Midi Axe Tutorial

By Tim Conrardy

Using the special version of KCS and Midi Ax.

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This version of KCS (version 4 ) is configured to work with Drive A.
Unzip the contents without folders onto a 720K dos formatted disc (if you have 720K disc drive...otherwise use the normal 1.4 M discs if you have a TT030 or Falcon)

If you want to use this on your Hard disc, then just copy the files to a folder on your drive , then edit the KCS.INF in a text editor with the correct paths.

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1. Click on KCS40.prg. The program loads. KCS and tiger loads and finally defaults to the Midi Ax screen. Midi Ax is FINGERS and MIDI AX together. What first appears is FINGERS with a preloaded FINGER file. You will see columns of letters and numbers.

NOTE: Clicking on A.PRG will load Midi AX and the default.cmb file into memory for use with this tutorial if you do not want to use KCS.

2.Lets hear what FINGERS sounds like. Hit the TAB key. FINGERS begins to play its intoxicating patterns and you see some rather stunning graphics as numbers seem to go up and down the various columns. Hit on the 4 key on the Numeric keypad. Hear FINGERS transpose. Hit any of the other Ten key numericals to transpose the FINGERS patterns to different keys. This is ONE of the interactive parts of FINGERS.To return to the original key, hit "(". Look on the very bottom left corner of the screen below the word <EDIT>. You will see a ROW with a line in the middle. Click in the Row. This is actually a TEMPO slider. You can adjust the tempo of the playing here.To stop FINGERS: look at the bottom right corner of the screen . You will see XX. Click on that to stop FINGERS.

3.Lets now get into the MIDI AX part. First, look at the right bottom corner of the screen next to the XX. You will see ME. This means MEnu.Clicking on this will bring up the Midi Ax Menu. You will see a selection called LOAD, with 3 different file types to load: APP,CMB, and sliders. Select CMB.The file selector appears. Select the DEFAULT.CMB. and select OK. The file loads. BUG REPORT: if the screen does not redraw and you see a hole where the file selector was, simply go into the Menu again and select MIDI AX OPTION or FINGERS OPTIONS.The just select OK from there and the screen is redrawn.

4. Now go into the Menu by clicking on ME and select TOGGLE SWITCHES.
On the right colomn , click on  NO FINGERS so it is highlighted. Then click on OK. You are presented with a very simple uncomplicated grid to move our mouse around.

5.Look at the second row from the bottom to the left where it is marked <EDIT> Following that to the right you see <NOTE> <1> This is the preset for the LEFT Mouse Button. Following that to the right is another <NOTE> <1> This is the presets for the RIGHT mouse button. (P1 and P2 in the manual ) You will see these presets described in the manual. The one set up for us now will play a single note when you left or right click into the screen. Try it. You will notice if you click into the lower part of the screen, the velocity is softer. Going up toward the top, the velocity is louder. <NOTE> will play a single note with each mouse click.

6.Lets play some more with the presets. Click on the LEFT Mouse preset symbol "> "where it say <NOTE> . It changes to <NotRep>. (BTW: the < and > symbols are called Arithmitic Icons in DR T language and it used quite a bit in his programs. < is decrease. > is increase. A very simple language) With <NotRep>, click into the screen and keep pressing the left mouse button. You will hear the notes repeat at a tempo set by the tempo slider (previously discussed) Try adjusting the tempo slider , then left click and hold down into the screen to hear the results

7.Lets try another preset. Click the > symbol again at <NotRep> and it changes to GLISS. Now while pressing the left Mouse button, slide the pointer across the screen. You of course hear a GLISSINDO effect.

8.Now comes an interesting part. Click TWICE on the > symbol at <GLISS> so it changes to <NotSeqR>. Now left click into the screen and hold it. Keep it in one position. You will hear a pattern, which is actually a KCS sequence that was loaded into KCS when you loaded the DEFAULT.CMB. This particular sequence contains many prerecorded sequences created with Laurie Spiegels program Music Mouse. ( a mouse to another mouse!) Now that you hear the sequnce play, try moving the mouse around the screen. You will hear the sequence change in pitch (or key) Try changing the tempo to very fast and slowly move the mouse from left to right across the screen for a cool effect. Now click on the <2> symbol next to <NotSeqR> This chooses what sequence you will play. Try choosing different sequences and seeing what the results are in playing with the mouse movements.

9. Now go to the RIGHT Mouse presets. It is still on <NOTE> <1>. Change it to <NotRep> Now press BOTH mouse buttons down and click into the playing screen. You will hear both actions at once!

10. Now lets try something different. At the very bottom of the screen is a row with letters in it. Click on the two H symbols so they are highlighted. H means HOLD. Now left click and slide your mouse across the screen once (BTW: this is called a "gesture" in Midi Ax) You will see a number 1 at the top right part of the screen. Now slide across the screen twice in succesion. You will see the numbers 1 and 2 alternatly. Now lets RIGHT click and slide and see what happens. Remember that the right Mouse position (P2) is still on the <NotRep> preset. Go across 4 times. You will see the numbers 1 thru 4 on the top part of the screen. They are repeating the notes you just played. The tempo of the repeats is set with the tempo slider (if you want to adjust it) These will continue forever. This can get rather wild by using left and right clicks and sweeping the screen.Another trick is to left click once, then left click agin in the same position. keep on clicking and Midi Ax creates a "round" of the preset sequence.

To PAUSE it, click on the P symbol at the bottom of the screen. Now clear the repeat/hold field  by hitting CLR HOME on the computer keyboard. 

11. EXPERIMENT by selecting different sequences to drag around (see no 8 above)
 and different presets for each mouse button.( P1 and P2)Look in the Midi Ax manual for further descriptions of these presets and what you can do with them. Now the program is not so much of a mystery and you are now free to experiment and create some music with this application.

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Tim Conrardy
Tims Atari Midi World
http://sites.netscape.net/timconrardy/index.htm