
2 Guided M Tour


In this chapter, we're going to give you an overview of M's main screen and the way that the screen controls work.  The screen controls can be easily located by referring to the Screen Control Chart, found in the pocket of this binder.


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The Main Screen Structure

The fundamental idea in M's architecture is that four Patterns, which are collections of pitches or chords, can be changed in many different ways.  We refer to the ways in which Patterns can be changed as variables.  The screen consists of a variety of controls which allow you to alter the variables' settings.

Start the program and look at the main screen.  It gives you a visual representation of all of M's operations.

The main screen consists of six windows: the Patterns window, the Global Control window (which opens as Untitled, or contains the name of your current file), the Note Manipulation window, the MIDI Variables window, the Cyclic Editor, and the Snapshot window.  Each of these windows contains variables (aspects of the music that you can change) and controls ("devices" with which to change the variables).

The Patterns window contains controls mostly for recording into Patterns.  A Pattern, in M, is a collection of notes, a way of recording the notes, and a way that the computer treats the notes you've recorded.

The Global Control window contains controls that allow you to vary the operations of the whole program.  You can "conduct" in the Conducting Grid, start and stop the music, change the system tempo, and do many other things.

The Note Manipulation window allows you to manipulate the notes you've recorded into a Pattern.  You can change their ordering, transpose them, change their direction, and vary texture.

The MIDI Variables window allows you to associate MIDI messages, such as velocity and program change messages, to your synthesizer.  It also allows you to channelize your Patterns' outputs.

The Cyclic Editor allows you to establish cyclic changes in durations, legato-staccato articulations, and accents.

The Snapshot window allows you to store and recall screen configurations of controls.


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Four by Six

The Patterns window contains four horizontal rows of controls, one above the other.  Each row represents one Pattern, as indicated in the Screen Control Chart.

The controls (sometimes numbers, sometimes range bars or sliders, sometimes grids) in the Note Manipulation, MIDI Variables, and Cyclic Editor windows are also arranged in rows of four, one above the other.  Each control row corresponds to one of the four Patterns.

Note also that there is a recurring theme of six throughout the screen.  There are six Pattern groups, indicated by boxes with the letters A - F, in the Patterns window.  And there are six boxes next to or under the arrows in the Note Manipulation, MIDI Variables, and Cyclic Editor windows.  Each box represents a group of stored control settings.  By clicking on a box during a performance, you can instantly change from one group of control settings to another.  

You can also move from one box to another by "conducting", as described below, if the arrow associated with that variable is selected.


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Other Windows and Dialog Boxes

There are other windows and dialog boxes for editing Patterns, selecting new Pattern types, and performing other functions, which will open when the appropriate menu or keyboard command is selected.  These windows and dialog boxes allow you to perform specific operations which we'll discuss in context throughout this manual.


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Windows and the Mouse

Unlike most Atari ST applications, windows need not be active to use the controls contained in them.  Whenever you click the left mouse button in an inactive window, the window will become active simultaneously with your changing a control setting.



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The Screen Controls

The design of M's screen controls isn't quite the same as a typical Atari ST program.  That's because a typical Atari ST program isn't intended for interacting with an ongoing musical process.  M's user interface is easy to learn, however, and once you spend a little time with the program, you'll be working the controls with ease and using your computer as a performance instrument.

The primary types of controls are as follows.


The Simple Button

First, the Simple Button.  It's something you click on once to trigger an action, although M's simple buttons do a variety of different things.  There's the Sync button in the Global Control window (GC10), for example, and the Group select buttons in the Patterns window (P10).  There are also the Control Settings buttons (next to or under the arrows) in the Note Manipulation, MIDI Variables, and Cyclic Editor windows.

Try out a button.  Look in the Note Manipulation window to the right of Note Order and click in one of the six buttons (arranged in a row) next to the arrow.  Notice how it changes the settings in the Note Manipulation display.  After you've done this, however, please reselect the first (leftmost) position, just for purposes of this tour.


The Arrow Button

Then, there are Arrow Buttons, which are arrows in boxes in various places throughout the main screen (P11, for example, or GC14).

To select or deselect an arrow, click once on the box and release the mouse button.

To change the direction of an arrow clockwise, select it with the left mouse button and hold down.  To change the direction of an arrow counter-clockwise, select it with the right mouse button and hold down.  Try it out.


The Toggle Button

There are also Toggle Buttons, which turn a control to its opposite state.  There's the Start/Stop Button in the Global Control window (GC2), for example, which will start the music if it was stopped, or stop it if it was going.  Or the Mute box in the Patterns window (P4), which will mute a Pattern if it wasn't muted before, and let it play if it was.  Click on the Start/Stop button, and leave it "on" for the rest of this tour.


The Numerical

The Numerical is a box which contains a letter, a number, or an icon that can be changed up or down with the mouse.

To change a numerical to a higher value, position the mouse cursor in the box and press the left mouse button.  To change a numerical to a lower value, position the mouse cursor in the box and press the right mouse button.  Try your hand at changing the Tempo numerical in the Global Control window (GC13).

M's numericals can also be changed as faders.  To change a numerical as a fader, position the mouse cursor in the box and, while pressing either mouse button, move the mouse forward or backward.  Try the Tempo numerical again.


The Button Numerical

This control is a combination of the Button and the Numerical.  The Record button in the Patterns window (under R) is an example (P3).  If you click on it quickly, it acts as a toggle button.  If you hold a mouse button down, its value will change as a numerical. 


The Range Bar

The Range Bar is for defining a range within which a value will automatically change.  The Tempo Bar (GC12) in the Global Control window is an example.

To change the setting of a Range Bar, position the mouse cursor at the high or low end of the range you want to define and then drag to the left or the right.

To set the range of a Range Bar to a single specific value, click anywhere on the bar and don't drag the mouse.

Try changing the range of the Tempo bar from 40 to 210.  Start at a position roughly equivalent to 40 and drag the mouse right to 210.

Notice that there's a number at each end of a range bar.  These numbers have two functions.  They are indicators, giving you the exact value for the range bar setting.  They are also numericals which can be changed to fine tune the upper and lower limits of the range bar.  Try to change the setting of a range bar by changing one of these numericals.


The Slider

The Slider lets you set a value by dragging a box left or right.  The Note Order bars in the Note Manipulation window (NM1) are sliders.

To move a slider, position the mouse cursor in a box and drag it to the left or the right (note, however, that the rightmost box in the Note Order bars cannot be moved).  Try it.


The Baton

Move the mouse cursor into the Conducting Grid in the Global Control window (GC1) and notice that it changes shape to resemble a baton.  The Baton becomes active when you press either mouse button.  The Baton is a special control associated only with the Conducting Grid.

The Baton allows you to "conduct" changes in control settings for any variable that has an arrow associated with it.

To conduct tempo, for example, do the following.  Click on the Start/Stop (GC2) button to turn it "on".  Then click on the arrow button (GC14) to the left of the tempo range bar, then move the mouse into the grid, make the baton active by pressing either mouse button, and move the baton along the axis indicated by the arrow.  You'll see the tempo numerical change value.  When you've finished, click again on the arrow button to deselect it.  And click again on Start/Stop to turn it "off".

To change the direction of conducting, move the mouse over the appropriate arrow button, this time holding the left mouse button down.  The arrow will change direction clockwise.  If you hold the right mouse button down, the arrow will change counter-clockwise.  Try it.  Change the direction of the tempo arrow, for example to face upwards.  Then conduct again along the axis indicated by the arrow.

Try to conduct with several arrows selected, all pointing in different directions.
