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                     An Idiot's Guide to Writing Music
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                              By Mike Richmond
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     There are hundreds, maybe thousands of  people  out there in the world
     with as-yet  untapped  musical  talent.   Just  as  some  people don't
     realize they can draw because they  have  never tried, and others find
     they have a flair  for  writing,  a  lot  of potential musicians never
     realize their potential simply due to the fact they have never tried to
     play an instrument.

@1
     These people maybe can't play  the  piano,  or  the guitar, they maybe
     can't read or write music.  Perhaps you are one of them?

@5
     I'll set things straight here and now.   I  can't read OR write a NOTE
     of music.  Not at all.  You may  have noticed I am a prolific composer
     - how is this possible - how do  I  get  the ideas in my head into the
     computer?  Hopefully I will manage to  explain  this in this series of
     articles.

@4     My secret is (God,  I  sound  like  on  of  those American adverts for
     building up muscles) that I have  a  VERY  good knowledge of my chosen
     'instrument' - in my  case  this  is  OctaMED.   Added  to this is the
     desire to create music, to express  myself,  to  be at one with nature
     (?)  I spent most of my  earlier  years (are there any 'earlier years'
     at 16?) listening  to  music.   Listening  as  in  constantly.  Floyd,
     Jarre, Wally Whyton's Party Playtime - all of these have influenced my
     music.  I spent nearly all of my free time playing with my C64 (oo-er)
     - and as any 'proper' computer music-fan  will tell you, at that time,
     the C64 was expanding the boundaries  of  computer music - some of the
     stuff Hubbard and Galway produced with that thing could still stand as
     superb even today!  I always wanted to  make music, I always wanted to
     be the next Rob Hubbard (not  much  chance  of  that!) and it was that
     which made me learn how to use Soundtracker, then MED on the Amiga.
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     You may well be thinking 'Oh, there's  no  way I could write music.  I
     can't understand these  Tracker  programs.'   I'll  be explaining what
     does what and goes where.  It may look like a spreadsheet but in fact,
     the Tracker method is a really  easy  way  to write music for the non-
     musically minded. 
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     So, if you think you could  be  one  of those with hidden talent, read
     on.  Or if you  just want  to   learn  how  to  use Trackers, read on.
     OH, JUST READ ON FOR GOD'S SAKE!
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                              >> -- ** ** -- <<
@4
     First of all, load up your copy of OctaMED.  There's no excuse for not
     having one - it was on Amiga  Format.   It is the best Tracker package
     for beginners because it uses an Intuition interface and isn't full of
     bugs like Soundtracker itself.
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     Once done, you need some instruments to  play about with.  If you load
     the module that is either with  this  article  or on the AZ supplement
     disk (how should I know?) you will have some instruments to play about
     with.  Try playing it  with  the  Play  Song  button.  Good, eh?  Once
     you've had enough, choose New from the Project Menu and click on Clear
     current.  This clears the notes but keeps the instruments in memory.  
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     Now press escape to enter edit mode.   Try moving around the cursor by
     using the cursor keys.  Once you know  how  to do it, you will be able
     to put some note in.  Move to the first line of the block, on the left
     most track and press the I  key.   The letters C-3 10000 should appear
     and the cursor will move  down  one  block.  If nothing happens, press
     Escape to ensure editing is activate.   If  you make a mistake move up
     with the cursor up key and press  Del (NOT backspace).  You should now
     be able to place notes at regular intervals.

@4     When this bit is done,  hold  down  the  right  hand shift key and tap
     cursor right once.  Let go of shift  and move the cursor to the second
     block.  Go to the top and enter  C-3  notes  (I key) in a pattern once
     again.  Continue until all the tracks  have  been used.  Click on Play
     Song and hear your effort.  You can delete notes with Del and replace
     them with I.
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     If you want to save your new module, select
     Save SOng from the Project menu and give it
     a filename in the text entry box at the top
     Click on Save to actually save  the module.
@5                                              
     Next  month we will add blocks to the  song
     and try to get some kind of tune  into  it.
@3
     See you then,
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                              Mike Richmond,
                              86 Station Road,
                              Hessle,
                              North Humberside,
                              HU13 OBG.
     End.