Kara-Moon Forum

Developers & Technology => Musical MIDI Accompaniment (MMA) => Topic started by: sciurius on December 28, 2018, 09:18:26 PM



Title: Documentation feedback
Post by: sciurius on December 28, 2018, 09:18:26 PM
I needed to check a number of things, so I decided to read the whole manual, looking for new and changes things. This time I kept my note-app at hand to jot down some things I encountered. The ### refer to (sub)sections in the manual.

### Including Existing Patterns in New Definitions

Code:
You can create a new pattern which plays on same beats and adds a single push note just before the third beat:

Chord Define M1+3 M13; 2.5 16 80 0

But is it possible to delete (overwrite) an existing note?

### Using A Groove

Code:
For long lists you can use the “/” to repeat the last groove in the list. The example above could be written:

Groove Tango LightTango LightTangoSus /


Assuming this refers to the example (which is not directly above):

Groove Tango LightTango LightTangoSus LightTango

I would expect the result to be different:

Groove Tango LightTango LightTangoSus LightTangoSus

### Lyrics > Chord Transposition

In addition to “Flat” and “Sharp” you can use the abbreviations “#”, “b” and &ldquo&”.

### You cannot specify lyrics in bars that are being repeated with the “*” option.

Why?

### Solo and Melody Tracks > Sequence

The Melody-AltoSax snippet does not compile. Apparently braces are missing in the Sequence line.

### Emulating plucked instruments: Plectrum Tracks

Same.

Plectrum Fretnoise: Duration 192 is not understood. Should this be 192t?

### MIDICopyright

I was looking for a way to add the current year. Can this be done (added)?

### MIDITname

Misspelled: MIDItNAME

### Patch Set

Include casio-wk300 (should be casio-wk3000).

### Ensuring It All Works

Misspelled: ROtaryGuitar

### Triggers

Chord-Test Trigger Beats=1,2,3,4 Ctonics= C,E,F

I think there should be no space after the Ctonics=.

The link to egs/trigger is non functional.

### ToneTr

This section mentions DrumTr a couple of times. Was it originally named DrumTr and then changed to ToneTr?

### Tweaks

Shouldn't DefaultDrum be DefaultTone? Cf. VoiceTr and ToneTr?

### Mallet

Missing braces in Sequence z z z 1 1 100 .

### JungleBirds

The distribution does not have a "songs" directory.

Finally,
  • the PDF docs contain several occurrences of spurious \ (e.g. \- \_). Also \asciitilde and \textbackslash
  • it would be helpful if there were some useful plugins in the distribution

I hope this helps improving the documentation.



Title: Re: Documentation feedback
Post by: bvdp on December 29, 2018, 01:46:37 AM
I needed to check a number of things, so I decided to read the whole manual, looking for new and changes things. This time I kept my note-app at hand to jot down some things I encountered. The ### refer to (sub)sections in the manual.

### Including Existing Patterns in New Definitions

Code:
You can create a new pattern which plays on same beats and adds a single push note just before the third beat:

Chord Define M1+3 M13; 2.5 16 80 0

But is it possible to delete (overwrite) an existing note?

No, sorry. The patterns just overlay.

Quote
### Using A Groove

Code:
For long lists you can use the “/” to repeat the last groove in the list. The example above could be written:

Groove Tango LightTango LightTangoSus /


Assuming this refers to the example (which is not directly above):

Groove Tango LightTango LightTangoSus LightTango

I would expect the result to be different:

Groove Tango LightTango LightTangoSus LightTangoSus

This is fixed in the newest html on-line. I will upload another "new" version tomorrow with the rest of these corrections.

Quote
### Lyrics > Chord Transposition

In addition to “Flat” and “Sharp” you can use the abbreviations “#”, “b” and &ldquo&”.

fixed!

Quote
### You cannot specify lyrics in bars that are being repeated with the “*” option.

Why?

I think it's for a couple of reasons, the most important being that if I were writing the program again I would not have this option (mind you, it is handy). Second, it just doesn't make sense to have something like:

     C  /  D [Shoot]  * 4

in a mma file. Guess if I were younger and were into looping, it would. I will look at this and have added it as a request in the TODO

Quote
### Solo and Melody Tracks > Sequence

The Melody-AltoSax snippet does not compile. Apparently braces are missing in the Sequence line.

Yup. Missed putting a "\" in the tex source.

Quote
### Emulating plucked instruments: Plectrum Tracks

Same.
Yes, same.

Quote
Plectrum Fretnoise: Duration 192 is not understood. Should this be 192t?
Yes. Changed it.

Quote
### MIDICopyright

I was looking for a way to add the current year. Can this be done (added)?

I will add a request for a date, and year macro in the TODO.

Quote
### MIDITname

Misspelled: MIDItNAME

Well, I could say that it was deliberate and I was just showing that upper and lower case were the same :) But, I've changed it.

Quote
### Patch Set

Include casio-wk300 (should be casio-wk3000).

Yes. And I also had a casio-wk.mma reference :)

Quote
### Ensuring It All Works

Misspelled: ROtaryGuitar

### Triggers

Chord-Test Trigger Beats=1,2,3,4 Ctonics= C,E,F

I think there should be no space after the Ctonics=.

Actually, I think this was a deliberate one ... spaces are permitted in option pair lines.

Quote
The link to egs/trigger is non functional.

Yes, should read egs/triggers

Quote
### ToneTr

This section mentions DrumTr a couple of times. Was it originally named DrumTr and then changed to ToneTr?

Yes. Fixed ... and your guess was correct.

Quote
### Tweaks

Shouldn't DefaultDrum be DefaultTone? Cf. VoiceTr and ToneTr?

Now an option. Both work.

Quote
### Mallet

Missing braces in Sequence z z z 1 1 100 .

Blame latex :) Fixed.

Quote
### JungleBirds

The distribution does not have a "songs" directory.

Correct. Changed the text to point to the main website.

Quote
Finally,
  • the PDF docs contain several occurrences of spurious \ (e.g. \- \_). Also \asciitilde and \textbackslash

Yes ... again, blame latex and latex2html :) I think I found them all.

Quote
  • it would be helpful if there were some useful plugins in the distribution

One of the things on my list of things to do is to create a plugins archive on github. Yup, you read that right. Not the full source at this time ... a long story ... but I certainly have the plugins at the top of mind. And, probably the groove lib as well. I would really love to get some more groove and plugin contributions.
 
Quote
I hope this helps improving the documentation.

Absolutely!!! Thanks.


Title: Re: Documentation feedback
Post by: sciurius on December 29, 2018, 06:02:37 PM
Quote
### MIDICopyright

I was looking for a way to add the current year. Can this be done (added)?

I will add a request for a date, and year macro in the TODO.

Thanks. I solved it by writing a small plugin so no hurry for me.


Title: Re: Documentation feedback
Post by: sciurius on January 11, 2019, 08:39:53 AM
Patterns > Bass

The note offset can be further modified with a single accidental “#”, &ldquo&”, “B” or “b”.


Title: Re: Documentation feedback
Post by: bvdp on January 11, 2019, 04:48:25 PM
Patterns > Bass

The note offset can be further modified with a single accidental “#”, &ldquo&”, “B” or “b”.

Thanks. Fixed now in my main source. And in case you were confused, it's supposed to be "&" :)


Title: Re: Documentation feedback
Post by: sciurius on January 12, 2019, 03:43:32 PM
Other Commands and Directives > Unify

Sequence 1 1 1 90 &sstarf#star; 4


Title: Re: Documentation feedback
Post by: bvdp on January 12, 2019, 04:21:15 PM
Yet another latex / latex2html fix :) Thanks.


Title: Re: Documentation feedback
Post by: sciurius on January 14, 2019, 12:18:40 PM
Volume and Dynamics > Accent

  Define Walk W1234 1 1 90 * 4
  Walk Accent 1 20 2 -10 4 -10


is suggested to be the same as

  Define Walk W1234 1 4 100; 2 4 70; 3 4 80; 4 4 70

However, if I understand the mechanics correctly, the Define + Accent lines would result in

  Define Walk W1234 1 4 118; 2 4 81; 3 4 90; 4 4 81


Title: Re: Documentation feedback
Post by: bvdp on January 14, 2019, 04:34:37 PM
We are both almost right :)

Accent simply takes the existing volume (as a percentage) and adds that. So, in the example:

  beat 1  20  ... add 20% --> 90 + (90 * .2) = 108
          2  -10    sub  10% --> 90 - (90 * .1)  = 81

   etc.

Does that make sense?

BTW, I don't see an actual result in the docs ... and there should be a more complete example which I'll do.

And "Define Walk" should be "Walk Define" :)


Title: Re: Documentation feedback
Post by: sciurius on January 14, 2019, 07:32:00 PM
Quote
Accent simply takes the existing volume (as a percentage)

I thought the volume was in MIDI units (0 - 127)?

Most ideal would be to allow +10 (abs units), +10% (percentage) and *0.9 (fraction) but I see no problems in sticking to the current behaviour.




Title: Re: Documentation feedback
Post by: bvdp on January 14, 2019, 10:00:32 PM
Quote
Accent simply takes the existing volume (as a percentage)

I thought the volume was in MIDI units (0 - 127)?

Most ideal would be to allow +10 (abs units), +10% (percentage) and *0.9 (fraction) but I see no problems in sticking to the current behaviour.




Nope. All volumes in MMA are a percentage. So, a volume of 100 would start off as 100% of the VELOCITY defined in the sequence. So, with "Chord Sequence {1 1 90 * 4} we're setting the midi VELOCITY to 90. And we can increase or decrease that with volume settings.

The VOLUME section of the manual starts off with a discussion of this :)


Title: Re: Documentation feedback
Post by: sciurius on January 15, 2019, 06:21:49 PM
Ah, yes. I was thinking of sequences, which use the MIDI velocity.