Simtel MSDOS 1992 June/SIMTEL_0692.cdr/msdos/music/mblocks.arc/MANUAL

Text File | 1989-11-13 | 102KB | 1,787 lines

                           Musical Blocks Version 1.0

                                  User's Manual

                       Copyright (c) 1989 by Alan L. Moyer



The program Musical Blocks and this Manual are a SHAREWARE product. Please try
the program. This manual will explain the operation and features of Musical
Blocks. If you enjoy the program and plan to continue using it, you are
requested to become a registered user by sending a check for $15 to Alan L.
Moyer, the Author of this program. This contribution will help compensate the
many months of work that went into the creation of Musical Blocks. Registration
entitles you to free phone and mail support. I also plan to send to registered
users, AT NO CHARGE, another disk of music written using Musical Blocks. The
availability of this disk is contingent on my receiving a sufficient number of
compositions from Musical Blocks users. In order to obtain the greatest variety
of music for this disk, I am asking the users of Musical Blocks to send me a
disk with one or more of their original compositions. This is optional.
However, I will not distribute the additional disk until I have received enough
quality compositions to make it worthwhile. I encourage you to send one or more
compositions either with your registration fee, or anytime thereafter. Users
who send in a disk will receive a $1 rebate on their registration fee. Specific
details of this offer are contained in Chapter II of this Manual.

Please make checks payable to:

     Alan L. Moyer
     23 Clarissa Road
     Chelmsford, MA
     01824

Also call (508)-256-1823 if you have any questions. However, in fairness to
registered users, I will only answer technical questions if you are registered.
Please call evenings or weekends.

Looking forward to hearing from you as a registered user.


                                         Sincerely,


                                         Alan L. Moyer




                          Musical Blocks User's Manual










                                Table of Contents




I.         Introduction ................................................  3


II.        Benefits of Registration ....................................  4


III.       Quick Start .................................................  6


IV.        Canvas and Pallets ..........................................  8


V.         Blocks Design Screen ........................................ 22


VI.        Saving and Restoring files .................................. 29


VII.       Musical Selections on Disk .................................. 30


















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                          Musical Blocks User's Manual

I.         Introduction

Musical Blocks is a musical paint program in which the colors of the pallet are
musical fragments of your design. Two-dimensional patterns can be created in a
canvas which are played like a musical score. With Musical Blocks you can do
the following:

     1) Transcribe existing music into the computer, save it and play it.

     2) Break an existing composition into pieces and build new music from it.

     3) Play either melodies or two-part harmonies.

     4) Create random music.

     5) Experiment with two-dimensional music.

     6) Experiment with non-western scales.

     7) Create musical games and puzzles.

An easy way to learn about Musical Blocks is to simply try the program. Reading
Chapter III. will get you started. After trying out the program, return to this
manual to learn, in detail, the functions of the program. Some of them, such as
working with non-western scales may be confusing without reading the manual. In
a short time you will have mastered the mechanics of the program and will be
able to try your skill at composition.

There are a number of example compositions included with the distribution disk.
This is just a sample of what is possible with Musical Blocks.
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II.        Benefits of Registration

You are invited to become a registered user of Musical Blocks. This program is
not in the public domain. It is a SHAREWARE program and remains the
intellectual property of the author. I have chosen this method of marketing
Musical Blocks since it provides benefits to both myself and the user. As a
user, you have the opportunity to try this program before making a decision to
pay for it. You also have the opportunity of using an original program which
has no commercial equivalent. I can market the program directly, without the
need to find a publisher. This is the SHAREWARE concept. Please support it by
becoming a registered user of Musical Blocks. Registering to use a Shareware
program encourages authors, like myself to continue to produce new and original
software at a fair price.

If you become a registered user of Musical Blocks, you will receive the
following additional benefits.

     1) Free technical support, either by phone or mail.

     2) A FREE disk of additional music to be used with the program. The
availability of this disk is contingent on my receiving a sufficient number of
compositions from Musical Blocks users. The procedure to send in music is
described below. There may be a delay before you receive this disk if I haven't
received enough music by the time you register. However, if and when the music
is available, I will send it to all registered users. Note: I currently have
access to a 5 1/4", 360 Kb floppy drive. Please send all music on disks in this
format. The FREE disk, if and when available, will be returned in this format.

     3) The opportunity to "publish" your original composition on the FREE disk
to be distributed to all users. This is a great way to share the fruits of your
creativity with a group of like minded individuals.

The registration procedure is simple.

     1) Print out the file "FORM" on the distribution disk. This is your
registration form.

     2) Fill out the form. Make sure to include your name and mailing address.
If you are also sending in music for the FREE disk of music, also please fill
out the section which gives permission to use the music.

     3) Send the form and a check for $15.00 in U.S. dollars made out to Alan
L. Moyer to

           Alan Moyer
           23 Clarissa Road
           Chelmsford Ma
           01824

     4) If you are sending music on a disk, please be sure to put the disk in a
floppy mailer or use equivalent packaging. Also, if you are sending music,
deduct $1.00 from the registration fee since I will use this disk to send the
FREE music back to you.

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     5) Any music you send should be in the form of Musical Blocks *.all files.
(Use the program "all to disk" command to save your music to disk in this
format.) When you write the composition, please be sure to type your name and
the name of the composition in the canvas area. Please do not write extensive
other text in the composition. This makes the file size larger and will prevent
me from getting as many files on the FREE disk. I will not alter, in any way,
the files you send me. However, I retain the right to use or not use the files
on the FREE disk, at my discretion.

If I receive more than enough music to fill a disk, I will use my judgement to
include what I feel is the best selection of quality music of the greatest
variety. I may offer additional disks of music at low cost if I receive enough
compositions from users. You should indicate on the registration form if it is
permissible to use your compositions on such a disk.

You may write or call me with questions concerning registration. Registered
users may also call or write with technical questions about the program. My
number is (508)-256-1823. Please call evenings or weekends. If you reach my
answering machine, state the purpose of your call. I may be home and monitoring
calls and will pick up. However, if I am not home, I will not be able to return
a call if you are phoning long distance.

Enjoy the program and become a registered user.

                             Best wishes,


                             Alan L. Moyer



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                          Musical Blocks User's Manual

III.       Quick Start

This Chapter describes how to install and run Musical Blocks along with an
introduction to the program. First, make a backup copy of the distribution
disk. You may also install Musical Blocks onto a hard disk. Just create a
directory and copy the entire contents of the distribution disk into that
directory. Make sure that all files are copied since the program will not run
without the auxiliary files. To start the program type "blocks". If you have a
joystick connected to port A you can initialize the program to use it by typing
"blocks j". The program uses the joystick by sensing its deviation from
vertical. If you are using the joystick make sure it is in the vertical
position when you start up Musical Blocks. Also be sure that the joystick is
not free floating.

The program will start up and display a title screen with a message about
registration. This is a SHAREWARE program. Please try it out. If you enjoy the
program and continue to use it , you should send in the registration fee. This
will entitle you to certain benefits as are explained in Chapter II. After
about five seconds, you will be prompted to hit any key which will clear the
message.

You are now in the Main program screen. The screen should consist of a large,
light red, rectangular area called the view port. Above this is a message area.
Below it are two pallets. The upper pallet consists of thirty blocks of
different colors and patterns. The lower pallet consists of a number of special
symbols which are also used in composing music. The cursor has the shape of a
note and will initially be centered in the middle of the view port. You can
move the cursor with the cursor keys or joystick (if present).

If you typed "blocks j" and the cursor is moving around all by itself then it
will be necessary to decrease the sensitivity of the joystick. To do this,
press the F1 key to pull down the main menu and type "e" to exit the program.
Then start up blocks again by typing "blocks j 10". This will add a "sticky
factor" of 10 to the joystick. That should fix the problem. However, if the
cursor is still moving around by itself, exit the program again and type
"blocks j 20". Keep increasing the "sticky factor" until the cursor stops
moving around. Then use this "sticky factor" every time you run the Program.
(Suggestion: make a blocks.bat file to run the program with the "sticky
factor".)

There is another potential problem you may encounter if your system has an EGA
display. Some EGA displays may not want to go directly into the 40 character
mode used in the Main screen. The rectangular view port may appear as two,
smaller rectangles. If this is the case do the following: 1) Press the F1
function key to bring down the main menu. 2) Type "m" to change to the Blocks
Design screen. 3) Press the F2 function key to return to the main screen. This
should clear the problem. The blocks design screen uses a graphics mode which
will force the EGA to respond properly when returning to the Main screen.

Returning to the Main screen, there is an arrow which points to one of the
blocks in the upper pallet. This block is the current painting block. Press the
Ins key or the joystick button. The note cursor will change to the color of the
current painting block. Now move the cursor. The block pointed to by the arrow
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                          Musical Blocks User's Manual
has been painted at the location which was under the cursor. You have painted
on the canvas. The canvas is a large area, only part of which is displayed at
any time. The view port is a window into the current viewable portion of the
canvas. The viewable portion is 1/9 of the total canvas area. To move to
another area of the canvas, simply move the cursor to the edge of the view port
in any direction. A new portion of the canvas will scroll into view. Notice the
darker red bars on the top and left side of the view port rectangle. These are
the scroll bars. They show where you are in the canvas. Initially,you are at
the upper left corner of the canvas. As you move about in the canvas, the
scroll bars change position to indicate your relative position.

At any time, the cursor marks the position at which you can paint a block or
symbol. The current block or symbol is point to by the arrow. It is also shown
at the right side of the information area. The current block or symbol is
changed by moving the cursor to either the upper or lower pallet. To move to
the upper pallet, type "+". You can then move back and forth in the pallet. The
arrow will follow the cursor. Move the cursor to the block you want to select.
Each block has a tune fragment associated with it. To listen to the tune, just
press the space bar. To return to the canvas, type "+" again. The arrow will
remain at the last cursor position in the pallet. This is the new current
block. To move to the lower pallet, type "-". You can then move around in this
pallet and select one of the special symbols. The use of these symbols is
explained in Chapter IV. Type "-" again to return to the canvas. Note that the
arrow now points down indicating that a symbol from the lower pallet has been
selected. These symbols can be painted on the canvas just like the block. Now
paint a picture using some of the blocks. The blocks should connect to their
neighbors. Just for now, don't use the special symbols. After you have made
your picture, move the cursor on top of one of the blocks in the canvas and
press the space bar. The cursor will move from block to block and play all the
tune fragments, one after another. You have just written your first composition
using Musical Blocks! To stop the music, press the space bar again.

There are a number of illustrative compositions on the distribution disk. To
access these compositions, do the following: 1) Move the cursor so that you are
in the upper left part of the canvas. (The scroll bars should be in the upper
left position.) 2) press F1 to bring down the main menu. Type "d" for "disk to
all". This will bring up a directory of compositions. 3) Type the name of any
of these and then a carriage return. The composition will be loaded and will
appear on the canvas. 4) Put the cursor on the light smiley face. The word
"start" is shown near it. 5) Press the space bar to play the composition. Some
of the compositions and examples on disk are explained in more detail in
Chapter VI.

In the Sections that follow you will learn all the commands that are available
from the Main screen. You will also learn how to compose tune fragments using
the Blocks Design screen. Your work can be saved to disk and recalled later.
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IV.        Canvas and Pallets

You should have already read Chapter III. and have used Musical Blocks a few
times. This Chapter, and those that follow, explain all the capabilities of the
program. This Chapter will explain all the features which are available from
the Main screen. Recall, this is the screen you see after starting Musical
Blocks.

The Main screen consists of the following areas: A) The view port which is
outlined by the large, light red rectangle. B) The canvas, a portion of which
is visible through the view port C) The message area above the view port. D)
The upper pallet which is below the view port. E) The lower pallet which is
below the upper pallet. The functions of each area will now be explained.

     View Port
     ---------

The view port is a window into the canvas. Only part of the canvas is visible
at any time. The visible area is 36 blocks wide by 18 blocks high or 648 total
blocks. The total canvas area is 108 blocks wide by 54 blocks high or 5832
total blocks. The viewable portion of the canvas is 1/9 the total area. The
view port consists of the light red rectangular border, the dark red scroll
bars, and the window into the canvas. The cursor has the shape of a musical
note. (Exception: when either the random or text features are on the cursor has
a different shape.) The cursor can move around within the canvas using either
the cursor keys or the joystick (if present).

In order to view a different area of the canvas, move the cursor in any
direction to the view port border. When the cursor moves next to the border the
canvas will scroll and a different area will become visible. If you move to the
top of the view port the canvas will scroll down. If you move to the bottom of
the view port the canvas will scroll up. If you move to the left of the view
port the canvas will scroll right. And if you move to the right of the view
port the canvas will scroll left. The canvas always scrolls a distance which is
1/2 the dimension of the view port in the direction of scroll. The cursor will
appear to jump to a new position. In fact, the cursor remains in the same
position on the canvas but scrolls with the canvas.

The portion of the canvas which is currently visible is indicated by the
horizontal and vertical scroll bars. These are dark red bands on the view port
border. Initially, the scroll bars are in the upper left corner of the border.
This indicates that the upper left corner of the canvas is visible. As the
canvas scrolls the scroll bars move to indicate the current visible portion of
the canvas.

     Canvas
     ------

The canvas is the drawable area on which blocks and other symbols are painted
to create tunes. Painting is accomplished in a number of ways. 1) Selecting a
current block or symbol and using the insert or joystick button to paint it at
the cursor position. 2) Typing colored numbers which indicate single notes,
rests or intervals. 3) Selecting the "random" feature from the menu and using
the insert or joystick button to paint blocks selected at random. 4) Selecting
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the "text" feature from the menu and typing text into the canvas. All these
methods are explained below. Any portion of the canvas can be painted. When a
painted area scrolls out of view, the contents are preserved. Scrolling back
the area restores the painting to view.

     Selecting Blocks and Symbols
     ----------------------------

To select a block to paint, press the "+" key. This will move the cursor to the
upper pallet at the position of the arrow. You can then move the cursor back
and forth in the pallet to select a new block. Press "+" again to return to the
canvas. The cursor always returns to the last square it occupied in the canvas.

To select a special symbol to paint, press the "-" key. This will move the
cursor to the lower pallet at the position of the arrow. You can then move the
cursor back and forth in the pallet to select a new special symbol. Press "-"
again to return to the canvas.


     Colored Numbers
     ---------------

Colored number are an alternative way of painting notes, rests and intervals
onto the canvas. They are normally used to supplement the tune fragments
entered by painting blocks. Colored numbers are entered by just typing on the
keyboard. The keyboard has been remapped to respond in a special way in Musical
Blocks. The remapped part of the keyboard is shown below.

           1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8        Type for cyan   numbers 1 - 8

           q  w  e  r  t  y  u  i        Type for brown  numbers 1 - 8

           a  s  d  f  g  h  j  k        Type for yellow numbers 1 - 8

           z  x  c  v  b  n  m  ,        Type for green  numbers 1 - 8

These colors have the following meaning where "#" means the number:

           color       meaning
           -----       -------

           cyan        note with duration equal to #
           brown       rest with duration equal to #
           yellow      # intervals up in scale
           green       # intervals down in scale

As examples, a cyan 8 would cause a note to sound of duration 8. A brown 7
would cause the sound to stop for a duration of 7. A yellow 2 would not sound
but would cause the next note to sound to be transposed up 2 scale intervals (a
major 2nd for a 12 tone scale). A green 3 would not sound but would cause the
next note to sound to be transposed down 3 scale intervals (a minor 3rd for a
12 tone scale). The relationship between intervals up and down and intervals in
the 12 tone scale are shown below:


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                          Musical Blocks User's Manual
           Musical Blocks Interval       12 Tone Scale Interval
           -----------------------       ----------------------

                       1                       minor 2nd
                       2                       major 2nd
                       3                       minor 3rd
                       4                       major 3rd
                       5                       perfect 4th
                       6                       augmented 4th or diminished 5th
                       7                       perfect 5th
                       8                       minor 6th
                       9                       major 6th
                       10                      minor 7th
                       11                      major 7th
                       12                      octave

Using colored numbers, intervals greater than 8 must be realized by painting
two or more colored numbers. For example, to get a interval of an octave, paint
a yellow 5 followed by a yellow 7 in a neighboring square (or any other
combination which adds up to 12).

If the concept of colored numbers is a bit confusing, just experiment with it.
There are also example disk files to demonstrate how colored numbers work. (See
Chapter VII.)

     Random Paint
     ------------

You may also experiment with a feature of Musical Blocks which creates tunes by
a random selection of blocks. To enable this feature, type F1 to pull down the
main menu and then type "r" to select random paint feature. The cursor shape
will change to a question mark. Now if you press the Insert key, instead of
using the current block or symbol, Musical Blocks will select a block at random
from the pallet. Only blocks which have a tune fragment will be used. (See
Chapter V. which explains how to create or delete tune fragments.) Every time
you press Insert, (or the joystick button), a new random block will be selected
and painted at the cursor position. Using the random feature you can quickly
paint a tune using random block selection. This tune can be edited by adding
special symbols or colored numbers or by changing some of the blocks. However,
to insert blocks or special symbols normally, it is necessary to turn the
random feature off. Press F1 again and then "r" to turn off the random paint
feature. The cursor becomes a note again.

     Text Mode
     ---------

Another feature allows text to be typed onto the pallet. This is useful to add
a title to a tune. To enable this feature, press F1 to bring down the menu and
then type "t" to select the text feature. The cursor shape will now change to a
bar. The mapping of the keyboard used for colored numbers is disabled. Now,
everything typed will be painted onto the canvas. However, Musical Blocks
doesn't work like a work processor or text editor. For example, typing a
carriage return does not cause the cursor to shift left and move down a line.
Instead, the cursor is moved using the cursor keys or joystick. This allows the
flexibility of typing text either horizontally, vertically, diagonally, or
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along a wavy line, as you like. When finished typing characters, disable the
text feature by pressing F1 and then "t". The cursor will become a note again.

     Message Area
     ------------

The line above the view port is the message area. There are four fields in this
area. From left to right, the first field is "F1 menu". This indicates that
pressing a F1 will bring down the menu. All the menu actions are explained
later in this Chapter.

The second field is "sc". This is an abbreviation for scale. To the right of sc
will appear either an "a" or a "b". This indicates the current design scale
which can be either scale a or scale b. Musical Blocks supports scales with
more or less than 12 intervals per octave. The current design scale is used to
build and listen to tune fragments using the Blocks Design screen. It is also
used to listen to a tune fragment associated with a block when the cursor is in
the upper pallet. (Note, in the canvas area the current scale always start as
scale "a". It is changed by using the special symbol "s" which switches the
scale while playing the tune.) To change the current design scale, type Alt F6.
This will cause the letter to the right of "sc" to toggle from "a" to "b" or
from "b" to "a". (Note: when you start Musical blocks the number of intervals
per octave in both scales a and b will be 12. Hence, changing the current
design scale will have no effect. How to change the number of notes per octave
is explained later in this Chapter.)

The third field is "tp". This is an abbreviation for tempo. To the right of
"tp" will appear either a blank or an "h". Tempo indicates how fast the tune
fragments are played when you listen to them either in the Blocks Design screen
or when the cursor is in the upper pallet. The tempo can be changed by using
the following commands: 1) Typing Alt F5 toggles half speed on and off. When
half speed in on an "h" will appear to the right of "tp". Half speed causes the
tune fragments to be played at 1/2 speed. (That is, the duration of all notes
and rests is doubled.) 2) Typing F6 will cause the tune fragments to be played
faster by a small amount. F6 can be typed more than once to increase the tempo
even more. This is not indicated in the message area of the main screen.
However, it is indicated in the message area of the Blocks Design screen by
showing special symbols which indicate "faster". 3) Typing F5 will cause the
tune fragments to be played slower by a small amount. F5 can be typed more than
once to decrease the tempo even more. This is not indicated in the message area
of the main screen. However, it is indicated in the message area of the Blocks
Design screen by showing special symbols which indicate "slower". Altogether
there are 15 tempo steps possible using F5 and F6. (Note, in the canvas area
the tempo always starts with a medium tempo. The tempo of the tune is changed
in the canvas area by using special symbols which are in the lower pallet.)

The fourth field shows the current block or special symbol and a short message
about it. In the case of a block the message just says "block" with the number
of the block to the left of "block". In the case of a special symbol, the
symbol is shown to the right and its meaning is to the left. If you use the
"cut" command the word "cut" will appear to indicate that the symbol was cut
from the canvas. The cut symbol is shown to the right. If you use the "copy"
command the word "copy" will appear to indicate that the symbol was copied from
the canvas. The copied symbol is shown to the right.

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     Menu Commands
     -------------

The pull down menu give access to a number of commands which are used with the
Main screen. The menu commands are listed below.

                 menu commands
                 -------------
                 clear screen
                 random on/off
                 screen to file
                 file to screen
                 blocks to file
                 get blocks
                 all to disk
                 disk to all
                 make blocks
                 intervals
                 text on/off
                 joystick on/off
                 help
                 exit program
                 quit menu

Pull down the menu by pressing F1. When the menu is down you must execute a
menu command. In the menu the first letter of each command is red. Commands are
executed by typing the first letter of the command. Each command is now
explained.

Clear screen - Typing this command causes the canvas to be cleared to all
black. Both the visible and non-visible portions of the canvas are cleared.

Random on/off - Typing this command toggles the random feature on and off. This
feature was explained in Chapter IV. B.

Screen to file - Typing this command allows you to save the contents of the
canvas (visible and non-visible) to a disk file. Use this command to save the
canvas when you do not want to also save the pallet. (Refer to Chapter VI. for
a description of the Disk Directory screen.)

File to Screen - This command allows you to load disk files which contain a
canvas picture. The canvas will be cleared and set to the contents of the file.

Blocks to file - This command allows you to save the contents of the visible
part of the upper pallet to a disk file. The upper pallet contains 60 blocks.
At any time only 30 of the blocks are visible. The visible blocks can be
changed by pressing F2. Pressing F2 toggles the upper pallet so that it either
displays blocks 1 - 30 or blocks 31 - 60. Before executing the blocks to file
command, make sure that the visible blocks are the ones you want to save to
disk. You will want to use this command to save tune fragments that can be
reused to compose other tunes.


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Get blocks - Typing this command allows you to load disk files which contain
the tune fragments of 30 blocks of the pallet. The tune fragments are loaded
into the 30 visible blocks. Before executing the get blocks command, be sure
that the visible blocks are the ones you want to restore from disk. The non-
visible 30 blocks are not effected by this command.

All to disk - Typing this command allows you to save the canvas and all 60
blocks of the upper pallet to a disk file. After you compose a tune consisting
of a canvas picture and pallet tune fragments, use this command to save it to
disk.

Disk to all - This command restores the canvas and all 60 blocks in the upper
pallet from a disk file.

Make blocks - This command is used to change to the Blocks Design screen. The
Blocks Design screen is used to write the tune fragments associated with each
block in the upper pallet. See Chapter V. for a description of the Blocks
Design screen.

Intervals - This command is used to examine and/or change the number of
intervals in either scale "a" or scale "b". Musical blocks supports scales with
either 12 intervals per octave, which is the traditional scale for western
music, or other numbers of intervals per octave. You can set the intervals per
octave to any number from 1 to 200. Musical Blocks has two active scales which
can be used in playing any tune. These are scale "a" and scale "b". To examine
or change the intervals per octave, press F1 to get the menu and then type "i".
The program will then show a message in the middle of the view port. This
message will tell how many intervals per octave are currently in scale "a".
Press any key to continue. You will now see the same message about scale "b".
Press any key. The program will now ask "modify a or b" Type either a or b to
modify that scale or type something else to quit the command. If you typed a or
b the program will prompt you to enter the new intervals per octave. Just type
in a number from 1 to 200. Then type a carriage return to enter the new
intervals per octave. If you make a mistake and type a number larger than 200
the program will display an error message. Type any key to clear the message.

If you change the number of intervals per octave and then play a tune written
for a different number of notes per octave it will sound strange. This is
because Musical Blocks works internally with intervals, not with scales. If you
have written a tune that uses an interval of 12 and there are 12 notes per
octave in the scale then this interval will cause the pitch of the note to
change by an octave. However, if you change the number of notes per octave to
144 then the same interval of 12 will cause the pitch to change by only a minor
second! There is a further discussion of scales in Chapter V.

Text on/off - Typing this command toggles the text mode on and off. When the
program is in the text mode you can type text onto the pallet. The cursor will
change to a bar in the text mode.

Joystick on/off - Typing this command toggles the joystick on or off. If the
joystick is on and the cursor starts to move around by itself, you can
recalibrate the joystick by turning it off and on again while leaving the
joystick in the vertical position.


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                          Musical Blocks User's Manual
Help - Typing this command brings up the help screen. This screen gives
information on other commands which are available but not in the menu. These
commands are the following:

     Command           Meaning
     -------           -------

     space             Play music or block.
     Ins               Insert a block or special symbol into the canvas.
     Del               Delete the symbol or block under the cursor.
     F1                Show the menu.
     F2                Switch the visible pallet.
     F3                Copy a block. Copies the block or symbol under the
                       cursor and makes it the current symbol. Moving the
                       cursor to somewhere else in the canvas and pressing
                       Ins will then paint the copied block.
     F4                Cut a block. The same as copy a block except the block
                       or symbol at the current cursor position is removed.
     F5                Slow down the tempo when playing tune fragments in the
                       upper pallet or in the Blocks Design screen.
     F6                Speed up the tempo when playing tune fragments in the
                       upper pallet or in the Blocks Design screen.
     Alt F5            Toggle the tempo half time mode when playing tune
                       fragments in the upper pallet or in the Blocks Design
                       screen.
     Alt F6            Switch scales. This toggles the current design scale
                       between "a" and "b". The current design scale is used
                       to play tune fragments in the upper pallet or in the
                       Blocks Design screen.
     +                 Toggle the cursor between the canvas and the upper
                       pallet.
     -                 Toggle the cursor between the canvas and the lower
                       pallet.
     1 - 8             Insert a single note into the canvas.
     q - i             Insert a single rest into the canvas.
     a - k             Insert a single interval up into the canvas.
     z - ,             Insert a single interval down into the canvas.
     q                 Quit the help screen. You must press q to continue
                       with the program.

Exit program - This command causes the program to exit back to DOS. Note: your
work is not automatically saved. If you want to save work, use one of the other
menu commands to save work to a disk file before exiting the program.

Quit menu - This command removes the menu without executing any other menu
command.

     Upper Pallet
     ------------

The upper pallet is located directly below the view port. To move the cursor
from the canvas to the upper pallet type "+". To move the cursor back to the
canvas type "+" again. The cursor returns to the same position in the canvas.
The pallet consists of 60 colored blocks. At any time only 30 of the blocks are

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visible. Either blocks 1 - 30 or blocks 31 - 60 are visible. To switch from one
set to the other press F2.

There is an arrow which points to the current block or symbol in either the
upper or lower pallet. The current block or symbol is also shown in the message
area. If the arrow is pointing to a block in the upper pallet the message area
also displays the number of the block.

After typing "+" the cursor moves to the block at the same position as the
arrow. You can move around in the upper pallet using either the cursor keys or
the joystick, if present. The arrow will follow the cursor as you move. If you
move off either end of the pallet the cursor will jump to the other end of the
pallet. When the cursor returns to the canvas the arrow stays pointing to the
last block which was occupied by the cursor before it returned to the canvas.

Each block in the upper pallet can have a tune fragment associated with it.
When Musical Blocks is started, the upper pallet is loaded with a default set
of tune fragments. The default set is stored in two files: start1.blk and
start2.blk. The first file loads blocks 1 - 30 and the second loads blocks 31 -
60. You can change the default set by designing a new one using the Blocks
Design screen and then saving it to disk files start1.blk or start2.blk using
the "blocks to file" command.

You can change the tune fragments for the blocks by either loading a new set
using the "get blocks" command or by using the Blocks Design screen to design a
new block or set of blocks.

To listen to a block in the upper pallet, move the cursor to the block and
press the space bar. The program will play the tune fragment associated with
the block. The fragment is played using the current design scale and the
current tempo setting. Refer to the menu "help" command to see how to change
these settings.

     Lower Pallet
     ------------

The lower pallet is located directly below the upper pallet. It consists of 26
special symbols. To move the cursor from the canvas to the lower pallet type
"-". To move the cursor back to the canvas type "-" again. The cursor returns
to the same position in the canvas it had before going to the lower pallet.

You can move around in the lower pallet using either the cursor keys or the
joystick, if present. The arrow will follow the cursor as you move. If you move
off either end of the pallet the cursor will jump to the other end of the
pallet. When the cursor returns to the canvas the arrow stays pointing to the
last special symbol which was occupied by the cursor before it returned to the
canvas. The current symbol is shown in the message area along with the name of
the symbol which indicates its action.

Using the lower pallet, you can select any of the 26 special symbols and paint
then into the canvas. These symbols are used to control the action of the
cursor and the sound when playing a tune in the canvas. These symbols are
described below.


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Start - The start symbol has the effect of resetting the "play state" back to
the "initial play state". (See Chapter IV - Play State and Initial Play State
for an explanation of these terms.) Normally, the start symbol is just a
convenient symbol to indicate where to put the cursor before starting to play a
tune in the canvas. It can also be used within a tune to reset the "play State"
to the "initial play state".

Staccato - Changes the "current play state" to staccato. Causes music to be
played staccato. (A short rest is inserted prior to each note played.)

Legato - Changes the current play state to legato. Turns off staccato.

Random move - Randomizes the current play state direction.

Blocker - This symbol appears as an "o" with a slash through it. When it is
used in the canvas and the cursor enters it during play, it blocks the cursor
and causes it to reverse direction. At the same time the symbol is toggled to
the shape of an "o". The next time the cursor enters the symbol, it will not be
blocked and it will pass through the symbol normally. However, as it passes
through, the symbol is toggled back to the "o" with slash. Hence, the symbol is
alternatively toggled from a blocking symbol to a non-blocking symbol.

Connector - When used in the canvas, this symbol creates a connecting path for
the cursor to follow. That is, the cursor moves through a connector symbol
normally. It has no other effect.

Once only - When the cursor moves through this symbol, it is erased. Hence, the
cursor can only move through it one time.

Twice only - When the cursor moves through this symbol, it is changed to a once
only symbol. Hence, the cursor can only move through it two times. After that,
it is erased.

Thrice only - When the cursor moves through this symbol, it is changed to a
twice only symbol. Hence, the cursor can only move through it three times.
After that, it is erased. The once only, twice only and thrice only symbols can
be used to limit access to part of your composition.

Disk to all - This symbol is used to allow a composition to call up another
disk file and continue playing from the composition in that file. This is a
powerful feature since it allow you to spread a composition over many disk
files. Hence, you can create a composition of length only limited by the
storage capacity of your disk! The effect of "disk to all" is just as if you
picked "disk to all" from the main menu and then were able to continue playing
without pause. Recall that using the "disk to all" command in the main menu
replaces both the upper pallet and the canvas contents. When you use the "disk
to all" special symbol the same thing happens. However, the music continues to
play as long as the new canvas has a block, colored number or special symbol at
the cursor position when the new file is loaded. Note: the play state is not
reset to the initial state when you use this command.

The "disk to all" special symbol is in the shape of a house. To use it, you
must first paint the symbol into the canvas, then, using the text mode, type
the name of the file to load. Then you must paint another "disk to all" special

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symbol at the end of the file name. Here is how it works. When the cursor
enters the "disk to all" special symbol the program starts looking for a file
name. It remembers the letters and numbers that follow. When it encounters the
next "disk to all" special symbol, it uses the letters and numbers as a file
name and attempts to read a disk file of that name. If the file exists, it is
loaded and the play continues. If there is no such file on the disk, the
program continues using the current canvas and pallet. If this seems confusing,
there is an example composition on the distribution disk.

Half time - Toggles half speed on or off in the current tempo state. If half
speed is on, the music is played at one half the normal speed.

Switch scales - Toggles the current scale between scale "a" and scale "b".

Invert notes - Toggles invert notes play state between on and off. (See the
Play State Section of this Chapter for an explanation.)

Reverse notes - Toggles reverse notes play state between on and off.

Polyphonic - Toggles polyphonic play state between on and off.

Faster - Increase the tempo of the music being played. There are a total of 15
tempo steps. Each time the cursor passes through this symbol the tempo is
increased by one step. If the tempo is already at its fastest, the symbol has
no effect.

Slower - Decrease the tempo of the music. Each time the cursor passes through
this symbol the tempo is decreased by one step. If the tempo is already at its
slowest, the symbol has no effect.

One way up - This is just like a one way street sign. It prevents the cursor
from moving in a downward direction. Hence, if the cursor enters this symbol
moving downward, the cursor reverses direction and moves upward.

One way down - Prevents the cursor from moving in an upward direction.

One way right - Prevents the cursor from moving left.

One way left - Prevents the cursor from moving right.

Left switch - This is a switch like a railroad switch. Every time the cursor
enters this symbol it is switch between a left and a right switch. The left
switch also may cause the current cursor direction to be changed as follows:
Let the top of the screen be direction N (north). Then there a eight possible
directions that the cursor may have when entering a symbol which are N, NE, E,
SE, S, SW, W, and NW. The left switch changes these directions as shown below.

           Direction Entering Left Sw    Direction Changed to
           --------------------------    -------------------
                       N                             NW
                       NE                            SW
                       E                             SE
                       SE                            SE
                       S                             SE
                       SW                            NE
                       W                             NW
                       NW                            NW

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                          Musical Blocks User's Manual

That is, if the direction coming in is NW or SE, the symbol has no effect. If
the direction coming in is NE or SW, the symbol causes the direction to be
reversed which blocks the movement of the cursor in that direction. For other
directions coming in, the direction is changed to either NW or SE which is
along the direction of the switch. Note: the cursor will only leave the switch
symbol in the new direction if there is a symbol connected to the switch symbol
in that direction. Otherwise, the program will search for the closest direction
to the new direction that a symbol connects and will exit the switch symbol in
that direction.

Right switch - Similar to left switch. Switches to left switch. The direction
of the cursor entering this switch is changed as follows:

           Direction Entering Right Sw         Direction Changed to
           ---------------------------         --------------------
                       N                             NE
                       NE                            NE
                       E                             NE
                       SE                            NW
                       S                             SW
                       SW                            SW
                       W                             SW
                       NW                            SE

Horizontal switch - Similar to other switches. Switches to vertical switch. The
direction of the cursor entering this switch is changed as follows:

           Direction Entering Hor Sw           Direction Changed to
           -------------------------           --------------------
                       N                             S
                       NE                            NE
                       E                             E
                       SE                            E
                       S                             N
                       SW                            W
                       W                             W
                       NW                            W

Vertical switch - Similar to other switches. Switches to horizontal switch. The
direction of the cursor entering this switch is changed as follows:

           Direction Entering Vert Sw          Direction Changed to
           ---------------------------         --------------------
                       N                             N
                       NE                            N
                       E                             W
                       SE                            S
                       S                             S
                       SW                            S
                       W                             E
                       NW                            N

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                          Musical Blocks User's Manual

Stop - Causes the music to stop. Control of the cursor is returned to the user.
This has the same effect as pressing the space bar while a composition is being
played. It is used to end a composition.

     Play State
     ----------

Normally you should paint blocks, symbols or colored numbers in such a way that
they are connected together either top, bottom, left, right, or diagonally. If
the cursor is then placed on one of the painted symbols and the space bar
pressed, the program will play the tune. This is accomplished as follows: The
program will play or interpret the block, symbol or colored number underneath
the cursor. The program then uses an algorithm to decide which neighboring
square of the canvas to move to. (An algorithm is a way of doing something.)
The program always moves the cursor to a neighboring square which is not black.
The program then plays or interprets the block or symbol in that square, and so
on. This will go on forever unless the special "stop" symbol is encountered.
(The stop symbol is the dark smiley face in the lower pallet.) If the cursor
moves onto the "stop" symbol the cursor stops and control is returned to you.
You can also stop the tune at any time by pressing the space bar.

To understand how Musical Blocks strings together tune fragments and interprets
special symbols when playing a tune in the canvas, it is important to
understand the concept of "play state". When a tune is being played and the
cursor is momentarily over some square of the canvas, the program is in a "play
state" which continuously changes as the cursor moves. The "play state"
consists of ten "states". These are the following:

     1) Current symbol. This is the symbol currently under the cursor. The
current symbol contains information which tells the program how to play the
tune, how to change the "play state" and how to move.
     2) Current scale. This can be scale "a" or scale "b".
     3) Current note. Musical blocks has a tonal range of 5 octaves. There can
be from 1 to 200 intervals per octave. (The default is 12 intervals but you can
set it to any number from 1 to 200.) Let INV be the number of intervals per
octave. Then there are 5INV possible intervals which can sound in a tune. The
current note is a number from 1 to 5INV and is the interval of the first note
which will sound when the cursor enters the block or symbol. The current note
is changed by the cursor entering either a block of any color or a colored
number which is yellow or green (colored numbers are explained below). These
symbols direct the program to change the current note by specifying that the
current note move either up or down a specified number of intervals. The pitch
that a tune fragment will be played at depends on the current note when the
block is entered. Hence, tune fragments associated with blocks will sound
differently depending on the value of the current note when the block is
entered. The current note can be continuously changing as the cursor moves from
block to block. This concept is one of the key features of Musical Blocks. It
allows a fairly small number of blocks to be chained together to create an
almost infinite variety of melodic passages.
     4) Current direction. As the cursor moves from a symbol into another
symbol it moves in one of 8 directions (N (which is up), NE, E, SE, S, SW, W,
NW). This is the current direction. The current direction is used by an
algorithm to determine how to move from the current symbol to the next symbol.
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                          Musical Blocks User's Manual
Normally, the program will try to continue to move in the current direction.
However, if it cannot, it will search left and right around the current
direction to find the closest direction to the current direction that the
cursor can use to move into the next symbol. Some of the special symbols are
used to modify the current direction.

In addition, you can change the current direction at any time by pressing a
cursor key or moving the joystick. The current direction is changed to the
direction of the cursor key or joystick movement. Hence, you can navigate
around the painted canvas at will, modifying the sequence in which blocks are
entered and played.
     5) Current tempo. The current tempo is the tempo that the music is
currently played at. There are 15 possible tempo settings. The tempo can be
increased or decreased by using the special "faster" and "slower" symbols.
These are explained in Chapter IV.
     6) Current half speed state. The program can play music at normal or half
speed. This state is toggled back and forth by using the special "half speed"
symbol.
     7) Current legato/staccato state. The program can play music either legato
or staccato. When the state is staccato, each note starts with a short rest.
When the state is legato, notes do not have the short rest between them. This
state is set by using the "staccato" and "legato" special symbols.
     8) Current invert notes state. Normally, the program interprets a positive
interval to mean raise the pitch of the note to sound. However, the program can
be directed to do the opposite. That is, it will interpret a positive interval
to mean lower the pitch. This is controlled by the current invert notes state.
This state is toggled by using the "invert notes" special symbol.
     9) Current reverse notes state. Normally, the program plays the notes of a
tune fragment in a block from left to right. However, the program can be
directed to play the notes from right to left. This is controlled by the
current reverse notes state. This state is toggled by using the "reverse notes"
special symbol. (Note: The reverse notes state has no effect on music which is
composed using the colored numbers. However, the invert notes state does effect
music composed using the colored numbers.)

     10) Current polyphonic state. The program can interpret blocks and colored
numbers in one of two ways. This is controlled by the polyphonic state. If the
polyphonic state is off then all notes are played sequentially, one after
another. The tune sounds as a melody only. If polyphonic is on then the program
can play the tune as a two-part harmony. This is accomplished by reading blocks
or single notes (using colored numbers) in pairs. Then the program plays both
blocks or notes at the same time, producing a two part harmony. Since, in fact,
the PC is only capable of playing one note at a time, this is accomplished by
rapidly switch back and forth between the two notes of the harmony. The effect
is not ideal, but it does allow a harmony effect which you may choice to use in
your compositions. There are some examples of polyphonic tunes included with
the program. Note: when playing two notes or blocks together, if the duration
of the tune fragment from one block or note is shorter than the other, the
block or note is extended to the duration of the longer block or note by adding
a rest of the correct length. Hence, the music is synchronized to step along in
units of two blocks or notes. In addition, because of the switching back and
forth, the tempo will be reduced in half.


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                          Musical Blocks User's Manual
In Chapter V. there is a Section entitled "Tune Fragments". The concept of a
tune fragment is fully explained there. Reading that Section is necessary to
fully understand how a tune made of blocks with associated tune fragments will
sound in Musical Blocks.

     Initial Play State
     ------------------

At the start of playing a tune, (when you place the cursor on a block, special
symbol, or colored number and press the space bar), the program is in the
"initial play state". In the initial play state the ten states have the
following values:

     1) Current symbol. It is the symbol under the cursor.
     2) Current scale. It is scale "a"
     3) Current note. It is the lowest note in the third octave.
     4) Current direction. It is north which is up.
     5) Current tempo. It is tempo 8 (out of a range of 1 to 15).
     6) Current half speed state. Half speed is off.
     7) Current legato/staccato state. It is legato.
     8) Current invert notes state. Invert is off.
     9) Current reverse notes state. Reverse is off.
     10)Current polyphonic state. Polyphonic is off.

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                          Musical Blocks User's Manual

V.   Blocks Design Screen

The Blocks Design screen is used to design tune fragments for any or all of the
60 individual musical blocks in the upper pallet. To get to this screen, from
the Main screen, type F1 to bring down the main menu and them type "m" to
execute the "make blocks" command. The Blocks Design screen will appear. The
screen contains three main areas which are the Message area, the Grand Staff
and the Help area.

     Message Area
     ------------

At the top of the screen is a message area. From left to right, the message
area contains four fields. First, the key signature is shown. You can set the
key signature to any of 12 keys by using commands which are discussed below.
Next is the current design scale which can be either a or b. The current design
scale is discussed in Chapter IV., Canvas and Pallets. Next is shown the
current design tempo. If half time is on, a "h" is shown. If the tempo has been
set either slower or faster than the default, then one or more "slower" or
"faster" special symbols will be shown in this area. Finally, at the extreme
right is shown a block icon. In this icon is the number of the block currently
being designed. These numbers can range from 1 to 30 or from 31 to 60,
depending on which of the two upper pallets is selected in the Main screen.

     Help Area
     ---------

The bottom of the screen is for display of help on commands which can be used
in the Blocks Design screen. Initially, the area only displays the message "F1
help". To view the help information, type F1. Since there is more information
available than can be displayed in this area at one time, Typing F1 again will
bring up help on more commands. Typing F1 a third time gives information on
another set of commands. Typing F1 again removes the information from this
area. Each of these commands will be described shortly.

     Grand Staff
     -----------

The third screen area shows a musical Grand Staff. The tune fragment associated
with the current block appears on this staff as a sequence of numbers, either
normal or reverse video. These numbers represent the duration of notes or
rests. The rests are shown in reverse video and the notes in normal video. The
vertical position of these numbers represent the pitch of the notes. (Note:
although the rests also have a vertical position, it has no effect.)

There is a cursor in the Grand Staff area. It is in the shape of a circle. The
cursor can be moved using either the up, down, left, or right cursor keys or
the joystick. Note that the cursor will not move to the right of the last note
or rest in the Grand Staff. If you move the cursor above, below, or between the
staffs notice that a ledger line will appear through the cursor. This is to
help in composing or transcribing music onto the Grand Staff by showing the
pitch of the note at the cursor position. Note also that as the cursor is moved
vertically it appears to be positioned either on a line, a space, or half way
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                          Musical Blocks User's Manual
between a line and a space. Positions which are on a line or space represent
pitches which are in the scale of the key shown in the message area. Positions
which are half way between a line and a space represent sharps or flats which
are not in the key signature. (Note: this applies to 12 tone scales only. The
interpretation of the cursor position and Grand Staff for scales in which there
are fewer or more than 12 tones per octave is discussed below.)

To add a note or rest to a tune fragment, simply move the cursor to the desired
vertical and horizontal position and then type the duration of the note or
rest. Notes or rests can range from 1 unit duration to 64 units duration. To
enter a note of duration greater than 9, just type both digits of the number.
The second digit will appear under the first. If you type a number greater than
64 the program will beep at you and not accept the second digit. To enter
rests, use the keys q to p to enter reverse video digits in the range of 1 to 9
and 0. To determine the reverse video digit which will appear, look at the
corresponding number in the top row of your keyboard and then move down,
diagonally, one row to the key to strike. For example, to enter a reverse video
6, type a "y". To enter a new note or rest at the end of the current tune
fragment, move the cursor to the right, as far as it will go. Then move it
vertically to the desired note. Finally, enter the note or rest. To insert a
note in the middle of the tune, move the cursor to the position of the note or
rest you wish to insert a note before. Then move it vertically to the desired
note and enter the note or rest. The new note or rest will be inserted to the
left of the cursor position and all notes and rests to the right of the new
note will be moved right, one column. To delete a note or rest, move the cursor
to the same column as the note or rest and then press the Del key. The note or
rest in that column is deleted and all notes and rests to the right are moved
over one column. You may also delete the last note in the tune fragment by
moving the cursor to the extreme right and type typing Del. You may only enter
as many notes or rests as will fit on the screen. If you are working on a
longer composition, it is necessary to break it into a number of sections and
then enter each section into a separate block. These blocks can be used
together by painting them onto the Main screen canvas.

There are a large number of additional commands which can be used to compose
and modify tune fragments. All these commands are listed in the help area below
the Grand Staff. These commands are listed and explained below. However, in
order to understand some of these commands, some additional program concepts
must be explained. First, consider the meaning of the current key signature. Go
into the blocks Design Screen and create a tune fragment (or just use the one
already there). Now type F7 for key down or F8 for key up. Note that the Grand
Staff moves, respectively, up or down and that the key signature changes. If
the key signature started at C, typing F8 will change it to D flat, then D,
then E flat, etc. That is, the key moves up the scale. Likewise, typing F7
changes the key from C to B, then to B flat, then to A, etc. Each time you type
one of these commands, press the space bar to play the tune fragment. Notice
that the pitch of the tune does not change. What you are doing is not changing
the scale of the tune fragment, you are just creating a transposition from
whatever key you wish to write in to a fixed key which is used in Musical
Blocks. For example, lets say that you are copying a tune written in E flat
into Musical Blocks. Use the F8 key to transpose the Grand Staff to E flat,
then enter your tune. However, you may not wish for the tune to sound in the
default key used in Musical Blocks. To change the key the tune will sound in,
first return to the Main screen and paint your tune into the pallet. Then type
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                          Musical Blocks User's Manual
in either a yellow number to transpose the pitch of tune up, or a green number
to transpose the pitch of the tune down. You only need to type a single colored
number at the beginning of the tune in the canvas to change the pitch of the
entire tune. Tunes can be transposed up or down any number of scale intervals.

     Tune Fragments
     --------------

Next, consider what is meant by a tune fragment in Musical Blocks. A tune
fragment is a sequence of number pairs consisting of a note or rest duration
and an interval up or down. For example, one such pair might be (8,2). This
pair means play a note at the current pitch for 8 units of time at the current
tempo and then move the pitch up 2 units (a major second in a 12 tone scale).
If the next pair is (4,1) then the next note is held for 4 time units at a
pitch which is 2 units higher than the previous note. The pitch is then moved
up 1 unit. The next note to sound will sound at this new pitch. Now a tune
fragment will be used in a composition by being painted into the pallet as a
block. It will, typically, be proceeded by and succeeded by other tune
fragments. The pitch of the first note of any tune fragment is not absolute.
Rather, it is the current pitch at the end of the previous tune fragment.
Likewise, the first pitch of the next tune fragment is the current pitch at the
end of the current tune fragment. In the Blocks Design screen, you enter tune
fragments into a block by setting notes, rests, and intervals up and down. In
order for the above description to hold, it is necessary to also enter an
interval up or down to follow the last note or rest of the tune fragment. This
final interval will control the pitch of the first note in the succeeding tune
fragment played. This final interval is termed the "exit interval". The exit
interval is graphically shown as a red, vertical bar at the extreme right of
the Grand Staff. The exit interval can be moved up by striking the "-" key and
moved down by striking the "+" key. Each time one of these keys is pressed, the
exit interval moves up or down one interval in the current scale. Here is an
example. Let's say the key signature is C and that you have set block 1 to be
the tune fragment C, D, E and the exit interval is at D. (The duration of these
notes isn't to the discussion.) Now let's say that in the Main screen canvas,
you paint block 1 twice, side by side so that the cursor will pass through a
block 1 two times. Let's also assume that when the first block 1 is entered in
the canvas the current pitch is C. Then the following notes will be played (12
tone scale): C, D, E, D, E, F sharp. The notes C, D, E are played the first
time block 1 is entered. Then, because the exit interval is D, the first note
that sounds the second time a block 1 is entered is D. Since the intervals
between C and D, and between D and E are both major seconds, the tune fragment
which sounds the second time block 1 is entered must also have these intervals
between notes. Since the first note to sound will be D, the next two notes are
E and F sharp. This is because there is the interval of a major second between
D and E, and between D and F sharp. This action is illustrated below. (The exit
interval is shown in square brackets.)

                                                                 F sharp
                                                           2 up        [2 dn]
                       2 up    E               2 up   E
           2 up    D               [2 dn] D
       C


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To complete this example, consider that the first block 1 is, instead, entered
such that the first note to sound is E. Then the above example can be redraw to
show the new interval relationships. This is shown below

                                                                 A sharp
                                                           2 up        [2 dn]
                       2 up  G sharp           2 up  G sharp
           2 up  F sharp           [2 dn]F sharp
       E

To summarize, the notes to sound depend on the current interval entering the
block, the intervals between notes, and the exit interval. The intervals
between notes and the exit interval are the tune fragment designed using the
Blocks Design screen. The interval entering the block will depend on how the
block is painted into the canvas and the movement of the cursor during playing
of the composition.

     Non-Twelve Tone Scales
     ----------------------

Next consider the use of scales with more or less than 12 intervals per octave.
You should feel confident that you understand what is meant by a musical
fragment in Musical Blocks before reading this section. You may want to use
Musical Blocks with only 12 tone scales for awhile before attempting to learn
and apply other types of scales. If so, this Section can be skipped and read
later.

Musical Blocks is not bound to the traditional western scale which consists of
12, equal tempered intervals per octave. You may set the number of intervals
per octave to be any number between 1 and 200. In addition, Musical Blocks
maintains two scales at any time. These are scale a and scale b. Each of these
scales may have any number of intervals per octave, independent of the other.
The Blocks Design screen has special features which allow you to write tune
fragments using nontraditional scales easily. But first, lets revisit the tune
fragment. No matter how many intervals per octave are used in a scale, the tune
fragment still is a sequence of number pairs consisting of a note or rest
duration and an interval up or down. However, the number which represents an
interval up or down is to be interpreted as an interval in the scale. To be
more specific, consider that a scale has 36 notes per octave. Then an interval
of 36 represents an octave. An interval of 6 represents an interval of a major
second. An interval of 5 does not have any correspondence in a 12 tone scale.
Now consider what these same intervals mean in a 12 tone scale. An interval of
36 represents 3 octaves. An interval of 6 is an augmented 4th while an interval
of 5 is a perfect 4th. Hence, the numerical form of a tune fragment is
identical, no matter how many intervals per octave. However, the meaning of the
intervals, how they sound to the ear, is entirely different.

To learn how to design tune fragments using nonwestern scales, go to the Main
screen and using the intervals command, set the number of intervals per octave
for scale a to be 36. Now return to the Blocks Design screen. Set the key
signature to C and clear the tune fragment using the back space key. The cursor
should be resting on middle C. Now press the up arrow cursor key 36 times. The
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cursor will slowly move upward. After 36 key strokes it will have moved exactly
one octave up. The movement of the cursor has been scaled to correspond to the
greater number of intervals per octave. Note that some of the times the cursor
key was pressed, the cursor did not move. This is because the display does not
have enough resolution to show all 36 intervals in the octave. However, the
pitch is changing by one scale interval each time you press the cursor key.
Hence, you can access any scale interval by using the cursor keys. Scaling the
movement of the cursor allows the display to represent, approximately, the
tonal intervals between notes as the nearest approximate interval in a 12 tone
scale. You will find this extremely helpful in working with nonwestern scales
since you can approximately set the interval visually and then modify it using
the "note up" and "note down" keys described later in this Section.

Consider an example. Assume that you have set scale a to 36 intervals per
octave. In the Blocks Design screen, enter the notes C, D, E. (You will need to
strike the cursor up arrow 6 times to move between each of these notes.) Now
sound this fragment by pressing the space bar. It should sound the C, D, E of a
12 tone scale. Now type alt F6. This switches the current design scale from a
to b. Assuming that scale b has 12 intervals per octave, you will notice that
the notes on the Grand Staff move apart. The notes shown are now C, F# and C,
an octave higher. This is because Musical Blocks stored the tune fragment as
numerical note or rest durations and intervals. If you switch the number of
intervals per octave, the internal representation of the tune fragment does not
change. However, the interpretation of the tune fragment does change. In this
example, the intervals between notes which were entered were 6 and 6. These
represent intervals of a major second in a 36 tone scale. However, when the
scale was switched to a 12 tone scale, the numerical interval of 6 represents
an augmented 4th and two 6 intervals represents an octave. Hence, the same
internal tune fragment will sound entirely differently if the number of notes
per octave is changed. (Press the space bar to hear the fragment.)

Now if you are working with a scale which has a large number of notes per
octave, it may be tedious to have to keep striking the up or down cursor keys
in order to move the cursor a significant distance up or down. To allow faster
cursor movements in these cases, four special key commands have been provided.
The PgUp key can be used to move the cursor up to the scale interval which is
nearest the next note up in a 12 tone scale. Likewise, the PgDn key is used to
move the cursor down to the scale interval which is nearest the next note down
in a 12 tone scale. The alt F4 key moves the exit interval up the same way
while the alt F3 key moves the exit interval down the same way.

If, instead, your scale has fewer than 12 tones per octave, the arrow cursor
keys are to be used to move the cursor up and down. In these cases, the cursor
will sometimes move more than a single 12 tone interval when the cursor is
pressed once. This is because for scales with less than 12 tones per octave,
the intervals are larger than the intervals in a 12 tone scale. The Musical
Blocks program will always move the cursor to the position of the closest note
in the 12 tone scale to the note in your scale.

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     Blocks Design Screen Commands
     -----------------------------

There are a large number of commands which are used to design tune fragments in
the Blocks Design screen. These commands are now all listed and briefly
described.

F1 - help. Brings up help on the command keys. Type again to get help on
additional keys.

F2 - return. Type to return to the Main screen.

F3 - copy. Copies the current tune fragment into a buffer.

F4 - paste. Used to paste a tune fragment which was copied into the buffer into
another block. The current contents of the block are deleted prior to the paste
operation. Copy and paste are useful if you need to create a new tune fragment
which is a modification of an existing one. Simple copy and paste the fragment
and make the modifications.

F5 - slower. Reduces the current design tempo by one tempo setting. There are a
total of 15 tempo settings. Notice that typing a F5 will cause a "slower"
special symbol to appear in the message area or to cause a "faster" special
symbol to be erased.

F6 - faster. Increases the current design tempo by one tempo setting. Typing F6
will cause a "faster" special symbol to appear in the message area or to cause
a "slower" special symbol to be erased.

F7 - key down. Moves the key signature down one 12 tone scale interval.

F8 - key up. Moves the key signature up one 12 tone scale interval.

F9 - block down. Reduces the current block number by one. In the Block design
screen you can access either blocks 1 through 30 or blocks 31 through 60. You
will need to return to the Main screen and press F2 to switch pallets to access
the other set of 30 blocks. If you are currently at block 1 and press F9 the
index will change to block 30. If you are at block 31 and press F9 the index
will change to block 60.

F10 - block up. Increases the current block number by one. If you are at block
30 and press F10 the index will change to 1. If you are at block 60 and press
F10 the index will change to 31.

space - play. Pressing causes the tune fragment in the current block to be
played. The exit interval does not sound.

back space - delete tune fragment. Typing a back space will delete all the
notes in the tune fragment of the current block.

p- play with exit interval. Same as pressing the space bar except that the exit
interval is also sounded. This indicates the pitch of the first note in the
next block which will sound if the current block is followed by any other
block.


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alt F3 - exit down 12. Used to facilitate cursor movement when the number of
notes per octave is greater than 12. Pressing this key combination causes the
exit interval to move down to the pitch which is closest to a pitch in the 12
tone scale. The exit interval bar moves to indicate this.

alt F4 - exit up 12. Similar to exit down 12 except that the exit interval
moves up to the pitch which is closest to a pitch in the 12 tone scale.

alt F5 - half time. Toggles half time on/off in the current design tempo. This
will cause the tune fragment to sound or not sound at half tempo when the space
bar is pressed.

alt F6 - switch scales. Switches the current design scale from a to b or from b
to a.

+ - exit down. Causes the exit interval to move down one interval in the
current scale.

- - exit up. Causes the exit interval to move up one interval in the current
scale.

Home - note up. Causes the note or rest in the same column as the cursor to
move up one scale interval. This is useful to modify a tune fragment without
the need to delete a note and then insert a new one.

End - note down. Causes the note or rest in the same column as the cursor to
move down one scale interval.

PgUp - cursor up 12. To be used when the number of scale intervals is greater
than 12 per octave. Moves the cursor up a number of intervals to the closest
pitch to a pitch in the 12 tone scale. Note: if the number of notes in the
scale is a multiple of 12, this pitch will be exactly equal to a pitch in the
12 tone scale. You may find it useful to set the number of notes per octave to
be 36, 48, 60, etc. and then use this command and the next one to select notes
which can be found exactly in the 12 tone scale. You can then use the cursor
keys to slightly sharpen or flatten some notes to create special effects.

PgDn - Cursor down 12. To be used when the number of notes per octave is
greater than 12. Moves the cursor down a number of intervals to the closest
pitch in the current scale to a pitch in the 12 tone scale.

Up, down, left, right cursor keys - move cursor. Used to move the cursor. Up
and down moves the cursor one interval in the current scale. Note that you
cannot move the cursor past the last note or rest entered in the block.

number 1 through 9 and 0 - note durations. Used to enter note durations. To
enter note durations greater than 9, enter both digits in direct succession.
The second digit will appear directly below the first. Note durations from 1
to  64 are allowed.

letters q through p - rest durations. Used to enter rest durations. To enter
rest durations greater than 9, enter both digits in direct succession. The
second digit will appear directly below the first. Rest durations from 1 to 64
are allowed. Rest durations appear in reversed video.

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VI.  Saving and Restoring Files

From the main screen, if you enter any of the following commands, the File
Access screen will appear:

           screen to file
           file to screen
           blocks to file
           get blocks
           all to disk
           disk to all

The File Access screen shows the names of all the disk files of the type you
may want to save or restore. The names of the files are shown in the central,
rectangular area. If there are more files than can fit in the rectangle, the
message "F2 more" will appear at the top right of the screen. You may press F2
to see another screen's worth of files. The message "F1 return" also appears at
the top left. If for some reason you do not wish to continue with a file
operation, type F1 to return to the Main screen.

At the bottom of the screen you are prompted to type the name of the file you
wish to retrieve or to store. Enter the name without extensions. When you are
finished, type a carriage return. (If the file name is 8 characters long, the
carriage return is not necessary.) If you are retrieving a file and it is not
to be found on the disk, the program will print an error message across the
screen. Type any key to clear this message and return to the Main screen. If
you are storing a file and the file already exists, the program will display a
message to the effect and ask if you wish to overwrite the file. Type "y" to
overwrite and "n" to abort the operation.

Musical blocks only looks for files in the current directory. Likewise, new
files are stored in the current directory. If you are using a system without a
hard disk and there is not enough room to store additional files, do the
following. Start up Musical Blocks using the program disk or a backup copy.
Then remove the program disk and insert a disk containing your musical files.
After the program starts up, the program disk is no longer needed. Hence, you
can insert one or more disks to hold any number of musical files.

When the screen is saved to a file using the screen to file command, the file
name entered by you will be given the extension .scr. When the blocks to file
command is used to save the upper pallet, the file name entered by you is given
the extension .blk. When the all to disk command is used to save both the
screen and all 60 blocks to disk, the file name entered by you is given the
extension .all. (You do not enter or see the file extensions from within the
program.)

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VII.       Musical Selections on Disk

There are a number of files containing musical transcriptions or new
compositions on the distribution disk. These are for your enjoyment and to show
examples of how to create music with the program. To access these selections
bring down the main menu and select the "disk to all" command. Type the name of
one of the files shown on the file access screen to load it into the program.
The selections on disk are described in this Chapter. You may find the
descriptions helpful in understanding how the selections were written. You may
wish to use or modify the ideas described here in your own compositions.

The first group of files consists of some straightforward transcriptions of
musical compositions into Musical Blocks. This group consists of the files
"rondo", "polly", "prelude", "lasvacas", "greenslv", "range", "barber",
"mandolin", "canarios", and "johnny". These transcriptions were done as
follows. First, both the upper and lower pallets were cleared. This is done by
using the "get blocks" command and getting the file named "blank". This loads
the pallet with a blank set of tune fragments. This should be done for both
pallets. Then, after the new composition is completed, the pallets will only
contain tune fragments for it. This saves space when the composition is saved
to disk.

Next, go to the Blocks Design Screen and set the key signature to correspond to
that on the music you plan to make a transcription for. Then decide how you
will break up the music into fragments, one per block. Larger fragments mean
that you will need to use fewer blocks. This is sometimes important if the
piece is long. However, if you plan to reuse the fragments to create a
variation on the original, it is better to use shorter fragments. This will
provide greater  flexibility in configurating new tunes using the fragments.
Also, shorter fragments means that when the piece is played, there will be more
cursor movement. This results in a more interesting visual effect. If the piece
is short I typically put one or two measures into each block. Often, notes are
held from one measure into the next. In these cases, both measures should be
put into the same block. The held note becomes a single note duration.

You will also need to decide the duration of notes in the composition to be
transcribed. Look for the shortest note in the composition. It must be assigned
a duration of at least one. However, this is usually too short and a duration
of 4 to 8 is recommended. Another thing you should look for is note grouping
such as triplets. As an example, if the shortest notes in the composition are
16th notes and there are also 16th note triplets, it will be necessary to
assign durations which are correct for both rhythms. In this case a duration
for the 16th notes of 3 and a duration of the 16th note triple of 4 works. This
is because four 16th notes results in a duration of 12 which is the same as the
duration of three 16th note triples. In this case, an 8th note will have a
duration of 6, a quarter note a duration of 12, a half note a duration of 24,
and a whole note a duration of 48. The actual durations of these notes can then
be modified using the faster, slower, or half time special symbols. In some
cases, it is not possible to exactly set the duration of all notes in a
composition. In these cases, it is usually ok to just approximate the duration.

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Another situation that comes up often with transcriptions is that the same note
pitch is repeated two or more times. To achieve good articulation, it is best
to put a short rest between these notes. This rest may need to have duration of
only 1 or 2. So that each note begins on the beat, the duration of any such
rest should be subtracted from the end of the duration of the previous note.

Once durations are determined, start at the beginning of the piece and
transcribe it into Musical Blocks using your plan on how to divide the piece
into blocks. Use the F9 and F10 keys to move between blocks and the space bar
to play the tune fragments.

It is also a good idea to plan the visual pattern you want to achieve. This
will be somewhat controlled by the length of the piece and the number of
measures per each tune fragment. You should determine the total number of
blocks your transcription will have and then plan a pleasing pattern on the
canvas. After a few blocks have been written, go back to the Main Screen and
begin to build your pattern. Listen to what you have written so far to make
sure there are no mistakes. You may also want to use some of the special
symbols in the transcription. For example, in the transcription of "canarios",
I put a connector between each block. This just gives variety to the appearance
of the composition. Other special symbols can be used to implement repeats or
to create variety. For example, examine the composition "studie". I have used a
switch symbol to make the cursor go around some of the blocks twice. The second
time around the switch is set to send the cursor to a stop symbol. This creates
a repeat. Also notice that a staccato symbol is used to change the character of
the sound on the first time around the repeat.

To add phrasing to a transcription, you may want to make tempo changes at
various points. For example, it is common to retard slightly at the end of
sections or the end of the piece. The slow special symbol can be inserted to do
this. The faster special symbol is then used to restore the tempo to its
previous value. For an example, see the transcription of "rondo" which has
slight tempo changes both in the middle and at the end of the piece.

Note: when doing a transcription or any other composition, it isn't necessary
to consider the key the piece will sound in until it is completely written. The
yellow and green colored numbers can be used to transpose the entire piece up
or down. For example, look at the transposition of "canarios". The yellow
number 1 is used to transpose the key up a minor second. Try changing this
number to some other yellow or green number and listen to the effect.

Another group of transcriptions on disk use the colored numbers. Typically,
this are more difficult to work with since you must think about intervals
between notes. However, they are fun to do and provide an interesting visual
effect. These pieces are "egyptian" and "drunken". In "egyptian" I placed the
number so that they go up the screen when the pitch goes up, and down when the
pitch goes down. In "drunken" I showed something interesting you can do using
the invert special symbol. After playing the drunken sailor forward, the invert
symbol is used to invert all the intervals. This causes the tune to be played
backwards! If blocks instead of colored numbers had been used, it would be
necessary to use both the invert and the reverse special symbols to achieve the
same effect.

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There are a couple of examples of the use of the polyphonic special symbol.
These are the files "invent" and "invent8". These are transcriptions of J.S.
Bach's two part Inventions numbers one and eight. If you plan to write
polyphonic music with Musical Blocks, these files are useful to see how to do
it. For example, look at file "invent". After the start symbol and faster
symbol, there is a polyphonic symbol. This will cause the following blocks to
be blended together to create a polyphonic effect. Each pair of two blocks will
be played together. The duration of each pair is the duration of the longer of
the two blocks. The faster symbol will speed up both blocks. There are two
yellow number sixes. These are used to change the key of one each of the block
pairs. Hence, after a polyphonic symbol, the yellow numbers apply to only one
of the following block pairs. This allows the pitch of the blocks to be changed
independently. Later in the piece there is a slower symbol. This applies to
both blocks of the pair. Later on, there is another polyphonic symbol. This
turns off the polyphonic effect. This is followed by a "disk to all" symbol and
the string "invent8". This is then followed by another "disk to all" symbol.
The effect of these symbols and the string is that the program will load the
disk file "invent8" and continue to play that file. For this to work, the first
block, colored number, or special symbol of "invent8" must have the same
position on the canvas as the second "disk to all" symbol. If you play "invent"
you will see this feature in action. I also recommend that you bring up the
Blocks Design Screen for "invent" or "invent8" and see how the two polyphonic
lines are written using the blocks.

A longer transcription which makes use of switches and polyphonic is file
"vamozart". This piece is a variation on a theme by Mozart written by Fernando
Sor for the Guitar. The theme and all but the last variation are repeated. The
repeats are handled using switch symbols. Some one way symbols are used to
prevent the cursor from going in the wrong direction. Since one of the
variations was more polyphonic than the others, I choose to use the polyphonic
mode for it. I found this piece a tricky to write because of the use of the
switches and one way symbols.

Finally, I will describe some of my attempts at original compositions. The
first composition is in file centiped. The canvas pattern may look a bit like a
centipede with switches for legs. This piece uses a total of 10 distinct
blocks. The polyphonic mode is used so that tune fragments of blocks are
combined. Both scales are used and they are distinctly non-western. Scale a is
set to 113 intervals per octave. Scale b is set to 79 interval per octave. The
pattern contains a number of random direction symbols. There is a switch scale
symbol in the middle of the bottom track. Once started, the random movement
combines pairs of blocks in many ways. The two scales and the random switching
of scales results in many interval changes. The eerie effect is, perhaps,
fitting for some night music of a centipede. You may wish to vary the scale
intervals or the tune fragments and listen to the change. There are many
different centipedes under the night!

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The next example is in file weird. This piece definitely lives up to its name.
The piece only uses 3 distinct tune fragments. Blocks 1 through 6 all have the
same fragment, but with different exit intervals. Blocks 6 and 7 are different.
The tune fragments consist of a rapid vibrato between two notes, each with
duration of 1. The effect is similar to video game sound effects. The canvas
pattern uses a number of switches to cause the cursor to take one of many paths
around a loop. Symbols i, r, and s are used to vary the sounds. Both scales are
used. Scale a has 12 interval and scale b has 13. This gives a slightly out-of-
tune effect. The loop also contains two p symbols which cause the tune to
switch in and out of polyphonic mode. This completely changes the character of
the sound. First of all, switching into polyphonic mode reduces the tempo by
one half. But it also changes the character of the sound, providing a nice
contrast. You may wish to experiment with scale intervals and different tune
fragments using this same pattern. For example, I have written an alternative
set of blocks for weird. Make sure the pallet is set to blocks 1 through 30.
Then use the get blocks command and select the file weird2. This will replace
the blocks for weird with another set. Listen to the piece with this set of
blocks. The possibilities are endless.

The next piece is in file notmuch. I chose the name because there isn't much to
it. The piece uses only four blocks. Each of these blocks contains the a
single, identical note. The only differences are the exit intervals. The canvas
pattern has a central cross of the four blocks with a switch scale symbol in
the center and four random move symbols. The scales used are 24 intervals per
octave for a and 6 interval per octave for b. When the piece is started, the
thrice only symbols are eventually erased until the pattern in the center is
all that is left. Then the random movement takes over and a surprising variety
of sound emerges. You may or may not think so. But considering how little went
into it, the result is better than expected.

The next piece is in file bonnie. This is the familiar tune, (the theme), My
Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean, followed by a set of my variations on it. The theme
is written using only colored numbers. The variations were composed by copying
the numbers which change the pitch up and down (yellow and green numbers), and
then substituting blocks for the magenta numbers. Recall that these numbers
indicate the duration of the note. Using a magenta colored number, only a
single note sounds. But using blocks instead, the single note can be replaced
by a series of notes. The duration of the sum of all notes in each block must,
approximately, have the same relationship to the durations of the other blocks
as do the magenta numbers to each other. This will maintain the rhythm of the
piece. By varying the contents of the blocks, many different variations are
possible. I have written three. You may wish to substitute or write additional
variations.

The next piece is in file ramble. This piece illustrates, in miniature, the
variety that can result using a small number of tune fragments along with other
features of the program. There are only 8 tune fragments in the piece. Scale a
is set to 24 intervals per octave. This setting is used to get quarter tone
music since there are now quarter tone intervals, rather than semitone
intervals. However, the tune fragments are written so that all intervals are
multiples of a semitone. Hence, if only the blocks were used, there would be no

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quarter tone effect. To achieve this, the green and yellow colored numbers are
used to change intervals between blocks. If one of the colored numbers is odd,
this will shift the tune by one or more quarter tones. This is used to reuse
tune fragments at different semi and quarter tone intervals. Brown colored
numbers are used to insert pauses in the tune. Other devices used are slower
and faster symbols to change tempo, staccato and legato symbols to change tune
character, and invert notes symbol to reuse a block but with different effect.
The climax is a loop in which the tune rises in quarter tone intervals as the
tempo grows faster. The final block is played a slow speed to provide a point
of rest.

The distribution disk also contains two musical mazes. These are maze1 and
maze2. Maze1 is not too difficult. Just start at the start symbol and try to
make it to the end symbol. Use either the cursor keys or the joy stick to steer
the cursor through the maze. If you make it to the end you will be rewarded
with a tune. Maze2 is very difficult. It consists of 5 files which are
maze2.all, maze2a.all, maze2b.all, maze2c.all, and maze2d.all. Four of the
files each contain four screens of mazes. File maze2 connects each of these
mazes together. The "disk to all" special symbols are used to move between
files and screen mazes. Again, if you get to the end of the maze you are
rewarded by a tune. There are many dead ends with little sound effects. For all
but one of these, you can just turn around and continue the maze. However,
there is one totally dead end. If you get there, you will need to start up
again. Good luck, you will need it!

Hopefully, these examples will provide you with a starting point for your own
compositions. I look forward to hearing from you as a registered user. Please
send me some samples of your work for inclusion on the Registered User's Tunes
disk. I am anxious to see what you create with Musical Blocks.

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