Tutorials for Melodia / Sound Card by Kelly Reed In these tutorials you will be creating and working with your own Melodia file. At the beginning of each tutorial will be a brief explanation as to the purpose of the tutorial, and directions as to which "Page" or "Area" you will start out on. When you are doing these tutorials, you will be instructed to either "click," "dial," or "slide" values into different inputs. Click by clicking the left mouse button. To dial a value, hold down on the left mouse button and move the mouse whichever direction you are instructed. Slide refers to "slider" inputs, which are horizontal lines. To slide a value, hold down on the left mouse button on the present value (the white number somewhere on the line), and move the mouse whichever direction you are instructed. Now a brief review of the Pages, Areas, and Screens. "Page" refers to the individual page you will be working on. There are three basic pages: the PLAY page, the COMPOSE page, and the INSTRUMENT page. "Screen" is the monitor screen, and generally refers to the PLAY and COMPOSE pages combined, which is only attainable if you have VGA. "Area" refers to the area of the screen on which you will be working. The PLAY page has two main areas: the Conductor area (top two lines of the page), and the Play area (the remainder of the page). The COMPOSE Page also has two main areas: the clocks (bottom five lines of the page), and the Compose area (remainder of the page). When the PLAY and COMPOSE pages are combined onto one screen, the four areas are: Conductor (top two lines of the screen), PLAY (upper portion of the screen), COMPOSE (lower portion of the screen), and Clock (bottom five lines of the screen). To change pages, click on "Page" in the lower right-hand corner. To switch between separate and combined pages, click on "Zoom" (next to Page in the lower right-hand corner). The PLAY page consists of the top two conductor lines, and the sixteen voices in groups of four. A "voice" is one line of characters, starting with the number in the "Mut" column (far left of screen) to the "Slew" value (long horizontal line under the column labeled Slew - far right of screen). The voices are identified by their numerical label in the Mut column, 01 being voice #1, and so on. If you do not have VGA, go to the COMPOSE page by clicking on "Page" in the lower right-hand corner of the screen. The COMPOSE page consists of the "Clocks" on the bottom of the page, labeled in brown, and the six different processes (labeled - starting from the top left corner and going clockwise - Ssq, Bsq, Ran, Fol, Tst, and Ctl), each unique in its own function. To go to the INSTRUMENT page, click on "Page" in the lower right-hand corner of the screen. The INSTRUMENT page consists of a row of functions on the bottom of the page, two long horizontal boxes (magenta - labeled MOD and VOL) above them, and two large boxes (magenta - labeled MODULATOR and CARRIER) above them. Tutorial 1 - Creating a Sound In this tutorial you will be working with the clocks, voices, text, the Ran(dom) generator, and the Bank and Switch Sequencers. You will be using three different voices and clocks. If you have VGA and are not on the PLAY/COMPOSE screen, go there now by clicking on Zoom. If you do not have VGA, click on Page (lower right-hand corner) until the PLAY page appears (the PLAY page is the one with the sixteen voices in horizontal groups of four). Before you do any of the following steps, you will first need to create a new file. To do so, use the following method: a. Click on "File" (bottom right). Click on the current file name (just below "Save" and "Erase" in bright white). b. Type in the name you want your new file to be called. Press the space bar to delete any unwanted characters. Press [ENTER]. c. You will be prompted with Load, Overwrite, New. Click on "New" to create a new file. d. Return to your composition by selecting "Return" (on the bottom of the File Menu). Turn on the three instrument voices you will be using by clicking on the first three numbers (01, 02, and 03) under the Mut column (make sure each of the numbers is highlighted). Make sure that Halt (upper left-hand corner of the screen) is green, not bright yellow. If it is yellow, click on it to change it. 1. VOICE #1 - a. Under the "Kb" column (top left-hand portion of the PLAY area) dial left to connection R4. A connection takes the place of a numerical value. This connects the Kb value to Random Generator #4 (a process in the COMPOSE area). b. Click on the Tsp (Transpose) column (upper left-hand portion of the PLAY area) and dial right until the value C/5 appears. This will play the note at a higher octave. VOICE #2 - On the second line of the "Pan" column (upper middle portion of the PLAY area), dial left to R5. If you have a stereo sound card, voice #2 should bounce from left to right in your speakers. NOTE: This function only works with stereo sound cards. VOICE #3 - Click on the third line in Instrument column (top left-hand corner of the PLAY area) and dial to voice #12 (BASPOP). 2. VOICE #1 - Turn the first volume to 46 by holding down on the number on the Volume slider (upper right-hand portion of the PLAY area - long, blue, horizontal line) and sliding it left. VOICE #2 - Under the Kb (keyboard) column, hold down on the left mouse button, and dial left to the connection B1. You are connecting the Kb value to Bank Sequencer #1. A connection takes the place of a numerical value. This connects the Kb value to Bank Sequencer #1 (a process in the COMPOSE area). Turn the volume to 42. VOICE #3 - On the third line under the Kb column, dial left to the connection S1. A connection takes the place of a numerical value. This connects the Kb value to Switch Sequencer #1 (a process in the COMPOSE area). As you are dialing, note that the connections are in alphabetical order. Turn the volume down to 50. 3. If you do not have VGA, switch to the COMPOSE page for this part of the tutorial. VOICE #1 - THE RANDOM GENERATOR There are four controllable Ran(dom) generators, located at the top right-hand corner of the COMPOSE area. In addition, there are four more invisible random generators, which are fixed to a range of 0-63. They are labeled as connections R5-R8 in value inputs. Under Ran#4 (Random process #4) dial a 39 under the column labeled with an arrow pointing sideways. This will give the random selection of notes for voice #1 a range of 0-39. VOICE #2 - THE TEXT EDITOR Now you will be working with the "Text" part of Melodia. Melodia assumes you have DOS 5.0 or later, which has a text editor named "EDIT." In this tutorial, you will write your own text (a poem, for example) with the text editor. After you have done this, you will return to Melodia, load the text you have just created, and convert that text to musical intervals in Melodia's Bank Sequencer. In addition to the text files, there are also a number of DNA sequence files. You can access these by clicking on "Text" (in the File menu) twice, then clicking on the file name you wish to be loaded. More information about DNA files can be found in the User's Guide section of this manual. a. Click on "File" (lower right-hand corner of COMPOSE area), then select "Edit." This starts a text editor so you can make your own text. Since you have made changes to your composition, you will be prompted to save or discard the changes. For now, click on "Save." b. When the editor loads, click on "File" in the upper left-hand corner of the screen. Select "New." c. Type your text - even a short sentence will suffice. When you are done typing, click on File and select "Save As." Give your text a name, followed by ".TXT" (i.e., SONG.TXT) [ENTER]. IF YOU DO NOT INCLUDE ".TXT" AS PART OF YOUR FILE NAME, YOUR FILE WILL NOT BE RETRIEVABLE! d. To return to Melodia, click on "File," then select "Exit." e. To load your text, click on "Text" (in the Melodia File menu), then click on your text file name. Note that the file name under Save and Erase does not change. f. To return to your composition, click on "Return" on the bottom of the File Menu. Your text will be loaded into the Bank sequencers in the form of numerical values, indicating pitch changes. g. Next to the letter "A" in the column under "Bsq" (Bank Sequencer - in the upper middle portion of the COMPOSE area) there is a green block. Hold down on the first block and dial right until you see a green arrow pointing up. This activates the Sequencer by making clock "A" count up. VOICE #3 - THE COMPOSE AREA a. Under Ssq#1 (Switch Sequencer #1 - in the top left-hand corner of the COMPOSE area, labeled "Ssq" in magenta) hold down on the zero in the Step column (Step is the blue horizontal line under the brown "Step" label with a zero at the left end and a little green circle at the other) and slide to Step 2. b. Under the column labeled "#," dial 20. You have just dialed in a new pitch for Step #2. c. Hold down on Step 2 and slide to Step 8. Under the # column, dial 36. You have just dialed in a new pitch for Step #8. d. Hold down on the green circle at the right end of the Step line, then drag it to the space just after step 8. This will limit the sequence range to 0-8. e. Next to the letter "A" in the column under "Ssq," there is a green block. Hold down on the first block and dial right until you see a green arrow pointing up. This activates the sequencer by making clock "A" count up. f. Change the letter "A" (under Ssq #1) to "C" by dialing right. This will cause the sequencer clock to be in sync with the voice clock. Note the Ssq pitch change on steps 2 and 8. To save your work, click on the File menu, select "Save" (not the checkmark). The checkmark will change to a dot to indicate that your work has been saved. After saving, click on "Return" to go back to your composition, or "Exit" to exit. Tutorial 2 - Modifying the Sound In this tutorial you will be working with the Test ("Tst") and Follow ("Fol") processes. If you do not have VGA, switch to the PLAY page. You will need to start where you left off in the last tutorial. Open the previously saved file (click on File in the lower right-hand corner of the screen, select the desired file, then click on "Return" to return to your composition) if it is not already opened. Before you do anything, isolate voice #1 by clicking on the green Mut icon (top left-hand corner of PLAY area, located just under Halt). It will switch to "Sol(o)" and only the first voice will be active. Be sure that 01 under Sol is highlighted. If it is not, click on it to select voice #1. Since voice #1 is in the fifth octave (Tsp was set to C/5) and the Random process was set fairly high, some of the notes may be extremely high. To change those high notes, you can do one of two things: 1. you can lower the Random range or 2. you can "weed out" the higher notes with the Test process The Test process is located in the lower right-hand portion of the COMPOSE area, and is labeled "Tst" in magenta. a. On the first line under column "#A" dial left to R4. b. On the first line under column "#B" dial right to 20. c. On the first line under the column "Y" dial left to S2, and in column "N" dial left to R4. This tells Melodia that if the note in R4 is greater than 20, that note will be switched to Switch Sequencer #2, and if it is not greater than 20, leave it alone. d. Now move over to Switch Sequencer #2 (the second line under the Switch Sequencer - top left-hand corner of the COMPOSE area). Slide to step 0 if you are not already there (Step is the blue horizontal line under the brown "Step" label with a little green circle at the end). Dial a 12 in the # column. e. Hold down on the zero and slide to position 1, then dial a "16" in the # column. Hold down on the 1 and slide to position 2, then dial a "19" in the # column. f. Move the green "stopper" (the circle at the end of the Step line) to the space just after step 2, and dial the green block (next to A in the column under Ssq) right to the "up arrow." PLAY AREA VOICE #1 - g. Now dial left to T1 for the first number in the Kb column (top left-hand portion of the PLAY area), replacing the R4 already there. A connection takes the place of a numerical value. This connects the Kb value to Test Process #1 (a process in the COMPOSE area). Notice how the high notes have been replaced by lower notes in Ssq #2. Now you will be working with the Fol(low) Process. The Fol Process (right-hand side of the COMPOSE area) will change the Random sound to a scale-like sound. h. Dial left to R4 for the first number under the column labeled with an arrow. i. Dial right to F1 under the first number in the Kb column (top left-hand portion of the PLAY area), replacing the T1 already there. Note the random sound is replaced by a scale-like sound. j. Now turn voices #2 and #3 back on by clicking on the green Sol icon (top left-hand corner of the COMPOSE area). It will change back to Mut and the three voices' numbers will be highlighted, indicating that the voices are "on." This is a good time to experiment with different instruments. Click on the instrument name or number (in the Instrument column - top left-hand corner of the PLAY area) of the voice you wish to change, and dial left or right while listening to the sound. If you prefer the original instruments, Voice 1 was instrument #000, Voice 2 was instrument #001, and Voice 3 was instrument #012. To save your work, click on the File menu (lower right-hand corner of COMPOSE area), then on Save. To return to your composition, click on "Return," or exit by clicking on "Exit." Tutorial 3 - The Stage Sequencers In this tutorial you will learn how to change stages. You will be working with the "conductor" on the top two lines of the screen. If you don't have VGA, switch to the PLAY page. You will be using the voices from the previous tutorial, so load your saved file from it now by clicking on "File" (lower right-hand corner of the COMPOSE area), then selecting the saved file. To return to your composition, click on "Return." 1. STAGE #00 a. Set the "Slews" (top right-hand corner of the PLAY area) of the first three voices to 4. b. Set the Measure (second conductor row, "M = Stop") to four measures. Do this by dialing right on Stop until M = 004. c. Click on "Strt" (upper left-hand corner of screen, first line of the Conductor area). The volume should gradually become louder until it reaches its set value, then stop and go to stage "01" on the stage line at the top of the screen. 2. STAGE #01 When you clicked on "Strt" your measure should have played and then moved to stage "01" on the long horizontal line next to "Cont" on the first conductor row at the top of the screen. If it did not, move to that stage now. a. To bring up the previous stage, click on "Prev" (right side of second conductor row). b. Slide the first three volumes (top right-hand portion of PLAY area) to zero. c. Click on "Strt" (top left-hand corner of Conductor area). The volume should gradually go up, then down, then stop and go to stage "02." 3. STAGE #02 a. Change the measure (M = Stop - second conductor row on right-hand side) to "Loop" by dialing left on Stop. b. Click "Strt" in the upper left-hand corner of the Conductor area. You should hear a continuous loop of the voices rising and falling. Save your file by clicking on the File menu (lower right-hand corner of the PLAY area) and then clicking on Save. To return to your composition, click on "Return." To exit, click on "Exit." Tutorial 4 - The Instrument Page In this tutorial you will be creating a new instrument. If you do not have VGA switch to the PLAY page. Before continuing, you will need to create a new file. To do so, use the following method: a. Click on "File" (bottom right). Click on the current file name (just below "Save" and "Erase" in bright white). b. Type in the name you want your new file to be called. Press the space bar to delete any unwanted characters. Press [ENTER]. c. You will be prompted with Load, Overwrite, or New. Click on "New" to create a new file. d. Return to your composition by selecting "Return" (on the bottom of the File Menu). "New" gives you a blank workspace, and you won't have any pitch changes in the present voice. Dial R4 in the first number under the first Kb column so you do have pitch changes. Go to the PLAY page if you are not already there. 1. Isolate voice #1 by clicking on "Mut." It will change to Sol (only one voice at a time may be active in the Sol mode). In the Sol mode, the voice will be connected to the INSTRUMENT page. 2. Activate the voice by clicking on Halt (upper left-hand corner of the PLAY area) if it is yellow. It should be green, not bright yellow. 3. To access the INSTRUMENT page, click on Page (bottom right of the screen) until you come to a page with magenta boxes of varying sizes. The INSTRUMENT page contains two ADSR boxes, a VOL(ume) box, and a MOD(ulation) box. The ADSR boxes are on the upper two-thirds of the page, and the volume and Modulation boxes are on the lower third. "ADSR" stands for Attack, Delay, Sustain, and Release. The right ADSR box (labeled CARRIER) controls voice quality and volume, while the left ADSR box (labeled MODULATOR) controls "twang" and "buzz" qualities. When experimenting with the INSTRUMENT page, keep in mind that if you wish to return to the original format of the page, click on "Redo" (bottom line of page, under "Put" and "Swap"), and all of the values will return to their original positions before you adjusted them. "Play around" with the ADSR boxes until you find a sound that is pleasing to you. Keep in mind that A(ttack) values should be fairly low, and D(elay), S(ustain), and R(elease) values should be kept at moderate levels. 4. In the lower screen you will note several boxes with green text. The leftmost box determines how the note will be played. By clicking on "Aud(ition)," you will hear what is being played on the PLAY/COMPOSE screen. Try this now. Clicking on "Note" will result in hearing one note played each time you change any value on the page. Try this now. "Chrd" plays a chord each time a value is changed, and "Off" means just that: off. For now, click on "Aud." The box labeled "8v" in brown determines what octave your note will be played in. Simply click on any of the eight numbers, and your note will go up or down. The box labeled "Ins:" in brown simply tells you the instrument numbers and names. You can change to a new instrument by clicking on either [up] or [dn], or by dialing on the instrument number. Try this now. You can change the name of the current instrument by clicking on the instrument name to position the text cursor, then typing the new name. When you find an instrument that you like, click on "Keep," which will highlight to yellow, indicating that the instrument has been marked for keeping. When you redial a marked instrument, the Keep label will turn yellow. Try this now by Keep(ing) an instrument that you like. Listen to other instruments, then redial to the instrument that you highlighted. Note that Keep changes to yellow on that particular instrument. There are several sets of instruments, each with different sounds. To access the different sets, click on File (lower right-hand corner of the screen), then select "Instrument." Click on whichever instrument list you want, select "Return," then start experimenting. Note that instruments that you have highlighted with Keep are still present in the new instrument file. This is because Keep acts as a "mask" when you are changing instrument sets. Instruments that you have Kept in one list are protected from being replaced when a new list is loaded. The following steps will show you how to use "Put" and "Swap" to exchange the positions of two instruments. a. Dial to instrument #023 in the instrument box. Click on "Put," then click on the 1 just above Put. b. Dial to instrument #042 in the instrument box. Click on "Swap," then click on the 1 just above Put. You have just swapped the stored instrument (#023) with instrument #042. c. Dial back to instrument #023 in the instrument box, then click on the 1 just above Put. By clicking on one of the numbers without first selecting Put or Swap, you "Get" the instrument stored in that position, replacing the current instrument. You have just switched the two instruments. If you wish to return the Instrument page to its original format, click on Redo, just below Put and Swap on the bottom portion of the page. Now return to the PLAY/COMPOSE area (the PLAY page if you don't have VGA) by clicking on Page (lower right-hand corner of COMPOSE screen). Your new instrument will be playing. Save your file by clicking of "File" (lower right-hand corner of the COMPOSE area), then selecting "Save." To return to your composition, click on "Return," to exit, click on "Exit."