AMFTracker  1.20 (25-Jun-92)
============================
Tracker Editor
==============
AMFTracker is a music editor that allows the creation of Tracker files.These
are commonly to be found in Public Domain Libraries,and provide the music
for most demos and some games.Tracker files have a filetype of CB6 and are
not to be confused with the older format,SoundTracker files,which AMFTracker
cannot edit,but can be converted using M.Farrows !GetSTMod.There are many
Public Domain players that have been written to play SoundTracker/Tracker
files,of these,the AMFsoft !STracker is recommended as it allows the saving
of Tracker samples.

Use
===
Once AMFTracker has been loaded,either drag an existing Tracker file onto
the AMFTracker icon,or use the Create option for the main icon bar menu.
AMFTracker can create files with either Four or Eight channels,and this
decision should be made carefully,for once made,it cannot be easily altered.
It is true that whilst eight channel Trackers can sound far better,four
channel Trackers are far faster,and much can be done with only four channels.
Choose wisely.

Once a file has been created,you can start editing.The first thing that is
required is to load some samples.From the main icon bar menu (press menu on
the AMFTracker icon) select Edit.Instruments.A window will appear,showing
the instruments present in the current Tracker.These instruments are saved
with the Tracker.Use  and  to change the instrument shown,as up to 35
instruments can be loaded at once.Loading is achieved by dragging a Tracker
sample onto the Instrument window.These files (file type CB5) can be created
using the AMFsoft version of STracker,coverted from other samples using
M.Farrows !SampConv,or found in a useable state in many places.A sample has
five significant variables.The name is irrelevant,but helps to identify the
sample.The length is,quite logically,the length of the sample,the volume is
not important (as it doesn't affect anything).The repeat offset is the point
at which the sample will repeat, and should be set to 0 for no repeat, 1 for
a total repeat,or the position from which you want the sample to repeat.
Finally,the repeat length should be set to 2,otherwise nothing will happen
when you attempt to play that instrument.

Once you have loaded your desired samples (although samples can be loaded at
any time during editing),you need to edit the pattterns.Click with select on
the AMFTracker icon,or select Edit.Patterns from the menu.A singletasking
window will appear,to facilitate pattern editing.You can change the current
octave,pattern and instrument using the icons provided.Use select on these
icons for a slow change,menu,or adjust for a fast alteration.Use the keys
that are shown on the piano keyboard to play the appropriate notes.SHIFT may
be used to cut short a note,as can the Stop icon.

To edit the current pattern,click on Edit Pattern.The selected pattern will
appear in the editing box,and a green cursor will show the current position.
Use  and  to move between events (there are 64 events in each pattern,
numbered 0-63 and shown to the left of the editing window),and  and  to
move between voices.Use SHIFT with  and  to move between individual
sections,otherwise whole channels are moved across.

Each event is displayed as follows:

C#1 4 1C06
| | | |
| | | Action to be carried out (1C,set speed) and variable (06)
| | |
| | Instrument to be played
| |
| Octave of note
|
Note (C sharp)

You can set the note by pressing an appropriate key when on the note,this
will set both the note,the octave of the note,and the instrument.It will
also automatically move the cursor down an event.The other attributes may be
altered by moving onto them using SHIFT and /,and typing an appropriate
value.The actions that can be carried out and the corresponding variable are
in coded in hexadecimal (0123456789ABCDEF) and are as follows:

00 : Do nothing
01 : Add var to pitch for this note only
02 : Subtract var from pitch for this note only
0B : Goto end of this pattern
10 : Add var to volume for this note only
11 : Subtract var from volume for this note only
13 : Goto start of pattern var
15 : Goto event var (remember,var must be in hexadecimal,so 16=10,63=3F)
1C : Set speed to var (speed of 6 is default,1 is fast,F is slow,very!)
1F : Set volume of this channel to var (FF is maximum 00 is minimum)

I am unsure as to the other action codes,although there are rumours that
other action codes are defined,although I know not of them.Should you find
anything out that is not listed above,write and inform me.

While editing,SPACE will clear the current item selected,and SHIFT will stop
the current note playing.If the Debug option is selected,once you move over
a note,it will be played,although the appropriate actions will not be
correctly implemented.A new pattern will be added every time you go past the
end of the 63rd event of the last pattern.On any other pattern,going past
the 63rd leads on to the 1st of the next one,and vice versa.

Whilst in the Editing window,you can click on Play Pattern to play the
current pattern,or click on Play Tune to play all of the current tune.Whilst
playing,you can use  and  to move through the tune at four times the
normal speed and  and  to move between patterns.Click on Stop to stop the
current action,be it Edit Pattern,Play Pattern or Play Tune.To close the
Editing window,click on Desktop,which will return you to the desktop.

However,if you have defined many patterns,you will have noticed that when
Play Tune is selected,only the first is played.This is because the patterns
have to be strung together into a sequence.Press menu on the AMFTracker icon
and select Edit.Sequences.This will open a new window,allowing the order of
the patterns to be edited.Pattern 0 is the first pattern,1 is the second,2
is the third,etc.In total,a sequence of upto 128 patterns may be defined,and
each pattern may be used more than once,once,or not at all.The maximum
pattern defined is the number of the last pattern,and the maximum sequence
is the total length of the sequence.Click on a box,enter a new value,and
press RETURN.The caret will move on,and if this is the maximum sequence,its
value will be incremented.Simple!

Finally,select Edit.Information.This allows you to set the title and the
author of your masterpiece,as well as its date of creation,which is
initially unset.If you wish to alter the stereo separation of your tune,
select Edit.Stereo,and alter the icons accordingly.

Duplication
===========
The menu options Alter.Duplicate.Pattern and Alter.Duplicate.Track allow
various parts of the tune to be copied.Duplicate Pattern will allow an
entire pattern to be copied over another one.Enter the appropriate values
in the boxes,and click on OK.Duplicate Track will allow one channel to be
copied out of one pattern.Again,enter the appropriate values,noting that the
smaller writable box is for the channel/track number (1-4 for 4 channels,1-8
for 8 channels).Click on OK,as before.

Internal Speaker
================
The Internal Speaker can be flipped on/off by selecting Alter.Speaker.If you
have some form of external amplification linked to your headphones socket,
then this can improve the sound quality of the Tracker by a fair amount.I
have a lead connected from my headphones socket on the back of my Archimedes
into the Audio In socket on the back of my monitor,and it sounds far better.

Saving
======
The Save menu allows several aspects of the tune to be saved.Firstly,the
entire tune can be saved,as a Tracker file.This can be played back using
STracker,another player or reloaded into AMFTracker at a later date.But you
can also save the currently selected sample as a sample file (type CB5),the
current pattern as a RawData file (type FF1),a group of patterns as a
RawData file,or the sequence table as a RawData file.When saving a group of
patterns,be sure to enter the start and end pattern into the two smaller
boxes provided.

Loading
=======
A Tracker tune can be reloaded simply by dragging it onto the AMFTracker
icon.A sample file can be loaded by dragging it onto the Instruments window.
It should be noted that this version of AMFTracker can load both headered
and unheadered files,although all sample files saved by AMFTracker and
STracker are unheadered for convenience (as they load far faster into
AMFTracker).!SampConv can be used to remove/add a header to Tracker sample
files.Pattern files can be loaded over the current pattern by dragging them
onto the AMFTracker icon,and groups of patterns load in the same way,
although they overwrite the current pattern,and a number of patterns
following it.The same method of loading is to be used for Sequence table
files.

Mode 123
========
For the editing of patterns,AMFTracker uses an extra wide screen mode,namely
MODE 123,to allow it to fit all eight channels on the screen at once.However,
some reports have been received of Mode 123 not operating properly on
certain computer/monitor combinations,so two Mode 123 modules have been
provided.If,when you try to edit a pattern,the screen display behaves in a
foolish manner,reset,and open AMFTracker (using SHIFT whilst double clicking
on it).Inside,a file called !SwapModes is to be found.When this is run,the
alternative Mode 123 will be used.If you still have problems with that mode,
write to me at the address below,stating what system you are using,monitor
type,computer type,etc,and I will look into it.Both the Mode 123s work well
on my A3000 with Acorn monitor.

Acknowledgements
================
Thanks are due to the following people,without which AMFTracker would not
have been.

H Fiennes,M Farrow and F Mercier,for writing the TrackerModule that allows
Tracker files to be played on the Archimedes.The writing of this module
opened up a vast base of music for the Archimedes,and all demo writers
should be glad of it.Similarly,I too am thankful for this module,for
AMFTracker cannot work without it,and I am not too good at programming
sounds.Full instructions for the TrackerModule can be found as an archived
file within STracker,which can be read using ArcFS,Spark or SparkPlug

Armaxess,for the idea of a public domain Tracker editor,which I first
witnessed in their Coconizer music editor,and,because the files that
Coconizer produces are not Traker compatible,it was necessary to write
AMFTracker.

The authors of the two mode creators which I used to create the two MODE 123
modules (below),one or the other of which is used throughout the pattern
editing section.Coconizer (above) also uses a MODE 123,and that is where the
number came from,so as to avoid unnecessary overuse of a limited range of
MODE numbers.

Known Limitations
=================
AMFTracker can only create four or eight channel files,and no others,
although I cannot see the need to be able to create any others.You can't as
yet delete patterns,although again,this is not of much use,as by deleting a
pattern,you mess up the sequence table.All the patterns are 64 events long,
and no deviation is allowed for,although you can use a "B" command to force
to the end of the pattern.Sample files with any of the words "SDAT","PATT",
"MUSX",etc contained within them,unless they are contained within the header
are likely to cause AMFTracker to crash.Finally,the MODE 123 module clashes
with that in Coconizer,but you are unlikely to want to use both.

Versions
========
1.00 Original version.

1.10 Host of bugs removed and new features added.Duplicate pattern now has
     two writeable icons to allow easier duplication,and is fully documented.
     Stereo separation editor added.Saving of samples,patterns and sequences
     added.Version 4.04 of TrackerModule used.Sample files that are not a
     multiple of four long have a more informative error message.Windows are
     closed after a Create,instead of leaving deleted data.Tune name updated
     when saved.Giving a volume greater than 255 no longer crashes
     AMFTracker.Internal speaker control added.Documentation improved.
     Timeout added to Editing screen (leave it for a few minutes to find
     out).Fast forwarding/backwarding added to play tune.Headered samples
     can now be loaded,although more slowly than unheadered ones.Duplication
     of tracks added.More informative error messages added.Version of module
     shown in Info window.Small filetype icons added.Check for out of date
     versions of TrackerModule made during load up.Close icon removed from
     main editing window.

1.20 Improved MODE 123 handling.Sprites added for Stereo window.Improved
     error and caret handling.Improved memory handling.Automatic virus
     checking.Version 4.05 of TrackerModule used.Two Mode123 modules
     provided,to provide for more monitors.

Copyright
=========
This version of AMFTracker is Public Domain,although it may only be
distributed as Public Domain only by those who are licensed to do so,within
the terms of license by the official distributor for this version.No part of
this software,written by AMF the Doomwatcher may be used in any other
program,whether commercial or public domain, without the prior written
consent of the author,though any files created by this software are not
bound by this condition.Any files within this application that were not
written by the author,for example,the TrackerModule,are subject to the
conditions of the original author,and are not bound by any of the above
conditions.This software may not be distributed for a profit,save that
required to cover packaging and media costs,nor may it be distributed by an
unlicensed person or company.AMFTracker should be distributed as it is,with
no extra files added within AMFTracker,nor any files removed from it,
although extra files may be supplied with AMFTracker,so long as it is clear
that they are not part of AMFTracker.Copyright () is retained by the author,
AMF the Doomwatcher,who should be contacted if any problems arise.No
liability can be accepted by the author for any loss or damage arising from
use or misuse of this software.

Distribution
============
This version of AMFTracker may only be distributed by those who are
officially licensed to distribute this software.For each release version of
the software,the name and address of the sole official distributor for that
version is included within AMFTracker,as part of these general instructions,
below.No other person or company may distribute this version,and the
official distributor is bound by the terms of license,which are as defined
above.Should the words "For personal use only",or similar words,appear
within the distributors address,then this version of AMFTracker is not to be
distributed,but is to be used solely for the personal use of the person
listed within the distribution window,who is not legally licensed to
distribute AMFTracker,but may use it for his/her own personal use.Thus,the
sole official distributor for this version of AMFTracker is as follows:

For distribution only by:              
  APDL,                                
    39 Knighton Park Road,             
      Sydenham,                        
        London,                        
          SE26 5RN.                    
                                       

Should you wish to distribute AMFTracker,write to the author with a donation
coming to 100 or more, the name and address you require for your
distribution copy,and sufficient justification to persuade me to grant your
request.You will then be sent a distribution copy,and will be legally
licensed to distribute this software,as described and bound by the terms of
license for that version.Records are kept of all people who are registered
as officially licensed distributors,and action will be taken upon those who
are found to be illegally distributing this software.Individual owners do
not need a distribution license,but they are forbidden from distributing
AMFTracker,although they may use it for their own personal use.These
conditions of distribution make it far easier for updates to occur,which is
in everybodys interest. 

Addresses
=========
Should you wish to contact the author of this software,make any constructive
comments or suggestions,report any errors or bugs,or make any donations (all
cheques being made payable to A.M.Flintham),write to the address beneath:

AMF the Doomwatcher,
  The Monastery of Doomwatcher Monks,
    50 Burlington Way,
      Mickleover,
        Derby.
          DE3 5BD
