6   Performing with M

There are basically two ways to perform with M.

You can use the screen as a control panel, selecting and manipulating controls with the mouse, conducting, and using snapshots.

Or you can use MIDI input to transpose or control the program's processes by using the Input Control System.

Of course you can use all methods in combination.

In this chapter, we're going to discuss performance manipulations of the screen controls, taking and recalling snapshots, and using the Input Control System.


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Using the Screen as a Performance Panel

In using the screen to perform, you can start and stop the music, mute Patterns, change Pattern groups, move the mouse in the Conducting Grid, restart Patterns, and change tempo.  You can change control setting groups.  You can set up a performance by taking "snapshots" of the screen and recall them during performance.  Of course, you can manipulate the variables we've discussed in Chapter 5.


Starting and Stopping the Music

To start the system playing, click on the Start/Stop button (GC2).  The button will become highlighted and the music will begin.  

To stop the music, click again on the Start/Stop button.


Muting Patterns

To mute a Pattern during playback, click in the box in the Mute column (P4) for the Pattern you want to mute.  When a Pattern is muted, its Mute box is filled in.  When a Pattern is not muted, the box is clear.



Changing Pattern Groups

To recall a group of Patterns, click on the appropriate letter in the Pattern Group bar (P10).  Clicking on a letter will move the selected group to the display in the Patterns window and cause the new Patterns to play from their beginnings.


Using the Conducting Grid

When you move the mouse cursor into the Conducting Grid (GC1), it becomes the Baton.  When you press either mouse button, the Baton becomes active.  The Baton is a powerful performance device because it provides a quick way of associating and changing controls.  Any number of controls may be conducted simultaneously in any direction.  

Note:  The Start/Stop toggle must be "on" for the Baton to conduct tempo changes.

To select the control(s) to be conducted, first notice that there are boxes with arrows at many places throughout the screen.  When an arrow is selected, it becomes highlighted and the control with which it is associated can be conducted.  The direction of the arrow indicates the axis along which its associated control is conducted.  If an arrow is pointing towards the right, for example, the associated control will be conducted from left to right.  If the arrow is pointing upwards, the control will be conducted bottom to top.  

To change the direction of an arrow,  move the mouse into the appropriate arrow box, this time holding either mouse button down.  If you hold the left mouse button down, the arrow will change in a clockwise direction.  If you hold the right mouse button down, the arrow will change in a counter-clockwise direction.

To conduct continuous changes, drag the mouse throughout the Conducting Grid.  

To conduct discontinuous changes, click the mouse at whatever location in the Conducting Grid seems suitable.

Note:  The screen control display for what you're conducting will not update until you leave the Conducting Grid, unless you select that variable in the Redraw menu.  If you select Order in the Redraw menu, for example, the Note Order controls, as they're shown on the screen (NM1), will change as you conduct.


Restarting Patterns

To restart Patterns, click on the Sync button (GC10).  This causes all of the Patterns and cycles to start again together from their initial steps.

To restart an individual Pattern, click on the appropriate Pattern number next to the Sync button.  This will also restart the cycles in the Cyclic Editor for that Pattern.


Changing the System Tempo

To set a specific system tempo, do any of the following.  Change the Tempo numerical (GC13) to indicate the desired tempo in quarter-notes per minute.  Or click anywhere in the Tempo range bar (GC12).  Or drag a range in the Tempo range bar such that the center point indicates the tempo you want.

To conduct tempo, select the arrow (GC14) next to the Tempo Bar and move the mouse within the Conducting Grid, as described above.  If the Baton is being used to perform tempo, the white area within the Tempo Bar represents the range of tempo deviation possible within the grid.  To adjust a range of tempo deviation for conducting, set the desired range in the Tempo range bar.


Changing from One Group of Control Settings to Another

To change from one group of control settings to another, click one of the six boxes in a row associated with any variable in the Note Manipulation, MIDI Variables, and Cyclic Editor windows.  See Chapter 5 for a description of defining these controls.    


Changing Different Control Settings Simultaneously

The Camera button provides another way (an alternative to the Baton) of causing several controls to change as a group.

To change different control settings simultaneously, do the following.  Click on the Camera button (S1) in the Snapshot window.  It will start blinking.  Then click on whatever control boxes you would like to change to.  The boxes will start blinking.  You can have as many blinking boxes as there are variables, including Time-Signature, Offset, Feel, Length, Tempo, and Mute. Notice that the control settings do not cause a change in the music while they are blinking.  Click again on the Camera button to activate the controls represented by the blinking boxes.  They will all become active together.  Using the Camera button is a two-stage process, of putting controls on hold, then making them take effect.

To stop a box from blinking and eliminate it from a group of blinking boxes, click on it while holding down the Alternate key on your Atari keyboard.  This feature is useful for editing your groups of control settings.

Note:  The blinking boxes represent the control settings shown on the screen.  Consequently, you can change the control settings while their boxes are blinking.  If the sixth box for Note Order is blinking, for example, the sliders in the Note Order variable are set to positions represented by the sixth box.  Change them as you please.  When you click again on the Camera button, you will make the control settings take effect.

The Camera button is also used in storing Snapshots.


Creating and Recalling Snapshots

A Snapshot is a picture of all the screen controls.  You can use a Snapshot to store a particular configuration of control settings, and you can recall a Snapshot during performance to move from one configuration of controls to another.  Twenty-six Snapshots can be stored in the boxes of the Snapshot window.  Remember, however, that Snapshots do not store musical material such as notes or velocity levels.  They just store the settings of the main screen.

To create a Snapshot, do the following.  Click on the Camera button (S1).  It will start blinking.  Then click on whichever control setting boxes you want to store, as described above. You can also cause a specific Pattern's tempo setting to blink by clicking in the appropriate Time-Signature box (P7).  You can also click in the Note Counter (P6), on the Mute button (P4), the Feel numerical (P8), and the Offset numerical (P9), for which current settings will be stored in the Snapshot.  All of these control settings will blink.  When you have selected all of the new components that you want to include in the Snapshot, click in the Snapshot box of your choice (S4) from A to Z.  When a Snapshot is created, a "snapshot" of a letter posing in the sun appears.  A dark sun indicates the most recently activated Snapshot.

To recall a Snapshot, click on it.  Or type the letter of the Snapshot on your Atari keyboard.  The screen will change in conformity with the Snapshot in time with the Quantization numerical (GC9), and the music will immediately reflect the new configuration of controls.

To set a quantize value for the Snapshots, change the Quantization numerical (GC9) to the division of the system clock on which Snapshots will change.  The quantization values are as follows:  Tt = 32nd note triplets, Th = 32nd-notes, St = 16th-note triplets, Sx =16th-notes, Et = 8th-note triplets, Ei = 8th-notes, Qt = quarter-note triplets, Qu = quarter-notes, Ht = half-note triplets, Hf = half-notes, Wt = whole-note triplets, and Wh = whole-notes.

To cause all currently active control settings to blink, click on the Globe button (S2).  Or press the Insert key on your Atari keyboard.  This is useful if you want to include all currently active control settings in a Snapshot.  When everything is blinking, click in the Snapshot box of your choice (S4) from A to Z.

To edit the current contents of a Snapshot, click on the Snapshot Edit button (S5).  This control allows you to edit the contents of a Snapshot by showing you what is in the Snapshot.  Choose the new boxes associated with the control settings you want, or eliminate ones you don't want, by clicking on them with the Atari keyboard's Alternate key held down.

To clear a Snapshot, do the following.  Click on the CLR button (S6).  Then click on the Snapshot that you want to clear.


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Transposing While Performing

To transpose a Pattern, or all Patterns, from your MIDI keyboard, click on the appropriate #b buttons (P2).  To disable the transpose function, click again.

To select a MIDI Input channel for transposing, hold either mouse button down while the mouse is pointing in the #b box and change A to number of the MIDI channel on which you want to enter transposition information.  Selecting particular MIDI In channels might be useful if you are playing into the program with a split keyboard while controlling another Pattern on a different channel.  If you leave the letter A (for "All") showing, the program will receive on all MIDI channels.  A is equivalent to the 0 position of the numerical.

Note that middle C is understood as the key in which you originally recorded your material, and every note you play above or below middle C will transpose your Patterns relative to that key.  Playing C-sharp above middle C, for example, will transpose everything up a half-step.


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Changing Variables via MIDI

The Input Control System allows specific notes received from a MIDI keyboard or other device to perform functions like stopping and starting the music, setting the tempo, step-advancing the notes of the Patterns, or, in short, controlling the primary actions of the program.  Using a sophisticated MIDI device such as The Mapper, you can link a simple musical gesture, such as hitting a key, to a series of changes in M.

To enable your MIDI keyboard as controller with the Input Control System, click on the Ctrl button (GC7).  To disconnect your keyboard from the Input Control System, click again.


Choosing a MIDI-In Channel

To specify an MIDI-In channel for the Input Control System, set the Ctrl numerical (GC8) to the desired channel number.  The Ctrl numerical allows you to specify which MIDI channel is used for input to the Input Control System.  For most purposes, the default setting of A (for "All") will function perfectly well for one performer with one keyboard.


About the Controls

The key assignments for the Input Control System are indicated on the Input Control System Template, provided with this manual.

There are basically two types of controls, depending upon the particular function:  One-Step Controls and Two-Step Controls.  There is also a special case of Multi-Step Control, described below.

The One-Step Controls are activated by pressing a single key, and they are all white keys.

The Two-Step Controls require that two keys be played in succession.  The first key is a "code" which interprets the second key, which is a value.  The code keys are black.  The value keys are numbered or lettered on the template, showing numbers as they apply, or letters which apply to Snapshots.

To perform a One-Step Control, simply press the appropriate key, as indicated on the template.

To perform a Two-Step Control, press the code key first, which will define the function, then press the value key, which will execute the control for that value and reset the Input Control System for the next command.  For example, to select the third box in the Transp control settings bar in the Note Manipulation window (NM2), press the code key marked Transposition, then press the value key marked 3.


Using Some Simple One-Step Controls

To start or stop the music from a MIDI keyboard, play middle-C.  This will perform the same function as clicking in the Start/Stop Button (GC 2) in the Global Control window.

To activate the Camera button from a MIDI keyboard, press B a major-7th above middle-C.  That key, marked Camera on the Input Control System Template, will perform the same function as the Camera button in the Snapshot window.

To activate or deactivate the Mute button for a Pattern, press the appropriate key, as indicated on the template.   Pressing the keys labelled Mute Toggle will do the same thing as clicking in the Mute boxes in the Patterns window.


Step-Advancing Patterns

To step-advance through a Pattern, do the following.  Click on the Ctrl button (GC7). Then change the Pattern's Time-Signature denominator numerical (the denominator in P7) to sa, which is the position equivalent to zero.  Then click on the Start/Stop button (GC2) to start the system playing.  Then play the appropriate keys on your MIDI keyboard, as indicated on the template.

The Step Advance control allows you to manually step a Pattern through its sequence of notes, something like the "one key play" feature found on small Casio keyboards.   The control keys, as indicated on the template, are in pairs so that you can "trill" between them, but either key in a pair will do the job.  You can step advance Patterns individually, or altogether as a group, by playing the appropriate keys.


Using Two-Step Controls

To select a box in a control settings bar, press the appropriate code key for the variable, then press the value key for the number of the box that you want to select.  Only one value key may be pressed after pressing a code key.

All of the boxes in the Note Manipulation, MIDI Variables, and Cyclic Editor window can be selected from your MIDI keyboard.  The Pattern Group boxes (P10) can also be selected.

Snapshots may be recalled from the keyboard by pressing the Snapshot code key, then the appropriate value key, from A to Z.


Using the Camera Key

Selecting several control settings simultaneously and taking a Snapshot from your MIDI keyboard are special multi-step operations using the Camera key.

To select several control settings simultaneously from your MIDI keyboard, do the following.  Press the Camera key.  Then press the code key for the variable you'd like to include in the Snapshot, and then press the value key which corresponds to the group of control settings you want to include.  Press the code key and the value key in succession for as many groups of control settings that you want to store in the Snapshot.  Then press the Camera key again. 

To take a Snapshot from your MIDI keyboard, do the following.  Press the Camera key.  Then press the code key for the variable you'd like to include in the Snapshot, then press the value key which corresponds to the group of control settings you want to include.  Press the code key and the value key in succession for as many groups of control settings that you want to store in the Snapshot.  Then press the Snapshot code key and the value key for the destination Snapshot. 

