Midi Companion V3.0 (c) 1998 The Software Factory Overview -------- Midi Companion is the first OctaMED plugin designed mainly for use with the Roland MC-303 but a lot of it's features can be used on other MIDI equipment. Due to OctaMEDs current lack of multitasking support, Midi Companion at this stage is an instrument setup utility. This means that you can initially setup all midi instrument settings, ie. Bank Select, Preset, Pan, Volume, Portamento, Reverb Type & Level, Chorus Type & Level, Cutoff, Resonance and much more. Some features of Midi Companion are specific to the Roland MC-303 and they are as follows...... > Filter Cutoff > Filter Resonance > Reverb Type > Chorus Type > RX Nozte > Effect Parameters - Not available in this version. Besides the specifics, all other functions are using standard midi controllers and therefore can be used with any midi device. Requirements ------------------- Midi Companion should run on any Amiga running OS2.04 or greater. At least 2Mb of memory is reccomended. OctaMED Sound Studio. Midi Interface. Midi Instrument(s). Reccomended ------------------- A hard drive. Arexx installed and running on your system. A fast amiga. (The faster the better) Executing Midi Conmpanion ------------------------- 1) You must have OctaMED Sound Studio running in order to use Midi Companion. 2) Before executing the Midi Companion program you MUST ensure Midi is inactive within the OSS Midi menu. Again, this is due to the lack of multi tasking support within OSS. 3) Return to workbench and execute the file Midi_Companion_V3.0 using the CLI. 4) Midi Companion will now open the Instrument Properties window within the OSS screen. How to use Midi Companion ------------------------- To use any feature within Midi Companion you MUST ensure Midi is inactive within the OSS Midi menu and Midi is selected within Midi Companions instrument properties window. This has to be reversed when returning to OSS. Midi Companions midi status is displayed in the title bar of the instrument properties window. This process is automatic if Midi Companion is Arexx enabled. Screen Layout and Instructions ------------------------------ Instrument Properties --------------------- Midi Companions midi status is displayed in the title bar or the window. If midi is switched on, Midi On, will be displayed. If Arexx is active, the OSS Arexx command op_set midiactive off will be sent to OSS in order to ensure OSS Midi Active is off and midi control returns to Midi Companion. If midi is switched off, Midi Off, will be displayed. If Arexx is active, the OSS Arexx command op_set midiactive on will be sent to OSS in order to ensure OSS Midi Active is on and midi control returns to OSS. Name : Relative to the currently selected Bank & Preset, the appropiate tone name will be displayed. You can also enter or load your own tone names. Instr : This displays the currently selected instrument and also allows you to change between the 16 different instruments available. If Arexx is active, the OSS Arexx command in_select, will be transmitted to OSS to reflect the change in Instrument. Midi Ch : This displays the currently selected midi channel and also allows you to change between the 16 different midi chanels available. If Arexx is active, the OSS Arexx command in_setmidichannel, will be transmitted to OSS to reflect the change in Midi Channel. >>Note<< As a default Midi Companion matches instrument 1 to midi channel 1, up to instrument 16 matching midi channel 16. Bank : This displays the currently selected bank and also allows you to change between the 128 different banks available. Preset : This displays the currently selected preset and also allows you to change between the 128 different presets available. If Arexx is active, the OSS Arexx command in_setmidipreset, will be transmitted to OSS to reflect the change in Preset. Volume : This displays the volume level of the currently selected instrument and also allows you to select a desired level. If Arexx is active, the OSS Arexx command in_setvolume, will be transmitted to OSS to reflect the change in Volume. Pan : This displays the current pan position of the currently selected instrument and also allows you to select a desired position. >>See Settings.doc for more info<< P Time : This displays the current Portamento time of the currently selected instrument and also allows you to select a desired level. This is not relevant if Portamento is switched off. Reverb : This displays the current Reverb type and allows you to select 1 of the 8 available. >>This feature is MC-303 specific<< Level : This displays the current reverb level and allows you to select a desired level. Chorus : This displays the current Chorus type and allows you to select 1 of the 8 available. >>This feature is MC-303 specific<< Level : This displays the current reverb level and allows you to select a desired level. Cutoff : This displays the current filter cutoff level and allows you to select a desired level. >>This feature is MC-303 specific<< Reso : This displays the current filter resonance level and allows you to select a desired level. >>This feature is MC-303 specific<< Test : This button is used to test your current instrument settings. By pressing the keys listed in the file Test_Key.doc you can play scales on your amiga keyboard. Key : This number is relevant to the key you wish to test. The default is 60, which represents middle C. Please refer to the Test_Key.doc file for the other key numbers. As with OSS you can press any of the keys on the lower part of the Amiga keyboard which act like a musial keyboard spanning one octave, from Z to M. To change the octave you can press the following function keys. F1 - Octave 0 F2 - Octave 1 F3 - Octave 2 F4 - Octave 3 F5 - Octave 4 F6 - Octave 5 F7 - Octave 6 F8 - Octave 7 F9 - Octave 8 Midi : This is used to switch midi on/off. RX Note : This is used to turn on/off an MC-303 midi channel. The Roland MC-303, by default, responds to all channels so if you are using an MC-303 with other midi gear you would use this to turn off the midi channel not being used by the MC-303. For compatibility, if you do not have a Roland MC-303 you should turn RX Note off for all your midi channels. >>This feature is MC-303 specific<< Portamento : This is used to turn on/off Portamento. Use the P Time slider to set the desired portamento time. Menu Items ---------- >Project ------- Load Song Data : This is used to load your instrument settings file from disk. If Arexx is active, all relative settings will be transmitted to OSS via Arexx. Load Tone Banks : Thisis used to load your tone bank names. Save : This is used to save your instrument settings file to disk. The files have been given a file extension of .mc3 About : This open a small window which displays the version of Midi Companion being used, it's shareware status and the authors name. Quit : Use this to quit Midi Companin. >Window ------ Effect Parameters : This allows you to make detailed settings to the system effects. Please refer to the Roland MC-303 owners manual for a more detailed explanation. >>This is MC-303 specific<< To iconify this window simply click the right mouse button and to un-iconify simply click on the close gadget. NRPN Setup : This very useful window allows you to define your own set of NRPN sliders. The name field is for the user to enter a name relevant to the NRPN being setup. MSB is for setting the MSB of the NRPN being setup. LSB is for setting the LSB of the NRPN being setup. Data Entry is for setting the value relevant to the NRPN being setup. Both MSN & LSB values should be documented in your specific midi instruments owners manual. To iconify this window simply click the right mouse button and to un-iconify simply click on the close gadget. >>Iconify<< ----------- To iconify the instrument properties window, simply click on the close gadget and choose Iconify from the requester. To un-iconify the instrument properties window, simply click on the close gadget again. Arexx ----- Midi Companion has a little Arexx support at the moment and this will improve within as time goes by. When Arexx is active within Midi Companion, certain sliders when moved, will also change values with OctaMED itself. The OctaMED parameters affected are Instrument Number, Midi Channel, Preset, Volume and the Midi Active switch. To turn Arexx on within Midi Companion you need to send the command AREXX_ON to the MIDI_COMPANION Arexx port. To do this, simply type RX "address MIDI_COMPANION AREXX_ON" into the shell. To turn Arexx off within Midi Companion you need to send the command AREXX_ON to the MIDI_COMPANION Arexx port. To do this, simply type RX "address MIDI_COMPANION AREXX_OFF" into the shell. This is the default at startup. Obviously, the speed of this feature will go un-noticed with a fast Amiga, as on my 030 30MHz A1200. Disclaimer ---------- The author, Declan Gorman, bears no responsibility for loss of data or damage to hardware while using Midi Companion. (Although this is highly unlikely.) Background ---------- Having battled with the Roland MC-303 sound module mode for a while I pondered if there was any utilities available that would make life easier for me. After much searching I could find absolutley nothing and this prompted me to do some research into what exactly would be involved in designing such a utility. When my research was complete I decided to take on the project myself as I have had some programming experience. I studied the Roland MC-303 manual until I got an understanding of all the Sysex messages that I needed to understand in order to make this project succeed. I think you will agree when I say that it has succeeded. All coding on this project was done on an 10Mb Amiga 1200 030/30 using AMOS Professional V2, and a lot of help from an excellent extension called The GUI Extension. My thanks go to everyone on the AMOS mailing list who gave help and advice in the early days of this project. The Software Factory -------------------- TSF consists of just one person, me!. My name is Declan Gorman and I hail from Ireland. I can be contacted by email or snail mail and the addresses are as follows : email : Declan_Gorman@modusmedia.com snail mail : Declan Gorman 2555 Woodside Park Kildare Town Co. Kildare Eire. I can be contacted for any reason regaring Midi Companion as long as you have read the documentation thoroughly. Obviously queries made via email will be answered faster so I would advise using this method if at all possible. All bug reports, requests for improvements, etc. should also be directed to the above addresses. Shareware --------- I initially designed Midi Companion for myself alone but as I got more and more into the project, I saw it had a lot of potential and knew that there were a lot of other OctaMED/Midi/MC-303 users out there that could benefit and appreciate Midi Companion. I hope you can appreciate that a lot of hard work has gone into this project and the shareware option is a fair way for me and you, the user, to go. Shareware involves you evaluating a partially crippled version of Midi Companion and deciding if you like it and want to avail of the crippled features, free upgrades and free support. Should you decide that this software is what you want in order to get the best out of OSS and your Midi Equipment/MC-303, a shareware fee of IR£5 or the equivalent in your own currency should be sent to me at the above quoted address. Or you can contact me about credit transfer through your bank. I have placed a link to a web page that will provide a currency conversion from your currency to Irish Punts on the Midi Companion home page. http://members.tripod.com/"Declan/midi_com.htm In this release version, the crippled features are the Load, Save, Effects Parameters and NRPN Setup. They become available to you when you register. I also have plans to add LFO support but this has proved trickier than the other features so it may be a while before I can implement it. This will be issued to all registered users free of charge as part of the registration. Enjoy Midi Companion and thank you for taking the time to evaluate it. Declan.