
                         MUSIC TYPEWRITER

                    by B. Mikolasek & V. Meier

             Complete music system for the ZX Spectrum

                            USER MANUAL

                          (c) Soft Music


         This program and all of its associated software,
         documentation, code, text and visual presentation
         incl. keyboard overlay are protected by Copyright
         laws. It may not be copied, reproduced, modified,
         lent, hired, transmitted, translated, transferred
         or stored in part or in whole by any means or in
         any form without the express written permission of
                          ROMANTIC ROBOT.


              PRODUCED, MANUFACTURED & DISTRIBUTED
                                 by

                       ROMANTIC ROBOT UK LTD
   54 Deanscroft Avenue, London NW9 8EN. Telephone: 01-200 8870



MUSIC TYPEWRITER is designed to assist Spectrum users in
all phases of music making. The enclosed keyboard overlay
will turn the Spectrum into a simulated music keyboard,
while the program itself provides facilities for writing,
editing, playing, copying to a printer & saving to tape.

MUSIC TYPEWRITER uses real music notation with notes
appearing on the screen simultaneously as played. It is
easy to use for anybody; even for beginners without any
knowledge of music - in fact they may find it an ideal
tool to get acquainted with the basics of music. Neither
the program nor the manual attempt to explain the music
theory - a lot of material can be found on this subject - 
but offers a unique opportunity to see the music as it is
played. Writing & playing is made as easy as possible; 
music is played directly on the keyboard; there are many
error-trapping routines, automatic controls & corrections,
clear error reports, quickly accessed instructions, etc.
The system makes full use of preset parameters (defaults),
such as note length or key, and is thus instantly usable.
There is room for simple playing around, experimenting,
learning, practising, etc. Advanced users can profit from
sophisticated features like full editing, transposing, etc.

MUSIC TYPEWRITER autostarts upon loading (load as LOAD ""),
lets you set the colours of PAPER & INK and proceeds to
the main program menu - or as called here program PAGE 0.
MUSIC TYPEWRITER is organised in three program PAGES with
each PAGE having its HELP PAGE with on-screen instructions:

    PAGE 0 - main menu with all main commands and with
             access to other pages
    PAGE 1 - key & time signatures, tempo, clef, tails
    PAGE 2 - catalogue of music pieces and their
             management

All PAGES and their specific commands are explained further.
In general:
    SPACE  - moves the cursor around
    ENTER  - enters the selected command or value
    key Q  - quits any operation at any time and
             will bring you back to PAGE 0
    BREAK  - restarts the program & enables you to
             reset colours of PAPER & INK.



The WRITE mode
--------------

The process of writing your music is referred to here as
the WRITE mode. Once written, your music can also be EDITed
and EDITing is done within the WRITE mode as well.

Music is written/played directly on the Spectrum keyboard.
The enclosed overlay turns the Spectrum into a simulated
music keyboard with the 2nd row from the top as black
keys and the 3rd row from the top as white keys. It also
incorporates a third row of music keys (the bottom one on
Spectrum) as an added feature for correct music notation.
Black keys on a piano can be interpreted as either sharps
or flats depending upon circumstances, whilst the actual
sound is exactly the same. To distinguish between the two
cases - solely for notation purposes - the row below the
white keys on the overlay is always interpreted as notes
with flats and the row above as notes with sharps.

There is just over an octave range available within the
three key rows. The whole range can be shifted by using
CAPS SHIFT & 2 - an octave lower
SYMBOL SHIFT & 2 - an octave higher.
The shifting will last until cancelled by pressing
CAPS or SYMBOL SHIFT & 3.
There are two clefs, with the bass clef using the lower
and the treble clef the upper part of the 6 octave range.

The basic note values used here range from a semibreve
to a semiquaver. The values are printed above the top
Spectrum row of keys together with signs for dotted notes,
triplets, staccato and tenuto. The MUSIC TYPEWRITER uses
defaults to speed up & ease writing. Once you choose a
note value, it will apply not only to the next note, but
to all that will follow until you select another value.
Values are selected by simply pressing a relevant key
and are displayed in the top left corner of the screen.
You can also simply press any of the additional signs such
as staccato, etc. and it will be taken as a default too.
Finally, by pressing the music key (pitch) or PAUSE you
actually enter a note which is than immediately shown.
You need NOT to press ENTER here at all; in fact ENTER
would END the WRITE mode and bring you back to PAGE 0.



Commands in WRITE mode
----------------------

END    - Key ENTER to terminate a piece. Possible only
         when "bar completed" report is displayed.
DELETE - Key CAPS SHIFT & 0 to delete notes from right
         to left (from the last written note backwards).
STEP   - Key SPACE to step through existing notes from
         left to right (from the start of a bar onwards).
         STEPping will preserve existing notes which can
         otherwise be simply overwritten by pressing a
         value and a pitch/pause instead of STEP.
BAR PRINT - Key CAPS SHIFT & 9 to print a hard copy of
         the current bar.


Short guide to WRITE a NEW piece
--------------------------------

To move from PAGE 0 to other PAGES or to select & execute
a command on a PAGE use SPACE to move the cursor and then
ENTER your choice. Our short guide has 6 steps and begins on

1. PAGE 0 - main menu and the starting point. Move to
2. PAGE 2 - select command NEW, input a title (up to 10
            characters), press ENTER and Q (quit)
            to return to PAGE 0.
3. PAGE 0 - by having ENTERed a new title on PAGE 2 you
            were also given a set of default music
            parameters - treble clef, C major key,
            4/4 rhythm, tempo of 180 MM and automatic
            appropriate printing of tails up and down.
            If these are OK, skip the next step; if not,
            move to
4. PAGE 1 - change any of the parameters - remember you
            can consult a HELP PAGE for quick on-screen
            reference as to how & what to do on each PAGE.
            Press Q for PAGE 0.
5. PAGE 0 - select WRITE, press value of next notes and
            then pitch or pause. Key ENTER to END the
            piece and automatically return to
6. PAGE 0 - you can PLAY, EDIT or PRINT the piece here or
            change its music parameters on PAGE 1 or
            SAVE it on PAGE 2.



Commands on PAGE 0
------------------

PLAY   - Plays a currently selected piece. Its selection
         is made on PAGE 2, while its music parameters
         can be changed on PAGE 1.
REPEAT - Repeats a piece N times.
         N=1 to 255 with 255 being an endless loop.
WRITE  - Enters a NEW piece or alters an OLD one (further
         explained in Commands PAGE 2 & Commands WRITE).
EDIT   - Enables to step through and, if required, change
         notes in a bar number N and onwards.
         N=1 to the length of a piece.
         EDIT mode can be quit by pressing key Q.
PRINT  - Makes a hard copy of a piece on a printer.
HELP   - Displays most important information on PAGE 0.
PAGE 1 - Moves to PAGE 1
PAGE 2 - Moves to PAGE 2


Commands on PAGE 1
------------------

KEY SIGNATURE -
         All major key signatures are contained within the
         program & available by pressing the relevant key.
         Example: using the keyboard overlay, press key F
         for F Major. You can transpose existing pieces by
         changing their key here. All sharps, flats, etc.,
         will be properly adjusted.
TIME SIGNATURE -
         Time signatures are chosen by simply pressing of
         the two values required (without pressing ENTER).
         Example: press 1 5 8 for 15/8
                     or  2 4  for 2/4 signatures.
TEMPO  - Enter values from 23 to 255 - just as on the
         metronome scale.
TREBLE & BASS CLEFS -
         Select by cursor, confirm by ENTER.
TAILS DIRECTION -
         Select by cursor, confirm try ENTER.
         1. UP/DOWN (automatically)
         2. UP only
         3. DOWN only.



Commands on PAGE 2
------------------

MUSIC TYPEWRITER can have up to 16 different music pieces
within its memory. PAGE 2 is designed for their management
and will enable you to SAVE/LOAD pieces individually (!)
or in block, create NEW ones, PLAY or EDIT OLD ones, etc.

PAGE 2 contains a catalogue of existing pieces with their
index number, name and length stated in a number of bars.
The number of remaining bars available is displayed too.

If you want to write a NEW piece, use PAGE 2 to give it
its title. A NEW piece will then automatically be given an
index number and a set of default music parameters:
C major key, 4/4 time signature and tempo of 180 MM. You
can change these - and all other general ones - on PAGE 1.

An already completed music piece; ie. one shown with both
the title and the final length, is called here OLD.
An OLD piece with the highest index number is called LAST
and has the advantage of extra editing possibilities - its
length is expandable and its time signature can be changed.


Short summary of commands on PAGE 2
-----------------------------------

NEW    - Enter the title of a piece, press Q to return
         to PAGE 0. If you want to change preset music
         parameters go to PAGE 1.
OLD    - Enter the index number of a completed piece
         to PLAY or EDIT it.
DELETE - Enter the index number of a piece to be deleted.
         The LAST place is DELETED only partly - while its
         name is erased, its notes can still be used by
         using the STEP command (see WRITE mode, please).
SAVE   - Enter either the index number of a piece to be
         SAVEd individually or enter A to SAVE ALL.
LOAD   - An individually SAVEd piece will be LOADed and
         added as LAST provided there is room enough.
         If, however, ALL places are to be LOADed, they
         will replace (erase) all existing ones.



Error reports
-------------

Too high - the pitch of a note is out of top range

Too low  - the pitch of a note is out of bottom range
           Both above reports can occur when transposing.

Too long - the length of a note exceeds the limit given
           within a bar by the time signature.

Piece too long - a piece cannot be LOADed as it consists
           of more bars than the memory can accommodate.
           In order to LOAD it you would have to DELETE
           some of the existing pieces first.

Bar completed - displayed as confirmation at the end of
           each completed bar in the WRITE mode.

Not completed - you cannot END a piece with an incomplete
           bar. You can, however, quit it unfinished and
           will be shown this report each time the
           incomplete bar appears.

END      - displayed at the end of PLAY.

Length is only ... bars - EDIT attempted in a higher bar
           number than the piece contains.

Last bar ! - a warning when you EDIT/WRITE into an already
           existing piece with a given number of bars and
           reach the last one.

No note follows - there are no more notes to EDIT.

Piece not yet created - you attempt to PLAY, EDIT or SAVE 
           a piece which has just a title so far.

Tape loading error - self-explanatory.



Specifications
--------------

Hardware required:
------------------
	- ZX Spectrum
	- Optionally: ZX Printer or other printers
			capable of printing graphics
	- ROMANTIC ROBOT can also supply a special
	  version of MUSIC TYPEWRITER to be used
	  with a sound generator chip or even with
	  MIDI interface for music synthesisers.
Storage capacity:
-----------------
	- 254 bars
	- 16 pieces of music
	- special SAVE/LOAD routines for tape storage
Pitch range:
------------
	- six octaves (Contra C to c4)
Rhythm and tempo:
-----------------
	- time signatures from	2/4 to 8/4 or
				2/8 to 15/8
	- automatic bar length control
	- all note values, dotted notes, triplets,
	  staccato and tenuto
	- tempo from 23 to 255 (metronome scale)
Graphics:
---------
	- all graphics appear simultaneously with sound
	- two staffs with treble or bass clef,
	  key and time signature
	- notes with sharps, flats, double sharps
	  and double flats, naturals
	- indication of +8 and -8 octave shifting
	- automatic or programmed direction of note tails
	- automatic bar lines and end lines
	- bar numbers and music title displayed
Other features:
---------------
	- all major scales available at
	  a touch of their keynotes
	- full transpose facility with automatic
	  adjustment of all accidentals
	- full editing
	- special music keyboard overlay
	- on-screen instructions, error reports
	  and help pages
	- acoustic & visual feedback upon each entry
	- hard copy of single bars or complete pieces
