
              *--------------------------------------------*
              |                                            |
              |      		MIDI Spy 1.1       |
              |              by John Eidsvoog              |
              |      Copyright 1993 CodeHead Software      |
              |                                            |
              *--------------------------------------------*

              	Release Date: Monday, March 8, 1993

		Released as Freeware October 2002

              This is the freeware edition of MIDI Spy 1.1.  It may
              be distributed freely as long as all included
              files remain intact and unaltered.  It may
              not be sold.


*-------------------------- Included Files ---------------------------*


The following files are included with the MIDI Spy  package:

  Midi_spy.prg  The Demo accessory/program
  MSPY.TXT  This Documentation File
  MSPYPRES.TXT  The MIDI Spy Press Release
  QUEST.MSQ	Theme from Quest  1987 Eids-Kid Music
  SONGS.TXT     Information about the included songs
  SECURE.MSQ    Secure Your Meat  1983 Eids-Kid Music
  WALTSMBA.MSQ  Walt's Samba      1983 Eids-Kid Music
  SONGS folder containing more MIDI Spy songs. Read the readme's.



*---------------------------- What it is -----------------------------*


MIDI Spy is a MIDI recording tool that allows you to record and play
back MIDI in a multi-tasking environment.  It runs as either a program
or an accessory.  When installed as an accessory, it works completely in
the background.  This means that it is always in record mode (unless you
disable it).  As long as you haven't exhausted the memory area assigned
to MIDI Spy, everything you play will be recorded regardless of your
current computer activity.  You can be at the desktop, within any
program, or even connected to an on-line service through your terminal
program. 

MIDI Spy will load and save standard MIDI sequence files, allowing you to 
load its songs into other MIDI sequencers, or load songs into MIDI Spy that 
have been recorded on other sequencers and play them in the background from 
MIDI Spy while you work on other things, even chained together, creating a 
juke box effect.


*------------------- Installing  MIDI Spy  --------------------*


MIDI Spy  runs only as a desk accessory or a stand alone program.To run it as a desk accessory simply rename the .prg extension to .acc using the show info command in the atari desktop menu. Then if you've got CodeHead's
MultiDesk, you can simply use the "Load ACC" button to load MIDI Spy as a
_resident_ accessory.  Otherwise, copy Midi_spy.acc into the root of your
boot drive and reboot your computer (making sure that you don't have more
than six files with an .ACC extension). 


*--------------------- Using MIDI Spy  -----------------------*


Using the MIDI Spy Demo is extremely easy.  Let's start by recording
something.  After installing  MIDI Spy  as an accessory, select it
from the accessory (or MultiDesk) menu.  The Main MIDI Spy Dialog box will
appear on the screen. 

If you've connected your MIDI cables correctly, you can just start playing
and everything you play will be recorded (you may need to enable "Thru" to
hear what you're playing if your MIDI system is set up that way).  If you
wait for five seconds and start playing again, a new song will be started. 
To listen to what you've played, just click on Play or hit the space bar. 
Playback will begin immediately. 

Most of the buttons in the main dialog box are self-explanatory.  There
are also keypress equivalents for all of the buttons.  Press the Help key
to find out which keys may be used to control the main dialog box.

You can exit from the MIDI Spy accessory, go back to any other computer
task, and start playing back what you've recorded but pressing
Alternate-SpaceBar.  MIDI Spy will play back your songs without affecting
what you do in the foreground. 

There are a number of other hot key combinations.  You can find them by
clicking on "Commands" in the Configuration Options box.  Any of the hot
key combinations can be reassigned to any combination you like by clicking
on the current one and pressing another combination.  You'll also notice
that the same set of commands can be controlled from your MIDI keyboard. 
These can also be reassigned to most any MIDI command. 

A MIDI Spy 1.0 demo was released in December of 1991.  A number of things
have changed or have been added to MIDI Spy since then.  One of the main
things is that MIDI overflow has been virtually eliminated for systems in
which a lot of resident programs are installed.  This is accomplished
through some special handling of the 200Hz timer.  There is a penalty for
doing this, though.  Some areas of your GEM interface may not function
properly while you are playing on your MIDI keyboard and up to one second
after you stop.  This normally will only be noticed when someone is trying
to use the mouse while the keyboard is being played.  If this is
bothersome, the special handling can be disabled by turning off the "200Hz
Hog" button in the Configuration Options box.  If you have a lot of
resident software installed, you may experience some MIDI notes which
don't turn off due to "MIDI Overflow".  The solution is to reenable the
"200Hz Hog" button.  (It's a tradeoff -- you can't have everything.)


Once you've loaded or recorded a few songs, you'll notice the "MEMORY
USED" box will display the size of the currently selected song.  You can
select songs by clicking and dragging within this box.  Or you can start
playing the current song by clicking/dragging within the current song's
box.  You can also right-click anywhere in the display area to switch to
the "full" mode.  The entire box will become gray and a vertical line will
show the current spot in the song while playback is in effect.  You can
also select a mid-start point and begin playback by clicking within this
box. 

Enjoy MIDI Spy.

*----------------------------------------------------------------------*

