
            The Octalyser team is proud to once again present you :


                      ___ _  _ ____
                       |  |__| |___
            OoooooO    |  |  | |___
 -----------OO----O------------------------------------------------------------
            OO    O  OoooO OoooO OoooO O     O   O OoooO OoooO OoooO
            OOO   O  O       O   O   O O     O   O O     O     O   O
            OOO   O  OO      O   OoooO OO    OooO OooO OooO OooO
            OOO   O  OO      O   OO  O OO      O       O OO    OO O
             OOO   OOoO   O   OO  O OOoO   O   OoooO OOoO OO  O


             ... The Ultimate music tool for your Atari computer ...
                         A SHAREWARE RELEASE, VERSION 0.90





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 >::: CHAPTER 1 - THE MANUAL :::>
////////////////////////////////


  Thank you for sparing some time to read this manual!    Hopefully,   you have
printed  this  out on some sort of printing device.   This manual will lead you
into  the world  of Octalyser and tracker music in general,   and will give you
some practical hints about using the Octalyser STE.

  After having read the manual, or parts of the manual, you will most certainly
feel  sorry  for  those doomed individuals that haven't read it and do not have
the knowledge needed to take advantage of all Octalyser STE functions!

  Even though this manual is meant to be printed out,     the next section will
provide  you  with  chapter/section keywords that you could use to quickly find
the particular part of the manual that is of interest to you.    To jump to the
part of interest,  just use the SEARCH  option  in  your text editor and enter,
for chapter 5:


            'CHAPTER 5 -'

  The  '-'  sign is there just to make sure that the editor doesn't jump to the
CHAPTER LIST, instead of the beginning of the selected chapter.  I'm quite sure
that you understood the procedure, otherwise, well I don't know, but the brain-
doctor could possibly help you.

  There are probably a few spelling and/or grammatical errors,  but as I do not
like to type slowly and  English  isn't my first language,  you'll just have to
live with them.   Ohh,   and yes,  you'll probably find quite  a few  of  my
bad jokes. (Just ignore them.)

  And now,   as I promised before,   the  next  section will provide you with a
chapter-list.


  THE NEXT SECTION:


  Keyword/chapter   Description                          Alan F. - top 13

  CHAPTER 1         How (and why) to use this manual     Recoil
  CHAPTER 2         Introduction and credits             Borghesia
  CHAPTER 3         Files and booting up                 Laibach
  CHAPTER 4         Disk operations                      Front 242
  CHAPTER 5         Playing and editing the modules      Leaetherstrip
  CHAPTER 6         The options menu and its submenus    Frontline Assembly
  CHAPTER 7         Using the block functions            Kraftwerk
  CHAPTER 8         Additional functions and menus       Mussolini Headkick
  CHAPTER 9         Optimising the CPU-usage             Einstrdenze Neubauten
  CHAPTER 10        Exiting the Octalyser?               VOiX (hehe)
  CHAPTER 11        How to register the Octalyser        Pouppee Fabrikk
  APPENDIX A        The effect-commands list             Die Krupps
  APPENDIX B        The keyboard                         Skinny Puppy
  APPENDIX C        Sound tips                           No more of this!


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 >::: CHAPTER 2 - THE OCTALYSER :::>
///////////////////////////////////


  Credits: - Christian Dahl                             (Code, design, testing)
             Davor Slutej
             Tord Jansson
           - Davor Slutej                                       (Documentation)
           - Dan Andersson, Christian Dahl, Per Almered      (Graphics, design)
           - Betatesters                                          (Betatesting)

  Aliases and respective groups: Christian Dahl         CODE of TBL
                                 Davor Slutej           ALAN F. of REWARD
                                 Dan Andersson          CHAOS of REWARD
                                 Tord Jansson           BLADE of NEW CORE

  Software and hardware used: Several STEs  (8MHz  and  various  16MHz models),
                              Quite  a  few monitors and floppy drives,  a few
                              mouses,  PCs  for  communication  causes  and for
                              buffering  the data,   GEM/TOS,   HiSoft  Devpac,
                              Neochrome  Master,   SysMon,   Norton  Commander,
                              RemoteAccess,   Frontdoor,   Stalker,   Xcontrol,
                              NVDI, Warp 9, few braincells, a hammer, marijuana
                              coca cola,  water  and  other narcotics.  Several
                              Falcon030s too.

  (By the way, who wants to read about what we have used anyway?!?)

  As you might have noticed,  Octalyser (STE) is a tracker, made for usage with
the ATARI computers  with  STE-sound.   It will work fine on ATARI STEs with at
least 1 megabyte  of  system memory   (assumingly  that  you haven't loaded too
many or too big ACCessories  or  TSRs,  or even worse,  installed MultiTOS onto
an 1 megabyte STE!),  on  16Mhz  or  16Mhz-cache STEs  and on mega STEs as well
as the Falcon in both RGB- and  VGA-mode.  It will take advantage  of  16MHz or
16MHz-cache  and  provide  you  with  better sound quality or better visuals in
some replay-modes.   Due to some of the hardware specifications that differ  TT
from an STE, the Octalyser won't work that well on a TT. Sorry.  (We do not own
a TT ourselves,  so we aren't able to make a TT-version or making Octalyser STE
compatible with it).

  Octalyser will run on a Falcon-computer, but does not support Falcon features
yet. However the FALCON UMP-modules supplied gives the Falcon-owners the ability
to listen to both 4 and 8 voice modules in 16-bit,  50 kHz replay.  Also, there
might be an Octalyser Falcon.

  And why not an Octalyser Multimedia for the Atari Jaguar?

  There is also a patch for Octalyser 0.82 available that makes  it runable on
a Falcon, this however wasn't written by The Octalyser Team,   so we can't give
you any closer description of what it does.   But then again,  who wants to use
the 0.82 when the 0.9 is available?

  You will have some serious problems  if  you  try to start the Octalyser on a
monochrome monitor,   because  the  Octalyser  is  only runable from ST-LOW or
ST-MEDIUM resolution or the Falcon's standard resolutions.
However,  it will NOT run  in any none-standard falcon-resolution  produced  by
Screenblaster,  since Screenblaster  doesn't support  the XBIOS-calls to change
resolution.

  Technical specifications for Octalyser are as follows:

  Uses expanded ST(e)-low resolution - 336x246 pixels
  Special big  greeting  to  the  dude  that  invented the left-border removing
routine used in Octalyser: Martin Petterson

  Internal replay-routine:

  Maximal real-time sample-conversion frequency - 25kHz
  Maximal sound-chip replay frequency - 50kHz (using the Anti-alias)
  Amount of channels - Four, six or Eight

  The replay frequency depends entirely on the CPU-power of your computer,  and
the Octalyser has some presets built in that will adjust the replay frequencies
and border-routine to the CPU-power of your machine. The presets are: 8MHz STE,
16MHz (no cache) STE and mega STE or 16MHz-cache STE.

  Base-frequencies for sample-conversion - 16kHz, 20kHz, 25kHz.
  Maximal sample-replay frequency - 49.89kHz (when the base-frequency of  25kHz
                                    is selected!)

  THE ONLY TRACKER THAT ENABLES YOU TO ACTUALLY  PLAY SAMPLES THAT WERE SAMPLED
IN 50kHZ! (With other trackers you are stuck at around 30kHz!)

  Support  for  all  Amiga  Noisetracker/protracker  commands,   including  Exy
commands, sample-offset (9xx) and TEMPO (F-20 to F-FF).

  Process-looping for usage with  mega STE  and  cache-machines.   Allows  fast
sample-conversions and greater replay-quality.

  Fullscreen editing capatiblities,   enabling  you  to  see  all 8 channels on
the screen and the biggest editing area you have ever seen.

  External replay-routines can be  easily  loaded  into  Octalyser by using the
UCDM-menu. Maximum of four UMP-modules  (UCDM is an Octalyser standard developed
by Blade/New Core used for external replay-routines, UMP stands for UCDM-Player)
can be loaded into the memory.  There are several UMP-modules  already available
and here are some of the features of some of them:

  TERMODY      - REAL 50kHz replay in  4 channels with velocity  control.  Runs
                 on all STEs. Doesn't run on Falcon.
  TAMMANY      - 50kHz  MultiPlex  in  8  channels  with velocity control. Runs
                 on all STEs  and creates only the amount of channels currently
                 used,  thus  reducing  the  used  CPU-time  when  playing less
                 channels.
  NAISHEE      - REAL 50kHz  replay  in 8 channels  with  velocity  control and
                 CIA-timing support. Runs on Falcon-machines.


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 \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\
  >::: CHAPTER 3 - GETTING STARTED :::>
 /////////////////////////////////////


  To be able to run the Octalyser, you will need following files:

  Name of the file    Description

  OCTALYSE.PRG        The Octalyser STE itself
  OCTALYSE.DAT        External datafile, must be present in the same directory.
  OCTALYSE.RSC        Used to enable shelling to GEM!


  In case that the file  'OCTALYSE.RSC' couldn't be found,   there  will  be  a
warning alert-box stating that the GEM-shelling isn't available.  The Octalyser
itself will however work just as fine.   In case that you loose 'OCTALYSE.DAT',
or that it gets corrupted, make sure that you get a copy of it,   otherwise you
won't be able to start Octalyser at all!

  To run the Octalyser just double-click at the OCTALYSE.PRG icon. This version
of Octalyser will crash if  the MIDI-IN port is receiving any data from another
device, so please switch the MIDI devices off.   The  MIDI-support  is  planned
for a future version of Octalyser.

  If the screen frequency is different on an STE, then a alert will be shown.
Here you can select if you want the Octalyser to switch down to 50Hz, or if the
Octalyser should use a timer and keep the current frequency. You can also abort
the loading of the Octalyser, then you will be returned to the desktop. If you
selected the use of a timer, then the Octalyser will ask you if it should remove
the border or not (it might be some problem if the border is removed). I
recommend you to use 50Hz screen frequency, because then you are sure that all
UCDMs will work fine.
  If you have a Falcon and using a VGAmonitor, then the Octalyser will
automatically use a timer.
  NOTE! The graphic-updating is forced to use TRASH-UPDATE when you use a timer.
This is to ensure that the Octalyser will not overload the CPU with graphic-
updating.

  The introduction picture will  be  shown  after all data has been loaded into
the system-memory,   after a  few moments the picture will fade away.   If  the
main menu doesn't  appear  after a few moments,   then  make sure that the MIDI
devices are turned off! Picture is drawn by Per Almered. Thanx!

  The Octalyser will run on  an STE-system with at least one megabyte of system
memory. It has  been  tested  on  1,  2  and  4  megabyte  systems,  8MHz STEs,
16MHz-nocache STEs,  16MHz-cache STEs,  mega STE  and  Falcon030.  It is TOS
1.6x, TOS 2.0 (PRG-version) and TOS 2.06 and TOS 4.04 (Falcon) compatible.
Octalyser STE will run under MultiTOS,  even  though  it  isn't able to do the
actual MultiTasking.  You will need about 2 megabyte of memory to run Octalyser
under MultiTOS-enviroment!  If  you  do  a  GEM-shell  when  running a MultiTOS
system, you will be able to reach the Desktop,  but  it  will only be a limited
access! Read more about GEM-shelling in CHAPTER 4! The Octalyser will work fine
from a hard-disk   (some  incompatibility  was present in earlier versions that
has been corrected now), as well as from a floppy disk or even a RAM-disk.

  Because of some special needs,  such  as  free  and efficient sample-resizing
routine, the system-MMU  was  replaced  by  a  specially  written Octalyser-MMU
(Memory management unit), that ensures very optimized memory management.  To be
able to use an  internal  MMU,   Octalyser must request memory from the system,
therefore it  only  leaves  quite  a  small amount of memory left to the system!
This practically means that under Octalyser,  you  have two memory banks.   One
that is normal system memory bank and the other, that is used internally by the
Octalyser. All samples for example,   are placed into the Octalyser-bank!  More
about it in next chapter.

  In case that any of the files  are corrupted,   please  contact  your nearest
BBS or a distribution site to get them replaced with working ones!

  Please note that Octalyser is quite system-friendly  and will allow TSRs like
clocks to stay active.  This  may  however  cause  you  some trouble if you are
using TSRs (programs  that  stay  resident  in  the memory of your computer and
do something) that  interfere  with  Octalyser  and/or  take up too much of the
CPU-time. Also note  that  the  X-resolution  used  in  Octalyser is 336 pixels
instead of 320 pixels,  this  may have some strange effects on TSRs that fiddle
with video-memory (such as on-screen clocks!).


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  >::: CHAPTER 4 - THE DISK AND GEM OPERATIONS :::>
 /////////////////////////////////////////////////


  Before you  can  play  or  edit anything,   you must load a sample or a sound
module. To do this, simply enter the DISK-menu from the main screen.

  The DISK-menu offers these options:

  LOAD A MODULE,
  LOAD AN AVR SAMPLE,
  SAVE A MODULE,
  SAVE AN AVR SAMPLE,
  DELETE A FILE,
  SHELL TO GEM, and
  EXIT THE DISK-MENU

  Even though the options are quite clear,  there  are  some  comments  on each
of them.

  When LOADING A MODULE, the Octalyser will automatically recognize the type of
the module to be loaded and  inform you  of what type of module it seems to be.
By answering YES to the question it will automatically load the module.  If you
answer NO, you will be able  to  select the type of the module by yourself from
a list of supported formats.   This could seem a bit strange,   but some  other
programs might have changed  the standard ID-codes causing the Octalyser not to
recognize the specific format! The supported module formats are:

  ST/NT standard, 15 samples, 4 channels
  ST/NT standard, 31 samples, 4 channels
  Expanded ST/NT module, 31 samples, 8 channels
  StarTrekker (Amiga), 31 samples, 4 channels
  StarTrekker (Amiga), 31 samples, 8 channels
  Octalyser (Amiga), 31 samples,  4/6/8  channels as long as the pattern length
                                       is   less than or equal 64 pattern-line.
  Octalyser (STE),  4/6/8 channels with selectable base-frequency (16/20/25kHz)
  OLD 6 channels format (saved as 8 channel modules with 2 empty channels)
  NEW 6 channels format

  The SHAREWARE version of Octalyser cannot load TCB-modules, and we do not see
any reason why it should do so,  because of the fact that the TCB-format  isn't
satisfying.

  The Octalyser will  give  support  to a new format currently being developed,
however we can't say much more at this point,   be sure to stay in touch with a
good Bulletin Board System for more information.  The only thing we can say is
that the new format  will  be  much  better  and more compact and probably be a
coproduction between Octalyser-developers and developers on PC.   The Octalyser
doesn't support the new Amiga format,    because we didn't have any information
about it at the time  the  SHAREWARE  version  was  released. You could however
expect the REGISTRATED version to support even that format.

  The Octalyser is ProTracker 3.0 compatible by the way...

  SAVING MODULE does just what the name says,   and will save the module in the
appropriate format,   according  to  the  amount  of  channels  currently being
selected and of course, the base-frequency of the sample-conversion.

  In the SHAREWARE version, loading AVR samples is disabled,   just to give you
an extra reason to register the Octalyser.  AVR is a sample-format developed by
2-BIT systems and is widely used by their sampler-software.  Main advantages of
this standard are:    ABILITY TO RECORD FULL SAMPLENAME and ABILITY TO SAVE THE
LOOPSTART AND LOOPEND marks. The Octalyser will be able to load AVR, IFF,
signed and unsigned samples in the registered version.

  When SAVING AVR samples  you  will  therefore not need to write down the LOOP
marks, which is a pretty neat thing.   I  would  like  to send a message to all
musicians out there:   'Please,  learn how to make a good loop,  and preferably
sample the synthesizer   sounds  that  are  actually  LOOPed  with  a  constant
velocity!  NEVER sample decaying or attacking sounds and then try to loop them!
I hate those awful clicks and beeps!'

  In case that you want to delete a file,  there is an option available.   Even
though it will warn you before  actually deleting a selected file,   be careful
with this button, you wouldn't like to kill the wrong file, would you?

  And finally, one of the power-options of the Octalyser STE:   Shelling to the
GEM. Due  to  the  fact that the Octalyser uses an internal custom-written MMU
(read more about it in CHAPTER 3) so it allocates most of the memory available,
so  that you will not have that much memory left for the system programs.   If
you register you will be able to change the amount of memory used by the internal
MMU.   However,  in most cases, (such as shelling to a terminal program
installed as ACC)  you won't be needing that much memory after all.

  Things get real exciting when you are running  the  MultiTOS  on your system,
because you  can then easily access not only  ACCessories,   but  the  complete
GEM/Desktop. It  reminds  of  the  shell-functions  in  many  PC-programs,  the
difference being  that  on  PC  you  would  get  into a CLI (MS-DOS),  and with
Octalyser and MultiTOS you get into a graphics enviroment. Please note that the
Octalyser cannot actually MULTI TASK, because it takes up much of the processor
time and because of some  technical  specifications  that make it inappropriate
for a GEM-environment.  Instead  you  can shell-out from Octalyser into a fully
multitasking enviroment  and  then  easily  return to the Octalyser to continue
your work, or to continue listening to modules.  Our suggestion is however that
you save your work before shelling.   If  you  know that you will use shelling,
then be sure to load the Octalyser LAST,  after having loaded all programs that
you want to use.   This  will  make  sure  that  other programs allocate enough
memory so that  you  won't have any problems later.   (Registrated owners won't
have to go through this procedure of course,  as they will be able to limit the
amount of memory that Octalyser allocates.)

  Compatibility problems: The Universal Item Selector doesn't seem to be working
fine when used for  loading  functions  from  Octalyser   (when the MultiTOS is
installed). This couldn't be fixed by us, sorry.


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  >::: CHAPTER 5 - THE EDITOR :::>
 ////////////////////////////////


  The editing options available  in  the  Octalyser  are many,    advanced  and
powerful. Some less  experienced  users might find the tracker concept hard to
use, but everyone  felt  that  way  when  first  trying to use a tracker, so...

  Let's start from the very basics of the module editing: PLAYING it.

  The Octalyser offers  you  a  somewhat  standard play/stop options.  The main
sequencer buttons are:

  PLAY                As the name says.   Used  to play the whole song from the
                      current pattern to the last pattern (unless stopped)
  PATTERN             Short for PATTERN PLAY.    Used  when  only  the  current
                      pattern is to be played.
  EDIT                Turns  the  edit-mode  on,  and  allows  you to  actually
                      program the pattern-data.
  STOP                Stops the replay (cuts the sound too)

  Somewhat unstandard button  is  the MONITOR-button.   When its active, moving
through the pattern  will cause the Octalyser to play  the current pattern-line
This works even when you move upwards.  (I see no reason why you should want to
do that, but here it is anyway.)  Remark:  To change the replay speed,  use the
key-repeat sliders in the options menu. (More about it later!)

  To move through the pattern, you will most commonly use the arrow-keys on the
keyboard, however there are some alternatives which  you  may find more or less
comfortable.    You could use the mouse to click the cursor to just about every
position you could get it to by using the keyboard. If you press at the pattern
line that is NOT the current line,   then the Octalyser will automatically jump
to that pattern line, allowing you  to  scroll  up  and down through the whole
pattern...     ... or you could  simply  use  the  vertical slider  in the left
border of the screen to move the pattern up or down.   Remark:   Note  that you
can actually move through the  pattern  even  when  the  Octalyser is playing a
module. (Both the keyboard, the mouse and the slider methods will work!)   This
could however have some rather disharmonic effects  to  the module being played,
so be careful not to use  this  while  playing  your  latest  masterpiece  to a
friend.

  The normal editor is only capable  of  showing  4  channels  at  the time. To
scroll between the channels use the leftmost and the rightmost arrow just above
the pattern-window, or simply use the arrowkeys on the keyboard.  To your help,
there are  channel markers for  each of the  shown channels  showing you  which
channels are currently shown on the screen.

  To play a  selected sample,   simply  press  one  of  the  octave-keys on the
keyboard. There are two octaves available.   Because that we assume that if you
have come this far, you already know how the synthesizer-keyboard   (not to say
piano) looks like, we will only give you  the  C-note  key  for upper and lower
octave. For  lower  its  the  'Z'-key  and  for  the  upper  its  the  'Q'-key.
(Considering of course  that  you  have  a english  or similar keyboard layout!
French dudes will need to press the 'A'-key for the upper octave, if I remember
right.)

  Even though you only  can  play  two  octaves from the keyboard,   the actual
tracker is capable of playing a range of three octaves.    To select which pair
of octaves you want  to  have  available  on  the  keyboard  simply  press  the
button named 'FREQ' and toggle it to 'U' or 'L'. Or press 'F1' on the keyboard.
We encourage you to use the upper octave set, because it means that the samples
you are using are sampled at the greater frequency,  resulting in better sound-
quality :)

  One of the options that most musicians find useful is the STEP-option,  which
basically allows  you  to  change  the  normal  'step'  value of ONE to another
value. The 'step'  will  affect  the  amount  of lines that the Octalyser skips
when you record a note.  The  'step'  can  be  combined with other commands and
you should read the keyboard  shortcuts  list  to  get  full  advantage of  the
STEP-option.

  The pattern itself consist  of  a  maximum  of  64  lines,  numbered 00 to 3F
(hexadecimal). If  you  have  problems with hexadecimal numbers, then this is a
good chance to learn how to use  them  properly.   The  main  reason  that  the
hexadecimal numbers are used in  Octalyser  is  that  the length of the textual
output is shorter and more suitable.  You  shouldn't  think that we did so just
to make you pissed.

  The notes and the control data are written in the following format:

  Note-code, Octave, Sample, Effect-ID, Effect-parameters...

  ... and could look something like this:

                                A-31DC20

  Now don't panic, it's quite simple actually.

  A-3_____ means 3rd octave, note A.
  ___1D___ means that the sample number 1D is to be played.
  _____C__ is the effect command-ID. This one is for the velocity.
  ______20 is the effect parameter. This one means 1/2 of the volume.

  All effect commands and their  IDs  will  be  listed  separately  and you can
also find them in the info menu of the Octalyser as an on-line help!

  It may take a while before you learn the basic effect-IDs,  but you shouldn't
worry about that.

  You  might have  noticed a set  of  flags  that  you  can change.   These are
positioned right above the pattern-window and might look like this:

                               F AAA W R

  We are going to be a bit cruel and not explain you what these  letters  stand
for here. These are  however  a  bit  advanced  options  and not  really  very
important for a regular  use,     so you can do without them quite well. If you
register, then you  will  also get  a  detailed  description  of  these  flags!
Please try to understand why we are doing this.

  The sequencer of  the  Octalyser  is  quite  simple as in all trackers.   The
leftmost parameter block might look like this:

  POSITION    1C
  TRACK       15
  LENGTH      20
  RESTART     00

  The position is a current song-position  and  starts  with  00.  (Hexadecimal
values!) As the songs  is  being  played  the position-number will advance too.
TRACK is the pattern assigned to  this  specific  song-position.     You may of
course assign the same pattern to  several  song-positions,  but try not to use
one pattern too often,    because  the  song  will  then most certainly sound a
bit boring and unprofessional.

  LENGTH marks the length of the song measured in song-positions.

  RESTART points at the song-position  from which the song will be looped after
it has reached the end of the song.

  To change the values of any of these  options  just use the arrows available
to the right of the value,   or  click  at the value you wish to change and use
the keyboard to enter the new value.

  Two small + and - buttons at the right side of the positions-counter are used
to insert or remove a new position after the current position.     It will also
move all upper positions  one  step  further and change the LENGTH of the  song
The pattern assigned to  the new  position will  be the same as the one that is
assigned to the current song position.   You will most certainly find this very
usable, once you get a grip on how it works!


  Finally, the sample section allows you to alter the loop marks,   change the
sample and even alter  the  length  of  the  sample.    The  buttons  here are:

  Sample number - Maximum of 31 samples can be loaded into the memory. This has
nothing to do with Octalyser,   you could easily be able to load 100 samples if
you wished so,  but current module-formats do not support more than 31 samples.

  Sample volume - the  default  volume  of  the  specific  sample.  00-40 (hex)

  Sample length - shows the length of the sample in bytes. (Hexadecimal).   You
can shorten the samples if you want.    This can be of use when the sample ends
with a click or buzz!  Furthermore,  you can make samples longer.  In fact, you
will add empty bytes  to the end of the sample,  the sample  itself will not be
converted to fit the new length.  When making samples longer,  you will have to
wait a few moments while the memory is being remapped.  This  has to be done to
avoid irrationate  memory consumption required if normal  resize methods  would
have been used.

  Loop start - Points at the start of the sample loop.
  Loop end - Points at the end of the sample loop.

  Sample looping is used with strings,chorus and other sounds that to not decay
after  a while.  The sample will be played  from the beginning to  the loop end.
When the LOOP END mark has been reached, the playing will be continued from the
LOOP START mark, making an endless loop.   A practical advise when using looped
sounds is  that you should  FADE the sample down,  before playing another note.
If possible, you should use TWO  channels  for  this.  It  doesn't  sound  very
good  if you  just cut eg. the  string  sound,   without any  sustain effect or
'reverb' afterwards.   Finding a perfect loop can take some time,    especially
if you are inexperienced.    You  should  always  make sure that the sample you
intend to loop actually is meant to be looped.   The best way to get strings is
to sample an actual synthesizer string.     Listen carefully until you hear the
natural loop points, as used with the synthesizer. Sampling analog synthesizers
is even easier, because you  often  can actually SEE where the oscillation ends.
However, it can  be  quite  hard  to  reproduce  the  analog  quality of a good
synthesizer with only 8 digital bits. :(

  Sample name - We won't give you any help on this one.

  Selecting the samples can be achieved thru either pressing  the  Sample Number
arrows, or by clicking at the SONG button.  This will have a list of 31 samples
as a result.

  If you click at the timer,   you  will  enter  the  fullscreen  editor, which
will automatically switch the resolution to ST(e)-medium.   The lower border is
however removed.     Unfortunately,   the  left-border  routine  doesn't  work
properly in the medium resolution.   Though luck.  There is no menu in the full
screen editor, so you must use keyboard shortcuts.     However, once you master
the keyboard, you will  not want to use anything else but the fullscreen editor
when creating new modules (assumingly that you have a good monitor!).

  To exit the fullscreen editor,    press  ESCape  or  CONTROL-E  or click  the
mouse at the leftmost upper corner of the screen.


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  >::: CHAPTER 6 - THE OPTIONS MENU :::>
 //////////////////////////////////////


  If you haven't got a registered version of Octalyser,   then you will probably
have to enter this menu first.      This because there's no save-options button
available in the shareware version...

  The options menu offers you  a  wide range of parameters that have to do with
screen update, replay routines and some other functions.

  The most important  parameters are the ones that  alter the replay  frequency
and the amount of channels to be reproduced.The built-in replay routines offers
you 4 sample frequencies:  12.5kHz,  15.5kHz,  18.9kHz,  25kHz.    These sample
frequencies will also be the replay frequencies if  the A-alias  is turned off.
In the case that  A-alias is turned on,  the replay frequency  will be doubled,
meaning that 12.5kHz  will be replayed in 25kHz,  and 25kHz will be replayed in
50kHz. 15.5kHz and 18.9kHz will however NOT be replayed in 30.1kHz respectively
37.8kHz, but in 50kHz! This is quite logical because the STE chip cannot replay
in neither 31kHz  nor  38.8kHz.    A-aliasing  will  improve  the  high-pitched
sounds, such as hi-hats, crashes and other cymbals,  and upper spectrum of most
of the other sounds such as snares, strings etc.   As you probably figured out,
Octalyser is an 8-channel tracker.    This however does not mean that it cannot
replay 4 or 6-channel modules.   It's  actually  quite the opposite,  Octalyser
beats all trackers  we've  seen  so  far  for  STE  in  the 4 channel mode. The
ProTracker 2.0  offers  you  50kHz  multiplex  mode,  which  produces   similar
quality as 25kHz A-alias mode used in Octalyser,   because  in  both  modes the
chip is set to 50kHz.  The difference is that A-alias mixes the channels, while
multiplex does not!   Octalyser however,  supports external routines,  and thus
gives you true 50kHz replay in 4 channels (8MHz STE).    Furthermore,   you can
replay 8 channels in 50kHz multiplex mode,     thus beating the shit out of the
ProTracker 2.0 by 4 channels!!!   For faster machines (such as Falcon030) there
is an optional 8 channels player in true 50kHz.    And  no  one  can  tell what
Blade/New Core will come up with next...

  You will probably want to alter the bass and treble too. This is done by
moving the first two sliders in the options menu. There are no special rules
on which values these parameters should be set to. It basically depends on
your own taste AND on the audio characteristics of your amplifier, equalizer
and speakers. Furthermore, it depends on the wallpaper you probably have in
your room, and also the materials that the furniture is made off. But then
again, if you've come this far, you should use the headphones!!!
A general advice is that if you increase bass and treble a lot, you better
lower the main volume, otherwise the sound might be distorted.
On the Falcon these sliders doesn't work since the Falcon has no tonecontrol
circuit.

  The sliders are as follows:

  Bass           - Adjusts the bass boost
  Treble         - Adjusts the treble boost
  Main volume    - Adjusts the main output volume
  Left volume    - Adjusts the boost of the left channel
  Right volume   - Adjusts the boost of the right channel
  Keyboard rate  - Adjusts the rate at which the keyboard is repeated
  Keyboard delay - Adjusts the delay before the keyboard starts repeating
  Mouse delay    - Adjusts the delay before the clicking starts repeating

  Furthermore, there are some flags that have the following meanings:

  B - Toggles the TEMPO-command. This flag should be always set, unless you
     have problems with the CPU-time. The TEMPO-control is achieved thru the
     upper values of the F-command, and means that you can set the speed to a
     more precise BPM-tempo instead of the vertical-sync based timing. Most
     new modules take advantage (specially Amiga-ones) of this!

  R - Toggles the keyboard repeat. If set, the keyboard will repeat when you
     edit the pattern (when you enter a new note, you should depress the
     key!). If not set, you will be able to hold down the key after you have
     entered a note. Seems quite pointless to me, but here it is anyway. NOTE:
     This won't affect other repeat factors others than those of the keyboard!

  V - Toggles the VU-metres in the leftmost upper part of the screen.

  L - Toggles the looping. Set it when you use a mega STE or other cache-based
     accelerator-card.

  T - Toggles the trash-update.Doesn't look very nice when you play the module
     but is very useful when editing the modules. It means that the whole
     pattern will be shown and in case that the CPU time is short, it will
     be 'trash'-updated meaning that different parts of the pattern will be
     updated during the different VBLs. If you use this, you should alter the
     amount of patternlines shown to 17, otherwise you will not notice any
     difference (almost).

  A-ALIAS - Toggles the Anti-aliasing. This sets the chip replay frequency to
     the nearest upper hardware frequency as in REPLAYFREQ*2. Eg. 12.5*2=25.
     The chip will be set to 25kHz. And 15.5*2=31. Nearest upper frequency is
     50kHz therefore the chip will be set to 50kHz.

  L-NOISE - Low/Line noise toggle. This is shareware 'version' of the noise
     reduction routine. This one isn't dynamic, but instead only lowers the
     amount of noise when nothing is played. The 'real version' will change
     the amount of treble dependingly on the samplewaves currently played.

  As you probably don't know, unless you are rather experienced (or have read
some of our previous manuals), most trackers cannot actually play the samples
that were sampled at 50kHz. The limit lies around 30kHz. This is because the
highest playable note when the base-freq of 16kHz is selected limits the upper
frequency of the replay! If you do not believe us, then sample a sample in 50kHz
and try to replay it in a NORMAL tracker. You will NOT be able to replay it
in the same rate as the sample-rate.

  Fortunately, we have thought of this as well,so you can change the base-freq
to either 20kHz or 25kHz. To replay a 50kHz-sample, set the base-freq to 25kHz
and maximize the FINE-TUNE of the specific sample. This will give you 49.89kHz
which is quite acceptable. Please note that modules made in 20kHz/25kHz will
not sound right in 16kHz because the frequency will be lowered and the sound
will be deeper. Nor will the 16kHz modules sound right in 20kHz/25kHz mode. The
Octalyser will save the 16kHz/20kHz/25kHz mode info if you have used 20kHz or
25kHz mode.

  Just to give a picture of what I'm talking about, here is the list of the
maximum frequencies that the samples can be played in with 16kHz and 25kHz as
a base frequency:


                         |    16kHz    |    25kHz
         ----------------+-------------+-------------
         FineTune +0     |  31.39 kHz  |  47.68 kHz
         FineTune +7     |  32.84 kHz  |  49.89 kHz


  If the default timings for the border-routine are incorrect, and you are not
using an external border-routine then you could change the timing of the
built-in border-routine from the options menu. The routine will try to avoid
bitplane-errors automatically, so you will avoid funny-screen that aren't very
funny actually. (Like Neochrome Master if you have the timings set wrong...)
If there already is a border routine installed on TIMER B, then the Octalyser
will not install an own routine. You should use CODE's border routines,
especially on 8MHz routines, because you will then be able to see the border
even when the disk is loading, unlike the built-in routine (It's more secure
this way, and you won't have any problems if you wish to jump to the GEM
later!)

  For you that do not have enough memory, there is a special button marked SM
(Save Memory) with which you can limit the max. amount of pattern that the
memory is reserved for.

  The options menu has a few submenus:

  UCDM submenu, which allows you to load external replay routines (or
whatever the external routine is supposed to do, you could easily control
the stroboscope or whatever with such a routine!). A total of four UMPs can
be held in memory at once. Of course you can only have ONE activated. The
buttons are:

 LOAD  - Loads a new module and replaces the old one (if there was one)
 USE   - Use the currently selected module instead of the internal routine.
         This will make some of the options unavailable, for security reasons
 CLEAR - Removes the currently selected module from the memory
 INFO  - Shows you an information text about the selected module

  There is also a BP button, with which you can change the amount of patterns
shown at the screen. Use it when loading UMPs, AND with TRASH-UPDATE!

  The COLOURS submenu needs no commenting.


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  >::: CHAPTER 7 - THE BLOCK FUNCTIONS :::>
 /////////////////////////////////////////


  The menu marked EDIT contains block editing functions. The principle used in
Octalyser is NOT copy&paste, but instead we used a system where you mark the
start and the end of a block in an actual pattern. The functions are:

  BEGIN - When this button is pressed, the current pattern-cursor position will
          be used to mark the beginning of the block

  END   - As above, but this one will mark the END of the block

  When you mark the block, there will appear an extra status-pointer in the
status-line in the middle of the screen. This might look like: 00-3F, meaning
that the block starts at position 00 and end at 3F.

  HIDE   - When the block is marked and you press this button, all marks will
           be lost.

  COPY   - Copies the marked block to the new pattern and/or new pattern
           position (use the cursor to point the exact position)

  MOVE   - Same as above, but it will delete the original block after having
           copied it to the new position.

  CLEAR  - Erases the block

  INS    - Not a BLOCK operation. Inserts an empty pattern position to the
           current cursor-position. All other data under the cursor will be
           moved one step 'downwards'

  DEL    - Not a BLOCK operation. Deletes the current cursor-position and moves
           all other data under the cursor one step 'upwards'

  LOAD   - Loads the previously saved block

  SAVE   - Saves the currently marked block to a disk

  UP
   ARROW - Make the tones higher in the current channel or block. If Cur
           is set then only the current sample will be changed, if All is set
           then all tones will be affected.

  DOWN
   ARROW - Make the tones deeper in the current channel or block. If Cur
           is set then only the current sample will be changed, if All is set
           then all tones will be affected.

  Cur/All toggle between the current channel and all channels. If all channels
are selected then block functions will use all possible channels to perform
operations, otherwise only the currently selected channel will be affected.

  Unused buttons in this menu will contain a simple quantitization utility.


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 \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\
  >::: CHAPTER 8 - Additional functions and menus :::>
 ///////////////////////////////////////////////////


  Additional submenus found in the Octalyser are:

  INFO    - Brings up an informational text and on-line help
  MEM     - Gives you some statistics upon the usage of the memory
  SAMPLE  - Activates the sample-editor
  MIDI    - Currently unused, reserved for MIDI configuration menu
  MODULES - Currently unused, reserved for external modular routines

  INFOrmation menu is quite easy to handle. The actual text will replace the
pattern data and three buttons will replace the menu selector. The buttons are
PREV (shows the previous page of the text), NEXT (shows the next page) and
EXIT (closes the text and exits the INFOrmation menu)

  The MEMory menu will give you following information:

  SYS-MEM      - System memory available after the internal memory management
                 unit has been installed.
  REQUEST      - Amount of memory that the MMU has reserved
  SAMPLES      - Amount of the reserved memory used for samples
  SONG         - Amount of the reserved memory used for song data
  TOT USED     - Total amount of the memory currently being used
  FREE         - Free internal memory left

    NOTE that SAMPLES + SONG isn't equal to TOT USED. SAMPLES + SONG will give
  you the amount of memory the module will take on disk.

  Some parts of the statistic need closer explanation. The amount of memory
that the Octalyser reserves for itself (as in REQUEST) can't be adjustable in
the Shareware version.

  You might have noticed that 'TOT USED' is 40000 (hex) bytes even though you
haven't loaded anything into the memory. This is because of the fact that
Octalyser immediately allocates the memory needed for the pattern data. If you
don't have enough memory to load big modules or long samples, then you can
adjust the number of patterns to allocate in the options menu!

  Also, note the difference between the SYSTEM memory and OCTALYSER (INTERNAL)
memory. Internal memory is used by a custom MMU of Octalyser and the SYSTEM
memory is the memory left after the internal memory bank has been allocated.
The system memory is the memory left for you (and the programs you wish to run)
to use when you jump to the GEM.

  The sample editor isn't quite finished yet and we didn't want to include
parts of it into the shareware version before most of the routines are finished
so it is very limited. Basically, the only thing it does is to the display
waveforms of the selected samples. You have three display modes and these are
FAST, TRUE and PLOT. Plot is the fastest and True is the slowest.

  Amongst the miscellaneous functions, you can find:

  Playtime timer  - Shows the time offset from the beginning of the module
           replay start in minutes and seconds. Can be found in the middle of
           the screen just above the status line.

  Pattern slider  - Used to move through the pattern and show the current
           position in the pattern. The filled area shows also how much of the
           pattern is shown.

  Velocity meters - Used to represent the velocity peak and other velocity
           manipulations on either 4, 6 or 8 channels.

  Error handler   - Custom error routine that COULD save your work from going
           down the toilet in case of an error or a bug in the program. Most
           errors of the low-danger level have been removed during the
           betatesting period... We hope.


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 \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\
  >::: CHAPTER 9 - Optimising the usage of the CPU :::>
 /////////////////////////////////////////////////////


  To calculate the music takes time. The total amount of time used to refresh
the pattern, calculate the music, draw the mouse pointer and do some other
things must not take more than 0,02 seconds during a VBL. Sounds impressive?
It's not.

  In this chapter, we'll try to give you some hints about optimising the usage
of the CPU in case that you would like greater frequency or more channels and
sometimes are ready to sacrifice some other things instead.

  Let's begin with simple options. If you have problems with overloading the
CPU, then try one, or several of these methods:

  BPM-flag       - The TEMPO command requires some additional bother to the
                   calculation, so if you do not use TEMPO commands, feel free
                   to switch this off. This won't affect the sound quality,
                   unless the module is set to a BPM-rate not supported by the
                   normal routines. (It will either slow down or faster up,
                   depending on the closes supported BPM-rate)

  TRASH-flag     - If you havn't set the trash update flag, do so. It will
                   force the graphic to be printed whenever there is some spare
                   CPUtime.

  Fullscreenedit - If you are in the fullscreeneditormode, exit it!

  N. of Patterns - The number of patterns shown on the screen is proportional
                   to the amount of time required to draw them. You could lower
                   the number of patterns and save the valuable CPU time. This
                   makes it a bit harder to edit the modules of course. This
                   will not affect the sound quality. NOTE! If TRASH-flag is
                   set then this action will have no effect!

  Anti-aliasing  - Is quite fast, but it will take up some of the CPU time as
                   well! Switch if off to save CPU time. Sometimes, it's better
                   to lower the replay frequency and have the A-aliasing ON,
                   but this depends on the quality of the samples and of course
                   on the audio characteristics of the system that you are
                   using. The sound quality will be affected.

  LOOP-flag      - If you have a cache (like in the Mega STE and Falcon) in
                   your CPU this flag should be set, else it should be off.

  Faster CPU     - Probably the best solution. Unfortunately, also the most
                   expensive one.

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 \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\
  >::: CHAPTER 10 - How to exit the Octalyser :::>
 ////////////////////////////////////////////////


  There are several ways to exit the Octalyser and the ones that I can recall
at this very moment are:

  1. Press ESC
  2. Click at the leftmost, uppermost pixel accessible with the mousepointer
  3. Enter the GEM-shell and select the EXIT OCTALYSER option in the drop
     down menu
  4. Enter the GEM-shell and select the closing gadget on the window.
  5. Force a critical error and exit thru the error handler
  6. Use the reset button to reset the computer
  7. Switch off the computer
  8. Open the computer and remove the SIMM-memory
  9. Open the computer and make an 1" hole in the middle of the CPU
 10. Cut the power-cable with the scissors
 11. Cause a global overload in your town causing the power to go off

  There are of course even more ways to exit this wonderful piece of software,
but these were the ones that are used most often.

  By the way, why would you want to exit the Octalyser?


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 \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\
  >::: CHAPTER 11 - How (and why) to register the Octalyser STE :::>
 //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////


  If you take music seriously, or at least semi seriously, and you would like
to get a registered version of Octalyser, then please continue reading this
chapter for more information. First, we will list some of the functions and
improvements that the registrated version contains:

  Loading samples      - The registrated version can of course load samples.
                         Furthermore, you have the ability to choose between
                         the normal non-header SPL format and the far more
                         superior AVR format when saving and/or loading the
                         samples. (Will be able to load AVR, IFF, unsigned
                         RAW and signed RAW).

  Save options         - The registrated version will allow you to save the
                         options such as the colours, the bass/treble/etc.
                         parameters blocks, default paths, default frequency
                         default flags etc, etc. Possibly, there will also
                         be a separate SETUP utility which will allow you
                         to customize the Octalyser from a single menu.

  Editing functions    - Registrated version will include some nice editing
                         functions and a simple effect processor allowing
                         you effects such as echoing and fading the samples.
                         Reverbs, flangers etc. could be include, but I have
                         not got enough information about them yet.

  Make                 - Makes it possible to create a sample from a
                         patternblock.

  Flag descriptions    - You will receive a detailed explanation on what the
                         block-editing flags are used for, and also some
                         hints on how to take advantage of them.

  MIDI support         - Enables you to use the Octalyser as a sample-module
                         connected to MIDI. The Octalyser will be able to
                         replay the samples according to the Program-change
                         commands and Note-On commands received on a selected
                         MIDI channel in up to 8-voice polyphony with
                         dynamic voice allocation.

  Memory setuping      - This will enable you to limit the amount of memory
                         that Octalyser allocates for itself, and thus make
                         GEM-shelling far more convenient.

  Faster Quitting      - You will not have to wait 5 seconds before the
                         Octalyser quits.

  These were just a few of the advantages that you get when you register. Of
course, new updates of the Octalyser will be sent to you without any extra
registration charge, other than the price of a disk plus postage and package.

  The registration price is 100 swedish crowns, for the Swedish users. If
you are not living in Sweden, then please send 12, or an equal amount of
money in some other convertible currency.

  Fill in the registration form and send it to the address found at the end
of the registration form, together with the registration fee and your own
address.


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  >::: APPENDIX A - The effect commands :::>
 //////////////////////////////////////////


  Here is the list of the effect commands supported:

Code | Short Description               | Format description
-----|---------------------------------|---------------------------------------
  0  | Normal play or Arpeggio         | 0xy : x-first halfnote add, y-second
  1  | Slide Up                        | 1xx : upspeed
  2  | Slide Down                      | 2xx : downspeed
  3  | Tone Portamento                 | 3xx : up/down speed
  4  | Vibrato                         | 4xy : x-speed,   y-depth
  5  | Tone Portamento + Volume Slide  | 5xy : x-upspeed, y-downspeed
  6  | Vibrato + Volume Slide          | 6xy : x-upspeed, y-downspeed
  7  | Tremolo                         | 7xy : x-speed,   y-depth
  9  | Set SampleOffset                | 9xx : offset (23 -> 2300)
  A  | VolumeSlide                     | Axy : x-upspeed, y-downspeed
  B  | Position Jump                   | Bxx : songposition
  C  | Set Volume                      | Cxx : volume, 00-40
  D  | Pattern Break                   | Dxx : break position in next patt
  E  | E-Commands                      | Exy : see below...
  F  | Set Speed                       | Fxx : speed (00-1F) / tempo (20-FF)
-----|---------------------------------|---------------------------------------
  E0 | Set Filter                      | E0x : 0-filter on, 1-filter off Hehe
  E1 | FineSlide Up                    | E1x : value
  E2 | FineSlide Down                  | E2x : value
  E3 | Glissando Control               | E3x : 0-off, 1-on (use with tonep.)
  E4 | Set Vibrato Waveform            | E4x : 0-sine, 1-ramp down, 2-square
  E5 | Set Loop                        | E5x : set finetune
  E6 | Set/Jump to Loop                | E6x : jump to loop, play x times
  E7 | Set Tremolo Waveform            | E7x : 0-sine, 1-ramp down. 2-square
  E9 | Retrig Note                     | E9x : retrig from note + x vblanks
  EA | Fine VolumeSlide Up             | EAx : add x to volume
  EB | Fine VolumeSlide Down           | EBx : subtract x from volume
  EC | NoteCut                         | ECx : cut from note + x vblanks
  ED | NoteDelay                       | EDx : delay note x vblanks
  EE | PatternDelay                    | EEx : delay pattern x notes
  EF | Invert Loop                     | EFx : speed


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 \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\
  >::: APPENDIX B - The keyboard :::>
 ///////////////////////////////////



        ESC                     = QUIT MENU/OCTALYSER
        CURSOR UP               = UP 1 STEP
        CURSOR DOWN             = DOWN 1 STEP
        SHIFT CURSOR UP         = UP STEP STEPS
        SHIFT CURSOR DOWN       = DOWN STEP STEPS
        CURSOR LEFT             = GO LEFT
        CURSOR RIGHT            = GO RIGHT
        SHIFT CURSOR LEFT       = LEFTMOST CHANNEL (1)
        SHIFT CURSOR RIGHT      = RIGHTMOST CHANNEL (4/6/8)
        CONTROL CURSOR LEFT     = PREVIOUS TRACK/PATTERN
        CONTROL CURSOR RIGHT    = NEXT TRACK/PATTERN
        CLR HOME                = HOME
        RETURN                  = PLAY
        SHIFT RETURN            = PATTERNPLAY
        SPACE                   = STOP/TOGGLE EDIT
        SHIFT SPACE             = STOP/TOGGLE MONITOR
        TAB                     = NEXT CHANNEL
        SHIFT TAB               = PREVIOUS CHANNEL
        F1                      = TOGGLE OCTAVES (UP/LOW)
        F2                      = TOGGLE WRITINGMODE (REPLACE/SET)
        F3                      = CLEAR CURRENT CHANNEL (USE CONTROL V FOR
                                  BLOCK)
        F4                      = MARK WHOLE CURRENT CHANNEL AS A BLOCK
        F7                      = GOTO 00
        F8                      = GOTO 10
        F9                      = GOTO 20
        F10                     = GOTO 30
        SHIFT F1                = TOGGLE EDITMODE
        SHIFT F2                = TOGGLE BLOCKMODE
        SHIFT F3                = CLEAR WHOLE PATTERN
        CONTROL B               = BLOCK START
        CONTROL K               = BLOCK END
        CONTROL C               = COPY BLOCK (IF SHIFT, ALL)
        CONTROL V               = MOVE BLOCK  ---- " " ----
        CONTROL Z               = CLEAR BLOCK ---- " " ----
        CONTROL I/INS           = INSERT ROW  ---- " " ----
        CONTROL Y/DEL           = DELETE ROW  ---- " " ----
        CONTROL E               = TOGGLE FULLSCREEN EDITOR ON/OFF (EXIT WITH
                                  CONTROL E OR ESC)
        ALTERNATE 1-8           = TOGGLE CHANNEL ON/OFF
        CONTROL 1-8             = Sets the STEP accordingly

                ON KEYPAD:
        --------------------------------------
        0                       = STOP
        *                       = PATTERNPLAY/TOGGLE EDIT
        +                       = NEXT SAMPLE
        -                       = PREVIOUS SAMPLE
        SHIFT +                 = NEXT POSITION IN SONG
        SHIFT -                 = PREVIOUS POSITION IN SONG
        ENTER                   = PLAY
        SHIFT OTHER             = CHOOSE SAMPLE ( = 0  ENTER = 0F
        CONTROL OTHER           = CHOOSE SAMPLE ( = 10 ENTER = 1F



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  >::: APPENDIX C - Sound tips :::>
 /////////////////////////////////


  To obtain the best possible sound quality, we recommend you to connect your
STE or whatever, to a nice and powerful sound system. You should of course
fiddle with the treble and bass until you find the best combination. For more
advanced users, here are some hints and tips:

  Connect the output of your STE to a mixer! The ideal would be if the mixer
had ability to panorate the channels. The sound that an STE produces is put
to either extreme left or extreme right channel, and this doesn't sound very
nice, especially not when using the headphones. The stereo pan is quite
important and improves the overall production of the sound, thus making it
sound more professional. You should panorate the channels to a slight left
respectively slight right, and to get more feeling, lower the treble on one
channel, and lower the bass on another. Be careful not to overdo it! When
you panorate or try to get a quazy stereo fillness, use the headphones,
because they allow you to get a clearer picture of what you are changing.

  You could also connect a processing unit or a compression device, to produce
reverbs, delays or whatever and/or remove the back-noise.

  You might have noticed, that the output level of an STE is a bit too high,
especially when you pump up the bass. Lower the overall output volume (main
volume) until you are sure that all distortion is gone. Then lower it a bit
more to make sure that no other parts of the module will produce distortion.

  If you have some experience and the right equipment, you could get a semi
professional sound quality and fool most of the listeners to believe that
you aren't using an 8-bit sound system. :-) Actually, I have a certain
compilation CD where one of the groups use nothing but trackers to produce
their techno tunes. They use an Amiga, so it doesn't sound very good, but hey,
those Amiga dudes don't know any better... I mean, Prince uses an Amiga, and
we all know how his music sounds. (Put that gun away, he is not worth it...)

  Personal greetings and thanx from Alan F. go to:

  Unit 17, STeinberg, Alan Wilder/Recoil, Kraftwerk, Best Babies, Deity and Dux
Dead Hackers Society, Scum of The Earth, Sharon STonE, Douglas Adams and
me family.

  ...also to:

  Authors of the BR, T2 and some other movies for making those movies.
  Anarchists, hackers, cyborgs and all active androids out there.

  A bunch of kisses sent to Tina, the only girl I think about nowadays. (Yeah
I know it is sick, but boy she is great!!!)

  Fucks to all people that I do not like and even more fucks to those people
that I hate.

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