boomlinde/ymacid

WIP

YMACID

An OPL2 software groovebox that is suited for live use. It draws inspiration from the Roland TB-303 and TR series and features two x0x-like sequencers, one for drums and one for bass or lead.

Running

YMACID.EXE [save path]

The save path will default to "ymacid.sav" but can be overridden to store multiple setups.

Controls

The controls have been optimized for a U.S. keyboard layout. It will suck on non-qwerty layouts in particular.

Common controls
---------------

C-q            quit program
return         start/stop playback
tab            toggle between drum/bass modes
=              increase pattern length
-              decrease pattern length
h or ←         move editor cursor left
l or →         move editor cursor right
H or C-←       shift pattern left
L or C-→       shift pattern right
pgup           increase tempo
pgdn           decrease tempo
F1-F8          change pattern (f1-f8)
S-F1 to S-F8   change pattern (F1-F8)
C-c            copy pattern
C-v            paste pattern
;              clear step at cursor
0              move cursor to first step
o              repeat steps before cursor
,              decrease selected parameter value by 1
.              increase selected parameter value by 1
<              decrease selected parameter value by 4
>              increase selected parameter value by 4

Bass sequencer controls
-------------

 2 3   5 6 7   set note at cursor
q w e r t y u
1              clear note at cursor
4              randomize step at cursor
f              toggle octave+ at cursor
d              toggle octave- at cursor
s              toggle slide at cursor
a              toggle accent at cursor
F              delete octave+ at cursor
D              delete octave- at cursor
S              delete slide at cursor
A              delete accent at cursor
k or ↑         increase pitch at cursor
j or ↓         decrease pitch at cursor
K or C-↑       increase pitch at and after cursor
J or C-↓       increase pitch at and after cursor
+              increase base pitch
_              decrease base pitch

Drum sequencer controls
-----------------------

1              toggle bass drum at cursor
2              toggle snare drum at cursor
3              toggle closed hi-hat at cursor
4              toggle open hihat at cursor
5              toggle low tom at cursor
6              toggle high tom at cursor
7              toggle cymbal at cursor
8              toggle accent at cursor
!              delete bass drum at cursor
@              delete snare drum at cursor
#              delete closed hi-hat at cursor
$              delete open hihat at cursor
%              delete low tom at cursor
^              delete high tom at cursor
&              delete cymbal at cursor
*              delete accent at cursor
j or ↓         move cursor to next quarter note
k or ↑         move cursor to previous quarter note
Q              toggle bass drum mute
W              toggle snare drum mute
E              toggle hi-hat mute
T              toggle toms mute
U              toggle cymbal mute
+              increase shuffle
_              decrease shuffle
?              toggle shuffle between bass+drums and drums only

Bass synthesizer parameters
---------------------------

z              ML: modulator level
x              MD: modulator decay
c              MM: modulator harmonic
v              MW: modulator waveform
b              MS: modulator sustain level
n              FB: modulator feedback factor
Z              CL: carrier level
X              CD: carrier decay
C              CM: carrier harmonic
V              CW: carrier waveform
B              AL: accent depth

Drum synthesizer parameters
---------------------------

q             BC: bass drum click level
w             BP: bass drum pitch
e             BL: bass drum level
r             BD: bass drum decay
a             HL: hi-hat level
s             HD: closed hi-hat decay
d             SL: snare drum level
f             SD: snare drum decay
z             TL: tom level
x             TD: tom decay
c             TM: tom harmonic
v             CL: cymbal level
b             CD: cymbal decay

Building

Prerequisites:

1. Unix-like operating system
2. dosbox (in $PATH)
3. unix2dos (in $PATH)
4. Turbo C 2.01
5. GNU make (in $PATH)

Launch dosbox and install Turbo C in the dos directory. When you are done, the folder dos/tc should exist. Run GNU make in $GITROOT.

build/YMACID.EXE should appear.

Configuration

The program optionally uses a configuration file, YMACID.CFG. It consists of whitespace delineated key and value pairs. For now:

• port: the address of the OPL port
• theme: the color theme to use, currently "data", "acid" or "borland"
• opl3: either 1 or 0. Enables OPL3 waveforms and optional splitting.
• split: eiter 1 or 0. When set to 1, drums will pass through one channel and bass through the other
• clock: either "int" or "pit" for now. "pit" mode uses the PC speaker timer as a clock source. This is very accurate, but does not work in DOSBox. "int" mode uses interrupt 0x15, function 0x8300 to setup delayed events at microsecond intervals. This works in DOSBox but is less accurate. "int" accuracy may depend on the motherboard chipset.
• midi: 0, or the port of the MPU-401 compatible device. Only UART mode is needed. 0 means no MIDI, and setting the port will send start/stop/clock messages on the MIDI output.
• mouse: 0 or 1. Enables mouse control of the currently selected bass synth parameter, regardless of whether the bass synth page is active.

Example configuration:

port 0x220
theme data
opl3 0
split 0
clock pit
midi 0
mouse 0

That is also the default configuration if there is no configuration file.

Compatibility notes

The program may not run correctly in Windows 95 and will not run correctly in dosbox using the PIT clock. It has been used successfully with Windows 98, and Windows 95 in DOS mode. It should work with an OPL2, but has only been tested with OPL3 in OPL2 compatibility mode.