~Getting started MIDI Master Drummer Version 2.5 is a graphic rhythm editor and sequencer. It runs in color or monochrome on all Atari ST/STE/TT/Falcon030 systems. If you have a color ST system, you must use medium resolution; for Falcon030 VGA you must be in an 80-column video mode. Assuming that you already have your computer hooked up to your MIDI rig, double-click on MMD_DEMO.PRG to start the program (make sure that the MMD_DEMO.PRG and MMD_DEMO.RSC files are in the same folder). If the optional MMD_HELP.TXT file is also in the same directory, it will be loaded at startup, giving you access to online help during your work session. Master Drummer is divided into three parts: Pattern mode, where patterns are composed; Phrase mode, where the patterns are linked together into musical phrases; and Song mode, where phases are linked together into song parts and song parts are sequenced into a complete song. You can select the mode you need from the Edit menu. ~Setting up a configuration On the left side of the Pattern mode display is a list of sixteen drums, each with its own MIDI note and MIDI channel assignment. In order to use Master Drummer you need to customize these assignments for your particular instruments. TO ENTER A DRUM NAME OR CHANNEL, double-click on the drum name or channel you wish to modify. A dialog box will pop up in which you can enter this information. Valid MIDI channels are numbered from 1 to 16. TO SET A GLOBAL MIDI CHANNEL (i.e. the same MIDI channel for all drum tracks), select "Global channel" from the Edit menu. Click on the up and down arrow buttons in the dialog box to select the desired channel. TO ENTER A DRUM PITCH, double-click on the pitch you wish to change. A seven-octave keyboard will pop up on the screen. As you click on any particular key, the computer will send the correspon- ding note to your instruments over the MIDI channel which you have selected. The seven-octave popup keyboard encompasses MIDI notes 24 to 108 (C1-C8). To access the two octaves below that (MIDI notes 0 to 23), press the computer's key while clicking on the popup keyboard. To access the top octave-and-a-half (MIDI notes 109-127), press the key while clicking on the popup keyboard. While the popup keyboard is being displayed you can also enter drum pitches using a MIDI keyboard or controller. The notes will be displayed on the popup keyboard as you play them. Master Drummer simultaneously "echos" this pitch data to the computer's MIDI output port in order to play any connected drum machines, synths or samplers. If your MIDI keyboard is also your drum synth, you will want to disable this MIDI Thru function in order to avoid doubling the played note. Toggle MIDI Thru on and off by pressing the "Z" key on the computer. (You can also select and deselect MIDI Thru from the Edit menu.) To remove the popup keyboard from the screen, right-click the mouse. All drum names, note assignments, MIDI channel assignments, and randomization parameters (see "Auto-generating drum tracks" below) together make up a Master Drummer Configuration. You can create individual configurations for different drum machines and synthsizers, and save them to disk. TO NAME A CONFIGURATION, select "Name config" from the Edit menu. The configuration name should describe the device it was designed for. Once entered, it will be displayed in the Pattern window's title bar. TO SAVE A CONFIGURATION TO DISK, select "Save" from the File menu and click on the "Configuration" button. The file must have a ".CFG" extension. TO LOAD A CONFIGURATION FILE, select "Load" from the File menu and click on the "Configuration" button. Loading a configura- tion file will replace current configuration data. Note: if you name a configuration file as "DEFAULT.CFG" and keep it in the same folder with MMD_DEMO.PRG, it will auto-load when the program is started. ~Making Patterns The middle of the Pattern mode display is dominated by the Pattern Grid. This grid is actually a graphic representation of one or more measures of music. You'll notice that the default Pattern Grid displays three Measures, each with four Beats, with each beat divided into four Pulses. You can rearrange the Pattern Grid into any number of Measures, Beats, and Pulses you wish, as long as the total number of pulses in any particular pattern does not exceed 48. TO CHANGE THE MEASURES, BEATS, AND PULSES OF A PATTERN, select the "Set Meter" option under the Edit menu. A dialog box will appear and allow you to enter this information. TO ENTER A NOTE IN THE PATTERN GRID, left-click the mouse on the pulse where you want the note to sound. TO ENTER AN ACCENTED NOTE IN THE PATTERN GRID, right-click the mouse on the grid (this is a new Version 2.5 feature; The old shift-key/left-click method of accent entry has also been retained in this version for compatibility). TO DELETE A NOTE FROM THE PATTERN GRID, click the mouse on the note you wish to delete while holding the key on the computer keyboard. TO MAKE A TEMPORARY BACKUP OF A PATTERN IN MEMORY, select "Backup pattern" from the Edit menu. This feature allows you to backup a pattern before you accidentally to mangle it. TO RETRIEVE A BACKUP, select "Retrieve" from the Edit menu. When you retrieve the pattern, the current pattern is swapped with the contents of the backup buffer so you can switch back and forth between the two versions for comparison. TO UNDO THE LAST PATTERN EDIT, press the key on the computer keyboard. When you press Undo, the pattern is swapped with the contents of the Undo buffer so you can switch back and forth for comparison. ~Playing patterns TO SET THE TEMPO in Pattern mode to a specific beats-per- minute value, select the "Set tempo" option from the Clock menu. You can enter any value from 20 to 245 in the dialog box. TO AUTOMATICALLY SET TEMPO BY TAPPING, select the "Autoset tempo" option from the Clock menu. Tap the zero (0) key twice to establish the tempo. Hitting any other key will abort the option. TO PLAY THE PATTERN, click on the PLAY button at the bottom of the display, or press the space bar on the computer keyboard. You can freely edit the pattern while it is playing. TO MUTE A DRUM TRACK WHILE THE PATTERN IS PLAYING, right- click the mouse in the "En" (Enable) column. The "" will change to an "M" to indicate that the track is muted. TO UNMUTE A TRACK, left-click on the "M". The "M" will change back to a "". TO CHANGE PLAYBACK TEMPO ON THE FLY, click and drag the arrow inside the Tempo bar in the lower right hand corner of the display. TO CHANGE PLAYBACK TEMPO INCREMENTALLY, tap on the "<" and ">" keys on the computer keyboard. TO CHANGE THE OVERALL LOUDNESS OF THE PATTERN, click and drag the arrow inside the MIDI Velocity bar in the lower left hand corner of the display. TO CHANGE TEMPO LOUDNESS INCREMENTALLY, tap on the "{" and ""}" keys on the computer keyboard. TO TOGGLE THE METRONOME ON AND OFF press the "T" key on the computer keyboard. TO PAUSE PATTERN PLAYBACK, press the key. Click on the CONTINUE button in the dialog box to resume playback, or press the or key on the computer. TO CHANGE THE CURRENTLY PLAYING PATTERN, press the "up" or "down" arrow keys. TO STOP PLAYBACK, click on the PLAY button again, or press the computer's space bar. ~Pattern editing aids and shortcuts TO SELECT A PATTERN FOR EDITING, click on "Select pattern" under the Edit menu. A large dialog box with the names and numbers of all patterns is displayed with the current pattern highlighted. Click on a pattern to select it. You may also select a pattern by using the four arrow keys on the computer keyboard and pressing . Double-clicking on a pattern in the "Select pattern" dialog allows you to edit the pattern's name without selecting it. TO SELECT PATTERNS IN CONSECUTIVE ORDER, press the "up" and "down" arrow keys on the computer. TO NAME A PATTERN, select "Name pattern" from the Edit menu. TO COPY ONE DRUM TRACK TO ANOTHER WITHIN A PATTERN, OR TO SWAP ONE DRUM TRACK WITH ANOTHER WITHIN A PATTERN, click on the name of the drum track you wish to copy, and drag it to the name of the track you want to copy it to or swap it with. An alert box will inquire whether you wish to copy or swap the tracks. TO ERASE A DRUM TRACK, right-click on the drum name. An alert box will ask if you really want to erase the track. TO COPY ONE PATTERN TO ANOTHER select the "Copy pattern" option under the Edit menu. Enter the pattern number or numbers you wish to copy to in the dialog box. A second dialog is ask whether you want the entire pattern copied, or just those which have been selected (i.e. those with an "S" in the Enable column). TO COPY THE MEASURE, BEAT, AND PULSE SETTINGS OF ONE PATTERN TO ANOTHER (not the notes themselves), select the "Copy meter" option under the Edit menu. Enter the pattern number or numbers you wish to copy to in the dialog box. TO SHIFT THE NOTES IN A PATTERN to the left or right, select the track or tracks you want to shift by clicking in the "En" column while holding down the Alternate key on the computer keyboard. An "S" will appear to indicate that the track has been selected for editing. Then click on the "Shift notes" option under the Edit menu. An alert box will ask if you want to shift the notes left or right. Click on the CANCEL button when you wish to quit note-shifting. TO RHYTHMICALLY COMPRESS OR EXPAND A PATTERN, select "Compress/Xpand" from the Edit menu. Pattern expansion "stretches" a pattern by a factor of 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 or 7. Pattern compression "squishes" a pattern by corresponding values (1/2, 1/3, 1/4, 1/5, 1/6 and 1/7). TO SELECT ACCENT LEVELS, select the "Accent velocity" option under the Edit menu. There are nine buttons in the dialog box representing nine levels of accent loudness. The ninth (loudest) level is the default velocity, and is represented on the Drum Grid as a ">". Accent levels 1 through 8 are displayed on the grid as their respective numerals ("1", "2", "3", etc.). Click on the accent level button you wish to use. You can combine as many different accents in a pattern as you wish. TO SELECT ACCENT LEVELS ON THE FLY WHILE EDITING A PATTERN, press numeral keys "1" to "9" on the computer keyboard. This features also works while the pattern is playing. TO SET THE ABSOLUTE VELOCITY VALUE OF ACCENTS, select the "Accent velocity" option under the Edit menu. At the bottom of the dialog box is a "Maximum Base Velocity" value which can be adjusted up or down by clicking on the arrows. This sets the loudest possible velocity value for unaccented notes in a pattern (in other words, it's the highest value you will get by sliding the arrow in the "MIDI Velocity" bar all the way to the right). The lower this Maximum Base Velocity value is set, the greater the difference in velocity will be between the nine levels of accents. Lower values make differences in accent loudness more extreme, and higher values make differences in accent loudness more subtle. Generally, you'll want to keep the Maximum Base Velocity level in the 90 to 100 range for the most musical results (100 is the default value). The Maximum Base Velocity level is global and applies to all patterns in memory. ~Auto-generating drum tracks TO GENERATE NEW DRUM TRACKS in Pattern mode, first select the tracks you wish to create by clicking on the "En" column while holding the key on the computer keyboard. An "S" indi- cates that the track is selected. Click on the "Generate tracks" option under the Randomize menu. Enter the range of patterns you wish to create in the dialog box. TO SET RANDOMIZING PARAMETERS, select "Set parameters" under the Randomize menu. There are four parameters assigned to each drum track which influence how the track will turn out: Note density (0-99) determines the degree of probability that a drum note will appear in any particular pulse. Accent probability (0-99) determines the likelihood that a drum note will be accented. Quantization probability (0-99) sets the probability that a note's pulse position will be rounded down to the designated quantization value. Quantization value (1-48) determines that the pulse position of any quantized note will be a multiple of this value. Note density and accent probability should be easy to under- stand, but the idea of quantization might require some explana- tion. Consider this example: Let's say you have a pattern which consists of one measure divided into four beats, with each beat divided into eight pulses (in conventional music notation, that would be equiva- lent to one measure of 4/4 time, with each quarter note divided into thirtysecond notes). You want to generate a cowbell track in which notes fall only on sixteenth notes (one quarter of a beat). In that case, set Quantization probability to its maximum value (99) so that all notes will be quantized, and set the Quantization value to 2, since a sixteenth note is equal to two pulses (i.e. two thritysecond notes). The actual number of notes that will be generated depends upon the Note Density value. A value of 99 will put a note on every sixteenth note; a value of 50 will randomly put notes on approximately half the total number of sixteenths in the pattern. ~Saving and loading patterns TO SAVE PATTERNS TO DISK you must be in Pattern mode. Select "Save" under the File menu. Patterns may be saved in one of three different formats: 1) All pattern file: all 99 patterns are saved as a block in Master Drummer format with a flag indicating whether the patterns are to be played in Pulse=pulse mode or Beat=beat mode (see "Setting clock parameters") below. The velocity value of each note in the patterns is saved in a relative (non-absolute) format; when patterns are reloaded you can freely readjust the absolute velocity level of accents by changing the Maximum Base Velocity value (see the paragraph headed "TO SET THE ABSOLUTE VELOCITY VALUE OF ACCENTS" under the chapter entitled "Pattern editing aids and shortcuts" above). 2) Single pattern file: the currently selected pattern is saved in Master Drummer format without a Pulse/Beat mode flag. The data is otherwise identical to that of the All pattern file. 3) Standard MIDI File: when in Pattern mode, the currently selected pattern is saved as a MIDI File, either as a format 0 (single multi-channel sequence) file, or a format 1 (multi-track) File. The velocity values assigned to notes in a MIDI file are calculated according to the position of the arrow in the MIDI Velocity bar and the velocity values assigned to accents (see the paragraph headed "TO SET THE ABSOLUTE VELOCITY VALUE OF ACCENTS" under the chapter entitled "Pattern editing aids and shortcuts" above). TO LOAD PATTERNS FROM DISK, select "Load" under the File menu. In addition to being able to load All pattern and Single pattern files, Master Drummer can also extract a single pattern from an All pattern file. Clicking on the "Extract pattern" button will bring up a File Selector box. After you select an All pattern file, a large dialog box with the names and numbers of the patterns in that file will be displayed. Click on a pattern to load it into Master Drummer. Master Drummer cannot load or edit Standard MIDI files. ~Creating phrases Now that we've cooked up a few drum patterns, the next logical step is to link them together into musical phrases. Select "Phrase mode" from the Edit menu. On the left of the screen are sixteen Phrase buttons, and on the right sixteen Phrase fields. TO SELECT A PHRASE FOR EDITING, click on its Phrase field. A dialog box will appear into which you enter the Pattern numbers that you want in the phrase, for example: 11 12 12 13 14 15 16 18 22 TO NAME A PHRASE, double-click on its Phrase button or select "Name phrase" from the Edit menu. Type a name in the dialog box. The name will appear in the selected Phrase button. TO COPY A PHRASE, click on its Phrase button at the left side of the screen and drag it to its destination. Besides pattern numbers, you can also include Velocity, Tempo, and Phrase Repeat data in a Phrase field, for example: T144 V64 11 12 12 13 V86 14 15 16 18 T160 22 Velocity is indicated by the letter "V" (upper or lower case) followed by a velocity value from 0 to the Maximum Base Velocity value (there must be no space between the "V" and the number). IMPORTANT: THE INDICATED VELOCITY VALUE MUST NOT EXCEED THE MAXIMUM BASE VELOCITY VALUE, OR IT WILL BE IGNORED. The default Maximum Base Velocity value is 100. To reset the Maximum Base Velocity, go to Pattern Mode and select "Accent velocity" under the Edit menu. Tempo is indicated by the letter "T" (upper or lower case) followed by a beats-per-minute value from 20 to 245 (there must be no space between the "T" and the tempo value). A Repeat is indicated by an "R" (upper or lower case) followed by the number of repeats, up to a maximum of 999 (there must be no space between the "R" and the number of repeats). You may use only one repeat instruction in a phrase. It's OK to put additional pattern numbers and velocity or tempo markings after a repeat. Any Velocity, Tempo, or Repeat data which is out-of-range or mistyped will be ignored by the program during playback. ~Auto-generating phrases Master Drummer allows you to randomize the pattern content of phrases while in Phrase mode. You must first designate which patterns to choose from for this random selection process. TO SELECT PATTERNS FOR PHRASE RANDOMIZING, click on "Select patterns" under the Randomize menu. You'll see a large dialog box containing the names and numbers of all the patterns. Select patterns by clicking on them individually, or by clicking and dragging over a group (note: clicking and dragging will automati- cally de-select any patterns which were previously selected). While the "Select patterns" dialog box is being displayed you may also edit the name of any pattern, or audition any pattern before you decide to select it. Double-clicking on a pattern name brings up small dialog box which contains a text field for the pattern name, four "Probability" buttons, and an "Audition" but- ton. The Probability buttons set the level of likelihood that the pattern will be randomly chosen out of the group you are selecting (Button 1 sets the lowest probability, Button 4 the highest). The Audition button starts pattern playback; pressing the right mouse button terminates playback if you don't want to hear the whole thing. To close the "Select patterns" dialog, click on the "Done" button. TO RANDOMIZE A PHRASE, select "Random selection" under the Randomize menu. A dialog box will appear requesting the number of patterns you want for the phrase. If you do not like the phrase that is generated, pressing the key on the computer will restore the original phrase. TO SHUFFLE THE ORDER OF PATTERNS IN A PHRASE, select "Shuffle order" under the Randomize menu. Pressing the key on the computer will restore the original order. ~Keyboard shortcuts for Phrase Mode Since working in Phrase Mode is basically text entry, you might find it more convenient to use the following keyboard shortcuts for entering data and for playing phrases: TO SELECT A PHRASE FOR EDITING OR PLAYBACK, use the up and down arrow keys on the computer keyboard. The selected Phrase button will be highlighted. TO EDIT A PHRASE WHICH HAS BEEN SELECTED, press the "P" key on the computer keyboard. TO PLAY A PHRASE WHICH HAS BEEN SELECTED, press the space bar. To stop playback, press the space bar again. ~Playback control for Phrase Mode Although you cannot edit a phrase while it is playing, you can interact with it in real time: TO CHANGE THE CURRENTLY PLAYING PHRASE (in sequential order), press the up and down arrow keys on the computer keyboard. Playback will jump immediately to the newly selected phrase. If the selected phrase is empty, playback will stop. TO CHANGE THE CURRENLY PLAYING PHRASE IN NON-SEQUENTIAL ORDER, click the mouse on the Phrase button of the next phrase you want to hear. The new phrase will be marked with an asterisk (*), and playback will jump to that phrase at the end of the currently playing pattern. TO SKIP THROUGH PATTERNS WITHIN A PHRASE DURING PLAYBACK, use the left and right arrow keys on the computer keyboard. ~Saving and loading phrases TO SAVE PHRASES TO DISK you must be in Phrase mode. Select "Save" under the File menu. Phrases may be saved in one of two different formats: 1) Master Drummer format: phrases and song parts are saved together in a single file simply called a "Song file". A Song file does not contain pattern rhythms (that's what a Pattern file is for); it is simply a list of pattern numbers for phrases, and of phrase numbers for song parts, along with corresponding velo- city, tempo and repeat data. Phrase and song part names are also included in the Song file. 2) Standard MIDI File: the currently selected phrase can be saved as either a format 0 (single multi-channel sequence) MIDI File, or a format 1 (multi-track) MIDI File. The velocity values assigned to the notes are calculated according to the position of the arrow in the MIDI Velocity bar and the velocity values assigned to accents (see the paragraph headed "TO SET THE ABSOLUTE VELOCITY VALUE OF ACCENTS" under the chapter entitled "Pattern editing aids and shortcuts" above). TO LOAD PHRASES FROM DISK, select "Load" under the File menu. As stated above, phrases and song parts are loaded together in a single, Master Drummer-format file. ~Creating a song After assembling phrases, the final step is to chain them into a complete song. Select Song Mode from the Edit menu. On the left of the screen are sixteen Part buttons, and on the right sixteen Part fields. A "Part", in Master Drummer parlance, is a section of a song consisting of several phrases. TO SELECT A PART FOR EDITING, click on its Part field. A dialog box will appear into which you enter the Phrase numbers that you want in the part, for example: 1 2 2 3 4 5 6 8 12 TO NAME A PART, double-click on its Part button or select "Name part" from the Edit menu. Type a name in the dialog box. The name will appear in the selected Part button. TO NAME A SONG, select "Name song" from the Edit menu. The song name will appear in the title bar of the Song mode window. TO COPY A PART, click on the appropriate Part button and drag it to its destination. Besides phrase numbers, you can also include Velocity, Tempo, and Part repeat data in a Part field: Velocity is indicated by the letter "V" (upper or lower case) followed by a velocity value from 0 to the Maximum Base Velocity value (there must be no space between the "V" and the number). IMPORTANT: THE INDICATED VELOCITY VALUE MUST NOT EXCEED THE MAXIMUM BASE VELOCITY, OR IT WILL BE IGNORED. The default Maximum Base Velocity value is 100. To reset the Maximum Base Velocity, go back to Pattern Mode and select "Accent velocity" under the Edit menu. Tempo is indicated by the letter "T" (upper or lower case) followed by a beats-per-minute value from 20 to 245 (there must be no space between the "T" and the tempo value). A Repeat is indicated by an "R" (upper or lower case) followed by the number of repeats, up to a maximum of 999 (there must be no space between the "R" and the number of repeats). You may use only one repeat instruction in a part. It's OK to put additional phrase numbers and velocity or tempo markings after a repeat: T144 V64 1 2 2 3 V86 4 5 6 8 R4 T160 2 Any Velocity, Tempo, or Repeat data which is out-of-range or mistyped will be ignored by the program during playback. NOTE: If you have Velocity or Tempo data embedded in your Phrases and in your Song Parts, the data in the Phrases will take precedence. For that reason, in order to avoid confusion you should place Velocity and Tempo data in either Phrases or Song Parts exclusively, but not in both! ~Auto-generating song parts Master Drummer allows you to randomize the phrase content of song parts. You must first designate which phrases to choose from for this random selection process. TO SELECT PHRASES FOR SONG PART RANDOMIZING, click on "Select phrases" under the Randomize menu (you should currently be in Song mode). You'll see a dialog box containing the names and numbers of all the phrases. Select phrases by clicking on them individually, or by clicking and dragging over a group (note: clicking and dragging will automatically de-select any phrases which were previously selected). While the "Select phrases" dialog box is being displayed you may also edit the name of any phrase. Double-clicking on a phrase name brings up small dialog box which contains a text field for the phrase name. To close the "Select phrases" dialog, click on the "Done" button. TO RANDOMIZE A SONG PART, select "Random selection" under the Randomize menu. A dialog box will appear requesting the number of phrases you want for the song part. If you do not like the song part that is generated, pressing the key on the computer will restore the original song part. TO SHUFFLE THE ORDER OF PHRASES IN A SONG PART, select "Shuffle order" under the Randomize menu. Pressing the key on the computer will restore the original order. TO SCRAMBLE THE ORDER OF PARTS WITHIN THE SONG, select "Scramble parts" under the Randomize menu. Note: there is no provision to restore the original order of Song parts after they have been scrambled. Save your song to disk before scrambling. Song parts can be reordered manually by Swapping (click and drag on Part buttons). ~Keyboard shortcuts for Song Mode Since working in Song Mode is basically text entry, you might find it more convenient to use the following keyboard shortcuts for entering data and for playing parts: TO SELECT A PART FOR EDITING OR PLAYBACK, use the up and down arrow keys on the computer keyboard. The selected Part button will be highlighted. TO EDIT A SELECTED PART, press the "P" key on the computer keyboard. TO PLAY A SELECTED PART, press the space bar. To stop playback, press the space bar. ~Playback control for Song Mode Although you cannot edit a part while it is playing, you can interact with it in real time: TO CHANGE THE CURRENTLY PLAYING PART IN SEQUENTIAL ORDER, press the up and down arrow keys on the computer keyboard. Playback will jump immediately to the newly selected part. If the selected part is empty, playback will skip to the next one until the end of the song. TO CHANGE THE CURRENLY PLAYING PART IN NON-SEQUENTIAL ORDER, click the mouse on the Part button of the next part you want to hear. The new part will be marked with an asterisk (*), and playback will jump to that part at the end of the currently playing pattern. TO SKIP THROUGH PHRASES WITHIN A PART DURING PLAYBACK, use the left and right arrow keys on the computer keyboard. ~Saving and loading a song TO SAVE A SONG TO DISK you must be in Song mode. Select "Save" under the File menu. A song may be saved in one of two formats: 1) Master Drummer format: phrases and song parts are saved together in a single file simply called a "Song file". A Song file does not contain pattern rhythms (that's what a Pattern file is for); it is simply a list of pattern numbers for Phrases, and of phrase numbers for Song Parts, along with corresponding velocity, tempo and repeat data. Phrase and song part names are also included in the Song file, along with the song title. 2) Standard MIDI File: the entire song can be saved as either a format 0 (single multi-channel sequence) MIDI File, or a format 1 (multi-track) MIDI File. You cannot save a single song part as a MIDI file. The velocity values assigned to notes in a MIDI file are calculated according to the position of the arrow in the MIDI Velocity bar and the velocity values assigned to accents (see the paragraph headed "TO SET THE ABSOLUTE VELOCITY VALUE OF ACCENTS" under the chapter entitled "Pattern editing aids and shortcuts" above). TO LOAD A SONG FROM DISK, select "Load" under the File menu. As stated above, phrases and song parts are loaded together in a single, Master Drummer-format file. ~Setting clock paramters TO SET CLOCK PARAMETERS, select "Set parameters" under the Clock menu. The options available are: 1. select Pulse=pulse mode and set pulse resolution 2. select Beat=beat mode and set beat resolution 3. toggle metronome and set metronome resolution 4. toggle MIDI Clock and MIDI Start, and set MIDI Clock resolution. Master Drummer 2.5 lets you give each of your 99 patterns a different Measure, Beat, and Pulse setting. If you create patterns with beats containing different numbers of pulses per beat, you need to let the program know whether you intend the duration of each PULSE to be the same from pattern to pattern, or whether you want the duration of each BEAT to be the same. The distinction between Pulse=pulse mode and Beat=beat mode is easy to grasp once you hear it. Experiment with patterns using different numbers of pulses per beat and you'll quickly understand the difference. ~Setting clock resolution The clock resolution value is used by Master Drummer 2.5's internal timer to regulate pattern playback, and also by its routines that convert pattern data into Standard MIDI file format. When you create Stadard MIDI files you'll generally want the clock resolution to equal that of your sequencer (usually expressed as "pulses per quarter note" or PPQN). Changing resolution does not affect the tempo, it merely insures that rhythms will be repro- duced accurately. When setting clock resolution in Beat=beat mode you are asked for the number of steps per beat in the range of 24 to 240. The value you select should take in account the way you subdivide the beat from pattern to pattern. Generally speaking, if your patterns divide the beat into 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, or 12 pulses per beat, a clock resolution of 24 will suffice, because all those values divide evenly into 24. However, if a pattern were to divide the beat into 7 pulses, they would not be of equal duration (specifically, they would divide as 4-4-4-3-3-3-3). At slow tempos such rhythmic inaccuracies are especially noticeable, so it's best to use a higher clock resolution. At 240 steps per beat, 7 pulses divide as 35-35-34-34-34-34-34, which is much more accurate. In Pulse=pulse mode you are asked for the number of steps per pulse, since pulse duration is constant from pattern to pattern. However, since tempo is calculated according to the number of beats per minute (rather than pulses per minute), you are also asked for the number of pulses per quarter note in order to give pulse duration a tempo reference (i.e. quarter notes per minute). The product of the steps per pulse multiplied by the pulses per quarter note must be in the range of 24 to 240. As an example: If you set the number of steps per pulse at 24, and the number of pulses per quarter note at 4, clock resolution will be equivalent to 96 steps per quarter note (24 X 4). With four pulses per quarter note, at any given tempo each pulse would be equal in duration to one-fourth of a quarter note (i.e a sixteenth note) at that tempo. Metronome resolution Metronome resolution is expressed as steps per click. If you wish the metronome to click once every beat, the metronome resolution should be equal to beat resolution. If you wish the metronome to click twice every beat, it should be half of the beat resolution. ~Keyboard equivalents for menus (Note: ^ = key on computer) File (All Modes) L...........Load file S...........Save file Q...........Quit program Edit (All Modes) F1..........Enter Pattern Mode F2..........Enter Phrase Mode F3..........Enter Song Mode Edit (Pattern Mode) P...........Select pattern N...........Name pattern B...........Backup pattern R...........Retrieve pattern C...........Copy pattern F...........Shift pulses Tab.........Compress/expand pattern X...........Erase pattern(s) M...........Set meter Y...........Copy meter A...........Set accent velocity and Maximum Base Velocity 1...........Accent level 1 2...........Accent level 2 3...........Accent level 3 4...........Accent level 4 5...........Accent level 5 6...........Accent level 6 7...........Accent level 7 8...........Accent level 8 9...........Accent level 9 ^N..........Name configuration D...........Set global MIDI channel Z...........Toggle MIDI Thru (for MIDI pitch entry) Edit (Phrase Mode) N...........Name phrase P...........Edit phrase X...........Erase all phrases Edit (Song Mode) N...........Name song part P...........Edit song part X...........Erase all parts Clock (All Modes) K...........Set clock parameters U...........Set tempo O...........Autoset tempo T...........Toggle metronome Randomize (Pattern Mode) G...........Generate tracks W...........Set randomizing parameters Randomize (Phrase Mode) H...........Select patterns for phrase randomization I...........Randomize pattern content of phrase ^J..........Shuffle pattern order in phrase Randomize (Song Mode) H...........Select phrases for song part randomization I...........Randomize phrase content of song part ^J..........Shuffle phrase order in song part ^V..........Scramble song part order Help (All Modes) HELP........online assistance