Steinberg PRO 24 III User manual

^ pltfalls wc want ,0 make sur* t a t you avoid before starting to work
There are some proaus wc
with Pro-2 HI.
the program) inserted into the cartridge port. The master disk is single sided but you
may vety well copy the files to a double sided disk or harddisk. Remember to include
the files TAPE. RSC and CTAPE.RSC when copying.
Program crashes has always happened with computers, and a major crash will proba
bly result in that the Song resident in memory being lost forever. The only way to in
sure yourself against disasters is by saving regularly while working. Disks can also
get damaged, so making backup copies of your music is a must! 'yM
DEF. SNG .
When you copy the master disk, make sure you copy all files, including DEF.SNG.
This Song sets all parameters to initial values. These values can later be changed,
and a tow DEFSNG can be stored on disk.
SAVING
Some settings in the DEF.SNG can affect the MIDI-equipment in your system, by set
ting them to different modes. If vou wish tn avniri th;c .— r>~ ■
your equipment to the modes specified by you.

RUNNING STATUS
This is a kind of data compression method that some sysnthesizers don't accept. If you
have a Korg DDD-1 or DDD-5, an Ensoniq Mirage, a Sequential Prophet T8, or a very
old Yamaha DX-7 you may have to set the Running Status flag to Off (see page 181)
This is also the case if you use a Sequential Prophet 2000 or 2002 and want to send Pro
gram Change commands to it.
THE STS MIDI THRU AND MIDI CABLES
Atari decided to incorporate a MIDI-thru function in the MIDI Out connector of the
ST. They did this by using the two pins in the DIN connector that MIDI normallv
doesn’t use. Unfortunately some MIDI cable manufacturers (quite a few in fact) short
put these pins with the normal MIDI-pins. This results in a hardware MIDI-thru func
^pn that cannot be turned off! Make sure the MIDI cables you use are of the right
kind. 6
NOTE NOMENCLATURE
Pro-2 III, names notes after a German standard. Some of you might be confused by
having to make a difference between cO and CO (cO is one octave higher). Furthermore,
cO according to the German standard is known to many of you as C2. We had to chose a
method, and hope you are satisfied with our choice.
QUANTIZE AND PLAYBACK PARAMETERS
The Quantize function among the Playback parameters should not be used for perma
nent quantizing, only for tests or as an effect. Instead you should use one of the other
Quantizing possibilities (see Main Screen Quantize, page 5, and Grid and Score and
Drum Edit, pages 77 to 138).
NOTE OFF CONTROLLERS
Roland Synthesizers continuously send out controller number 123 which acts as an All
Notes Off command. This may lead to very confusing results when the same synth is
used on more than one Track. Filter out this controller using the Controller Filter on
the Midi Definitions page (see page 16 ).
COMPUTER KEYBOARD FUNCTIONS
If the computer keyboard commands don’t seem to work, make sure voi, rW * k
C ap Lock activated on your ST keyboard. There is no way of telling « Cap"
activated or not, you just have to test it. y s

C O N T E N T S
' " S S kbv a n d th e c o m p u t e r
■ MIDI
h a r d w a re
SOFTWARE
■ THE PRO-2 III CONCEPT
INSTANT GRATIFICATION
MIDI SETUP
INPUTTING VALUES
BASIC OPERATION
RECORDING
TIME SIGNATURE
MANUAL TEMPO
RECORD SELECT
ACTIVATING RECORDING
ACTIVATING RECORDING DURING PI.A
Contents
7
7
8
8
9
11
15
19
21
25
26
27
28
28
G 28
G DURING PLAYBACK 29
TYPES OF MIDI INFORMATION 29
31
PLAYBACK
sto p >
TRANSPORT CONTROLS 31
MIDI-CHANNELS
TAPE POSITION AND REAL TIME COUNTER 33
LOCATORS . g Jagg
TO SET THE LEFT AND RIGHT LOCATORS 3
USING LOCATORS
I THE CONCEPT OF PATTERNS i f
SELECTING PATTERNS
PATTERN NAMING 1
UNDERSTANDING DATACOPY 1
BASIC TRACK OPERATIONS 2
SELECTING TRACKS 3
NAMING TRACKS 3
5 ? Qu a n tiz in g «
7
Page

■ THE BUFFER
■ MUTE (STATUS)
■ SOLO
AUTO AND CYCLED RECORDING
■ PUNCH IN AND AUTO RECORDING
■ CYCLE AND CYCLED RECORDING
CYCLE DURING PLAYBACK
P CYCLED RECORDING
P MULTI RECORDING
g p SEPARATED RECORDING FROM SEVERAL MIDI-CHAN.
SYNC
PATTERN EDITING
E ; DELETING A PATTERN (DELETE)
? COPYING A WHOLE PATTERN
MOVING A WHOLE PATTERN
COPYING A PART OF A PATTERN
COPYING DURING CYCLED RECORDING
CHANGING THE LENGTH OF A PATTERN
SPLITTING A PATTERN IN TWO (SPLIT)
JOINING TWO PATTERNS INTO ONE (APPEND)
REPEATING A PATTERN (REPEAT)
CREATING AN EMPTY PATTERN (CREATE)
MIX-DOWN
REMIX
THE EDIT PAGES
■ BASIC CONCEPT
■ GRID-EDIT
THE SCREEN
GRID START AND END (L & R BOXES)
GRID RESOLUTION
EVENT LIST
PLAYING BACK A PATTERN
MOVING THE GRID TO SHOW A PART OF A PATTERN
WORKING WITH A RANGE
MOVING A NOTE
COPYING A NOTE
CHANGING THE LENGTH OF A NOTE
Contents

a s s s H I pr o g r a m m in g
DELETING NOTES
RESTORE
CANCEL
OK
EVENT EDIT
■ SCORE-EDIT
TWF SCREEN
GETTING THE SCORE PROPERLY DISPLAYED
PLAYING BACK A PATTERN
MOVING WITHIN THE PATTERN
WORKING WITH A RANGE
EDITING A NOTE
SETTING QUANTIZE VALUES
INSERTING NOTES, STEP PROG. & USING THE CLIPBOARD
COPYING AND MOVING NOTES DIRECTLY
DELETING NOTES
RESTORE
CANCEL
OK
■ GRID AND SCORE-EDIT MENUS
■ LOGICAL EDIT
THE SCREEN
SETTING UP CONDITIONS
ARITHMETIC OPERATIONS
DIRECT VALUES
POSITION-RANGE
PERFORMING THE EDITS
LOGICAL EVENT EDIT
DRUM-EDIT
THE SCREEN
THE NOTES ON THE GRID
SELECTING AN INSTRUMENT
SETTING QUANTIZE VALUES
TO SET UP KITS
o o p
PLAYING bIc^ A p a r t o f a p a™
UPDATE
Contents
86
87
88
89
92
92
92
92
93
96
96
97
100
100
101
103
106
106
111
112
112
112
112
113
118
119
119
121
122
122
123
12
125
125
126
126
127
127
130
130
130
131
Page 3

BEEP
ZOOM
ALL TRACKS
REALTIME RECORDING AND ERASING
STEPTIME INPUT
CHANGING VELOCITIES
COPYING AND USING THE BUFFER
THE FUNCTIONS MENU
1 THE BAR, LOOP AND PATTERN MENUS
RESTORE
I f CANCEL
OK
THE TRACK MENU
= LIST
MASTER TRACK
ACTIVATING THE MASTER TRACK
EDITING THE MASTER TRACK
TEMPO RECORDING
MASTER TRACK COPY
ERASING TRACKS
COPYING TRACKS
GLOBAL CUT/INSERT
GLOBAL TRANSPOSE
PRINT
WHERE AM I
ARRANGE SONG
TAPE AND SEQ MODE
SETTING TRACKS TO SEQ MODE
ARRANGING A SONG
THE FILE MENU, SAVING AND LOADING
■ SAVE SONG
■ LOAD SONG
■ SAVE PATTERN
■ LOAD PATTERN
■ IMPORT MIDI FILE
■ EXPORT MIDI FILE
■ DELETE FILES
■ NEW
■ QUIT
Contents

161
THE DESK MENU
THE MIDI MENU 163
lv 1 6 3
MIDI DEFINITIONS 163
FILTERS 165
CONTROLLER MAPS 166
MIDI-CLICK 166
MIDI-THRU 167
FILTER CHANNEL 168
SYS. EX OUT
MIDI-CLOCK
MIDI-DELAY
BEEP
REMOTE
168
168
169
171
171
172
REMOTE CONTROL 169
USING REMOTE
SETTING UP THE REMOTE KEY MAP
MODE-SETTING
MIDI-MODES
NOTE-OFF MESSAGES 1/2
DUMP-UTILITY 111
OUT CHANNEL 175
■ SMPTE 176
■ TAPE-CONTROL ^79
■ TEXT INPUT 179
THE FLAGS MENU 181
MIDI-CLICK 181
WARNINGS 181
RECORD CHANNEL 181
RESET ON STOP 181
RUNNING STATUS 181
PRECOUNT 182
PLAYBACK PARAMETERS 182
182
182
CYCLE: MULTI RECORDING 182
KEYBOARD COMMANDS 183
Contents

Contents

» 04 ttt « an extremely powerful music program, and there
fore not entirely easy to understand at first glance. This Manu
k s purpose is to guide you through all the different functions,
and alsoto work as a reference guide when you run mto prob
lems. The Contents List is laid out so that you easily will find
the section you are interested in.
This manual assumes that you are familiar with the standard
ways of operating your Atari ST. If you don’t know how to
handle discs, click, doubleclick, drag, or use pulldown menus you
should go back to your Atari ST Operation Manual before pro
ceeding.
♦ Bold text paragraphs in this manual refers to parts that are
specially important.
♦ Italic text paragraphs refers to sections that give hints about
how to use a function.
♦ Words or letters inside brackets, like [Return], are keys on the
computer keyboard.
THE DISK, THE KEY AND THE
COMPUTER
Pro-2 III runs on any Atari ST with at least one megabyte of
memory and TOS operating system in ROM. The program comes
on a single sided disk, without copy protection. This means that
you can copy the program to a harddisk or a double sided disk.
However, you need to have the Key (the plastic cartridge that
^ thC program) inserted when you use the program.
Remember to include the files TAPE.RSC and CTAPE.RSC when
Yj ©•
Se^roLam ^n Verifjcation to that you have actually bought
er t S r ^ °Se ,L Never * * * * e key with the pow
er tumed on on your computer.
introduction Page

The program runs with color monitor monitors also, but only in
Medium resolution. This manual refers to a black and white
monitor at all times, but you will have no difficulty following
the operations even if you use a color monitor.
MIDI
If you have used MIDI-sequencers or computer programs before
and feel really comfortable with the concept and the Atari ST,
please skip to page 15. But, if you feel a little bit insecure about
how MIDI and a program like this relates, this following sec
tion is for you.
Pro-2 III is a music program for the Atari ST. It records infor
mation from equipment with a MIDI interface. MIDI is a stan
dard agreed upon by the worlds different musical instrument
manufacturers. The first intentions with MIDI was that you
should be able to connect two synths, play on one of them and get
the sound from both. As you know, MIDI-applications have
evolved a bit since then.
MIDI is divided into a hardware and a software side. You don't
have to know much about the hardware side to use it, but you
have probably noticed that it uses 5-pin DIN connectors
(though normally only three pins are used). A lot of different
kind of equipment has MIDI implemented nowadays. Synthe
sizers, samplers and drummachines of course, but also reverbs
and other effect boxes, guitars, violins, pianos, wind and valve
instruments, mixing consoles and (as you know) computers.
■ HARDWARE
All MIDI equipment have at least a MIDI Out or a MIDI In con
nector (usually both), and sometimes also a MIDI Thru. This
last connector is supposed to just pass on data that has come in
via MIDI In. Using that you can connect all your equipment m
one long chain, with your Atari ST in one end, sending out data
to all instruments. Great idea, but it doesn't work to weU if you
have a lot of gear. The problems that arise are mainly tune de
lays, but if you are really unlucky you might lose data (like
timing information) on the way. __
A better bet is a MIDI Split or Thru box. With that you can con-
Page 8
Introduction

i •«. Mini Out to the split box's MIDI In, and all
» t t m id i ° u,'s- ™ s is s°me,imes
called a st“ you play, whether it is a synthe-
2 ? 5 d5 X " teverfshould have ifs MID. Out con-
theAtari STs MIDI In.
' • SOFTWARE
The second part of the MIDI standard is the language or the
code^hat is sent down the MIDI cable. Different mus.cal events
(such as pressing a key on a keyboard) are given status codes
and with them come some values (i.e. what key it was, and
with what velocity it was played). Notes are coded in a spe
cial manner. Each time you play a note a Note On command is
sent out to the instrument that should produce the sound. This
makes the note play until a corresponding Note O ff command is
received by the instrument. If no Note Off command ever shows
up, the note will sound forever. This droning effect is one of the
most common problems with MIDI. Every Note On has to be
matched by a Note Off.
The MIDI specification is full of events like the one described
above. A lot of different happenings can be transmitted from one
instrument to another. Among these are notes and their velocity
(how hard or fast you played a note), keyboard pressure, pitch
bend, program change (the fact that you switched to another
program on your instrument) and modulation.
CONTROLLERS
The modulation wheel is actually a specific case of what MIDI
defines as controllers. All the different things that you can use
to articulate a note (except velocity, pitch bend and pressure)
are controllers. Among these you find footpedals, footswitches,
breath controllers, faders, buttons and a lot of other things. Con
trollers are identified by numbers, and only a few of those are
standardized. The modulation wheel is controller number 1, and
is interpreted as vibrato in most cases. Other numbers are more
or less standardized, and again others are free for any use.
Introduction

MIDI-CHANNELS
All MIDI information discussed so far is MIDI-channel specific.
This means that it is always sent on one of the 16 MIDI-
channels. The concept of MIDI-channels may take some time to
understand.
The purpose of the MIDI-channel system is to direct different
parts of your music to different instruments. Thus you can have
your melody playing on MIDI-channel 7, a bass line on MIDI-
channel 1 and the drums on MIDI-channel 16.
But, since there are only three wires in a MIDI-cable, how you
can send 16 channels in it?
Each note (or other event) has its MIDI-channel coded into it,
and it is the receiving unit that determines by its settings if it is
to play the note or not
Just like TV. You have all the different stations coming down
into your antenna, and you decide by pressing buttons on the TV
which channel you want to look at. All others are ignored.
Each single note that comes out of a MIDI device incorporates a
MIDI-channel number. If you set your synth to MIDI-channel 1,
all the notes coming out will have MIDI-channel 1 as part of
their values. Sometimes you can make an instrument send on two
or more channels, and many synthesizers and samplers can re
ceive information on several MIDI-channels at the same time,
and direct them to different sounds. If they have this ability,
you say that they are multitimbral.
MODES
If an instrument is set to receive on all MIDI-channels, you say
that it is in Omni mode. If it is set to receive on one MIDI-
channel only, you say that it is in Poly mode. If it receives on
many different MIDI-channels but only monophonically (one
note at a time) on each of them, it is set to Mono mode. And last
ly, if it can receive polyphonically on several MIDI-channels it
is set to... well, there is no real official name for this, but it is
usually called Multi mode. Most MIDI-equipment can be set to
one of these modes from the outside, via MIDI.
Introduction Page 10

O p ® * J^ nh^ M ID I specification are not sent on any partic-
°! Jnx chlnnel These^essages therefore affect all units m
U reeardless of what MIDI-channel they are set to.
c Sk vISrmation is MIDI-clock, that for example make two
Such ,nf° . in c song Position Pointer which tells
MIDI devices where in a song they are, commands for Start,
Stop, Continue and so on.
Another part of the MIDI specification is System Exclusive.
This is used for information that can't be standardized, like the
settings of a synthesizer. Each registered MIDI manufacturer
has an ID code. When a System Exclusive followed by this ID-
number is sent out, any information in any format can follow.
This allows each manufacturer to transmit and receive informa
tion that only relates to that brand or model. It is mainly used
for dumping presets and reprogramming synthesizers via MIDI.
MIDI IMPLEMENTATION CHARTS
Pro-2 III can receive and transmit all these different types of
information. In fact, it may be able to produce MIDI-
information that not all units can understand. Exactly how
much of the MIDI-standard that is implemented in an instru
ment can be found on a MIDI Implementation Chart that usually
is included in the instruments Operation Manual.
THE PRO-24 III CONCEPT
Pro-2 III is a MIDI recorder for the Atari ST, and it works in
many ways as a regular tape recorder. The biggest difference is
of course that it doesn't record sound, but MIDI-data. The conse
quence of this is that a part recorded with a piano sound may be
played back by a sound more like a flute, or even a drum kit.
The computer in itself produces no sound, but relies on the MIDI
X C ! nt 7™nec,ted t0 If y°u only have one synthesizer,
H l l m K y y,0ne sound at a hme is limited to eight
how ra w Trark ^ that * yOUr Hmits' 1 wo,Vt mat*er
Changes vou nnt f reC° rd .°n' ° r how MIDI Program
a time and new m ° music' y°u w*n onlY hear one sound at
time, and never more than eight notes in one instant
Introduction

On the other hand, if you own, or have access to, several sound
sources there is almost no limit to what you can do.
TRACKS
As the name implies, Pro-2 III is a 2 -Track recorder. Normal
ly you record on one Track at a time, but it is possible to record on
up to Tracks at a time. The Tracks are of course used to separ
ate different musical parts from each other. One or several
Tracks can be used for drums, others for bass and so on. The
Tracks work very much as those of a regular tape recorder. It
doesn't really matter what MIDI-channel the instrument used
for recording is set to. Each Track can be set to play back on any
MIDI-channel afterwards.
PATTERNS
Each Track can be divided into several Patterns which make up
the different parts of a Song, intro, verse chorus, bridge etc. Pat
terns can be named for easy identification.
There is no relation between different Patterns on different
Tracks.
This means that Pattern number 2 on Track 1 can start on bar 9
and be 7 bars long, while Pattern number 2 on Track 3 starts on
Bar 1 and is bars long.
Track 21 Pa**™1 _____ _ _____ ___ »
Track 31 Pattern 1 I Pattern 21 Pattern 3 J
LAYOUT , u .. .
Normal operation of the program is carried out from the Main
Screen which lists all the different Tracks. On this screen you
also find buttons that act like a tape recorders trans^rtcon-
trols. A lot of other settings and operations can be done from Uus
screen, some of them involve selecting functions from the pull
down menus at the top.
The Locators are an important part of the program. They are
Page 12
Introduction

/ ejnnnO in the music that are used to specify
two points jPoSlt'°d playback should start (and end), and to dir
these points. They are sped-
M ^ S lts / fr a c t io n s of beats counting from the begmrung
of the Song.
Once something is recorded it can be manipulated in several
T Int of this is done on the main screen, but there are spe-
daTscreens, Grid-edit, Score-edit, Drum-edit and Logical Edit
that are dedicated to specific tasks.
All operations, except typing in names and numbers, can be done
with the mouse, and quite a few commands can also be earned
out from the ST-keyboard or even from your synth keyboard.
Introduction Page 13

Introd ction

TU IEN TV—H . P R G
Switch on your MIDI-instrument(s) and set it (them) to send
and receive on MIDI-channel 1. How to do this is described
in their respective Operation Manual.
Pull down the menu M idi, and select the item D efinitions.
As you can see there are a lot of things that can be defined,
but we are only interested in two things. The first is a little
box marked MIDI-thru. If you click on this button repeated
ly you can see that a tick appears and disappears to the left
of the text.

ately echoed back via its MIDI Out. If it didn't, you
wouldn't be hearing anything you played while recording!
EXIT
RECORD
5. The second box of interest is the one with the words Filter
Channel above it. If you press and hold the right mouse but
ton pointing on this box the values increase. Hold the mouse
button until the box says OFF (if it doesn't already).
6. Now click on the button in the lower right hand of this win
dow, marked EXIT. The window disappears.
7. If you are ready to record something, click on the big black
button RECORD, and you will get a two bar count in. Adjust
the volume of the metronome on your monitor, if necessary.
After the count in, start playing as long as you wish (but not
more than sixteen bars).
8. When you are finished, use the mouse to click on STOP.
9. Click on the button on the left hand of the screen, labelled
ZERO. This rewinds the "tape" to the beginning.
10. Click PLAY and listen to the result. When you are finished,
click on ZERO again.
| 11. If you wish to overdub, you must select another Track for
recording. On the top of the screen you find a row of twenty-
1 four identical groups of symbols. The lowest of each one .s an
upward pointing arrow. Right now the arrow furthermost to
the left is negative (black arrow on a white square) mdicat
ing that Track 1 is selected for recording.
12. Select Track 2 as your Recording Track by clicking once on its
arrow.
13. Click RECORD, and you will get a two bar count in. After
the count in, start playing as long as you wish.
1 . When you are finished, click STOP.
Instant Gratification Page 16

15 Rewind the ''tape” by pressing ZERO, and press PLAY to lis-
' ten to your music with the overdub.
mncratulations, you have just finished youx first recording us-
Tpr^2 in As you understand, you are just scratching the sur-
S f e ^ e program. For serious recording, v,e must refer to the
rest of this manual.
Inslant Gratification
nvfSit
iran—
m m s m Page 1
mSSK■