***Program Submission*** The Antic Music Processor 2.0 Programmed By Steven Lashower (C) 1989 ArgoSoft Productions The Antic Music Processor Version 1.2, as you probably already know has the ability to display song lyrics. You've probably spent countless hours staring in amazement at the 'Come Sail Away' composition that was included with AMP wondering, "That's great...but how can I do that?" The Antic Music Processor Version 2.0 [AMP] comes with a fully integrated lyric editor to give you that power. Version 2.0 also contains quite a few enhancements and new features. -Loading the Program- Unlike the previous version of AMP, Version 2.0 can be loaded from DOS. Use DOS command L (Binary Load) and type in the 'AMP.EXE'. If you'd like AMP to load automatically every time you boot the disk, use DOS command E to rename 'AMP.EXE' to 'AUTORUN.SYS' Some users have experienced some strange problems when using AMP with DOS XL. This is because AMP will only work on DOS configurations where MEMLO($2E7)<=$1CFC. If you don't know what this means, just use AMP with Atari DOS Versions 2.0 or 2.5 to avoid any problems that might arise. AMP requires at least 48K of free RAM, so make sure all cartridges are removed from the computer before loading the program. -Changes to the Main Menu- There are two new commands that have been added to the Main Menu: [X] Exit to DOS - Press [X] and insert a disk with DUP.SYS to exit to DOS. All music data currently stored in the computer's memory will be erased. [W] Lyric Editor - Press [W] to enter AMP's integrated lyric editor. [SYSTEM RESET] can be used at any time to return you to the Main Menu. Don't press [SYSTEM RESET] during disk I/O, especially while a file is being saved - it is a sure-fire way to mess up your disk directory. [L] & [S] - Before, AMP was only able to load and save files to drive one. AMP Version 2.0 allows you to load or save an AMP file from any disk drive. For example, to load 'Come Sail Away' from drive 2, you would type: [L] D2:COMESAIL.MUS [RETURN]. -New Commands to the AMP Music Editor:- -L- The -Lyric Advance- command. Used to display and advance lyrics one syllable at a time. The concept of syllables (according to AMP) will be explained shortly. -Nx,y,z- The -Note- command. One of the few complaints about AMP 1.2 was that it lacked the ability to produce sounds other than pure tones. -Note- is an extremely powerful command that can harness some of the power in the 8-bit Atari's sound generating hardware, that until now, has never really been utilized in previous music programs. Using the AMP's new -Note- command will give you the ability to produce sound effects and noise. -Note- is very similar to ATARI BASIC's SOUND command. Instead of four using four numbers like ATARI BASIC, -Note- uses three. -X-: Sound pitch (0-255) (exactly the same as the second number in Atari BASICs SOUND command: the lower the number, the higher the frequency of the sound. -Y-: Sound distortion (0-254) -Z-: Sound duration (1-126) (in clocks) See Figure #1 for a list of durations and their corresponding clock values. Let's convert SOUND 0,121,10,8 into a Note command that will be played for 96 clocks, the duration of a half note: X=121 Y=(10*16)+8 The third number in Atari BASIC's sound command [distortion] must be multiplied by 16 and added to the fourth number [volume] Z=96 (clocks) This gives us NOTE 121,168,96 which can be entered into the AMP music editor by typing: -N121,168,96- [RETURN] -Using the Lyric Editor- You can use AMP's integrated Lyric Editor by pressing [W] from the Main Menu. The Lyric Editor is divided vertically into different sections. In the upper-middle of the screen is a big blue 20x11 character window. Up to eleven lines of lyrics can appear in this window at one time. To the immediate left and right of this window is a small pointer. Pressing [CONTROL+Up Arrow] will move the pointer up one line and [CONTROL+Down Arrow] will move the pointer down one line. The line adjacent to the pointers is known as the 'current lyric line'. Using [CONTROL+Left Arrow] and [CONTROL+Right Arrow] can be used to center the text in the current lyric line. Towards the bottom of the screen is the command line. As you type in commands, they will appear down here. Error messages will be displayed right bellow the command line. The bottom line on the screen is the status line. The status line shows three things: 1) The current lyric line number being pointed to by the arrows at the top of the screen, for example, Line:1 2) Entry Mode, either reads 'Text' or 'Play'. The significance of this will be discussed a little later. 3) The amount of memory left for entering lyrics, for example, Mem=32767 Let's go through the steps to enter the first line of lyrics for the song, 'Come Sail Away': "I'M SAILING AWAY". To start out, type [C] from the Main Menu to clear out any music that might be residing in memory. Now, type [W] to enter the Lyric Editor. First of all we must tell AMP that we're going to enter one line of lyrics. The command for this is "L=" followed by upto twenty characters. No more than twenty characters can be displayed on a single line of lyrics. Type: -L=I'M SAILING AWAY- [RETURN] The line will now appear at the top line of the lyric window and the pointer moves down one line. Our next step is to determine where to divide the lyrics up into syllables and breaks: I'M-SAIL-ING-A- WAY. Now we must let AMP know about the syllables. Use [CONTROL+Up Arrow] to move the pointer back up one line. Notice that the lyric line is now highlighted right under the window in big, blue GRAPHICS 1 (Antic mode 6) text. Look right below the Graphics 1 line to decide which letters correspond to our syllables and breaks. These letters will be: 'E', 'I', 'N' and 'M'. Type: -S=EINM- [RETURN]. The 'E' and 'M' are used because they are spaces separating words, and like syllables, spaces are considered breaks. Now press [CONTROL+Right Arrow] two times to center the line on the screen. Let's see how this line will look when it is being played by AMP: Type -P- [RETURN]. This changes 'Mode' in the status line from 'Text' to 'Play.' Now watch the Graphics 1 line and press [RETURN] to simulate a 'Lyric Advance' command. Repeat this procedure until the status line returns to 'Mode: Text' You can abort play mode prematurely by pressing ESCape. Pressing ESCape while in text mode will return you to the Main Menu. Don't use [SYSTEM RESET] to return to the Main Menu. The lyric editor is constantly doing miscellaneous calculations and [SYSTEM RESET] will interrupt this procedure and probably cause strange things to happen. -Lyric Editor Command Summary- -L-=(followed by up to twenty characters) [RETURN] - Enters a line of lyrics into the Lyric Editor. -S=-(followed by any sequence of letters from A to T) [RETURN] - Assign syllables to the highlighted lyric text. -C=-(followed by any sequence of letters from A to T) [RETURN] - Removes syllables from the highlighted lyric text. -P- [RETURN] - Changes to PLAY MODE and will 'play' the highlighted lyric text. Additional [RETURN]s are used to simulate the 'Lyric Advance' command. -CONTROL+Up Arrow- - Move the pointer up one line -CONTROL+Down Arrow- - Move the pointer down one line -CONTROL+Left Arrow- - Shifts the highlighted text one space to the right. The leftmost character, if any, will now 'wrap around' and become the rightmost character. -CONTROL+Right Arrow- - Shifts the highlighted text one space to the left. The rightmost character, if any, will now 'wrap around' and become the leftmost character. -TAB- - Copies the highlighted line of lyrics down to the command line where it can be edited by pressing the [Delete/Back Space] key. -CONTROL+Delete- - Deletes the highlighted line of lyrics and places it in a one line buffer. Any previous line stored in the buffer will be lost. -CONTROL+Insert- - Takes the line of lyrics that is currently residing in the buffer and inserts it directly above the highlighted line of lyrics. -CONTROL+Clear- - An alternative to the C= command. [CONTROL+Clear] will clear ALL of the syllables in the highlighted line of lyrics. -ESC- - While in PLAY MODE, [ESC] can be used for a premature exit back to TEXT MODE. While in TEXT MODE, hovever, [ESC] is used to return to AMP's Main Menu. - AMP Durations- Normal (.) (..) Triplet +------------------------------- Whole Note (W) | 192* xx xx 128* Half Note (H) | 96 144* 168* 64 Quarter Note (Q) | 48 72 84 32 Eigth Note (E) | 24 36 42 16 Sixteenth Note (S) | 12 18 21 8 Thirty-second note (T) | 6 9 10 4 Sixty-fourth note (Z) | 3 4 xx 2 x - Duration does not exist # - Clock Value of Duration * - Since the clock values for these durations are larger than 126, they cannot be used with the -Note- command -Figure #1-