




                           Musical Blocks Version 1.0

                                  User's Manual

                       Copyright (c) 1989 by Alan L. Moyer



The program Musical Blocks and this Manual are a SHAREWARE product. Please try 
the program. This manual will explain the operation and features of Musical 
Blocks. If you enjoy the program and plan to continue using it, you are 
requested to become a registered user by sending a check for $15 to Alan L. 
Moyer, the Author of this program. This contribution will help compensate the 
many months of work that went into the creation of Musical Blocks. Registration 
entitles you to free phone and mail support. I also plan to send to registered 
users, AT NO CHARGE, another disk of music written using Musical Blocks. The 
availability of this disk is contingent on my receiving a sufficient number of 
compositions from Musical Blocks users. In order to obtain the greatest variety 
of music for this disk, I am asking the users of Musical Blocks to send me a 
disk with one or more of their original compositions. This is optional. 
However, I will not distribute the additional disk until I have received enough 
quality compositions to make it worthwhile. I encourage you to send one or more 
compositions either with your registration fee, or anytime thereafter. Users 
who send in a disk will receive a $1 rebate on their registration fee. Specific 
details of this offer are contained in Chapter II of this Manual.

Please make checks payable to:

     Alan L. Moyer
     23 Clarissa Road
     Chelmsford, MA
     01824

Also call (508)-256-1823 if you have any questions. However, in fairness to 
registered users, I will only answer technical questions if you are registered. 
Please call evenings or weekends.

Looking forward to hearing from you as a registered user.


                                         Sincerely,


                                         Alan L. Moyer




                          Musical Blocks User's Manual










                                Table of Contents




I.         Introduction ................................................  3


II.        Benefits of Registration ....................................  4


III.       Quick Start .................................................  6


IV.        Canvas and Pallets ..........................................  8


V.         Blocks Design Screen ........................................ 22


VI.        Saving and Restoring files .................................. 29


VII.       Musical Selections on Disk .................................. 30


















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                          Musical Blocks User's Manual

I.         Introduction

Musical Blocks is a musical paint program in which the colors of the pallet are 
musical fragments of your design. Two-dimensional patterns can be created in a 
canvas which are played like a musical score. With Musical Blocks you can do 
the following: 

     1) Transcribe existing music into the computer, save it and play it.

     2) Break an existing composition into pieces and build new music from it.

     3) Play either melodies or two-part harmonies.

     4) Create random music. 

     5) Experiment with two-dimensional music. 

     6) Experiment with non-western scales. 

     7) Create musical games and puzzles.

An easy way to learn about Musical Blocks is to simply try the program. Reading 
Chapter III. will get you started. After trying out the program, return to this 
manual to learn, in detail, the functions of the program. Some of them, such as 
working with non-western scales may be confusing without reading the manual. In 
a short time you will have mastered the mechanics of the program and will be 
able to try your skill at composition.

There are a number of example compositions included with the distribution disk. 
This is just a sample of what is possible with Musical Blocks. 
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                          Musical Blocks User's Manual

II.        Benefits of Registration

You are invited to become a registered user of Musical Blocks. This program is 
not in the public domain. It is a SHAREWARE program and remains the 
intellectual property of the author. I have chosen this method of marketing 
Musical Blocks since it provides benefits to both myself and the user. As a 
user, you have the opportunity to try this program before making a decision to 
pay for it. You also have the opportunity of using an original program which 
has no commercial equivalent. I can market the program directly, without the 
need to find a publisher. This is the SHAREWARE concept. Please support it by 
becoming a registered user of Musical Blocks. Registering to use a Shareware 
program encourages authors, like myself to continue to produce new and original 
software at a fair price.

If you become a registered user of Musical Blocks, you will receive the 
following additional benefits.

     1) Free technical support, either by phone or mail.

     2) A FREE disk of additional music to be used with the program. The 
availability of this disk is contingent on my receiving a sufficient number of 
compositions from Musical Blocks users. The procedure to send in music is 
described below. There may be a delay before you receive this disk if I haven't 
received enough music by the time you register. However, if and when the music 
is available, I will send it to all registered users. Note: I currently have 
access to a 5 1/4", 360 Kb floppy drive. Please send all music on disks in this 
format. The FREE disk, if and when available, will be returned in this format.

     3) The opportunity to "publish" your original composition on the FREE disk 
to be distributed to all users. This is a great way to share the fruits of your 
creativity with a group of like minded individuals.

The registration procedure is simple.

     1) Print out the file "FORM" on the distribution disk. This is your 
registration form.

     2) Fill out the form. Make sure to include your name and mailing address. 
If you are also sending in music for the FREE disk of music, also please fill 
out the section which gives permission to use the music.

     3) Send the form and a check for $15.00 in U.S. dollars made out to Alan 
L. Moyer to

           Alan Moyer
           23 Clarissa Road
           Chelmsford Ma
           01824

     4) If you are sending music on a disk, please be sure to put the disk in a 
floppy mailer or use equivalent packaging. Also, if you are sending music, 
deduct $1.00 from the registration fee since I will use this disk to send the 
FREE music back to you.

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                          Musical Blocks User's Manual

     5) Any music you send should be in the form of Musical Blocks *.all files. 
(Use the program "all to disk" command to save your music to disk in this 
format.) When you write the composition, please be sure to type your name and 
the name of the composition in the canvas area. Please do not write extensive 
other text in the composition. This makes the file size larger and will prevent 
me from getting as many files on the FREE disk. I will not alter, in any way, 
the files you send me. However, I retain the right to use or not use the files 
on the FREE disk, at my discretion. 

If I receive more than enough music to fill a disk, I will use my judgement to 
include what I feel is the best selection of quality music of the greatest 
variety. I may offer additional disks of music at low cost if I receive enough 
compositions from users. You should indicate on the registration form if it is 
permissible to use your compositions on such a disk.

You may write or call me with questions concerning registration. Registered 
users may also call or write with technical questions about the program. My 
number is (508)-256-1823. Please call evenings or weekends. If you reach my 
answering machine, state the purpose of your call. I may be home and monitoring 
calls and will pick up. However, if I am not home, I will not be able to return 
a call if you are phoning long distance.

Enjoy the program and become a registered user.

                             Best wishes,


                             Alan L. Moyer



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                          Musical Blocks User's Manual

III.       Quick Start

This Chapter describes how to install and run Musical Blocks along with an 
introduction to the program. First, make a backup copy of the distribution 
disk. You may also install Musical Blocks onto a hard disk. Just create a 
directory and copy the entire contents of the distribution disk into that 
directory. Make sure that all files are copied since the program will not run 
without the auxiliary files. To start the program type "blocks". If you have a 
joystick connected to port A you can initialize the program to use it by typing 
"blocks j". The program uses the joystick by sensing its deviation from 
vertical. If you are using the joystick make sure it is in the vertical 
position when you start up Musical Blocks. Also be sure that the joystick is 
not free floating. 

The program will start up and display a title screen with a message about 
registration. This is a SHAREWARE program. Please try it out. If you enjoy the 
program and continue to use it , you should send in the registration fee. This 
will entitle you to certain benefits as are explained in Chapter II. After 
about five seconds, you will be prompted to hit any key which will clear the 
message.

You are now in the Main program screen. The screen should consist of a large, 
light red, rectangular area called the view port. Above this is a message area. 
Below it are two pallets. The upper pallet consists of thirty blocks of 
different colors and patterns. The lower pallet consists of a number of special 
symbols which are also used in composing music. The cursor has the shape of a 
note and will initially be centered in the middle of the view port. You can 
move the cursor with the cursor keys or joystick (if present).

If you typed "blocks j" and the cursor is moving around all by itself then it 
will be necessary to decrease the sensitivity of the joystick. To do this, 
press the F1 key to pull down the main menu and type "e" to exit the program. 
Then start up blocks again by typing "blocks j 10". This will add a "sticky 
factor" of 10 to the joystick. That should fix the problem. However, if the 
cursor is still moving around by itself, exit the program again and type 
"blocks j 20". Keep increasing the "sticky factor" until the cursor stops 
moving around. Then use this "sticky factor" every time you run the Program. 
(Suggestion: make a blocks.bat file to run the program with the "sticky 
factor".)

There is another potential problem you may encounter if your system has an EGA 
display. Some EGA displays may not want to go directly into the 40 character 
mode used in the Main screen. The rectangular view port may appear as two, 
smaller rectangles. If this is the case do the following: 1) Press the F1 
function key to bring down the main menu. 2) Type "m" to change to the Blocks 
Design screen. 3) Press the F2 function key to return to the main screen. This 
should clear the problem. The blocks design screen uses a graphics mode which 
will force the EGA to respond properly when returning to the Main screen.

Returning to the Main screen, there is an arrow which points to one of the 
blocks in the upper pallet. This block is the current painting block. Press the 
Ins key or the joystick button. The note cursor will change to the color of the 
current painting block. Now move the cursor. The block pointed to by the arrow 
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                          Musical Blocks User's Manual
has been painted at the location which was under the cursor. You have painted 
on the canvas. The canvas is a large area, only part of which is displayed at 
any time. The view port is a window into the current viewable portion of the 
canvas. The viewable portion is 1/9 of the total canvas area. To move to 
another area of the canvas, simply move the cursor to the edge of the view port 
in any direction. A new portion of the canvas will scroll into view. Notice the 
darker red bars on the top and left side of the view port rectangle. These are 
the scroll bars. They show where you are in the canvas. Initially,you are at 
the upper left corner of the canvas. As you move about in the canvas, the 
scroll bars change position to indicate your relative position.

At any time, the cursor marks the position at which you can paint a block or 
symbol. The current block or symbol is point to by the arrow. It is also shown 
at the right side of the information area. The current block or symbol is 
changed by moving the cursor to either the upper or lower pallet. To move to 
the upper pallet, type "+". You can then move back and forth in the pallet. The 
arrow will follow the cursor. Move the cursor to the block you want to select. 
Each block has a tune fragment associated with it. To listen to the tune, just 
press the space bar. To return to the canvas, type "+" again. The arrow will 
remain at the last cursor position in the pallet. This is the new current 
block. To move to the lower pallet, type "-". You can then move around in this 
pallet and select one of the special symbols. The use of these symbols is 
explained in Chapter IV. Type "-" again to return to the canvas. Note that the 
arrow now points down indicating that a symbol from the lower pallet has been 
selected. These symbols can be painted on the canvas just like the block. Now 
paint a picture using some of the blocks. The blocks should connect to their 
neighbors. Just for now, don't use the special symbols. After you have made 
your picture, move the cursor on top of one of the blocks in the canvas and 
press the space bar. The cursor will move from block to block and play all the 
tune fragments, one after another. You have just written your first composition 
using Musical Blocks! To stop the music, press the space bar again.

There are a number of illustrative compositions on the distribution disk. To 
access these compositions, do the following: 1) Move the cursor so that you are 
in the upper left part of the canvas. (The scroll bars should be in the upper 
left position.) 2) press F1 to bring down the main menu. Type "d" for "disk to 
all". This will bring up a directory of compositions. 3) Type the name of any 
of these and then a carriage return. The composition will be loaded and will 
appear on the canvas. 4) Put the cursor on the light smiley face. The word 
"start" is shown near it. 5) Press the space bar to play the composition. Some 
of the compositions and examples on disk are explained in more detail in 
Chapter VI.

In the Sections that follow you will learn all the commands that are available 
from the Main screen. You will also learn how to compose tune fragments using 
the Blocks Design screen. Your work can be saved to disk and recalled later.
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                          Musical Blocks User's Manual

IV.        Canvas and Pallets

You should have already read Chapter III. and have used Musical Blocks a few 
times. This Chapter, and those that follow, explain all the capabilities of the 
program. This Chapter will explain all the features which are available from 
the Main screen. Recall, this is the screen you see after starting Musical 
Blocks.

The Main screen consists of the following areas: A) The view port which is 
outlined by the large, light red rectangle. B) The canvas, a portion of which 
is visible through the view port C) The message area above the view port. D) 
The upper pallet which is below the view port. E) The lower pallet which is 
below the upper pallet. The functions of each area will now be explained.

     View Port
     ---------

The view port is a window into the canvas. Only part of the canvas is visible 
at any time. The visible area is 36 blocks wide by 18 blocks high or 648 total 
blocks. The total canvas area is 108 blocks wide by 54 blocks high or 5832 
total blocks. The viewable portion of the canvas is 1/9 the total area. The 
view port consists of the light red rectangular border, the dark red scroll 
bars, and the window into the canvas. The cursor has the shape of a musical 
note. (Exception: when either the random or text features are on the cursor has 
a different shape.) The cursor can move around within the canvas using either 
the cursor keys or the joystick (if present). 

In order to view a different area of the canvas, move the cursor in any 
direction to the view port border. When the cursor moves next to the border the 
canvas will scroll and a different area will become visible. If you move to the 
top of the view port the canvas will scroll down. If you move to the bottom of 
the view port the canvas will scroll up. If you move to the left of the view 
port the canvas will scroll right. And if you move to the right of the view 
port the canvas will scroll left. The canvas always scrolls a distance which is 
1/2 the dimension of the view port in the direction of scroll. The cursor will 
appear to jump to a new position. In fact, the cursor remains in the same 
position on the canvas but scrolls with the canvas.

The portion of the canvas which is currently visible is indicated by the 
horizontal and vertical scroll bars. These are dark red bands on the view port 
border. Initially, the scroll bars are in the upper left corner of the border. 
This indicates that the upper left corner of the canvas is visible. As the 
canvas scrolls the scroll bars move to indicate the current visible portion of 
the canvas.

     Canvas
     ------

The canvas is the drawable area on which blocks and other symbols are painted 
to create tunes. Painting is accomplished in a number of ways. 1) Selecting a 
current block or symbol and using the insert or joystick button to paint it at 
the cursor position. 2) Typing colored numbers which indicate single notes, 
rests or intervals. 3) Selecting the "random" feature from the menu and using 
the insert or joystick button to paint blocks selected at random. 4) Selecting 
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                          Musical Blocks User's Manual
the "text" feature from the menu and typing text into the canvas. All these 
methods are explained below. Any portion of the canvas can be painted. When a 
painted area scrolls out of view, the contents are preserved. Scrolling back 
the area restores the painting to view. 

     Selecting Blocks and Symbols
     ----------------------------

To select a block to paint, press the "+" key. This will move the cursor to the 
upper pallet at the position of the arrow. You can then move the cursor back 
and forth in the pallet to select a new block. Press "+" again to return to the 
canvas. The cursor always returns to the last square it occupied in the canvas.

To select a special symbol to paint, press the "-" key. This will move the 
cursor to the lower pallet at the position of the arrow. You can then move the 
cursor back and forth in the pallet to select a new special symbol. Press "-" 
again to return to the canvas.


     Colored Numbers
     ---------------

Colored number are an alternative way of painting notes, rests and intervals 
onto the canvas. They are normally used to supplement the tune fragments 
entered by painting blocks. Colored numbers are entered by just typing on the 
keyboard. The keyboard has been remapped to respond in a special way in Musical 
Blocks. The remapped part of the keyboard is shown below.

           1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8        Type for cyan   numbers 1 - 8

           q  w  e  r  t  y  u  i        Type for brown  numbers 1 - 8

           a  s  d  f  g  h  j  k        Type for yellow numbers 1 - 8

           z  x  c  v  b  n  m  ,        Type for green  numbers 1 - 8

These colors have the following meaning where "#" means the number:

           color       meaning
           -----       -------

           cyan        note with duration equal to #
           brown       rest with duration equal to #
           yellow      # intervals up in scale
           green       # intervals down in scale

As examples, a cyan 8 would cause a note to sound of duration 8. A brown 7 
would cause the sound to stop for a duration of 7. A yellow 2 would not sound 
but would cause the next note to sound to be transposed up 2 scale intervals (a 
major 2nd for a 12 tone scale). A green 3 would not sound but would cause the 
next note to sound to be transposed down 3 scale intervals (a minor 3rd for a 
12 tone scale). The relationship between intervals up and down and intervals in 
the 12 tone scale are shown below:


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                          Musical Blocks User's Manual
           Musical Blocks Interval       12 Tone Scale Interval
           -----------------------       ----------------------

                       1                       minor 2nd
                       2                       major 2nd
                       3                       minor 3rd
                       4                       major 3rd
                       5                       perfect 4th
                       6                       augmented 4th or diminished 5th
                       7                       perfect 5th
                       8                       minor 6th
                       9                       major 6th
                       10                      minor 7th
                       11                      major 7th
                       12                      octave

Using colored numbers, intervals greater than 8 must be realized by painting 
two or more colored numbers. For example, to get a interval of an octave, paint 
a yellow 5 followed by a yellow 7 in a neighboring square (or any other 
combination which adds up to 12). 

If the concept of colored numbers is a bit confusing, just experiment with it. 
There are also example disk files to demonstrate how colored numbers work. (See 
Chapter VII.)

     Random Paint
     ------------

You may also experiment with a feature of Musical Blocks which creates tunes by 
a random selection of blocks. To enable this feature, type F1 to pull down the 
main menu and then type "r" to select random paint feature. The cursor shape 
will change to a question mark. Now if you press the Insert key, instead of 
using the current block or symbol, Musical Blocks will select a block at random 
from the pallet. Only blocks which have a tune fragment will be used. (See 
Chapter V. which explains how to create or delete tune fragments.) Every time 
you press Insert, (or the joystick button), a new random block will be selected 
and painted at the cursor position. Using the random feature you can quickly 
paint a tune using random block selection. This tune can be edited by adding 
special symbols or colored numbers or by changing some of the blocks. However, 
to insert blocks or special symbols normally, it is necessary to turn the 
random feature off. Press F1 again and then "r" to turn off the random paint 
feature. The cursor becomes a note again.

     Text Mode
     ---------

Another feature allows text to be typed onto the pallet. This is useful to add 
a title to a tune. To enable this feature, press F1 to bring down the menu and 
then type "t" to select the text feature. The cursor shape will now change to a 
bar. The mapping of the keyboard used for colored numbers is disabled. Now, 
everything typed will be painted onto the canvas. However, Musical Blocks 
doesn't work like a work processor or text editor. For example, typing a 
carriage return does not cause the cursor to shift left and move down a line. 
Instead, the cursor is moved using the cursor keys or joystick. This allows the 
flexibility of typing text either horizontally, vertically, diagonally, or 
                                       10
                          Musical Blocks User's Manual
along a wavy line, as you like. When finished typing characters, disable the 
text feature by pressing F1 and then "t". The cursor will become a note again.

     Message Area
     ------------

The line above the view port is the message area. There are four fields in this 
area. From left to right, the first field is "F1 menu". This indicates that 
pressing a F1 will bring down the menu. All the menu actions are explained 
later in this Chapter.

The second field is "sc". This is an abbreviation for scale. To the right of sc 
will appear either an "a" or a "b". This indicates the current design scale 
which can be either scale a or scale b. Musical Blocks supports scales with 
more or less than 12 intervals per octave. The current design scale is used to 
build and listen to tune fragments using the Blocks Design screen. It is also 
used to listen to a tune fragment associated with a block when the cursor is in 
the upper pallet. (Note, in the canvas area the current scale always start as 
scale "a". It is changed by using the special symbol "s" which switches the 
scale while playing the tune.) To change the current design scale, type Alt F6. 
This will cause the letter to the right of "sc" to toggle from "a" to "b" or 
from "b" to "a". (Note: when you start Musical blocks the number of intervals 
per octave in both scales a and b will be 12. Hence, changing the current 
design scale will have no effect. How to change the number of notes per octave 
is explained later in this Chapter.)

The third field is "tp". This is an abbreviation for tempo. To the right of 
"tp" will appear either a blank or an "h". Tempo indicates how fast the tune 
fragments are played when you listen to them either in the Blocks Design screen 
or when the cursor is in the upper pallet. The tempo can be changed by using 
the following commands: 1) Typing Alt F5 toggles half speed on and off. When 
half speed in on an "h" will appear to the right of "tp". Half speed causes the 
tune fragments to be played at 1/2 speed. (That is, the duration of all notes 
and rests is doubled.) 2) Typing F6 will cause the tune fragments to be played 
faster by a small amount. F6 can be typed more than once to increase the tempo 
even more. This is not indicated in the message area of the main screen. 
However, it is indicated in the message area of the Blocks Design screen by 
showing special symbols which indicate "faster". 3) Typing F5 will cause the 
tune fragments to be played slower by a small amount. F5 can be typed more than 
once to decrease the tempo even more. This is not indicated in the message area 
of the main screen. However, it is indicated in the message area of the Blocks 
Design screen by showing special symbols which indicate "slower". Altogether 
there are 15 tempo steps possible using F5 and F6. (Note, in the canvas area 
the tempo always starts with a medium tempo. The tempo of the tune is changed 
in the canvas area by using special symbols which are in the lower pallet.)

The fourth field shows the current block or special symbol and a short message 
about it. In the case of a block the message just says "block" with the number 
of the block to the left of "block". In the case of a special symbol, the 
symbol is shown to the right and its meaning is to the left. If you use the 
"cut" command the word "cut" will appear to indicate that the symbol was cut 
from the canvas. The cut symbol is shown to the right. If you use the "copy" 
command the word "copy" will appear to indicate that the symbol was copied from 
the canvas. The copied symbol is shown to the right.

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                          Musical Blocks User's Manual

     Menu Commands
     -------------

The pull down menu give access to a number of commands which are used with the 
Main screen. The menu commands are listed below.

                 menu commands
                 -------------
                 clear screen
                 random on/off
                 screen to file
                 file to screen
                 blocks to file
                 get blocks
                 all to disk
                 disk to all
                 make blocks
                 intervals
                 text on/off
                 joystick on/off
                 help
                 exit program
                 quit menu

Pull down the menu by pressing F1. When the menu is down you must execute a 
menu command. In the menu the first letter of each command is red. Commands are 
executed by typing the first letter of the command. Each command is now 
explained.

Clear screen - Typing this command causes the canvas to be cleared to all 
black. Both the visible and non-visible portions of the canvas are cleared.

Random on/off - Typing this command toggles the random feature on and off. This 
feature was explained in Chapter IV. B.

Screen to file - Typing this command allows you to save the contents of the 
canvas (visible and non-visible) to a disk file. Use this command to save the 
canvas when you do not want to also save the pallet. (Refer to Chapter VI. for 
a description of the Disk Directory screen.)

File to Screen - This command allows you to load disk files which contain a 
canvas picture. The canvas will be cleared and set to the contents of the file. 

Blocks to file - This command allows you to save the contents of the visible 
part of the upper pallet to a disk file. The upper pallet contains 60 blocks. 
At any time only 30 of the blocks are visible. The visible blocks can be 
changed by pressing F2. Pressing F2 toggles the upper pallet so that it either 
displays blocks 1 - 30 or blocks 31 - 60. Before executing the blocks to file 
command, make sure that the visible blocks are the ones you want to save to 
disk. You will want to use this command to save tune fragments that can be 
reused to compose other tunes.


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                          Musical Blocks User's Manual
Get blocks - Typing this command allows you to load disk files which contain 
the tune fragments of 30 blocks of the pallet. The tune fragments are loaded 
into the 30 visible blocks. Before executing the get blocks command, be sure 
that the visible blocks are the ones you want to restore from disk. The non-
visible 30 blocks are not effected by this command.

All to disk - Typing this command allows you to save the canvas and all 60 
blocks of the upper pallet to a disk file. After you compose a tune consisting 
of a canvas picture and pallet tune fragments, use this command to save it to 
disk.

Disk to all - This command restores the canvas and all 60 blocks in the upper 
pallet from a disk file.

Make blocks - This command is used to change to the Blocks Design screen. The 
Blocks Design screen is used to write the tune fragments associated with each 
block in the upper pallet. See Chapter V. for a description of the Blocks 
Design screen.

Intervals - This command is used to examine and/or change the number of 
intervals in either scale "a" or scale "b". Musical blocks supports scales with 
either 12 intervals per octave, which is the traditional scale for western 
music, or other numbers of intervals per octave. You can set the intervals per 
octave to any number from 1 to 200. Musical Blocks has two active scales which 
can be used in playing any tune. These are scale "a" and scale "b". To examine 
or change the intervals per octave, press F1 to get the menu and then type "i". 
The program will then show a message in the middle of the view port. This 
message will tell how many intervals per octave are currently in scale "a". 
Press any key to continue. You will now see the same message about scale "b". 
Press any key. The program will now ask "modify a or b" Type either a or b to 
modify that scale or type something else to quit the command. If you typed a or 
b the program will prompt you to enter the new intervals per octave. Just type 
in a number from 1 to 200. Then type a carriage return to enter the new 
intervals per octave. If you make a mistake and type a number larger than 200 
the program will display an error message. Type any key to clear the message.

If you change the number of intervals per octave and then play a tune written 
for a different number of notes per octave it will sound strange. This is 
because Musical Blocks works internally with intervals, not with scales. If you 
have written a tune that uses an interval of 12 and there are 12 notes per 
octave in the scale then this interval will cause the pitch of the note to 
change by an octave. However, if you change the number of notes per octave to 
144 then the same interval of 12 will cause the pitch to change by only a minor 
second! There is a further discussion of scales in Chapter V.

Text on/off - Typing this command toggles the text mode on and off. When the 
program is in the text mode you can type text onto the pallet. The cursor will 
change to a bar in the text mode.

Joystick on/off - Typing this command toggles the joystick on or off. If the 
joystick is on and the cursor starts to move around by itself, you can 
recalibrate the joystick by turning it off and on again while leaving the 
joystick in the vertical position.


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                          Musical Blocks User's Manual
Help - Typing this command brings up the help screen. This screen gives 
information on other commands which are available but not in the menu. These 
commands are the following:

     Command           Meaning
     -------           -------

     space             Play music or block.
     Ins               Insert a block or special symbol into the canvas.
     Del               Delete the symbol or block under the cursor.
     F1                Show the menu.
     F2                Switch the visible pallet.
     F3                Copy a block. Copies the block or symbol under the 
                       cursor and makes it the current symbol. Moving the
                       cursor to somewhere else in the canvas and pressing
                       Ins will then paint the copied block.
     F4                Cut a block. The same as copy a block except the block
                       or symbol at the current cursor position is removed.
     F5                Slow down the tempo when playing tune fragments in the
                       upper pallet or in the Blocks Design screen.
     F6                Speed up the tempo when playing tune fragments in the
                       upper pallet or in the Blocks Design screen.
     Alt F5            Toggle the tempo half time mode when playing tune 
                       fragments in the upper pallet or in the Blocks Design
                       screen.
     Alt F6            Switch scales. This toggles the current design scale
                       between "a" and "b". The current design scale is used
                       to play tune fragments in the upper pallet or in the
                       Blocks Design screen.
     +                 Toggle the cursor between the canvas and the upper 
                       pallet.
     -                 Toggle the cursor between the canvas and the lower
                       pallet.
     1 - 8             Insert a single note into the canvas.
     q - i             Insert a single rest into the canvas.
     a - k             Insert a single interval up into the canvas.
     z - ,             Insert a single interval down into the canvas.
     q                 Quit the help screen. You must press q to continue
                       with the program.

Exit program - This command causes the program to exit back to DOS. Note: your 
work is not automatically saved. If you want to save work, use one of the other 
menu commands to save work to a disk file before exiting the program.

Quit menu - This command removes the menu without executing any other menu 
command.

     Upper Pallet
     ------------

The upper pallet is located directly below the view port. To move the cursor 
from the canvas to the upper pallet type "+". To move the cursor back to the 
canvas type "+" again. The cursor returns to the same position in the canvas. 
The pallet consists of 60 colored blocks. At any time only 30 of the blocks are 

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                          Musical Blocks User's Manual
visible. Either blocks 1 - 30 or blocks 31 - 60 are visible. To switch from one 
set to the other press F2.

There is an arrow which points to the current block or symbol in either the 
upper or lower pallet. The current block or symbol is also shown in the message 
area. If the arrow is pointing to a block in the upper pallet the message area 
also displays the number of the block.

After typing "+" the cursor moves to the block at the same position as the 
arrow. You can move around in the upper pallet using either the cursor keys or 
the joystick, if present. The arrow will follow the cursor as you move. If you 
move off either end of the pallet the cursor will jump to the other end of the 
pallet. When the cursor returns to the canvas the arrow stays pointing to the 
last block which was occupied by the cursor before it returned to the canvas.

Each block in the upper pallet can have a tune fragment associated with it. 
When Musical Blocks is started, the upper pallet is loaded with a default set 
of tune fragments. The default set is stored in two files: start1.blk and 
start2.blk. The first file loads blocks 1 - 30 and the second loads blocks 31 - 
60. You can change the default set by designing a new one using the Blocks 
Design screen and then saving it to disk files start1.blk or start2.blk using 
the "blocks to file" command.

You can change the tune fragments for the blocks by either loading a new set 
using the "get blocks" command or by using the Blocks Design screen to design a 
new block or set of blocks.

To listen to a block in the upper pallet, move the cursor to the block and 
press the space bar. The program will play the tune fragment associated with 
the block. The fragment is played using the current design scale and the 
current tempo setting. Refer to the menu "help" command to see how to change 
these settings.

     Lower Pallet
     ------------

The lower pallet is located directly below the upper pallet. It consists of 26 
special symbols. To move the cursor from the canvas to the lower pallet type   
"-". To move the cursor back to the canvas type "-" again. The cursor returns 
to the same position in the canvas it had before going to the lower pallet.

You can move around in the lower pallet using either the cursor keys or the 
joystick, if present. The arrow will follow the cursor as you move. If you move 
off either end of the pallet the cursor will jump to the other end of the 
pallet. When the cursor returns to the canvas the arrow stays pointing to the 
last special symbol which was occupied by the cursor before it returned to the 
canvas. The current symbol is shown in the message area along with the name of 
the symbol which indicates its action.

Using the lower pallet, you can select any of the 26 special symbols and paint 
then into the canvas. These symbols are used to control the action of the 
cursor and the sound when playing a tune in the canvas. These symbols are 
described below.


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                          Musical Blocks User's Manual
Start - The start symbol has the effect of resetting the "play state" back to 
the "initial play state". (See Chapter IV - Play State and Initial Play State 
for an explanation of these terms.) Normally, the start symbol is just a 
convenient symbol to indicate where to put the cursor before starting to play a 
tune in the canvas. It can also be used within a tune to reset the "play State" 
to the "initial play state".

Staccato - Changes the "current play state" to staccato. Causes music to be 
played staccato. (A short rest is inserted prior to each note played.)

Legato - Changes the current play state to legato. Turns off staccato.

Random move - Randomizes the current play state direction.

Blocker - This symbol appears as an "o" with a slash through it. When it is 
used in the canvas and the cursor enters it during play, it blocks the cursor 
and causes it to reverse direction. At the same time the symbol is toggled to 
the shape of an "o". The next time the cursor enters the symbol, it will not be 
blocked and it will pass through the symbol normally. However, as it passes 
through, the symbol is toggled back to the "o" with slash. Hence, the symbol is 
alternatively toggled from a blocking symbol to a non-blocking symbol.

Connector - When used in the canvas, this symbol creates a connecting path for 
the cursor to follow. That is, the cursor moves through a connector symbol 
normally. It has no other effect.

Once only - When the cursor moves through this symbol, it is erased. Hence, the 
cursor can only move through it one time.

Twice only - When the cursor moves through this symbol, it is changed to a once 
only symbol. Hence, the cursor can only move through it two times. After that, 
it is erased.

Thrice only - When the cursor moves through this symbol, it is changed to a 
twice only symbol. Hence, the cursor can only move through it three times. 
After that, it is erased. The once only, twice only and thrice only symbols can 
be used to limit access to part of your composition.

Disk to all - This symbol is used to allow a composition to call up another 
disk file and continue playing from the composition in that file. This is a 
powerful feature since it allow you to spread a composition over many disk 
files. Hence, you can create a composition of length only limited by the 
storage capacity of your disk! The effect of "disk to all" is just as if you 
picked "disk to all" from the main menu and then were able to continue playing 
without pause. Recall that using the "disk to all" command in the main menu 
replaces both the upper pallet and the canvas contents. When you use the "disk 
to all" special symbol the same thing happens. However, the music continues to 
play as long as the new canvas has a block, colored number or special symbol at 
the cursor position when the new file is loaded. Note: the play state is not 
reset to the initial state when you use this command. 

The "disk to all" special symbol is in the shape of a house. To use it, you 
must first paint the symbol into the canvas, then, using the text mode, type 
the name of the file to load. Then you must paint another "disk to all" special 

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                          Musical Blocks User's Manual
symbol at the end of the file name. Here is how it works. When the cursor 
enters the "disk to all" special symbol the program starts looking for a file 
name. It remembers the letters and numbers that follow. When it encounters the 
next "disk to all" special symbol, it uses the letters and numbers as a file 
name and attempts to read a disk file of that name. If the file exists, it is 
loaded and the play continues. If there is no such file on the disk, the 
program continues using the current canvas and pallet. If this seems confusing, 
there is an example composition on the distribution disk.

Half time - Toggles half speed on or off in the current tempo state. If half 
speed is on, the music is played at one half the normal speed.

Switch scales - Toggles the current scale between scale "a" and scale "b".

Invert notes - Toggles invert notes play state between on and off. (See the 
Play State Section of this Chapter for an explanation.)

Reverse notes - Toggles reverse notes play state between on and off.

Polyphonic - Toggles polyphonic play state between on and off.

Faster - Increase the tempo of the music being played. There are a total of 15 
tempo steps. Each time the cursor passes through this symbol the tempo is 
increased by one step. If the tempo is already at its fastest, the symbol has 
no effect.

Slower - Decrease the tempo of the music. Each time the cursor passes through 
this symbol the tempo is decreased by one step. If the tempo is already at its 
slowest, the symbol has no effect.

One way up - This is just like a one way street sign. It prevents the cursor 
from moving in a downward direction. Hence, if the cursor enters this symbol 
moving downward, the cursor reverses direction and moves upward.

One way down - Prevents the cursor from moving in an upward direction.

One way right - Prevents the cursor from moving left.

One way left - Prevents the cursor from moving right.

Left switch - This is a switch like a railroad switch. Every time the cursor 
enters this symbol it is switch between a left and a right switch. The left 
switch also may cause the current cursor direction to be changed as follows: 
Let the top of the screen be direction N (north). Then there a eight possible 
directions that the cursor may have when entering a symbol which are N, NE, E, 
SE, S, SW, W, and NW. The left switch changes these directions as shown below.

           Direction Entering Left Sw    Direction Changed to
           --------------------------    -------------------
                       N                             NW
                       NE                            SW
                       E                             SE
                       SE                            SE
                       S                             SE
                       SW                            NE
                       W                             NW
                       NW                            NW

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                          Musical Blocks User's Manual

That is, if the direction coming in is NW or SE, the symbol has no effect. If 
the direction coming in is NE or SW, the symbol causes the direction to be 
reversed which blocks the movement of the cursor in that direction. For other 
directions coming in, the direction is changed to either NW or SE which is 
along the direction of the switch. Note: the cursor will only leave the switch 
symbol in the new direction if there is a symbol connected to the switch symbol 
in that direction. Otherwise, the program will search for the closest direction 
to the new direction that a symbol connects and will exit the switch symbol in 
that direction.

Right switch - Similar to left switch. Switches to left switch. The direction 
of the cursor entering this switch is changed as follows:

           Direction Entering Right Sw         Direction Changed to
           ---------------------------         --------------------
                       N                             NE
                       NE                            NE
                       E                             NE
                       SE                            NW
                       S                             SW
                       SW                            SW
                       W                             SW
                       NW                            SE

Horizontal switch - Similar to other switches. Switches to vertical switch. The 
direction of the cursor entering this switch is changed as follows:

           Direction Entering Hor Sw           Direction Changed to
           -------------------------           --------------------
                       N                             S
                       NE                            NE
                       E                             E
                       SE                            E
                       S                             N
                       SW                            W
                       W                             W
                       NW                            W

Vertical switch - Similar to other switches. Switches to horizontal switch. The 
direction of the cursor entering this switch is changed as follows:

           Direction Entering Vert Sw          Direction Changed to
           ---------------------------         --------------------
                       N                             N
                       NE                            N
                       E                             W
                       SE                            S
                       S                             S
                       SW                            S
                       W                             E
                       NW                            N

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                          Musical Blocks User's Manual

Stop - Causes the music to stop. Control of the cursor is returned to the user. 
This has the same effect as pressing the space bar while a composition is being 
played. It is used to end a composition.

     Play State
     ----------

Normally you should paint blocks, symbols or colored numbers in such a way that 
they are connected together either top, bottom, left, right, or diagonally. If 
the cursor is then placed on one of the painted symbols and the space bar 
pressed, the program will play the tune. This is accomplished as follows: The 
program will play or interpret the block, symbol or colored number underneath 
the cursor. The program then uses an algorithm to decide which neighboring 
square of the canvas to move to. (An algorithm is a way of doing something.) 
The program always moves the cursor to a neighboring square which is not black. 
The program then plays or interprets the block or symbol in that square, and so 
on. This will go on forever unless the special "stop" symbol is encountered. 
(The stop symbol is the dark smiley face in the lower pallet.) If the cursor 
moves onto the "stop" symbol the cursor stops and control is returned to you. 
You can also stop the tune at any time by pressing the space bar.

To understand how Musical Blocks strings together tune fragments and interprets 
special symbols when playing a tune in the canvas, it is important to 
understand the concept of "play state". When a tune is being played and the 
cursor is momentarily over some square of the canvas, the program is in a "play 
state" which continuously changes as the cursor moves. The "play state" 
consists of ten "states". These are the following:

     1) Current symbol. This is the symbol currently under the cursor. The 
current symbol contains information which tells the program how to play the 
tune, how to change the "play state" and how to move.
     2) Current scale. This can be scale "a" or scale "b".
     3) Current note. Musical blocks has a tonal range of 5 octaves. There can 
be from 1 to 200 intervals per octave. (The default is 12 intervals but you can 
set it to any number from 1 to 200.) Let INV be the number of intervals per 
octave. Then there are 5INV possible intervals which can sound in a tune. The 
current note is a number from 1 to 5INV and is the interval of the first note 
which will sound when the cursor enters the block or symbol. The current note 
is changed by the cursor entering either a block of any color or a colored 
number which is yellow or green (colored numbers are explained below). These 
symbols direct the program to change the current note by specifying that the 
current note move either up or down a specified number of intervals. The pitch 
that a tune fragment will be played at depends on the current note when the 
block is entered. Hence, tune fragments associated with blocks will sound 
differently depending on the value of the current note when the block is 
entered. The current note can be continuously changing as the cursor moves from 
block to block. This concept is one of the key features of Musical Blocks. It 
allows a fairly small number of blocks to be chained together to create an 
almost infinite variety of melodic passages.
     4) Current direction. As the cursor moves from a symbol into another 
symbol it moves in one of 8 directions (N (which is up), NE, E, SE, S, SW, W, 
NW). This is the current direction. The current direction is used by an 
algorithm to determine how to move from the current symbol to the next symbol. 
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                          Musical Blocks User's Manual
Normally, the program will try to continue to move in the current direction. 
However, if it cannot, it will search left and right around the current 
direction to find the closest direction to the current direction that the 
cursor can use to move into the next symbol. Some of the special symbols are 
used to modify the current direction.

In addition, you can change the current direction at any time by pressing a 
cursor key or moving the joystick. The current direction is changed to the 
direction of the cursor key or joystick movement. Hence, you can navigate 
around the painted canvas at will, modifying the sequence in which blocks are 
entered and played.
     5) Current tempo. The current tempo is the tempo that the music is 
currently played at. There are 15 possible tempo settings. The tempo can be 
increased or decreased by using the special "faster" and "slower" symbols. 
These are explained in Chapter IV.
     6) Current half speed state. The program can play music at normal or half 
speed. This state is toggled back and forth by using the special "half speed" 
symbol.
     7) Current legato/staccato state. The program can play music either legato 
or staccato. When the state is staccato, each note starts with a short rest. 
When the state is legato, notes do not have the short rest between them. This 
state is set by using the "staccato" and "legato" special symbols.
     8) Current invert notes state. Normally, the program interprets a positive 
interval to mean raise the pitch of the note to sound. However, the program can 
be directed to do the opposite. That is, it will interpret a positive interval 
to mean lower the pitch. This is controlled by the current invert notes state. 
This state is toggled by using the "invert notes" special symbol.
     9) Current reverse notes state. Normally, the program plays the notes of a 
tune fragment in a block from left to right. However, the program can be 
directed to play the notes from right to left. This is controlled by the 
current reverse notes state. This state is toggled by using the "reverse notes" 
special symbol. (Note: The reverse notes state has no effect on music which is 
composed using the colored numbers. However, the invert notes state does effect 
music composed using the colored numbers.)

     10) Current polyphonic state. The program can interpret blocks and colored 
numbers in one of two ways. This is controlled by the polyphonic state. If the 
polyphonic state is off then all notes are played sequentially, one after 
another. The tune sounds as a melody only. If polyphonic is on then the program 
can play the tune as a two-part harmony. This is accomplished by reading blocks 
or single notes (using colored numbers) in pairs. Then the program plays both 
blocks or notes at the same time, producing a two part harmony. Since, in fact, 
the PC is only capable of playing one note at a time, this is accomplished by 
rapidly switch back and forth between the two notes of the harmony. The effect 
is not ideal, but it does allow a harmony effect which you may choice to use in 
your compositions. There are some examples of polyphonic tunes included with 
the program. Note: when playing two notes or blocks together, if the duration 
of the tune fragment from one block or note is shorter than the other, the 
block or note is extended to the duration of the longer block or note by adding 
a rest of the correct length. Hence, the music is synchronized to step along in 
units of two blocks or notes. In addition, because of the switching back and 
forth, the tempo will be reduced in half.


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                          Musical Blocks User's Manual
In Chapter V. there is a Section entitled "Tune Fragments". The concept of a 
tune fragment is fully explained there. Reading that Section is necessary to 
fully understand how a tune made of blocks with associated tune fragments will 
sound in Musical Blocks.

     Initial Play State
     ------------------

At the start of playing a tune, (when you place the cursor on a block, special 
symbol, or colored number and press the space bar), the program is in the 
"initial play state". In the initial play state the ten states have the 
following values:

     1) Current symbol. It is the symbol under the cursor.
     2) Current scale. It is scale "a"
     3) Current note. It is the lowest note in the third octave.
     4) Current direction. It is north which is up.
     5) Current tempo. It is tempo 8 (out of a range of 1 to 15).
     6) Current half speed state. Half speed is off.
     7) Current legato/staccato state. It is legato.
     8) Current invert notes state. Invert is off.
     9) Current reverse notes state. Reverse is off.
     10)Current polyphonic state. Polyphonic is off.

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                          Musical Blocks User's Manual

V.   Blocks Design Screen

The Blocks Design screen is used to design tune fragments for any or all of the 
60 individual musical blocks in the upper pallet. To get to this screen, from 
the Main screen, type F1 to bring down the main menu and them type "m" to 
execute the "make blocks" command. The Blocks Design screen will appear. The 
screen contains three main areas which are the Message area, the Grand Staff 
and the Help area.

     Message Area
     ------------

At the top of the screen is a message area. From left to right, the message 
area contains four fields. First, the key signature is shown. You can set the 
key signature to any of 12 keys by using commands which are discussed below. 
Next is the current design scale which can be either a or b. The current design 
scale is discussed in Chapter IV., Canvas and Pallets. Next is shown the 
current design tempo. If half time is on, a "h" is shown. If the tempo has been 
set either slower or faster than the default, then one or more "slower" or 
"faster" special symbols will be shown in this area. Finally, at the extreme 
right is shown a block icon. In this icon is the number of the block currently 
being designed. These numbers can range from 1 to 30 or from 31 to 60, 
depending on which of the two upper pallets is selected in the Main screen.

     Help Area
     ---------

The bottom of the screen is for display of help on commands which can be used 
in the Blocks Design screen. Initially, the area only displays the message "F1 
help". To view the help information, type F1. Since there is more information 
available than can be displayed in this area at one time, Typing F1 again will 
bring up help on more commands. Typing F1 a third time gives information on 
another set of commands. Typing F1 again removes the information from this 
area. Each of these commands will be described shortly.

     Grand Staff
     -----------

The third screen area shows a musical Grand Staff. The tune fragment associated 
with the current block appears on this staff as a sequence of numbers, either 
normal or reverse video. These numbers represent the duration of notes or 
rests. The rests are shown in reverse video and the notes in normal video. The 
vertical position of these numbers represent the pitch of the notes. (Note: 
although the rests also have a vertical position, it has no effect.)

There is a cursor in the Grand Staff area. It is in the shape of a circle. The 
cursor can be moved using either the up, down, left, or right cursor keys or 
the joystick. Note that the cursor will not move to the right of the last note 
or rest in the Grand Staff. If you move the cursor above, below, or between the 
staffs notice that a ledger line will appear through the cursor. This is to 
help in composing or transcribing music onto the Grand Staff by showing the 
pitch of the note at the cursor position. Note also that as the cursor is moved 
vertically it appears to be positioned either on a line, a space, or half way 
                                       22
                          Musical Blocks User's Manual
between a line and a space. Positions which are on a line or space represent 
pitches which are in the scale of the key shown in the message area. Positions 
which are half way between a line and a space represent sharps or flats which 
are not in the key signature. (Note: this applies to 12 tone scales only. The 
interpretation of the cursor position and Grand Staff for scales in which there 
are fewer or more than 12 tones per octave is discussed below.)

To add a note or rest to a tune fragment, simply move the cursor to the desired 
vertical and horizontal position and then type the duration of the note or 
rest. Notes or rests can range from 1 unit duration to 64 units duration. To 
enter a note of duration greater than 9, just type both digits of the number. 
The second digit will appear under the first. If you type a number greater than 
64 the program will beep at you and not accept the second digit. To enter 
rests, use the keys q to p to enter reverse video digits in the range of 1 to 9 
and 0. To determine the reverse video digit which will appear, look at the 
corresponding number in the top row of your keyboard and then move down, 
diagonally, one row to the key to strike. For example, to enter a reverse video 
6, type a "y". To enter a new note or rest at the end of the current tune 
fragment, move the cursor to the right, as far as it will go. Then move it 
vertically to the desired note. Finally, enter the note or rest. To insert a 
note in the middle of the tune, move the cursor to the position of the note or 
rest you wish to insert a note before. Then move it vertically to the desired 
note and enter the note or rest. The new note or rest will be inserted to the 
left of the cursor position and all notes and rests to the right of the new 
note will be moved right, one column. To delete a note or rest, move the cursor 
to the same column as the note or rest and then press the Del key. The note or 
rest in that column is deleted and all notes and rests to the right are moved 
over one column. You may also delete the last note in the tune fragment by 
moving the cursor to the extreme right and type typing Del. You may only enter 
as many notes or rests as will fit on the screen. If you are working on a 
longer composition, it is necessary to break it into a number of sections and 
then enter each section into a separate block. These blocks can be used 
together by painting them onto the Main screen canvas.

There are a large number of additional commands which can be used to compose 
and modify tune fragments. All these commands are listed in the help area below 
the Grand Staff. These commands are listed and explained below. However, in 
order to understand some of these commands, some additional program concepts 
must be explained. First, consider the meaning of the current key signature. Go 
into the blocks Design Screen and create a tune fragment (or just use the one 
already there). Now type F7 for key down or F8 for key up. Note that the Grand 
Staff moves, respectively, up or down and that the key signature changes. If 
the key signature started at C, typing F8 will change it to D flat, then D, 
then E flat, etc. That is, the key moves up the scale. Likewise, typing F7 
changes the key from C to B, then to B flat, then to A, etc. Each time you type 
one of these commands, press the space bar to play the tune fragment. Notice 
that the pitch of the tune does not change. What you are doing is not changing 
the scale of the tune fragment, you are just creating a transposition from 
whatever key you wish to write in to a fixed key which is used in Musical 
Blocks. For example, lets say that you are copying a tune written in E flat 
into Musical Blocks. Use the F8 key to transpose the Grand Staff to E flat, 
then enter your tune. However, you may not wish for the tune to sound in the 
default key used in Musical Blocks. To change the key the tune will sound in, 
first return to the Main screen and paint your tune into the pallet. Then type 
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                          Musical Blocks User's Manual
in either a yellow number to transpose the pitch of tune up, or a green number 
to transpose the pitch of the tune down. You only need to type a single colored 
number at the beginning of the tune in the canvas to change the pitch of the 
entire tune. Tunes can be transposed up or down any number of scale intervals.

     Tune Fragments
     --------------

Next, consider what is meant by a tune fragment in Musical Blocks. A tune 
fragment is a sequence of number pairs consisting of a note or rest duration 
and an interval up or down. For example, one such pair might be (8,2). This 
pair means play a note at the current pitch for 8 units of time at the current 
tempo and then move the pitch up 2 units (a major second in a 12 tone scale). 
If the next pair is (4,1) then the next note is held for 4 time units at a 
pitch which is 2 units higher than the previous note. The pitch is then moved 
up 1 unit. The next note to sound will sound at this new pitch. Now a tune 
fragment will be used in a composition by being painted into the pallet as a 
block. It will, typically, be proceeded by and succeeded by other tune 
fragments. The pitch of the first note of any tune fragment is not absolute. 
Rather, it is the current pitch at the end of the previous tune fragment. 
Likewise, the first pitch of the next tune fragment is the current pitch at the 
end of the current tune fragment. In the Blocks Design screen, you enter tune 
fragments into a block by setting notes, rests, and intervals up and down. In 
order for the above description to hold, it is necessary to also enter an 
interval up or down to follow the last note or rest of the tune fragment. This 
final interval will control the pitch of the first note in the succeeding tune 
fragment played. This final interval is termed the "exit interval". The exit 
interval is graphically shown as a red, vertical bar at the extreme right of 
the Grand Staff. The exit interval can be moved up by striking the "-" key and 
moved down by striking the "+" key. Each time one of these keys is pressed, the 
exit interval moves up or down one interval in the current scale. Here is an 
example. Let's say the key signature is C and that you have set block 1 to be 
the tune fragment C, D, E and the exit interval is at D. (The duration of these 
notes isn't to the discussion.) Now let's say that in the Main screen canvas, 
you paint block 1 twice, side by side so that the cursor will pass through a 
block 1 two times. Let's also assume that when the first block 1 is entered in 
the canvas the current pitch is C. Then the following notes will be played (12 
tone scale): C, D, E, D, E, F sharp. The notes C, D, E are played the first 
time block 1 is entered. Then, because the exit interval is D, the first note 
that sounds the second time a block 1 is entered is D. Since the intervals 
between C and D, and between D and E are both major seconds, the tune fragment 
which sounds the second time block 1 is entered must also have these intervals 
between notes. Since the first note to sound will be D, the next two notes are 
E and F sharp. This is because there is the interval of a major second between 
D and E, and between D and F sharp. This action is illustrated below. (The exit 
interval is shown in square brackets.)

                                                                 F sharp
                                                           2 up        [2 dn]
                       2 up    E               2 up   E
           2 up    D               [2 dn] D
       C


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To complete this example, consider that the first block 1 is, instead, entered 
such that the first note to sound is E. Then the above example can be redraw to 
show the new interval relationships. This is shown below

                                                                 A sharp
                                                           2 up        [2 dn]
                       2 up  G sharp           2 up  G sharp
           2 up  F sharp           [2 dn]F sharp
       E

To summarize, the notes to sound depend on the current interval entering the 
block, the intervals between notes, and the exit interval. The intervals 
between notes and the exit interval are the tune fragment designed using the 
Blocks Design screen. The interval entering the block will depend on how the 
block is painted into the canvas and the movement of the cursor during playing 
of the composition.

     Non-Twelve Tone Scales
     ----------------------

Next consider the use of scales with more or less than 12 intervals per octave. 
You should feel confident that you understand what is meant by a musical 
fragment in Musical Blocks before reading this section. You may want to use 
Musical Blocks with only 12 tone scales for awhile before attempting to learn 
and apply other types of scales. If so, this Section can be skipped and read 
later.

Musical Blocks is not bound to the traditional western scale which consists of 
12, equal tempered intervals per octave. You may set the number of intervals 
per octave to be any number between 1 and 200. In addition, Musical Blocks 
maintains two scales at any time. These are scale a and scale b. Each of these 
scales may have any number of intervals per octave, independent of the other. 
The Blocks Design screen has special features which allow you to write tune 
fragments using nontraditional scales easily. But first, lets revisit the tune 
fragment. No matter how many intervals per octave are used in a scale, the tune 
fragment still is a sequence of number pairs consisting of a note or rest 
duration and an interval up or down. However, the number which represents an 
interval up or down is to be interpreted as an interval in the scale. To be 
more specific, consider that a scale has 36 notes per octave. Then an interval 
of 36 represents an octave. An interval of 6 represents an interval of a major 
second. An interval of 5 does not have any correspondence in a 12 tone scale. 
Now consider what these same intervals mean in a 12 tone scale. An interval of 
36 represents 3 octaves. An interval of 6 is an augmented 4th while an interval 
of 5 is a perfect 4th. Hence, the numerical form of a tune fragment is 
identical, no matter how many intervals per octave. However, the meaning of the 
intervals, how they sound to the ear, is entirely different.

To learn how to design tune fragments using nonwestern scales, go to the Main 
screen and using the intervals command, set the number of intervals per octave 
for scale a to be 36. Now return to the Blocks Design screen. Set the key 
signature to C and clear the tune fragment using the back space key. The cursor 
should be resting on middle C. Now press the up arrow cursor key 36 times. The 
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cursor will slowly move upward. After 36 key strokes it will have moved exactly 
one octave up. The movement of the cursor has been scaled to correspond to the 
greater number of intervals per octave. Note that some of the times the cursor 
key was pressed, the cursor did not move. This is because the display does not 
have enough resolution to show all 36 intervals in the octave. However, the 
pitch is changing by one scale interval each time you press the cursor key. 
Hence, you can access any scale interval by using the cursor keys. Scaling the 
movement of the cursor allows the display to represent, approximately, the 
tonal intervals between notes as the nearest approximate interval in a 12 tone 
scale. You will find this extremely helpful in working with nonwestern scales 
since you can approximately set the interval visually and then modify it using 
the "note up" and "note down" keys described later in this Section.

Consider an example. Assume that you have set scale a to 36 intervals per 
octave. In the Blocks Design screen, enter the notes C, D, E. (You will need to 
strike the cursor up arrow 6 times to move between each of these notes.) Now 
sound this fragment by pressing the space bar. It should sound the C, D, E of a 
12 tone scale. Now type alt F6. This switches the current design scale from a 
to b. Assuming that scale b has 12 intervals per octave, you will notice that 
the notes on the Grand Staff move apart. The notes shown are now C, F# and C, 
an octave higher. This is because Musical Blocks stored the tune fragment as 
numerical note or rest durations and intervals. If you switch the number of 
intervals per octave, the internal representation of the tune fragment does not 
change. However, the interpretation of the tune fragment does change. In this 
example, the intervals between notes which were entered were 6 and 6. These 
represent intervals of a major second in a 36 tone scale. However, when the 
scale was switched to a 12 tone scale, the numerical interval of 6 represents 
an augmented 4th and two 6 intervals represents an octave. Hence, the same 
internal tune fragment will sound entirely differently if the number of notes 
per octave is changed. (Press the space bar to hear the fragment.)

Now if you are working with a scale which has a large number of notes per 
octave, it may be tedious to have to keep striking the up or down cursor keys 
in order to move the cursor a significant distance up or down. To allow faster 
cursor movements in these cases, four special key commands have been provided. 
The PgUp key can be used to move the cursor up to the scale interval which is 
nearest the next note up in a 12 tone scale. Likewise, the PgDn key is used to 
move the cursor down to the scale interval which is nearest the next note down 
in a 12 tone scale. The alt F4 key moves the exit interval up the same way 
while the alt F3 key moves the exit interval down the same way.

If, instead, your scale has fewer than 12 tones per octave, the arrow cursor 
keys are to be used to move the cursor up and down. In these cases, the cursor 
will sometimes move more than a single 12 tone interval when the cursor is 
pressed once. This is because for scales with less than 12 tones per octave, 
the intervals are larger than the intervals in a 12 tone scale. The Musical 
Blocks program will always move the cursor to the position of the closest note 
in the 12 tone scale to the note in your scale.

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     Blocks Design Screen Commands
     -----------------------------

There are a large number of commands which are used to design tune fragments in 
the Blocks Design screen. These commands are now all listed and briefly 
described.

F1 - help. Brings up help on the command keys. Type again to get help on 
additional keys.

F2 - return. Type to return to the Main screen.

F3 - copy. Copies the current tune fragment into a buffer.

F4 - paste. Used to paste a tune fragment which was copied into the buffer into 
another block. The current contents of the block are deleted prior to the paste 
operation. Copy and paste are useful if you need to create a new tune fragment 
which is a modification of an existing one. Simple copy and paste the fragment 
and make the modifications.

F5 - slower. Reduces the current design tempo by one tempo setting. There are a 
total of 15 tempo settings. Notice that typing a F5 will cause a "slower" 
special symbol to appear in the message area or to cause a "faster" special 
symbol to be erased.

F6 - faster. Increases the current design tempo by one tempo setting. Typing F6 
will cause a "faster" special symbol to appear in the message area or to cause 
a "slower" special symbol to be erased.

F7 - key down. Moves the key signature down one 12 tone scale interval.

F8 - key up. Moves the key signature up one 12 tone scale interval.

F9 - block down. Reduces the current block number by one. In the Block design 
screen you can access either blocks 1 through 30 or blocks 31 through 60. You 
will need to return to the Main screen and press F2 to switch pallets to access 
the other set of 30 blocks. If you are currently at block 1 and press F9 the 
index will change to block 30. If you are at block 31 and press F9 the index 
will change to block 60.

F10 - block up. Increases the current block number by one. If you are at block 
30 and press F10 the index will change to 1. If you are at block 60 and press 
F10 the index will change to 31.

space - play. Pressing causes the tune fragment in the current block to be 
played. The exit interval does not sound.

back space - delete tune fragment. Typing a back space will delete all the 
notes in the tune fragment of the current block.

p- play with exit interval. Same as pressing the space bar except that the exit 
interval is also sounded. This indicates the pitch of the first note in the 
next block which will sound if the current block is followed by any other 
block.


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alt F3 - exit down 12. Used to facilitate cursor movement when the number of 
notes per octave is greater than 12. Pressing this key combination causes the 
exit interval to move down to the pitch which is closest to a pitch in the 12 
tone scale. The exit interval bar moves to indicate this.

alt F4 - exit up 12. Similar to exit down 12 except that the exit interval 
moves up to the pitch which is closest to a pitch in the 12 tone scale.

alt F5 - half time. Toggles half time on/off in the current design tempo. This 
will cause the tune fragment to sound or not sound at half tempo when the space 
bar is pressed.

alt F6 - switch scales. Switches the current design scale from a to b or from b 
to a.

+ - exit down. Causes the exit interval to move down one interval in the 
current scale.

- - exit up. Causes the exit interval to move up one interval in the current 
scale.

Home - note up. Causes the note or rest in the same column as the cursor to 
move up one scale interval. This is useful to modify a tune fragment without 
the need to delete a note and then insert a new one.

End - note down. Causes the note or rest in the same column as the cursor to 
move down one scale interval.

PgUp - cursor up 12. To be used when the number of scale intervals is greater 
than 12 per octave. Moves the cursor up a number of intervals to the closest 
pitch to a pitch in the 12 tone scale. Note: if the number of notes in the 
scale is a multiple of 12, this pitch will be exactly equal to a pitch in the 
12 tone scale. You may find it useful to set the number of notes per octave to 
be 36, 48, 60, etc. and then use this command and the next one to select notes 
which can be found exactly in the 12 tone scale. You can then use the cursor 
keys to slightly sharpen or flatten some notes to create special effects.

PgDn - Cursor down 12. To be used when the number of notes per octave is 
greater than 12. Moves the cursor down a number of intervals to the closest 
pitch in the current scale to a pitch in the 12 tone scale.

Up, down, left, right cursor keys - move cursor. Used to move the cursor. Up 
and down moves the cursor one interval in the current scale. Note that you 
cannot move the cursor past the last note or rest entered in the block.

number 1 through 9 and 0 - note durations. Used to enter note durations. To 
enter note durations greater than 9, enter both digits in direct succession. 
The second digit will appear directly below the first. Note durations from 1 
to  64 are allowed.

letters q through p - rest durations. Used to enter rest durations. To enter 
rest durations greater than 9, enter both digits in direct succession. The 
second digit will appear directly below the first. Rest durations from 1 to 64 
are allowed. Rest durations appear in reversed video.

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VI.  Saving and Restoring Files

From the main screen, if you enter any of the following commands, the File 
Access screen will appear: 

           screen to file
           file to screen
           blocks to file
           get blocks
           all to disk
           disk to all

The File Access screen shows the names of all the disk files of the type you 
may want to save or restore. The names of the files are shown in the central, 
rectangular area. If there are more files than can fit in the rectangle, the 
message "F2 more" will appear at the top right of the screen. You may press F2 
to see another screen's worth of files. The message "F1 return" also appears at 
the top left. If for some reason you do not wish to continue with a file 
operation, type F1 to return to the Main screen.

At the bottom of the screen you are prompted to type the name of the file you 
wish to retrieve or to store. Enter the name without extensions. When you are 
finished, type a carriage return. (If the file name is 8 characters long, the 
carriage return is not necessary.) If you are retrieving a file and it is not 
to be found on the disk, the program will print an error message across the 
screen. Type any key to clear this message and return to the Main screen. If 
you are storing a file and the file already exists, the program will display a 
message to the effect and ask if you wish to overwrite the file. Type "y" to 
overwrite and "n" to abort the operation.

Musical blocks only looks for files in the current directory. Likewise, new 
files are stored in the current directory. If you are using a system without a 
hard disk and there is not enough room to store additional files, do the 
following. Start up Musical Blocks using the program disk or a backup copy. 
Then remove the program disk and insert a disk containing your musical files. 
After the program starts up, the program disk is no longer needed. Hence, you 
can insert one or more disks to hold any number of musical files.

When the screen is saved to a file using the screen to file command, the file 
name entered by you will be given the extension .scr. When the blocks to file 
command is used to save the upper pallet, the file name entered by you is given 
the extension .blk. When the all to disk command is used to save both the 
screen and all 60 blocks to disk, the file name entered by you is given the 
extension .all. (You do not enter or see the file extensions from within the 
program.)

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VII.       Musical Selections on Disk

There are a number of files containing musical transcriptions or new 
compositions on the distribution disk. These are for your enjoyment and to show 
examples of how to create music with the program. To access these selections 
bring down the main menu and select the "disk to all" command. Type the name of 
one of the files shown on the file access screen to load it into the program. 
The selections on disk are described in this Chapter. You may find the 
descriptions helpful in understanding how the selections were written. You may 
wish to use or modify the ideas described here in your own compositions.

The first group of files consists of some straightforward transcriptions of 
musical compositions into Musical Blocks. This group consists of the files 
"rondo", "polly", "prelude", "lasvacas", "greenslv", "range", "barber", 
"mandolin", "canarios", and "johnny". These transcriptions were done as 
follows. First, both the upper and lower pallets were cleared. This is done by 
using the "get blocks" command and getting the file named "blank". This loads 
the pallet with a blank set of tune fragments. This should be done for both 
pallets. Then, after the new composition is completed, the pallets will only 
contain tune fragments for it. This saves space when the composition is saved 
to disk.

Next, go to the Blocks Design Screen and set the key signature to correspond to 
that on the music you plan to make a transcription for. Then decide how you 
will break up the music into fragments, one per block. Larger fragments mean 
that you will need to use fewer blocks. This is sometimes important if the 
piece is long. However, if you plan to reuse the fragments to create a 
variation on the original, it is better to use shorter fragments. This will 
provide greater  flexibility in configurating new tunes using the fragments. 
Also, shorter fragments means that when the piece is played, there will be more 
cursor movement. This results in a more interesting visual effect. If the piece 
is short I typically put one or two measures into each block. Often, notes are 
held from one measure into the next. In these cases, both measures should be 
put into the same block. The held note becomes a single note duration.

You will also need to decide the duration of notes in the composition to be 
transcribed. Look for the shortest note in the composition. It must be assigned 
a duration of at least one. However, this is usually too short and a duration 
of 4 to 8 is recommended. Another thing you should look for is note grouping 
such as triplets. As an example, if the shortest notes in the composition are 
16th notes and there are also 16th note triplets, it will be necessary to 
assign durations which are correct for both rhythms. In this case a duration 
for the 16th notes of 3 and a duration of the 16th note triple of 4 works. This 
is because four 16th notes results in a duration of 12 which is the same as the 
duration of three 16th note triples. In this case, an 8th note will have a 
duration of 6, a quarter note a duration of 12, a half note a duration of 24, 
and a whole note a duration of 48. The actual durations of these notes can then 
be modified using the faster, slower, or half time special symbols. In some 
cases, it is not possible to exactly set the duration of all notes in a 
composition. In these cases, it is usually ok to just approximate the duration.

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Another situation that comes up often with transcriptions is that the same note 
pitch is repeated two or more times. To achieve good articulation, it is best 
to put a short rest between these notes. This rest may need to have duration of 
only 1 or 2. So that each note begins on the beat, the duration of any such 
rest should be subtracted from the end of the duration of the previous note.

Once durations are determined, start at the beginning of the piece and 
transcribe it into Musical Blocks using your plan on how to divide the piece 
into blocks. Use the F9 and F10 keys to move between blocks and the space bar 
to play the tune fragments.

It is also a good idea to plan the visual pattern you want to achieve. This 
will be somewhat controlled by the length of the piece and the number of 
measures per each tune fragment. You should determine the total number of 
blocks your transcription will have and then plan a pleasing pattern on the 
canvas. After a few blocks have been written, go back to the Main Screen and 
begin to build your pattern. Listen to what you have written so far to make 
sure there are no mistakes. You may also want to use some of the special 
symbols in the transcription. For example, in the transcription of "canarios", 
I put a connector between each block. This just gives variety to the appearance 
of the composition. Other special symbols can be used to implement repeats or 
to create variety. For example, examine the composition "studie". I have used a 
switch symbol to make the cursor go around some of the blocks twice. The second 
time around the switch is set to send the cursor to a stop symbol. This creates 
a repeat. Also notice that a staccato symbol is used to change the character of 
the sound on the first time around the repeat.

To add phrasing to a transcription, you may want to make tempo changes at 
various points. For example, it is common to retard slightly at the end of 
sections or the end of the piece. The slow special symbol can be inserted to do 
this. The faster special symbol is then used to restore the tempo to its 
previous value. For an example, see the transcription of "rondo" which has 
slight tempo changes both in the middle and at the end of the piece.

Note: when doing a transcription or any other composition, it isn't necessary 
to consider the key the piece will sound in until it is completely written. The 
yellow and green colored numbers can be used to transpose the entire piece up 
or down. For example, look at the transposition of "canarios". The yellow 
number 1 is used to transpose the key up a minor second. Try changing this 
number to some other yellow or green number and listen to the effect.

Another group of transcriptions on disk use the colored numbers. Typically, 
this are more difficult to work with since you must think about intervals 
between notes. However, they are fun to do and provide an interesting visual 
effect. These pieces are "egyptian" and "drunken". In "egyptian" I placed the 
number so that they go up the screen when the pitch goes up, and down when the 
pitch goes down. In "drunken" I showed something interesting you can do using 
the invert special symbol. After playing the drunken sailor forward, the invert 
symbol is used to invert all the intervals. This causes the tune to be played 
backwards! If blocks instead of colored numbers had been used, it would be 
necessary to use both the invert and the reverse special symbols to achieve the 
same effect.

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There are a couple of examples of the use of the polyphonic special symbol. 
These are the files "invent" and "invent8". These are transcriptions of J.S. 
Bach's two part Inventions numbers one and eight. If you plan to write 
polyphonic music with Musical Blocks, these files are useful to see how to do 
it. For example, look at file "invent". After the start symbol and faster 
symbol, there is a polyphonic symbol. This will cause the following blocks to 
be blended together to create a polyphonic effect. Each pair of two blocks will 
be played together. The duration of each pair is the duration of the longer of 
the two blocks. The faster symbol will speed up both blocks. There are two 
yellow number sixes. These are used to change the key of one each of the block 
pairs. Hence, after a polyphonic symbol, the yellow numbers apply to only one 
of the following block pairs. This allows the pitch of the blocks to be changed 
independently. Later in the piece there is a slower symbol. This applies to 
both blocks of the pair. Later on, there is another polyphonic symbol. This 
turns off the polyphonic effect. This is followed by a "disk to all" symbol and 
the string "invent8". This is then followed by another "disk to all" symbol. 
The effect of these symbols and the string is that the program will load the 
disk file "invent8" and continue to play that file. For this to work, the first 
block, colored number, or special symbol of "invent8" must have the same 
position on the canvas as the second "disk to all" symbol. If you play "invent" 
you will see this feature in action. I also recommend that you bring up the 
Blocks Design Screen for "invent" or "invent8" and see how the two polyphonic 
lines are written using the blocks.

A longer transcription which makes use of switches and polyphonic is file 
"vamozart". This piece is a variation on a theme by Mozart written by Fernando 
Sor for the Guitar. The theme and all but the last variation are repeated. The 
repeats are handled using switch symbols. Some one way symbols are used to 
prevent the cursor from going in the wrong direction. Since one of the 
variations was more polyphonic than the others, I choose to use the polyphonic 
mode for it. I found this piece a tricky to write because of the use of the 
switches and one way symbols.

Finally, I will describe some of my attempts at original compositions. The 
first composition is in file centiped. The canvas pattern may look a bit like a 
centipede with switches for legs. This piece uses a total of 10 distinct 
blocks. The polyphonic mode is used so that tune fragments of blocks are 
combined. Both scales are used and they are distinctly non-western. Scale a is 
set to 113 intervals per octave. Scale b is set to 79 interval per octave. The 
pattern contains a number of random direction symbols. There is a switch scale 
symbol in the middle of the bottom track. Once started, the random movement 
combines pairs of blocks in many ways. The two scales and the random switching 
of scales results in many interval changes. The eerie effect is, perhaps, 
fitting for some night music of a centipede. You may wish to vary the scale 
intervals or the tune fragments and listen to the change. There are many 
different centipedes under the night!

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The next example is in file weird. This piece definitely lives up to its name. 
The piece only uses 3 distinct tune fragments. Blocks 1 through 6 all have the 
same fragment, but with different exit intervals. Blocks 6 and 7 are different. 
The tune fragments consist of a rapid vibrato between two notes, each with 
duration of 1. The effect is similar to video game sound effects. The canvas 
pattern uses a number of switches to cause the cursor to take one of many paths 
around a loop. Symbols i, r, and s are used to vary the sounds. Both scales are 
used. Scale a has 12 interval and scale b has 13. This gives a slightly out-of-
tune effect. The loop also contains two p symbols which cause the tune to 
switch in and out of polyphonic mode. This completely changes the character of 
the sound. First of all, switching into polyphonic mode reduces the tempo by 
one half. But it also changes the character of the sound, providing a nice 
contrast. You may wish to experiment with scale intervals and different tune 
fragments using this same pattern. For example, I have written an alternative 
set of blocks for weird. Make sure the pallet is set to blocks 1 through 30. 
Then use the get blocks command and select the file weird2. This will replace 
the blocks for weird with another set. Listen to the piece with this set of 
blocks. The possibilities are endless.

The next piece is in file notmuch. I chose the name because there isn't much to 
it. The piece uses only four blocks. Each of these blocks contains the a 
single, identical note. The only differences are the exit intervals. The canvas 
pattern has a central cross of the four blocks with a switch scale symbol in 
the center and four random move symbols. The scales used are 24 intervals per 
octave for a and 6 interval per octave for b. When the piece is started, the 
thrice only symbols are eventually erased until the pattern in the center is 
all that is left. Then the random movement takes over and a surprising variety 
of sound emerges. You may or may not think so. But considering how little went 
into it, the result is better than expected.

The next piece is in file bonnie. This is the familiar tune, (the theme), My 
Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean, followed by a set of my variations on it. The theme 
is written using only colored numbers. The variations were composed by copying 
the numbers which change the pitch up and down (yellow and green numbers), and 
then substituting blocks for the magenta numbers. Recall that these numbers 
indicate the duration of the note. Using a magenta colored number, only a 
single note sounds. But using blocks instead, the single note can be replaced 
by a series of notes. The duration of the sum of all notes in each block must, 
approximately, have the same relationship to the durations of the other blocks 
as do the magenta numbers to each other. This will maintain the rhythm of the 
piece. By varying the contents of the blocks, many different variations are 
possible. I have written three. You may wish to substitute or write additional 
variations.

The next piece is in file ramble. This piece illustrates, in miniature, the 
variety that can result using a small number of tune fragments along with other 
features of the program. There are only 8 tune fragments in the piece. Scale a 
is set to 24 intervals per octave. This setting is used to get quarter tone 
music since there are now quarter tone intervals, rather than semitone 
intervals. However, the tune fragments are written so that all intervals are 
multiples of a semitone. Hence, if only the blocks were used, there would be no 

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quarter tone effect. To achieve this, the green and yellow colored numbers are 
used to change intervals between blocks. If one of the colored numbers is odd, 
this will shift the tune by one or more quarter tones. This is used to reuse 
tune fragments at different semi and quarter tone intervals. Brown colored 
numbers are used to insert pauses in the tune. Other devices used are slower 
and faster symbols to change tempo, staccato and legato symbols to change tune 
character, and invert notes symbol to reuse a block but with different effect. 
The climax is a loop in which the tune rises in quarter tone intervals as the 
tempo grows faster. The final block is played a slow speed to provide a point 
of rest.

The distribution disk also contains two musical mazes. These are maze1 and 
maze2. Maze1 is not too difficult. Just start at the start symbol and try to 
make it to the end symbol. Use either the cursor keys or the joy stick to steer 
the cursor through the maze. If you make it to the end you will be rewarded 
with a tune. Maze2 is very difficult. It consists of 5 files which are 
maze2.all, maze2a.all, maze2b.all, maze2c.all, and maze2d.all. Four of the 
files each contain four screens of mazes. File maze2 connects each of these 
mazes together. The "disk to all" special symbols are used to move between 
files and screen mazes. Again, if you get to the end of the maze you are 
rewarded by a tune. There are many dead ends with little sound effects. For all 
but one of these, you can just turn around and continue the maze. However, 
there is one totally dead end. If you get there, you will need to start up 
again. Good luck, you will need it!

Hopefully, these examples will provide you with a starting point for your own 
compositions. I look forward to hearing from you as a registered user. Please 
send me some samples of your work for inclusion on the Registered User's Tunes 
disk. I am anxious to see what you create with Musical Blocks.

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