with other sequencer parameters in .ENV (environment) files, which are described in more detail in the next two chapters. Time Chg Delay ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Normally, selecting a new time value when entering a step time sequence or track causes the next note played to get the new time value. Enabling TIME CHG DELAY causes the new time value to be assigned to the next note entered, rather than the current note. This is more naturl when entering a score from sheet music. TIME CHG DELAY can be activated with the mouse, or by presswing the SLASH (/) key. The default setting for this switch iœs offF but intuatively obvious. Rest, Tie, and Delete ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Click on REST or press the F3 key to insert a rest in your recording. The measure and step counters will be increased, and the time value of the next note will be increased by the current time value. Click on TIE, or press RETURN to enter a tie. This will increase the time and also add the current time value to the duration of the most recently recorded note or chord. Clicking on DELETE or pressing UNDO will delete the last note or chord entered. Play Options ~~~~~~~~~~~~ The PLAY OPTIONS allow you to play back part or all of the sequence or track being entered. Each option can be selected by clicking on that option, or by pressing a key on the computer's keyboard. SEQ/TRACK plays the current sequence or track from the beginning and can also be selected by pressing F6. 24 NOTES and 8 NOTES cause the last 24 or eight notes entered to be played; the associated keys are F7 and F8, respectively. Play can be stopped with the F1 key or left mouse button, or restarted with FlO or the right mouse button. 8 BARSS and 2 BARS, or the F9and FlO keys, let you hear the last eight or two bars of your recording. In Open mode, you will hear the sequence in isolation; but in Track mode, all previously recorded and unmuted tracks will also be heard. The cue point will also be reset if you use these options in Track mode. In Open mode, LAST CUE or the TAB key will play the current cue sequence from its cue point. If the current CUE sequence is a control sequence that plays the sequence being recorded, this allows you to hear your recording in context. In Track mode, LAST CUE will play all tracks from the current cue point. You can interrupt or restart play as described earlier. Audition Velocity ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ If you are not sure of the dynamics you wish to use for your recording you can use the AUDITION VELOCITY feature to try different note velocities until you find the one that sounds best. Use the mouse, or press F5 to activate AUDITION VELOCITY. New notes will not be recorded; instead the current velocity selection will be changed to the velocity of each note as it is played. When you decide that you like the velocity of the last note played, press F5 again. Recording will resume using the new velocity value. Note that if you're using a keyboard that sends release velocity the current velocity selection will change when you release a key as well as when a key is pressed. In this case, be sure to turn AUDITION VELOCITY off before releasing the key. Duration Adjust ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Clicking on one of the four DURATION ADJUST values or pressing one of the four cursor control keys allows you to make small adjustments to the current duration selection, and to hear the result in the context of the current time value. Press the CURSOR RIGHT key to increase the duration by one, the CURSOR LEFT key to decrease by one, the CURSOR UP key to increase by four, or the CURSOR DOWN key to decrease by four. The most recently recorded note will be played eight times with the new durataon and the current time and velocity values. If no notes have been recorded yet, a middle C will be played. Pause ~~~~~~ If you want to play some notes without recording, press the ESC key. The word PAUSE will appear, and the program will stop recording. Press ESC again to resume recording. ECHO and MIDI MERGE ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Iaf you are using a master keyboard and an external synth module, you will need to activate either ECHO or MIDI MERGE, just as you do on the other screens. These functions can be selected and the echo channel changed with the BACKSPACE, SEMICOLON (;), > (SHIFT-PERIOD), and < (SHIFT-COMMA) keys, as described in Chapters 6 and 7, or the mouse can be used. If ECHO or MIDI MERGE is on while in step time record, the velocity of all notes received from MIDI will be reset to the currently selected velocity before the notes are transmitted to the MIDI out jack. Exit from Step Time ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Click on EXIT or press Fl to go to the edit screen, or use EXIT TO PLAY or F2 to go to the play screen. Chapter 10 ~~~~~~~~~~ LOAD/SAVE ~~~~~~~~~ The Atari ST and Amiga vergions of the KCS use six different types of disk files to store the data used by the program. Each file has a unique extension. When you select LOAD/SAVE from one of the edit screens a dialog box or edit window will ask whether you want to load or save a file, which disk drive to use, and what file type is to be accessed. After selecting a drive (on the ST only) and file type, click on LOAD or SAVE. Another dialog box will display a directory of files with the selected extension on the current disk. In the Atari version, files are selected in the window using the GEM protocols that are discussed in the STs docuentation. In the Amiga version, a fairly self explanatory file select window will appear. After selecting a file name, click on CANCEL to exit or OK to load or save the file. You do not have to specify .ALL,.SEQ, .ENV, etc. as these extensions will be added by the program. In the ST version of the program, clicking on FORMAT will format a blank disk for data storage. The file type selected is irrelevant when formatting a disk. Dialog bexes will confirm your choice, and ask for the disk type. (In the Amiga version of the program, you may format disks directly from the WorkBench.) Clicking on CANCEL exits the LOAD/SAVE screen. File Types ~~~~~~~~~~ .ALL files contain all songs, sequences and tracks, plus the status of each individual track and the contents of the text area, in memory at the time the file was saved. .. dtLL files can only be loaded or saved from Track or Open modes. Loading a .ALL file will erase all data in the sequencer's memory. .SEQ files hold a single track or sequence. These files can only be loaded or saved from Track or Open mode. The file saved will be the currently selected track or sequence; when loaded, the file will be put in the next available track or sequence, depending on the mode selected. .TRK files hold all 48 tracks, plus their statuses. Savng all tracks can be done from any mode, but loading tracks can only be done from Track mode. .SNG files hold a single song as wel1 as the sequences used in that song. When a .SNG file is loaded, each sequence is put in its original location, unless that slot is already occupied, in which case the sequence is moved to the first empty slot and the song is changed to reflect the new location. This allows merging multiple songs into a single .ALL file. Songs can only be loaded or saved from Song mode, and the song loaded or saved is the currently selected song or the next available song, respectively. A set of Open mode sequences that are not otherwise used in a song can be saved and loaded as a group by creating a dummy song made up from a list of the desired sequences. In this case, though, PRIMARY and ST events contained in Open mode sequences will not be reassigned if that sequence is already in use, so you will need to be careful to avoid such conflicts if you use the dummy song method. .ENV files are environment files, and contain most of the parameters diplayed in the SET OPTIONS edit window, as well as the time, duration, and velocity values used in step time recording. If a file named DEFAULT.ENV is saved on the KCS program disk, this file will be loaded when the program boots. .ENV files are also created automatical@y whenever you save a .ALL file. When a .ALL file is saved, the searches for a .ENV file with the same name and loads that file as well. MIDI Files and File Formats ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ For Atari ST owners who would like to use KCS sequence files with other sequencers that support the MIDI sequence file format, we have written a utility program entitled CONVERT.PRG, which will convert KCS sequence files to MIDI standard files, and vice versa. (An Amiga version will be available shortly.) The MIDI sequence file fornhat is an emerging standard, which has been unofficially adopted by many music software publishers, including Dr. T's, Opcode, Intelligent Music, Passport, and others. Instructions for the use of this program are contained in a README file, which is included with the program. CONVERT.PRG may be found on many MIDI related bulletin boards, or it may be obtained directly from Dr. T's for a nominal fee. For advanced computer musicians who would like to write programs that can exchange files with the KCS, the file formats for the .ALL, .SEQ, .SNG, and .TRK file types are available for a nominal charge to cover printing and shipping. Contact us for more information. Caveats ~~~~~~~ One point to be aware of when saving ,ALL or other long files is that a computer with 1 meg or more of memory can hold many more notes than can fit on a single disk. A double sided disk can hold about 120000 notes, and a single sided disk (on the ST only) only holds about half this number. If you somehow find yourself with more notes than will fit on a single disk, you will have to save some individual sequences or songs then delete them and save the remaining data in a .ALL file. CAUTION: With the exception of the DEFAULT.ENV file mentioned earlier, you should NEVER save your data files on the KCS program disk! This could cause conflicts with the program,'s copy protection, which will make it impossible to load the program. The write protect tab on the program diskette should be left open at all times except when saving a DEFAULT.ENV file. Chapter 11 ~~~~~~~~~~ SET OPTIONS ~~~~~~~~~~~ The SET OPTIONS edit window allows you to set a number of important parameters used by the prog@am. The SET OPTIONS screen can be reached from any edit screen by clicking on SET OPTIONS, or from any play screen by pressing the 0 (ZERO) key. The SET OPTIONS screen is divided into six areas, each of which contain buttons and numeric data fields for a group of related parameters. Settings for the different parameters are changed as described in the section on edit window in Chapter 1. Most of the parameters on this screen can also be loaded from or saved to disk in a .ENV file, which is described later in this chapter. MIDI ~~~~ MIDI MERGE causes the program, to transmit all data received at its MIDI in to the MIDI out jack. MIDI merge can be turned on and off from this screen, or with the SEMICOLON (;) key on any of the play screens. You will need MIDI merge if you are using a master keyboard and remote modules. MIDI merge functions when the program is on one of the play/record screens, though not on the edit screens, and MIDI merging is overridden when ECHO is on. Also note that if a system exclusive message being received by the program is interrupted for some reason, the program will hang up until you press Fl. START IS 1ST CLOCK allows you to tell the program whether it should respond to a MIDI start or continue command as though it were the first MIDI clock, or simply as an instruction to start listening for MIDI clocks. If you are syncing to an external MIDI clock source, pick the setting which seems to sync better with your other equipment. In particular, if you are transferring sequences from another instrument using the techniques outlined in chapter 13 and the time of the first event recorded is always off by one clock step, yu should change this setting. This option has no effect if the internal clock is being used. NO MIDI START lets the program respond to MIDI clock even if a MIDI start command is not received. This is sometimes needed for certain specialized applications involving recording from other sequencers, and has no effect when the internal clock is selected. SONG POINTER SEND activates the transmission of MIDI song pointer messages by the KCS. When this option is turned on, the program will send an apropriate song pointer message whenever a song, sequence, or track is started from a cue point, or when a track loops to the beginning of a cue loop. The DLY button, to the left of SONG POINTER SEND, adds a one second delay between the MIDI Song Pointer and Continue messages after CUE is selected on any play screen. This allows the external instruments to catch up to the sequencer before it starts. MIDI CLOCK OUT tells the program to enable or disable the sending of MIDI clock. If you are not syncing a drum machine to the KCS via MIDI clock, you may want to turn this off to reduce the amount of data sent via MIDI. For some specialized applicaions, you may want to send MIDI clock selectively from your sequences using * events, and not send it automatically with every clock step. RUNNING STATUS reduces the amount of MIDI data transmitted by eliminating redundant status bytes, which can help reduce timing or other problems caused by MIDI data overload. Use with caution, especially if you are using a MIDI switch box. MIDI SLOW adds a slight delay after each byte sent out over MIDI. Some MIDI instruments cannot respond to MIDI data when transmitted at the standard MIDI transmission rate (the baud rate to you techies). Yamaha instruments are the most notorious for this, but it is also a problem with some MIDIed Drumulators. If your instruments randomly miss or stick on some notes, try setting MIDI SLOW to a value in the 60's. Use the smallest value that you can for MIDI SLOW, as increasing it causes the program to spend time waiting around when it could be working. MIDI instruments can also miss data because too much is being sent at one time. This sounds like the problem described above, but is acutally quite different. The instruments get so much MIDI data that they have no place to put it while they are doing their other work, and some gets lost. MIDI SLOW will probably not help this problem. You will have to get some MIDI channel filters, so instruments only receive data intended for them, or you will have to record less data. Continuous controllers (mod wheels, pitch wheels, aftertouch, etc.) are a likely cause of this problem RECORDING ~~~~~~~~~ The options in this portion SET OPTIONS screen are used to set certain parameters which affect recording in Track and Open modes. With the exception of MUTE NEW TRACKS, all recording options affect both Track and Open mode recording. Many of these options can also be changed from the record screens as well, and further information can be found in those chapters. CONTROLLERS, AFTERTOUCH, and NOTE OFF VELOCITY are used to enable or disable the recording of MIDI controllers (coninuous controllers, pitch bend, and program changes), aftertouch, and note off, or release, velocity. The PAUSE switch, next to CONTROLLERS, allows recording controller settings when the sequences is paused. When this switch is on, the last value only of any controller that is adjusted when the sequencer is paused will be recorded. This could be used, for example, to enter a single volume control message in a previously recorded part, by playing the sequence to the point of the insertion, pressing PAUSE, and then playing a few notes on the keyboard while adjusting the volume. Once you've found the proper setting, restart the sequencer by pressing PAUSE again, and the final volume setting will be recorded. (Of course, the RECORD switch must be turned on, as well, and the sequence or track containing the newly recorded data will need to be merged with the original track or sequence, as always). SYSEX enables the recording of system exclusive messages. When this switch is on, sysex messages of up to 5000 bytes can be recorded as single byte events. This is less memory efficient than storing sysex data in a librarian program, but it may be more convenient in some instances. ALIGN is used to force tracks or sequences to "line up" with the start of each measure, when recording or playing. If ALIGN is on while you are playing sequences from the Open mode play screen, sequence playback will not start as soon as the sequence key is pressed, but at the beginning of the next measure. If ALIGN is on while recording in either Track or Open modes, recording will not stop immediately when the F10 key is pressed, but will continue until the start of the next measure. MUTE NEW TRACKS causes tracks to be muted as soon as they are recorded. This is convenient, for instance, when recording multiple takes of a long solo over a track, since earlier takes of the solo will not be played back as the sequencer loops. It is also handy when looping over a short cue, to give you a chance to play a short riff many times while you work on getting it right. QUANTIZE toggles real time auto-correction. When QUANTIZE is on, the time values and durations of all events recorded will be rounded to the nearest multiple of the number to the right of QUANTIZE. Unlike auto-correction from the edit screens, quantization cannot be undone. Another difference is that all event types, including controller events and program changes, will be rounded when QUANTIZe is on, whereas only note messages are affected by autocorrection. ECHO is similar to MIDI merging, except that all data received is rechannelized before recording or transmission to the MIDI out jack. The number to the right of ECHO is the echo channel. FILTER forces the sequencer to only receive data on a single MIDI channel, called the filter channel. Data on all other channels is filtered out. This is especially useful when recording data from another sequencer into the KCS, or when "expanding" a single channel's data from many sequences into a single sequence using the loopback recording technique described in Chapter 13. The number to the right of FILTER is the filter channel. COUNTIN allows you to select the number of "free" steps that you get before recording starts in real time. The metronome will sound and MIDI clock will be sent during the countin, but the program's clock will be held at 0 until the count is over. Remember, this is set in steps, not metronome beats, so to get a one measure countin at 96 steps per measure, you must enter 96. The maximum value for COUNTIN is 255 steps. OTHER ~~~~~ SILENT PUNCH only affects the operation of the sequencer in Track mode. When SILENT PUNCH is on, notes that are being punched out will be muted while punch points are being set. Once the punch points are set, the punched portion of the track will be muted regardless of the setting of this switch. SILENT PUNCH also affects notes that are deleted when LIVE EDIT is active - if SILENT PUNCH is off, notes that are being deleted will still sound when LIVE EDIT is on. ACTIVITY DISPLAY enables the musical icons which appear next to active tracks in the track status display. You might want to turn the activity display off when recording or playing very dense musical passages, or when using high clock resolutions. STEP DISPLAY enables the step portion of the measure/step counter. Turning the step display off reduces the computer's work load slightly, and allows the program to concentrate on more important tasks. MIN:SEC DISPLAY enables the real time clock, which displays the amount of time elapsed since the sequencer was started. As with the STEP DISPLAY switch, turning this switch off may help in hypercritical timing applications. See Chapter 13 for details on the real time clock. RE-RECORD STOP affects the operation of the UNDO key and RE-RECORD button in Track mode only. When this switch is highlighted, pressing the UNDO will erase the current recording, stop the clock, and reset the measure/step counter. When Re-RECORD STOP is off, pressing UNDO will erase the current recording, but the sequencer will continue to play. TRACK MODE LOOP, suprisingly enough, controls looping in Track mode. When this switch is off, all trakcs will play through only once. It is also possible to play or record past the end of track 1 (which normally sets the loop point for Track mode) by turning TRACK MODE LOOP off. You should be careful about recording on tracks other than track 1 when TRACK MODE LOOP is turned off, since any data recorded past the end of track 1 will be lost when a DOUBLE, APPEND, or ALL TRACKS TO SEQ operation is performed, unless the length of track 1 is extended by changing the TIME value of track 1's final DE event. TEMPO CHG BY RATIO changes the amount of tempo change which occurs when tempo is changed from the Track mode control panel, or from the computer keyboard. When this switch is off, the tempo will change by 1 BPM when any of the tempo controls is pressed; when this switch is on, the tempo will change by about 2.5% for each button press. MIDI KEYS is a convenience feature for advanced KCS users, that allows controlling certain sequencer functions from an external MIDI footswitch controller. When this switch is on, MIDI controllers 64, 65, and 66 (the sustain, portamento, and sustenuto pedals, respectively) duplicate the functions of certain keys on the computer's keyboard on the program's Track mode, Open mode, and step time record screens. The sustain pedal duplicates the F10 key and right mouse button on all three screens, but is especially useful in Track mode, since this allows you to start recording and set the track loop point with no hands. In Track mode, the portamento pedal is equivalent to the RE-RECORD button, and the sustenuto pedal controls the STOP button. In Open mode, the portamento and sustenuto pedals are used to start real time recording, and duplicate the functions of the RETURN (record on next event) and ENTER (record immediate) keys, respectively. On the step time record screen, the portamento pedal inserts a rest, and the sustenuto pedal deletes the previous note. These controllers are recognized on all MIDI channels, and are not merged or recorded when MIDI KEYS is active. DRUM CHANNEL selects one channel which will not be affected by any pitch transpositions, either as part of a song or control sequence, or when editing a sequence or track. This is intended for use with MIDI drum machines. Since drum machines assign each drum to a separate MIDI note, transposing a drum part will cause the wrong drums to be played by the sequencer; hence the need for a drum channel. DEBOUNCE sets the amount of time a mouse button must be held down before it will repeat on the Open or Track mode play screens, in 5 millisecond increments. A value of 100 corresponds to 1/2 second. You may find that different values of debounce are needed for different applications. CUE MOVE AMOUNT sets the amount that the cue point(s) will move when the cue move buttons are pressed. This will toggle between one and eight measures when the INSERT key is pressed on any play screen, but can be set to any value from 1 to 99 on the SET OPTIONS screen. VELOCITY PEDAL ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The switches in the VELOCITY PEDAL section are used to choose one of the three velocity pedal options, as well as the velocity pedal channel, which are used to affect note velocities during Open or Track mode recording, or when LIVE EDIT is active in Track mode. Velocity pedal in Open mode can only be selected from this screen. See the chapters on the Open and Track mode play/record screens for details on velocity pedal functions. TIMING ~~~~~~ The parameters in the TIMING section of the SET OPTIONS window are used to select the clock source and set the timing resolution of the sequencer. Chapter 13 has more information on timing resolution. INTERNAL CLK selects the program's internal timer as the clock source. The number to the right of the switch is the tempo, in beats per minute. The tenths of BPM digit is treated as a separate field by the program, which means you will need to use the mouse to place the cursor on this digit. Remember that the internal clock is always used when playing a sequence or track from the edit screen, so the setting of the clock source selector switches will have no effect when working on the edit screen. MIDI CLOCK selects an external MIDI clock as the clock source. The sequencer will wait for a MIDI start or continue message before starting any tracks or sequences unless the NO MIDI START button is turned on. MIDI W SONG POINTER selects the external MIDI clock source and enables the reception of MIDI song pointer messages. When a song pointer message is received, the sequencer will move to that point in the current song cue sequence, or track, and play from that point. STEPS/MEASURE sets the number of steps in a measure, which only affects the measure/step counter on the play and edit screens, and the event list on the edit screen. This value will change whenever an SM event is encountered by a sequence or track. The followng table shows the correct STEPS/MEASURE setting for the most common time signatures and STEPS/BEAT values. Time Steps/Beat Signature 24 48 96 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 3/8 36 72 144 2/4 48 96 192 5/8 60 120 240 3/4 72 144 288 7/8 84 168 336 4/4 96 192 384 9/8 108 216 432 5/4 120 240 480 6/4 144 288 576 7/4 168 336 672 STEPS/BEAT sets the overall timing resolution of the sequencer. The standard value for STEPS/BEAT is 24. Higher values allow for more precise timing, but also make editing more difficult and put a greater strain on the computer, by giving it less time between steps in which to do its "housekeeping" chores. If STEPS/BEAT is changed during a SET OPTIONS session, the program will ask if you want to "Adjust all event times?" when you @eave the SET OPTIONS screen. Answering "Y" to this question will compress or expand all event times and durations to match the new resolution. The program will also ask of you wish to adjust the related parameters. A "Y"$ answer here will change the STEPS/MEASURE, STEPS/MIDI CLK, and STEPS/METRO settings proportionally, or "N" will leave the settings unchanged. STEPS/MIDI CLK sets the number of sequencer steps between each MIDI clock. This should normally be set to 1 when STEPS/BEAT is 24, and adjusted proportionally when STEPS/BEAT is increased. The sequencer uses the current tempo setting to interpolate between MIDI clocks when an external MIDI clock is used and STEPS/BEAT is greater than 24, so there will be an improvement in resolution when STEPS/BEAT and STEPS/MIDI CLK are increased, even if an enternl clock is in use. METRONOME ~~~~~~~~~ STEPS/METRO sets the interval between metronome ticks. The default is for the metronome to occur every 24 steps. If you want the metronome more or less often, or you change the STEPS/BEAT setting, you will want to change the number of steps per metronome. AUDIBLE METRONOME enables or disables the metronome "click" that is produced by the monitor speaker. VISIBLE METRONOME enables or disables the musical icon metronome that is shown on the Track mode and Open mode play/record screens. PLAY METRONOME turns the metronome on when the sequencer is in play. If this switch is off, the metronome will only occur when the program is recording. Environment Files ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Most of the parameters shown on the SET OPTIONS screen can be saved in an environment file. This allows you to quickly and accurately change the recording and playback parameters when you move to a new recording situation. Environment files have a .ENV extension. Environment files contain the values for time, duration, and velocity used on the Step time record screen, as well as the following SET OPTIONS parameters. All the parameters from the MIDI and METRONOME sections of the SET OPTIONS screen (except the DLY switch) are saved, and in the TIMING section, all parameters are saved. In the RECORDING section, the CONTROLLERS, AFTERTOUCH, and NOTE OFF VELOCITY record switches are saved, as well as the ECHO status and channel. In the OTHER section, all parameters except TRACK MODE LOOP, MIDI KEYS, and the CUE MOVE AMOUNT are saved, and in the VELOCITY PEDAL section, only the CHANNEL is saved. In the Amiga version of the program, the screen colors are also saved. If a file named DEFAULT.ENV exists on the KCS program disk, it will be automatically loaded when the program boots up. .ENV files are also loaded and saved automatically with .ALL files, under the same file name. If the STEPS/BEAT setting in the environment file is different than the current setting when you are loading a .ENV file, the program will ask if you want to adjust all event times. See the LOAD/SAVE chapter for more information on .ENV files. Chapter 12 ~~~~~~~~~~ MIDI ~~~~ While it is possible to make good use of the Keyboard Controlled Sequencer wdthout detailed knowedge of MIDI, you will undoubtedly find that as you start to realize some of the enormous potential inherent in most MIDI instruments; an understanding of the nuts and bolts of MIDI can be very helpful. This chapter contains information on a number of subjects pertinent to the KCS, but is by no means a complete guide to MIDI. Fortunately, a number of well written books on the subject have appeared on the market; we recommend tracking one down if you need more detailed information. MIDI Connections ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A MIDI cord consists of a twisted and shielded pair of wires, with the body of the plug isolated from the shield. At the MIDI out jack, the MIDI cable plugs directly into the synth or computer's circuitry; but at the MIDI in of the receiving instrument, the cable connects to an "opto isolator", which uses light, rather than electrons, to couple the signal into the instrument. This means that there is no electrical conductor between the MIDI in of one machine and the MIDI out of another, so you can't blow something by incorrect patching. Although MIDI cables look the same as standard DIN or Roland sync cables, the grounding of the two cables is different. DIN cables can create "ground loops", which will cause hum and other nasty sounds to appear at the output of your synthesizer(s). As mentioned in the first chapter of this manual, the Atari ST uses a nonstandard method for creating a MIDI thru connection with its MIDI out jack. This causes a conflict with some types of (nonstandard) MIDI cables which have the two normally unused pins (1 and 3) shorted to the pins which carry MIDI data (4 and 5). The best solution to this situation is to have the ST permanently modified to meet the MIDI spec; a less drastic s9olution is to check your cables with an ohm meter, preferably before leaving the store with them. MIDI Modes ~~~~~~~~~~ MIDI modes determing how an instrument will respond to incoming MIDI data. MIDI modes can be a source of confusion to beginners and pro's alike, primarily because one MIDI manufacturer mininterpreted the meaning of one of the modes when they introduced their first MIDI synthesizer. The three original modes were broken into four modes to allow for this. Since then, other manufacturers have created new modes to take advantave of various types of multi-timbral implementations. The original four MIDI modes can be selected on any synth that implements them through a control change (CC) event called a mode message; any other modes must be selected at the instrument or with a sysex message. The section below on USEFUL MIDI COMMANDS gives an example of how to select one of the four standard modes from the KCS. The four standard modes are called Omni On/Poly, Omni On/Mono, Omni Off/Poly, and Omni Off/Mono; they are also known as modes 1 - 4, respectively. The two Omni On modes cause the synth to receive data on all 16 MIDI channels at once; this is good for keyboards that are connected together in a layering arrangement, but not so hot for sequencing applications. Many earlier synths and drum machines power up in mode 1 (Omni On/Poly), and must be changed to one of the other modes to be used in a multi instrument sequencing environment. Mode 2 (Omni On/Mono) is virtually useless in all situations, as it causes an instrument to play ponly one voice monophonically, from all MIDI channels. This is the extra mode that was accidentally created in the early days of MIDI. The two Omni Off modes, modes 3 and 4, are more useful in a sequencing environment. Mode 3 (Omni Off/Poly) causes a synth to play all its voices polyphonically on one MIDI channel, while Mode 4 (Omni Off/Mono) puts each voice on a separate MIDI channel for monophonic operation. The CZ-101 and Sixtrak both use Mode 4 to implement their multi-timbral features, while more advanced synths like the Oberheim Xpander, Ensoniq ESQ1 and Yamaha FB01 use non-standard MIDI modes to allow assigning some voices to one channel, and some to others. Other MIDI Messages ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Some synthesizers can be placed in an operating condition called Local Control Off. In this mode, they will respond only to signals coming in via MIDI, while ignoring their keyboards. They will continue to send keyboard information via MIDI OUT. Local Control On will return the synth to normal operation. Local control messages are subset of the continuous controllers, and are sent from the sequencer with CC events. System real time messages are used to synchronize MIDI instruments in real time. The timing clock message will advance drum machines and sequencers to move in time with the sequencer. Other system real time messages include the start, stop and continue commands. Normally, these events are sent by the KCS at the appropriate times, but they can be sent as single byte messages for specialized applications. Other less useful real time messages include the reset and active sense messages. System common messages are miscellaneous messages which can be sent to instruments, regardless of what channel they are on. These include the song select command, the tune command (which initiates oscillator tuning on analog synthesizers), and the much ballyhooed song position pointer message. System exclusive (sysex) messages are used by individual manufacturers to do whatever they want to do with their instruments that is not covered in the normal MIDI spec. This includes, but is not limited to, functions such as patch dumps, remote button pushing, and even displaying messages on an instrument's display. You can use single byte events to send sysex information, but it is your responsibility to determine the response of your instruments to the information sent. The March 1987 issue of Electronic Musician has an article on using system exclusive data with the KCS. Some Useful MIDI Commands ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ All of the message types described above can be sent from the KCS, either as CC events, or with single byte messages. While many earlier synthesizers, such as the Sixtrak, have their own controller assignments, the assignments of all MIDI controllers are now standardized by the MIDI Manufacturers Association, and are listed on the next page. Many instruments also have assignable controls, which can be set to send or recognize any MIDI controller. This allows you to use any of the unassigned or less common controllers for whatever purpose you'd like. Examples of such instruments are the Oberheim Xpander, Matrix 12, and XK keyboard the Yamaha KX76 and KX88 keyboard controllers, and the Kurzweil MIDIBoard. Controller Name Number Range ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Modulation Wheel 1 0 - 127 Breath Controller 2 0 - 127 Early DX7 Aftertouch 3 0 - 127 Foot Controller 4 0 - 127 Portamento Time 5 0 - 127 Data Slider 6 0 - 127 Main Volume 7 0 - 127 Balance 8 0 - 127 Pan 10 0 - 127 Expression 11 0 - 127 General Purpose #1 16 0 - 127 General Purpose #2 17 0 - 127 General Purpose #3 18 0 - 127 General Purpose #4 19 0 - 127 LSB's for #'s 0 - 31 32 - 63 0 - 127 Sustain Pedal 64 0 or 127 Portamento On/Off 65 0 or 127 Sustenuto Pedal 66 0 or 127 Soft Pedal 67 0 or 127 Hold 2 69 0 or 127 General Purpose #5 80 0 or 327 General Purpose #6 81 0 or 127 General Purpose #7 82 0 or 127 General Purpose #8 83 0 or 127 Tremolo Depth 92 0 - 127 Chorus Depth 93 0 - 127 Celeste Depth 94 0 - 127 Phase Depth 95 0 - 127 Data Increment 96d 0 or 127 Data Decrement 97 0 or 127 Non Reg. Parameter MSB 98 0 - 127 Non Reg. Parameter LSB 99 0 - 127 Reg. Parameter MSB 100 0 - 127 Reg. Parameter LSB 101 0 - 127 Local Control On/Off 122 0 or 127 All Notes Off 123 0 Omni Off 124 0 Omni On 125 0 Mono On (0 = Omni Off) 126 0 - 16 Poly On 127 0 As an example of how these might be used, here is a sequence that sets a CZ-101 on Channel 5 to MIDI mode 4 (Omni Off/Mono) and then turns Local Control Off on channels 6 and 7: MSR- ST EVNT TIME CH TYP NOTE VEL DUR ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 1- 1 1 0 5 CC 126 0 1- 1 2 0 6 CC 122 0 1- 1 3 0 7 CC 122 0 The other three modes require two mode change messages to select a particular mode, for instance, control changes on controllers 124 and 127 to select Omni Off/Poly On. The numbers to be entered in single byte events for the other messge types are given below: Message Name 1st Byte 2nd Byte 3rd Byte ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Sysex Start 240 ID # Song Pointer 242 LSB MSB Song Select 243 Song # Time Request 246 Sysex End 247 Timing Clock 248 Start 250 Continue 251 Stop 252 Axtive Sense 254 System Reset 255 The values used for the second and third bytes in the first three messages must be in the range of 0 - 127. If is you are using the song select message to select a song on an external drum machine or sequencer, you'll need to send a stop message just before the song select message, and a start message immediately thereafter. The form of system exclusive messages varies from one instrument to another; consult your manual for details. Program Changes ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The program numbers assigned to MIDI program change numbers can vary quite a bit from one manufacturer to the next. Generally speaking, sending a program change to a Sequential of Oberheim synthesizer will cause that patch number to be selected, while sending the same program change to a Yamaha or Ensoniq instrument will select that patch number minus one. Casio uses a strange overlapping system which is described in the APPLICATIONS chapter, while Korg, Roland, and others use a "bank system" in which programs are selected via a modified octal numbering system. The following table shows which numbers to enter in a PG event to select a program on instruments that use the bank system. The Group A and Group B columns respect another level of program selection used on some Roland instruments. Use the values in the Group A column for synths without this feature. Program Group A Group B ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 11 - 18 0 - 7 64 - 71 21 - 28 8 - 15 72 - 79 31 - 38 16 - 23 80 - 87 41 - 48 24 - 31 88 - 95 51 - 58 32 - 39 96 - 103 61 - 68 40 - 47 104 - 111 71 - 78 48 - 55 112 - 119 81 - 88 56 - 62 120 - 127 The MIDI implementation chart which comes with each instrument should describe the program numbering scheme for that machine: if not, REXMAN! MIDI Note Numbers ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ MIDI note numbering is also handled differently by different manufacturers. The note numbering system used by Dr. T's is shown in the chart below, where th keyboard represents a five octave keyboard like those found on most instruments today. Note that the system we use does not coincide with that used by Yamaha. Yamaha designates the lowest key on the five octave keyboard C1, whereas we call that key C2. MIDI Drums ~~~~~~~~~~ When drum machines are played through MIDI, each drum is asigned to one or more notes on the MIDI keyboard. While newer machines allow you to assign each drum to a specific note (and possibly to a specific channel as well), there is sort of a quasi-standard in effect regarding drum machine note assignments. These assignments, which are also used in our Copyist transcription program, are listed below. Drum Note #'s Notes ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Bass 35, 36 B1, C2 Snare 38, 40 D2, E2 Rim 37 C#2 Claps 39 D#2 Floor Tom 41, 43 F2, G2 Low Tomm, 45, 47 A2, B2 Mid Tom 49 50 C3, D3 Hi Tom 52, 53 E3, F3 Open Hi Hat 46 A#2 Closed Hi Hat 42, 44 F#2, G#2 Crash cymbal 49 C#3 Ride Cymbal 51 D#3 Tamb/Crash 2 54 F#3 Cowbell 56 G#3 Shaker 58 A#3 Most drum machines only allow one note number to be assigned to a single drum. In this case, use the higher note for any drums which are listed with two numbers.