The Ultimate Tracker. --------------------- Version 1.06b. Minimum requirements. - 386 and above - Vga - 2 megabytes ram ( I think, else 4 megabytes minimum ) - FM sound card Recommended - 486 and above - 4 to 8 megabytes ram - Sound Blaster Awe32 TUT is a music composition program which allows music to composed in a fashion similar to Mod Files. This makes it easier to use in that their is no need to understand music notation. A Song is made up of a number of patterns, which in turn are made up of 64 ticks (0-63). Depending on the Tempo and Ticks Per Beat, the program will play a number of ticks a second. Pressing ALT-H will bring up a list of the basic keys and functions. ALT V Brings up a volume control panel. This controls only the Master and Midi/FM volumes. You need a SB16 or higher to use the volume controls. CTRL P Specifies the output device. This can be FM, AWE32 or MIDI. The note info at the bottom will reflect the instrument depending on the current device. Please note, in this Beta version, the Midi support is not used. It will be added in future versions. Attempting to play on a Midi device will cause unexpected results. It is recommended you move the DOS4GW.EXE to somewhere in your path, as the comversion programs also require it. If you get a Stub Exec failure, then copy it to where the convert programs are, or move to somewhere in your path. ALT-A Sets the Song Author. ALT-T Sets the Song title. ALT-C Sets a commment. I will extend the comment size in a future version. At the moment, you can only enter a one line comment. [ Orders ] The Orders determine which patterns will play when. You can specify the patterns in any order you want. Patterns can start at 0 and go up to 128. Orders can Start at 0 and go up to 128. Although you can skip patterns used, eg. use only patterns 0, 3, 5 etc, it is not advisable. You can access the Orders window via F1. Del and Ins will delete and insert orders. [ Notes ] Notes are entered using the keyboard keys. Notes may be adjusted ie, you can change a notes Octave, Duration, instrument, or the note itself. The note can be blanked/erased with the spacebar. You can also delete a note using the DEL key, or insert a Note/Tick using the INS key. The Note is usually played when entered, unless a song is already playing. Setting a duration of 0 (Default) will play a note until another note plays on the same channel, or the channel is switched off. ie. Duration 0 is in fact " PLay Note Indefinately ". [ Instruments ] Instruments are managed using the F2 Key. You will be presented with a list of instruments currently allocated. To insert/change an instrument, just press TAB or ENTER on the instrument you want to change, or on the blank line at the end. This will bring up a list of instruments in the currrently loaded bank. You can change the bank from the MAIN screen by pressing CTRL-I. You can also delete instruments with the DEL key. if there is only one instrument, then the program will not allow you to delete it, as at least one instrument is needed for a song. NOTE. If you delete and instrument that is used in the song, then its up to you to change the song notes which apply to this instrument. The highlighted instrument can be played using the keyboard keys ( If a song is playing, the instrument is not played). You can change the voice the instrument is played on using the < - > or horizontal arrow keys. This is needed when playing percussion instruments (Bass Drum, Snare Drum, Tom-Tom, Top Cymbal, or High-Hat). If these instruments are played on any other channel, they will not sound correctly. NOTE. You have to be in Percussive Mode to play these instruments correctly on the correct channels. When you have chosen your instrument, ENTER will make it the currently active instrument and all notes entered thereafter will be using that instrument. ESC will abort the instrument change, and the previous active instrument will remain the active instrument. Sample Instruments are managed via the F3 Key. This brings up a list of samples used. Inserting is a matter of hitting Enter on the desired number. Instruments can be deleted via DEL. The program can automatically determine the following sample types : WAV : Wave files S3M : S3M Samples YMF : YMF Samples You do not have to have a specific file extension. Hitting enter on any file will result in autodetection. If the program cannot determine that the sample is of one of the above types, then it will prompt you to load it as a raw sample file. Raw samples are defaulted to 8 bit. The program supports 8 and 16 bit samples. the program cannot read compressed WAV or S3M samples (via PCM, ADPCM etc) or Stereo samples. Sample information can be changed via the following keys : ALT W - Sample Name. Can be up to 15 characters long. ALT R - Sample Rate. The Rate at which the sample is to be played at the root Key. Eg, if rate is set at 22050 and the root Key is C-4, then playing a note of C-4 will play the sample at 22050hz. ALT N - Root Key. Q-S determines the Note. [ and ] determines the octave. ALT V - Sample Vol. This is the Initial Volume of the Sample. 0 being softest, 255 Loudest. SPACE - Looping. This toggles sample looping. ALT S - Loop Start. The Loop Start position. This is the offset from the beginning of the sample. Usually 0. NOTE, this is in SAMPLES not bytes. This value should not exceed the loop end position. ALT E - Loop End. The Loop End Position. Offset from beginning of sample. Usually the length of the sample. Should not exceed the length of the sample. ALT P - Play Pos. You can specify a different Play position if you want to play just part of a sample. This should not exceed the Loop End position. You can listen to a sample via the keyboard keys. F8 Stops playing a sample. Samples are uploaded when a new song is loaded, or a sample has changed (deleted or added). You can save sample with CTRL S. This saves in YMF sample format. The program creates some temporary files when working. Please do not delete these files if you shell to dos. Also, It does not check if your awe card has sufficient memory for all the samples you specied. If you load more/larger samples than your awe has memory, then the samples will wrap, and overwrite samples in the beginning of memory. You must have sufficient main memory to support loading one entire sample before its uploaded to the Awe. eg. If you are loading a 2Mb sample (One sample, not all samples totalled), then you should have 4-8 Mb ram (Main Memory) to enable it to be loaded and sent to the Awe ram. If You don't, then the sample is skipped and the next one uploaded. [ Editing ] You can Block notes using ALT-B. This highlights the specified rows and columns and allows you to Cut/Copy and Paste. Toggling ALT-B again will disable blocking and the blocked Notes will remain blocked. You can UnBlock all notes with ALT-U. Using ALT-C will copy the highlighted notes to the clipboard. ALT-X will cut the notes to the clipboard. ALT-P can be used to paste the notes elsewhere. If the voices/columns in the clipboard exceed the paste space, the the trailing columns will be ignored. [ Playing ] The song can be played using the F5 Key. You can also play just one Pattern using the F6 Key. F7 Plays just one channel. All patterns will be played tho'. F8 stops the song/channel/note. CTRL-N Starts a New song. [ Effects ] Effects are added via the CTRL E key. A tempo change affects the entire song. The other effects are channel specific. Pattern Break - Will break from the current pattern to specified tick in the next pattern. NOTE if this is on the first channel, all other notes/effects on the same tick are ignored. Channel Off - This switches off a channel (until you play a new note). Useful if you have been playing a looped sample indefinately and want to stop it at a specified point. Channel Reverb - Only for Awe32. Sets the channel reverb level from 0 (No reverb) to 255 (full reverb). Channel Chorus - Only for Awe32. Sets the channel chorus level from 0 (No chorus) to 255 (full chorus). Channel Pan - Only for Awe32. Sets the Pan position. 0 Plays on the right speaker. 255 on the left. 128 sets the pan to the middle. You can specify any values in between for different pan positions. More effects will be added in future versions. If you would like certain effects to be added, please mail me. This is a pre-release beta version. This doc is VERY uncomplete. There are lots more key combinations and functions. I will release a complete doc with the final (Non Beta) version. The final (Non Beta) version will be a shareware version. The registered version will have tons of features and capabilities. Please Note : this version may have some bugs. You use this program at your own risk. If damage results due to a program bug or misuse, the author will in no way be liable or held responsible. If you have any questions, queries, suggestions, criticism etc please mail me. E-Mail : yugeshren.naicker@dvert.com Enjoy.