Diversi-Tune(tm) By Bill Basham Instructions Version 1.1 5/14/90 Update version 1.1 changes: This version includes support for the Audio Animator MIDI interface, a new open-apple-G feature for changing screen colors, and an option to copy tracks while bouncing (plus some minor bug fixes). ***** Introduction ***** Thank you for buying Diversi-Tune. If you bought this program from a dealer, be sure to send in your registration card so we'll know where to send update notices. The Diversi-Tune program is like a videocassette recorder (VCR). Most people will use Diversi-Tune to play back pre-recorded songs, just like most people use their video recorders to watch pre-recorded movies. You'll be able to buy Diversi-Tune pre-recorded song disks from a variety of sources, like you can buy video movies by mail or at the local video store. Using Diversi-Tune to play back pre-recorded songs is as simple as putting a video cassette in your recorder and playing it. The first part of these instructions describes how to do this. A few people actually use the record button on their video recorder. This takes a little more effort, but you can then record movies off the air when you're not home, fast-forward through commercials, and do all kinds of fun things. Diversi-Tune also has a record button, and fast-forward, rewind, etc. You'll notice the Diversi-Tune tape recorder controls are always present at the bottom of the screen. The second part of these instructions describes how to use some of these more advanced features of Diversi-Tune. Finally, some people buy video cameras and use their VCR to make their own home "movies". These may not look or sound as good as pre-recorded cassettes, but they're much more meaningful to the person who made them. With Diversi-Tune, you can buy a "MIDI" music keyboard and interface, and connect it to your Apple IIGS. This will allow you to record your own songs. The third part of these instructions describes how to do this. ***** Hardware Requirements ***** 512K Apple IIGS Diversi-Tune requires a 512K Apple IIGS, which is the standard memory configuration currently shipped by Apple. Diversi-Tune will use more memory to be able to load longer songs, but I haven't seen a song that doesn't fit into 512K, so far. ***** Hardware Options ***** External Speakers Or Headphones To fully appreciate the incredible sound quality of Diversi-Tune, you'll want to connect your IIgs to headphones or a set of external speakers. You can plug inexpensive "Walkman" type headphones directly into the IIgs. If you already have a stereo system near your computer, you can just buy a mini-stereo to RCA phone plug adapter cable and connect your Apple IIGS to the "aux" input of your amplifier. Your Apple dealer carries amplified Bose Roommate Speakers, which match the //gs and sound very good. Unfortunately, they don't have a volume control. If you connect them to a stereo card, you'll need to buy a small amplifier or mixer just to adjust the volume. It's better to buy a separate amplifier or receiver and speakers from an audio discount store. Stereo Card Another hardware option I highly recommend is a stereo card. These cards cost around $50, and will let you hear the remarkable stereo effects produced by Diversi-Tune. Here are the 3 cards I recommend. MDIdeas (Supersonic) 415 573-0580 Good sound quality. Input digitizer available (I used it to input the Diversi-Tune sounds). If you have an older card with the cables soldered to the board, contact the company for an upgrade. Newer cards have a stereo mini-jack for audio connections, which works much better. Applied Visions (G Stereo) 800-346-0811 or 818-960-1485 Good physical construction. Very nice people own this small company. Input digitizer under development. Applied Engineering Sonic Blaster 214-241-6060 Good company reputation for quality and support. Digitizer input included MIDI Interface and Keyboard MIDI stands for "Musical Instrument Digital Interface". The best place to learn about MIDI is a music store, not a computer store. Ask a music salesman to explain MIDI and buy an introductory book on MIDI from him. A MIDI interface allows you to connect the Apple IIGS to an external music keyboard. You'll need this combination if you want to record your own music into Diversi-Tune. Also, most music keyboards can generate their own sounds. You can play these sounds with Diversi-Tune as well. Diversi-Tune supports three types of MIDI interfaces. I recommend you buy the one from Apple, called the Apple MIDI Interface, available from your Apple dealer. It lists for $100 and plugs into the modem or printer port in the back of the IIGS. With Diversi-Tune you can actually connect and use two interfaces at once, one to the printer port and the other to the modem port of your IIGS. If you've got a modem and printer connected to your ports you'll need a switch to avoid having to unplug the modem every time you want to use your MIDI keyboard. Under these circumstances your best bet may be to buy the Opcode Studio Plus Two Interface, which lists for $275 (Opcode Systems 415-321-8977). It was designed for the Macintosh+ but works great with the IIGS. It has two MIDI interfaces, which connect to the modem and printer ports, with front panel switches so you can use your modem and printer too. It's all the interface you'll ever need! The other type of interface plugs into a slot inside the IIGS and was designed for the old Apple //e. If you've already got one, you can configure Diversi-Tune to use it. Diversi-Tune supports either the Passport/Sonus type of interface, or the newer Audio Animator interface from Applied Engineering. ***** Playing Pre-recorded Songs ***** When you first boot Diversi-Tune, it will automatically play a list of songs which is saved as part of the configuration. You can press at any time to get to the main Diversi-Tune menu. You can skip a song by pressing keypad "/". Choose menu option #1, "Load/Play Songs", from the Diversi-Tune main menu to choose which song or songs you want to play. You will see a new menu. Choose "Play One Song", to play a single song. You should now see a list of the available songs which you may choose. If you see the song you want in the list, use the arrow keys, or move the mouse, until the song is highlighted. Then, press or the mouse button to load the song. Some of the entries in the song list may look like this: --> SONGS If you select this type of entry, and press , you should see a new "sub-list" of songs (actually a ProDOS sub-directory). Finally, the first entry of each song list looks something like this: <-- DSR6 or <-- (New Disk) Select this first entry to go back to a previous song list or to load a song from a different disk. To play a song on a different disk remove the Diversi-Tune program disk and insert your song disk. Then choose the "<--New Disk" entry. You should see a list of all the disks connected to your system. Choose the song disk you inserted and you will see a new list of the songs on that disk. Note: After you boot the Diversi-Tune program disk you can immediately remove it and insert a new song disk. Diversi-Tune is a "single-load" program, which allows you to use it easily on a one-drive system. Load/Play menu option #2, "Play Entire Song Disk", allows you to play all the songs in a directory automatically. Just select any song and Diversi-Tune will play all the songs in that song list (not just the selected song). Automatic Play: While each song is playing, Diversi-Tune selects either a words or piano screen display for you to watch. You can switch displays any time by pressing or . You can halt automatic play by pressing . Option #3 plays the current song list. Selecting option #3 after playing an entire song disk (with option #2), will re-play that song disk again. Press keypad "/" to skip a song. Option #4, "Modify Song List", lets you select the list of songs which you want to play. You will see another menu which will let you add single songs to the list, add an entire directory of songs to the list, show the list, and clear the list. You choose each song in the list the same way you would play them, only they are added to the list instead of played. To start a new list, be sure to "clear" the old list first. After choosing your song list, go back to the load/play menu and use option #3 to play the list. Option #5, "Auto-Repeat", means Diversi-Tune will re-play the song list until you hit . Option #6 forces Diversi-Tune to show only the piano display, and not the words. Normally, the piano display is shown only for songs without words. Option #7 lets you load a song without playing it. After loading a song, you will return to the main menu, where you can use the other more advanced features of Diversi-Tune. Diversi-Tune Recorder Controls The bottom screen line shows the status of the Diversi-Tune tape recorder controls. To control the tape recorder you hold down the open-apple key and press one of the arrow keys. To avoid having to hold down the open-apple key, I duplicated the tape recorder controls on the KEYPAD. The top 4 keys on the keypad correspond to the 4 open-apple arrow keys. Here are the open apple keys and their keypad equivalents: Open-Apple Keypad Function ---------- ------ -------- <-- Rewind 1.28 seconds --> = Fast forward / Stop * Play - - Pause (Play to re-start) The tape recorder controls are always active, even during automatic play. For example, to skip a song during automatic play press the keypad "/" (the STOP button). +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ All those "+++" signs mean I'm about to shift gears and talk a little more technically. If you're content just to play back pre-recorded songs (and you'll be like most people, I suspect), you can stop reading here. But you can get a lot more out of Diversi-Tune with a little more effort, and I think you'll find it worth it! +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Diversi-Tune Special Playback Features ***** Pause ***** Press the keypad "-" key, or open-apple "-" on the keyboard, to pause. This key is the "Pause Button". To start again, press the "play" button (keypad "*"). To advance one note at a time, press the pause button again. Each time you press pause you'll go to the next note in the song. You can modify the pause action by pressing open-apple-W, for "Word Pause". Now, pressing pause will advance one word in the song. Try this while viewing the words display. To go back to "Note Pause", press open-apple-N. ***** Fast Forward ***** This is the keypad "=", or open-apple -->. Press this key to double the speed of playback. Press it again for 4 times speed, and so on. Press the play button to go back to normal speed. ***** Rewind ***** Rewind is the keypad , or open-apple <--. Each time you press this key you'll go back 1.28 seconds in the song and enter pause mode. Press play to re-start the song, or press rewind again to go back another 1.28 seconds. If you hold down the rewind key it will repeat and you'll continue going back in the song. This works faster if you increase the key repeat speed to maximum in the IIGS control panel before running Diversi-Tune. You can use fast-forward and rewind to find any spot in a song very quickly. You'll notice that the time in seconds from the start of the song is always displayed in the lower left of the screen, to help you tell where in the song you are. ***** Tempo Changes ***** To change the tempo any time, press open-apple-T. The bottom line shows you what keys you can press to vary the tempo. The left and right arrows decrease and increase the tempo. The up and down arrows give a coarser adjustment. Press when you get to the desired tempo. You can remove the tempo display by pressing . The tempo value is shown in the bottom right corner of the screen during tempo changes. This is a relative tempo value. A value of 1.0000 means you're playing the song back at the same speed the musician recorded it. A value of 0.5000 means you're playing at 1/2 the original speed, and 2.000 means you're going twice the original speed. This is equivalent to having a variable speed tape recorder whose pitch doesn't change. That is, the Diversi-Tune tempo control is really a "playback speed" control. The musician sets the tempo of the song when he records it. Diversi-Tune lets you speed up or slow down the playback, while keeping the tempo variations recorded into the song intact. ***** Key Changes ***** To transpose a song (or portion of a song) to a new key, press open-apple-K. Now use the up and down arrow or the right and left arrows to change the key one half-step at a time. This will help you to sing with any song without straining your voice trying to hit notes that are too high or too low. You can make key or tempo changes permanent by going into record mode, playing through the song with the changes, and saving the new version of the song. Understanding record mode takes a little more effort. Keep reading! +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ The Diversi-Tune Recorder Explained If you've ever tried to record and edit a song using a tape recorder, you quickly learn that you need TWO tape recorders. I got the recording music bug initially when I bought two audio cassette recorders and a microphone mixer. I would record a guitar back-up on the first recorder in one pass. Then I'd play it back and sing a vocal along with the guitar coming from the tape. I'd mix the whole thing together onto the second recorder and end up with a guitar and vocal on the second tape. I'd keep repeating the process, adding a new part each time, until I'd have me singing 8 harmonies and 10 guitars and all kinds of junk. This technique is called "sound on sound" recording. Here's a diagram of how it works: ----------------- |Live Microphone|-->---\ ----------------- | | _______________ ----- | | |Mixer|-->------>---| Recording | ----- |Tape Recorder | ________________ | |______________| | | | | Playback |-->---/ |Tape Recorder | |_______________| After you record each part you take the tape out of the Recording Tape Recorder and put it into the Playback Recorder. You then put a blank tape in the Recording Tape Recorder and do it again to add another part. You can add as many parts as you want! However, sound on sound is not used in professional recording for two reasons. First, every time you add a new part the older parts end up sounding a little more noisy and dull. After about 5 parts the first part you recorded sounds like mush. This is because tape recorders don't play back exactly what they record. They always add noise and frequency response irregularities to the sound. Multiplied by 5 times or so, this turns the first sounds to mush. The second problem is that you can only balance the volume of the live and combined prerecorded parts. You can't change the level of any of the pre-recorded parts after you've made each tape. If you record the kick drum first and it's too soft after you add 10 more parts, there's no way to increase it. Except for these two problems, the sound on sound concept is still the most powerful recording technique there is. OK, back to Diversi-Tune. You may have guessed that Diversi-Tune is a sound-on-sound recorder that solves these two problems. You're right! First, the noise/sound quality problem: When you record a song on Diversi-Tune, you don't actually record any sounds. What you record are note numbers and how hard you hit the note. To see what was recorded, try looking at the "Raw MIDI" display while playing back a song. During playback these numbers are converted into sounds by the Synthesizer section of Diversi-Tune (completely independent of the recorder). The Diversi-Tune playback tape recorder just spits out note numbers at the proper time, and the synthesizer turns them into sound. Thus, no matter how many times you repeat the sound-on-sound process, the pre-recorded note numbers are kept perfectly intact, and there is no sound quality degradation. OK, what about balancing the volume? Diversi-Tune solves this problem by adding more sound-on sound recorders. Diversi-Tune is actually 32 separate playback tape recorders, and 32 recording tape recorders all running perfectly in sync. A playback and recording tape recorder pair together are called a "Track", and each "Track" is numbered from 1 to 32. Each recorded part can be kept separate on its own track, where its volume level can be adjusted at any time. ***** The Diversi-Tune Synthesizer ***** When the data from a track is sent to the synthesizer, it will come out sounding like an instrument. The current instrument sounds are as follows: Track Instrument 1 Piano: Stereo Chorus Left 2 Piano: Left Speaker Only 3 Piano: Right Speaker Only 4 Piano: Stereo Chorus Right 5 Drums: Hi-hat on Left 6 Drums: Hi-hat on Right 7 Organ: Stereo Chorus Left 8 Organ: Left 9 Organ: Right 10 Banjo: Stereo Chorus Left 11 Banjo: Left 12 Banjo: Right 13 Electric Piano Stereo Chorus Left 14 Electric Piano Left 15 Electric Piano Right 16 Electric Piano Stereo Chorus Right 17 Harpsichord Stereo Chorus Left 18 Harpsichord Left 19 Harpsichord Right 20 Harpsichord Stereo Chorus Right 21 Piano: Mono Mode 22 Organ: Mono Mode 23 Banjo: Mono Mode 24 Electric Piano: Mono Mode 25 Harpsichord: Mono Mode 26..32 Piano: Stereo Chorus Left "Stereo Chorus" means that the same track is sent to both speakers but is delayed by 20 milliseconds in one speaker or the other. "Mono Mode" on tracks 21..25 means that only one note is played at a time (as opposed to polyphonic mode). The sound will appear in both speakers without a delay. These instruments are great for creating single note bass lines. The level of each track can be adjusted independently, even after you've recorded all the parts. (See later discussion of open-apple-A). This solves the mixing problem of sound-on-sound recording described above. As you can see, Diversi-Tune combines the capabilities of the multi-track and sound-on-sound recording techniques to give you the power of both in a single device. Don't expect real tape recorder companies to build one of these things! This could only work inside a computer. Personally, I can't wait to hear the music people are going to create with all this recording power. ***** Instrument Changes ***** At the beginning of a song, each track is assigned to a specific instrument of the synthesizer, as described previously. You can change the instrument a track is playing with the open-apple-I function. Press open-apple-I and use the left/right arrows to select the track you want to change. Then use the up and down arrows to select the new instrument number for that track. When you get to the desired instrument number, press the SPACE BAR to make the change. Note that the instrument sound won't change until you press the space bar. This function actually sends a MIDI program change command on that track, so it will also change the instrument sound of external synthesizers connected through MIDI out. ***** Recording Without MIDI ***** You can use the Diversi-Tune record mode to record tempo, key, instrument, and level changes into pre-recorded Diversi-Tune songs. First, load the song, and play it by pressing the "play button" (keypad "*"). Select the key and tempo as described above. Stop the song by pressing the "stop button" (keypad "/") and then enter record mode by pressing Open-apple-"+". To start recording, press the play button (keypad "*"). Listen to the entire song at the new tempo. When you are sure it is right, press the "stop" button (open-apple-, or open-apple-keypad "/"). If you press the "stop" button before the end of the song, Diversi- Tune will automatically record through to the end of the song at high speed, and then stop. You may now save the modified song from the "record option" menu, if you wish. For more information on recording, keep reading the MIDI section below. Some of the capabilities described don't actually require a MIDI keyboard. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Using Diversi-Tune With MIDI +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ ***** Choosing a MIDI Keyboard ***** MIDI capability is showing up in some very inexpensive music keyboards now. If you're on a tight budget you may want to start with one of the miniature keyboards from Yamaha or Casio. Just be sure it has MIDI! You should find something in the $100 to $200 range. However, for a little more money you can do a LOT better. These little keyboards are hard to play, they don't send velocity data showing how hard you pressed each key, and they usually have only 3 or 4 octaves of keys. If you want a real piano feel try the Yamaha pf85, which costs around $1500 street price. It has 88 full-size weighted keys and a great built-in grand piano sound. There are a lot of other good keyboards, as well. Make a few trips to your music store before you spend this kind of money! ***** Playing The Synthesizer Live ***** After you get your MIDI interface and keyboard hooked up, you should hear a piano sound from Diversi-Tune when you play your MIDI music keyboard. To see what the MIDI keyboard is sending, choose the "Raw MIDI" display from the Display Options Menu. If you don't hear or see anything, check the cables, since you've probably got something hooked up backwards. If you can't figure it out, call your local computer nerd! You can select a new Diversi-Tune sound from your MIDI keyboard by sending a MIDI program change command, or changing MIDI channels. This is usually sent when you press the instrument select button on the keyboard. Diversi-Tune instrument number 1..4 are variations of the basic piano sound. Instrument 5 and 6 are stereo drums, and reversed stereo drums. 7,8,9 are organ sounds, 10,11,12 are banjo sounds, and so on (see instrument list described previously). When you select the drums, only a few keys on your keyboard will be active. These keys play different drum sounds. Running your hand up the keyboard to find the individual drum sounds is easier than finding them from a list. Check the entire keyboard. The sounds are not repeated at octave intervals. You should find a kick, snare, hi-hat closed, hi-hat open, several toms, a wood block, other percussion, and 2 crash cymbals. When you start up Diversi-Tune, or load a new song, Tracks 1..25 are assigned to instrument number 1..25. Tracks 26..32 are all assigned to instrument #1 (stereo piano). Instead of using MIDI program change commands, you can move your MIDI keyboard to a different MIDI channel to change sounds. (The smaller keyboards will probably provide only one MIDI channel.) You can do this from the MIDI keyboard, or use the Diversi-Tune MIDI input assigners, found in the MIDI Functions menu. ***** Live Input Key and Velocity Changes ***** Open-apple-L lets you transpose the key of the live keyboard, without affecting the playback key. Open-apple-V lets you change the velocity of the live keyboard input. This is very useful for the less expensive keyboards without velocity sensing. These keyboards always send a velocity of 64 (out of 127), which usually plays the synthesizer softer than you want. You can boost this level using open-apple-V. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ OK, now it's time to fully understand Diversi-Tune. Study the block diagram carefully. It took me a couple of hours to draw it, and about a year to program it, so it's worth looking at for a few minutes! Diversi-Tune Block Diagram __________ | | ______________ |MIDI Input| | | | Assigner |->--\ | Modem Port |--->|__________|->-\ \ _________ |MIDI Interface| || | | |______________|<------\ || |32-Track | ___|____ || |Recording| ___________ | | __||_ | Machine | | | | MIDI | | |====>|_________| | Internal |<===| Output |<===|MIDI | ________ |Synthesizer| |Assigner| |Mixer| _______ | | |___________| |________| |_____|<====| | |32-Track| | || | Track |<===|Playback| ______________ | || |Bouncer| |Machine | | |<------/ || |_______| |________| | Printer Port | __________ || |MIDI Interface|--->| |->-/ / |______________| |MIDI Input|->--/ | Assigner | |__________| +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ The MIDI Input Assigner, Output Assigner, and Track Bouncer are all options you select from the MIDI Functions menu. ***** MIDI Input Assigner ***** There's a separate input assigner for the Modem and Printer ports. You probably just have the modem port interface (an internal MIDI card in any slot is considered to be in the "modem port"). The purpose of the Input Assigner is to assign the 16 MIDI input channels to the 32 Diversi-Tune tracks. Normally, channels 1..16 from the modem port are assigned to Diversi-Tune tracks 1..16, and channels 1..16 from the printer port go to Diversi-Tune tracks 17..32. I could never figure out how to change MIDI channels on all my keyboards, so I wrote the input assigner. If you set the modem input assigner to track #10, for example, all MIDI data which comes in from the modem port on any channel, is converted to track #10. The "Dual Channel Input" option only works when you put the assigner on an odd track. If you use this option with, say, track 7, then all odd channel input is assigned to track 7, and all even channel input is assigned to track 8, the next higher track. This is designed for MIDI keyboards which can send on two channels at once, i.e. "split" keyboards. If you don't have this kind of keyboard, forget this option. The MIDI Input Assigner also can transpose the key of the input, and modify the key velocity (sound level). See open-apple-V and open-apple-L options described later. ***** MIDI Output Assigner ***** This option lets you choose where the MIDI data will be sent for each track. Data may be sent to the internal synthesizer, the printer MIDI port, or the modem MIDI port, either individually or in combination. When sending a track to the modem or printer port, tracks 1..16 are always sent to MIDI channels 1..16 on either port. Tracks 17..32 are sent to MIDI channel 1.16. This means that if you send track 1 and track 17 to the modem port, they both end up on channel 1 on that port. You may actually want to do this, but you should know what's happening. ***** MIDI Track Bouncer/Key Changer ***** This lets you move data from one track to another, and should be used with care! If you bounce two tracks to the same track, the data becomes intermixed. This also may be what you want, but it usually isn't! Be sure you're bouncing to an empty track. Actually it's ok to bounce to a track with data, as long as you also bounce that track somewhere else at the same time! For example, to interchange track #1 with track #2, just bounce them both from the bounce menu. It's easy to do, and fun to try. Do it with the pre-recorded songs to see how it works. Once you get the hang of track bouncing, you'll find you can do a lot with it. For example, suppose you are recording from a keyboard and want to replace track 3 from the beginning. Set the Track Bouncer to bounce track 3 to track zero. Then with MIDI input set to track 3, enter record mode, be sure you are not in open-apple- mode (in case your new track is longer than the old one), and play the new track 3. The bouncer will clear the old track and record the new one at the same time. Note that the track bouncer only affects pre-recorded tracks, played from the 32-Track Playback Machine (see block diagram). It does not change the track assignment of anything you're playing live (that's done by the MIDI Input Assigner). The copy bounced tracks option allows you to make a duplicate copy of a track, onto another track. That is, the same data will appear on the other track, as well as staying on the original track. Be sure to turn this option back off when you're finished! The playback key changer (not shown in the diagram), operates only on playback information (like the track bouncer). It is controlled with open-apple-K. A detailed description of this function is given later. ***** MIDI Mixer ***** The MIDI mixer section mixes the live data coming in from the two 16-channel MIDI inputs (modem and printer ports) with the data being played back from the 32-Track Playback Machine (the pre-recorded song). The 32-track mixed output is sent to the MIDI output assigner, and also to the MIDI Recording Machine (if you're in record mode). The output assigner sends this data to the appropriate synthesizer (internal or external) to be converted to instrument sounds which you can hear. The MIDI recorder saves all the data for future playback. The MIDI Input Assigner, Output Assigner, and Mixer are always active. This means you can even use Diversi-Tune as a powerful MIDI switching device, independent of its recording and playback functions. ***** 32-Track Recording Machine ***** The Recording Machine is activated by pressing the "Record Button". You press the record button by holding down the open-apple key and pressing the "+" key, either on the keypad or main computer keyboard. The open-apple key is required, even on the keypad, to avoid accidentally going into record mode. It is also required to leave record mode -- hold it down while you press the button. The various functions of the Recording Machine will be described in the next section. ***** 32-Track Playback Machine ***** The Playback Machine plays back exactly what you recorded previously using the Recording Machine. As described above, the output of the Playback Machine may be first modified with the Track Bouncer before being mixed with the live input by the MIDI Mixer. If the Recording Machine is also active (record mode), the pre-recorded and live performances are mixed together and recorded by the recorder. This creates the "sound-on-sound" capability of Diversi-Tune. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ MIDI Recording With Diversi-Tune We're finally ready to make a recording. It's really not that hard to do! Just follow these easy steps: 1. If you're adding tracks or overdubs to a pre-recorded song, load the song using main menu option #1. If you're recording a new song, first press open-apple-C, or choose the "Clear Song" menu option from the "Record" menu. 2. Press the "Record" button: Open-Apple +. 3. The record and pause buttons will now light up on the bottom line. If you're adding to a pre-recorded song, the play button will also light. To start recording, simply start playing on the MIDI music keyboard! When your song is over, press the stop button (open-apple , or open-apple-keypad /). If you're recording the first part of a song you're planning to over-dub more parts onto, be sure to start out with an intro. Hit a single note 4 times, for example, to set the tempo. You may want to use the metronome (open-apple-M, described later) to start the first note accurately. You can go back later and delete these notes to produce the finished song. When you do an overdub, press the play button and you should hear the intro which you recorded previously. The intro will give you the beat and let you know when to come in on the overdub part. 4. If you're overdubbing you can press the stop button before the end of the song and Diversi-Tune will automatically finish the song at high speed. This prevents you from chopping off the end of the song when you press stop. To clear a song, use the record menu option "clear song". 5. After you press stop you can now either save your song or do another over-dub. To save the song, choose the "Save Song" option from the Record Menu. You'll have to give the song a name now. A song name is a ProDOS file name so it can only be up to 15 characters long and can only contain letters, numbers, or a period. Note: When you're overdubbing you usually will want to switch to a different track for each overdub, using the MIDI input assigner (or by changing channels on your MIDI keyboard, if it has this capability). To remember what's on each track you'll need to keep a track list, just like any multitrack recording engineer does! In the next update or so I'll add the capability to save a track description with your song. For now you should keep a notebook with a description of each track. Diversi-Tune will respond to MIDI program change, volume change, and sustain pedal commands, and record them into your song. (Small keyboards usually can't generate this info.) If you want to record a 2nd drum part on track 8, for example, start out with a MIDI program change #5 or #6 right after you press the record button. You can change the program assignment any time on any track (write it down in the book or you'll get pretty confused later!). If your keyboard can't send program change commands, you can use the open-apple-I function described previously. ***** Overdubbing On The Same Track ***** Overdubbing onto a track that has already been recorded can be very useful. This is a lot like two people playing a duet on the same piano. As long as one person plays the low notes and the other plays the high notes everything works fine. You can do this with Diversi-Tune with no problems. What happens when you try to play a key and the other guy is already holding it down? Well, since the key is already down, nothing happens. This is exactly how Diversi-Tune works, too. Now what happens if the other guy lets up the key but you keep holding it down? Nothing again! Since the key stays down, the note continues sounding. Diversi-Tune reacts the same way. Now, what happens if YOU let up the key but your friend keeps holding it down? On a real piano, nothing. However, this is where Diversi-Tune differs from the real world (for a purpose). With Diversi-Tune, YOU have control of letting up a key. Here's how you can use this to your advantage. Let's say you play a part and let up one note too quickly, by accident. Go back and overdub on the same track and play the same note at the same time, along with the pre-recorded note, but let it up at the right time (hold it down a little longer, that is). The "other guy" let up his finger early, but you kept holding your finger on the same note and thus extended its duration. This really works! Let's take the opposite situation, where you recorded a song and held a note too long. Just do the same thing as described above. This time when you let up your live note the other guy's finger is still on it. But Diversi-Tune gives the live pianist note-up priority! This means you can shorten the duration of the note. Remember, this is all done live, while listening to the song. It works for chords, for more than one track at a time, or however you use it. You can also use this technique to correct a note you hit a little late. Just hit the note live at the proper time while overdubbing. When the "other guy" hits his note late nothing happens, since you're already holding it down! If the "other guy" hits his note EARLY, however, you can't fix it this way. Fortunately, it's a snap to delete this note with Diversi-Tune (read on!). Then you can overdub and fill in the missing note at the right time. Happy note editing! +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Editing With Diversi-Tune That's all there is to recording. Now we'll talk about editing. Nobody is perfect, so you'll probably make a few mistakes while you're recording. With Diversi-Tune you can easily edit out your mistakes immediately after you make them. For easy editing, the Fast Forward, Rewind, and Pause buttons also work in record mode. When you make a mistake you can just rewind to a point before the mistake, step pause until you hear the mistake, fix the mistake, and go on with your recording. ***** Fast Forward in Record Mode ***** This function, and most editing functions, only works when play is active; that is, when you're overdubbing. If you want to overdub a part in the middle of the song you can use fast forward to get to that point rapidly. Fast forward speeds up both the playback and record machines. Press the play button to go back to normal speed. `` While using fast forward you can hold down the shift key to temporarily turn off the Diversi-Tune synthesizer and supress the noise. If you initially press fast forward with the shift key already down, you will fast-forward silently at maximum speed. ***** Open-Apple-Period ***** When you start recording over a previous song (overdubbing), the period function is automatically activated. With the period function active Diversi-Tune will enter pause mode when it hits the end of the song. A colon, ":", will appear on the bottom screen line when this happens. The playback machine will remain active, and you can still rewind and edit the song. You should be sure open-apple period is active before trying any editing. To avoid entering pause mode at the end of the song, i.e. to extend the length of the song while overdubbing, press open-apple-period while in record mode. The command toggles the end pause feature on and off. ***** Pause in Record Mode ***** When you pause in record mode both the playback and record machines pause at the same time. Press pause again to advance to the next note in the song. Press pause repeatedly to advance one note at a time, i.e. to find the spot where you want to edit something. You can start normal playback again by pressing the play button, or by playing any note on your MIDI keyboard. ***** Open-Apple-D Delete a single note ***** Once you are paused on a note you want to delete, press open-apple-D to delete it. This works any time you're in record mode and have paused on a note. You can play and record a replacement note at this time. This note will start playback again, as mentioned above. ***** Rewind In Record Mode! ***** Rewind in record mode is the heart of the Diversi-Tune editing capability. You've GOT to understand this powerful feature to use the full editing capability of Diversi-Tune. When you press rewind in record mode, the play and record machines both go back 1.28 seconds, and you go into pause mode, just like rewind in play mode. The record button stays lit, but is replaced by a "+..." symbol. This means that the sound you will hear when you press play is coming from the part you just recorded. After pressing rewind you can use the play and pause buttons to go forward to correct a mistake. If you go past your mistake press rewind again and try again. Remember that pressing the pause button repeatedly sends you forward one note at a time. Keep pressing pause until you hear the note you screwed up, or the first note in a group of notes you screwed up. If it's a single wrong note, press open-apple-D to delete it (see above), and then press play to complete your recording. Record to the end of the song (use fast forward if you want) and press stop. Now play back the song and the bad note is gone! If you're doing an overdub and totally mess up, stay in record mode and press rewind repeatedly to get to a point before where you messed up. Now step pause to a point where you want to start recording again, usually at the start of a measure. When you hit that point, press the RECORD BUTTON again (open-apple +). Be sure you're in open-apple-period mode or the song will start up when you do this. You're now back in record mode, paused exactly at the beginning of a measure. If you want to hear what's happening, press rewind once or twice and then press play. Don't play anything on the keyboard yet! Diversi-Tune will play back and halt right on the new starting point. You can do this a couple of times to get the feel of the song right before the your re-entry. Now sing the part before the new entry in your head and start playing when your head gets to the new starting point. When you play your first note Diversi-Tune immediately goes back to record mode and records what you're playing live. The old messed up part is erased as you record over it! It takes a while to get used to doing this but it's actually very easy in practice. It helps if you have one person working the computer, so the musician can just play. It's this interplay of recording engineer and musician which makes such great music in a real recording studio. The musician is not hampered by having to press buttons, and can totally get into the music. ***** Open-Apple-P Punching In and Out ***** One of the most powerful recording studio techniques is the ability to punch in and out while recording on a single track of a multi-track tape. It's also one of the trickiest techniques to do properly! The pressure is really on the recording engineer in this situation. The musician plays along with the track, trying to duplicate exactly what he played when he originally recorded it. The engineer has to push the record button for that track at the exact punch-in point, and let up the button at the exact punch-out point. There are no second chances, since he's erasing everything when he's in record mode on an audio machine. Diversi-Tune puts the total punch in/out control in the hands of the musician, where it belongs! Here's how it works. Let's say you're overdubbing a part and make a few little mistakes in the middle. You're hot into it, so you don't want to rewind and punch-in immediately, as described above under the rewind function. OK, just get back in the swing of things, and finish recording the track, and press the stop button. Now you've got a track that's really great, except for a short section of messed up notes or rhythm or something. Press the record button to start recording again from the beginning, just like you were going to lay down a new track, but leave your MIDI keyboard on the same track. Now press open-apple-P (you're paused at the beginning of the song in record mode here), and then press to start playback. You'll see a "ppp" replace the "REC" on the record button. These are lowercase "ppp"s, which show you're ready for a punch in, but recording normally. Now to punch in, all you have to do is start playing! That's right, you don't press anything on the computer keyboard. Here's what happens when you hit your first note: The lowercase "ppp" changes to an uppercase "PPP" to show you're recording a punch-in part. Now all the notes coming from the Playback Machine on the track you punched in on are filtered out and not recorded. You're now recording live new information onto that track. This is exactly equivalent to punching in on an audio tape recorder except that the punch-in is automatic when you start playing. Punching out is even easier. Just stop playing anytime after your punch-out point (past the messed up part). Then press rewind until you get back before the punch out point. Now step pause to the exact punch-out note and press the record button. Then press play to start up and record until the end of the song (use fast foward if desired). CAUTION: If you press stop before you complete the punch-out procedure, you'll lose the rest of the original track. Note: Try to be sure you punch in playing the same notes you were playing on the track. That is, just play the exact same part you were playing at the punch-in point. If you play something entirely different, the punch in will sound lousy. Also, with the current version of Diversi-Tune, you may leave some "stuck notes" at the punch-in point, that is, notes that go on but not off. These are the notes that you recorded on the track before the punch-in that you didn't play live at the punch-in point. You'll need to edit out these notes with open-apple-D, if there are any. ***** Cleaning Up ***** After editing, you should "clean up" the song by recording through it again. Just press the record button, and immediately press stop. Diversi-Tune will automatically record through the entire song at maximum speed, removing any extraneous information produced by the editing process. For example, if you delete your lead-in notes at the beginning of the song, this will eliminate the delay in starting the song when you press the play button. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Other Record Mode Features ***** Tempo Changes ***** Tempo changes, done with open-apple-T, only affect the speed of the Playback Machine. The Recording Machine always runs at normal speed (i.e. tempo 1.0000). This is unlike the fast forward button, which doubles the speed of both the playback and recording machines. To record in a permanent tempo change, select a new tempo by listening to your song in playback mode and varying the tempo with open-apple-T. When you find a good tempo, press the record button and play through the whole song. I don't want to confuse you, but you can use the fast forward button to record through the song quickly at the new tempo. Then press stop. Now play the song again, and notice that it plays at the new tempo. When you play back a newly finished recording, you're playing back what the recording machine just recorded. The recording machine just records the notes it gets at the speed they come in, whether they come in live or from the playback machine. This means that you can record tempo variations into your song. Just vary the playback tempo with open-apple-T while you're recording. You can even press pause, adjust the tempo, and press play to start instantly at the new tempo. Note that the tempo value always goes back to 1.0000 when you finish a recording. Remember this tempo value is a relative speed value, so a tempo of 1.0000 means you play back at the same speed as you recorded. This comes out sounding right, since you've already recorded the new tempo changes into the song. Just think of Diversi-Tune as a sound on sound system with a variable speed playback machine. The tempo value is just the speed of the playback machine. You can use this feature to record your songs at a slower speed, where you can play them better, and then speed them up for the final version. You can change the speed of the song any time by recording through the entire song at a new tempo. A word to the wise: don't over-do it. If you speed the song up a lot and then slow it way down you'll lose some timing accuracy. This shouldn't be a problem with normal use. After you change tempo you won't be able to rewind or edit, since this requires a tempo of 1.0000 for the whole song. To restore editing capability just record through the whole song and edit the new recording (which always has a tempo of 1.0000). >>>> A Little Philosphical Discussion Here <<<< If you've used other computer music programs you've probably seen tempo values expressed in "beats per minute". This means that the computer sets the tempo and the musician has to play along, usually to a metronome click. Often these programs even change the timing of the notes so they always hit on the beat, a process called quantization. While this technique may be useful for composing music, it should never be used for performances, in my opinion. The music always comes out machine-sounding and the musician is inhibited by having to play along with the computer clicks. I believe that most musicians aren't using computers because the computer, used this way, gets in the way of the music. To avoid this problem I designed Diversi-Tune to be a true recording device, without making changes to the music, or forcing a tempo or anything else on the musician. Diversi-Tune is designed to help the musician be MORE creative, and will NEVER force any restriction on the music it records. I think this whole tempo/quantization problem came about because most computer programmers are lousy musicians who tried to get the computer to make them sound better. The actual result has been that their programs only make great musicians sound lousy. If you're a lousy musician, Diversi-Tune will show you exactly how lousy you are (it's convinced me I'm a lousy musician)! More important, Diversi-Tune will help you to see WHY you sound lousy, and to understand WHY a great musician sounds great. You can use Diversi-Tune to help you become a better musician, and isn't that what we're really after? ***** Active Track / Key Velocity Changes ***** To change the level of a single track, press open-apple-A. Then use the left and right arrow keys to select the track (which is now called "the active track") and the up and down arrow keys to change the level. You can see and hear what is happening very easily if you watch the piano display. Execute Option 2 from the Main Menu, then Option 3. You can remove the active track control display by pressing but you must restore it with open-apple-A before you can make changes. Setting the active track this way has some very interesting and useful side effects: The piano displays will only show the part on this track. You can see what a track is playing much more easily this way. To return to showing all tracks, use open-apple-A to change the active track to "NONE". The "note" pause feature (open-apple-N) will advance to the next note on the active track, instead of the next note on any track. This is very useful for editing note on a single track at a time. ***** Key Changes ***** Press open-apple-K to transpose the key of the notes coming out of the playback recorder. Then use the arrow keys to select the new key. When you do this while paused on a note in record mode you'll hear that note shift up and down in pitch. It's best to do this while viewing the piano display. This way you can pause on a note, transpose the key, and start up again on this new note and key. This is a very powerful feature. You can transpose a single note, pause again to go to the next note, and transpose back to normal. This changes what note was played! It's fun to experiment with on pre-recorded songs (no MIDI required). If you have used open-apple-A to select an active track, only that track will be transposed. This usually results in discord unless you transpose a full octave. If you have a small MIDI keyboard you can record a track and then transpose it up or down one or more complete octaves to include parts in your song which are beyond the range of your keyboard. You can also sometimes correct a wrong note by transposing it rather than by deleting and then re-recording it. Note that key transpositions do not transpose tracks 5 and 6, to avoid changing the drum sounds. ***** Metronome ***** Press open-apple-M to control the metronome. starts or stops the metronome, the left/right arrows change the speed, and the up/down arrows change the sound. The speed changes in 20-msec intervals, so sometimes this doesn't change the number of beats/minute displayed. A period appears and disappears every time you press a key, to show that the keypress was processed. The metronome beats are never recorded, so you can use the metronome to help you keep a steady beat while recording your first track. Metronome use is OPTIONAL! The metronome control display can be removed by but you must restore it to make any changes, including turning the metronome off or on. ***** Clear Song ***** Press open-apple-C to clear the current song. This does the same thing as the record menu option "clear song". ***** Event Pause ***** Open-appple-E sets event pause mode. The pause button will pause forward to the next MIDI event. You should use this option while viewing the "Raw MIDI" display, and understand MIDI events. Using this feature, you can pause on any MIDI event and delete it with open-apple-D. Use open-apple-N to go back to normal note pause mode. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Adding Words To Your Songs Adding words to your song is a two-step process. Type in the words, and then tap out the rhythm of the words. Here's how it's done. ***** Typing The Words ***** Rather than write a word processor into Diversi-Tune, I let you use Appleworks to type in your words. Your first problem is getting Appleworks going. First, be sure you've saved your song, if any. Now, choose main menu option #0: EXIT. Then, pick option #1: Choose next program. This is like selecting a song to load, only it shows you the system files you can execute. Put in your Appleworks disk and choose "APPLEWRKS.SYSTEM" as the program to run (or whatever your Appleworks startup file is named). This should take you into Appleworks. I modified the ProDOS quit routine to make it easier to get back to Diversi-Tune. When you're finished with Appleworks and quit you can just press return to go back to Diversi-Tune. To go to a different program, reboot or enter a full pathname starting with /. To make getting into Appleworks easier, you can move the Appleworks program files to the Diversi-Tune disk. Then you won't have to do any disk switching. Assuming you've got Appleworks started, you're ready to type the words to the song. I've included some of the Appleworks files I used to add words to the songs on the Diversi-Tune disk. Try loading and printing one of these file with Appleworks to get the idea how it's done. Here's a step-by-step description of how to type an Appleworks file of words to a song for use by Diversi-Tune. 1. Type the words. (This is easy, huh?) Press at the end of each line, and be sure no line goes past column 40. Don't type repeating sections of the song more than once, yet. You can use the Appleworks copy function later. 2. Double check that no line goes past column 40 by moving the cursor to column 40 and holding down the down arrow key. If a line is too long, put in a carriage return somewhere in the line to split it into two lines. I like to indent the split line, but the format is up to you. 3. Proofread your song very carefully at this point. It'll be harder later. 4. Now go through every word of the song and add a backslash or reverse hypostrophe in the middle of every syllable. This marks the point where the "bouncing ball" will bounce when you tap out the rhythm of the song. These are the keys on each side of the space bar. Use a backslash to get the ball to bounce on the next letter, or a reverse hypostrophe to bounce in between the two letters (look at the sample files). 5. Proofread very carefully again, to make sure there's a bounce marker on EVERY syllable. I find I always miss a syllable or two, so this step is very important. 6. Use the open-apple-C option in Appleworks to copy the repeating parts of the song. 7. I like to put a backslash on the title line for the ball to bounce on during the intro to the song. Again, it's up to you how you want to bounce your ball! 8. Finally, exit Appleworks and go back to Diversi-Tune. ***** Recording The Bouncing Ball Timings ***** Now you're ready to load your Appleworks file into a Diversi-Tune song. Choose the "Add words to a song" option from the Record Menu. Select "Appleworks Files" and then choose the file name you gave your Appleworks file with the words in it. If you're adding words to a Diversi-Tune song you recorded, you should now choose the song file name. This song will be loaded and merged with the words. If you're adding the words to a song from a compact disc recording (described in more detail later), choose the option not to load a song and you'll start with a blank song. Recording word timings is just like recording MIDI music, except you play the computer keyboard and the data goes onto the "Words Track". You still have all the record and editing capabilities available. First select the "Words" display mode so you can see what you're doing. The words you typed into Appleworks should now appear on the screen. If you press the play button your song should start playing (if you recorded one). You're now ready to record. You bounce the ball with 3 keys on the IIGS keyboard. These keys are the keboard comma, period, and slash , . / Note that these keys are right next to each other. I put my index finger on the comma, middle finger on the period, and ring finger on the slash, but you can use two hands or whatever fingers you want. When you press the period or comma keys the ball will jump to the next word marker. When you press the slash the ball will bounce on the same word. Now go into record mode by pressing the record button. If you've got an intro at the beginning of your song, press the play button. Then press the comma or period key at the moment you first want the ball to appear on the screen. It will appear instantly on the first word marker (backslash or reverse hypostrophe), in your words file. Note that these word markers don't appear on the Diversi-Tune screen since they're only used to tell where the ball is supposed to bounce. Now listen to the song and tap away. It may help to sing the song and tap whenever you sing a syllable. Think of this as a musical performance (it is). It helps to get into the swing of the song and jump around or sing like you're performing. It'll take some practice but it's not too hard to do if you've got a good sense of rhythm. Like any new skill, it can be a little frustrating to learn at first. Keep at it! Remember you can record at a slower tempo and speed up later if you want. You'll notice the ball jumps instead of bouncing when you tap in record mode. Also, when you tap the slash key to bounce on the same word the ball won't do anything! Don't worry, it will all work out when you play back. This anomaly happens because the ball has to start its bounce BEFORE you tap, so it can reach the word at the exact moment you tap. When recording, Diversi-Tune doesn't know when the next tap will occur, so it can't bounce. ***** Editing Bouncing Ball Timings ***** Editing is almost the same as editing music, with a few things to watch out for. When you make a mistake with the words you have two choices: you can press rewind and correct it on the spot, or you can get going again and punch in later. This is just like with music. If you choose the rewind method, press rewind to a point before the mistake. Now go into word pause mode by pressing open-apple-W (Word Pause Mode). Note: To go back to editing music later, press open-apple-N (Note Pause Mode). OK, now step pause to the word where you want to re-enter. Be sure you're in open-apple-period mode. Press open-apple-D to delete the word you're paused on. This is necessary when paused on a word to avoid having a double word bounce. Now press the record button to re-enter, and start tapping your words again. The song will start up immediately after you tap the first word. Punching in/out works just like music, except that you have to start your punch in on a word pause, again to avoid a double jump. Press record at the start of your song, and then step pause to the point of your punch-in. If you had to rewind, get back into record mode by pressing the record button, and then be sure to press open-apple-D to delete the word you're paused on (just as you did above). Now, before you start tapping again, press open-apple-P for punch in mode. Tap your first word and the song will start up. The messed up words in your pre-recorded version are filtered out during punch-in mode. You can keep tapping until the end of the song, or you can punch out. To avoid a double-word advance at the punch-out point, it's best to punch out in-between words. First rewind to a spot before the punch-out point. Then step pause to the punch-out word. Now press play and then pause very rapidly. This should pause you in between words and the ball should be somewhere above and between the two words. Now you can safely press the record button to punch-out. IMPORTANT NOTE: After you have edited the word timings the ball may not bounce correctly at the edit points. To fix this, record through the entire song one time without adding anything before you save the song. To do this, press the record button and then the stop button. Diversi-Tune will record to the end of the song automatically. Diversi-Tune also has a feature to help you add word timings right on top of a melody line. While recording word timings with the note-pause mode active (open-apple-N), set the active track to the track containing your melody line (using open-apple-A). In this state, Diversi-Tune advances to the next note of the melody and stops, each time you press period, comma, or slash. ***** Songs Without Words ***** You may want to add text to songs without words. To do this, start the text with an "@" sign. This tells Diversi-Tune to select the piano display in auto-play mode. The user can still see the words (text), by pressing return during the song. This is useful for adding credits and copyright notices to your songs without lyrics. The text on the first line which follows the "@" sign will be used as the title for the piano display. If no characters follow the "@" sign on the first line, then the file name will be used for the title. ***** Adding Words To Music From Compact Disks ***** I didn't realize Diversi-Tune would be able to do this until I had almost finished the ball-bouncer. It turned out that this capability is one of the most exciting uses for Diversi-Tune. And you don't need a MIDI interface or keyboard to do it! First buy a compact disk (CD) with some songs you want to add words to. I found a Mitch Miller CD and some kids songs, which are fairly easy. It's best to start with a sing-a-long type of CD instead of a pop disk. Before trying this, be sure you can tap along with the words on the CD. I mean, forget trying to tap words for someone like Barbra Streisand, who never sings anything on the beat! Now type in the words, and load them into Diversi-Tune just like I described above. You don't have a Diversi-Tune song to merge the words with, so choose the option to skip this step. Get the words display up and press the record button. Now start up the compact disk and tap along with the song just like you would if Diversi-Tune were playing the song. Hopefully, you'll get through the song without making any mistakes (HA!). To edit, you'll have to rewind the CD and start your punch in when you hear the CD hit the punch-in point. It works, but it takes a little practice. Now to play this creation, all you have to do is start up the CD and press the play button at the exact time when you started tapping your first word. If you started your first word right on a beat in the song, this is easy. I find it works better if I press play a little before the beat, since the ball then leads the song just a little (don't overdo it). Now Diversi-Tune and the Compact Disk player are both clocked very accurately by their own microprocessors so if you start them at the same time, they always stay together. The result is well worth the effort! ***** Making a Videocassette Recording ***** What do you do with this creation? Why, make a videocassette tape out of it, of course. To do this, connect the audio output from your compact disk (or stereo system) to the audio input of your VCR. Connect the video output of your IIGS (the RCA jack, not the RGB) to the video input of your VCR. Get your words on the screen, start the VCR recording, and play your creation. The VCR will put the words and music together on videotape, where they'll always be in sync. Now you can make sing-a-long videotapes of any song, and give them to friends or relatives. They're great for parties. This should also be a great way to teach songs in school or religious singing classes. And, of course, you can make videocassettes of music and words you record with Diversi-Tune as well (audio from the IIGS). ***** Adding Words to Songs on Records or Audio Cassettes ***** This works the same way as compact discs, except that the record or tape speed is not clocked as accurately as a CD and will geta little ahead or behind the words as the song progresses. This makes editing more difficult, and means you'll have to adjust the tempo as the song plays. When playing back, go into tempo change mode by pressing open-apple-T. If the words start getting behind, press the --> arrow key to speed up a little. Press the <-- arrow key if the words get ahead. If enough people want it I'll try to add a better sync capability to a future update. For now, it's a good reason to buy a CD player and some music on CD's. You'll love the sound. ***** Miscellaneous Goodies ***** Press open-apple-H to "Hide" the bottom screen line. You can do this if you don't want this line to appear on your videotapes. The other open-apple functions will work but you won't see what they're doing. Press open-apple-H again to make the bottom line reappear. Press open-apple-Z to type a "Zinger" line on the bottom line of the screen. This is useful for adding snide remarks to your videos. Press to cancel. Press open-apple-G to change the screen colors. You can change the colors for the menus/piano display, or for the words display. The current screen colors are save when you save the configuration. Use the arrow keys, and the R, G and B key to change the colors. Press the space bar to go back to the standard colors. Experiment around to see all the color possibilities. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Other Menu Options 1 Load Song (already described) 2. Display Options You can change the display any time, even while a song is running. The words displays are pretty easy to understand. The other displays all show an 88 key piano keyboard at the bottom of the screen. Whenever a key is pressed, on any channel, live or playback, a little "finger" appears over that key until the key is released. The "Key Velocity" display shows a line above the key which indicates how hard the key was pressed. You can use this display for teaching piano students how to accent certain notes. Combined with the note pause, rewind, tempo change, and other capabilities of Diversi-Tune, this piano display should be a great aid in teaching and learning to play the piano. The "Piano Roll" display simulates a player piano roll look. You'll notice a horizontal line moving down the screen, with vertical lines coming from it. Each vertical line starts when the corresponding key goes down, and ends when the key goes up. The white lines are white keys, and green lines are black keys. The other constant lines just show where the octaves start. The "Raw MIDI" display is just that. To understand it you'll need to understand MIDI and computers pretty well, but it's fun to watch all those number anyway! 3. File Utilities I only have one utility so far, which will catalog disks. You can use this to change sub-directories before saving a recording. I'll be adding utilities to delete files, create sub-directories, and so on. For now, you can do these functions with the system utility program. 4. MIDI Functions The "Record Filter" option lets you filter out certain types of MIDI events, to avoid recording unneeded information. This is designed mostly to keep from recording channel aftertouch information from keyboards which always send it, such as the DX-7. This option lets you select the type of events you want to ignore. Note that the record filter status is saved with the configuration. 5. Record Functions The only function I didn't describe is "Require Current Inst.". This is not used in the current update, so just leave it set to OFF. 6. Change Instruments Since the current update only has one instrument set, this option doesn't do anything yet either! Future upgrades will have the ability to use different instrument sets for each song. 7. Configuration 1. IIGS volume: This sets the volume of the sound coming from the IIGS sound port. Set it to 0 if you have a stereo card. 2. # of Active Osc.: Normally this should be set to 32, which gives you the maximum number of voices or sounds you can play at any one time. If you set it lower, the sound gets louder and less noisy and the high frequencies get clearer, but you lose instrument voices. Actually, Apple has a hardware bug in the IIGS that prevents me from using one of the sound voices through the IIGS port. If you set the IIGS volume to 0, and use a stereo card, you'll get one more voice (you need all you can get when playing a lot of notes at the same time). 3. Stereo Card : Choose this option if you have a stereo card (highly recommended). It will set the IIGS volume to 0 also. 4. MIDI Interface: Don't change this unless you have an internal card slot MIDI interface (which I don't recommend, remember). 5. Ignore 5.25 drives: Change this to YES if you don't want to load any songs from your 5.25 drive, or if you don't have a 5.25 drive. This only affects the speed of switching disks in the file selector programs. Waiting around for ProDOS really bugs me! 6. Set Standard: This restores the configuration to the way it was on the original Diversi-Tune disk. 7. Save Configuration. Choose this option to save the current configuration onto the Diversi-Tune disk. Then, you'll always have this configuration when you start up. Note: In addition to the configuration options listed above, the MIDI Input and Output Assigner status is also saved as part of the configuration. This is useful if you want to use Diversi-Tune as a live MIDI instrument, but don't worry about it otherwise. Saving the configuration also saves the current song list. Then, Diversi-Tune will automatically play this song list when you boot Diversi-Tune again. Just be sure all the songs in the list are contained on the program disk before you save the configuration. Also, if you clear the song list and then save the configuration Diversi-Tune will not play any songs when it boots. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Reference Section ***** Open Apple Keys ***** <-- Rewind Also keypad clear --> Fast Forward Also keypad = Down Stop Also keypad / Up Play Also keypad * + Record Also keypad + - Pause Also keypad - . Pause at end Also keypad . A Active Channel/Velocity C Clear Current Song D Delete Event E Event Pause G Graphics (Screen Colors) H Hide Bottom Line I Change Instruments K Change Playback Key L Change Live Input Key M Metronome N Note Pause P Punch In Mode T Tempo Change V Velocity For Live Input W Word Pause Z Zinger Line ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Diversi-Tune Ordering Information ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ To order Diversi-Tune directly by mail you may send $75 to: DSR, Inc. 34880 Bunker Hill Farmington, MI 48331-3236 (our zip code was changed recently) Diversi-Tune is available at your Apple dealer with a suggested retail price of $75. We accept personal checks, company or school purchase orders, and Visa or Mastercard with expiration date (sorry no C.O.D.). You can also call our toll-free number to order: 1-800-835-2246 ext. 127 The price includes first class or foreign airmail shipping. The site-license fee is $550 (direct from DSR, Inc.). That is, for $550 you can use Diversi-Tune on all computers in a local school district, or owned by a single company, within a 50-mile radius. Diversi-Tune(tm) Copyright 1988 DSR, Inc. All Songs Phonocopyright 1988 DSR, Inc. All Rights Reserved Unlike some of our other programs, Diversi-Tune is not a "shareware" program, and may not be copied except for back-up use by the original purchaser. We do sell a demo disk for $2 (or $5.00 by phone or foreign), which will play one of the songs on the program disk. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Diversi-Tune Song Disks Available From DSR, Inc. Catalog| | Number | Price | Description 101 $29.95 Nathen Page Live At Applefest Boston This is a disk of jazz piano improvisations recorded live at Applefest Boston May 20-22. Nathen Page is a world-class jazz guitarist/ pianist who has played in bands with Roberta Flack, Herbie Mann, and many other jazz legends. 102 $19.95 Gay Nineties Songs The Band Played On, Bill Bailey Won't You Please Come Home, Oh My Darlin' Clementine, Frankie and Johnny, Sidewalks of New York, Sweet Adeline, Mary's a Grand Old Name, In the Good Old Summertime, Hello! My Baby, There is a Tavern in the Town, Little Brown Jug, Ta-Ra-Ra-Boom-Der-E, Bicycle Built for Two, While Strolling Through the Park One Day, Yankee Doodle Boy, For He's a Jolly Good Fellow. 103 $19.95 American Folk / Patriotic Songs Caissons Go Rolling Along, When Johnny Comes Marching Home Again, Marine's Hymn, America, Star-Spangled Banner, America the Beautiful, Hail to the Chief, Yellow Rose of Texas, Shenandoah, She Wore a Yellow Ribbon, You're a Grand Old Flag, Auld Lang Syne, Anchors Away. 104 $19.95 Christmas Songs First Noel, O Come All Ye Faithful, Silent Night, O Little Town of Bethlehem, Upon the Housetop, What Child Is This, Joy to the World, O Christmas Tree, O Holy Night, I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day, Jolly Old St. Nicholas, God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen, Hark! The Herald Angels Sing, We Wish You a Merry Christmas, Angels We Have Heard On High, Angels From The Realms Of Glory, Go Tell It On The Mountain, Jingle Bells, Away In A Manger, Good King Wencelas. 105 $19.95 Jewish Songs Havah Nagilah, Chanukah Oh Chanukah, Little Dreidel, Rock of Ages, In the Window, Shalom Chaverim, Hatikvah, Shabbat Shalom, Zum Gali Gali, Shafteh Mayim, Oh Once There Was a Wicked Wicked Man, Chag Purim, My Hat It Has 3 Corners, Hevenu Shalom Alechem, Henay Matov U Manayim, Dayenu, Go Down Moses, Shalom Aleichem, Bashanah. 106 $19.95 Gospel Songs Amazing Grace, Because, Battle Hymn of the Republic, Joshua Fit the Battle of Jericho, Just a Closer Walk with Thee, Rock of Ages, Swing Low Sweet Chariot, Deep River, Jesu Joy of Man's Desiring, We Gather Together to Ask the Lord's Blessing, Onward Christian Soldiers, Crusaders' Hymn, What A Friend We Have In Jesus, Jesus Loves Me This I Know, Abide With Me, Morning Has Broken, Wade In The Water, Were You There?, The Old Rugged Cross, Joyful Joyful We Adore Thee. #107 $29.95 Nathen Page Studio Jazz More jazz versions of popular songs, and 3 original songs. This disk shows the full power of Diversi-Tune, with bass, drums, piano back-up and melody parts all playing together. #108 $29.95 Classical Organ Favorites Fanfare (Lemmons), Fugue a la Gigue (Bach), Westminster Chimes (Vierne), Tocatta (and Fugue) in D Minor (Bach), Toccata - Fifth Symphony (Widor), Carillon (Boellmann), Carillon Sortie (Mulet). #109 $29.95 Classical Harpsichord Duets Allemande la Vauvert (LeRoux), Fugue a la Gigue (Bach), Courante (LeRoux), Sonata No. 1 in C Major (Soler), Gavotte en Rondeau (LeRoux), The Musical Offering (Bach), Menuets I and II (LeRoux), Sonata No. 3 in G Major (Soler), Gigue (LeRoux), First Biblical Sonata (Kuhnau), Fourth Biblical Sonata (Kuhnau). 110 $29.95 Bill Basham - Rock Improvisations Bill Basham puts Diversi-Tune into rock overdrive with this collection of 8 original improvised rock songs. The songs feature hard-driving bass lines with rock drum backbeats, syncopated percussion rhythms, and soaring 2 or 3 part melodies. When ordering a song disk be sure to specify the catalog number of the disk. All disks are ready for immediate shipping. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Other Apple IIGS Programs Available From DSR, Inc. *** Diversi-Cache *** The Diversi-Tune program disk contains our disk speed-up program, Diversi-Cache. When you exit Diversi-Tune, Diversi-Cache will remain active until you turn the power off on your computer. Try booting the IIGS system disk after running Diversi-Tune, and you'll notice the improvement. To legally use Diversi-Cache with other programs, besides Diversi-Tune, please send $35 payment. Diversi-Cache dramatically increases the I/O speed of the Apple Disk 3.5, under any operating system (ProDOS, Pascal, DOS 3.3). Diversi-Cache speeds up the Disk 3.5 in two ways. First of all, whenever the system reads a block, Diversi-Cache actually reads an entire track. This triples the speed of disk reads, and doubles the speed of ProDOS writes. Secondly, Diversi-Cache allows you to allocate a cache memory buffer from 0 to 800K in size. Whenever the system reads a block, Diversi-Cache saves it in the cache buffer. If the system asks for this block again, it comes out of memory at "Ramdisk" speed. Diversi-Cache only speeds up the Apple Disk 3.5 designed for the Apple IIGS, and will not affect the speed of the older Apple //c compatible UniDisk 3.5. *** Diversi-Copy *** Diversi-Copy(tm) is the fastest and easiest way to make back-up copies of your 3.5 and 5.25 disks. Diversi-Copy will use all available memory in an Apple IIGS, //e, //c, or II+ compatible to allow 1-pass copying with a single drive. Diversi-Copy was chosen as inCider magazine's "Editors' Choice". It is the best copy program available, for both 5.25 and 3.25 drive copying. *** Diversi-Key *** Diversi-Key is a keyboard macro program for the Apple //GS that will work with any program that allows interrupts. This includes programs that run under Pascal, ProDOS, or DOS 3.3. Diversi-Key works with Appleworks 2.0, as well as most other programs. Diversi-Key sends macro keystrokes as if you had typed them at the keyboard, so you don't need to modify your programs to work with Diversi-Key. Diversi-Key allows you to add an almost unlimited number of custom functions to any program. Diversi-Key includes a flexible way to program the mouse to work with any program, as well as date and time macros, nested macro calls, nested repeat, IF, and WHILE conditional loops, and much much more. *** How to Order *** To order, please send your check to: DSR, Inc. 34880 Bunker Hill Farmington, MI 48331-3236 The cost of our programs is as follows: Diversi-Copy $30 Diversi-Cache $35 Diversi-Key $45 Diversi-Tune $75