The Ultimedia System/IBM_ACD_101.ISO/pro4demo/prodemo.txt

Text File | 1992-09-17 | 14.9 KB | 348 lines

PRODEMO.TXT - Demo Script for the Master Tracks PRO 4 Demo

PASSPORT DESIGNS
100 Stone Pine Rd.
Half Moon Bay, CA 94019
[phone]

To run this version of the Master Tracks Pro 4 Demo you must have:
Microsoft Windows 3.0 with Multimedia Extensions or Windows 3.1.
A Microsoft Compatible Mouse
At least 1 meg RAM

Master Tracks PRO 4 Demo

Welcome to Master Tracks Pro 4. The demo disk in this package
contains a version of Pro 4 that's identical to the actual program,
with one exception: it will only save around 7 measures of any song
you create. If you have a PC running Windows 3 or 3.1, connected to
a MIDI interface and at least one MIDI instrument, you can use this
demo version of Master Tracks Pro 4 to record, play back and edit up
to 64 tracks of music. If you only have a sound board with no MIDI in
port or if you don't have any MIDI controller instruments, then you
can still step enter, playback and edit music but you will not be able
to record music.


IMPORTANT: Please follow the instructions in the README.TXT file to
setup Pro 4 properly for your computer.


WHAT IS MASTER TRACKS PRO 4?

Master Tracks Pro 4 is a Recording Studio that lets you record,
edit, play back, and mix multi-track songs just as you would in
a real recording studio. Master Tracks Pro 4 is a full-featured
professional recording environment ($395.00) for musicians and
MIDI users. When used in conjunction with a compatible sound
board or MIDI synthesizer, the Master Tracks program lets you
compose songs by recording one track at a time. Master Tracks Pro
contains graphic editing tools that let you completely adjust the
music, fix any mistakes and easily add variations.


*********************************************************************

MASTER TRACKS PRO 4 DEMO USER'S GUIDE

Here's a brief guide to using some of Pro 4's most essential features.
When you're familiar with these, feel free to explore. Pro 4 is very
intuitive and easy to learn, and there are lot of sequencing features
you can discover, even before you read the manual that comes with
the real program.


QUICK START: HOW TO PLAY A SONG

From the File Menu select "OPEN..." and choose one of the demo songs.
The Demo Songs were previously recorded live from a MIDI keyboard. To
play the song, you click on the Play button or just press the space
bar. The play button will highlight when you press the space bar and
the music will begin to play.  The Transport counters will advance. To
stop playback you simply press the space bar or click on the Stop icon.


MASTER TRACKS PRO 4 OVERVIEW

Master Tracks Pro 4 integrates recording, track editing, automated
mixing and control over MIDI instruments in a single window,
containing up to 64 independent tracks of music. View and edit your
music in several ways, accessing any parameter of a musical
sequence for precise editing control. The Step Editor displays notes
on a graphic "piano roll" grid, giving you intuitive, click-and-drag
editing power over all characteristics of individual notes, or
sections of music. The Event List displays notes alphanumerically,
letting you edit all note qualities.

THE MAIN WINDOWS
The Master Tracks Pro windows let you view and edit music in a
variety of ways. With the controls in Master Tracks Pro you can
easily change many aspects of the music - the key, the tempo, even
the sound (preset) for each track.

* The Track Editor
The Track Editor window can contain up to 64 tracks of data and has
controls for naming tracks, recording, soloing, assigning MIDI
channels and program numbers and looping tracks. This window is
where you organize and name the individual tracks, build your song
and determine what instruments/sounds will be played by each
track.  The Track Editor also displays a bar chart of your
song, showing you each track as measures in time.  Solid measures
contain data and hollow measures contain only musical rests. Notice
how the display follows the music as it plays back. The Track Editor
can be used to build and edit songs.  You can perform editing
operations like cut, copy and paste on measures by first selecting an
area to be edited, and then performing the edit operation.  You can
also mix two tracks together.  You can select a section of the song, or
an entire track using the mouse.  The Track Editor is a very powerful
tool for building songs, repeating sections and using the power of the
computer to help you compose.

* The Transport Window
The window at the bottom of the screen is called the Transport - it
controls playback of the song and tells you which song is in memory.
The Transport has controls for fast forward, rewind, pause and
record, just like a tape deck. You can even fast forward while playing
back to locate part of a song.  On the left of the window you see some
counters that show you the location in the song in measures, beats
and clocks.  Below it you can see the elapsed time in hours, minutes,
seconds and frames.  These counters let you locate different parts of
the song.

* The Conductor Window
The Conductor window displays the current song's tempo and meter.
You can make temporary changes to the tempo by moving the slider.

* The Step Editor
In the Step Editor the notes are displayed as lines that show the
pitch and duration of the notes. You can use a mouse to enter notes
by  clicking on the note icons and then clicking on the grid to place
them.

* The Event List Editor
The Event List Editor displays a track's worth of information as
numerical data. This allows you to edit individual notes and other
data.

* The Data Windows
Passport pioneered the use of graphic data windows and continues
the tradition with Pro 4. Any controller, pitch bend or other MIDI
data can be viewed and edited in these windows.


****************************************

MASTER TRACKS PRO 4 GUIDED TOUR


Start the Program
* From the Windows' Program Manager double-click on the Pro 4 Demo
icon or one of the icons for the sample music files. After you see
the "About" screen, click on "OK" or press enter and the Track Editor,
Transport and Conductor windows will appear.

* If you have not already done so, choose MIDI Setup from the Goodies
Menu and select the MIDI port(s), sythesizer(s) or MIDI Mapper choices
that are appropriate for your setup. See README.DOC for more information
about MIDI Setup and the MIDI Mapper. Once you find the settings that
work the best for your system, you can choose "Save Preferences" from
the File Menu to have the settings remembered for future sessions.

* Click on the Track Editor window to make sure it's active.
The left side of this window displays the numbers of 64 tracks and
boxes in which you click to make a track play (P), record (R), play
solo (S) and loop (L).


Set Channels
* Look a little to the right and find the box labeled "Chnl." Click in
the box directly below this.
* Type a "1" on your PC.
This sets the MIDI channel over which track 1 will play.

Set Your MIDI Instrument
* Set your main keyboard (or the instrument you want to play on
Pro 4's track 1) to MIDI channel 1.
* When you play your MIDI keyboard, you should hear the
instrument you've set to MIDI channel 1.


MIDI Thru - on the Transport Window
This section routes the flow of MIDI data from your master controller
through your computer and out the designated port.

This kind of software MIDI Thru is useful when you have both a
Master Controller (a keyboard or other MIDI controller) and a
separate sound generating module.  The MIDI output of your
controller should be connected to the MIDI input on the computer
and the MIDI output of the computer should be connected to the
MIDI input of your sound module.

Then, if you want to play your controller and have your sound
module respond to its MIDI messages, you have to turn on Pro 4's
MIDI Thru function.  This routes the MIDI data  (generated by your
playing) through your PC and out to the sound module.

Program Change
You can change the programs on your MIDI instruments easily with
Master Tracks Pro's Program Change feature.
* Just left of the horizontal center of the Track Editor, Click on the
top of the "Prg" column to expand it to "Program Name"
* Click on the box below Program Name - the Device dialog will appear.
* Click on the pop-up menu to the right of the word "Device." if you
have one of the instruments listed, drag to it and release the mouse
button.
* Double-click on any program number (or name, if your instrument
was in the list) on the program grid. Master Tracks Pro sends a MIDI
message to your instrument, telling it to change to the program
number you clicked.

RECORD
* Make sure track 1 is still record-enabled (read the Set-up section,
above).
* In the Transport (the one with the shuttle buttons like a tape deck)
click on Auto-return, Count and Click so they're highlighted (white
letters on a black background).
* Press Enter, and after four beats, play your MIDI instrument.
* Press the spacebar when you're done.
* To play back the music you recorded, press the spacebar again.

* Punch-in. Like punching in on a tape deck, Punch-in automatically
turns record on, and then off, at the points you designate. Double-
click on the Punch Icon to set the punch regions.

STEP RECORDING
* Open the Step Editor from the Windows Menu]
* In the Step Editor, click on the pencil icon to the upper left of the
note grid.
* Click on one of the note duration icons above the pencil icon.
* Click anywhere on the note grid, and a note of the selected
duration will appear.
* You can use your MIDI keyboard to enter in note pitches -
Click on the Keyboard Icon, choose the duration from the menu bar
and click on the Step Editor grid where you want to enter notes.
Play your MIDI keyboard to enter notes.
* You can erase notes by using the Eraser tool.


EDITING
Editing in Master Tracks Pro is done by clicking and dragging, or by
selecting one or more events and editing them with menu commands.

Edit Notes
In the Step Editor, you can edit individual notes in different ways by
clicking on the pencil or arrow icon, then clicking and dragging the
note.
* Click on the arrow icon, then double-click on a note. You can type
in values to change the note's parameters in the box that appears.
* Click on the pencil icon.
* Click on the left end of the note and you can drag it up, down, left
or right.
* Click on the right end of the note and you can drag left and right to
change the length of the note.
* Click on one of the note duration icons above the pencil icon.
* Click on a blank spot and you record a note of the selected
duration.

Selecting for Editing In the Step Editor
* Select any note or group of notes by clicking on a blank spot with
the arrow cursor and dragging a rectangle around a group of notes.
* Select a measure by clicking in the measure number bar above the
note grid.
* Select a range of measures by holding down the Shift key and
clicking on any number of measure numbers.

Selecting for Editing In the Track Editor
* Select a range of measures and tracks by clicking and dragging
across them in the grid.
* Select an entire track by clicking on the track number just to the
left of the track grid.
* Select a group of tracks by clicking and dragging across a range of
track numbers at the left of the track grid.
* Select an entire measure in all tracks by clicking on the measure
number just above the track grid.
* Select a group of measures by clicking and dragging across a range
of measure numbers above the track grid.

Editing a Selection
Any selection can be edited by menu commands. The Edit menu
contains Cut, Copy and Paste commands. Choosing Paste will put the
data immediately after where you click (the "insertion point") in the
Step or Track Editor.


The Change Menu
The Change menu contains a number of commands that use the same
or similar techniques to edit selections. The Change Filter works
identically in all of these. Transpose is a good example.

* Record four bars of four quarter notes, on the beat.
* Select bars two and three in the Step Editor (choose from the
Windows menu).
* Pull down the Change menu and choose Transpose.
* Click the Change Filter button.
* Notice the box is checked for "Only apply changes to events with
pitches from C-2 to G8"
* Near the bottom of the Change Filter dialog box, click in the box
next to: "Start Times within 10 clocks of these sub-beats".
* Below that, click in the radio button on the first sixteenth note of
beat 1. Now, whatever you do in the Transpose dialog box will only
affect notes in the range from C-2 to G8, that also start within 10
clocks of the first beat of every bar.
* Click OK.
* In the Transpose dialog box, notice the line that reads, "Transpose
notes from C3 to C3."
* Type a C4 into the box where you see the righthand C3. This means
you will transpose every selected note up one octave.
* Click OK.
Of the notes you selected, all those on the first beat of a measure will
be transposed one octave up.


Recordable Faders
Master Tracks Pro lets you record volume changes on individual
tracks and the entire mix, with moving, on-screen faders.

Track Faders
* In the Track Editor, click the heading of the Volume box ("Vol"), so
the column expands into a set of faders.
* Hold the Shift key and, in the Track Editor, click in any track's
record box. A miniature fader icon appears there.
* Click Record (or Press Enter), then click and drag the fader. You will
record all fader moves you make. On playback, the fader will move
to indicate your moves (make sure "Follow Playback" in the Layout
Menu is ON)
* Record fader moves on any number of tracks by clicking
MultiTrack Record in the Layout Menun and record-enable the tracks
you wish.

 Please Note: Track faders will only affect syntesizers that respond to
Controller #7 (MIDI Volume). Many older synths (Yamaha DX-7 for
example) DO NOT respond to Controller #7 and therefore will not
respond to volume changes.


These are the only the basics of Master Tracks Pro 4. It has many
more features, but is a remarkably intuitive program. You'll find a lot
of ways to record and edit your sequences, just by exploring.

Master Tracks Pro 4 is unequalled for combining professional
features with clear, powerful functionality. Take your musical
productivity to new levels and make your next song a hit with Pro 4!

Passport also has two programs that will display and  print standard
sheet music - the entry level MusicTime ($249.00) and the
professional version, ENCORE ($595.00).


FOR DEALER AND ORDERING INFORMATION ABOUT MASTER TRACKS
PRO AND OTHER PASSPORT PRODUCTS, PLEASE CALL OR WRITE:

PASSPORT DESIGNS, INC.
100 Stone Pine Rd.
Half Moon Bay, CA 94019
phone [phone]
fax [phone]