- Hey Doc, what's up ? - It's a Graoumf !!! - A Graoumf ? - Oh yeah... ****************************************************************************** * * * The * * #### #### #### #### # # # # #### ##### #### #### #### # # #### #### * * # # # # # # # # # ## ## # # # # # # # # # # # # * * # ## ### #### # # # # # # # ### # ### #### # ### ### ### * * # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # * * #### # # # # #### #### # # # # # # # # #### # # #### # # * * Shareware ! v0.877á - demo * * * * * * THE ULTIMATE 32 VOICES DSP SOUNDTRACKER ON ATARI FALCON. * * SERVE WITH FRESH BLOOD. * * * * Concept and coding by Laurent de SORAS (DUMBO/BIG NOZ) * * Doc by Laurent de SORAS, English and German translations by * * Philippe DELVIGNE and Olivier HEISSLER / French Falcon Club * * * ****************************************************************************** GLOSSARY ================== I) GRAOUMF TRACKER...??? WOTIZDIS ?¨? Sp‚cifications II) GLOBAL USE 1) G‚n‚ralities 2) Instruments and samples 3) Effects 4) Enveloppes a) Commands for the 3 kinds of envelopes b) Volume envelope c) Tone envelope d) Panning envelope e) Example envelope III) NOTICE OF THE SOUNDTRACKER 1) Main functions a) Left Icons b) Top-panel buttons c) Presets and Mute keys d) A few icons left 2) A few useful shortcuts 3) Disk Menu 4) Tools Menu 5) Instruments Menu 6) Samples Menu 7) Envelopes Menu 8) Control Menu 9) MIDI Menu 10) Compatibility with other formats 11) Parameters file GTKPREFS.INF 12) Bugs: learn to know them ! IV) SAMPLES EDITOR 1) Main commands 2) Numeric settings on the buffer 3) Volume Menu 4) Mixage Menu 5) Record Menu a) Warning b) How to make good samples ? c) Functions 6) Frequency Menu a) Re-sampling b) FFT: Theory and use c) FFT functions 7) Delay Menu 8) Flanger Menu 9) Reverb Menu a) Main parameters b) Extended parameters 10) Song-To-Disk Menu 11) Compression Menu VI) WHAT'S PLANNED FOR TOMMORROW ? VII) GREETINGS I) GRAOUMF TRACKER...??? WOTIZDIS ?¨? ====================================== Graoumf Tracker (pronounce 'Graoumf Tracker'...) is a soundtracker. It uses sampled sounds to reproduce musical instruments, and modules to obtain different notes. This is mainly what a 'SOUNDTRACKER' is. Before getting further, I have to say something important. The GT version you have here is a demonstration limited version, if you're not a registered user, of course, because GT is SHAREWARE. For further informations, see paragraph 'Shareware!!!'. You must at least have the following files, all in the same directory : - GTRACKER.PRG The program - FILE_ID.DIZ Short descripton, for BBS - READ_ME!.TXT Read this first! - SYS\ - GTPLAY.PGT \ - DUMTRACK.PGT > Some sub-routines - GTKPREFS.INF ASCII preference file - DOC\ - GT_DOC_F.TXT Original Frensh documentation. - GT_DOC_E.TXT That's OK, you have it. - WHATSNEW.TXT Text showing the evolution of the successive versions of the program. - FORMATS.TXT Infos about .GTK modules format Sp‚cifications ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ - 50 KHz replay, 16 bits stereo, internal 24 bits , with possibilty of interpolation for each voice (track) - 32 voices - up to 256 positions in the song - 256 patterns - Up to 256 lines a pattern - 8 octaves « - 255 instruments multi-samples - 255 samples, 8 ou 16 bits, variable frequency between 2 and 65 KHz - Periode 16 times more precise than usually in soundtrackers (very useful when you use high frequencies) - Effects on 4 numbers (65536 values), numerous and original - Linear and logarithmic volume for the instruments - Independant volume for the samples - Mixing desk, incuding high precision volume and panning for each voice and master volume; the whole functions can be controled in the score. - Volume envelopes, tone and panning for instruments - Runs in every resolutions (even overscans and extended rez ) to show has many tracks and lines as possible. - Loads modules in the following formats: GT2 : GT modules, GTK : old GT modules, MOD : ProTracker and assimilate..., MMD : OctaMED Pro 3, 669 : Composer 669, MTM : MultiTracker Modules, S3M : Scream Tracker 3, ULT : ULtra Tracker, DTM : Digital Tracker, XM : Fast Tracker 2. recognises packed modules with Atomik 3.5 or Pack Ice 2.1/2.4. - Saves modules in the following formats: GT2 : GT modules, GTK : old GT modules, MOD : ProTracker and assimilate, S3M : Scream Tracker 3. - Many tools to enhance the facility of use for musicians like presets, shortcuts, le DrumKit, etc. - Evoluated sample editor: copy/cut/paste/insert. - Volume functions, fade in/out. - Resampling with interpolation option. - FFT. - Automatic accords. - Ultra-complete samples mix function with adjustable fades - Fulle adjustable multi-tap Delay . - Flanger - Song-2-disk, to record a module into a sample. - Compresser *** GRAOUMF TRACKER ONLY RUNS ON FALCON 030. *** It may be possible that a few TOS 4.01 owners may have problems by starting the program, because of the resolution change. Otherwise, there's no maximal limit for the resolution, you can start GT in 1664x592 if you want, no problem. For TV owners, a small part of the screen may be invisible, because of the overscan. If it happens, set the overscan option OFF by starting GT. (please remember that the Falcon knows that your monitor is a TV if nothing is plugged on the video port. So you can set the Overscan OFF by plugging the video port off while starting, and replug it later. In fact, the ideal resolution is 832x304 (obtained in RVB with my modified version of Falcon Screen 2.2á, by Nullos//DNT Crew). There are 10 voices on-screen (8 voices with the volume) and the number of lines is high enough to compose and not slow down the displays too much. II) GLOBAL USE ============== 1) G‚n‚ralities =============== GT works mainly as the other soundtrackers, the ones who are used to this will not be too disappointed. For those who aren't used to this kind of software, let me explain you that a music is composed of many 'patterns', small sequences that follow each other, to form a music. These patterns are composed of 'voices' (tracks), each voice playing only one instrument (and not two simultaneously). Patterns are also composed of 'lines', which scroll with the music. On these lines you find notes. In a pattern, notes are represented by numbers and letters organised in the following order: NNN II EEEE (VV) / | \ \__Volume Note | Effect Instrument NNN is the note, with the octave number. The notation is English. The octave can take the values from 0 to 7, o is the lowest value. A null note is represented by ---. A note is played until the next note (on the same voice), or until an effect cuts it. II represents the number of the played instrument. It usually follows a note, but this is not necessary. In fact, it changes the number of the current instrument and sets the volume for the voice, the finetune and the panning of this instrument. 0 makes no change. EEEE stands for the effect you apply to the sound in the voice. These effects are diverse, and are used to make a change of note for example, or to modify the volume. For full description of these effects, see further. VV stands for the note's volume, 0 makes no change. But for more clearness, this volume may not be always displayed. (see key Ctrl+E), but it is always active. 2) Instruments and samples ========================== The instruments used by GT are composed of samples (digitised sounds). Instruments and samples are independant, an instrument may use many samples, and a sample may be used by many different instruments. If an instrument uses many samples, these ones will be played depending of the tone of the note, so that you could play a great number of octaves without any problems. Samples may be 8 or 16 bits, their frequency between 2 and 65 KHz, and they can have their own panning settings. Of course it is possible to make them loop at the end, to make them longer without memory consumption. 3) Effects ============= There are a few ones... Every values are hexa-decimal. I do know that this is not very easy-to-use, but it allows you to use ALL the possibilities of the soundtracker, keeping a good compatibility with other formats. 01xx Portamento up ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Increases the note's frequency. xx is the speed of the effect. If this parameter is null, the last non-null parameter will be taken. 02xx Portamento down ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Lowers the note's frequency. xx is the speed of the effect. 03xx Tone portamento ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Allows you to link 2 notes, at the xx speed. If xx = 0, The parameter of the last tone portamento pr‚c‚dent is taken. Example: C-2 1 .... .... D-2 1 .306 .303 .300 .300 While D2 , because of the Tone P., the note is not played, but the sound mais le son increases as for a classical portamento . At the next line , the speed is changed. And at the next line, the speed is not null but the last parameter is taken. When the sounds reaches the D2 frequency, the effect is finished. 03xx must be repeated as many times as necessary, so that the link can be done. 04xy Vibrato ~~~~~~~ Modulates a note's frequency. x the speed (the bigger x is, the fastest the vibrato is) and y the amplitude. If x or y are null, the parameters of the last command are taken. 05xx Tone portamento + Vibrato ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Mix of the Tone P. and the vibrato. The parameter xx is for the Tone portamento. The vibrato's parameter is the last used. Example: C-2 1 .482 Vibrato with speed 8 and amplitude 2 .400 The vibrato goes on D-2 1 .502 Link at speed 2, the vibrato goes on .500 The vibrato and the link go on .500 06xy Vibrato + Tone portamento ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Idem, but xy is the parameter for the vibrato. 07xy Tremolo ~~~~~~~ Modulates a note's volume. x is the speed (the bigger x is, the fastest the tremolo is) and y is the amplitude. The volume cannot be over 100. As usually, the parameters of the last command are taken if x or y are null. 08xy Detune ~~~~~~ Modifies a note's frequency immediately. x : Fr‚quency + y : Fr‚quency - x et y allow you to modify of about 2/2 tone. (-16...-8...0...+8...+15) 09xx Note delay ~~~~~~~~~~ Wiats during xx frames (1/50 second) before playing the note. If xx>speed, the note is not played. Example: C-2 1 .... 6.... plays 3 notes of length 8 D-2 1 902 2|4.. E-2 1 904 ..4|2 .... ....6 F-2 1 .... 0Axx Cut note/Key off ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Cuts the note (setting the volume to 0) after waiting during xx frames. If an envelope was attributed to the sound, the 'Key off' part of this envelope will be executed. 0Bxx Jump to position ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Goes to position xx of the song. This effect was used by the Amiga Protracker to loop a music. 0C0x Set vibrato waveform ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Sets the wave form of the vibrato: 0 Sinuso‹d (default) 1 Triangular 2 Square 0Dxx Break pattern ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The line where this effect is is the last played line of the pattern. Then the music is played at line xx of the pattern of the next position. 0E0x Set tremolo waveform ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Same as 0C0x, for the tremolo. 0Fxx Set global speed/Tempo ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 00 - 1F : Sets the number of frames (1/50 sec) for a pattern line. The length of a frame is re-initialised to 1/50 sec , not one more or less. The tempo is then equal to 750/xx. 20 - FF : Tempo, the length of a frame to obtainthe correct tempo value. The error is ñ0.1 %, what is quite precise. 10xy Arpeggio ~~~~~~~~ Quickly transposes the note of x and y semi-tones. The arpeggio runs with 3frames cycles, the 1st is always the original note, the 2nd the note + x semi-tones, and the 3rd the note + y semi-tones. Example : C-2 1 1047 C2 + 4 semi-tones : E2 1047 C2 + 7 semi-tones : G2 This effect will successively play C, E et G, to simulate a major C accord with strange 'gloogloos' 11xx Fine portamento up ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Th eportamento begins at the start of line, instead of the start of the frame, allowing lower speeds than those allowed by 01xx. Null parameter : continue the effect 12xx Fine portamento down ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 13xy Roll + Volume slide ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Quickly repeats the note to simulate a 'rolling'. Y is the period of the rollings (in frames), and x the modification of the volume for each roll : 0 No volume change 1 -1 2 -2 3 -4 4 -8 5 -16 6 2/3 of precedent volume 7 1/2 of precedent volume 8 No change 9 +1 A +2 B +4 C +8 D +16 E 3/2 times the precedent volume F 2 times the precedent volume Roll example: C-2 1 13E3 20 Volume 20 at start, in demisemiquavers 13E0 The volume continues increasing of 3/2 13E0 13F0 Faster increase of the volume C-2 1 .... FF 14xx Linear volume slide up ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Linear modification of the volume. xx is the speed of increase. Null parameter : effect goes on. 15xx Linear volume slide down ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 16xx Exp. volume slide up ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Modifies the volume exponentially at speed xx. The difference with linear volume increase is that the volume is not only increased, but multiplied, what gives more realistic volume increases. 17xx Exp. volume slide down ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 18xx Linear volume slide up + Tone portamento ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The parameter sets the volume 19xx Linear volume slide down + Tone portamento ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 1Axx Exp. volume slide up + Tone portamento ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 1Bxx Exp. volume slide down + Tone portamento ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 1Cxx Linear volume slide up + Vibrato ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 1Dxx Linear volume slide down + Vibrato ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 1Exx Exp. volume slide up + Vibrato ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 1Fxx Exp. volume slide down + Vibrato ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 2xxx Set linear volume ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Sets the volume of a note, linearly (from 0 to 100). 3xxx Set exp. volume ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Idem, but the volume is exponantially set. 800 correspond to 100, 700 to 80, 600 to 40, etc... The volume is multipied by 2 every 100. 4xxx Set balance ~~~~~~~~~~~ Sets the position of a note in the left-right stereo position. The 000 value sets the voice on the left, 800 in the middle (mono), and FFF on the right. Every value between those ones are accepted to set the sound anywhere in stereo. 5xxx Set linear master volume ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Allows you to set the general volume for every voices. Usually, it is equal to $3000 / (3 + number of voices). But as the full sound power is nearly never used, you can increase this level. But if 'crackles' appear, set the value lower. 6xxx Set exp. master volume ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Same as the precedent, but the volume is exponantially set. 1000 corresponds to 1000 and 800 to 40 (for linear values). The volume is divised by 2 every 155. 7xyy Roll ~~~~ Repeats a sample to simulate a roll. x Speed (period) yy Max. number of repeats Roll must be repeated as many times as necessary. If yy = 00, the number of rolls is unlimited. If the speed after another roll is 0, the roll is continual (so the first repetition is not necessarly on the start of the note). Example : C-2 1 7300 80 Plays 4 demisemiquavers 7000 A0 You can also increase the volume 7400 C0 Plays 3 semiquavers in triplets 7000 E0 C-2 1 .... FF 8zxy Roll + Volume slide + Set balance ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Similar to Roll + Volume slide (13xy), but the first number of the parameter (z) sets the new panning (0..8..F). Example, for a roll on toms: C-3 1 8602 high Tom aigu on the left, in triplet 8600 A-2 1 8A03 medium Tom on the right, demisemiquavers 8A00 F-2 1 8C03 low Tom 100% on the right 8C00 9xxx Sample Offset ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Plays the sample from the xxx * 256 position. This effect is quite interresting for on one hand, it allows you to make subtle variations on a same sample, what makes the music more 'alive'. On the other hand, by setting little numbers as parameters, you can play the same instrument on 2 different voices, with the same note, giving the illusion that there are two instruments that play and not only one with a higher volume. A0xx Linear master volume slide up ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A1xx Linear master volume slide down ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A4xx Fine linear volume slide up ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A5xx Fine linear volume slide down ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A6xx Fine linear master volume slide up ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A7xx Fine linear master volume slide down ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A8xx Set number of frames ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Changes the number of frames per note, a little like Set Global Speed 0Fxx, but the length of each frame is not changed. A9xx Set fine speed ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This is the opposite of the precedent function, it allows you to change the length of a frame without changing the number of frames.de la fonction pr‚c‚dente, elle permet de AAxx Pattern delay ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The line where GT finds this effect is repeated xx times. The notes are only played one time at the beginning, but the effects still have their influence. It may be useful when you accelerate at a moment in the pattern, and you want to finish it correctly by compensating the number of lines. ABxx Extra fine tone portamento ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Tone portamento, 16 times more precise than with 03xx. Null parameter : go on ACxx Extra fine portamento up ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Like Portamento up but 16 times more precise. Null parameter : go on ADxx Extra fine portamento down ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ AExx Left balance move ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ moves the balance at speed xx. Null parameter : go on. AFxx Right balance move ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ B0xy Tremor ~~~~~~ Adds jerks in the note. It is a periodic effect : the volume is normal during x frames, then the note is cut during y frames. B1xx Pattern loop ~~~~~~~~~~~~ Loops a part of a pattern. A B100 sets the start of the loop, and B1xx sets the number of times the pattern will be repeated between this last instruction and the B100. You can add loops in the loops, but you have to use a different voice for each loop. Otherwise, the loops must be 'logically' set ... Example : C-2 1 B100 | E-2 1 .... Start of the first loop .... | .... G-2 1 .... | B100 Start of the second loop .... | .... B-2 1 .... | .... .... | B102 Repeat 2 times .... | G-1 1 .... loop 2 (3 passages) B103 | .... and 3 times loop 1 (4 passages) B2xx Set flags ~~~~~~~~~ Activates or desactivates a few options. Add every options you want to activate to obtain the value xx to set in this effect. Don't forget it's hexadecimal ! +01 : Activates interpolation B3xx Set Volume Envelope ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Affects the volume envelope number xx to the played instrument B4xx Set Tone Envelope ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ B5xx Set Panning Envelope ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ B6xx Set Volume Envelope + Key Off ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Affects the volume envelope number xx to the instrument and plays the 'Key off' part. B7xx Set Tone Envelope + Key Off ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ B8xx Set Panning Envelope + Key Off ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ B9xx Demo Synchro ~~~~~~~~~~~~ This effect, reserved to coders, synchronize a program with the module replay. When this effect is played, parameter will be put in a specific address in memory. Please refer to the source documentation for more details. BAxx Fine Sample Offset ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Like Sample Offset, but the sample is played form position xx * 16 (10 in hexa). BBxx Very Fine Sample Offset ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Same as Fine Sample Offset, but the sample is played from the xx position, what allows you to set very precisely the phasis between two identical samples. BCxx Increment Sample Position ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Adds xx to the current sample replay position. This effect can be used to change very precisely the phasis between two samples. BDxx Decrement Sample Position ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Substracts xx to the current sample replay position. BExx Auto Tempo ~~~~~~~~~~ Compute automaticaly the tempo necessary to fit the sample (played to C-2) in xx lines. Very usefull for drum loops. BFxx Auto Period ~~~~~~~~~~~ Compute automaticaly the period necessary to fit the sample in xx lines. Very usefull for drum loops, when tempo is already defined (by BExx effect for example). C2xx Set linear track volume ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Set the volume of a track. This volume is independant of the instrument, sample and envelope volumes. It is used by the mixing desk. Medium value (0 dB) is 10 (in hexa). C3xx Set exponential track volume ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Set the exponential volume of a track. Medium value (0 dB) is C0. By adding or subtracting 16 (10 in hexa), track volume increased or decreased of 3 dB. C4xx Linear track volume slide up ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Rise the linear volume of a track. xx is the speed of the rise; this parameter is 16 times more accurate than the parameter of C2xx. C5xx Linear track volume slide down ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ C6xx Exponential track volume slide up ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Rise the exponential volume of a track. xx is the speed of the rise; this parameter is 16 times more accurate than the parameter of C3xx. C7xx Exponential track volume slide down ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ C8xx Fine exponential track volume slide up ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Rise the exponential volume of a track. xx is the speed of the rise; this parameter is 16 times more accurate than the parameter of C3xx. Modify the volume only at the beginnig of the row where is located this effect. C9xx Fine exponential track volume slide down ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 4) envelopes ============ Many envelopes can be attributed to each instrument. These envelopes (there are three kinds : volume, tone and panning), allow you to modify the sound of an instrument without having to use effects in the score. For example, you want to apply a vibrato to an instrument, each time this one is played. Yes, you can do it in the score (4xx command), but this is boring to set for each note, and it prevents you to use other effects in the same time. There comes the tone envelope : you just have to assign a tone envelope to the instrument with a vibrato, and it makes it ! But these are not the only advantages of the envelopes : you can change the parameters all along the sample, thanks to a kind of language, used to describe the envelope. Moreover, when a note (in the score) stops (key off), you can define a second envelope to describe the way the sound is cut ! Of course, it is possible to use the three kinds of envelopes at the same time. a) Commands for the 3 kinds of envelopes ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ End The envelopes ends here, it is not effective anymore, after this command. The volumes, periods or pannings are let as they were set before this command. The tremolos, tremors or vibrato are stopped. Jump to Jumps to the specified command number. Wait Waits during a number of 'ticks' before getting on with the commands. If increases or lowerings of parameters have been set, they will be regularly done during this wait time. Set Counter Sets the loop counter to 0. You must put this instruction before each loop to set how many times the group of commands must be executed. Loop to Jumps to the asked position, and substracts 1 to the loop counter. When the counter is 0, there's no jump anymore. Key Off When GT meets this command, the 'key off' part of the envelope is executed. An envelope must always end with a 'End' (...), a Key Off or a Jump (loop without end). Moreover, it must contain Waits, for the time is spent during the Waits, and then the sound can continue, for the other commands do not modify directly the sound. b) Volume envelope ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This kind of envelope modifies everything about the volume of a sound : general volume, tremolo and tremor. If you have a volume envelope for an instrument, and volume settings in your score, the envelope will modify the volume so that the two settings are executed. It's the same thing for every envelope settings. The volume envelope is composed of a lot of commands, here thay are : Volume Attributes a new volume to the envelope. The normal volume is 4000 (16384 in hexa), but it is possible to enter values like 7FFF. Vol Step It's the step for the increasing or lowering of the volume. Vol Speed Every xx 'ticks', the volume will be increased (or lowered) by the value fixed with Vol Step. Tremolo On Activates the tremolo Tremolo Off Desactivates the tremolo Trem Width Sets the tremolo's amplitude. Be careful, this time the scale of the volume is from 0 to 100. Trem Speed Speed of the tremolo Tremor On Activates the tremor (swapping between sound on/sound cut) Tremor Off Desactivates the tremor TremorTime1 Sets the number of 'ticks' during which the sound is on. TremorTime2 Sets the number of 'ticks' during which the sound is off. At the beginning of the envelope, in part Attack, the volume is initialised to 4000, the step 0, the speed 0, and tremor times 3. c) Tone envelope ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ With this kind of envelope, you can modify everything about the frequency of the note. Set Tone Sets the period of the note. The scale is 1000. With 2000, the note is lowered of 1 octave, with 800 it is increased of 1 octave. Tone Step Sets the step of the period variation Tone Speed Sets the speed of variation Vibrato On Activates the vibrato Vibrato Off Desactivates the vibrato Vib Width Amplitude of the vibrato Vib Speed Speed of vibrato d) Panning envelope ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Modification of the stereo position of the instrument. Panning Sets the panning: 000..800..FFF Pan Step Sets the panning variation step Pan Speed Sets the speed of variation e) Example envelope ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The envelope language is simple, powerful, but not very easy to understand for beginners. So, this is an example, for a tone envelope : 0 Vibrato On The vibrato set 'on' 1 Vib Width 06 Depth of the vibrato: 6 2 Vib Speed 18 Speed of the vibrato: 18 (fast) 3 Wait 50 Until now, commands 0,1 and 2 were executed in the same time, in the same frame. Now, the tracker stops during 50 frames (about 1 sec), and will execute the vibrato. 4 Vibrato Off Then you stop the vibrato. 5 Tone Step 10 6 Tone speed 3 Then we set the tone step to 10, and its speed to 3. Please note that nothing has happened to the sound yet. these three commands were executed verrrrrry quickly. 7 Wait 32767 Now, during 32767 frames (the maximum in fact), the tone, set to 1000 (hexa) by default, will increase of 10 every 3 frames. 8 Jump to 7 Back to the precedent Wait, we have a loop without end. If we only had ended by End instead of Wait + Loop, the sound would not have changed since the end of the vibrato and the last commands wouldn't have had any effect. III) NOTICE OF THE SOUNDTRACKER =============================== After loading GT, you see a screen divided into a few parts. The first part, in the lower part of the screen, is divided into some columns, you have a screen divided into many parts. The first part, in the lower part of the screen, is divided into a few columns. These are the voices of the soundtracker. Another part, on the top left, you see informations about the song (nuber of the pattern, loop position, etc.) and the active instrument. The part on the top right contains the main functions icons. Just below there are other icons and buttons, which correspond to a specific group of functions (disk, tools...). Then the central part gives a few informations : cut voices, disposition of the voices, current octave, free memory, etc. 1) The main functions ===================== Let's styart with the icons concerning the song. Each of them is followed by a number (hexa, base 16) and by two small arrows. By clicking on the upper arrow, you increase the number and on the other, you decrease it... A left click changes one unity by one, a right click changes it more quickly, and the two buttons pressed together, still faster. It's also possible to input the value directly with the keyboard, by clicking on the number. a) Left icons ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ POSITION Indicates the current position in the song. A module is composed of a succession of patterns. A pattern number is associated to each position. PATTERN This is the pattern number ! LENGTH Length of the song. The positions start from 0 to length-1. REPEAT Repeat position. When the song is finished, it is re-started at the set repeat position. INSTR The number of the current instrument. When you input a note, it carries this number. If you click right on this icon, the number of the instrument will be the number of the current sample (see further) and the current sub-menu will be in 'instrument' mode. SAMPLE The number of the current sample. As for the precedent icon, a right click replaces this number by the current instrument number, and the sub-menu will be in 'Sample' mode. b) Top-pannel buttons ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ PLAY SONG Plays the whole song, from the beginning of the pattern if you click left, or from the current line if you click right. PLAY PATTERN Plays the current pattern in loop. Differences as PLAY SONG for the mouse buttons. INSERT POS Inserts a position in the song (list of patterns), after the position set by 'Position'. If you click right, the new pattern will be the first unused pattern found. If this one is empty, it will be set to 64 lines (by default). DELETE POS Deletes the current position from the song. EDIT Switches in edition mode. Then you can modify the current pattern. STOP Stops the song. HELP Summary of the main functions. SAMPLE EDITOR Access to the samples editor. PREFS Access to the preferences panel. ***Not active yet*** DRUM EDITOR Access to a drum grid. ***Not active yet*** DISK Access to the files sub-menu. TOOLS Access to the composition tools sub-menu. INSTRUMENTS Access to the instruments sub-menu. SAMPLES Access to the samples sub-menu. ENVELOPES Access to the envelopes sub-menu. c) Presets and Mute keys ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ About presets: to make the composition in many voices easier, I had to find a system allowing to easily navigate in the score, even if the number of played voices is bigger than the number of voices displayed on screen in the same time. In the middle of the screen, there's an icon PRESET, followed by a few numbers. By clicking on one of the numbers (one of the presets), you select which voices (tracks) will be displayed on screen, and which preset will be active. The number of each voice is displayed at the top of the columns. You can modify it with the arrows, or by entering their number on the keyboard. If you want to display only N columns, you just have to click right on the column number N. So you can set 32 voices configurations. You can use it to display a rythmic part, or a piano part, etc. Under the presets, there's another set of numbers, next to a 'ON/OFF' icon. They show which voices will be cut. To cut a voice, click left on the voice number, or on the voice itself. At the top of each voice, a round symbol shows which voice is active, a cross shows which voice is cut. If you click left on ON/OFF, all the voices are set ON. With the right button, you invert the state of all the voices. If you click right on the number of a voice, it will be set ON and all te others will be cut. Very useful to hear how a voice sounds in solo. The numeric pad has two functions : the first (Sample mode) is to choose the current sample by pressing one of the 16 keys of the numeric pad (except 0 and .). You can attribute a sample number to each key of the numeric pad, by pressing the key + right SHIFT. The number of the current sample will be registered in the defined key. Please note that with left SHIFT, you have access to 16 other samples. The second function is the drumpad. By pressing on one of the keys, you put in the score the note, instrument and effect attributed to this key. To register a note in the drumpad, put the mark on the note in the score, then press right SHIFT + key. Same note as precedent for left SHIFT. The drumpad is useful to enter in the score some instruments always using the same note, like percussions. d) A few icons left ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ NB OF VOICES/ These two icons indicate the number of voices and lines used in each pattern. Click on them to change one of the parameters. LINES You can modify the number of lines for each independant pattern, but the number of voices wil be the same for EVERY patterns. GT asks you if you want to keep the patterns (if the new parameters allow it), or some voices will be deleted. With 'New Song', the sequence will be deleted. If you click right on 'Lines : xx', the length of the pattern will be automatically set to 64 lines by default. STEP Allow you to jump lines while inputing notes. The step may be negative or null, for example to enter acords (in combination with ). CHRONOMETER Counts the time spent from the beginning of the music. LE BOUTON En cliquant en tout haut … gauche de l'‚ SECRET BUTTON By clicking in the top-left border of the screen, you can exit Graoumf. NB: If a few icons don't have any effect when clicking on them, don't be disappointed, the function hasn't been included yet (but you won't have to wait for a long time 'till it is). Small note about the number of voices. Basically, GT is able to play up to 32 voices without problem. Youc could use more, but it depends on the frequency of the notes. The higher the frequency is, the less voices you can use. For example, 32 voices with only C-0 works perfectly (even if it's not very interrestng...), but you won't be able to use every voices with B-4. When the limit is passed, the quality of the sound become debased. There will never be any crash of the soft, except on some accelerated FALCONS. But it is possible to prevent GT from having these problems, by decreasing the playback frequency (50 Khz by default), but you will have to pay this by decreasing the quality of the sound too. Finally, the icon to exit the programm doesn't appear, you have to click on the top left border to exit. 2) A few useful shortcuts ========================== First the notes (for AZERTY keyboards): C C# D D# E F F# G G# A A# B C C# D D# E F F# G G# ______________________________________________________________________ 2 3 5 6 7 9 0 - ` A Z E R T Y U I O P ^ $ ______________________________________________________________________ S D G H J L M W X C V B N , ; : = ______________________________________________________________________ shortcuts: SHIFT +  ou  : Position +/- SHIFT +  ou  : Jumps to the start of the nearest measure TAB : Puts the cursor at the beginning of the next column SHIFT + TAB : Puts the cursor at the beginning of the precedent column CTRL + SHIFT +  ou  : decreases or increases the number of lines of patterns displayed ESPACE : Stop/Edit SHIFT + Note or Number : Enters the note or the number but moves the cursor right instead of down. BACKSPACE : Deletes the note under the cursor and its instrument SHIFT + BACKSPACE : Only deletes the effect CTRL + BACKSPACE : Deletes note, instrument and effect CTRL + DELETE : Deletes a line of the voice where the cursor is left SHIFT + DELETE : Deletes a line of the pattern left SHIFT + CTRL + DELETE : Deletes a line of the preset CTRL + INSERT : Inserts a line in the voice chere the cursor is left SHIFT + INSERT : Inserts a line in the pattern left SHIFT + CTRL + INSERT : Inserts a line in the preset Those 6 commands + right SHIFT : Rotates down or up instead of insert or delete INSERT : Decreases from 1 the number of the current instrument CLR HOME : Increses from 1 the number of the current instrument ESC : Changes the keyboard octave . of the numeric keypad : Takes the number of the instrument found under the cursor SHIFT droit + Pav‚ : Registers the note under the cursor in the drumpad F5 : Select Number of Sample/Drumpad 0 in the numeric keypad : Play song SHIFT + RETURN or + 0 of the num keypad : Play pattern RETURN : Play line F4 : The song gets on playing SHIFT + F4 : The pattern gets on playing F1 : Sets the start of the block SHIFT + F1 : Sets the end of the block F2 : Copies the block where the cursor is (track) SHIFT + F2 : Copies the block (pattern) CTRL + F2 : Copies the block (preset) ALT + F2 : Copies the block (the voice under the cursor) CTRL + D : Shows the processor time used. This shows an horizontal band that scrolls on the screen. By having a look at it, you see if you can add voices. The band mustn't cover the whole screen. (Note of the translator : then follows a french 'Play-on-Words', it is quite hard to translate in English so let me put here the original text : "La bande ne doit pas envahir tout l'‚cran, o— alors vous p‚ririez dans d'atroces souffrances que votre faible intel- lect ne pourrait mˆme pas imaginer... oh l… je divague (mais dix vagues c'est beaucoup pour un seul homme, hein?)". Well, for programmers and others, the red bands represent the processor time used by the 68030 + DSP and the blue bars show the time used by the DSP only. CTRL + E : Changes the width of the displayed voices. I explain: usually, you can see in the score the note, its instrument and its effect. But you can also see (and edit) the volume commands, thanks to this key. Moreover, you can choose not to display the effects, if you want to see more voices on screen in the same time. CTRL + R : Changes replay frequency. By default the player is 50 Khz, but you can set it to 32, 25, 20, 16 or 12 Khz. This manipulation decreases the quality of the sound, but it allows you to use the whole 32 voices and very high frequency samples. CTRL + S : Increases the edition step, So that you could for example input only quavers without pressing the down arrow all te time. + SHIFT : Decreases the edition step. This tep may be null , very useful in combination with the key to create accords, and it can even be negative.(for original composers !) CTRL + I : Activates or desactivates the linear interpolation on the voice that is under the cursor. This function allow you to have a much better sound quality, especially with low frequency digitised samples. But there is a light loss of dynamic, due to the high frequencies that are filtered. This function also takes much calculating time for the DSP, that's why it is possible to activate it on the voices you choose. CTRL + I + SHIFT : Activates/desactivates the interpolation on every voices. ALT + L : Loads a mod. ALT + S : Saves a mod. ALT + M : Followed by the 1,2, 4 or 5 key, this function sets the overscan screen, which may be not centered on TVs. CTRL + ALT + P : Snapshot of the screen. After pressing these keys, click on the borders in the top-left and in the bottom-right of the part of screen to be snapshot. The picture is then saved as SNAPxxxx.TGA. 3) Disk Menu ============ It's the menu for files operations. A few icons : LOAD MOD Loads a mod. If you click right, the module shown in the path is automatically loaded. Mod packed with aTOMIC 3.5 and PACK ICE 2.1 or 2.4 are loaded. SAVE MOD Saves a mod. Right button active. The mod may be only saved in formats .GT2, .GTK, .S3M or .MOD. If the mode is already on the disk, a backup file is created (.BAK) to save the last version and prevent from manipulation errors. ( WARNING of the translator : on my FALCON (TOS 4.02, 40 Mhz, there's a disk error after saving or loading a certain number of mods. This error will be very soon deleted) LOAD PREF Loads a preferences file. SAVE PREF Saves a preferences file. The default loaded file is GTKPREFS.INF. MODULE FILE These are the formats Loded and/or saved by Graoumf. PATH OF... Access path, with default file names. AUTOLOAD This one is quite special. When starting, Graoumf Tracker loads the mod and samples found in this directory (if there are some). The musician can prepare its set of instruments, to be able to compose without having to look after the good samples for a long time. MAKE DIR Creates a new directory DEL DIR Deletes a directory on the disk. It must be empty (the directory, not the disk...) DEL FILE Zabroof, no more file! RENAME Hop, nobody's seen anything, I changed the name of the file. FORMAT Formats a HD disk 1.44 Mo or 1.6 Mo (or more). ***not included yet*** About the different save formats, you have to know that only the GT2 format is able to save everything correctly. The .GTK format takes every effects, but doesn't save the envelopes and the associated multi-samples instruments. Each instrument of the score is associated to the same number of sample. Then comes the .S3M. Same restrictions as for GTK, except that the full size of the mod mustn't exceed 1 Mo to be correctly loaded later. A few effects will also be lost, or their values arrounded, like panning slides, exponential volume, etc. Extreme octaves (6,7 and 8) will be saved as they are but are not managed in the official format. Moreover, the format is theorically limited to 16 voices of sampled sound, even if it is possible to make 32. Finally the .MOD format, is limited by all these restrictions, but it's still worse ! The octaves go from 1 to 3. Many effects will be lost, especially the volume column, converted into Protracker's Cxx when possible (it doesn't have the priority on other effects). Every volume slides will be arrounded. The maximum samples number is 31 (1F in hexa). The samples whose number is superior to 31 will be put in the free places before this number. If there are more than 31 samples, they won't be saved. If the module is 4 voices / 64 lines, it is saved as a normal mod (ident. M.K.); if it's more than 4 voices it is saved in FastTracker format (id. xCHN); and if the number of lines is different than 64, it is saved in Digital Tracker's format (id. FAxx). 4) Tools Menu ============= Yes, again loads of buttons. Let's go : START Sets the start of the block at the position of the cursor. The voice, the pattern, the start and end of the block are displayed in the central line (BLK vv/pp:ss-ee). END Sets the end of the block PASTE Copies the bloc into the place where the cursor is. INSERT Inserts the block inti the place where the cursor is. CLEAR Deletes the block. DELETE Deletes the block and puts what is after the block at the ancient position of the deleted block. NOTE UP Every notes of the block are increased from 1/2 tone NOTE DOWN Toutes les notes du bloc sont baiss‚es d'un demi-ton. SWAP Swaps between the block and the same length part under the cursor. REPLACE/TRANSP If transparency is active, while copying a block the notes of the destination place won't be deleted if the corresponding line of the block is empty. ALL/MASK If MASK is active, the block operations use a MASK (see further) TRACK/ Sets from what the block will be selected. PATTERN/ PRESET There are two icons, called MASK ON and REPLACE BY, that concern the masking of the block. The first mask filters every notes. An ? means that there may be anything in this field. The second mask is a replacement mask. A ? means that the chosen input is let, or it will be replaced by the set value. Example: if MASK ON = C-2 1????, and REPLACE BY = G-3 41234, during a copy only the notes in C-2 of the instrument number 1 will be taken, and replaced by a G-3 of the instrument 4, with the effect 1234. EXT NOTE is also a replacement filter, but only for the effect of a note that has been input with the keyboard. For example, if EXT NOTE = 0123, when a note will be input with the keyboard, the effect 0123 will automatically follow it. To modify these masks, click on them and enter your values as in the score. 'SPACE' puts an empty note. CLEAR SONG Deletes every patterns CLEAR INSTR Deletes every samples CLEAR ALL Deletes all ! .../... Next page, here it comes: In this second page of Tools menu, you can easily create echo effects, without modifying the samples, simply y modifying the volume. ECHO Runs the echo effect. Each note of the concerned track will be repeated with a drecreased volume. EVERY n LINES Sets the time between each repeat. CONT If this icon is active, the echo of a note will continue, even after another note. FEEDBACK In this mode, the percents represent the volume that each repeat will have from the precedent. FADESTEP Set how much the volume must decrease between each repeat. VOLUME SLIDE Makes a progressive volume increase or decrease between two volume commands. The cursor must be between these two ones. The volume column is used for this effect. Example : C-2 1 2030 Start volume \ C-2 1 2030 D-2 1 .... ==================\ D-2 1 .... 39 E-2 1 .... | Click on \ E-2 1 .... 42 .... | Volume Slide / .... 4B F-2 1 .... ==================/ F-2 1 .... 54 G-2 1 .... 5D End volume / G-2 1 .... 5D .../... next page again: It's the page of the song. The left window represents all the positions with every associated patterns, and their names. Click left there to change the position in the sequence, and right to modify the name of the pattern. INSERT POS Inserts a new position at the cursor. If you click right, the new pattern will be the first empty pattern met. DELETE POS Deletes the position under the cursor. .../... Back to 1st page of Tools menu. 5) Instruments Menu =================== Here you will be able to create your instruments, starting with loaded samples. The left window shows the repartition of the samples according to the notes. For you can have may samples for one instrument, so that you can play a great number of octaves without deteriorating the sound in the extreme high or low frequencies. The first column indicates the number of the sample, the second its name, the third the transposition (how many semi tones you want to change the original note to obtain the sample's note). Finally the fourth column is the note that corresponds to the sample. For example: 07 PIANO 1 C-0 +12 ... ... ... 08 PIANO 2 C-2 +00 ... ... ... 09 PIANO 3 C-4 -12 ... ... ... 09 PIANO 3 G-8 -12 Let's ay that this is instrument 5. When you will input a note with this instrument, a different sample will be played, according to the frequency of the note. If the note is between C-0 and B-1, it will be the sample 7, but 12 semi tones (1 octave) above the input note. If you had input G-0, GT would have played the sample 07 at note G-1. With a note between C-2 and B-3, the sample 8 is played at the note you input in the score (transpose 0), and between C-4 and G-8, the sample 9, decreased from 1 octave. In this list, the part where you can modify the characteristics is displayed in color red. This is now the description of the buttons, as usual : SAMPLE Modifies the number of the selected part's sample. TRANSPOSE Modifies the transpositon in semi tones of the sample GROUP When this icon is active, every sample number changes will be attributed to the whole group of note around the cursor. If not, only the note under the cursor will be modified. FROM / TO Changes the space covered by the sample VOLUME General volume of the instrument VOLUME/TONE/PAN Selection of envelope numbers for this instrument LIST Gives access to the instruments list. Clcik on an instrument to choose it. LOAD INSTRUMENT Loads an instrument and its samples, keeping the samples attributed to the precedent instrument. LOAD & REPLACE Loads an instrument with its samples. The specific samples of the precedent instrument are deleted, and the new ones are put in the first empty places found. *** Not included yet *** SAVE INSTRUMENT Saves an instrument with all its samples 6) Samples Menu =============== In this menu, you can load and save your samples, or modify their characteristics. Let's describe the buttons and icons : SAMPLE Number of the current sample. Next to it, you see its name. Click on it to edit. VOLUME The volume of the instrument, from 0 to FFF in hexa, 100 is the average value. LENGTH Its length in octets REPEAT Its loop point REPLEN The length of the loop. FINETUNE Sets how many 1/16 tones above/below the note the instument must be played. Useful when samples are not well accorded. FREQUENCY Indicates the sample's frequency. By default at 8363 Hz, but if you load .AVR for example, the frequency of the file will be taken. BITS Choose the resolution of the sample (8 or 16 bits). To change this resolution, click on this icon. Be careful, if you swap from 8 to 16 bits, there will be no difference; but if you swap from 16 to 8 bits you earn memory but you lose quality (that will not be restored by setting back to 16 bits). BALANCE Automatic balance. If ??? is found there, the balance of the voice where the instrument is played will not be modified. If not, the voice will take the value set as new balance. (800 = mono) KILL Deletes the current sample LOAD Loads a sample. A right click loads the sample whose name is in in the path of the Disk menu. The sample may be packed with ATOMIC 3.5, ICE PACKER 2.1 or 2.4. SAVE Saves the sample. A right click saves the sample in the path of the Disk menu. The sample in saved in .AVR format. SAMPLE FILE Choice of the default extension. LIST list of the samples. A small square next to the number of a sample shows that this one is not empty. INSTRUMENT ? Looks for the instrument which corresponds to the current sample. If you click left, the search will begin from the start, if you click right it will begin from the current instrument. The found instrument becomes then the current instrument. 7) Envelopes menu ================= This menu allows you to edit envelopes. The envelopes commands are found in the left window (the cursor is displayed as a ">"), and the list of commands in the right window. To insert a command at the cursor's positon, click on this command in the list. In the middle of all this you find a few buttons... VOLUME Indicates the kind of envelope edited. TONE PAN ATTACK Indicates the section of the envelope that is edited KEY OFF KEY OFF Attack is the normal envelope (when it begins), and Key Off the envelope executed for the cut of the note (with effect Note Cut) ENVELOPE Shows the number of the current envelope, its name is editable just below. CLR ENV Sets the envelope to 0. DEL COM Deletes the envelope command under the cursor COPY Copies the envelope whose number is shown in the edited envelope. 8) Control Menu =============== This part allows you to control the global volume, the tempo, the speed, the volumes and balances for each voice. Part of general and panning control: TEMPO Tempo in BPM. Corresponds to the command 0Fxx. SPEED Speed of a demisemiquaver (normal speed = 6). Corresponds to command A8xx. RESET Reset the balance. You can choose a mono sound, L-R-R-L...-type sound, or semi-stereo sound (better for headphones). 01-08, 09-16, Selects the 8 voices you want to modify the balance 17-24, 25-32 1, ..., 32 Balance for each voice. As usual, settings with the keyboard of with the fader. Corresponds to command 4xxx. L, R Global volume of left and right channels. It is possible to input the values with the keyboard or to move the fader with the mouse. M Master volume of the soundtracker (the one set by function 5xxx). RESET Reset the volume of all the tracks to 0 dB. (command C210 or C3C0). 01-08, 09-16, Selects the 8 voices you want to modify the volume 17-24, 25-32 1, ..., 32 Exponential volume for each voice, corresponds to command C3xx. The window allows you to set the volume from -12 dB to 6 dB. Setting with the fader only. 9) MIDI menu ============ This part allows you to use a MIDI keyboard, a rythm box, or any MIDI instrument with GRAOUMF TRACKER. For the momet, GT only uses MIDI IN, only in polyphonic mode. The MIDI IN synchro allows to adjust the speed settings between GT and the MIDI instrument. That's very useful in RECORD mode. But for technical reasons, the sounds played by GT will be played about 1/20 Sec after the received signals. But in the score, everything's allright. Let's have a look at the icons of this menu : MIDI IN With this function, Graoumf Tracker is able to play and record notes that are coming from the MIDI port. MIDI OUT Inactive for the moment. SYNC IN Sets the external MIDI synchro on. SYNC OUT Inactive for the moment. MONOPHONIC MODE Inactive for the moment. POLYPHONIC MODE The reception of notes is made on many tracks, assigned to MIDI channels in the following sub-menu. CHANNEL Inactive for the moment. INSTRUMENT Inactive for the moment. P.M. CONF Gives you the polyphonic mode configuration menu. In this sub-manu, there's a pannel on the right, showing the number of the MIDI channels attributed to each track. Click on the track number to give him or not a channel number, and click on the channel number with left or right buttons to increase or decrease this number. These are the icons on the left : MIDI CHANNEL Shows the MIDI channel you are currently working on. Clicks on arrows increase or decrease the number, and click on the icon allow you to configure the channel. INSTRUMENT Number of the instrument attributed to the channel. SELECT C. PRES. The channel is attributed to every tracks of the current preset. REMOVE CHANNEL Deletes every tracks which contain the number of the channel. GENERAL CONF. Back to the main MIDI menu. 10) Compatibility with other formats ==================================== Even if Graoumf Tracker can load many different formats, the compatibility is not always perfect, because of the different concepts between soundtrackers. ProTracker .MOD and assimilate: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ It's the standard format, the compatibility is nearly perfect. The different versions of this format (FastTracker for example) are also loaded, in 4 voices or more. Only a few often unemployed effects were not included. This is the list of the compatible effects : 0xx - Arpeggio E1x - Fine porta up 1xx - Porta up E2x - Fine porta down 2xx - Porta down E4x - Set vibrato waveform 3xx - Tone porta E5x - Set finetune 4xy - Vibrato E6x - Pattern loop 5xy - Tone porta + Volume slide E7x - Set tremolo waveform 6xy - Vibrato + Volume slide E8x - Panning 7xy - Tremolo E9x - Retrig sample 8xx - Panning EAx - Fine volume slide up 9xx - Sample offset EBx - Fine volume slide down Axy - Volume slide ECx - Note cut Bxx - Jump to position EDx - Note delay Cxx - Set volume EEx - Pattern delay Dxx - Break pattern Fxx - Set speed/tempo The Set glissando control (E3x) and Funk loop (EFx) lack. The commands 8xx et E8x are not eh original Protracker effects (Phasor effect for 8xx), for these ones are rarely used. Many soundtrackers changed it into Panning, so does Graoumf Tracker. Now the list of the known IDs : M.K. / M&K& / M!K! ................................ Protracker FLT4 / FLT6 / FLT8 / RASP ....................... StarTreckker xCHN / xxCH ...................................... FastTracker CD81 ........................................... Octalyser STE FAxx ..................................... Digital Tracker 030 Format OctaMED Pro Amiga .MMD: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This format is quite compatible, the Synth/Hybrid instruments are loaded too, but their envelopes and specific effects are not used up to now. As each pattern has its own length, a new track is created, containing a Break Pattern command. Format .669: ~~~~~~~~~~~~ 669 modules are usually well loaded. A 9th track is created for the independant speed and pattern-end commands. Format MultiTracker .MTM: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The MTM format is correctly loaded. Format Scream Tracker 3 .S3M: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ No troubles with this format, the specificities of Scream Tracker 3.2 are also taken. I think that GT is now the best soundtracker for loading S3M on the FALCON. Format Ultra Tracker .ULT: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ GT loads this format (versions V001 to V004), but as there are two effects for each note, I do the best I can : Cxx is put in the volume column, and the first effect has the priority on the second. The command number 5 is not used (that makes strange things on samples loops...). Format Digital Tracker .DTM: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The compatibility is nearly perfect, except for stereo samples that are automatically converted in mono. The old .DTM mods are also loaded. Format Fast Tracker 2 .XM: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ For the moment, this format is not completely managed, everything about the envelopes are not taken. Anyway, you can load most of the modules without troubles, those ones rarely use envelopes. 11) Preference file GTKPREFS.INF ================================ You can modify a few default parameters of the Graoumf Tracker, that are loaded as the programm starts, like the number of default tracks and lines, keyboard shortcuts, Sample editor's effects' parameters, etc. All these settings are saved in the GTKPREFS.INF file. It's a 100% ASCII file, so you can modify it with any text editor. The file is composed of two kinds of stuffs : settings and comments. These ones begin as ";", and end at the end of the line. You can do whatever you want after the ";" for the comment is not read by Graoumf. But it may help you for the settings we're going to talk about. The settings represent the main part of the file. They're composed of the name of a setting, specific to Graoumf Tracker, then a "=", and settings attributed to this entry. The format of these entries depend on the setting. Comments are added by the tracker to help you. To set the shortcuts, it's a little special. You find a 'keydef' before the name of the function whose shortcut you want to define. Then comes the name, then a setting, see further for more explanations. After the "=" you find the list of the keys you have to press to obtain the function you want. You can input : - Every letters (knowing that a few of these letters are used for the input of notes !!!), - The following keys: esc, tab, <, backspace, return, del, #, help, undo, ins, clr, up, down, left, right, pad0 and padpoint. You can only use one key for each function. - You may also attribute special keys to these keys, like lshift (left), rshift (right), shift (any), ctrl, alt and caps. You can put them together too. There are also functions that use many keys, like the selection of an instrument for example. Each group has 32 divisions, and you can attribute any part of these 32 divisions to a group of keys. There comes the setting, that gives the offset of the block's start (from 0 to 31). These blocks are : numpad (numeric pad) and fkeys (function keys). For example, if you set the choice of the instruments as function keys + 12, when you press F1, the instrument whose name is in division 12 will be selected, F2 the 13th's one, etc. Another function takes a parameter, it's "line": go to line xx of the pattern. 12) Bugs: learn to know them !!! ================================ I do think that GT doesn't have too many bugs. But let me warn you: - The memory management is not very... good (ahem...) By loading a mod that will fill up all the memory, there may be a crash. But if the mod is really too big, the error is correctly detected. - The sampling function in the samples editor is not very stable. - There may be bugs while modifying the replay frequency. - The black background may become white, depending on the resolution. - Depacking errors (Atomic 3.5) with very big mods (size > 1 Mo). It may cause a crash. The solution would be that someone gives me the original depack routs of Atomic 3.5 or other routs, for I think I have the official !!!) - Bugs with the edition of envelopes. Well, a bit less now... - The SongToDisk recording is not always very stable (with a recording speed different from the replay frequency) - The tempo is not 100% exact, so the SongToDisk function will not create a perfectly synchronised sample, but it will if the recording frequency is equal to the replay frequency. If not, modify the frequency a few Hz. - Again in the SongToDisk, if your Harddisk is not fast enough, a a few parts willnot be recorded, and this is NOT detected by the soft. - Crash (rare) detected while modifying the tempo in 'Control' menu while the processor is very busy. - It may crash when you change the size of a pattern while notes are transfered from the MIDI port. I am trying to correct all the bugs I find, and all those I've been told about, so have no hesitation to contact me if you find something strange. Otherwise, I don't give any guarantee about the support of tuning cards that accelerate the 030 (040, 060, who knows ?) than the DSP. If I get a reasonnable demand for a special version for owners of these cards, I will try to release one, that shouldn't give me any problems. IV) THE SAMPLES EDITOR ====================== This editor is in progress, every functions are not active yet. The inactive functions are followed by a "(***)*. The use of this tool is quite easy, and users of ST-REPLAY Pro shouldn't be too disappointed for this sample editor uses the same system. The samples editor uses a buffer, that takes the maximum of free memory. Every manipulations are made on the block, defined by two marks. The screen is divided into three parts. The top window shows the curve of the sample. The central part contains the main icons, and the names of the sub-menus, that are in the third part. A fourth part may also appear, showing a few graphics. 1) The main commands ==================== At the beginning, your buffer is empty. To work on a sample, you first have to load it into the buffer. When the work is done, you just have to save the block in the selected instrument. Be careful, the buffer uses the same memory space as the samples, so the end of the buffer me be sorrupted after loading a new mod or sample. You can move the marks (the two red bars) by clicking on their destination with the correct mouse button (right or left). Ther's also a third mark "phantom", that shows the last position of the end of block mark, after each manipulation. Let's have a look on these commands : ZOOM Zooms the display window on the marks. The position of the window in the buffer is displayed on the right and on the left of the screen. ZOOM OUT Zooms out two times the displayed buffer part. COPY SAMPLE Loads a sample in the block defined by the marks. TO BLOCK The number of the sample is displayed under the buffer window. The sample may be converted to the buffer's resolution (8 or 16 bits). If the sample is too big to be loaded in the block, you can either clip it, or make the block larger, so that it could contain the entire sample. COPY BLOCK Saves the block in the current sample. TO SAMPLE SWAP SAMPLE Swaps between the block and the current sample. (***) AND BLOCK CLEAR Clears the block and puts empty samples. CUT Deletes the block and replaces it by the right part of the buffer KEEP Deletes the buffer, except the block. FLIP Flips the sample in the block (reverses the sample). GAP (BLK) Moves the buffer on the right, from a length equal to the length of the block. GAP (SPL) Idem as precedent, but from a length equal to the length of the current sample. PLAY Plays the block (one time). Space or right click to stop it. FINE POS Allows you to set very finely the block marks. Click on this icon, a dialog box asks you which mark you wish to modify, click at the wanted position with the left button. You can scroll the window by clicking on the left and right borders. When you're satisfied of the position of the mark, click right to exit. 2) Numeric values on the buffer =============================== Under the buffer window, you find a few informations. You can modify these informations by clicking on them. Here is a small description of them: POS L Shows the position of the left border of the window in the buffer. CURS L Position of the left mark. BITS Current resolution of the work buffer. BLOCK Size of the block. BUFFER Size of the buffer. REPEAT Repeat point (if there is one). (***) FREQ Buffer frequency. SAMPLE Number of the current sample. By clicking on it with the right mouse button, a 'Sample' sub-menu appears. To exit it, click outside of the menu, or press 'ESC'. CURS R Position of the right mark. POS R Position of the right border of the window. 3) Volume Menu ============== This part allows you to know and modify the volume of your block. VOLUME This icon shows the maximum volume percentage of the block. Click on itto modify it (values over 100% are accepted, then the sample saturates). VOLUME ? Asks the maximum volume. This volume is not computed after each modification, to spare time between each modification. ñ1, 2, 3, 6 dB Increases or decreases the volume from n dB. +1 dB increases the volume from 25%, and +3 dB increases the volume two times There's also a menu 'Volume on effects'. You can either let the volume as it is after computing an effect, or force it to stay at its maximum, so that the quality of the sample is as good as possible, without any saturation (100 % volume).(***) You can also variate the volume in time, to create fading effects for example : FADE IN Sets the parameters for a fade in. FADE OUT Sets the parameters for a fade out. START Sets the volume of fade start. Be careful, this percentage corresponds to the volume of the sample, 100 % is the normal volume of the sample, not the maximum volume. END Volume of fade end. FADE ! Computes the fade. 4) Mix menu =========== You can mix samples, to create other deeper samples You can miw until 5 smplaes at the same time. These samples are specified by a few settings: ON When this icon is active, the sample is taken in the mix operation. START Sets the start volume of the sample. END End Volume. LOOP The sample is looped (with its own loop setings) when the icone is active. Num‚ro It's the number of the sample taking all these settings. 00 says that the buffer is taken as mix sample. To select the current sample, click on the number with the right button. Thanks to the MASTER icon, you can set the global volume of the result of the mix operation, without having to change the volume of every samples. Numbers 2 to 5 are presets for mixing 2 to 5 samples. Compute the mix operation with the MIX ! icon. 5) Record Menu ============== a) Warning ~~~~~~~~~~ The Falcon includes a Analogic-Digital Converter (ADC), so it is possible to sample audio sounds. But the ones who created the Falcon had the strange idea to put a microphone entry (a few mV). The danger is that if you connect a line out to this entry, you may destroy the entry, for the line out is much too powerful. You can solve this problem by adding a serial 200 Kê resistance to each channel (right and left). There's also another problem : the entry bass-boost. This one increases low frequencies, that are very bad with cheap microphones. The bass-boost totally destroys a good quality sound... But you can disconnect the bass-boost with a very simple montage, that many people know. b) How to make good samples ? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Sampling sounds is far to be an easy operation, and it asks to be used to it. Here are a few advices : - The sound mustn't saturate: before recording, set the monitoring on and look at the vue-meters. If these ones often saturate, the sound is too powerful. Decrease the volume of the audio source. - The level mustn't be to low, for you loose informations. Set the volume so that the sound does not saturate, and the vue-meters are at a maximum of 75 %. You can use the 'Auto' button the help you to set the volume. - The quality will be much better in 16 bits than in 8 bits but the sample will take two times more memory. 8 bits are often enough for sounds with constant volume; 16 bits are necessary if the volume variates a lot. You have then a better definition in the lowest volumes. - The sampling frequency is also very important. The higher it is, the better the quality of the sound will be, the the more memory it will take. There are sounds that support low frequencies, like the human voice, that keeps rather correct quality at 8 Khz. But a sound containing a lot of high frequencies will have to be sampled at a high frequency. For example a cymbal is at its full power at 32 Khz. For infomation, CD players are at 44.1 Khz, that is two times the maximal frequency a human can detect. The highest detected frequency is half the sampling frequency. To sample a 4 Khz sound, you must use a minimum of 8 Khz frequency for the sampling. - If you want to use low frequency samples, you'd better sample them at the highest frequency, to convert them later at the wanted frequency. c) The functions ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ SAMPLE Samples a sound in the block. To stop before the end, press the right mouse button or any key. PRESAMPLE Samples a sound in the block, but only keeps the last moments. To stop the samling, press any key or the right button. FREQUENCY Modifies the sampling frequency. TRIGGER If this icon is active, the recording only begins when the sound is at a certain level, that allows you to define the position of the sound's start. LEVEL It's the level of triger function. It is not necessary to set lower values than 2-3%, or noise may start the recording by mistake. L, L+R et R The samples must be mono, so these buttons allows you to choose if you want to keep the right, left voice, or the two voices mixed together. Input Device Selects the input device. (***) For the moment, you can only use the Falcon's ADC. MONITOR Listens the input. Vue-meters are activated. Input Level Input level in dB for the FALCON. AUTO Makes an automatic setting of the IN-level, depending on the source. After clicking on this button, play the sound you want to sample. The level is automatically set. Please note that this function gives bad results when the volume of a sound varies a lot and quickly. When you think that the volume is correctly set, press any key to stop. 6) Frequency Menu ================= This sub-menu allows you to modify your samples' frequency, compute FFT and tune your instruments. a) Resampling ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ In the middle (on the left), you find three frequencies. The first is the sampling frequency. The value on the left is the sample's current frequency, the value on the right is the new frequency you want to set for this sample. Below that, you find note names. The first note is the sample's one (you defined yourself, or found after computing a FFT), and the second is the note you want to obtain after the resampling operation. For example, if the start note is C 1 and you want to obtain C 2 (+ 1 octave), your sample's frequency will be multiplied by two, and its size divided by two. Note that the notes (!) have their frequency just below. On the left, you find multiply buttons (Shrink/Expand), that set the values to increase or decrease the sample's frequency with round values (changing the size AND the quality of the sample). The resampling may be computed in different ways. You can choose between a linear interpolation, what increases the quality of the result. Finally, the button at the top, on the left (Convert) computes the modifications you set. If you click with the right button, you don't modify the sample, but only the sampling frequency, depending on the note you want. So that you can tune your sample without modifying it, without loss of quality. b) FFT: Theory and use ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Another aspect of this part is the FFT : this function analyses each frequency contained in a sound, and shows their power. You obtain a graph (drown at the bottom of the screen), with frequencies on x-axis, and powers on y-axis. In fact, this is a spectral analyser, which allows you to know how different frequencies are filled. You can observe, especially for instruments, some values that are much higher than others, and the spaces between them is regular: Power ^ | | | | | | | | | | | | | | , |____/#\____#_____I_____I_____I_____i_____i_____;_____,_____._____.__> Time The first maximal value, usually the highest, is called the 'fundamental" sound. It corresponds to the basis frequency of the sound. The other maximal values are "harmonics". These values characterize a sound and makes it different from the others, for the fundamental would only produce a sinus wave, without specificity. Usually, even harmonics make a 'soft' sound, and odd harmonics make a more agressive sound. A complex chord containing sounds with mostly odd harmonics will create a more 'discordant' sound than sounds containing mostly even harmonics. While searching for the fundamental with GT'S FFT tool, you may find an harmonic more powerful than the fundamental (it does exist). Don't panic, look at the fundamental frequency on the graph, and compute a FFT around this fundamental. You should find the correct value of the note. While searching for the frequency of a chord, be careful too : the FFT will only find one note of the chord, usually the lowest one, not necessarly the main note. But how to recognize a chord ? It's simple, the maximal values are not separed by regular spaces, for there are many different notes (except for octaves chords). Last, if your screen resolution is less than 220 lines, you can't see the FFT. c) FFT functions ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ DO Computes the FFT. This may be long, especially with big samples. Press ESC to stop the computing. A click with the right button will set the scanned frequencies at their highest value. NOTE If this button is active, after computing the FFT, GT estimates the sample's note, and gives its frequency in the midle, at the bottom. Then you just have to click on 'Convert' to tune it. Be careful, harmonics may be higher than the fundamental, mistaking GT. You have to verify on the graph that the found frequency is really the fundamental's one. You can set the display of this frequency on/off (red bar on the graph), by clicking on the small "Disp" next to "Sample Note". START Frequency for the start of the FFT scanning. END End frequency. # OF PTS Number of scanned frequencies. The higher this number is, the better the FFT will be, but the longer the computing will be. N.B.: If the "NOTE" note is active and the number of points is too low, GT will take a longer time to find the note. LINEAR/dB Type of display. The scale of powers may be linear, or logarithmic (dB). BLACKMAN Blackman-type window. It increases the quality of the FFT by softing the interferences. But you can't use it with too big samples. NONE No Blackman. 7) Delay Menu ============= The delay, for those who are not used to sound effects, it's an echo...cho...o... The delay is mainly defined by two values : the time feed and the feedback. The first setting is the time between two repeats, and the second gives the volume of each repeat in relation to the precedent. The delay function in GT may be multi-tap, so instead of having only one impulse for each repeat, there may be many, displaced in comparison to the initial impulse ('Delay Time' parameter). If you work on stereo samples, you can create "ping-pong" effects, with a sound that is repeated on the right, then on the left, for example. Moreover, each tap has an independant volume ('Level') ,that increases the possibilities of this effect. You may also cut off the entry signal of the delay, while keeping the effect ('Mute in'), from a point you can define, so that you could obtain an echo only on a part of the sample. About the use of all this, you can set the dry and wet levels. If you want to obtain a regular decrease, you have to to set the wet level at the same percentage as the feedback. The feedback may be over 100%, what gives an increasing echo instead of decreasing ! A 0% feedback only gives one repeat. The settings on the right are effective only when the 'Multi-tap mode' icon is on. Moreover, each tap is only active if it's 'On'. The effect is computed on the block, but you can choose your source sample. As usually, to compute the effect, you have to click on 'Do'. The 6 numbers under this are example presets : 1 : Fast Echo 2 : Average Echo 3 : Slow Echo 4 : Effect that simulates an echo in the mountain. The first repeat is very late (thanx to the Time Delay of the tap) for the mountain is far, then the other repeats come after each other, simulating far walls, at different distances. 5 : Use of the multi-tap to simulate an echo in complex environment. The feedback is high, so that you could better hear the different effects of the multi-tap. 6 : Very special ! The repeat period is so quick that it generates a new frequency. You can modify this period to obtain a precise note, by modifying the sampling frequency : new sampling feq. = (1000 * smp.freq.) / (Time feed * note freq.). Lower then the wet and dry for the delay and source samples are in phase, what gives a very powerul sound. 8) Flanger Menu =============== The flanger produces a soft modulation on a sample. It's very simple : there is a delay, whose delay time oscillates around an average value. Generally, the delay is very quick (a few ms). The more the oscillations' amplitude is high, the more you can hear the effect. And there is a feedback, as for every delay. When this feedback is null, the effect sounds like a simple vibrato. The bigger the feddback is, the more you hear an oscillating wave that is added to the sound. I didn't want to include in this samples editor a simple flanger as you can find in a load of softs, but a stereo flanger, with a stereo source and a stereo delay. It can produce interessant stereo effects. Anyway, for those who don't see the 'why' of this, or find it too complicated, a 'Mono' option has been included. The effect is divided into two menus. This is the first : LEFT CHN Computes the flanger, for the left channel if the effect is stereo. RIGHT CHN Computes the right channel of the flanger. MIX CHN Computes the right and left channels, then mixes them. DRY LEVEL Level of the source sound. FLANGE LEVEL Level of the flanger. FLANGE TIME Delay time. It's not the average time, but the minimum time. The delay time oscillates between Time and Time + Depth. The average value is Time + Depth/2. FLANGE FREQ Frequency of the oscillations, in Hz. FLANGE DEPTH Amplitude of the delay time modulations. INIT PHASE Phase od the oscillations at the start of the flanger. During the effect, the sound follows a wave like this : Freq.^ | ____ | / \ |/ \ | \ / | \____/ |__________________> Time 0 0.5 1 1.5 2 With this seting, you can choose where the start of the oscillations is. PRESETS A few presets. (***) 2nd PAGE Access to the second menu... Here it is : LEFT SOURCE/ These are left and right source samples. In RIGHT SOURCE mono mode, only the left sample is taken. By clicking with the right button on the number, the current sample is selected. FEEDBACK L -> L Gives the feedback for each delay in itself, L -> R in the other. In mono mode, only L -> L is R -> R active. R -> L STEREO Sets the stereo flanger mode on. MONO Sets the mono flanger mode on; only the left channel is active. SIN/SQUARE/... Wave forms of the oscillations. 1st PAGE Back to the first menu. 9) Reverb menu ============== The reverb simulates a room with complex reflecting walls, like a cathedral, a hall or a cave. It's a like a sort of echo (the sound is reflected by the walls), but instead of repeating directly in the ears of the listener, it will bounce on the other walls, with frequency modifications. The sound doesn't stop suddenly, but it fades out softly in a sort of whisper. The used algorithm is a variatio of those described by Jam Moorer in an article called "About this Reverberation Business", published in the Computer Music Journal, 1979. The sound is first sent in a multi-tap delay (no feedback) for primary reflections. Then these primary reflections are sent into comb-filters, that are very wuick delays with a low-pass filter with infinite 1st order response in their feedback loop. (Note from The translator : ????$^$=—N?N?$E^RP?!) What the comb-filters produce is then mixed and sent into a feedback delay, and then it is simply delayed. This last signal, the primary reflections and the dry sound are mixed to produce the final sound. That's all. (Note from the translator : but that's enough...) This reverb is complex, but it is far from beeing perfect. There are many reverb algorithms, each one having its own specificities. But by setting the parameters correctly, you can simulate the acoustics of many places. a) The main parameters ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Many parameters are taken for the reverb, the main are set in the first menu. The 'advanced' parameters are in the second page, and will be described further. DRY LEVEL It's the level of the pure sound. EARLY REF. LEV. It's the level of the primary reflections directly mixed with the final signal. This parameter increases the volume of the sound to obtain a better quality. REVERB LEVEL Level of the final reverb. SOURCE Indicates if the source sample is the buffer or the sample number xx. In the Early Reflection section : NUNBER OF TAPS Sets the number of times you want to repeat the pure sound. The higher this value is, the higher the volume of the sound will be. Each tap has its own time and level, you can set them in the second page. In the Comb Filters section : NUMBER OF COMBS It's the number of comb filters. The higher this value is, the more complex the reverb is. OVERALL GAIN It's the general feedback for every combs. The higher it is, the longer the reverb longs. b) Extended parameters ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This is the second page. You find two panels on the left : the first is to modify the time and level for each tap of the primary reflections; the second is to modify the time and the gain for the comb filters' low-pass. The higher the low-pass gain is, the more softed the sound will be. It simulates then absorbing walls, like tapestries. The lower it is, the more 'bright' the sound will be, containing more high frequencies. It simulates then rock or metallic walls. In the All Pass Reverberation section : DELAY Sets the repeat time for mixing the comb filters GAIN It's the All Pass Reverb feedback. It increases the total time of reverb without having to increase the com filters' gain too much. In the Alignement Delay section : DELAY The delay of the reverb on the whole sound. This parameter may correspond to the depth of the room where the sound travels. 10) Song-To-Disk menu ===================== This part allows you to record a mod, or a part of a mod, as a sample, so that you could play it with a Direct-To-Disk soft, or use it as a sample in another mod. The size of these samples is rather big, so it is possible to record them directly on the harddisk. Be careful, the block will be used as a buffer, so it will be destroyed. It must be greater than 64 Ko, knowing that the bigger the size is, the less problems you will have with slow harddisks. Be careful when you activate the 'Monitor' function, if the disk is too slow, a few parts of the mod may not be recorded. This error is not detected. To avoid this problem, the disk accesses mustn't occupy more than 2/3 of the processor time. If it does, lower the recording speed. The frequency of the recorded sample is the block's one. This frequency must be set at a higher frequency than 12 Khz. RECORD Stars recording. If Disk is selected, a file selector appears. Give him the name of the sample you want to create. The recording is done in *.AVR or RAW. MONITOR When activate, you can hear what the computer records. In this case, be careful with recording speeds when recording on harddisks. START/END Alows you to choose the start and end positions and lines. If the start line is not 0, the mod is played from line 0, for not to destroy the notes that are played before this line. MONO/STEREO Sets the number of record tracks. If the sample is created on the block, you can't record in stereo mode. 8 BITS/16 BITS Sets the resolution of the sample. MAX DURATION Sets the limit for the disk recording (in seconds) MAX LENGTH Sets the limit for the disk recording (in Ko) RECORDING SPEED Useful in 'Monitor' mode. Sets the recording speed. The lower it is, the longer it will take. Be careful, if the frequency of the saved sample is low, you have to use a low speed, because of possible bugs. 11) Compression Menu ==================== With the compression, you can set the lowest and highest parts of a sample to the same level. When the volume is too low, the volume is lowered. In fact this effect is similar to the 'Auto' function in the 'Record' part. You may then get a nearly infinite sustain on an instrument : when the volume decreases, it is automatically increased by the compresser. (you should then use 16 bits high quality samples, for bugs are also amplified). DO applies the compression on the sample. LEVEL It's the volume each sample should be set at. For high dynamic samples, you should set it low. SPEED The speed of the adaptation of the compression to the sample's volume. The smaller 'Speed' is, the faster it is. SOURCE Number of the sample you want to compress. V) SHAREWARE !!! ================ 1) Diffusion ============ GT is shareware, it is free for try and it is absolutely FORBIDDEN to sell it (excepted by Laurent De Soras or the French Falcon Club). You can freely copy it, but its diffusion must respect the following points : - EVERY (compressed or not) files must be present - For comercial distribution and DP distributors, the disk mustn't cost more than 50 FF ($10 - œ7 - DM15). Moreover, the Graoumf Tracker mustn't lead to any gain from the distributor. - BBS or others: You SHOULD spread it ! - Magazines: Ok, you can include it. If you ever had any problem, or if you find a bug (there might be some left !...), you can, er...you MUST contact me at the following address : Laurent de SORAS 92 avenue Albert 1er 92500 RUEIL-MALMAISON FRANCE or : dumbo@stmag.pressimage.fr If you find modules that doesn't fit Graoumf's loader, U'd be kind to send them to me, telling me what's wrong and where it's wrong in the pattern. And if you have any doc about mods or samples formats, please send them to me, if you want Graoumf to load these formats. Please write me any suggestions, any critics, what you like, it will show me the way I must follow to please you ! VI) COMING NEXT... ================== This is what I plan to do for future versions : * Undo/Redo * Capture of blocks with mouse * Buffer for blocks * Load/Save song * Harmonical transposition (to follow a scale) * Load other mod (FAR, STM, PS16, OKT, MGT...) and samples (SOD, DVSM, IFF...) formats * A tiny mix table with volumes for each track. * More effects in the samples editor : Chorus, Pitch transposer, Time stretcher, Equaliser, Noise gate, etc. * Loading files in archives (ZIP, LZH, ARJ, GRP, WAD (why not ?) * Karaok‚ (!!!) * Optimization function for muzaks, for those who want to use them in their programms: automatic limitation of the size of samples to spare Ram, delete unuseful effects, etc... * A real score editor, this is something that should please musicians. * A synthe, to make your own sounds using samples and FM synthesis. * Sampling CD-ROM ??? For version 2: * A PC version (but no difference between the Falcon and PC versions) * Possiblility to use more than 32 tracks (but is it really useful ??) * Better management of the multi-samples instruments: transitions between 2 successive samples by mixing the two samples depending of the note, like a real synthe. * Groups of tracks, for secondary tracks management. A group may be mono or stereo, and the mix of its tracks is made as usually, but apart from the others. Digital effects may then be applied. Everything is then mixed with volume and panning parameters (for right and left tracks for a stereo group). * Digital effects without any particular algorithms, with every serial/parallel combinations (depending on the free memory). * Effects presets (algos, parameters, selection of the parameters influenced by effect tracks) * Special 'automation' tracks for effects / mix (to programm the effects' parameters) * Direct-To-Disk tracks * MIDI tracks * Audio in trakcs, with the same use as normal tracks (-> groups and digital effects) * If many audio outs are plugged into your computer, possibility to set separate tracks. * And many other things... VII) GREETINGS ================== As usual... I wish to thank every human or extra-terrestrial people who helped and supported me in my quest for perfection, especially : - Gr‚gory Makles (very good ideas) and the whole Big Noz team - Christian Lim - Guillaume de Chant‚rac - Bliss, who sent me loads of docs about mod formats - SGT Slayer, who let me use his Falcon; without him the MIDI management would not be seen as soon in the Graoumf Tracker. - Everyone who reported me bugs and made me suggestions (and I considered them all) - the FAUCONtact association, they're nice-top-cool - Julien Boeuf/Big Noz, Fantomas and Donald for their jokes - Sonic Youth and Nirvana, for giving the basis for the Graoumf - Antoine, Nicolas, Alexandre, Ben, Eric, Eric and Fran‡ois, I really enjoyed destroying you all in Doom II (especially Nico, with him you win 1 Frag every 10 seconds). - The ISEP No 41 promotion - Judge Dredd, who hit that fucking Santa Claus - les Outils Wolf, pour la capacit‚ de leurs tondeuses … d‚couper la chair humaine (Noter of the translator : untranslatable...) - David Vincent, who makes his cadavers disappear the fingers in the nose. - Don Coscarelli, for having written and realised the awful Phantasm I, II et III (awfully funny !!!) and errrr... many others ! Enjoy life, and long life to the Graoumf musak ! L. de SORAS, 05/12/96 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Graoumf is a trademark of Big Noz team. Final note of the translator : EXTRA-MEGA-GIGA FUCK TO ZARMI / SUPREMACY THE AWFUL CRACKER ! --------8<------------------8<------------------8<------------------8<-------- *====================================================* FORMULAIRE D'ENREGISTREMENT POUR GRAOUMF TRACKER *====================================================* PRENOM: ________________________________________________________ NOM: ___________________________________________________________ ADRESSE: _______________________________________________________ VILLE: _________________________________________________________ ETAT/PROVINCE: _________________________________________________ CODE POSTAL: ___________________________________________________ PAYS: __________________________________________________________ Facultatif: NUMERO DE TELEPHONE: ___________________________________________ PSEUDONYME: ____________________________________________________ E-MAIL: ________________________________________________________ COMMENTAIRES, BUGS, SUGGESTIONS: (mettre la version du Graoumf Tracker que vous poss‚dez) ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ Je reconnais qu'aucune version enregistree du Graoumf Tracker ne doit etre copiee ou vendue a quiconque, quelle qu'en soit la raison. Je degage egalement la responsabilite de Laurent de Soras, et tout autre personne impliquee dans la vente, distribution, soutient ou programmation du Graoumf Tracker pour tout dommage cause par l'utilisation du Graoumf Tracker. DATE : ________________ SIGNATURE : ___________ --------8<------------------8<------------------8<------------------8<-------- *=========================================* REGISTRATION FORM FOR GRAOUMF TRACKER *=========================================* FIRST NAME: ____________________________________________________ LAST NAME: _____________________________________________________ ADDRESS: _______________________________________________________ CITY: __________________________________________________________ STATE/PROVINCE: ________________________________________________ POSTAL CODE: ___________________________________________________ COUNTRY: _______________________________________________________ Optional: PHONE NUMBER: __________________________________________________ PSEUDONYM: _____________________________________________________ E-MAIL: ________________________________________________________ COMMENTS, BUGS, SUGGESTIONS: (please put the version number of your copy of the Graoumf Tracker) ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ I hearby acknowledge that any copy of Graoumf Tracker registered to me may NOT be copied or sold to ANY other party for ANY reason. I also understand that Laurent de Soras, or any other persons or companies involved in the sale, distribution, support, or programming of Graoumf Tracker are not responsible for any damages that may be caused by the use of Graoumf Tracker. DATE : ________________ SIGNATURE : ___________ --------8<------------------8<------------------8<------------------8<--------