Commodore 64 User manual

THE MUSIC MACHINE
Table of Contents
Introduction........................................................................ 2
Keyboard.............................................................................2
GettingStarted...................................................................3
Changing Octave................................................................4
ChangingWaveform...........................................................4
SelectingNumber
of Voices..............................................5
SelectingKeyboard Mode..................................................6
Selecting Keyboard
Effect .................................................6
Rhythm Accompaniment...................................................7
Pitch Control........... .. ..........................................................7
Instructionsto M US IC MA CHINE.....................................8

INTRODUCTION
The MUSIC MACHINE cartridge you have purchased
allows you to play your Commodore 64 computer like a
musical instrument, using the music synthesizing
capabil ity of this computer. Your computer keyboard is
transformed I nto a synthesizer keyboard, complete w1th
percussive accompaniment.
The cartridge has been designed with flexibility in mind.
Ratherthan having the variety
of musical tones being one
of a number of preset selections, there are a number of
parameters you can mix and match, allowing you many
combinations
of sound type, special effects, and
keyboard playing style.
KEYBOARD
The keyboard is laid o ut in three sections:
1) Keyboard section
2) Left and right control section
3) Percussion section
1. The keyboard section Is la id out like a piano or organ,
starting from thenote'C' (the Q key) go i ng on up through
one and a half octaves to
'A' (the t key). The sharps
and flatsareselectedbyhittingtheappropriatekeyonthe
uppermost row (for example, 'C#' is the 2 key).
2. The left and right control sections consist of three
keys each, and are located forplaying convenience below
and at the left and right of the playing keyboard. The left
set of control keys are used to select the KEYBOARD
mode(the C = key) and EFFECT(the SHIFTkey),and the
WAVEFORM (the Z key). The right set of control keys are
used
to changethe startingOCTAVE of the keyboard (the
CRSR keys) and the number of VOICES that are played.
3. The percussion section consists of the four function
2

keys positioned to the right of the keyboard. These con·
trol (from top
to bottom):
ON/OFF (f1)
RHYTHM SELECT (f3)
TEMPO UP (f5)
TEMPO DOWN (f7)
GETT I NG STARTED
Making sure yourCommodore 64 computerIs turned off,
insert the MUSIC MACHINE cartridge, and turn on the
computer. A musical staff and the ·mode Indicators
should appear on the screen.
If they do not, turn off the
computer,reinsert thecartridgeand turnthecomputeron
again.
The Indicators:
The number
to the right of the message OCTAVE in·
dicates the starting octave of the playing keyboard. 'Mid·
dieC' isthe lowestnote in octave 4. The highest octave is
6,and the lowest octave is
1.
The symbol to the right of the message WAVEFORM in·
dicates the type of sound which will be produced. The
symbol shown is the shape
of the sound waves. The
" _f\_ " indicator, for example, is the sawtooth
waveform, which because
of its abrupt shape (not
smooth) gives a rather tinny sound.
The test next
to the message EFFECT shows which
special effect(if any) is in operation
on the notes played.
The number
to the rightof the messageVOICES indicates
thenumber
of voiceswhichcan be heard simultaneously.
Forexample, when in "1" voice mode, if a noteis played,
the nextnote will stop the first note,since onlyonevoice
will be heard at a time. See the section on Selecting
Number of Voices.
3

The text ne xt to the message KEYBOARD indicates the
way the keyboard will
be Interpreted. For example,
whether a note will decay,
or will be continuous for as
long as a key is held down, etc.
The five linesacross the screen are the musical staff. If,
forexample, you nowpress the note 'C' (theakey) on the
the screen. Ifyou nowpress the
'0' (theW key), you'll see
playing keyboard,you'
ll see that the note is displayed on f
that the musical staff moves over, and the note Is also
· displayed.
CHANGING OCTAVE
When your computer is first turned on with the MUSIC
MACHINE cartridge installed, the OCTAVE indicatorwill
show"4".Thismeans that the playing keyboardwill start
at 'C' in octave 4 and go up through 'A' in octave 5.
If you play note 'C' for exampl e, then press 'OCTAVE
DOWN' (the
CRSR down key), and play 'C' again, you
should hear the note is now one octave lower. Also, the
OCTAVE indicator should show "3". The octave can be
adjusted from 1(the lowest) to 6 (the highest).
TIP: Often It ispossible to change the octave while play-
Ing, ratherthanmovingyourhand rapidlyupanddown the
playingkeyboard.
Experiment- withpracticeyoushould
see thisIs ofteneasierthan rapidly moving from the lower
part of the playing keyboard to the upper part, and vice
versa.
CHANGING WAVEFORM
When your computer is first turned on
with the M US IC
MACHINE cartridge installed, the WAVEFORM Indicator
will show" _l\_ " indicating that the type of sound that
will be played at that point Is the sawtooth waveform,
which has a brassy quality.
4

I
Ifyou play note 'C' forexample, then press'WAVEFORM
SELECr (the zkey), and then play 'C' again,you should
hear the note has a different sound quality(timbre), the
square wave. The WAVEFORM indicator will
now show
"_rL. ". The available waveforms are:
Triangular A
Sawtooth _/\__
Square
___I"L_
Narrow Pulse _Jl_
SELECTING NUMBER OF VOICES
When your computer is first turned on with the MUSIC
MACHINE cartridge installed, the VOICES Indicatorwill
show "1", Indicating that only one note will be heard at
any onetime.This means that when
you playone note,'C'
for example, and then play another note right away, the
first note will be halted
by lhe second note which, in ef·
feet, replaces the first note played.
If you nowpress the'VOICE SELECr key(the rightSHIFT
key), changing the indica tor to "2", two notes can be
heard at the same time. Since you are in "DECAY" mode
at first (more about that later), each note decays when
played, as on a piano, so to heara number of notesbefore
they die away and are gone,
you must play them fairly
rapidly. Having
"2" active voices means that two notes
can be played, let'ssay note'C', then note 'E', butwhen a
thirdIs played, thefirst('C')willbehalted. Onlytwocan be
heard at any one time.
If you press the'VOICE SELECr key once more, allthree
voices
will beactive, and the sound now becomes more
orchestrated, rather than a soloist.
5

SELECTING KEYBOARD MODE
When your computer is first turned on with the MUSIC
MACHINE cartridge installed, the KEYBOARD indicator
will show "DECAY", indicating that each note decays
when played,
as on a piano.
By pressing the 'KEYBOARD
SELECr key (the C= key),
the KEYBOARD indicator will change to "SUSTAIN". If
you now play a note, you'll see that the note remains on
for as long as you press the key. This allows you to play
your computer more like an organ.
By pressing the 'KEYBOARD SELECT' key again, the
KEYBOARD indicatorwill change to "HOLD". If you now
play a note, you'll see that the note remains on con·
tinuously. Dependent on the number of playing voices,
you can hold one, two,
or three notes simultaneously.
SELECTING KEYBOARD EFFE CT
When your computer is first turned on with the MUSIC
MACJ:liNE cartridge installed will show "NONE", in·
dicallng the notes will be played without special effects.
By pressing the 'EFFECT
SELECr key (the left SHIFT),
the EFFECTwillchange to"GLIDE". If you nowplayafew
notes, you'll see that the tone glides from one note to the
next. In "SUSTAIN"
or "HOLD" KEYBOARD mode, you'll
see the "GLIDE" effect more clearly.
By pressing the 'EFFECT SELECr keyagain, the EFFECT
indicator will change to "VIBRATO". If you now play a
note,you'll seethat thetoneisplayed withvibrato(rapidly
changing frequency, going up, then down, and upagain,
continuously).This Is best used
in "SUSTAI N" or "HOLD"
mode.
By pressing the 'EFFECT SELECT' key once more, the
EFFECT indicator will change to "SPECIAL". This is
where each noteplayed
Is sounded through twovoicesat
6

the same time, to give a richer harmonic quality to the
note. You will notice the difference Immediately. The
number
of activevoices ismeaningless in this mode, soIt
is reset to 1, and cannot be changed while in this mode.
RHYTHM ACCOMPANIMENT
The percussion sectionallows a number of different per-
cussion sequences to be played while you are playing.
Since the rhythm accompaniment uses one voice, only 1
or 2voice modescan be selected (i.e.,3voice mode is not
allowed), because the music synthesizer chip has only
three voices.
By pressing the 'PERCUSSION ON/OFF' key (f1), a beat
will begin. The 'TEMPO UP' (f5) and 'TEMPO DOWN' (f7)
keys allow you
to change the speed. If you have a paddle
game controllerattached
In port 1,thatwillbe yourtempo
control.
There are seven different rhythms built in for you to
choose from with the 'RHYTHM SELECT' key (
f3) .
By starting out with a slow tempo, you can help yourself
to Improve your playing by slowly increasing the tempo.
PITCH CONTROL
You may wish to playyourCommodore64computerwith
the MUSIC MACHINE cartride along to songson a radio,
television, record player,
or tape. A pitch control adjust·
ment was included to allow for differences between the
tuning of the cartridge, and the
music being listened to.
The 'PITCH
UP '(the Ckey) and 'PITCH DOWN' (the Xkey)
can be used to adjust the pitch of the sound(s), and can
also be used to actually transpose the keyboard withex-
perimentation.
7

INSTRUCTIONS TO MUSIC MACHINE
Command
Notes(keyboard
starting
at 'C')
Sharps
Keyboard (holding
the notes)
Effect
Waveform
Number
of voices
Change
the octave:
raise
lower
Percussion:
ON/OFF
RHYTHM SELECT
TEMPO UP
TEMPO DOWN
Pitch control:
up
down
Key
a through up arrow
(entire second row)
2
,3, 5,6,7,9,0 ,- ,pound sign
Commodore key
three choices
of sustai n, hold,
and decay
SHIFT on the left
four choices of none,
glide, vibrato and special
Zkey
triangular, sawtooth, square,
and na
rrow pulse
SHIFT
on the right
CRSR left
CRSRdown
fl
f3
f5
f7
C key
X key
8