*************************************************************************** ** ** ** MED - music editor, © 1989 - 1991 Teijo Kinnunen ** ** ** ** Instructions for MED V3.2 ** ** ** *************************************************************************** Instruments =========== There can be up to 63 instruments in one song. There are currently four types of instruments: samples, synthsounds, hybrid sounds and MIDI instruments. Samples: These are the instruments which are played through four Amiga audio channels. They can be played only within tracks 0 - 3. MED can load raw samples and IFF 8SVX 1, 3 and 5-octave samples. It means that you can load practically any sample to MED and use it in your songs. Note that raw samples and 1-octave 8SVX samples can use only octaves 1 - 3. Octaves 4 and 5 play from octave 3. Synthsounds: These are a special instruments, that allow you to construct a sound from simple pieces of waveforms, and controlling things like waveform #, volume, pitch, arpeggio and vibrato using a simple "programming language". Synthsounds sound usually quite simple (C-64 style), but they don't take much memory, either. Hybrid sounds: This is a normal sample, but it can be controlled using the same "programming language" as synthsounds. MIDI instruments: These are not actually instruments. They are just few settings which cause the notes played with that instrument to be sent through MIDI-interface. They don't take memory like the samples. When you want some instrument to be a MIDI-instrument, you must set the MIDI channel which is used when playing notes/effects. You can also set the preset value for the instrument. Then the instrument is automatically played using that preset number of your MIDI-device (synthesizer, keyboard...). You can also set the preset number to 0. Then the preset which is already set in that channel is used. +=========================================================+ | MIDI +=========================================================+ MED can output notes and some commands to external MIDI-devices (keyboards, synthesizers...). The MIDI-panel contains the MIDI-stuff which is needed for that. When you decide that some instrument should be a MIDI-instrument, you select the MIDI channel for it. "MIDI ch"-gadgets are used for that. If you select e.g. MIDI channel 2, the notes of the current instrument are sent in MIDI channel 2 (simple, isn't it?). Remember to set the default volume (Sample panel). Also, you need to activate MIDI (click "MIDI active"). If the serial port is used by some other program, you can't use MIDI. Then you must terminate the other program and try again. After you have activated MIDI, MED starts sending "active sensing" messages ($FE). Active sensing can be turned off with the "Act.sensing"-gadget. By default MED uses the default preset of that channel (which you have set on your MIDI device). If you want to use other presets, you can select them using the "MIDI pres #"-gadgets, in that case the program change message is transmitted when a note is played. Preset number 0 means that the default preset is used (the preset is never changed for this instrument). If you want to send a preset change command, but don't want to play a note yet, use the command C00 with any note. In that case, the preset will be changed, but no note will be transmitted. You can have instruments with differents preset numbers, but which will use the same MIDI channel. In that case, MED will automatically send the program change message whenever the instrument with different preset number is used. You can use MIDI-instruments on all 16 tracks (if there are 16 tracks on the current block). You can also freely mix samples and MIDI-instruments on the same track (tracks 0 - 3 only). One helpful keyboard command is Ctrl-Space. This command resets pitch- benders and modulation wheels on all channels. Also, if you have changed presets on your MIDI-device, MED can't detect this and thinks that the preset is not changed. Ctrl-Space causes MED to resend program change commands for all channels, when playing. There's a gadget: "Reset pb+pres" that does the same thing. The "MIDI reset"-gadget sends a MIDI reset command ($FF). If you turn "Send sync" on, MED will send MIDI sync information, and allow other devices to synchronize with MED. When "Ext sync" is on, MED can be synced externally. You must also have input active when this is turned on. The synchronization works only when you play song, when you're playing a single block, the syncing is disabled. L.Ctrl on/off gadgets allow you to easily send Local control on/off messages. Suppr.N.Off suppresses Note Off messages of the current instrument. Some devices may have some instruments (e.g. one-shot drum sounds) which actually ignore the Note Off messages. When Suppr.N.Off is selected, Note Offs are not sent for the current instrument. This reduces some unnecessary MIDI output (slightly faster). There are commands which control the pitchbender, modulation wheel etc. Detailed documetation later (again??). ------- Entering notes with MIDI You can use your keyboard, synthesizer or whatever, to insert notes (you don't need to use your Amiga's keyboard to entering). You must activate the "Input"-gadget. If editing is on and your MIDI-device is sending notes, they will be entered. You can also enter Amiga-samples with MIDI. Next to the Input-gadget, there's a integer gadget, that contains the number of the input MIDI channel. If it's 0, then MED will accept input from all MIDI channels. "Read volume" gadget may be sometimes quite useful. If you have a velocity- sensitive keyboard, the volume will be entered in the command-part when you enter notes and this gadget is selected. "Read key-up" is not as useful. When it's active, MED records key-up events. It can be used in real-time recording (and mostly for long notes). You may have noticed that you can't directly use all the octaves which are available on the MIDI device. "Instrument transpose" helps this. You can have two instruments with identical settings except for different instrument transpose. With instrument transpose you can reach nearly the full range of notes. NOTE: When you have a MIDI-instrument, its name doesn't really have any use. However it's good practice to type in the names of the presets. This way you can easily see the presets, and, if you give the song to somebody else who may have different MIDI-equipment, he/she can easily change the preset numbers to use the correct presets on his/her MIDI-device. +-------------------------------------------------------------------+ |+-----------------------------------------------------------------+| || MED V3.2 player commands/effects || |+-----------------------------------------------------------------+| +-------------------------------------------------------------------+ This section gives information about commands/effects. They are events which affect the playing and they are handled by the MED player routine. C - 2 1 2 3 4 | \ | command number \| data byte You insert the commands usually by hand (turn editing on, move cursor on the command numbers and type the numbers). It may be a bit easier if you turn off automatic-advance with Ctrl-A. Here are the descriptions of each of the currently recognized commands: +---------------------------------------------------+ | Command 0: ARPEGGIO MIDI: controller value | +---------------------------------------------------+ This command changes the pitch of the note quickly (6 times during 1 note). It can be used to create "chords" or special effects. If you've listened to music made with the C-64, you MUST have heard arpeggios. The pitch is changed between 3 different pitches during one note: the 1st pitch is the pitch of the original note the 2nd pitch is the pitch of the original note + the 1st number of databyte halfsteps up the 3rd pitch is the pitch of the original note + the 2nd number of databyte halfsteps up Note: 3rd pitch | 2nd pitch | 1st pitch | 3rd pitch | 2nd pitch | 1st pitch changed 6 times during note It may be a bit difficult to understand, so here's an example: You want to make an arpeggio which sounds like C-major chord. The lowest pitch is C (C-2 in this example). The second is E-2 (4 halfsteps higher than C-2). The third is G-2 (7 halfsteps higher than C-2). 4 halfsteps from C-2 -+ 7 halfsteps from C-2 |/ That produces: C-2 1047 --- 0047 --- 0047 and so on... Data byte for a minor chord would be 37. The arpeggios sound better with some instruments than others. MIDI: See command 5 for a description. +---------------------------------------------------+ | Command 1: SLIDE UP MIDI: pitchbender up | +---------------------------------------------------+ This command slides up the pitch of the current track. With Amiga samples: Decreases the period of the note the amount of databyte on each timing pulse. Sounds rather technical?? Yes... The instructions for previous (before 2.10) versions of MED contained detailed instructions for making good-sounding slides with this command. Because this version now contains the easy automatic slide making (Amiga-T), I felt that these instructions are not necessary any more. If you use this function for special effects (not real slides) then you can experiment with the values for the databyte. Example: A-1 1000 --- 0000 --- 010F <- slide up a bit With MIDI: This commands works very differently with MIDI. It actually "turns" the pitchbender 8 * databyte steps up on each timing pulse. Because the actual range of the pitchbender may be different with different MIDI-devices, you must find the right value by experimenting. There's also one thing you should know: when a new note is played, the pitchbender is not resetted automatically. To reset the pitchbender, you use this command with databyte zero. Example: G-2 L1FF <-turn it up very quick --- 0000 --- 0100 <- then reset the pitchbender +---------------------------------------------------+ | Command 2: SLIDE DOWN MIDI: pitchbender down | +---------------------------------------------------+ Not much about this command. It's just like command 1 except it slides down. +---------------------------------------------------+ | Command 3: PORTAMENTO MIDI: set pitchbender | +---------------------------------------------------+ This is another slide command (on some old MED versions (2.00) this was a vibrato command, see command 5 now). It can be used to make perfect slides more easily. First an example: C-2 5000 <- played note C --- 0000 E-2 5305 <- this note is not played!! Instead, slide target is set --- 0300 to G-2 and slide speed is 5 --- 0300 <- when speed is zero, use the previous speed --- 0306 <- the speed can be changed, of course This example would slide from C-2 to E-2, but the slide stops EXACTLY when E-2 is reached. The remaining 3's have no effect. This command is easier to handle with automatic slide making (see Edit/S1 above). MIDI: By using this command, you can set the pitchbender to an absolute value, instead of sliding as commands 1 and 2 do. The data byte is the pitchbender value, expressed as a signed hexadecimal digit (a nightmare to non-programmers!). 00 = center position 80 (-7F) = smallest value 7F = largest value Example: C-2 3000 --- 037F <- pitchbender to max. value --- 0300 <- reset +---------------------------------------------------+ | Command 4: VIBRATO MIDI: modulation wheel | +---------------------------------------------------+ The first number of the data byte is vibrato speed, the second is vibrato depth. If the numbers are zeros, the previous speed and depth is used. Example: F-215000 --- 0000 --- 0433 <- slow, not much depth --- 0437 <- more depth --- 043F <- full depth --- 0482 <- fast, not very deep MIDI: This command affects the modulation wheel of the current channel. The data byte can be 00 - 7F. 00 = no modulation, 7F = maximum. Values 80 - FF are reserved for future expansion (and won't work). +---------------------------------------------------+ | Command 5: OLD VIBRATO MIDI: controller number| +---------------------------------------------------+ This is the old vibrato command (previously it was 3). The command 3 is automatically converted to 5 when loading old MED songs. The pitch of the note is changed between two values, databyte is the depth. Example: A#1 J502 --- 0507 increasing depth --- 0517 v --- 0527 --- 0537 MIDI: Command 5 in conjunction with command 0 allows you to change any controller of MIDI (command $Bx cc vv, where cc = controller number, vv = value). First you set the number of controller you want to change with command 5. Then you can select the value with command 0. Subsequent uses of command 0 will affect the controller previously set with command 5. Each channel has its own controller number. If the controller value is $00, you can't use '00', because the command '000' means 'do nothing'. Instead, you type '80'. Acceptable controller numbers and values are $00 - $7F. For example: (assuming instrument 3 is set to MIDI channel 1) C-2 3000 --- 0507 <- controller $07, volume, according to MIDI standard D-2 307F <- set max. volume ($7F), command $B0 $07 $7F is sent --- 0000 F-3 3001 <- small volume ($01) --- 055C <- select controller $5C (tremolo depth) G-4 3080 <- set to 0 (note: $80 = $00) +---------------------------------------------------+ | Command 8: SET HOLD/DECAY MIDI: set hold only | +---------------------------------------------------+ This command must be located on the same line with a note. The command assigns the hold and decay values for the note (see above for description about hold/decay). hold value decay----------+| || Example: C-3 3824 -|- 3000 -|- 3000 --- 0000 +---------------------------------------------------+ | Command 9: SEC. TEMPO MIDI: no action | +---------------------------------------------------+ This command sets the secondary tempo (the number of timing pulses/note). The argument must be 01 - 20. Example: --- 0903 <= double tempo --- 0000 +---------------------------------------------------+ | Command A: VOLUME SLIDE MIDI: polyph aftertouch| +---------------------------------------------------+ This is the same as command D (for Noise/Protracker compatibility). However, please use D instead of this. If I some day find that there are no free commands, I'll use this!! MIDI: Command A changes the polyphonic aftertouch of the most recent note. The value should be $00 - $7F. Example: C-3 4000 --- 0A30 <- aftertouch $30 --- 0000 --- 0A00 <- aftertouch $00 +---------------------------------------------------+ | Command B: POSITION JUMP MIDI: position jump | +---------------------------------------------------+ This command lets you make songs that have beginning which is played only once and then some part which is looped forever. Position jump causes the jump to playsequence number pointed by the data byte. If the data byte is 0, then the playseq jumps to the first entry. Example: --- 0B02 <- start playing from playsequence number 3 +---------------------------------------------------+ | Command C: SET VOLUME MIDI: set volume | +---------------------------------------------------+ You can override the default volume of the instrument with this command. Example: A-3 4C20 <- played with volume 20 There are 65 volume levels (0 - 64), 0 = no sound, 64 = maximum. The data byte of command C can be 00 - 64 or 00 - 40 (decimal or hex). Non-programmers will probably want to use the decimal numbers. See (Play/[Dec/Hex]). If you want the playroutine to have maximum performance, then use hex values. It is also possible to change the volume of already played note. Note that it doesn't work with MIDI-instruments. Example: A-3 4000 --- 0000 --- 0C10 <- volume to 10 It's possible to change the default volume of an instrument (MED V2 and later). The value must be between 80 and C0 (always hex!). Value $80 = volume 0, and $C0 = 64. Note: This can cause trouble in multi-modules, because the set of instruments (and their default volumes) are common. I recommend that you change the default volume only on non-multi-modules. +---------------------------------------------------+ | Command D: VOLUME SLIDE MIDI: channel pressure | +---------------------------------------------------+ You can increase/decrease volume smoothly with this command. The data byte is divided in two parts: C-3 3D01 || |+- Amount of decresdendo +-- Amount of crescendo If crescendo is zero, then the decrescendo is performed. Otherwise only crescendo is performed. Example: C-2 3C40 --- 0D01 <- a bit more quiet --- 0D01 <- even more --- 0D20 <- and crescendo back to original One unit in these commands means six actual volume units, so this example would look like this, when using the C-command (except that it doesn't sound so smooth): C-2 3C40 (volumes are decimal in this example) --- 0C34 <- -6 --- 0C28 <- -6 --- 0C40 <- +12 MIDI: This command sends a channel pressure (channel aftertouch) message using the channel in which the most recent note was sent. The databyte should be $00 - $7F. D#5 J000 --- 0D40 <- channel aftertouch $40 --- 0D00 <- to $00 +---------------------------------------------------+ | Command E: SYNTH/JMP MIDI: pan control | +---------------------------------------------------+ When used with synth/hybrid instruments, this command triggers a jump in the waveform command sequence. The databyte is the jump destination (line number). Example: C-4 4000 <- this should be synth/hybrid instrument --- 0000 --- 0E05 <- cause a jump to line # 5 With MIDI-instruments, this command controls the stereo location of the sound. The data byte can be 00 - 7F. left mid right | | | 00 3F 7F If you've used MED V2.00/V2.01 or Noise/SoundTracker, you may remember that this command controlled the low-pass filter. I think that it was unnecessary to spend the command E only for controlling only a single switch. See command F. +---------------------------------------------------+ | Command F: TEMPO/MISC. MIDI: tempo/misc. | +---------------------------------------------------+ Command F has many different actions depending on the data byte. If the data byte is zero (00), this command causes the immediate jumping to the next block on the playing sequence (or to the beginning of this block if you're only playing the block). This function is better to implement by making the block shorter (takes less memory). Example: C-2 4F00 <- this is the last note of this block When the data byte if 01 - F0, the command changes the tempo. This is the primary tempo (length of the pause between timing pulses). If the new tempo is 01 - 0A, it is compatible with Trackers, but now you should use the command 9 instead of this command, as it's directly Tracker-compatible (set the primary tempo to 33). Example: E-3 6FF0 <- highest tempo --- 0000 --- 0F0B <- slowest Data bytes FF1 - FFF are reserved for special actions, some of them are currently used: FF1 causes the same note played actually twice. This way it's possible to create fast rhythms. C-3 2FF1 is same as C-3 2000 C-3 2000 with double tempo FF2 plays the note only once, but it is not started immediately: C-3 2FF2 is same as --- 0000 C-3 2000 with double tempo FF3 works like FF1 except the note is played three times (very fast). FF8 turns off the low-pass filter (power-LED will dim). FF9 turns the low-pass filter on (bright LED). FFA sends MIDI "hold pedal on"-command (works only with MIDI-instruments). FFB sends MIDI "hold pedal off"-command (works only with MIDI-instruments). FFD works only with Amiga-samples. It causes the pitch of the channel to be set to the pitch of the new note, but the new note is not replayed. C-1 2000 <- play note --- 0000 C-2 2FFD <- don't replay the note, just set the pitch to C-2 FFE stops playing immediately. If you want to make a song which plays only once, put this command to the end of the song. This command can be easily entered: Click "Stop playing" while holding the Shift-key. FFF Stops the note on the current track. Works with both Amiga- and MIDI- instruments. Nearly identical to "C00" on Amiga-samples, but because "C00" doesn't work with MIDI, I made this command.