167 lines
7.7 KiB
Plaintext
167 lines
7.7 KiB
Plaintext
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- SiGnAlS -
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Issue I Volume I
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July 17, 1993
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"Dedicated to all the coderz and their insane delusions..."
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Executive Editor: Necr”s, The PsYcHiC MoNkS
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I: Introduction
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---------------
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Welcome to the first issue of our underground newsletter, SiGnAlS. Our aim is
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to encourage the musical development of the MOD format, and to help all the
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coders who may need a little introduction to the latest scene. To subscribe to
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our newsletter, simply e-mail segaag@craft.camp.clarkson.edu. Please note that
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some subsequent issues will be by subscription ONLY. Well, on to the fun
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stuff.
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II: Basix
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------------
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First off, for those of you that don't know, the MOD format is a format
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designed to standardize the creation of music that uses digital instrument
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files. This format usually supports four to thirty-two tracks of samples,
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with each sample having 64K max of data. It is very similar to the MIDI or
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CMF format for music, but enjoys a much clearer and more realistic sound, due
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to the inclusion of digital waveforms.
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Why use MODs? For those of you who program the other formats, MOD programming
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may seem like a waste of time. This is untrue. The module format is far
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superior to either MIDI or CMF for the following reasons:
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1) All instruments are sampled, thus resulting in a much more realistic
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sound.
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2) All of the traditional MIDI and CMF effects are available, plus
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some extra which MIDI and CMF do not support.
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3) Unlike MIDI, you do not need an external keyboard or rack synth to
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produce high-quality sound.
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It does have a few drawbacks, however, but these are small:
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1) MOD format (usually) only supports 4 tracks, as opposed to 8-12 on
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MIDI or CMF.
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2) Samples can only be played over a three octave range.
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3) Designing your own instruments is harder that modifying, for example,
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a CMF instrument file.
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4) Playback takes a large amount of processor time.
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Using a few tricks, though, can get you past most of the above drawbacks. If
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you haven't noticed, all of the new assembly demos (esp. those out of Europe)
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use the MOD format. Using a MOD in your demo or game can significantly
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enhance the sound quality of your product. It is also possible to overlay
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digital sound effect tracks over the music itself, thus resulting in a very
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professional sound.
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Enough of the sales pitch. (I'm not making any money here.)
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More basics about mods in the next issue.
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III: Tricks and Tips w/ Necr”s
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T&T is for the intermediate to advanced .MOD programmer, and contains all of
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the tricks I've found during my coding days. (Well, maybe not ALL of them. I
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have to keep something up my sleeve for the demos, you know....)
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First off, a few notes about the peculiarity of the MOD format. MOD tracks
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contain 64 beats, with each beat containing a note, efx data, or nothing.
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This is somewhat biased to programming a 4/4 mod, since 4 beats per measure
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fills out the 64 beats nicely. However, it is possible to code a mod in a
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different time signature, like 6/8 or even 5/4! To do this, you need to use
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the --D00 (end pattern) effect. To show an example, let us pretend we're
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trying to write a mod in 6/8. We've entered the pattern data, and it ends
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right before beat 48. What we have to do is force the mod to go to the next
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track here, or else there will be an extra blank beat after each measure.
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Simply enter a --D00 effect on the last beat of your pattern, and the mod
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will skip to the next track. (Warning: make sure you put the effect on the
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beat with the last of your pattern data, not the blank beat after.) This will
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create a pattern of 48 beats (beats 0-47), which works out to either 6/8 or
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3/4.
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Another peculiarity of MODs: Different trackers interpret some effects
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differently. One of the most notorious wrong implementations is the pitch
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slide. On early versions of TrakBlaster and other mod players, the pitch
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slides are off by as much as a factor of 2.4!!! To remedy this, try to use
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effect --3XX (pitch slide to note) instead of --1XX or -2XX (pitch slide
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up/down). To use --3XX, simply specify the effect on the second note of your
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glissando. For example, if we wanted to slide from C2 to G2 by 3 step
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increments, we would enter this:
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01 C-2 01000 (using sample 1)
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02 --- 00000
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03 --- 00000
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04 --- 00000
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05 G-2 01303
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06 --- 00303
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07 --- 00303
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08 --- 00303
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.
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.
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. etc.
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This will play a C2 on beat 1, and start the slide to the G on beat 5. The
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slide continues on beats 6, 7, and 8 until the slide is finished. Be careful
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to include a large enough step value to make sure the slide finishes. Usually
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the best value is determined by experimentation. If the slide keeps coming up
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short, raise the step value or make the slide longer.
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One more short trick:
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If you have a sound which is louder than most of the other sounds in your MOD
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(a thunderous gunshot, maybe...), you don't have to keep sticking CXX (volume
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set) on each beat where you play the sound. Just use the sample volume
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setting in your tracker (most good ones have this). Once it's set to a good
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level, keep it there. As long as you don't put any volume info in the beat,
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the sample will play at the volume you set instead of the default 64 volume.
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You can still manually set the volume with the CXX switch if you want. ;)
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- Necr”s
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IV: Visualizations
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------------------
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Before you can write a really good mod, it is necessary to be able to write
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really good music first. I have heard enough C-F-G mods, lame dance rips,
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strung-together-sample MODS, and Nintendo-sounding mods to make me puke five
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or six times over. Please try something different every once in a while.
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Don't stick to the lame voicings perpetrated by every bad demo group out
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there. Next time you want to write a C chord with a C bass, try a Csus2 with
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an E bass. Try weird sample efx. Add voice sample at inopportune spots. In
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short, don't be afraid to experiment. Sorry I sound a bit hostile today ;)
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, but as a person who downloads way too much, I am sick and tired of spending
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hours downloading mods, only to find that I have downloaded a 40 second
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sample of a Ministry song. To all of you who do write extremely good stuff,
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my respect: Future Crew, Cascada, Skull (not!), the guys at DENS, and all you
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others. If you want to hear any of my stuff, my archives (PsychicModsX.lzh)
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are available on wuarchive.wustl.edu in /pub/msdos_uploads/mods. Out for now.
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V: Conclusions
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----------------
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Well guys, that's our first issue. I know it's not much, but there will be
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a new one every couple of days, depending on submissions. If you have any
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contributions (a neat new effect, where to find good samples, etc..), please
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send them to our address:
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e-mail: segaag@craft.camp.clarkson.edu
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turtle-express: Necr”s
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re: Signals
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The PsYcHiC MoNkS
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7958 State Route 69
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Oriskany, NY 13424
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peace and let the cyberspace fly
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