Sound, Music & MIDI Collection 2

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Text File | 1993-11-30 | 16.1 KB | 455 lines

Power Chords Pro Demo Version 2.00 README.TXT file. Contents: I. Introduction II. Gravis UltraSound Information III. New Features New features from 2.0.00 to 2.0.02 New features from 1.0 and 1.1 to Power Chords Pro IV. Special Power Chords Pro version of Cool Shoes' 1000 Super Cool Drum Patterns Information - with FREE SAMPLE! V. Mr. Drumstix' Music Studio (for kids!) information VI. Christmas Song Disk Offer VII. How to Contact Us I. Introduction =============== The demo version of Power Chords Pro works just like the retail version except for two things: 1) It will automatically end after 60 minutes of use. 2) It will not allow you to save or export Power Chords or MIDI data. If you are new to Power Chords Pro we suggest you take the following steps: 1: Run the Demo script (special DEMO icon). This will give you a brief overview of Power Chords Pro. The first time you start Power Chords Pro whether in regular mode or running a script, it will bring up the MIDI Config dialog. If you need to reconfigure later, the dialog is accessed from the MIDI... menu option. 2: Run each of the tutorial scripts in turn (special TUTOR icons). These tutorials are absolutely the best way of learning how Power Chords Pro works. II. Gravis UltraSound Users =========================== To get the most out of the additional capabilities of Power Chords Pro, we recommend you increase the RAM on your UltraSound card to its maximum. If you have only 256K on you UltraSound, make sure you have select the 'Conserve Memory' option in the UltraSound audio drive setup. (See page 19 of the Power Chords section of the UltraSound manual.) You can save a lot of patch memory while writing songs by setting some drumkit items to <None>. If you fail to hear some patches, check the remaining patch memory by selecting "MIDI..." from the Power Chords Pro menu, and then "UltraSound Options...". If it show less that 40,000 or 50,000 bytes left, you are likely running low on patch memory and should take some of the steps listed above. * New Patch Bank Support * Power Chords Pro now has special support for banks of patches when using the Gravis UltraSound card. You can select the current melodic and drum bank from the "UltraSound Options..." menu item. To use banks, you must have the newer Windows drivers. ULTRASND.DRV (located in your \WINDOWS\SYSTEM subdirectory) should be dated 10/93 or later. To create a 'bank' of sounds, you create a section in your ULTRASND.INI file with a bank number, a directory, and the sounds in the bank. (You can use the Windows application NOTEPAD or any other ascii text editor to do this). For example, lets say you have some patches that you want to put in a separate bank, numbered 7. You would create the following entry in the ULTRASND.INI file: [Melodic Bank 7] PatchDir=C:\ULTRASND\MYBANK\ 0=bosendrf 1=toypiano 33=mnstrbas 57=heinzpat To activate bank 7, select 'MIDI...', then 'UltraSound Options...' from the Power Chords Pro menu. In the dialog that appears, change the melodic bank number to 7 and then click OK. Now that you have activated bank 7, patch numbers 0, 1, 33, and, 57 will be loaded from the patch files in C:\ULTRASND\MYBANK. For example, patch 1, will load C:\ULTRASND\MYBANK\TOYPIANO.PAT. Any patch numbers selected that are not specified in bank 7 are loaded from the default list in [Melodic Bank 0]. So only the sounds specifically located in bank 7 will change from the defaults. Drum patches work in a similar fashion. Say you want to load up a couple of TR-808 patches. You would add a section to the ULTRASND.INI that looks like this: [Drum Bank 8] PatchDir=C:\ULTRASND\808\ 35=808kick1 36=808kick2 37=808rim III. New Features of Power Chords Pro: ====================================== * New features in version 2.0.02 from 2.0.00 * We've added a few goodies to this release including the following. New: Rhythm Editor Synchronized Playback and Record --------------------------------------------------- Using the options dialog on the Rhythm Editor (red checkmark) you can sync the current Rhythm Editor part to either a particular bar in the song, or to the other Rhythm Editor parts. When you record or playback the part, whatever it is synced to will also be played. This lets you work in context with the song or with other parts. Its great for recording in from MIDI while jamming along with the song, where the part you're recording is intended to go. New: Rhythm Editor Undo ----------------------- You can now undo and redo changes made to the rhythm editor. To engage this feature, select 'Edit', then 'Undo Rhythm Editor Changes' from the Power Chords Pro menu. Here are the activities that are 'undoable': - copying a new part to the Rhythm Editor - selecting the Options button - clearing the contents of the Rhythm Editor - recording a new part - selecting the Power Effects button - moving, copying, or deleting a highlighted area New: Rhythm Editor Transpose ---------------------------- To transpose a melody or bass part in the Rhythm Editor, click the options button (red checkmark) and then select the transpose amount (up to plus or minus 12 semitones) in the Transpose list box. New: Rhythm Editor Trim Front Function -------------------------------------- When you shorten the length of a Rhythm Editor part in the options dialog (red checkmark), a check box appears labeled 'Trim Front'. If you check this box, the part will be shortened by removing bars from the front instead of the end. New: Global Edit Transpose Option --------------------------------- A new option has been added to transpose the selected parts when doing global editing (red checkmark on any of the part palettes). * New features in Power Chords Pro from Power Chords 1.0, and 1.1 * Button Bar --------- All windows can now be quickly accessed by the button bar at the left of the screen. Rhythm Editor ------------- The Rhythm Editor now supports drag and drop editing. To turn it on, click the curved arrow button. Highlight areas of notes by clicking and dragging. To copy notes, hold Ctrl while dragging. The new Options dialog is accessed by clicking on the red checkmark button. You can change the length, patches, title etc. of any rhythm in the Rhythm Editor at any time. The lock button forces whatever is in the Rhythm Editor to stay there when other parts are dragged in. This can be used to combine parts or to change the type of a part by dragging in a part of a different type than the one in the locked Rhythm Editor. You can set the start playback beat by clicking above the grid - a black bar appears and playback starts from the marked beat when play pressed, instead of from the beginning of the part. You can now record data from the following sources into the Rhythm Editor: MIDI in On screen fretboard On screen keyboard Chord palette Chord Progression Recording - You can also record chord progressions - click Rec on the Rhythm Editor, then click on the chords in the chord palette in real time. Select the dialog box options after recording to route the data to the song window as a chord progression. Power Effects - are accessed via the button on the Rhythm Editor with the dial on it. To generate up/down/alt strums, put notes in the chord rhythm section of the Rhythm Editor. Notes which start at the same time are staggered to create the strums. The drum roll generator works on rows of consecutive notes. You can apply effects to only the currently highlighted notes, too (curved arrow button). Song Window ------------ We now support 16 melodies per bar. The palettes are expanded too - 64 items, 128 chords in the Chord Palette. Check out the different song options (red checkmark button). Chord Rhythms can now have their own patches/midi channels - if set to No Patch Change, whatever is on the fretboard is used. The song is now 256 bars long. Fretboard --------- Try out new melody mode (button with 1 note on it) - you can record melodies into the Rhythm Editor this way - including pitch bend info. Strumming is improved and more realistic. Also, shift button (shift fingers up/down/left/right) function has changed so notes are played when buttons are pressed, not released. Fretboard tuning and other options are accessed via buttons on the fretboard window itself. New Keyboard Window! -------------------- You can create chords, and melodies from the keyboard window. There are many options to configure it they way you want. Palettes -------- All the palettes have new scroll bars, tile and casc buttons. MIDI Import Window ------------------ From 'File' menu, select 'Load MIDI File...' and load up a standard MIDI file. RIGHT Mouse button operations: To play a track, click on track name. To play a bar, click on box of bar/track you want to hear. Click and drag on boxes with the leftt button to highlight them. Click on the red boxes with right button to play them. You can drag parts to any palette, or to the Rhythm Editor. Drag an entire track by clicking on track name. When you drag more than 8 bars, you are provided with the option of having the information divided into chunks automatically. You may specify the number of bars in each chunk. To stop playing info in the Import window, click the stop button in the window, or right click on another part (it will play) or click on an area in the window with no track (title area at top). Note that drum sounds imported are reconciled to your current kit. Also, note the merged drum track which appears at the bottom. Drum information in imported MIDI files is are assumed to be on channel 10. Importing from other Power Chords Files --------------------------------------- Select 'File', 'Import from POP File...'. You can import parts from PRO files (.POP), or Power Chords 1 files (.POW). Use the right mouse button on the part names to play them from the import window. Backwards compatibility ----------------------- Pro can read and write Power Chords 1 files. To write to version 1, specify a .POW extension. Of course info is lost if there are more than 1 melody per bar, and songs can only be 128 bars long in version 1 files. Clipboard Functions ------------------- Accessed via 'Edit' on the main menu. You can past to the Import window, or copy from the song or the Rhythm Editor. Quick Delete ------------ Parts in the palettes, or in the song can be deleted quickly by holding the Del key on the keyboard and clicking on the part with the left mouse button. IV. Special Power Chords Pro version of Cool Shoes' 1000 Super Cool Drum Patterns for the Awesome Low Price of $49.95 US ======================================================================== A special Power Chords Pro version of this unbelievable drum pattern library is now available for only $49.95 US. And there is now a sample file included with Power Chords Pro. The file called DRUMPAT.POP has samples of just a few of the drum patterns in the library. To see how easy it is to import them, just select 'File', from the Power Chords Pro main menu, then 'Import From Power Chords File'. Select the file DRUMPAT.POP. You will see a list of the drum patterns available. To demo any of them, click on the pattern name with the right mouse button. Highlight the ones you want, then click the 'Import' button. Its that easy! There's a special drum kit COOLDRUM.KIT which has all the percussion sounds in it used in the drum patterns. You might want to load this kit before trying out the sample drum patterns. Select 'MIDI' from the main menu, the select 'Drum Kit...'. Click on the button marked 'Load' and select COOLDRUM.KIT. With the 1000 Super Cool Drum Patterns for the Awesome Low Price of $49.95 you get way over 1000 patterns in all sorts of styles from African to Ballad to Funk to Country to Rock. There are lots of variations and fills, all professionaly composed. And they are all carefully organized and documented iwht a 40 page manual, for easy retrieval of the patterns you want. When you order the Power Chords Pro version of the product you get Power Chords Pro format files, ready to be auditioned and imported into your songs with a couple of mouse clicks. You also get .MID format files and .DRM Drummer format files. Composing drum tracks could not be any easier by using the powerful import facility of Power Chords Pro with this royalty free drum pattern library. Here are just some of the categories included: Bembe, Songo, African, AfroCuban, Boogie, Woogie, Disco, Twist, Metal Industrial, Cajun, Waltz, Zydeco, Country, Dixieland, Snare Roll Bunny Hop, Can Can, Charleston, Jewish, Irish Jig, Mex. Hat Dance, Polka Russian March, Waltz, Cajun Waltz, Jazz Waltz, Swing Waltz, FusionWaltz Waltz Fill, Blues, R & B, Voodoo, Ballad, Slow, Bossa Nova, Funk, Fusion Fusion Bossa, FusionDrive, PolyTom, Jazz, Jazz Fill, Baion, Beguine Bolero, Pepe Bolero, Calypso, Cha Cha, Comparsa, Conga, Flamenco, Guaracha Joropo, Latin, Mambo, Merengue, Rhumba, Salsa, Samba, Tango, Reggae, Rock Rock Solo, Rock Fill, Shuffle, Shuffle Fill, Swing, House, Street, New Jack The drum pattern library is only $49.95US and is ready to go, all set to be imported right into your compositions. Order today! V. Introducing Mr. Drumstix' Music Studio from Howling Dog Systems ================================================================== An excellent place for children (3-9) to enjoy and learn about music, Mr. Drumstix' Music studio mixes a song player, interactive music games, and on-screen instruments for an incredible music entertainment package. Mr. Drumstix plays along with the songplayer. Your kids will love playing his drums with the mouse. Click on his head and see what happens... Ms. Florida Keys watches as melodies are played from songs or when her keys are clicked on with the mouse. The keys light up in different colors and she can use any of the instrument sounds. She talks too! Change which instruments are used to play the song by clicking on the instrument pictures. Lyrics are shown as the song plays for karaoke style family sing along fun. Choose which song is to be played or let the computer pick the tunes to entertain your kids. Change the tempo at any time. Music games are included which help develop such skills as memory for music phrases, pitch discrimination, and instrument identification. Multiple game levels provide different levels of difficulty. Sound effects add lots of fun to these games. Mr. Drumstix' Music Studio gives children the opportunity to try their skills at creating small melodies and drum parts. Mr. Drumstix or Ms. Florida Keys will happily play each of your childs creations. Or they can be transferred into the song window to play in a song. - hours of entertainment - 20 kids tunes included - send in warranty card and get 10 more songs free - a positive introduction to the world of music The list price of Mr. Drumstix' Music Studio is $69.95 US. Call us for details, special offers etc. at (613) 599-7929. VI. Christmas Song Disk ======================= A Christmas song disk with over 15 Christmas favorites is available for only $15.00 US. These beautiful songs are in Power Chords format and there are versions for Power Chords and Mr. Drumstix' Music Studio users. The Mr. Drumstix version comes with lyric files compatible with the program. Please specify which version you would like when ordering. VII. How To Contact Us ====================== Order your copy of Power Chords Pro today! We hope that you will agree that Power Chords Pro opens creative channels like no other sequencer. To order your full working package ($199.95 US MSRP) contact us at Howling Dog Systems. Howling Dog Systems Kanata North Postal Outlet Box 72071 Kanata, Ontario, Canada K2K 2P4 Phone: (613) 599-7927 Fax: (613) 599-7926 CompuServe Forum located in MIDICVEN (GO HOWLING). Our CompuServe ID is 71333,2166.