130 MIDI Tool Box/130 MIDI Tool Box.iso/cadenza1/demodoc.tx_/demodoc.tx

Text File | 1992-01-01 | 18KB | 404 lines

Cadenza For Windows

Cadenza for Windows is a sixty four track sequencer that uses a
graphic interface. The graphic interface makes it possible for
you to view and edit your sequences in intuitive ways. Notes can
be displayed in piano roll fashion which makes it easy to
visualize how the notes were actually played. Notes can be
modified by simply moving and/or lengthening them with a mouse.
Controller data can be viewed and edited with intuitive 2-D
graphs. Even tempo changes can be created by simply drawing a
graph. Powerful editing functions allow you to manipulate your
recordings, making it possible to have great sounding music
without the frustration of having to record the music perfectly.

The use of multiple overlapping windows allow you to view
different parts of your data simultaneously. The screen may
display the Track Sheet, Note Editor and Velocity all at the
same time. You may even have more than one copy of the same
window while each is viewing different tracks.

In this brief document we will guide you through the
installation and some basic operations of Cadenza for Windows.
The Help command contains reference information for the menu
commands and the windows. An extensive "how to" guide has not
been include in this demo version.



System Requirements

Note the following minimum software and hardware requirements
needed to run this version of Cadenza for Windows:

* an IBM or compatible PC (80286 or higher)

* two megabytes of memory and a hard drive (Cadenza for Windows
uses approximately 700K of disk space. Its songs requirements vary
with song content, but they will up disk space pretty fast.)

* MS-DOS version 3.1 or later

* Microsoft Windows version 3.0 or later

* a mouse supported by Windows (although not required, a mouse
is highly recommended to take full advantage of Cadenza for
Windows' easy-to-use graphical interface)

Instructions for Installing Cadenza for Windows

1. Place Cadenza for Windows Demo Disk#1 in drive A (or B). You will
be prompted later for a second disk if one is required.

2. Start Windows 3.0. Open the Windows Program Manager and
select Run... from the File menu.

3. Type either A:install or B:install (depending on which drive
you are installing from). Click OK.

4. Next, answer the questions in the installation dialog. The
information requested is described in the next section.

The Installation Dialog

Once the installation program is started, it prompts you for the
following information:

Your name. Please enter your full name, otherwise the
installation will not continue.

Give the drive and directory where Cadenza for Windows will be
installed. Accept the default drive and directory, unless you
have a reason to install it in a different drive or directory.

A second dialog will prompt you to insert DISK #1 into the
floppy drive. The drive name may be changed if you wish to move
to a different floppy drive.

As the INSTALL procedure copies files to your hard disk, a
progress bar displays the status of the installation.

The INSTALL program prompts you to insert a second disk if one
is required for your installation.

Upon completion of the INSTALL procedure, a message will be
displayed to let you know that the installation was successful.

Finally, INSTALL asks you if you wish to read the README.TXT
file. This file contains important information about Cadenza for
Windows that is not included in this user's guide.

This completes the Installation.

The Big Noise Program Group

After Cadenza for Windows is installed, you will have a new
program group titled Big Noise. The icons for Cadenza for
Windows, MDSetup (Midi Director Setup Program) and the Add Ports
icon will be in the group. The Add Ports program will be used in
the next step to install the port driver(s). You will need at
least one of these before you can run Cadenza for Windows.

Installing the Port Drivers

If you have already installed another Big Noise Windows product
that uses the MIDI Director, you may be able to skip this step.
If not, please continue.

Before you can install a port driver, you will need to know what
kind of MIDI interface(s) card you have. Cadenza for Windows (and
all other MIDI Director programs) will let you use multiple
interface cards. If you are installing a single card, you should
be able to use the default settings for the card.

If you are installing multiple cards, you will need to know the
device address and interrupt number used by each card. If any of
the cards use the same interrupt or address as another card, you
may have to reconfigure your card it to avoid conflict.

To install the software, do the following:

Run the Add Ports program

The first dialog will prompt you to place the disk containing
the port drivers into a floppy drive. You may enter the drive
name if the displayed name is incorrect.

The program will display a dialog box with two lists. The one
on the left is the list of drivers that are currently available.
The other is a list of the installed drivers.

Select the driver you wish to install from the list to the
left.

Click the Install Port button.

A dialog box will be displayed that will ask you for the
hardware configuration. If you wish to use the default settings,
just click on the Accept Settings button. Otherwise enter the
settings first. If you're not knowledgable about the hardware
configuration, just use the default settings. It will most
likely work. The default settings should match the configuration
of the card as it was shipped.

When you finish installing the port drivers, click the Exit
button.

You are now ready to run Cadenza for Windows.

Starting Cadenza for Windows

Now that your equipment is set up and Cadenza for Windows is
installed, start Cadenza for Windows, if you haven't already. If
you installed Cadenza for Windows' icon in the Program Manager,
you can run Cadenza for Windows by double clicking on the
Cadenza for Windows icon, otherwise you will need to use another
method. Cadenza for Windows always starts with a new sequence,
so that you have a clean slate from which to work. When started,
Cadenza for Windows displays the Track Sheet. Most recordings
are done from the Track Sheet, since you can easily select
tracks for recording and playback from it. You may arrange the
windows any way you like.

Recording a Track

Let's start out by recording a single track sequence just to see
how it is done. You can play whatever you like. First you should
set the sequencer controls for your new composition. Let's start
by setting the meter. You can set the meter by clicking on the
meter in the status bar. The upper and lower numbers can be set
separately. Use the left mouse button to increase a number and
the right mouse button to decrease the number.

Typically when recording with a sequencer, you need to play
along with its metronome. This is especially necessary if you
plan to quantize or to add additional parts later. Make sure you
have set up the metronome. Select the Metronome command in the
Options menu. Make sure that you have checked the check box next
to 'Record' in the Metronome box. Now check the lead in and make
sure that it is enabled and enough beats for a lead in is set.
At first, you probably should give yourself two measures for a
lead in. In 4/4 time, this would be eight beats. Make sure the
check-box next to 'Record' in the lead-in box is on. Click on
the OK button. If you have not setup the Metronome options in
the MDSETUP.EXE program, you may need to do this too. This is
done via the Options\MIDI command.

Last, we need to set the tempo. Select the Tempo command from
the Conductor menu. You can type the tempo in or you can use the
scroll bar to adjust the tempo.  Once you are happy with the
tempo,  close the tempo dialog box.

If you are not currently viewing the Track Sheet, display it by
either double clicking on its icon or selecting Track Sheet from
the Window Menu. Make sure that you have only selected one
track. You are ready to record. To start recording, either press
'R' or use the mouse to click on the record button. The song
position counter in the status bar will count the number of
beats in the lead-in. The recording will begin immediately after
the lead-in. The song position counter displays the current song
position in red as you record. When you are through recording,
press 'S' or click on the Stop button with the mouse. You will
be asked if you want to keep the recording. Let's say you do.
Click on the Yes button. Now rewind by typing 'W' or selecting
the rewind button with the mouse. You are ready to play your
recording. Press 'P' or click on the play button.

So as to make it unnecessary to use Rewind to get back to the
start each time you stop, you can enable the Auto-Rewind feature
by using the Controls command in the Options menu. In the
Transport Options box, turn on the check box next to
Auto-Rewind. The Start Time should be 1:1:0.

Saving your Song

Now it is time to save your song. Pull down the File menu and
click on the Save command. After you have typed in a file name,
click on the OK button. You have now saved your song on the
disk. You can get it back later by using the Load command and
selecting the same file name.

This is the end of the tutorial. The remainder of this section
will explain the procedures for some common operations.

Selecting Tracks

Cadenza for Windows uses the convention that track related and
regional operations are done on the currently selected track(s).
If you wish to record, erase, name and etc. any track, you must
select it first then execute the operation.  How tracks are
selected in the event windows is determined by the setting of
the Follow Track option (see the Window/Follow Track command).

From the Track Sheet and Song Editor

The Track Sheet and Song Editor show you which tracks are
currently selected. The Track Sheet, for example, displays
several columns of information for each track. In one of the
columns, one or more of the tracks will be highlighted with
white text on a black background. This highlighting indicates
the selected track(s). Tracks can be selected in several ways.
The easiest way is to click the mouse on the row for the track
you want to select. You may select a group of tracks by dragging
the mouse over the consecutive tracks. You can select
non-consecutive tracks by holding down a shift key and clicking
on the desired track(s). You may also use the keyboard's up/down
arrow keys. To select multiple tracks, hold down a shift key
while moving the up/down arrow keys.

From the Menu

The Select Track command in the Track menu may be used to select
a single track. This is sometimes the most convenient way,
especially if the Track Sheet or Song Editor is not currently
displayed.

From Event Windows

With the Follow Track option turned on. The event windows will
display whatever track is currently selected. This is beneficial
when you wish to work on one track at a time. It means that you
only have to select the track from one place. This is important
because regional editing operations such as those found in the
Edit menu affect only the tracks selected by the Track Sheet,
Song Editor or Track/Select command. Event editing operations
done in the event windows affect the track selected by the
window. The Follow Track option guarantees that the event
windows display the current track. If multiple tracks are
selected in the Track Sheet or Song Editor, the events windows
will continue to display the previous selected track.

With the Follow Track option turned off, the event windows are
independent of the "current track" setting. The only effect the
track setting has on event windows is during opening a window.
An event window will be opened to view the selected track. If
you wish to view a different track, you may select the track
from within the window using the Trk tool button in the window's
edit tool box. The Tool Box is accessed by checking your right
mouse button over event the edit window. Changing tracks will have
no effect on the Track Sheet or Song Editor.

Many of the event windows have a tool box. In it is a button
that is used to select the track that you want to view in that
window. If the Follow Track option is on, the current track will
also be set to this track along with all of the other event
windows. If the Follow Track option is off, only the window
associated with the tool box will be changed.

The Conductor Track

Besides the sixty four MIDI tracks, there is a track called the
conductor. This track records the tempo and meter changes in
your song. You may view and edit tempo changes using the Tempo
Map window. You may view and edit meter changes using the Meter
Map command under the Conductor menu. The current meter and
tempo are also displayed in the status bar at the top of Cadenza
for Windows' window.

Block Marking

When doing editing of groups of events, it is necessary to
indicate which events you want to edit. Editing operations such
as quantizing and transposition operate on groups of events, or
"regions". This selection process is referred to as "block
marking". Block boundaries are specified in song positions. Each
region has a starting song position and an ending song position.
Cadenza for Windows will allow you to define up to 100 of these
regions at a time.

Block Marking will typically involve clicking in a  window on
the start of the block and dragging the mouse to the end of the
block. To add another region, hold down the shift key while
doing this. If you only want to have one region, mark the region
without holding down the shift key. Any other regions that you
had marked will be unmarked.

When Cadenza for Windows is first started, and when a new song
is loaded, there are no blocks defined. When no blocks are
defined, the entire song is treated as if it were marked. This
makes it possible to ignore block marking completely if you wish
to edit whole tracks all of the time. The Tempo Window however
is an exception, it requires that a block be defined for any of
its edit functions to work. The Tempo Map Window also only
supports one marked region at a time.

Quantizing

If you have used the metronome while recording, you may want to
quantize a track to tighten-up your timing. First select the
track(s) you wish to quantize, then block mark the portion(s) of
the track(s) you wish to quantize. Now select the Quantize
command in the Edit menu. If the shortest note you played was an
eighth note, click on the radio button beside the 8. Just click
on it with the mouse.  You may use a smaller value if your
timing is tight enough.

You have now quantized your music (for better or worse). Go
ahead and play it back and see how it sounds. If it doesn't
sound OK, use the Undo command to restore the original music.
You may need to experiment a little before accepting a quantized
track, since quantizing can often make a track sound too
mechanical. We recommend that you quantize to 32nd notes and use
a fifty percent strength setting most of the time to avoid an
overly 'computerized' sound.

The Event Filter

The event filter is a tool for selectively controlling which
events are affected by the Edit menu commands. Much of Cadenza
for Windows' editing power is based on this filter. We highly
recommend you become familiar with the Event Filter.

In its default setting, the event filter does not filter
anything. If you want only a certain range of events affected by
the edit commands, you can use the event filter to restrict the
edit operation to events only with a specific range of values.

The event filter may look and sound complicated, but it really
isn't. The filter may be used to simply determine which event
type (notes, pitch bend aftertouch, etc.) will be affected.

As mentioned above, the filter in its default setting, has no
effect at all. This means that editing commands will affect
every event that is selected. If all you want to do is edit a
single type of event, you just pull down the first drop down
list box and select the type of event you want to edit. All
other types of events will be unaffected by the edit operations.

As you select different event types, you will notice that other
drop down list boxes appear and disappear depending on which
event type you select. Their labels will also change. For
example, if you select Notes for the event type, the next drop
down list box will be labeled Pitch. If you select Program
Change for the event type the second drop down list box will be
labeled Program. This eliminates the need for a large number of
unrelated options appearing in the dialog box at the same time.

The purpose of these secondary list boxes is to allow you to
further restrict the editing to events with specific ranges of
the data values. For example, instead of just saying you want to
edit all program changes, you can say you want to edit only
program changes with program numbers of ten. To do this, first
select Program Change in the Event Type list, then in the
Program list, select Equal. Just below the list box are two edit
fields. In the one to the left, enter the value of ten.

This list box just mentioned contains a set of operators, such
as equal, not equal, less than and so on.  These operators along
with the numbers just below it determine the range of data
values to be included in an edit operation.  Selecting Equal
means that the program number (as per this example) of selected
events must be equal to the number in the left edit field just
below the operator list. In this example we used ten.

If you are editing notes, you may want to edit only notes with
certain durations, you may use the event filter to restrict
editing to notes with a specific range of durations. First
select the Notes event type. In the Duration field, enter the
range of durations and select the appropriate operator.  The
duration value is in ticks, not beats.