p **************************** q p * * q p * ROBO BOP * q p * Version 1.9 * q p * Copyright 1991-92 * q p * F10 Software * q p * * q p **************************** q INTRODUCTION ROBO BOP allows you to create rhythm patterns by pasting notes into grids. A left click programs a grid and right clicking erases one. Any volume can be programmed into any grid. Clicking on a numbered square selects a pattern. Rhythms are played as MIDI notes so a MIDI drum machine or synth is required. * NOTE * If you are familiar with ROBO BOP you may want to skip to the "New Features for Version 1.9" section below. ************************************************************************ * * * This version of ROBO BOP is shareware, which means that it can be * * freely distributed. It is not public domain. If you decide * * that this program is valuable enough for you to keep and USE, * * please pay for it. The price is $25. Make out your check to: * * * * Frank Vuotto * * F10 SOFTWARE * * P.O. Box 2201 * * Taos, New Mexico 87571 * * * * Any suggestions for improving ROBO BOP will be welcome. * * Registered users will receive a full featured ROBO BOP by mail. * * When and updated version of the program is available, all * * registered users will be notified. * * * * Register users wishing to upgrade to Version 1.9 should send $2.50 * * to cover shipping and handling. * * * * Thanks in advance for your support. * * * ************************************************************************ SELECTABLES PLAY/STOP: May also be toggled with the spacebar. Editing is available during play. "Live Sequencing" is accomplished by clicking on the pattern you would like to have play next. To find the volume programmed into a grid, press HELP while the mouse pointer is over the grid. If you press UNDO while over a programmed grid, the instrument volume is changed to the programmed volume. PATTERNS: Click on a pattern to select it for editing. Programed patterns have a dot after them VOLUME "It is not the "perfect" time of the drum machine that is primarily responsible for its mechanical sound. It is a lack of accenting that will most obviously distinguish a machine from a live drummer." (Steve Savage, Billboard Book of Rhythm) Select a Volume Box (filled boxes on the right of the screen) or use the up down arrows to change the volume of the current instrument. Each instrument has its own programmable default volume and each grid step can have a different volume. Right clicking on an instrument name recovers the instrument default volume. TAP WRITE: Tap Write is enabled by selecting "T". Grids may then be programmed with the current instrument and volume by tapping the Enter Key. If you are not using Tap Write be sure to turn it off. Remember, your ST's enter key is NOT velocity sensitive ! EDIT MIX: To increase or decrease the volume of an instrument for 1 or all patterns: Choose the amount of offset you desire with MIX/DELAY ADJUST then select "MIX". Mix will not lower values below 10. If an instrument has been "MIXED", the mix information box contains the last adjustment made. To undo a "MIX" enter the opposite of the mix value. If ,for example, you have raised the volume of an instrument by 20 and wish to return to the original volume, dial in a MIX ADJUST of -20 and select MIX. DELAY: Shifts the time of the highlighted instrument by the amount selected in MIX/DELAY ADJUST. Only positive values are allowed. Small values work best, higher values will probably just sound sloppy. More than one instrument may be delayed but if a single time division has more than one delayed instrument only the bottom instrument will sound. Unfortunately delays are not saved in a MIDI file or DUMP. I almost didn't include this feature because of this shortcoming but it is still fun and if you find a delay that works you can probably reconstruct it in your sequencer or drum machine. ERASE: erase the highlighted instrument on 1 or all patterns. C/C/P Cut/Copy/Paste functions. Cut or Copy a range by left clicking at the starting point and dragging to the end. To paste a copied range, left click at the start of the desired paste position. After you have the paste buffer correctly positioned, right clicking displays a dialog box with the paste options. Merge adds the paste buffer to the existing drum beats while Replace erases any programmed grids under the paste buffer. Drum beats past the pattern length are ignored. The paste buffer will survive all functions except changing Time Divisions and so is useful for transferring patterns between files. Hint: to copy a single (or more) instrument to several patterns, first clone the source to an empty pattern, erase all the drums but the ones you want and then Copy the entire pattern. Now you can Paste/Merge the instruments over any patterns you wish. FILES LOAD/SAVE ROBO BOP FILE: ".PAT" files save the tempo, time signature, all patterns, pattern names, and the sequence. DUMP TO DRUM MACHINE: You can also save patterns to your drum machine or hardware sequencer (if it can record with MIDI Clock) by using the DUMP function. ROBO BOP does not send MIDIclock while playing patterns but it does during DUMP. One pattern or the sequence can be DUMPed. If you have trouble DUMPing, try enabling MIDI note off (see ESC key below); some sequencers require this. SAVE AS MIDIFILE: Sequences can be saved as format 0 Midifiles. If you wish to save a single pattern you have to write a sequence consisting of only one pattern. PG-SEQ (PROGRAM SEQUENCE) Sequences can be up to 250 steps in length. While in PG-SEQ : Select a pattern for the current step by clicking on the pattern number. Unprogrammed patterns are shown in light text but are still selectable. The sequencer automatically advances to the next step and is ready for you to choose a pattern for that step. A step with "0" as a pattern is the last step. You cannot advance past the last programmed step. You can step forward or backward through the sequence by clicking on the up or down arrows or using the window slider. Clicking TOP goes to the start of the sequence and END goes to the last programmed step. DELETE STEP will delete the current step and move the remaining patterns forward. INSERT STEP inserts a step and moves the other patterns backward. Be sure to program a pattern in an INSERTED step or it will be seen as the end of the sequence. TIME is the total time for the sequence. All pattern lengths except 2 Bars are counted as 1 bar in the Length box. PLAY FROM: Plays the sequence from the current step (the one in the box that has the dark outline). Play from.. always uses the system clock even if MIDI Clock is selected. SEQ PLAY: Plays the sequence from the current step. Use the "<" and ">" keys to choose a starting step. To stop play, press the right mouse button. The sequence will stop and return to the step you started it from. Sequences may also be played with an external MIDI clock as the clock source. ROBO BOP will wait for a MIDI start message before starting the sequence. Pattern screens are not updated while using MIDI clock. RND Randomizes drum hits on the current instrument. Probabilities of 30% and lower seem to work best (to my taste anyhow). Randomized volumes are centered around the default volume. Erase clears the instrument prior to randomizing. T-DIV (Time Division): Select between triplet and 16th note feels. Changing time divisions resets ROBO BOP and all patterns are ERASED. LENGTH: Change time signature of the current pattern. Patterns that have had their length shortened can be restored until the file is saved to disk. A pattern that has had its length changed is seen as used. A pattern may be thought of as 1 bar of 32nd note divisions by doubling the tempo. This opens up some polyrhythmic possibilities. CLONE: Copy current pattern to another pattern. Programmed patterns are shown in light text but are still selectable. CLONE is not selectable if the current pattern is empty. ERASE: Erase the current pattern. To quickly erase all patterns, change time divisions. MUTE: To mute or unmute an instrument select "MUTE". Muted instruments will have a check mark to the left of the instrument name. Mute always works on all patterns. SETUP ROBO BOP is very flexible. Operating parameters may be changed and saved to disk. Each instrument has an editable name, MIDInote, default volume and MIDI channel. You may also edit the Volume Box values. To edit or load a setup, select SETUP. Change values by clicking on the field to be edited and entering the desired value. Midi notes and default volumes must not be higher than 127; MIDI channels must be 1-16. Notes that have already been programmed are not be changed by editing a setup. This is useful, you can have more than 13 instruments by programming different instruments in unused grids. Be sure to save your edits to disk. Hint - To get more than 12 instruments what I do is this: I have my main setup programmed with the basic drums I will use for the track. After I have the patterns fleshed out I then load another setup with "overdub" instruments assigned to rows that are not heavily used. This works great for crashes since they are often used only on the first beat of a pattern. (I have a setup that contains only cymbals) Overdub instruments must be on the same MIDI channel as the original instrument in the row. ***** IMPORTANT ! ***** When ROBO BOP boots, it looks for the file DEFAULT.SUP. This file MUST be available. To boot with your custom setup, save the setup as DEFAULT.SUP TEMPO: Tempo can be changed with the "+" and "-" keys on the ST Numeric keypad. Robo Bop has a fairly coarse tempo resolution due to limitations in GFA Basic interrupt programing (1/50 of a second). M KEY: Toggles the metronome on and off. The metronome uses a drum voice and has a programmable MIDInote, volume and MIDIchannel which can be edited in SETUP. N Key: Allows you to name a pattern. Up to 16 characters may be used. Pattern names are stored with a .Pat file. Esc Key: Robo Bop does not send "note offs" as a default. This allows you to program synth notes as well as drum voices. (Your synth voice must have have a quick envelope - most bass patches will work : for sustained voices, program a grid with a 0 volume where you want the note to end ). The "Esc" key will send a note off for every key on every MIDI channel. You may then elect to send a note off with every note on. For an example of programing notes with ROBO BOP, load the setup "CSCALE.SUP": Drums are on MIDI channel 10 and bass is on channel 2. C Key: Pressing the "C" key toggles the screen colors. FLOOBYDUST ABOUT TIMING: Instrument voices are given play priority from the top down. The metronome is given last priority. DUMP: To DUMP a sequence, the destination drum machine pattern must be long enough to record the entire sequence. There is a short pause while the screen is updated between patterns but the pause is not recorded. ROBO BOP uses a tempo of about 120 while dumping patterns to a drum machine or saving a MIDIfile. Of course after your patterns are recorded you can play them back at any tempo. BUGS: If all grids of a pattern are erased by left clicking, that pattern is still seen as used. Its better to clear a pattern with ERASE. If you click the top volume box more than half way up the box while in play, ROBO BOP will pause. I dont really think of this as a bug because I use it to find hits. If you find any other bugs please let me know. *************** New Features for version 1.9 ************** VOLUME Programmed grids now reflect their volume with different fill patterns. Darker grids are higher volumes. The grid fill may not be the same as the selected volume box however. The current instrument's volume can also be selected with the top row number keys (1 to -). TIE and LOOP Tie allows you to select two patterns and loop play them. You can program grids while they are looping. This is great for programming fills. Click LOOP to start play and STOP to stop. SEQUENCER Two CUE points in the sequence can be set by selecting "SET" when the desired cue point is in the shaded box. A range of sequence steps can be appended to the end of the sequence with the COPY function. Enter a starting step and after "to" enter the end step and select "Append". A range can be inserted into a sequence by selecting a step and then using COPY with "Insert". This is helpful for inserting a verse for example. Pattern names can be shown and edited in the sequencer by selecting the "Pattern Names" box. FILES ROBO BOP can now save and load single patterns. Pattern files are 1/3 smaller. RANDOM In the "16th Time Signature" you can choose to have hits randomized on eighth or quarter notes only. Randomized grids are shown in cross hatch fill (more visible in mono) until the pattern is redrawn. The Clr/Home key can be used to redraw the pattern. OTHER STUFF ICONS: (In Hi Rez Only) Play - Right facing arrow Stop Play - Double Lines Cut/Copy/Paste - Knife Edit - Bandaid Clone Pattern - Two Fish (?) Randomize - Dice Time Divisions - Watch Pattern Length - Ruler Files - Disk Setup - Key Program Sequence - Train Play Sequence - Right Arrow+SEQ Quit - Atari symbol Erase Pattern - Fish bones Loop - Loop symbol Tie - Bow The PATTERN NAMES dialog can be called by clicking the little "N" box as well as with the "N" key. A pattern name is selected for editing by clicking on it. Due to lack of interest (and space), SCI mode is not supported in version 1.9. **************************************************************** FRANK VUOTTO GEnie F.VUOTTO OTHER F10 PRODUCTS LEXLAX01 Lexicon LXP1 Editor/Librarian Desk Accessory LEXLAX05 Lexicon LXP5 Editor/Librarian Desk Accessory LEXLAX5 Full Featured LXP5 Editor Librarian TX81-ZIP TX81Z Librarian Desk Accessory TIME SHEET Recording Studio Point of Sales and Log Book D-BUD Roland D-5/10/? Multi Timbral Desk Accessory