Sound Sensations!

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Text File | 1990-12-13 | 14KB | 498 lines

M U S I C I A N I ==================== Manual Copyright (c) DigiMus Ky, 1990. Introduction ------------ MUSICIAN I is intended for anyone interested in creating their own music. There is no need to be familiar with computers or computer technology. With MUSICIAN I, you can write your music easily and, what best, hear it any time you wish, by using the Sound Blaster. Required Equipment ------------------ To run Musician, you need the following: 1. The Sound Blaster Card 2. An IBM-PC/XT/AT computer or a compatible equipped with a EGA or VGA graphic display card. 3. A Matrix Printer to print your notation. 4. Headphones, external loudspeaker or stereo system. 5. SB-SOUND.COM - FM music driver from Creative Labs, Inc. Getting Started --------------- 1. Make a \MUSICIAN sub-directory under your \SB sub-directory. 2. Copy all the files on the \MUSICIAN sub-directory of this disk to the \SB\MUSICIAN sub-directory. 3. Before running MUSICIAN I, you need to load the memory resident FM music driver - SB-SOUND.COM from Creative Labs, Inc. 4. Then run MUSICIAN I by typing : MUSIC 5. A batch file START.BAT is created to run all files together, and remove SB-SOUND.COM after its used. Just type : START to start MUSICIAN I Menu Commands ------------- F5 Files: New - Clears the screen and closes the file to make room for a new one. Musician asks, however, if you wish to save the changes made. Open - With this command you can open a file from the music directory. A list of all Musician files in this dir- ectory appears on the screen. You can choose a file from this list by moving with arrow keys over the list. When the indicator is on the desired file, press the <enter>-key to confirm. Save - This command saves opened files. If the file has been named, it will be saved. Save as... This command is used to save the opened file under a new name. Instrument Bank - This command is used to choose the instrument bank froM which you want to select your instrument. To Printer - This command is used to print out the score or only a Part of it. The default is to print out the entire document. With HOME- and END- keys you can select the corners of the printing area and move it with the arrow keys. With PgDn- and PgUp-keys you can move to next screen. To jump to the end of the document press Ctrl and PgDn keys simultanously. To confirm the printing, press (enter). Paper Length - This command allows you to state the lenght of your paper sheet for printing. The default value is 11 inches, that can be changed by using + -or - -keys. Top Marigin Bottom Marigin - It is also possible to select the printing area changing the values of top- and bottom marigins. The default value 5 lines you can increase or decrease by using + -or - -keys. Quit - This command ends the Musician and returns to DOS. Before this command is carried out, Musician asks you if you wish to save your work. F6 Options: Keyboard On/Off - This command brings the mouse keyboard on the screen and you may enter the notes by "single finger playing" with your mouse. Text Editor - The program changes to Text Editing mode. The vertical line cursor appears on the upper left corner of the screen. You can move it to the your text area with the arrow keys. Two different fonts are selectable with F1-key: a large font for the title of the piece, and a small font for the lyrics. MIDI In - You can also enter the notes with you MIDI keyboard connected to Sound Blaster with the MIDI Box. MIDI Base Key - From your MIDI Keyboard one octave area is reserved to be used as command keys for MIDI options. By press- ing the Base C-key you tell Musician, which octave you selected for this purpose. Connect Staves - Before printing out your notes, it is often necessary to connect certain staves with bracket(s). When this option is selected, a small cursor appears near the left end of the first staff. Move the cursor to the beginning of the first staff that will be connected, with the upper end of cursor at the height of the upper line of the staff, and press space bar. To begin to produce the bracket, press right arrow-key once. Continue drawing by pressing down arrow-key sev- eral times. At about the middle of the bracket, press left arrow-key once and continue then with the down arrow key. At the end of the bracket, press right arrow-key once. To delete the bracket, press space bar once and move the cursor over the area you want to delete. To finish this operation, press ESC-key. F7 Playback: Play - This command lets you listen to the composien you have written. Play Voices - Command lets you listen to the voices you have choosen in Voices-menu (F9). Interrupt - Using this command, you can stop the playback of the song. Play Screen - This command is used to playback the part of your work that you can see on current screen. Basic Tempo - This command is used to state or alter the basic tempo of a song. When this is choosen, the current tempo figures appear on the upper left corner of the screen. You can alter this tempo by entering a new number that corresponds the number of beats per minute. Dynamics - This command shows you the default values of the dyn- amic marks (ppp - fff). You can chhose your own scale by using (+) and (-) -keys. The value of each mark can be from 0 to 100. F8 Staves: Clef - This command lets you choose Treble- or Bas Clef for each staves (1 to 6). To enter the Glef, press F- or G-key. Position - You can alter the distance of each staff from the bottom of the screen by entering new numbers using (+)- or (-)-keys. The default is value 0. Time Signature - You can alter the Time Signature's upper or lower number with (+) and (-)-keys. By pressing #-key, when the cursor is in the beginning of the staff, the selected signature appears on it's place. F9 Voices : Percussion - This option gives you 6 melodic voices and 5 percus- sion voices (Y), or 9 melodic voices without percus- sion (N). Staves - The staves (1 - 6 ) for different voices you can choose by using (+)- and (-)- keys. The default is: Voices 1-3 1. Staff Voices 4-6 2. Staff Percussion 3. Staff Select - You can select voices you wish to hear with option "Play Voices" in F7-Menu. This command is also useful when selecting the voices you want to print out. F10 Help: Keyoboard Commands ------------------ Key Signature : B=Flat (Confirmed by pressing E-key). H=Sharp " " N=Natural Accidentals : B=Flat BB=Double Flat H=Sharp HH=Double Sharp N=Natural Time Signature : #-key (Select in F8 Staves-menu). Voice Activation : Alt + number of the voice Toggle Voices : Tab- and Shift+Tab-keys. Entering Note : Space bar (toggle w. note-rest). Entering Rest : Space bar (toggle rest-note). Note Values : Whole note 1 Half note 2 Quarter note 4 Eighth note 8 Sixteenth note 6 32nd note 3 64th note 7 Dotted note : Hit Note value key twice or Note value key + N. Bar Line : Enter Double Line : Enter Repeats : Enter Endings : v + Number Key (toggle) Tie : (-) - key (toggle: down - up - off). Character Delete : Del Column Delete : Del Column Insert : Ins Note Position : Arrow keys up-downd. Cursor moving : Arrow keys right-left. Triplets : T-key after evry Triplet Note. Stem Direction : Y-key Beams : (+)-key on the latter note (toggle). Play : Ctrl + P Play Screen : Ctrl + Y Play Selected Voices: Ctrl + D Note Formation : U (toggle) p - pp - ppp : P mp - mf : M f - ff - fff : F Instrument : I Tempo : O Accelerando : A Ritardando : R Crescendo : < (toggle: < - cresc.). Diminuendo : > (toggle: > - dim.). Segno : S Coda : C D.S. : G D.C. : D Fine : Z Fermata : ( Tremolando : / (toggle) Print : Ctrl + K Moving : To the beginning of next measure: Ctrl + Right Arrow. To the beginning of former measure: Ctrl + Left Arrow. To the left side of screen : Home To the right side of screen: End To the beginning of the song: Ctrl + Home To the end of the song: Ctrl + End Using a Mouse ------------- The notes can be entered by using a mouse, if one is loaded. On the lower left cornerer of the screen there is a piano keyboard, where you can choose the note position and it's value simultaneously. Entering Root Tones To enter root tones (white keys) on the staff, you only need to do an "one finger play" using the mouse cursor as your fore finger, and clicking the left mouse key. To choose the value for a note, move the cursor along the key until it is on the same heigh as the desired note value symbol on the left side of the keyboard. Then click once. Entering Accidental Tones To write accidentals is as simple as to write root tones. How- ever, the chromatic notes can be written by using either sharp (#) or flat (b) marks. If you wish to get a note equiped with sharp, you must point on the left side of the black key nearest the white key. If you want to get a note with a flat mark, you must point on the right side of the black key nearest the next white key. Then click once. Entering Rests The rests are entered on the staff using same methode as writing notes, but making double-click with mouse's left key. To Cancel While writing the piece you may note that the key you selected on the mouse keyboard is not what you want. You can cancel this note by keeping down the mouse's left key, and moving the cursor off from the key and then release the key. To Move To move the cursor on the staff you can be made two way. 1. On the lower bar of the mouse keyboard there are a section numbered from 0 to 6. From this section you can choose one number value to state, how many steps (columns) you want the cursor jump forward after a basic value note is entered. Thus, if you have 4/4 measure and you choose nuber 4, after each quarter note entered on the staff the cursor jumps four steps ahead. One eight not takes then two steps and dotted quarter not six steps etc. 2. Keeping the steps value 0, you can move the cursor on the arrow area nearest the number section. By clicking once on the right-arrow you move one step to the right. By clickin once on the right-arrow with a bar line, you move a whole bar ahead. Scrolling the mouse keyboard On the lower bar of the mouse keyboard there is a small icon of keyborad on it's both ends. If you click your mouse once on the right icon, the keyboard are changes one octave higher. Res- pectively, if you click on the left icon, the keyboard changes one octave lower. Where you are on the keyboard, you can read from the number marks, that are on each C-key. The "middle-C" is marked with number 4. Using MIDI Kyboard ------------------ The notes may also be entered by using a MIDI Keyboard connected to the Sound Blaster's MIDI Box. When this option is activated from F6 Menu, the program first asks you to press the Base C-Key on your MIDI-keyboard. From this C-key one octave up (12 keys) are selected to be used as command keys. Default is the lowest C-key on your keyboard. The MIDI Keyboard commands are: 1. Note values C: 1/1 note D: 1/2 note E: 1/4 note F: 1/8 note G: 1/16 note A: 1/32 note B: 1/64 note 2. Others Cis: Left arrow (Move cursor to left) - -key (Select MIDI - options) Dis: Right arrow (Move cursor to right) + -key (Select MIDI - options Fis: Space Bar (Produce a note/rest) Gis: Enter (Produce a bar line) Delete (Delete a character except bar line) Ais: Toggle MIDI - options: Change Octave (Using Cis- and Dis- keys) Playback " " " Auto Steps " " " Accidentals " " " When MIDI Keyboard is in use, mouse can not be used. Respectiv- ely, when mouse is in use, MIDI Keyboard can not be used. How- ever, the copmuter keyboard can be used together with mouse and MIDI Keyboard. You can leave MIDI mode by pressing ESC-key or reselecting the option MIDI Keyboard (^M) from F6 Menu.