- User's Manual -




















T H E * D R U M S

(Ver. 1.00)

Universal Drum parts Editor and Sequencer





























(C) 1991 - Fabio Marzocca -



You can reach me:

my phone: (39-6) 566 4448
on CompuServe: User ID 100015,2217
on BiX: User ID: fabio
on McLink: User ID: mc3796



ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS.

Special thanks to my friend David Sparks for the basic MIDI I/O
drivers, that have been the first brick upon which I've built
The*Drums. To him I am exceptionally grateful.


HARDWARE REQUIREMENTS.

The*Drums runs on every XT/AT computer with 512 Kb RAM and at least
DOS 3.1; a MIDI MPU-401 interface is required and, of course, any
MIDI drum machine or synthesizer. The Drums does not use extended
or expanded memory.


PREFACE

The*Drums is a complete universal sequencer/editor for all your drum
parts. You can edit your patterns on the screen editor or you can
directly enter the part by playing an infinite loop on your key-
board.

Customize your instrument table up to 25 different drum instruments,
choose your right quantization (1/8, 1/16, 1/32, 1/64), define the
'intro' instrument, select the right MIDI channel and save the de-
faults into the configuration file. You'll have up to 8 patterns to
be played in the sequence you define into the Song Vector; then save
the standard Midi file song and import the file in your personal MIDI
sequencer, to add the rest of the orchestra.

Experience the real-time recorder and evaluate the right quantization
to fit the maximum human feel! Setting the quantization to 1/64th is
almost like playing without any quantization.

NOTE: Only registered copies are able to generate Standard Midi Files.


GETTING STARTED
What do I do first?

1. Copy the diskette on an hard disk directory.

2. Type THEDRUMS and press ENTER

3. Edit the instrument table to fit it with your keyboard
(see the INSTRUMENTS section of this manual)

4. Set the MIDI channel where you have the drum part
(see the SETTINGS section of this manual)

5. Set your favourite quantization (best is 1/64)
(see the SETTINGS section of this manual)

6. Set the intro instument (generally the Rimshot)
(see the SETTINGS section of this manual)

7. Set your preferred default tempo
(see the SETTINGS section of this manual)

8. If you have a registered copy:

9. Save previous settings in the default file, so you will
have them all each time you start The*Drums.
(see the SETTINGS section of this manual)

10. Load an example file and press F1 to play the selected
pattern, or Alt-P-S to play the whole song.



THE SCREEN EDITOR

The screen editor allows you to move all around the selected pattern
with the arrow-keys. The instruments displayed at a time are 14 of 25,
but you can sroll the pattern window up and down.

The X-axis of the pattern window represents one full measure, and each
dot is the beat allowed for selected quantization. In other words, if
you select quantization at 1/32, you will have 8 notes available each
quarter measure.

When you want to edit the pattern contents, just place the cursor in
the position you need to edit and press the INS key. If a note is al-
ready there, it will be cancelled, otherwise a note will be placed
with the selected loudness.

Pressing the F2 key, your keyboard will play a sample from the instru-
ment on which line is placed the cursor; in other words, The*Drums
will send to the keyboard a request to play a short note on the se-
lected channel, with the key setting of the selected instrument.

To change from one pattern to another, use the CTRL-RightArrow or
CTRL-Left-Arrow; you will switch through the patterns, cycling from 1
to 8.

When you are in the screen editor, further to the Alt-menu keys, you
have the following keys available:

Arrows : Move in the screen
INS : Place or remove a note
HOME : Go to upper left corner
END : Go to lower right corner
F1 : Playback the selected pattern
F2 : Play the instrument
CTRL-Right: Move one pattern up
CTRL-Left : Move one pattern down



RECORDING (Alt-R)

This is the best peculiarity of the program. When you press Alt-R you
will hear a 4-beat intro played by the intro-instrument you have set
(generally the Rimshot). Then the sequencer starts scanning the whole
selected pattern in an infinite loop until you press a key on your
computer keyboard.

Each key you press on your MIDI keyboard will be recorded immediately
and played back at the next loop. I suggest to add one instrument each
time in order to hear the sequence growing. Exeperience this way: on
the screen editor, activate the first tick of bass drum, to have the
correct measure start, then press Alt-R. You will hear the bass drum
playing at each first measure; now add two or three snare drum figures
and let the recorder continue looping. Add the rest of the instruments
step-by-step, so you can coordinate the right rythm.

Another way to use Alt-R is to record special fill-in figures you play
on the keyboard. Fill-in figures are hard to build in the schematic
screen editor. Give them your human feel recording while you play them
live.

PLAYBACK PATTERN (Alt-P-P or F1)

Pressing F1 or Alt-P-P will start playing back the selected pattern.
The cursor moves on the playing beat and loops until you press a key.
The playback may vary if you select a wider quantization after having
recorded on a narrower one.

PLAYBACK SONG (Alt-P-S)

Before pressing Alt-P-S you should have set a song vector. After the
definition of the correct sequence, this function will start playing
the song following the pattern list in the song vector. The cursor
will blink above the playing pattern in the Song window, and the pro-
gram will stop playing as reached a '0' set pattern in the song vec-
tor.



SETTINGS MENU (Alt-S)

This menu lets you modify all the defaults and temporary MIDI value
assignements.

Setting Intro Instrument (Alt-S-I)

Each time you start a Recording (Alt-R), your keyboard will play
a one measure count-in during which an intro instrument will act as
a metronome counting off before recording actually starts. You can
change the instrument using this option. Try with the Rimshot or
the closed high-hat. The value can be saved in the default file,
but it is not stored in the patterns files (.tdp)

Setting Tempo (Alt-S-T)

Resets the current base tempo. A window pops-up, then input the
new tempo required (bpm). Even if a default tempo of 100 bpm is
reasonable at the program-start, you can change this value and
store it in the default settings. When you save a patterns file,
the selected tempo is stored in it as, of course, in the Standard
Midi File.

Setting Channel (Alt-S-C)

Change the selected MIDI channel connection with the MIDI keyboard.
This value is stored in the defaults file, but is not stored in
the patterns file.

Setting Quantization (Alt-S-Q)

Rounds off the timing values of the events. You have 4 choices to
define the quantization 1/8, 1/16, 1/32 and the incredible 1/64!
Upon changing the quantum, the screen editor will change look,
shrinking or expanding the time interval between the beats. This
function is useful either in the screen editor mode, or while re-
cording alive. The quantization value can be saved in the default
configuration file and in the standard Midi File Format, but is
not stored in the patterns file. The pattern file is always saved
in the minimum quantization (1/64th) to allow storage of the best
information possible. The user can then experiences in reducing the
value to fit his feeling.

Setting Pattern Name (Alt-S-P)

Each one of the 8 patterns available has a 20 character field to
store the name of the pattern itself. The name will appear just on
top of the pattern, in the center of the screen; defaults values are
"Pattern 1" ...."Pattern 8". On the same line of the pattern name,
at the right end of the line, the pattern number is always displayed
to help you in realizing on which pattern you are. The pattern name
is stored in the patterns file.

Setting Loudness (Alt-S-L or F3)

To simplify the screen editing, the loudness of the note (MIDI velo-
city) has been quantized into three possible values: 60, 90 and 127.
Changing the selected loudness, will change the density of the sym-
bol representing the note on the pattern screen. While in the screen
editor you have to choose between 3 fixed loudness values, in the
recording mode the program will take care of the exact MIDI velocity
for the note. If you play one note at velocity=53, The*Drums will
store 53 for the loudness of that note, until you will change it
in the editing mode.

Setting the Song Vector (Alt-S-S)

When you need to build up the drum part for your song, you have to
enter the pattern sequence into the Song Vector (lower left corner).
Each pattern is represented with its one-digit number, while the end
of the song is indicated by pattern '0'. You have up to 30 pattern
sequence in the song vector. Example: my song requires pattern nr.3
to be played 4 times, then 1 time of pattern nr. 1, then 3 times for
pattern nr. 2 and then again 4 times of pattern nr. 3. The song vector
will be: 333312233330 Pressing ENTER will quit the song vector edi-
ting.

Save Defaults Settings (Alt-S-D)

When program starts, it reads the file td.cfg which contains:

- Instruments key settings
- the MIDI channel of the drum parts on your keyboard
- the default quantization
- the intro instrument for the count-in
- the default tempo

Customize this file by setting up your defaults ad saving them with
this option.



THE FILE MENU (Alt-F)

This is the menu of command related to file storing and retrieving
on/from the disk.

File/New (Alt-F-N)

This blanks the current workspace and re-load the default configu-
ration file. If you have made changes to your work that have not
been saved to disk, you will be asked if you would like to proceed
with the command. If you choose to proceed, the work in memory will
be completely erased.

File/Load (Alt-F-L)

Load a "The*Drum" file (.tdp) from the disk into the workspace.
If you have made changes to your work that have not been saved to
disk, you will be asked if you would like to proceed with the com-
mand. A dialog box will pop-up with a list of files. Move the cursor
over the name of the file you want and press ENTER. If you press ESC
you will cancel the command.

File/Save (Alt-F-S)

Updates the current opened file with the new changes. If no file
has been opened, you will be prompted to enter the file name.

File/Save As (Alt-F-A)

Save the current workspace into a new file. You are prompted to input
the filename (without any extension). On the new patterns file, fol-
lowing data will be saved:

8 patterns data
the tempo setting
the instrument settings

Quantization and channel are not saved; the drums data are always
saved at the minimum quantization (1/64th).


File/View (Alt-F-V)

If you don't remember the contents of a patterns file, this will
display you the 8 pattern names, so you can decide to retrieve.

Standard MIDI File (Alt-F-M)

Save the current song in a Standard Midi File - format 0. The
format 0 has been choosen because the file will always contain
only one track of MIDI data, and almost all the sequencers on the
market are able to read from format 0. To allow this function you
have before to set the song vector pattern list. The resulting
standard MIDI file will take also care of the quantization setting,
channel and tempo.

File/Quit (Alt-F-Q)

Quits the program.



THE INSTRUMENTS MENU (Alt-I)

With this menu you can customize, save and load your instruments
key settings. If your drum machine or synthesizer is not present
on the directory list (.kbr), edit the key settings and save your
new instrument file.

Edit Instruments (Alt-I-E)

Press Alt-I-E to enter in the instrument editor. The cursor will be
placed on the first instrument on the screen, in highlight mode.
Scan the instruments with the up/down arrow keys (you have 25 instru-
ments available), and when you are placed above the setting to edit,
press ENTER. The name field will be blanked, allowing you to input
the instrument name (max 9 characters). Press ENTER and the cursor
will highlight the MIDI key setting; this field is mandatory (see
your synthesizer manual for corresponding pitches), but you can enter
0 if you want to silent the instrument or if you have less than 25
instruments available on your synthesizer.

Save Instruments (Alt-I-S)

This will save the current instrument settings in a file. You will
be prompted to input the file name (without extension).

Load Instrument (Alt-I-L)

Load an instrument file in the current workspace. A dialog box will
pop up with a list of files. Move the cursor over the name of the
file you want and press ENTER. If you press ESC you will cancel the
command.

=============================
DISTRIBUTION AND REGISTRATION
=============================

Under the Shareware system you may freely try out this program,
but if you continue to use it you are expected to register with
the author and pay the $50 registration fee.

When you register, please let me know what version you have
and I'd also be interested in knowing where you got it from.
Please, make sure to put your name and address on the letter!
It's amazing how many people don't do this. Or, you can use
the instant registration form in the file "order.frm".
Just copy the file to your printer.

To obtain the current release of THE*DRUMS with all of its latest
enhancements, register by sending the order form with your
money order for $50.00 per copy plus $4.00 for materials, postage
and handling, to:

Fabio Marzocca
Via Canale dello Stagno 40
00124 Casalpalocco (ROME)
ITALY