                                OMEGA II
            Release notes by Chas Stoddard, Avalon Music Developments

This document notes the major changes from Omega I to Omega II.  
Substantial additions have been made to Omega in this new release as well 
as several bug fixes.  The main features are discussed below

                             KCS - Version 5.03

Some twenty minor enhancements, such as control-click on a track to go 
directly to that track, cut or copy a range by measure doing a true 'tape 
copy' automatically and an increase in the allowable range of certain PVG 
variables have been implemented.  You can now directly to Open Mode Play 
from Track Edit.  KCS and the three main MPE modules now have GEM menu 
entries which permit access to the MPE from any module - no longer do you 
need to return to KCS to switch to a different MPE module.  Access to 
sequences above 16 has been improved; clicking on ** in the bottom-right 
corner now brings up a Edit Select box from which the required sequence 
can be chosen.  The "(" and ")" keys can be used to skip to the next 
higher or lower sequence.  Clicking on a sequence in the Open Mode Play 
screen now takes you to the relevant sequence edit page.

NEW EVENT TYPES     
          
MSR-BT: ST EVNT  TIME CH TYP NOTE VEL DUR
___ __ ___ ____  ____ __ ___ ____ ___ ___
  1- 1:  1    1     0    LA  14              Label event, range 0 to 99
  
  1- 1:  1    2     0    GO  14              Goto Label number

  1- 1:  1    3     0    RS     5  25        Random Skip NOTE notes VEL %
                                             of the time
  1- 1:  1    4     0    RC  20              Choose 1st or 2nd event 
                                             following NOTE % of the time  
  1- 1:  1    5     0    SW     3  1         Set Switch NOTE number VEL on 
                                             (1) or off (0).  Used to 
                                             control SK and SC events
  1- 1:  1    6     0    SK     8   3        Skip VEL events if switch 
                                             number NOTE is on
  1- 1:  1    7     0    SC  3               Choose between 1st or 2nd 
                                             event following if switch 
                                             number NOTE is on
  1- 1:  1    8     0    RB  25              Sets the global randomness 
                                             value used by RS, RC, SK and 
                                             SC events.  The user can 
                                             adjust this parameter in 
                                             real-time via Rand Bias.

These new event types are primarily designed for algorithmic composition 
allowing the user to randomly skip the following x notes y percentage of 
the time, randomly choose from the next two events which one to play or 
set up one of twenty different Switches which can toggled in real-time 
from the Open Mode play screen; an extra line showing the twenty Switches 
and their status, on or off, can be displayed on this page if desired.  
These new event types can be used in either track or open mode but an All 
Tracks To Seq or vice versa using such events will lead to 'unpredictable 
results', which is a polite way of saying if you do this, you will be up 
to the neck in the brown stuff!  There are also some profound implications 
for interactive composition and performance with these new features.

SCRUNCH   

This new item is said to be easier to use than explain precisely.  Scrunch 
treats the sequence, event range or measure range as a piece of tape and 
moves the events forwards or backwards in the 'tape' without changing the 
overall length.  This can be done either in a linear fashion or in an 
interpolated one which can be used to create progressive accellerandos or 
decellerandos.

INTERACTIVE PLAY

The Switch display is toggled from here.  If desired, the F-keys can be 
set as control keys for them as well.  Arrow Keys permits the user to 
change the way the cursor keypad works in Open Mode: Cueing uses the keys, 
as in all previous versions, to change the cue point and/or sequence; 
Transpose allows any active sequence to be transposed up or down an octave 
or by half steps; Rand Bias alters the current RB value by 10 or 1 over a 
range -100 to 100, used for controlling the global randomness of the new 
event-skipping functions.  Both Rand Bias and tempo can now be controlled 
in real-time via a specified MIDI controller number; the low and high 
tempo range can also be set.  Tempo and Rand Bias values can now be 
recorded in real-time using the mod wheel or similar controller in Open 
Mode.

KCS 5.0 FEATURES

This menu item contains a MIDI metronome which, if on, replaces the 
monitor beep; a separate note and velocity can be specified for upbeat and 
downbeat.  Full Quantisation allows the recording process to use the 
intelligent quantisation used when editing off-line.  Controllers keep 
their original relationship to notes and Note Offs are not quantised 
unless Full Quant with Duration is also on.  The spacebar can now be 
toggled to function as a stop play key and Load/Save .VRY loads or saves a 
.VRY file with the same name as the .ALL file, useful since PVG/Master 
Edit data is the only thing not saved with an .ALL file.  Finally, Record 
Open Mode Keystrokes allows the recording of console keystrokes as ST 
events in a spare sequence.

CHASE CONTROLLERS

The user can select up to 64 controllers to chase during playback - this 
enables the the user to select the most appropriate ones to use, for 
example, 91 and 93 for GM Reverb and Chorus; 98, 99, 100 and 101 for NRPN 
and RPN functions and so on; previously, the program would only chase 
the first 32 controllers.  In addition, the user can also chase program 
changes, pitchbend and aftertouch.  Default settings for The Mixer, 
Interactive Play, KCS 5.0 Features and Chase Controllers are stored in the 
DEFAULT.ENV file.  Changes made to these settings are embedded in the .ENV 
section of the .ALL file as normal.

                          The Mixer - Version 1.04

This new module enables the user to control any two controllers across 16 
channels or any 16 controllers on two channels.  It provides a virtual 
fader automation display for all controllers with provision for sixty 
Snapshots, four-way fader grouping and cross-fade, linear/proportional 
fader tracking and full MIDI TimeCode and MIDI Machine Control support 
which is available from any module (traditional SMPTE support is still 
handled by The Phantom).  Six different Display Configurations enable any 
layout of fader desired - unused faders can be disabled to improve visual 
clarity.  MMC provides for full transport slaving of the multi-track to 
Omega II in any mode as well as punch in/punch out and record 
enable/inhibit on any tapedeck track.  Two additional modes of operation 
are supported: a Single Channel mode enables all 32 faders to be employed 
to control mixer automations systems such as Niche Audio Control console - 
many automation systems employ consecutive CC numbers on a single channel 
to control fader VCAs.

The other mode is Otto Mode, which is specifically oriented towards the 
Otto automation system of Mackie mixers.  Controller data created by The 
Mixer can either directly replace data present in the original tracks or 
can be sent to separate Mix tracks.  A two-stage Undo buffer either undoes 
the last edit or undoes all changes since The Mixer was initiated.  All 
Mixer settings are stored in the .ALL file.

                            TIGER - Version 2.06

A considerable number of enhancements have been made to TIGER and many new 
features added.  All editing functions now support the interactive editing 
style of SongEdit.  When playing, the user can perform edits in real-time 
and Compare the last two or Undo back to the original.  Several changes 
have been made to Quantise Selected and Repeats functions.  In Quantise, a 
'capture strength' window can be set for quantising notes with values for 
the range inside and outside the window expressed as a percentage.  This 
allows a more progressive and intelligent type of quantising where notes 
outside the window can be quantised to a greater or lesser extent than 
those inside.  Several different types of quantising are available and 
Edit Presets are supported (see below).  

In Repeats, the Strength function can be used to capture notes within a 
certain range around the selected repeat time.  Previously, using a repeat 
time and selecting notes with Control-clicking would only capture exact 
multiples of the repeat time.  In addition, the selection of notes can be 
restricted to the source pitch.  The Mouse Tools can now be selected via 
Control F-keys.

SELECT BY...

Found under the Widgets menu, this item selects notes for editing 
according to several different criteria.  Notes can be selected within 
pitch, velocity or duration ranges, a range of steps within a measure, 
several different pitch classes simultaneously or at random.  Several 
tests can be combined and the edit box can be set to allow whether notes 
must meet all of the selected criteria or any one test to be selected.  
All select options can be logically reversed.  This edit box will also 
appear as a sub-option when certain edit functions, such as Pitches or 
Quantise, are selected when TIGER is running in interactive edit mode.  
Supports Edit Presets (see below).

FILL

This very complex feature is designed to create rhythmic fills or 
melodic patterns from existing data.  Describing all the parameters would 
take several pages but many interesting effects can be achieved 
comparatively simply and quickly.  This page functions rather like a 
simplified version of Tunesmith but with completely predictable results.  
Supports Edit Presets (see below).

CYCLIC REPLACE

This allows the user to replace attributes of a note, such as velocity, 
duration, even pitch with others in cyclic order.  This can be used to 
create regularly-articulated phrases or dynamics or for re-mapping motifs 
- an extremely powerful composition feature with many uses and very much a 
personal favourite.  STOP PRESS: Cyclic Replace now permits the user to 
copy any attribute of selected notes directly to its edit fields.  
Supports Edit Presets (see below).

SCALE MAP

Can be used to provide modal or scale-based transpositions of data.  The 
old value will be replaced by the new.  Use this for remapping notes by 
pitch class.  Supports Edit Presets (see below).

PITCH MAP/DOUBLE

Up to 24 pitches can be remapped to new values.  Notes can also be 
doubled and offset to new time values, very useful for drum note 
remapping.  Supports Edit Presets (see below).

RANDOMISE

Fairly obvious this: is used to randomise or set to absolute values pitch, 
velocity, duration and location of selected notes.  This makes certain 
humanising-type editing operations possible without resorting to program-
ming the PVG.  Randomise can also function deterministically.  Supports 
Edit Presets (see below).

INSTRUMENTS

This contains a list of voice names linked to PG numbers.  If Show Program 
Names is on, the PG edit window will display the name as well as the 
number.  A separate program is provided which can extract the voice names 
from any Caged Artist bank file automatically - this should also work on 
bank files created by other non Dr T programs as the program analyses the 
data file for certain characteristics.  Voices in the Instruments page can 
be auditioned and selected interactively via a sub-menu.  Six banks of 127 
voices are supported.

DRUMKITS

Similar to Instruments, a drum name can be associated with a MIDI note 
number.  When editing a track which contains data on the drum channel, 
TIGER's display alters.  The semitones of the piano keyboard are replaced 
with the drum voice number, or name if entered in the drummap, shown on a 
completely separate line, the vertical resolution being doubled to 
accomplish this.  Six separate drumkit definitions are supported.

Other Features

A major new function is the addition of so-called Edit Presets.  Many edit 
functions, such as Quantise, Fill, Scale Map and so on can each store up 
to six different Edit Presets which contain all the settings entered in 
the window.  These are stored along with the .ALL file, .TRK file or 
separately to .EDT files.  This allows the user to develop a library of 
useful editing setups - loading an .EDT file that only contains Presets 
for Quantise, for example, will NOT erase Presets present in other 
functions, thus favourite setups for individual functions can be created 
and then merged to create new files readily.  Quantise, Scale Map, and 
Randomise Edit Presets can be invoked "on the fly" directly from the 
console in real-time without using an edit window.

Certain parameters which previously have required the use of the right 
mouse button to scroll through values have been replaced by Text Fields.  
These refer to fields whose values are purely text-based, such as note 
limits or drum names, and are recognised by the entire field appearing in 
inverted video.  Clicking a second time on the value brings up a box which 
displays a pallette of the entire set of values from which the required 
one can be selected.

A most significant improvement is the implementation of sequence editing.  
Now any sequence can be edited in virtually the same way as tracks can.  
The user can select from one to three channels from the sequence to 
display, each one being shown in its own window, or show all channels.  
Playback can be linked to up to three other sequences - this is 
particularly useful if the user has sequences on other output ports which 
need to be heard in conjunction with the sequence being edited.  The 
current Song can now be played from TIGER.

                          SongEdit - Version 2.04

This new release is more the result of a serious bug hunt than major 
across-the-board changes.  Fixes have been made to two bugs that would 
very occasionally crash the computer when working with large amounts of 
song data or when undoing an erase.  Several new keyboard shortcuts have 
been added including selection of Mouse Tools.

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

An "unofficial" enhanced version of KCS 5.0 is planned for release to 
selected users.  This will contain several additional event types which 
will allow for full conditional and unconditional branching within a 
sequence or track, incremental and decremental loop counters and variables 
which can modify the behaviour of other data.  This version will only be 
produced if a sufficient number of users request it.

A quarterly disk magazine for Omega II users is currently in production 
along with an interactive Composers' Guide.  There is also a video 
training manual in pre-production - contact Avalon Music Developments for 
further details.

                         Avalon Music Developments
                             28 Rosemount Point
                                Dacres Road
                                Forest Hill
                                   LONDON
                                  SE23 2BW
                          Tel & Fax: 081-699 7004 


                      

