Y-NOT TAKE500 MANUAL ==================== 1. INTRODUCTION --------------- Welcome to TAKE500 - a powerful editor/librarian program for the Yamaha TG500 Tone Generator. TAKE500's comprehensive but straight- forward editing and management functions allow you to concentrate on making music rather than contending around with loads of unnecessary gimmicks. TAKE500 is Public Domain software and can be copied freely. The distributor is YAMAHA. If you have any important questions or if you encounter some faults or bugs within TAKE500, please feel free to contact the programmers of TAKE500 themselves: Y-NOT Application Design Wittelsbacherstr 39c 8500 Nuremberg 50, Germany Tel ...49-911-837033-0 Fax ...49-911-8370344 The people at Y-NOT will offer a detailed user's manual for TAKE500 and additional Voices which are available for a small fee this summer. Please ask. 1.1 Hard Disk Installation -------------------------- To install TAKE500 onto your hard disk, please start the program "HDINST.PRG" on the original TAKE500 disk. You can choose your drive partition and, if necessary, the folder where you want TAKE500 to live in the future. Please do not write any letters or words into the selector box, just click on the desired destination folder's name and confirm with "O.K.". A new folder "TAKE500" containing all necessary data files will be created automatically. 1.2 Back-up Copies ------------------ Please do not forget to make at least one back-up copy of your original TAKE500 disk. Bet you know that floppy disks are very attractive to, say, magnetic fields, watchdogs, solar heat, alcoholic drinks, open fire or fussy charwomen. 1.3 Getting Started ------------------- If there's a file called "README" on the disk, you ought to obey! Double-click on its icon. This file contains important information about your version of TAKE500. To start TAKE500 himself, just double-click on "TAKE500.PRG". 2. WORKING WITH TAKE500 -------------------- TAKE500 uses common objects like the menu bar, dialog boxes, windows, faders, on/off switches, parameter fields etc... Besides a few text input options, TAKE500 can be fully operated with the mouse. Sometimes it's faster to use the computer keypad, that's why many parameter values can also be typed in and most menu functions can also be called via keystrokes. Check the menu lists for the keyboard shortcuts. TAKE500 has all editable parameters clearly arranged in windows. You can leave a window by clicking on the close gadget in its upper left corner or by activating another window in the menu. The operation is just like in any other regular Atari program. Due to the TG500's internal structure, TAKE500 will expect a specific Multi Set to be present in your TG500's memory. It will be transmitted when necessary, especially for editing Voices and Drumsets, so please make sure to backup your valuable Multi data before working with TAKE500. 2.1 The Menu Bar ---------------- The main menu bar is located at the upper end of the screen, containing the topics DESK, FILE, LIBRARY, EDIT and UTILITY. DESK "About TAKE500": some information about the program. "Accessories" to activate ".ACC" programs. "Minefield" is a game of skill for lonely hours. FILE see chapter 3.1 (manager functions). LIBRARY see chapter 3.2 (library functions). EDIT access to the edit pages and random sound creation. UTILITY "Online Help" to turn the help messages on or off. "About this page": information about the current page. "Mouseplay" to activate the mouse keyboard. "Global Preferences": access to TAKE500's basic adjustments. "Free Memory" to check the memory consumption. "MIDI Monitor": Is there any incoming MIDI data? "Format Disk" to erase and format a disk. "Create new folder" writes a new empty folder to disk. "Panic Button" to cut off stuck notes on any channel. 2.2 Edit Functions ------------------ TAKE500 always keeps you informed about where you are. The selected parameter is marked with a frame and you have three choices to change its value: either by mouse click left/right (see UTILITY "Global Preferences" for the mouse mode) or by typing in digits or by holding the button on your Atari keyboard and moving the mouse up/down to simulate a slider even for just numerically displayed parameters. 2.3 Online Help --------------- At the lower end of the screen, you'll find a short description of the particular object at which your cursor points. You can turn this function on or off via UTILITY "Online Help". If you want to reduce TAKE500's memory consumption, you can remove the whole Online Help section from the program by renaming the file "HELPDATA.RSC" (located in the "TAKE500.RSC" folder" into, say, "HELPDATA.RSX" or any other name TAKE500 wouldn't expect to be on his own disk. It will also reduce the loading time and library capacity will be seriously increased. 3. MANAGER PAGE --------------- This page consists of the bank area and the library. There are six buttons: one for copying several Voices within banks, three for opening the edit pages, one for data transfer via MIDI and one for data transfer from/to disk. 3.1 Manager Functions --------------------- TAKE500 is able to handle two complete files and the library. One file consists of 128 Voices + 16 Multi Set + 64 Performances, System, Drumset and Program change settings of the TG500. The buttons 1 and 2 select one file. At the beginning, TAKE500 is likely to have the same Voices in both files, but you can (of course) load and manage different files. For example, you can use one file memory to create your personal selection of Voices out of the other file. All 64 Voices of the currently selected file are displayed in the bank area, all further editing action will affect this file only. The buttons below the Voice bank list work as follows: Printer symbol: to send the bank list to your printer ABC symbol: to sort the 64 Voices in alphabetical order Note symbol: to play the Voice via the mouse keyboard "A" symbol: to rename the currently selected Voice Camera symbol: to copy a whole file onto another. Waste-bin symbol: to erase a whole file. (Be careful!) Bank-to-library camera symbol: to copy all 64 Voices of the current file into the library. A Voice is selected by left mouse click. The name of the selected Voice is displayed in inverted colour. If all MIDI and audio connections are OK, you should be able to play this Voice from your MIDI master keyboard and from TAKE500's mouse keyboard. To copy a single Voice to another location within the bank or into the library, click the desired Voice with the right mouse button, hold it down and move the mouse: you can now "drag" the Voice to its destination. Release the mouse button to put the Voice down. If you press the left mouse button while holding down the right one, copying is cancelled. Besides these toolbox-functions, there is a number of routines to help you with organizing your Voicebanks. These routines can easily be found in the FILE menu. They mainly support communication with peripherals, such as your TG500 Tone Generator, a floppy disk station or a printer: Load/Save File: calls the DISK-functions window Load All From Disk: loads a complete file from disk, ie 64 Voices, 1 Multiset, 1 Drumset and System Parameters Save All To Disk: saves the current memory to disk used by various sequencer programs Get From TG500: receives all internal Voices and the Multi Set from a connected TG500 Send To TG500: sends 64 Voices and Multi Set, according to the currently selected file, to a TG500 Print Voice List: lists a Voice bank on a connected Printer Print Multi Set: prints the parameters of a Multi Set Quit: returns to the desktop of your computer, make sure you've stored all important data in a safe place before leaving TAKE500! All of the disk operations for loading and saving can be found in an additional window, which is to be accessed either by the "Load/Save File" entry of the FILE menu or the disk symbol of the manager page. This window shows eight buttons. On the left hand side, all of the loading functions are represented. On the right hand side, all of the saving functions are represented. Possibilities are given to handle the following types of data packs with a disk drive: Complete Memory Files (file name extension *.TGA), a single Voice bank (*.TGB), your library (*.TGL) and TAKE500's system configuration (*.TGS). If you should feel like working with a particular setting of the parameters given in the GLOBAL PREFERENCES every time you run TAKE500, simply save them to a file named SETUP.TNS in your TAKE500.RSC folder. Very next to the manager-page's DISK button, you can see the icon we called MIDI button. It opens up an dialog box, giving you the chance to choose between sending or receiving data banks (Voice, Performance, Multi) from/to a connected TG500. If you already feel astonished by the broad variety of management tools, here's one more: the edit buffers. TAKE500 provides you with five so-called edit buffers, storage structures for a single Voice each. By selecting a Voice in the manager's bank display, it will be put down in the selected edit buffer automatically. You can select a different buffer afterwards and put down a Voice there, too. This principle has special advantages when working with the Voice editor: you can easily switch between different Voices, but do not have to leave the page. Using the buffers, Voices also can easily be transferred between different sound banks. An edit buffer is to be selected by opening the buffer box, ie clicking on the three white lines on the right upper side of a window's title bar. The appearing menu lets you choose between five entries, the selected one showing a tick. Using the left button of your mouse, you can motivate one of the given entries to become the current buffer. The manager page also allows you to use the right mouse button in order to copy a particular buffer's content to the present Voice in the bank. 3.2 Library-Functions --------------------- TAKE500 features a Voice-library of (theoretically) infinite content. This means that you primarily can store all of your Voices here and search them for specific attributes, just to name one example of usage. Voices in the library can be copied back to banks or can be used as source material for sound creation. As we already heard in the previous chapter, Voices should be transferred to the library using the 'Bank -> Library' function of the toolbox. Single Voices also may be 'dragged' directly onto the library window. There are 16 Voices printed at a time, please use the slider next to the display to change the view. The two arrows on top und underneath the slider jump to the first/last entry in the library. As you already noticed, in case there are less than 17 entries, neither slider nor arrow buttons will work. Similar to the bank window, a selected Voice will be transmitted to the connected TG500 and stored in the current edit buffer. This is also the Voice which will be edited when entering the Edit Page for the next time. To help you with handling the Library, there is a complete menu standing at your side: the LIBRARY menu. Once more in your life, you can find here an opportunity to load/save a library file (name extension *.TGL). Besides that amazing feature there is: Categorize: enables you to attach attributes to every single Voice in the Library. Attributes can be stepped further and selected using the Categorize Window. Alphabetize: sorts the library by alphabet. Kill Doubles: erases all Voices existing twice from your library Print Library: sends a complete listing of the library to a connected printer Search->Name: searches the library for Voices whose names contain a specified string of characters. Search->Wave: searches the library for Voices containing a specified waveform. Search->Category: searches the library for Voices which have been assigned a certain attribute. Auto Sort: toggles the automatical sorting function Auto Kill Doubles: toggles the automatical deleting of twice existing Voices. After proceeding a searching operation, only 'found' Voices will be displayed in the Library Window, all others hidden. To restore the total view use the labyrinth symbol, to be found at the title bar of the library window. The question mark symbol gives information about the memory usage of the library system. To the right of every entry in the Library, you can see a short form of all the assigned attributes (-> Categorize). 4. THE VOICE EDITOR PAGE ------------------------ The Voice Editor mainly consists of an overview page showing the main parameters and several subwindows, containing additional editing facilities. The overview page shows four areas, the common parameters and separate columns for Pitch, Filter and Amp. You can open the graphical envelope windows clicking one one of them on the right side of the screen. Further edit windows consist Waveform-, LFO, Pitch EG, Effect and Modulation parameters. And even here, in the Voice Edit Page, there are three white lines in the upper right corner, giving you access to TAKE500's edit buffers. To leave the Voice Editor, use the Close gagdet in the upper left corner of the title bar. You then will be asked to decide your edited Voice's destiny, it might be stored in its 'old' place in the Voice bank. But, even if you decide not to do so, it will not be lost, due to the amazing edit buffer system. You'll have the possibilty to leave it in there and store it in the place you desire at any time you want. 5. THE MULTI EDITOR PAGE ------------------------ The Multi Editor consists of an overview page, where all of your TG500's 16 parts will be displayed and subwindows for each of the parts' parameters in detail. Using the overview page, you can adjust volume level, MIDI channel, panorama setting and Voice/Performance assignment for any specific part. By clicking on the spoon/fork icon of one of the 16 parts you can manipulate this part's Multi parameters. The 16 little figures on top of the Part Edit allow you to quickly switch between parts, thus there is no necessity to return to the overview page each time you want to change the current part in edit. 6. THE DRUMSET EDIT PAGE ------------------------ If Voice 64 is selected in the Voice the Drumset Edit Page opens when you call the Voice Editor. This page shows the common drumset parameters and all parameters for one octave (which can be changed by clicking on the 'Octave Up' and 'Octave Down' buttons. The drumset can be stored in the bank by clicking onto the close gadget on the upper left side of the screen. 7. THE PERFORMANCE EDIT PAGE ---------------------------- The Performance side of your TG500 is placed completely in the Performance Edit Page. On the left side there is a scroll window which allows you to manage the 64 Performances in the two banks. The right side of the screen shows you the most important Layer parameters of the selected Performance. There are several sub windows which contain the relative Voice parameters, the Effect flags and Note/Velocity limits. 8. THE SYSTEM EDIT PAGE ----------------------- This Page provides you with editing possibilities of all the TG500's global system parameters, such as selected MIDI channel, common modulation parameters etc. These parameters severely affect communication between TAKE500 and TG500, please be careful by changing MIDI channels etc. and be sure to make out the difference between these parameters and TAKE500's GLOBAL PREFERENCES, as this really cuts your trouble shooting down. 9. GLOBAL PREFERENCES --------------------- Here we go, this is GLOBAL PREFERENCES. All of the parameters displayed here are restricted to TAKE500's internal functions and do not have any effect on a connected TG500 or any other MIDI peripherals. On the left hand side, there are several switches, next to some path descriptions for disk access and options for mouse mode and from. MIDI Thru: your ST's MIDI IN will be merged together with TAKE500's output and sent through MIDI OUT. Screen Fadeouts: watch the difference, like it or not ... Mouse Speeder: makes snails running. Menu Blinking: keyboard shortcuts cause menu blinking. Key Beep: keyboard click. Mouse Cursor: hand or arrow as cursor shape. Mode Mode: mouse handling while editing: D/U/MAX: right button increases left button decreases both buttons maximum/minimum value U/D/10: right button decreases left button increases both buttons step by 10. 10. MOUSEPLAY ------------- The mouseplay window can be accessed per UTILITY menu. The pictured keyboard allows you to play the currently selected Voice by clicking the desired note with the mouse cursor. The played note will be displayed underneath the keyboard image. A modulation/pitchbend-wheel may be simulated by holding down the ALTERNATE or the SHIFT key or even both of them. 11. COPYRIGHT ------------- TAKE500 is a product of YAMAHA EUROPA GMBH. 12. GREETINGS ------------- Greetings go to Ali Mustafa, Gert Droegemueller, Uwe G. Ebert, Engelbert van Loock, Wolfgang Moers, Rudi Linhard, Paul Toro. Now that's it, so what?