>2Protracker Tutorial Part 2: Article by: Converse I'm going a bit more in depth with protracker 3. We'll be talking about the following: Using Protracker commands Recording your music Editing Loops If you're still fairly new at using Protracker don't worry because there really isn't anything difficult about using P.T, the main problem is that it can be tricky to find docs/instructions to go with Protracker, don't worry because I'm here to help things along a bit. Not a lot, but a little. "Protracker really is a great program to use, despite a few very minor bugs." To participate in this tutorial just make sure you have read the article above this one (part 1) and you also have a copy of Protracker 3 ready. Again, I strongly advise anyone who considers using this tutorial to print this article, s' easy just select print on the A.F panel. Handy eh? Right on to part two of the 'I'll soon be Mike Oldfield' tutorial. By now you should know how to load modules into Protracker and how to move through each pattern of a song and see how protracker works. Brief reminder: Use the up and down arrow keys to move up and down through a pattern and left and right arrow keys to move through each of the four channels. Blah Blah blah see part 1 for more details. O.K first things first, remember we were looking at the funny group of numbers and letters in the main grid? Well, before we continue, load up the module `mod.Kukoo' from the tutorial disk. This mod is slightly more complicated than last months, but nothing to worry about, when I say complicated, basically it's just a bit larger with more variation than last months. O.K, listen to the module once or twice and then when you're fed up with it re-load the module into Protracker (I know you can just reset it with out loading, but this is for beginners remember). Remember those four channels? Well, once again we are going to take a look at them. Look at the bottom of the screen which has the four channels labelled: Channel 1 Channel 2 Channel 3 Channel 4 For now, only look under channel 1. Here's one of those bloody strange numbers again! it says (or should say):- C-2010F70 Remember how the beginning of this worked? C-2 is the note (the Q key as it is a C note) the 01 is the sample number which in this instance is playing sample 1. Now remember I told you last month to ignore the last three numbers all the time? Well from now on Don't because we are using them. The F70 is what's known as a Protracker command. When using Protracker anything beginning with an F is telling PT to alter the speed of the track (the speed which the track scrolls down). If you look at the middle right of the screen and try and find a little meter which looks like this: 112 BPM This is telling you that the track is moving at 112 BPM, beats per minute. Normally when you load protracker it is set to 125 and this is what most modules use. So now we know F70 is referring to 112 BPM. As you may have noticed the commands are in Hex values, but don't worry because they are dead easy to use, but a little time is required to be able to memorise the the commands so that you can enter them straight from your head. If you hold the down arrow key to scroll down channel 1 a bit (until position 17) you will come to a note saying: E-2010000 You can see that there is no Protracker command here, it's just sample one playing an E note. (the C key this time) Please note that the number 2 after the E- tells you how high the note is, i.e Z and Q are both C notes but Q is higher) If it was a top C then this would simply read: E-3010000 ^ |----------- this changes from 2 to 3. Carrying on down channel one will see a few more notes like the one above with NO PT commands on them. So that's channel 1 done. Let's look at Channel 3. Make sure you are at the top position of the first pattern by keeping the up arrow key pressed until position 00 (see left part of screen by the red scroll bar which says Pos). On channel 3 you should see C-3040000. This tells you that Protracker is playing sample 4 at note C-3. So now you if you look at the top of the screen, just to the right of Disk OP you will see four boxes with straight lines going across them. Click on the second and fourth box (counting from left to right) to turn channel two and four off. Two of the boxes should now change so that they are filled with yellow fuzzy dots. Now click on Pattern to keep repeating the first pattern. You should now be hearing the result of two Channels (1 &3) playing the first and fourth instruments that we have just looked at. So you should understand how they are working. The two channels that you have shut off (2 & 4) turn them back on while the song is still repeating. You should now hear the electric guitars mixed in with the cuckoo sample (channel 3) and the bass (channel 1). To get the echo effects on the guitar I have just played the four notes in channel 2 and then the same notes only on the next position down. Don't worry about this now as it isn't relevant. O.K lets do some recording now that we know a bit about how P.T works. Select CLEAR from the top set of buttons, this should now bring up a box saying Song, Sample, All, Cancel. Select SONG. This will now remove all the recorded notes, but leave the samples in memory. To clear a whole song and set of samples we would select All and to remove just the samples and leave the song we click on Sample. Obviously cancel just takes you back to P.T. Now we have cleared song data we are ready to record some music. THIS is the good bit!! Make sure that you are in Channel 1 now, press the tab a few times to bring the red block in to Channel 1 if you are not already there. Now, time to play a tune. First we have to select the sample we want to use, to do this we can either use the numerical keypad or click on the sample number to the left of the option buttons. If you can't find the sample select it is located at the mid left of the screen. Still can't find it (bloody hell), look on the left of the screen for a list of words which are in this order: Pos ID 0000 Pattern 0000 Length 0001 Finetune 0 Sample 01 <--------- This one!---- On the immediate right of each button should be an up and down arrow. You click on the up arrown to go through the samples, (you will see the number go up if you are doing this correctly.) O.K this is where I leave you for a few minutes to play about with Protracker, all you have to do is select the sample you want to use, then select RECORD from the main options and enter your little tune, using any of the samples provided or your own if you want! Once you've finished with channel one and you hear your tune repeating itself to death press tab once to move on to channel 2, then enter your bass ideally using sample 1. Move to Channel 3 after this and enter any sort of rythm or background you want, again once finished, press tab once more to go onto Channel 4, now use a beat (preferably use Sample no.5 for this!). Don't be disheartened if your tune sounds poo the first time, just try again if you really want to. All you do is select clear and then select Song. You then enter your little tune again by repeating the above process. You should have mastered recording by now! Before I go on to loops and editing we will now incorporate protracker commands into a module. You already know that F70 is a speed command and that anything beginning with F alters the speed. Speed isn't the only command that we can use, there are pitch effects, volume controls, fades, pattern selects etc etc. Make sure that when you use them that they are put in exactly the right place. Always the last 3 digits. i.e C-2010--- replace --- with command. O.K load up the tutorial module again. Once this has loaded use the cursor keys to move to position number 49. Check that you are on Channel 1, now you should see: G-2010000. Replace the last three zeros with A01 (that's : A, zero, one) Press the down arrow once and you should be level with a series of zeros. like this: ---000000 Again replace the last three zeros with A01. Press the down arrow key again (once) and replace the last three zeros with A01. Keep doing this until you reach the end of the pattern which is 63. You should now have something looking like this: Pos Channel 1 49 G-2010A01 50 ---000A01 51 ---000A01 52 ---000A01 53 ---000A01 54 ---000A01 55 ---000A01 56 ---000A01 57 ---000A01 58 ---000A01 59 ---000A01 60 ---000A01 61 ---000A01 62 ---000A01 63 ---000A01 Using the up arrow key, go back up to position 49. Press the tab key twice so that you are on channel 3. It should look like this: D-3040000 Doing the same as last time change the last three zeros to A01 and keep doing this like last time until you reach position 63. It should now look like this: Pos Channel 3 49 D-3040A01 50 ---000A01 51 ---000A01 52 ---000A01 53 ---000A01 54 ---000A01 55 ---000A01 56 ---000A01 57 ---000A01 58 ---000A01 59 ---000A01 60 ---000A01 61 ---000A01 62 ---000A01 63 ---000A01 Now select PLAY from the main options top rightish. Come on you should know where Play is with your eyes shut! Once the module plays you will notice the background bass and kuckoo samples fade. You have now used a protracker command to fade two samples! If it didn't work then check that you ARE using Protracker 3 and not Octamed or check that you haven't missed out a letter or value. Don't worry, just look at my two examples again and check you are fading the correct channels. For those who got it right, pat yourself on the back, you now know how to enter commands, now it's just a case of learning them and learning what they do. Believe me the hard part is over. Oh by the way, you've just edited a module as well, so well done again! Right, all that's left for me to tell you about is a few PT commands to experiment with and loops, both very straightforward. The protracker commands will be explained in full next month as well: Speed commands- these are always Fs. after the F there is a number, the higher the number the faster the track speed. So F7D is 125 BMP, I always find it easier to work from that point. F00 is complete halt, ideal for endings. Try it yourself. Go to the end of my module and enter F00 in on any channel 1,2,3 or 4 it doesn't really matter even if there is already a command there just go over it. Now reset the module to pattern 00 position 00. Do this by continually clicking the down arrow next to Pos I.D (top left) until it reaches 00. Now press Play. (FFF is the fastest, but I don't recommend using it) Because I've actually gone on longer than I should have this month i.e 400 words too much, I'll go on to Loops and briefly explain what they are, how to make one and what use they are: Loops are exactly what their name implies, they are samples which continually repeat themselve, i.e a constant loop, that's it really! To make one is very simple, but varies slightly from package to package. Protracker 3 can do it, but it isn't exactly an amazing sample editor, but nevertheless it can do it. Here's how: Select SAMPLE, we haven't used this yet, so here we go. It is located just to the right of Disk Op. Once selected look at the bottom of the screen and you should see a large box covering the track editor which has a sample waveform diagram shown on it. This is the actual bass sample, if you click on display, it will play the sample. Now look for where it says Loop: off. Change this so that it says Loop: on by clicking on the word loop (simple as that!) Now click on Waveform (bottom right near stop). You will now hear the sample looping. If you look on your far left and right you will see that there are two yellow bars on either end of the sample waveform, they are hard to see, but if you click on the right one and hold the left mouse button down, move the mouse left (keeping the left button pressed). The bar will now move across, this defines where you want the end of the sample to be so that it knows when it can can go back to the start of the sample again. Do the same to the left bar and drag it over to the right to define where the sample should start. Now select WAVEFORM and you should get your very own sample loop! Wow. I'm sure the loop will be annoying by now so select stop. So you see looped samples are great for making sounds seem longer than they actually are, thus saving valuable disk space. They are also useful for keeping a continuous bass sound in the background along with a whole feast of other things. So there you have it the end of the second tutorial I have now taken up almost 2400 words for this! Sorry. See you next month when I give you a whole horde of PT commands to mess around with, I will take you through sampling and the importance of timing and how Protracker commands are extremely helpful in aiding timing. Please note that this is the final time that I am going to explain where buttons are and where to enter commands, you should know how it works by now. Thanks for reading this far and I hope you have many a fun time composing songs because I always do! Mod.Kukoo is by Converse of A.F and may distributed anywhere as long as my name stays on it and it isn't changed in any way.