MIDI QUEST read.me ------------------ Thank you for purchasing MIDI QUEST. Make sure you scan the SUPPORT.DOC file before running the installation so that the correct information is installed for all instruments. ***** VGA WINDOWS USERS ADDITIONAL INSTALLATION INFORMATION ***** ----------------------------------------------------------------- The proper display of MIDI QUEST in a VGA environment is dependent on a font which is not automatically installed with Windows 3.x and it is necessary for you to install this font before running MIDI QUEST. The font's disk name is 'egaeom.fon' and it has been copying into the MQUEST directory on your hard drive. To install the required font, follow these steps: 1. Double click on the 'Main' Program Group to open it (if necessary) 2. Double click on 'Control Panel' to start the program 3. Double click on 'Fonts' to display the installed fonts 4. Select 'Add' to add a new font 5. A file selector will appear. Use it to move into the MQUEST directory and double click on 'egaoem.fon' to install the font 6. Click on 'OK' to close the 'Fonts' program 7. You are now ready to run MIDI QUEST. MIDI QUEST v1/2.xx -> 3.0 UPGRADE -------------------------------- Before upgrading the MIDI QUEST v3.0 you should delete all existing program files along with any Drivers, Templates, and Instr(uments) directories and their subdirectories. Mac users should also delete the MQuest.Cfg file in the System folder. Installing MIDI QUEST v3.0 -------------------------- To install the new version of MIDI QUEST: PC/WINDOWS - run the install program and select YES when prompted to install the MIDI QUEST program AMIGA - Drag the HDINSTALL icon into the the HD disk/drawer you wish to install into OR drag the FLOPPYINSTALL icon into the floppy disk to install into. Double double click on the INSTALL icon to start installing. Select YES when prompted to install the MIDI QUEST program. ATARI - run the install program and select YES with prompted to install the MIDI QUEST program MAC - run Unstuffit Deluxe open 'MidiQuest.sit' and decrompress all files place 'MidiQuest.cfg' in the trash and empty it Location for Instrument Files ----------------------------- To avoid confusion, the location of MIDI QUEST support files is now fixed, the following rules must be followed for MIDI QUEST to function correctly: AMIGA - INSTRUMENTS: must be assigned to the directory or disk containing the data files PC/WINDOWS - the INSTR directory must be in the MQUEST directory MAC - all instrument folders must be inside a folder called INSTRUMENTS. - the INSTRUMENTS folder and MIDI QUEST must be in the same folder ATARI - all instrument support files must be on the same disk as MIDI QUEST - all instrument folders must be inside the INSTR folder - the instruments folder and MIDI QUEST must be in the same folder Running Multiple MIDI Applications ---------------------------------- When any QUEST software is run it automatically takes over all available MIDI IN and OUT ports. To release the ports so another application can use them during the same session, you MUST set "Special/MIDI Cleanup" to "ON". If not you may experience serious problems. MIDI QUEST V3.0 Upgrade Manual ------------------------------ ------------------------------ If you have purchased a new version of MIDI QUEST or received a copy of MIDI QUEST with v3.0 documentation, you can ignore the remainder of this file. For those requiring it, this file contains documentation on the new features added to MIDI QUEST v3.0. THE BANK EDITOR WINDOW ---------------------- Auditioning a Patch ------------------- An additional auditioning method has been added to QUEST editors. The currently selected Patch in a Bank can be auditioned to the instrument by pressing the or key on the keyboard. NOTE: for this operation to work, a patch must already have been selected. Select All (v2.1) ----------------- All Patches in a Bank can be selected by (1) choosing "Bank Edit/Select All". Editing a Patch --------------- Editing a patch from a bank can now be performed without a menu selection. To edit a particular patch, (1) select the patch you wish to edit and (2) select the new "Edit" button in the Bank Editor window. Sorting All Patches ------------------- To alphabetically sort all patches in the bank, (1) choose "Bank Edit/Sort All". (2) The editor will sort all of the entries in the Bank alphabetically and redisplay the bank. THE PATCH EDITOR WINDOW ----------------------- The v3 Editors contain on major enhancement over their predecessors. Previously, Performance Editors only allowed for sound selection by number. For example, timbre 1 is set to sound 15 and timbre 2 is set to sound 25. This system did not easily allow you know what sound was in each memory location. Now, these editors are capable of displaying the actual sound names in most Performance editors. To display the names however, it is necessary to have a Bank which contains the sound names loaded into the software. With a correctly loaded bank you will see "Trumpet" instead of "sound 1" and "Thump Bass" instead of "sound 2". Follow these steps to make sound names visible. (1) Load the Bank containing the instrument's sounds from instrument or from disk using the Driver List window. (This bank is usually called a Patch Bank or a Tone Bank). (2) Load a Performance out of the instrument. Along with the sound numbers will be a display of the actual sound names drawn from the Patch Bank loaded earlier. If the software can not find a loaded Patch Bank, it will display only the number of the selected sound. NOTE: The term for a "Performance" will vary by company. They are also called Multis, Combis, and by other names as dictated by the instrument manufacturer. A performance editor is an editor which allows the selection of sounds to be used by a multi-timbral synthesizer. THE LIBRARY ----------- Adding Patches to a Library --------------------------- An additional feature of MIDI QUEST v3 is a simple duplicate test on adding patches to a library. Whenever a patch is added to a Library, the Library is automatically searched for patches with an identical name. If a match is found, a message is displayed to optionally add the patch or to cancel the operation. This is the simplest method of avoiding the addition of duplicates to a library. Searching for Duplicate or Similar Sounds ----------------------------------------- When a duplicate or similarity search is made, all duplicate sounds matching the criteria are automatically selected but in MIDI QUEST v2 there was no way of determining which sounds were matches. In the new version, a help window is opened after the search listing which sounds were matches and how many bytes difference there was between the sounds. THE FILES MENU -------------- The File menu contains two new options: Save Desktop and Load Desktop. Saving the Desktop ------------------ To save a list of all windows currently open in the software, the window's position, size, and contents, (1) choose Files/Save Desktop. (2) Use the File Selector to name the current desktop. (3) Select `Ok' to save the current desktop. This function allows an entire sound development environment to be created and saved for instant retrieval. Amongst other advantages, this would allow a selection of utility windows to be opened automatically as well as set the Driver List window to a size other than the default. Loading the Desktop ------------------- To load a previously saved Desktop, (1) choose "Files/Load Desktop". (2) Use the File Selector to choose a Desktop to load. (3) Select `Ok' to load the desktop. All currently open windows will be closed and all windows which were opened when the desktop has saved will be opened in the same positions with the same data files. NOTE: help windows and windows open without disk names at the time that the desktop was saved will not be opened. WINDOW TRANSFER & LIST CONTROL ------------------------------ A new inter-window transfer function has been created to move patches from a Bank Editor to a Library. From Bank to: Library - moves only the selected patches into the library From Editor to: Bank - select and drag outline, release over bank location - when a patch has been added to a bank, a message is display on screen DEFAULT PATHS AND FILE EXTENSIONS --------------------------------- The capabilities of default directories have been greatly expanded in V3 software. There are now individual default directories for opening Editors, Data Bases, and Libraries as well as assignable default directories for each driver in the Driver List. This ability to assign default directories makes sound storage and organization substantially easier since each type of data you work with can automatically be stored in its own directory/folder. As well as default directories, default file name extensions can also be assigned to each type of data. When opening a file, the file selector now only displays files of that data type. A default extension can be assigned to Data Bases, Libraries and to each driver in the Driver List. A default extension is a 3-letter code which is automatically appended to the end of a file so that the file can be identified as a particular type. For example, you might wish to use `.DBS' for Databases and `.LIB' for Libraries. File extensions should be no longer then 3 characters and there must not be a `*' or `?' character after the `.'. Once a default extension is assigned to an Editor, DBase, or Library, that extension is automatically added to the end of the file name entered when using the File/Save As.. function. For example, when saving a DBase where the extension is `.DBS', the entering a file name of `MyDB' would result in a file being saved to disk called `MyDB.DBS'. NOTE: automatic use of extensions is not available on Macintosh software which uses its own system to define and identify the file type. Setting the "Open Editor from Disk" Default Directory and Extension ------------------------------------------------------------------- To set the default directory and extension for the editor, (1) choose "Tools/Open Editor from Disk". (2) Use the File Selector to choose a default directory for individual patches. (3) To set the default extension, click the mouse in the `Match' string area of the window (eg. *.*) and change the second '*' to a three letter extension you wish to use (eg. PAT). (4) The final result is `*.PAT'. (5) Select a file to load or press `Cancel'. The default directory and extension have now been set. NOTE 1: The `*' at the beginning of the extension is used to find all files which have a name ending in the particular extension. This `*' MUST be a part of the extension pattern although it is not added to a file name when data is being saved. NOTE 2: Windows users will find the extension pattern in the `File Name' string. Setting the "Open DBase from Disk" Default Directory and Extension ------------------------------------------------------------------ See Setting the "Open Editor from Disk" Default Directory and Extension above for the steps to follow. Choose "Tools/Open DBase from Disk" to set the default DBase directory and extension. Setting the "Open Library from Disk" Default Directory and Extension -------------------------------------------------------------------- See Setting the "Open Editor from Disk" Default Directory and Extension above for the steps to follow. Choose "Tools/Open Library from Disk" to set the default Library directory and extension. Setting the Default Directory and Extension for each Driver ----------------------------------------------------------- Each driver in the Driver List has its own default storage patch and extension. To set the default patch and extension for a particular drivers, (1) select the driver in the Driver List. (2) Choose "Drivers/Set Directory/Extension". (3) Use the File Selector to choose a default directory for that driver's data. (4) To set the default extension, click the mouse in the `Match' string area of the window (eg. *.*) and change the second '*' to a three letter extension you wish to use (eg. PAT). (5) The final result is `*.PAT'. (6) Select `Ok' or `Cancel'. The default directory and extension have now been set. Once this information has been set, choosing "Tools/Open Editor from Disk" with the Driver List Window active will display the contents of the default directory of the currently selected driver with that driver's extension. Choosing this option while any other window is active will cause the default `Open Editor from Disk' directory to be used. Windows Note: After setting the default directory and extension select `Cancel' instead of `Ok'. Directory/Folder Organization ----------------------------- With the new directory and extension capabilities, we recommend the following structure for file storage. (1) Create a separate directory each for databases and libraries and set appropriate extensions. (2) Create a directory for each or your instruments and for each driver in your driver list, set that driver to the particular directory and give each instrument driver a unique extension. We recommend you create each of these directories in a one data (MQDATA) subdirectory. Similar types of data (eg. patches) for two different instruments can be given the same extension assuming you will be storing the data in two different directories. If you use this type of organization then it will be very easy to find your complete collection of any type of data quickly and efficiently. examples: Patch .PAT Patch Bank .BNK Multi .MUL Multi Bank .MBK MIDI QUEST for Windows 3.1 -------------------------- MIDI QUEST for Windows has undergone a major additional improvement - support for Multimedia MIDI drivers for Windows 3.1. By default MIDI QUEST will automatically find and use all available MIDI drivers in windows. If you are using Windows 3.0, we strongly recommend that you upgrade to 3.1, this will clear up a range of compatibility and multi-tasking problems. New features ------------ MIDI QUEST will automatically sense the number of MIDI IN and MIDI OUT ports in your system and provide that range to the Port I/O settings in the Driver List Window and the Update Requester in the data file windows. If there are no MIDI OUT ports available, MIDI QUEST will not run. MIDI QUEST will run with no MIDI IN ports but it will issue a warning message. Finally, to view a list of the available MIDI IN and MIDI OUT ports, click the mouse over "Port I/O" in the Driver List Window. This will open a window to provide the port list. New command line options for Multimedia windows: ------------------------------------------------ M - force MIDI QUEST to use its original MPU/MQX-32 drivers - NOTE 1: this will destroy the multi-media settings in Windows 3.1 - NOTE 2: You MUST set this if using Win 3.1 without Multimedia Bn - set the size of SysX buffers used by MIDI QUEST (default: 2000 bytes) - Sound Quest does not recommend using a buffer size smaller than the default NOTE 1: All MPU command line parameters have no effect when running Multimedia MIDI QUEST. NOTE 2: If you are using a Music Quest interface and do not have the Music Quest MIDI drivers arrange to get them from Music Quest. They are far superior to the MPU401 drivers supplied by Microsoft. NOTE 3: Some Multimedia MIDI drivers allow multiple users and others do not. If a driver does not allow multiple users then it will be necessary to follow these steps: 1) stop the other application (or quit it if necessary) 2) run MIDI QUEST 3) do your work 4) exit MIDI QUEST 5) run the other application If you are unhappy with this situation, contact the company which created the drivers.