285 lines
15 KiB
Plaintext
285 lines
15 KiB
Plaintext
- SiGnAlS -
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Issue III Volume I
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July 24, 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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Greets to: Pxyll, Dominor, PM, and special thanks to everyone whose called to
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chat.
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I
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---
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Welcome to the third issue of SiGnAlS, the magazine for the modern mod coder.
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Issues come out approximately every five to six days, or when I run out of
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things to say, an often occuring situation. Thus your support is needed! Keep
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the letters and responses coming. I promise that all will be answered. In
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this issue, some more basix, another edition of 'Tricks and Tips', and other
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extras. We hope you will continue to help us enlighten those would-be's out
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there and service the existing net as best we can. Please feel free to
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distribute this magazine to any smaller FTP sites we may have missed. Keep the
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text as is, though, so as to be consistent. ;)
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II : Basix
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----------
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Ok, where are we? Let's assume you have a tracker and a player and know what
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the hell a MOD is and et cetera. Let us also assume you have some samples to
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work with. The next step is to create songs. MODs use a simple format to store
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note data. (If you've worked with MIDI files or CMF data, you will find it
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quite similar.) Modules divide songs into 'tracks', with each track having 64
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spaces in which to enter data. As in normal music, a track is roughly
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equivalent to a measure, and a space is similar to a beat. Usually there are 4
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side-by-side tracks, each capable of playing one sample at a time. To create a
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song, you fill the tracks with data, and string tracks together to create
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'patterns'. A pattern is a group of 4 tracks that play simultaneously. Thus,
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the pattern is a measure of sorts that includes all the instruments at the
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same time. A pattern looks something like this:
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Beat #-> 00 C-2 01000 C-1 03000 G-3 04000 F-3 07000
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01 --- 00000 C-1 03000 --- 00000 F-3 07000
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02 --- 00000 D-1 03000 --- 00C30 F-3 07000
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03 C-3 02000 C-1 03000 --- 00C20 F-3 07000
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04 --- 00000 D#1 03000 --- 00C10 F-3 07000
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05 --- 00000 C-1 03000 --- 00C00 F-3 07000
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06 --- 00000 F-1 03000 --- 00000 F-3 07000
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Note EFX .
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etc.
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The first column (00,01,02) is the beat number for that pattern. The second
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column consists of the notes being played: C-2, C-3, etc. Please remeber that
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the music moves DOWNWARD, not to the right as in normal sheet music. The first
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horizontal line is the first beat; the second horizontal line the second beat.
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All the notes on the first line happen simultaneously in the first beat.
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The third column, the EFX (effects) column, specifies two things. The first
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two digits state the instrument sample number. This is the number of the
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sample currently being played. The last three digits hold any special effects.
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You can see an example of effects on the third track, about halfway down. The
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C30, C20 effects are volume changes (more on that in later issues), but the
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important thing to know at the moment is that they are effects, not notes.
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To compose a song, you simply enter data downward on each track at a time.
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Simply put the appropriate note on the beat at which it should enter, and
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you're all set. Rests are simply the absence of note data. However, to create
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a true rest (needed if your sample sustains), you must lower the volume of the
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track to zero using the C00 effect at the appropriate beat.
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Now, once you have a pattern or two done, you can work on what is called the
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'playlist'. Your patterns are numbered internally as 0, 1, 2, etc., but you
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don't neccessarily have to play them in that order. A playlist specifies the
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order in which the patterns in a song are to be played. For example, I may
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wish to play my patterns in the order 4,1, and 5. I would then create a
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playlist of length 3 with the order 4, 1, 5. Most trackers do this by a master
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position indicator. The indicator starts at zero and climbs by one. For each
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indicator number, you assign an associated pattern to be played at the same
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time. For example, the tracker starts at master pos 0. You then click on the
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pattern button and change the associated pattern to 4. Then you move onto the
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next master pos, and set a 1 there. Easy, huh. (Yeah, I know, you're lost
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already. Well, don't worry, things should become clear soon. If not, then just
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play around. That's how I figured all of this out myself! ;))
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The length of the playlist determines the length of your song. You can have
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extra unused patterns (with note data and everything) in a song that are never
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played. Wasteful, but possible. Try to make sure every pattern in your song is
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used in the playlist at some point. Else you're wasting disk space.
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Whew. Well, my fingers are about to fall off. More in the next issue.
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III: Tricks and Tips w/ Necr”s
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Today we'll differ a shade from the planned agenda, and delve into the
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intricate art of the drum track. Yes, many coders think they can get away with
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a lame bass and snare sample for a whole 67-pattern mod. Well, they're right.
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In module programming, what counts is size. Every byte you can chop off of a
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mod, the better. 90 percent of most mods is taken up by samples. The less drum
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samples you can use in a mod only works to your benefit. I understand that the
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purists out there (I'm one of them) don't like to degrade intrinsic musical
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quality in the name of memory, but sometimes you can get away with it without
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really hurting your MOD quality.
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'How dost we achieve this noble goal?', they ask. Well, one of the best is
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writing a good drum track. First, let us analyze a typical pattern. We'll
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assume you're writing a modern rock/ techno mod, since that's the majority of
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what's out there. (Don't worry ballad coders, I have something special for ya
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too in a few issues.)
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Go back to the analog world for a sec. Think about your favorite rock album
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and what the drummer is actually doing. Most likely he's using a combination
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of bass drum, snare, toms, hi-hat, cymbals, and possibly shaker or tambourine.
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Now obviously you can't put all of these in your mod. That's at least six
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tracks right there. You can compromise, though, and do it with a minimal loss
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in sound quality. Let's examine the following riff.
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crash cymbal OOOOoooooo......------------------------------------------------
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hi-hat xxxxxxxXxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxXxXxxxxxxxxxxxxxXxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxXxXxxxxxx
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hi tom ----------------------------oo----------------------------o-oo--
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low tom ------------------------------oo------------------------------oo
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snare ----X-------X-------X-------X-------X-------X-------X-------X-XX
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bass drum X-------X-------X--X----XX------X-------X-------X-------XX------
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1 16 32 48
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(A dash = a 64th of a measure, like a mod track.)
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A pretty basic 4 beat drum riff. We have a 16-beat hi-hat riff over a basic
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bass/snare combo with a few tom fills and a big crash at the start. How do we
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track this without using the needed six tracks? Easy. This is how:
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Many drum sounds are short in nature. Bass drums, some toms, hi-hats, all of
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these take about a click and a half at moderate speed (--F06). This means that
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we can put more than one sound in a track. By using overlaid sounds, we can
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accomplish our goal.
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This is how I would convert this pattern to a two track drum riff:
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00 C-2 01000 C-3 05000 | 20 C-2 01000 C-3 04000 Samples:
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01 --- 00000 --- 00000 | 21 --- 00000 C-3 04000
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02 --- 00000 --- 00000 | 22 --- 00000 C-3 04000 1 - Bass Drum
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03 --- 00000 --- 00000 | 23 --- 00000 C-3 04000 2 - Snare
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04 C-2 02000 --- 00000 | 24 C-2 02000 C-3 04000 3 - Tom
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05 --- 00000 --- 00000 | 25 --- 00000 C-3 04000 4 - Closed HiHat
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06 --- 00000 C-3 04C10 | 26 --- 00000 C-3 04000 5 - Crash Cymbal
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07 --- 00000 C-3 05C30 | 27 --- 00000 C-3 05000
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08 C-2 01000 C-3 04000 | 28 C-2 01000 C-3 04000
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09 --- 00000 C-3 04000 | 29 --- 00000 C-3 04000
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0A --- 00000 C-3 04000 | 2A --- 00000 C-3 04000
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0B --- 00000 C-3 04000 | 2B --- 00000 C-3 04000
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0C C-2 02000 C-3 04000 | 2C C-2 02000 C-3 04000
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0D --- 00000 C-3 04000 | 2D --- 00000 C-3 04000
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0E --- 00000 C-3 04000 | 2E --- 00000 C-3 04000
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0F --- 00000 C-3 04000 | 2F --- 00000 C-3 04000
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10 C-2 01000 C-3 04000 | 30 C-2 01000 C-3 04000
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11 --- 00000 C-3 04000 | 31 --- 00000 C-3 04000
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12 --- 00000 C-3 04000 | 32 --- 00000 C-3 04000
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13 C-2 01000 C-3 04000 | 33 --- 00000 C-3 04000
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14 C-2 02000 C-3 04000 | 34 C-2 02000 C-3 04000
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15 --- 00000 C-3 04000 | 35 --- 00000 C-3 04000
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16 C-2 01C20 C-3 04000 | 36 --- 00000 C-3 04000
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17 C-2 01C30 C-3 05000 | 37 --- 00000 C-3 05000
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18 C-2 01000 C-3 04000 | 38 C-2 01000 C-3 04000
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19 --- 00000 C-3 05000 | 39 C-2 01000 C-3 05000
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1A --- 00000 C-3 04000 | 3A --- 00000 G-3 03000
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1B --- 00000 C-3 04000 | 3B --- 00000 C-3 04000
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1C C-2 02000 C-3 04000 | 3C C-2 02000 G-3 03000
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1D G-2 03000 C-3 04000 | 3D --- 00000 G-3 03000
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1E C-2 03000 C-3 04000 | 3E C-2 02000 C-3 03000
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1F G-1 03000 C-3 04000 | 3F C-2 02000 G-2 03000
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Track 1 hold the bass and snare parts. We take advantage of the fact that a
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rock drummer rarely hits the bass drum and snare drum at the exact same time.
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We use track two for an accented hi-hat and the crash cymbal.
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Comments:
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- Note that we included the crash cymbal even at the cost of a few measures of
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hi-hat. The crash cymbal usually distracts the ear so it misses the high hat.
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Don't use this in two consecutive measures, though, for then the missing
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hi-hat becomes more obvious. To create the open hi-hat sound, we use a very
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short crash in place of the closed hi-hat. This is moderately effective. A
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truly effective replacement is to replace the crash cymbal with a ride-type
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cymbal sound. This technique then works perfectly. Of course, you sort of lose
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that big crash intro. Oh well.
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- The tom is overlaid with the snare part, but the snare part takes
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precedence. If you cut a snare to replace it with a tom riff on important
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snare whacks, it is very noticeable. Thus we use the tom as a fill during the
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breaks of the drum beat.
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- Certain instruments have been faded in using the volume CXX command. We do
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this a lot for off-beat snare and bass hits. This works really well for snare
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fills and such, so that the repeated hits don't become somewhat monotonous.
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Fading in drum rolls also works quite well.
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As you can see, we achieved this conversion with a minimum of headache. If you
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can somehow put yourself in a conservatory mindset before you begin, that is
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even better. Try to squeeze in the parts as you compose, not after.
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Ok, a few more things.
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Sometimes you want to use a beat that really isn't in 4/4. Most hip-hop beats
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and some techno fall into this category. The most common is a techno beat with
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swing-type hi-hats. Sometimes you can do this by using a three-beat measure.
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hi-hat x-xx-xx-xx-xx-xx-xx-xx-xx-xx-xx-xx-x
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snare ------O-----------O-----------O------
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bass kick o----------oo--o----o---o----------oo ... etc.
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(for 48 beats)
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Some beats, though, don't fall into either of these categories. A lot of rap
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beats are like this. They'll use a hi-hat pattern that isn't straight 16-beat,
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but yet isn't swung eighth-note triplets. It's somewhere in the middle. How do
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you represent this duality? Well, either use a 96-beat measure or get
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yourself a drum loop sample. Honestly, there isn't much way to fix this
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hi-hat problem. You can try to use the --EDX (delay note) to slow the hits a
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little, but different trackers interpret this differently. Your best bet? ;)
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Use the sample.
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Next time, more random stuff. Maybe some chordal arrangement tips. Keep
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composing!
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- Necr”s
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(Does my name work in normal
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ASCII? Probably not ;O)
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IV: Visualizations
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Does changing your name to a sexual symbol raise your musical libido?
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Can Billy Idol read one William Gibson novel and transform himself into a true
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hacker? Doubt it! Master DEBUG and call me back, Billy.
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Is alternative alternative anymore?
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Answers to these and more stunningly penetrating questions in the next edition
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of SiGnAlS!
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(yeah, right)
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Anyways, onto more interesting stuff. I have often wondered why MODS sound so-
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modlike. I know the samples contribute to the clunkiness, the rigid time
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structure doesn't help, and the prevalence of techno isn't the greatest thing
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for humanist music, either. But then the real answer hit me. It is impossible
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to add serious vocals to a MOD. I don't mean vocals as in 'Whoo!', and 'You
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got it!', and even 'House! Techno!'. I mean serious singing. It is hard to
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create ballads and even good rock songs for this reason. To sample a vocal
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track would require a staggering amount of memory. Unless you LIKE mods that
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approach 1 meg and more, full vocals are not an option. How then, do you
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create a lead voice in your music? Instruments are one option. Flutes, synth
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trumpet voices, pianos, even guitar sounds, all of these I have tried, and
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seem to work well. It is even possible to create the lead out of the chords
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themselves. This is tricky, but possible.
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Maybe if you used a really low sample rate and repeated a lot of vocal parts,
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you could add a full distinct vocal track .... well, maybe not. It seems
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hopeless. Don't let this stop you from creating ballads and rock songs,
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though. If nothing else, program every part but the vocals and let the rest
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ring in your head. The best mods suggest something more than is actually
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there. As long as the music moves you, who gives a shit about everyone else?
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In any case, there's bound to be someone out there that'll hear it too.
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Sorry for the meager wisdom. ;)
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More in the next issue.
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V : Conclusions
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Yep, a 15K issue. Hopefully they'll grow even bigger. However, after writing
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15000 characters, your fingers feel a bit sore. May delay the next issue ...
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ah, wouldn't want to keep your manical soul-devouring taste for good mod docs
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unappeased. Until the next time: We out!
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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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