@DATABASE Musiker.guide @NODE Main "Musiker, version 1.2 documentation" Musiker, version 1.2 © 1996 by Alexander Weber @{" Introduction " Link Introduction} @{" Requirements " Link Requirements} @{" Installation " Link Installation} @{" Start of the program " Link Start} @{" Quick test " Link Test} @{" Usage " Link Usage} @{" The menu " Link Menu} @{" Own instruments " Link Instruments} @{" History " Link History} @{" Copyright/disclaimer " Link Copyright} @{" MagicUserInterface " Link MUI} @{" ptreplay.library " Link ptreplay} @{" Known bugs " Link Bugs} @{" The author " Link Author} @ENDNODE @NODE Introduction "Introduction" Musiker is a program that "composes" Protracker modules. While writing the program I set store by giving the computer as much liberties as possible. I.e. I didn't give the program any pieces of melody or accompaniment. Only the harmonies are sometimes picked from a little data base. Such a plenty of liberty leads inevitably to the possibility that most of the songs are a little bit strange or monotonous. Nevertheless the program has written some catchy tunes. I gave the possibility to save the completed songs to disk. But that shouldn't lead you to flood the Aminet or other software collections with Musiker songs or game writers to be to lazy to write own songs for their games and to simply use "Musiker". Therefore I implore the users of "Musiker" to provide the songs with an annotation so that it is clear that the song has been written by "Musiker". Besides you should try to write music on your own. It isn't that hard (even a computer is able to write songs...). @ENDNODE @NODE Requirements "Requirements" Hardware: - 1 MB of memory Software: - MUI version 3.3 - OS 2.0 recommended: - hard disk - 2 MB of memory @ENDNODE @NODE Installation "Installation" Simply pull the drawer "Musiker" in the desired directory. @ENDNODE @NODE Start "Starting the program" From Workbench: Double click on the "Musiker" icon From Shell: Change the directory to "Musiker" and start the program by typing "Musiker". @ENDNODE @NODE Test "A quick test of the program" When you just want to test "Musiker" then @{"start" Link Start} the program and click the buttons "Random", "Compose" and "Play" at the bottom of the window that is appearing. The song is stopped by closing the window with the playing informations. @ENDNODE @NODE Usage "The usage" After starting the program the main window is appearing. In it you can switch between two pages: Instruments and Settings. In the first page (Instruments) are located six string gadgets. You must first choose the instrument files here that you want to use in the song. In the first gadget ("Melody") the instrument for the main melody is defined, in the second one ("Bass") the bass for the accompaniment, in the third and the fourth one ("Chord(major/minor)") the chord instruments distinguished between major and minor and in the last two ("Drum(bass/snare)") the instruments for the Drums. The provided instruments that fit in the named gadgets are found in the directories "Melody", "Bass", "ChordMAJ", "ChordMIN", "BDrum" and "SDrum" in the main directory. You can choose the file names in 5 ways: 1. Type them manually into the string gadgets (first click on them) 2. Select them (by clicking on the button on the right) with the help of a file requester 3. Click on the "Random" buttons on the right side of the string gadgets. Then the computer chooses automatically an instrument from the fitting directory. 4. Click on the button "Choose instruments automatically" at the top of the string gatgets. Then the computer chooses all instruments from the fitting directories and the minor chord that corresponds to the major chord. 5. Click on "Random" at the bottom of the window. Then the computer chooses all parameters randomly. For the instruments the effect is the same as described in 4. An instrument can be protected from being changed by the last two buttons by activating the checkmark-gadget "Lock" beside it. Before letting the computer compose a song you can choose the speed of the song. It is defined in the second page (Settings) with the slider "Speed". It can have the values from 4 to 7. 4 is the highest and 7 the lowest speed (the values correspond with the speed values in Protracker songs). Like with the instruments you can let the computer choose the value by clicking at "Random" to the right beside the slider or at the bottom. The speed can also be protected against the last button by activating the "Lock"-gadget. After the parameters have been adjusted you can let the computer generate a song. This is done by clicking on "Compose". The computer will load the instruments and compose the song. When it is ready and nothing has gone wrong click on "Play". A new window will appear and the song is played. In this window are some informations about the song (length and playing position) and a slider to regulate the volume. The playing is stopped by closing the window. When you like the song then you can save it in the Protracker format with "Save" and load it later into a player program (the Protracker format is supported by almost every player program). @ENDNODE @NODE Menu "The menu" The menu has the following items: Project About... -------- Quit "About...": A little window with some informations will appear "Quit": The program will end @ENDNODE @NODE Instruments "The usage of own instruments" Own instruments must be in the raw format and adjusted to A=440 Hz. The instruments are played in the following intervals: - Melody: C-2 (523 Hz) to A-3 (1762 Hz) - Bass, chords: C-1 (261 Hz) to A-2 (932 Hz) - Drums: C-3 (1045 Hz) The computer searches for the minor-chord that fits to the major-chord in the following way: First it substracts all appearances of "dur" and "maj" from the name of the major-chord. This algorithm removes also things like "dumajr". Then it takes the first file from the directory "ChordMIN" which name equals that of the major-chord after removing "moll" and "min". Matching pairs are: "Akkord-Dur" - "Akkord-Moll" "Major" - "Minor" "StrDURings" - "Strings" "AMadududurrrj" - "AMMMMMollinollinoll" "Chord" - "Chord" @ENDNODE @NODE History "The history" - V0.1: First version. Small AMOS-program that played a little automatically generated melody of 8 bars with the sound commands of AMOS. - V0.2: The algorithm has been changed such that bars are played in lightly modificated way again. Generating of refrains added. Songs are longer (6*8 bars). - V0.3: The changes of V0.2 have been undone (sounded horrible!). Generation of a protracker module with rhythm, bass, chords. Different speeds - V1.0: Rewritten completely into Amiga-E. User interface (MUI) - V1.1: Generating of refrains added again. Also generating of introduction, interludes, ending. The songs can have different lengths. New samples. Startable from Workbench now. Songs can be saved to disk. (Only to ram:mod.song before) - V1.2: Gadgets can be locked against being changed with the "random"- buttons. Divided the interface into pages. New playing window. @ENDNODE @NODE Copyright "Copyright/Disclaimer" The program "Musiker" and all files belonging to it are freeware, i.e. they are copyrighted by the @{"author" Link Author}. The samples that are enclosed with the program are public domain and can therefore be used in any way. Nevertheless I would be grateful for a little donation if you like the program. The package can be spread under the following conditions: - You mustn't change any files. - Following files/directories must exist: Musiker (DIR) Catalogs (DIR) deutsch (DIR) musiker.catalog musiker.cd Docs (DIR) deutsch (DIR) Musiker.Guide Musiker.Guide.info deutsch.info english (DIR) Musiker.Guide Musiker.Guide.info english.info Docs.info Libs (DIR) ptreplay.library Melody (DIR) brass2 future hqcstring nicetune piano pling Bass (DIR) bass bassguitar bassguitar2 basssynth basssynth2 basssynth3 brass mmmmmm tape ChordMAJ (DIR) akkord-dur akkord-git-dur background-dur distguit synth-dur ChordMIN (DIR) akkord-moll akkord-git-moll background-moll distguit synth-moll BDrum (DIR) bassdrum bassdrum2 bassdrum3 bassdrum4 bassdrum5 bassdrum6 bassdrum7 SDrum (DIR) snaredrum snaredrum2 snaredrum3 snaredrum4 snaredrum5 snaredrum6 snaredrum7 snaredrum8 snaredrum9 Musiker Musiker.info ptreplay.readme Musiker.info - The package mustn't be sold with a price that is higher than the cost of materials and copying. - The package can be packed with lha or lza but must not be packed with dms. - The program mustn't be used with illegal, military or comercial aims. Exceptions can only be made with the approval of the author. The author accepts no liability for any damage that is done by the package or a part of the package. @ENDNODE @NODE MUI "The MagicUserInterface" This application uses MUI - MagicUserInterface (c) Copyright 1993/94 by Stefan Stuntz MUI is a system to generate and maintain graphical user interfaces. With the aid of a preferences program, the user of an application has the ability to customize the outfit according to his personal taste. MUI is distributed as shareware. To obtain a complete package containing lots of examples and more information about registration please look for a file called "muiXXusr.lha" (XX means the latest version number) on your local bulletin boards or on public domain disks. If you want to register directly, feel free to send DM 30.- or US$ 20.- to Stefan Stuntz Eduard-Spranger-Straße 7 80935 München GERMANY @ENDNODE @NODE ptreplay "The ptreplay.library" This file documents ptreplay, a librarybased systemfriendly PT/NT/ST-replayer. Copyright (c) 1994-1996 Mattias Karlsson (BetaSoft) Copyright (c) 1996 Andreas Pålsson (Pucko/Digital Dreams) PTREPLAY.LIBRARY 6.6 ptreplay.library v6.6 is released under the concept of freeware. This means that it is freely distributable as long as following conditions are fulfilled: ·The archive may not be sold, but inclusion in a PD-library is permitted as long as only a SMALL fee is charged to cover the costs of copying and distribution. The Fred Fish Library is the perfect example. ·Programs and documentations must be distributed together in their unmodified form. ·Concerning the library itself, programs using ptreplay.library may include it in their distribution packages as long as this file follows as 'ptreplay.readme'. Of course the program using it must be freeware to. For inclusion in a shareware or commercial software package, please contact the author. - - - ptreplay.library (from now on ptreplay) is a standard Amiga shared library, capable of playing music files with the well known 'M.K.' sign inside. Some of PtReplay features: · System friendly, uses CIA-timing for smooth playing · Except for the ordinary Play, Pause, Resume and Stop there are fading volumechanging, ability to specify postition, turn on/off channels. · Load modules via PTReplay. No need to open Dos. Use this library as you would use any normal Amiga library. Included in this package is include files for Assembler and C. - - - A few weeks ago Mattias Karlsson (Betasoft) decided to pass the development on because of lack of time. I volunteered to continue the development since I've been using it myself alot and my interest in music and programming. Some word from Mattias Karlsson concerning the birth of ptreplay. I wrote this library because I was unable to find a _good_ and system- friendly replay routine for ProTracker. I based this loosely on the example sources that accompany ProTracker, but these were pretty badly written, and sparsly commented, and the CIA routines did never work on my machine. A job worth doing well is worth doing yourself, I though and went to work. This is what emerged, a small library. Notice that it is just about 8k, and still contains all needed to play good music (and it has a lot of features too) - - - Changes from 6.5 to 6.6 by Andreas Pålsson ------------------------------------------ * FIXED: Closelibrary()() wouldn't return. Reported by Michael Stoehr. * CHANGE: Betasoft turns over the development to Andreas Pålsson. Changes from 5.14 to 6.5 by Mattias Karlsson -------------------------------------------- * Horror, the clean up routines clears some signals on the task that closes the library (maybe this is what caused the spurius GURUs?). (6.5) * If you are to quick to start playing after the library has been opened it produced 4 hits and no sound since it checked the IORequesters before PTReplay_ctrltask has time to allocate them. (6.4) * Now it only trigger ModuleRestart when you do a positionjump in the last position instead of everytime. (6.3) * Now frees all channel on LibClose instead of libExpunge. (6.2) * Sometimes ptreplay_ctrltask (See FAQ) "hangs" and starts busylooping when you did a DisplayBeep() with a sample. (6.1) * New functions for reading the owned channels and sampledata. (6.0) * A channel that is turned of was not left alone. (5.16) * All channels were turned on at playtime, instead of only those that ptreplay owns. (5.15) - - - My addresses: URL: http://www.algonet.se/~did/ E-Mail: did@algonet.se Fidonet: Andreas Palsson 2:200/628.0 <- recommended Mail: Andreas Pålsson Trolle Ljungby S-290 34 Fjälkinge SWEDEN or call my bbs at +46-(0)44-55031 The former author can be reached at: URL: http://www.algonet.se/~betasoft/ E-Mail: betasoft@algonet.se FIDO: Mattias Karlsson@2:200/502.3 @ENDNODE @NODE Bugs "Known bugs/Future/Bug report" Known bugs: - On my system (A1200, 6MB, 68030, FPU, MMU) there are some errors while playing with the ptreplay.library. (the best thing to do is saving the song and load it into a player program) To do: - Possibility of the usage of an extern player program - More variants for endings - Better samples If you find any bugs, have suggestions for improvement or better samples then write to me. You find my adress @{"here" Link Author}. @ENDNODE @NODE Author "The author" Alexander Weber Stormstraße 3 66606 St. Wendel Germany EMail: alexw@cscip.uni-sb.de @ENDNODE