John Player 2.0 beta Help

--- NEW FEATURES IN JOHN PLAYER V2.0 BETA ---

+ Doubled the steps in sound table ($7F)
+ Doubled the sequencer steps ($7F)
+ More sounds ($1F)
+ More convenient sound looping
+ Initial Tempo/Filter/Volume setting
- Slightly slower (still under 8 raster)
- Compiled tunes are approx. 0.4k bigger
- Songs not compatible with V1.0-V1.6



--- COMMON KEYS ------------------------

Space     Play
Run/Stop  Silence

Cursors   Move around

+ and -   Block select
[ and ]   Sound select
< and >   Keyboard octave

C=+C      Copy
C=+V      Paste

C=+H      Help on current screen

F1        Block Edit Screen
F3        Sound Edit Screen
F5        Sequencer/Info
F7        Disk/Options Menu



--- BLOCK EDIT SCREEN ------------------

Most of the keys comprise a two octave
keyboard which is used to enter notes.

Hold Shift to enter tied notes (no retrig,
only frequency is changed).

Del       Delete step
<-        Enter 'Off' (gate bit off)
Home      Go to top left corner

Shift+    Enter command in cmd column
Letter    (see Commands below)

Shift+    Cut block
Home

C=+C      Copy block
C=+V      Paste block

C=+R      Replicate block at cursor

C=+T      Copy track
C=+P      Paste track
C=+S      Swap track with buffer

Replicate fills the block with the range
above current cursor position:

If cursor at step $10 steps $00-$0f are
copied to $10-$1f.

If cursor at step $08 steps $00-$07 are
copied to $08-$0f, $10-$17 and $18-$1f.



--- SOUND EDIT SCREEN ------------------

Shift+    Play sound (Reads filter table
Keyboard  only if block cursor ar ch 1)

C=+C      Copy sound
C=+V      Paste sound
<-        Key up (same as 'Off')

Shift+    Play entire song instead of
Space     repeating current block only

All sounds share the same 64-step sound
table. The columns are (left to right):

Waveform  11:Triangle  41:Pulse wave
          21:Sawtooth  51:Triangle+Pulse
          31:Tri+Saw   81:Noise
          15:Ring mod  43:Pulse/Sync
          23:Saw/Sync

Arpeggio  00-7E:Rel. note (semitones)
          80-FF:Absolute pitch/2

Filter    00-FF:Cutoff (added to Flt)

Sound looping has changed! To define a
loop enter $00 in Waveform column and
the desired loop position in Arpeggio
column at the same step.

If you have a stable sound which at the
end plays just one waveform you should
optimise the loop by repeating the last
value a couple of times.

If you want a hard restart the first
step of all sounds should play waveform
$09 (see preset sounds). Either use it
with all sounds or none of the sounds!
Otherwise the player can't keep the
timing.

Hard restart is not hard-wired to the
playroutine because sometimes not using
it gives a more desirable sound: The
attack is softer and for example when
using an initial click with the noise
waveform at high pitch you get a nice
sounding 'small soft click'.

The same click with hard restart is more
stable, but also much more harsh.


Absolute pitch works in a special way:
The value is shifted to left and written
to high byte frequency register.

81 (low)  $02nn     (low byte nn of
82        $04nn      frequency is not
83        $06nn      changed from that
.                    of the last note)
.
FF (high) $FEnn


Filter cutoff value is added to which-
ever value is set as filter base by the
Flt command.

For example, you can set up a filter
envelope which ramps down from 7F to 00
and then 'tweak' the filter using Flt.

Wrapping is never checked so in this
case the Flt values should never exceed
80. (Unless this is the desired effect)


SOUND PARAMETERS:

Attack/Decay      AD (nybbles)
Sustain/Release   SR (nybbles)
Sound Trig Pos.   First step in table
PWM Init          01-0F (00 for no init)
PWM Rate          01-FF (slow to fast)
PWM Top Limit     02-10
PWM Bottom Limit  00-0E

Filt.Reso/Ch.Sel  reso 0-F, ch. sel 0-7
Filt.Type/Volume  ftype 0-7, volume 0-F

Only channel 1 notes read the filter
parameters and filter table.

Some ADSR settings bug: For example a
repeated hihat sound using waveform 81
doesn't sound as expected if release is
set to zero (A:0 D:1 S:0 R:0). To get
accurate trigging set release to a much
higher value (A:0 D:1 S:0 R:F).

Sustain value F might cause some notes
to be skipped...

PWM Init must be bigger than PWM Bottom
and smaller than PWM Top Limit! Values
out of this range or equal to either of
the limits may cause the modulation to
stop.

PWM Init 00 skips all PWM parameters and
keeps the current PWM on channel (PWM is
continued).


SONG SETUP

Step 00 of the sound table is not used
by sound data! It's used to store the
initial song parameters instead. I know
this is a quick and dirty hack but...

1st column of Step 00 sets the filter
resonance and selects the channels to be
routed thought the filter ($d417)

2nd column sets filter type and master
volume ($d418)

3rd column sets the initial song tempo.

Example of Step 00 setup: F1 1F 0C

Resonance F, fileter channel 1.
Low pass filter, master volume F.
Initial song tempo 0C.


--- SEQUENCER/INFO ---------------------

Return    Insert current block at cursor
Del       Delete block under cursor

Shift+    Play starting from cursor
Space

T         Edit tag
I         Edit info (6 lines)

Only tag is attached to packed music.
Info is saved with music data files and
it's also used as scrolltext with Save
Executable.

Extra spaces are skipped when scrolling
the text. (The scroller routine hangs if
there's no text at all. I won't fix this
because it's a good punishment for not
writing a scrolltext)

Loop position is entered after a zero:

00       Loop at position 08
08



--- BLOCK COMMANDS ---------------------

Shift+1st letter to enter command in
block command column.

Brk      Block break

End      Block end
         (used internally by the player
         and can't be changed/removed)

Tmp 0C   Set tempo (06-FF)

Flt 00   Set filter cutoff base value
         (this is added to cutoff values
         read from sound table)

Ini 00   Initialize modulation
         (used with both vibrato and
         slide, vibrato width 00-02)

Mod 01   Select channel for modulation
         (channel number 01-03)

Off 01   Stop modulating channel
         (channel number 01-03)

Vib 02   Set vibrato rate or stop slide
         (01-04, 00 stops slide without
         resetting frequency)

Sli 00   Start pitch slide
         (00-7F up, FF-80 down)


There is only one modulator which can be
either vibrato or slide.

You can modulate more than one channel
at the same time, but all channels use
the same modulation settings.


Here's an example of using vibrato:

Ini 00   Initialize, small vibrato width
Mod 03   Select channel 3 modulation
---
---      (any number of steps, vibrato
---      is not yet activated)
---
Vib 02   Start vibrato at rate 02
---
---      (any number of steps, vibrato
---      continues)
---
Off 03   Stop vibrato on channel 3
Vib 00   Vibrato off (saves cpu time :)
---
---


There's also a simplified way but then
you never know at which point of sine
wave the modulation is started:

Ini 01   Just initialize vibrato width
Vib 02   and rate at start of song
---
---      (let the song go on)

Then whenever you need it:
---
Mod 01   Start vibrato on channel 1
---
---      (any number of steps, vibrato
---      continues)
---
Off 01   Stop vibrato on channel 1
---
---


Here's an example of using pitch slide:

Ini 00   Initialize modulation
Mod 03   Select channel 3 modulation
---
---
---      (again, slide is not
---      yet activated)
---
Sli 10   Start sliding, speed 10
---
---      (slide continues)
---
---
Off 03   Stop modulating channel 3
---
---

Command Off also resets frequency to the
original note.

Alternatively, you can use the command
Vib 00 to stop sliding - The reached
frequency is then kept.

Don't forget to stop modulating (Off 03)
the channel before trigging a new note.



--- NOTES ------------------------------

- In case of emergency hit run/stop and
  restore and type sys2061 or sys16384
  (or sys4^7) to restart the editor

- The player uses $0D zeropage locations
  which are $40-$4C by default


John Player Editor Version 2.0 Beta
(c)2002 by Aleksi Eeben (aleksi@cncd.fi)
http://www.cncd.fi/aeeben