Users Manual Users Manual

Users Manual Users Manual Users Manual

For Mac OS X
Blank Page
VocalWriter VocalWriter
VocalWriter VocalWriter VocalWriter
TM TM TM TM TM
Music and Vocal Synthesis
Version 2.0 Version 2.0 Version 2.0 Version 2.0 Version 2.0
Users Manual Users Manual Users Manual Users Manual Users Manual
Copyright 2005 KAE Labs. All rights reserved.
This manual may not, in whole or part, be distributed, copied, reproduced, translated, or converted to any
electronic or machine readable form without written consent of KAE Labs.
Your rights to the software are governed by the accompanying software license agreement.
VocalWriter, VocalTracks and Resonant Articulatory Synthesis (RAS) are trademarks of KAE Labs.
Mailing Address: KAE Labs
P.O. Box 1904
Woodinville, WA 98077
Web Page: http://kaelabs.com
E-Mail: [email protected]
Contents Contents Contents Contents Contents
Getting Started Getting Started Getting Started Getting Started Getting Started ................................................................. ................................................................. ................................................................. ................................................................. ................................................................. 11 11 11 11 11
About This Chapter .................................................................................. 12
About VocalWriter ................................................................................... 13
The Editors .................................................................................... 14
The Sequencer and Synthesizers .................................................... 14
Resonant Articulatory Synthesis ...................................................... 15
Starting VocalWriter ................................................................................. 18
System Requirements..................................................................... 18
Installing VocalWriter ..................................................................... 18
What Gets Installed ....................................................................... 19
Product Registration ...................................................................... 19
Playing Music Tutorial Playing Music Tutorial Playing Music Tutorial Playing Music Tutorial Playing Music Tutorial ....................................................... ....................................................... ....................................................... ....................................................... ....................................................... 21
About This Chapter .................................................................................. 22
Opening the Demo File ........................................................................... 23
The Deck Window ................................................................................... 24
Play Button ................................................................................... 24
Stop and Rewind Buttons .............................................................. 25
Fast Forward Button...................................................................... 25
Deck Window Behavior ................................................................. 25
Deck Menu ................................................................................... 26
The Tracks Window.................................................................................. 28
Overview ...................................................................................... 28
Track Control Area ......................................................................... 29
Track Mute and Solo...................................................................... 30
Track Select and Track Level ........................................................... 30
Track Type..................................................................................... 31
Track Name................................................................................... 33
Play / Record................................................................................. 34
Marker Buttons and Play from Marker ............................................ 35
Navigate Buttons........................................................................... 35
Viewing Lyrics .......................................................................................... 37
Playing Standard MIDI Files ...................................................................... 38
Why Standard MIDI Files? .............................................................. 38
Loading MIDI Files ......................................................................... 39
Songs Menu.................................................................................. 40
Reviewing This Chapter ................................................................. 40
Vocal Idiosyncrasies ................................................................................. 41
Fast Forward................................................................................. 41
Starting Midstream ........................................................................ 41
Editing Music Tutorial Editing Music Tutorial Editing Music Tutorial Editing Music Tutorial Editing Music Tutorial ....................................................... ....................................................... ....................................................... ....................................................... ....................................................... 43
About This Chapter .................................................................................. 44
Copy and Paste Tracks.............................................................................. 45
Adding a Drum Track .................................................................... 45
Changing the Track Type to Drums................................................ 46
Saving Your Work .......................................................................... 48
Transposing the Song.................................................................... 48
Adding the Melody........................................................................ 50
Changing the Track Type to Vocals ................................................ 51
Editing Lyrics............................................................................................ 53
Marker Buttons .............................................................................. 55
Horizontal Zoom ........................................................................... 55
Typing the Lyrics ........................................................................... 56
Adding a Karaoke Track ................................................................. 60
Experimenting with Vocals ....................................................................... 63
Changing the Vocal Instrument ..................................................... 63
Vocal Chorus ................................................................................ 66
Pitch-Bend .................................................................................... 68
VocalWriter Reference VocalWriter Reference VocalWriter Reference VocalWriter Reference VocalWriter Reference....................................................... ....................................................... ....................................................... ....................................................... ....................................................... 71
About This Chapter .................................................................................. 72
Menus .......................................................................................... 73
Windows ...................................................................................... 73
The File Menu.......................................................................................... 73
New ............................................................................................. 73
Open ........................................................................................ 73
Save.............................................................................................. 75
Save As...................................................................................... 75
Close............................................................................................. 76
Close Window............................................................................... 76
Export ....................................................................................... 77
Play-to-Disk ................................................................................ 78
Quit .............................................................................................. 79
The VocalWriter Menu ............................................................................. 80
Preferences ................................................................................... 80
The Edit Menu ......................................................................................... 82
Undo ............................................................................................ 82
Cut ............................................................................................... 82
Copy ............................................................................................. 83
Paste ............................................................................................. 83
Clear ............................................................................................. 83
Transpose Song ......................................................................... 84
Scale Levels................................................................................ 85
Time Signature .............................................................................. 86
Reverb Controls ............................................................................. 86
Insert Measures.......................................................................... 88
Delete Measures ........................................................................ 88
The Selection Menu ................................................................................. 89
Transpose Notes ........................................................................ 89
Quantize Notes.......................................................................... 90
Move Events.............................................................................. 91
Change Duration .......................................................................... 92
Change Velocity ............................................................................ 93
Change Controller ......................................................................... 93
Adjust Phonemes .......................................................................... 95
The Windows Menu
Deck ............................................................................................. 97
Tracks ........................................................................................... 97
Notes ............................................................................................ 97
Copyright ...................................................................................... 98
Imported Lyrics .............................................................................. 98
Karaoke......................................................................................... 98
Synth Stats .................................................................................... 99
Instrument Map........................................................................... 100
The Deck Menu ..................................................................................... 101
Play............................................................................................. 101
Play-From-Marker......................................................................... 101
Stop ............................................................................................ 101
Record ........................................................................................ 101
Rewind ....................................................................................... 101
The MIDI Menu ...................................................................................... 102
Output Setup .............................................................................. 102
Input Setup ................................................................................. 103
Turn Metronome ON................................................................... 104
Trun Metronome OFF ................................................................. 104
All Notes Off ................................................................................ 104
The Deck Window ................................................................................. 105
Rewind ....................................................................................... 105
Stop ............................................................................................ 105
Play............................................................................................. 106
Play-From-Marker......................................................................... 106
Record ........................................................................................ 106
Fast Forward............................................................................... 107
Window and Button Behavior ..................................................... 108
The Copyright Window.......................................................................... 109
The Tracks Window................................................................................ 110
Cursor Location Display ............................................................... 111
Track Control Area ....................................................................... 111
Track Select ................................................................................. 112
Track Type................................................................................... 113
Track Name................................................................................. 114
Track Mute and Solo.................................................................... 114
Play / Record............................................................................... 115
Track Level .................................................................................. 115
Marker Buttons ............................................................................ 116
Navigate Buttons......................................................................... 116
The Notes Window................................................................................ 117
Quantize Button.......................................................................... 117
Horizontal Zoom Button .............................................................. 119
Select and Insert Mode Buttons.................................................... 119
Note Duration Palette.................................................................. 120
Control Density Button ................................................................ 121
Navigate Buttons......................................................................... 121
The Virtual Keyboard ................................................................... 122
Note Velocity Slider ..................................................................... 122
Position Displays .......................................................................... 123
Marker Buttons ............................................................................ 123
Control Select Button................................................................... 123
Notes Area .................................................................................. 129
Control Data Area ....................................................................... 131
Blank Page
Chapter 1 - Getting Started 11 11 11 11 11
Getting Started Getting Started
Getting Started Getting Started Getting Started
About This Chapter
About VocalWriter
Starting VocalWriter
Chapter 1
Chapter 1 - Getting Started 12 12 12 12 12
This chapter explains what you need to do before using VocalWriter. Youll learn
how VocalWriter is organized, some basic differences between speech and
instrumental acoustics, what equipment you need and finally how to install and
register your software.
When you have finished this chapter, youll be ready to start using VocalWriter
and begin the tutorial described in the next chapter.
About This Chapter About This Chapter About This Chapter About This Chapter About This Chapter
Chapter 1 - Getting Started 13 13 13 13 13
VocalWriter is a Mac OS X music application that has the unique feature to
synthesize vocals from lyric text. It integrates music editing together with real-
time synthesis output for an interactive authoring environment. One advantage of
this tight integration is many complex editing operations are easily automated.
For example, editing lyrics is a simple process. All the complexity with finding the
correct pronunciations and accurately synchronizing the phonetic units is hidden
from the user.
Real-time Software Synthesis: Real-time Software Synthesis: Real-time Software Synthesis: Real-time Software Synthesis: Real-time Software Synthesis:
Sing English lyrics 85+ singer models
General MIDI instruments 60 voice polyphony
32 voice/track multi-timbre Built-in reverb
Real-time MIDI input/output
Authoring and Editing: Authoring and Editing: Authoring and Editing: Authoring and Editing: Authoring and Editing:
Graphical music editor
Enter lyrics as English words
Over 100,000 words in English pronunciation dictionary
Import and export Standard MIDI Files
32-track note and controller editing
Save music to AIFF files for final output
As shown in Fig. 1.1, VocalWriter workflow is centered around the Song Editor.
From there, the user can either create and change the contents of each individual
track in the song or control and monitor the real-time performance of the song.
Also shown, MIDI I/O is supported for either note data entry or for live perfor-
mance.
About VocalWriter About VocalWriter About VocalWriter About VocalWriter About VocalWriter
Sequencer
Track
Editors
Song
Editor
Soft Synths
MIDI
Fig 1.1
VocalWriter
workflow diagram
Chapter 1 - Getting Started 14 14 14 14 14
The Editors The Editors The Editors The Editors The Editors
The two basic editors in VocalWriter are the Tracks and Notes windows. The
Tracks window shows all the tracks in the song in a single view to allow making
global modifications that affect the entire song. On the other hand, each
individual track can be opened separately in a Notes window to editing individual
note, controls and vocal events.
Since the differentiating VocalWriter feature is the unique vocal synthesizer, an
obvious question to ask is why release yet another proprietary music editor?
Arent there already many established and better editors we could leverage by
simply developing a plug-in synth? Unfortunately that wasnt possible and the
next subsection will try to answer that question.
The Sequencer and Synthesizers The Sequencer and Synthesizers The Sequencer and Synthesizers The Sequencer and Synthesizers The Sequencer and Synthesizers
Fig. 1.2 shows the real-time performance section of VocalWriter. The sequencer
reads the note events and dispatches them to the appropriate synthesizer.
Although this looks like a standard sequencer design with two plug-in synths,
VocalWriter actually has a unique requirement for real-time playback: singers
need to know what theyre singing next.
Fig 1.2
VocalWriter real-
time performance
section has unique
look-ahead
requirements.
Vocal
Synth
Wavetable
Synth
Sequencer
Do - Do
Piano M
i
x
e
r
Vocals
The MIDI note ON / OFF model does not work for vocals because speech is a
precisely timed continuous process rather than the mostly independent and
discrete event sequence for instrumentals. A singer needs to know ahead of time
exactly what notes and what syllables are next to successfully sing the phrase.
Chapter 1 - Getting Started 15 15 15 15 15
Likewise, the vocal synthesizer needs to know not only the current note and
syllable, but also the next note, exactly when it will occur, the next syllable, the
next pitch, all controller events in between, any tempo changes, etc. In fact, note
OFF has very little meaning for singers the entire phrase is a single event.
These unique look-ahead requirements are beyond any real-time synthesizer
plug-in architecture and is why VocalWriter has to include a custom sequencer.
Resonant Articulatory Synthesis Resonant Articulatory Synthesis Resonant Articulatory Synthesis Resonant Articulatory Synthesis Resonant Articulatory Synthesis
Combining the latest advancements in the acoustic modeling of musical instru-
ments with new breakthroughs in speech synthesis, VocalWriter uses a sophisti-
cated technique called Resonant Articulatory Synthesis (RAS) to model the
human vocal tract. This mathematical vocal tract model is the core technology
used to make VocalWriter sing.
Human vocals are probably the most complex of all musical instruments. Most
acoustic instruments have fixed and static behavior when compared to human
speech production. With most acoustic instruments, theres only a single type of
sound excitation source and the instruments resonant characteristics dont
change very much. The instrument timbre usually stays in a very narrow range.
On the other hand, speech is highly dynamic. Its acoustic characteristics are
almost never stationary. Vocals are complex because:
The instrument shape is continually changing (throat, tongue, lips, cheeks,
etc.) in a very controlled and precise way to articulate intelligible speech.
There are many different sound sources, glottis (vowels), tongue (t), teeth
(s) or lips (p). These are often articulated simultaneously (like glottis and
teeth together making z).
The sound output can be through the mouth, nose (m) or neck (b).
Wide timbre range. Voices can be male, female, child, adult, breathy, hoarse,
whisper, scream, etc.
Chapter 1 - Getting Started 16 16 16 16 16
This dynamic behavior of speech is illustrated in Figs 1.3 and 1.4. These graphs
show the waveform signal on the bottom and its corresponding spectrogram on
the top. Its assumed that VocalWriter users are already familiar with digital audio
so no explanation is needed for the waveform.
Fig 1.3
Oboe spectrogram
(top) and oboe
waveform
(bottom) showing
static behavior.
Like the signal waveform that shows signal air pressure changes over time, the
spectrogram shows harmonic or spectrum changes over time. It is especially
useful to show any resonant frequencies are in the signal. The oboe in Fig. 1.3
has the expected open tube resonances shown by the horizontal stripes at 500,
1000, 1500, 2000 3000 and 4500 Hz. The brighter the color means a stronger
resonance at that frequency. For the oboe, there is a predominant frequency
peak caused by the combination of the 1000 and 1500 resonances and is an
important characteristic in defining that recognizable oboe timbre.
Except for the brief period when the note first starts, notice how the oboe
spectrum is very static and stationary. This is expected since nothing physically is
changing very much while the note is playing. The instrument dimensions are
fixed and the performer is maintaining a somewhat constant air pressure on the
reed.
Now compare that to the speech signal in Fig. 1.4. Throughout the entire spoken
word, the acoustic features are never stationary, continually changing in very
precise movements to articulate the intended speech message. Unlike the oboe,
here the instrument shape is never the same, causing acoustic resonant frequen-
cies to be deliberately modulated using very complex trajectories. Also unlike the
Chapter 1 - Getting Started 17 17 17 17 17
oboe, which has only a single excitation source (the vibrating reed), speech has
many excitation sources located at different points on the vocal tract.
You can easily see in the speech waveform how different excitation sources
change the shape of the signal. The f is produced by smoothly blowing air
through our teeth and lips. The t has an entirely different sound caused by a
burst of released air through the teeth and tongue. The d is similar except it
also has along with the burst an additional glottal voicing. The n is distinctive
because the signal is partly radiated through the nose.
Even more dramatic is the difference shown between the two spectrograms.
Notice how the resonances are now highly dynamic and continuously variable.
This is because we are changing the shape of our mouths to produce the various
phonemes that define the specific timbres used to build syllables and words.
These dynamic resonances or formants are the primary acoustic encoding for
human speech.
And finally, if you play two different oboes, most people would not be able to
hear major differences between them. For most of us, one oboe sounds similar
any other oboe weve heard. However with speech, just the opposite is true.
Each speaker and singer we hear has their own distinct acoustic characteristics
that we can easily identify and discriminate.
f r a u d u l e n t
Fig 1.4
Speech signal of
spoken female
fraudulent
utterance showing
dynamic behavior.
Chapter 1 - Getting Started 18 18 18 18 18
System Requirements System Requirements System Requirements System Requirements System Requirements
To use VocalWriter, youll need the following system requirements:
PowerPC G4, or G5 processor
Mac OS X v.10.3 through v.10.4
512 MB minimal
10 MB of available hard-disk space
1,024x768 monitor resolution with 16-bit video card
Stereo or mono audio output (44.1 kHz, 16-bits)
MIDI interface (optional)
Note that other configurationswill probably work just fine. At the time of this
writing, these were the ones tested.
Installing VocalWriter Installing VocalWriter Installing VocalWriter Installing VocalWriter Installing VocalWriter
To make distribution easier, all the VocalWriter files have been combined into a
single disk image file called VocalWriter20.dmg. So to install VocalWriter, youll
need to open the disk image and manually copy the VocalWriter 2.0 folder to a
permanent location somewhere on youre your computer.
Fig 1.5
To install
VocalWriter, drag
this foldr on to
your hard drive.
Starting VocalWriter Starting VocalWriter Starting VocalWriter Starting VocalWriter Starting VocalWriter
Chapter 1 - Getting Started 19 19 19 19 19
What Gets Installed What Gets Installed What Gets Installed What Gets Installed What Gets Installed
Fig 1.6 shows the required files needed to run VocalWriter. The file called
VocalWriter is the application you open to play and edit music. The support files
GMSpeech, GMBank and EnglishLex are the music synthesizer extensions used by
VocalWriter to play music. These files must always be in the same folder with the
VocalWriter application file for correct operation. If any of these files are removed,
VocalWriter will not work.
Fig 1.6
VocalWriter files.
In addition, music files are installed into two folders. The Tutorial folder contains
example files youll use in Chapter 3. The Demo Music folder has some demo
music files for you to try out with VocalWriter.
Product Registration Product Registration Product Registration Product Registration Product Registration
When you run VocalWriter for the first time, youll need to register the new copy
of the program. While in the Finder, open the VocalWriter 2.0 folder and
launch VocalWriter by double-clicking on the icon.
After a few moments, youll see the Product Registration window displayed. Type
your Name and product Serial Number into the two text fields shown on the
window. The product Serial Number is emailed to you when you register
Chapter 1 - Getting Started 20 20 20 20 20
VocalWriter. Type this number carefully, VocalWriter needs this number to be
entered exactly as shown on the label. You can switch between these two fields
by either pressing the TAB key on your keyboard or by simply clicking your
mouse anywhere inside each field rectangle.
The Register button remains disabled until both fields have valid entries. If the
button is still disabled after entering your Name and product Serial Number, this
means you made a mistake copying the Serial Number. Double-check this
number and correct it until the Register button becomes enabled.
Fig 1.7
Type your name
and product Serial
Number.
After entering your name and product serial number, click your mouse on the
Register button or press the RETURN key on your keyboard to continue with
the start-up process.
VocalWriter - Playing Music Tutorial 21 21 21 21 21
About This Chapter
Opening the Demo File
The Deck Window
The Tracks Window
Viewing Lyrics
Playing Standard MIDI Files
Vocal Idiosyncrasies
Playing Music Tutorial Playing Music Tutorial
Playing Music Tutorial Playing Music Tutorial Playing Music Tutorial
Chapter 2
VocalWriter - Playing Music Tutorial
22 22 22 22 22
Fig 2.1 The two VocalWriter windows after launch.
Deck Window Tracks Window
When you launch VocalWriter, the two windows in Fig 2.1 are displayed. The small
window in the upper left corner is called the Deck window. It has controls to start
and stop the music. On the bottom is an empty Tracks window (named Un-
titled) for displaying, editing and controlling music tracks.
In this chapter, youll learn:
How to load VocalWriter and MIDI files.
The basic Deck window functions for playing music.
The basic Tracks window functions for controlling music tracks.
How to view Karaoke lyrics.
Some peculiarities of sung vocals.
About This Chapter About This Chapter About This Chapter About This Chapter About This Chapter
VocalWriter - Playing Music Tutorial 23 23 23 23 23
Pull down the File menu and select the Open... item.
At the File Open dialog, got into the Demo Music folder and youll see a list of
VocalWriter music files (the actual file names in your folder may be different from
whats shown in Fig 2.3). The file youll open is called Five Days.trk.
Before loading this file, note the three-character extensions at the end of the file
names. Files ending with the .trk extension are VocalWriter specific files. Files
ending with the .mid extension are Standard MIDI files.
Opening the Demo File Opening the Demo File Opening the Demo File Opening the Demo File Opening the Demo File
Fig 2.3
File Open dialog.
Fig 2.2
Loading files.
VocalWriter - Playing Music Tutorial
24 24 24 24 24
Play Button Play Button Play Button Play Button Play Button
As shown below in Fig 2.4, the Deck control buttons are somewhat similar in
function to a tape deck or VCR unit. The Counter is positioned at the beginning
(measure 1, beat 1) and the Stop button is pressed. To start the music, press the
Play button. You should now hear a familiar Christmas tune sung using various
synthesized voices with guitar accompaniment.
The difference is .trk files can only be opened and played by VocalWriter while
Standard MIDI files can be imported and exported by many different music pro-
grams, including VocalWriter. The reason for this distinction is .trk files have
additional information that cannot be included in the Standard MIDI format.
Go ahead and open the demo file called Five Days.trk. When the file has loaded,
youll see the Tracks window update itself with information from this file. Youre
now ready to play some music.
Fig 2.4
The Deck
Window.
The Deck Window The Deck Window The Deck Window The Deck Window The Deck Window
Rewind Stop Play Play
from Marker
Fast
Forward
Counter VU Meter
Record
VocalWriter - Playing Music Tutorial 25 25 25 25 25
Since this is a short piece of music, play it all the way through to the end. As the
music is playing, the Counter increments, showing the current music position.
The VU Meter lights are displaying the volume for both the left and right sound
output channels. When the end is reached, the Stop button is automatically
pressed and the Counter position is automatically reset to the first beat (1:1).
Stop and Rewind Buttons Stop and Rewind Buttons Stop and Rewind Buttons Stop and Rewind Buttons Stop and Rewind Buttons
Press the Play button again and let it play for a measure or so. Now press the Stop
button. Youll notice the music has stopped and the Counter is set at the location
where you stopped. Press the Play button again and youll hear the music pickup
and continue from the point where you stopped.
If you want to restart from the beginning, press the Rewind button while the
music stopped. The Counter will reset to the first beat. If you try pressing the
Rewind button while the music is playing, nothing will happen (no, it wont play
backwards!). The Rewind button can only be used while the music is stopped.
Fast Forward Button Fast Forward Button Fast Forward Button Fast Forward Button Fast Forward Button
While the music is playing, press the Fast Forward. Youll hear the music rate
increase to twice the tempo. When you release the Fast Forward button, the
tempo reverts back to normal speed.
The Fast Forward button works opposite of the Rewind button: it only functions
when the music is playing. Pressing it when the music is stopped will have no
effect. If you need to play from a specific point midstream in the music, this can
be done by using Markers in the Tracks window. This topic will be covered later.
Deck Window Behavior Deck Window Behavior Deck Window Behavior Deck Window Behavior Deck Window Behavior
A general rule with VocalWriter is buttons and controls inside an inactive window
are disabled. Theyll work only when the window is active. Plus, inactive windows
become active whenever you click your mouse anywhere inside the window.
VocalWriter - Playing Music Tutorial
26 26 26 26 26
The sole exception to this rule is the Deck window. The Deck buttons are always
active. If you press any of them when the Deck window is inactive, theyll still
work. In addition, pressing a Deck button on an inactive Deck window does not
activate the Deck window. Whatever window was active when you pressed the
Deck button still remains active.
This non-standard Deck window behavior is there for your convenience. It lets
you play or stop your music with a single mouse click when youre working in
another window. It also keeps your current window active after pressing Deck
buttons. This saves a lot of unnecessary mouse clicking in windows.
With the music stopped, click your mouse inside the Copyright window to make it
active. This automatically makes the Deck window inactive since only one window
can be active at any time. Now try pressing the Play button. Youll notice the
button still works, even though the window is inactive. Also notice the Copyright
window remains active. To make the Deck window active, youll need to click you
mouse somewhere inside the Deck window other than the Deck buttons. Try
clicking on the VU Meter area to make the Deck window active again.
Deck Menu Deck Menu Deck Menu Deck Menu Deck Menu
The Deck Menu gives you an additional way for controlling your music. Except for
FastForward, every button in the Deck window has a corresponding item in this
menu. You can use this menu in cases when the Deck window is covered and not
visible.
Fig 2.5
The Deck Menu.
VocalWriter - Playing Music Tutorial 27 27 27 27 27
This menu also provides Command Key equivalents. In many cases youll find
these more convenient than pressing the Deck buttons. By the way, an easy way
to remember the Command Key for Play is to think of the word Go (unfortu-
nately xP is the Mac standard Command Key for Print). Likewise, to help
remember the Command Key for Rewind, think of the word Back.
Deck Window Summary:
The Play button starts the music at the current Counter location.
The Rewind button sets the Counter to the beginning (1:1).
Rewind only works when the music is stopped.
Fast Forward speeds up the tempo when playing.
Fast Forward only works when music is playing.
The Deck buttons are always enabled, even if the window is inactive.
Pressing a Deck button on an inactive Deck window does not
make it active.
An alternate method for the deck functions is the Deck Menu.
VocalWriter - Playing Music Tutorial
28 28 28 28 28
Overview Overview Overview Overview Overview
VocalWriter uses a multitrack tape deck analogy to control and organize music data.
And like a multitrack deck, each of the 32 individual tracks can be edited and
controlled independent of one another.
Looking in the Tracks window, youll notice its divided into three basic areas. The
topmost area of the window has a collection of miscellaneous displays and
controls. Below these are the individual tracks with each horizontal row repre-
senting one track in the music file. On the right is the Track Data Area where the
horizontal colored lines are miniature piano-roll representations of the notes for
each track. On the left, the Track Control Area, is a series of buttons for control-
ling, editing and naming each track.
The Tracks Window The Tracks Window The Tracks Window The Tracks Window The Tracks Window
Fig 2.6 Tracks window showing example music file.
Navigate
Buttons
Cursor Location
Display
Marker
Buttons
Track Data Area Track Control Area
VocalWriter - Playing Music Tutorial 29 29 29 29 29
Except for the first track, all remaining tracks can have note data. Track 1 is unique
because it only contains tempo changes. This is called the Tempo Track. In the
first measure, notice that a tempo change is shown as a small vertical gray bar.
This bar represents the opening tempo for this song.
Make sure the Tracks window is active by clicking your mouse in the Tracks
window title bar. As you move your mouse around the Track Data area, youll see
the Cursor Location Display indicate the cursor position in the song. The left
display labeled T shows the track number. This reflects vertical mouse position
as the cursor passes over each individual track. To the right of this is a display
showing horizontal cursor position (M B F). The number under the M label
shows the measure location of your mouse, B shows the beat and F shows the
fine units. These fine units are small subdivisions of the beat. They are usually
referred to as ticks per quarter note. Well deal more with this later, but for now
remember that VocalWriter has 240 of these subdivisions for a quarter note.
Go up to the Deck window and press the Play button. Youll see the Track Data
Area in the Tracks window hilite the current measure being playing. When the
music gets to the right end of the window, the Track Data Area will automatically
scroll to the right.
Track Control Area Track Control Area Track Control Area Track Control Area Track Control Area
Shown in Fig 2.7 are the Track Controls for track 2. Each one of the 32 tracks has
an identical set. These controls are used for track editing and track playback
control.
Track
Select
Play -
Record
Track
Type
Track
Name
Track
Mute
Track
Solo
Fig 2.7
Track Control
Buttons.
VocalWriter - Playing Music Tutorial
30 30 30 30 30
Track Mute and Solo Track Mute and Solo Track Mute and Solo Track Mute and Solo Track Mute and Solo
With the music playing from the beginning, look at the Track Control Area for
track 2 (Vocals). Press the Mute button (labeled M). You should now hear only
the guitar accompaniment, without the vocals. Notice the track has been grayed
out. The Mute button turns the sound off for that track. Press the Mute button
again and you should hear the vocals return and the track is no longer grayed out.
Now press the Solo button (labeled S) for track 2. Now youll hear only the
vocals without any guitar accompaniment. Notice all the tracks except for track 2
have been grayed out. The Solo function is the complement of the Mute function.
While the Mute button turns sound off for only the specified track, the Solo
button turns sound off for all tracks except for the specified track.
With track 2 still in Solo, press the Solo button for track 5 (Guitar 3). You will
now hear both tracks 2 and 5 with tracks 3 and 4 still silent. Any number of tracks
can be in Solo or in Mute. To un-Mute or un-Solo a track, press the button again.
These buttons work much like standard Mac check-box buttons.
Track Mute and Solo Summary:
Mute turns sound off for the specified track.
Solo turns sound off for all tracks except the specified track.
More than one track can be in Solo or Mute.
Mute and Solo buttons behave like Mac check-boxes.
Track Select and Track Level Track Select and Track Level Track Select and Track Level Track Select and Track Level Track Select and Track Level
Make sure no tracks remain in Solo or in Mute from the previous examples. Press
the Track Select button for track 2 (labeled 2). Besides highlighting this track in
the Track Data Area, notice the Track Level thumb is now drawn on the slider.
Fig 2.8
Track Level slider.
VocalWriter - Playing Music Tutorial 31 31 31 31 31
Start playing the song from the beginning. When you hear the vocals, slowly drag
(click-drag) the Track Level thumb towards the left. The vocals will become
proportionately quieter as you go left until the track becomes silent. Dragging the
thumb towards the right will make the track louder again. The slider display is
calibrated from 0% to 200% of normal loudness.
This slider can be used to adjust the level balance for each track. Its especially
useful when youre experimenting with different instrument arrangements for a
track. Youll find it much easier than trying to scale note velocity or volume
controls. The slider becomes active when any track selection is made in the Tracks
window.
As will be shown later, you can select track areas by simply dragging the mouse in
the Track Data Area. The Track Select buttons give you the convenience of
selecting the entire track. Press the Track Select button for track 3 and notice that
track 2 is automatically deselected and its Track Select button unpressed. These
buttons behave like standard Mac radio buttons since selecting a new track also
deselects the old track.
Track Select and Track Level Summary:
Track Level slider adjusts the volume for selected track.
Track Select buttons select the entire track.
Track Select buttons behave like Mac radio buttons.
Track Type Track Type Track Type Track Type Track Type
With the music stopped, press the Track Type button for track 2. Youll see the
pop-up menu shown in Fig 2.7. The first and last items are dimmed while the
middle two are active. For now, dont select anything from the menu, just release
your mouse button to hide the pop-up.
Fig 2.9
Track Type
Pop-up menu.
VocalWriter - Playing Music Tutorial
32 32 32 32 32
This menu lets you tell VocalWriter what type of data is played for each track. The
letter drawn on the Track Type button shows you the data type selected for the
track.
Instrumental Play General MIDI instruments
Drum Play General MIDI drum set
Vocal Sing lyrics
Karaoke Display lyric text
Tempo Play tempo changes
Since track 1 is always the Tempo track, you cannot change its type. All the
remaining tracks can be Instrumental, Drum, Vocal or Karaoke. Only one track can
be designated as the Karaoke track. VocalWriter uses this to display the lyrics in a
special window while the music is playing. Once you designate the Karaoke track,
its selection in the Track Type pop-up will always be dimmed for all tracks.
The Track Type pop-up for track 2 had the Vocal and Karaoke items dimmed
because the track is already vocal and the song has a designated karaoke track
(track 6). More on the Track Type will be discussed in the next chapter.
If you press the Track Type button while the OPTION key on the keyboard is
down, the pop-up menu now shows the location of every instrument change in
the track. Press the Track Type button for track 2 with the OPTION key pressed
(Fig 2.8). Select the instrument called 17:3 - Tracy. The Track Data Area will
automatically scroll to measure 17. In this special pop-up menu, the numbers on
the left show the instrument location while the label on the right shows the
Fig 2.10
Hold the OPTION
key down to get
instrument location
popup menu.
VocalWriter - Playing Music Tutorial 33 33 33 33 33
instrument name. Since this is a Vocal track, the instrument name is the voice
name. You can use this power key to quickly navigate the Track Data Area to
locations where the instrument is changed. Or you can use this to simply display
the instruments used in a particular track. In this case, dont select anything in the
pop-up menu and the Track Data Area will not change its position.
Track Type Button Summary:
Track Type button displays a data type pop-up menu.
Track 1 is always type Tempo.
Tracks 2 - 32 can be Instrumental, Drum, Vocal or Karaoke.
Only one Karaoke track can be designated.
Instrument changes are displayed with OPTION key pressed.
Track Name Track Name Track Name Track Name Track Name
As you move your mouse cursor over the Track Name field, notice the cursor
changes from the arrow to an I-beam. This is done to remind you that this field
can be edited. Click your mouse inside the Track Name area for track 2 (Vocals).
Youll see the dialog window shown in Fig 2.11 your screen.
The current track name is displayed in white letters in the dialog text edit field.
Click your mouse anywhere inside this field. Notice the letters change color to
black and a blinking insertion cursor appears by nearest text character to your
click point. Selected text in edit fields is always colored white while unselected
text is always colored black.
Fig 2.11
Edit Track Name
dialog.
VocalWriter - Playing Music Tutorial
34 34 34 34 34
Pressing the DELETE key on your keyboard removes characters on the left side of
the insertion cursor. If you have an area selected in the text field, the DELETE key
will remove the selected text. You can move the insertion cursor by simply
clicking your mouse to the desired point or by using the left and right ARROW
keys on your keyboard. To select an area, drag your mouse over the desired
characters.
In the text field, rename this track to Voice Track. When youre finished, there
two ways to exit this dialog. If you press the Cancel button, no changes will be
made to the track name when you exit the dialog. Pressing the ESC key on your
keyboard will do the same thing.
If you want the track name changed to the text you typed in the edit field, press
the Change button. The border around this button means the button can also
be activated by pressing the RETURN key on your keyboard. Press the Change
button and youll see track 2 now has the new name.
Track Name Summary:
Selections in text edit fields are colored white.
Unselected text is colored black.
The Cancel button exits without changes.
The Change button exits with changes in effect.
Play / Record Play / Record Play / Record Play / Record Play / Record
If youre set up for MIDI input, you can record your MIDI performance directly
into any VocalWriter track. This button is used to designate the target track for
MIDI recording.
VocalWriter - Playing Music Tutorial 35 35 35 35 35
Youll hear the music start at the point where the vocals start, skipping the guitar
intro. Stop the music and press the Marker Button for measure 9. Like standard
Mac radio buttons, the old marker (measure 5) will be automatically released
when you press a new one (measure 9). Now engage the Play from Marker
button again. The music now starts with the male voice singing at measure 9.
Marker Summary:
Markers are set on measure boundaries.
Only one marker can be set at any time.
The Play from Marker function automatically positions the
music to the marked measure before playing.
Navigate Buttons Navigate Buttons Navigate Buttons Navigate Buttons Navigate Buttons
In the previous example, you may have noticed the Go To Marker Navigate
Button (Fig 2.13) become un-dimmed when you turned on a Marker Button.
Whenever you set a marker or make a selection in the Track Data Area, the
appropriate Navigate Button will become active.
Marker Buttons and Play from Marker Marker Buttons and Play from Marker Marker Buttons and Play from Marker Marker Buttons and Play from Marker Marker Buttons and Play from Marker
Directly above the Track Data Area is a horizontal series of buttons (labeled 1,
2, 3...) called Marker Buttons (see Fig 2.6). Each button is labeled with the
song measure number. Notice the vocals in this song start at measure 5. Press the
Marker Button for this measure and then press the Play from Marker button in
the Deck window (see Fig 2.4).
Fig 2.12
Set Marker for
measure 5.
VocalWriter - Playing Music Tutorial
36 36 36 36 36
The Navigate Buttons are used to automatically scroll the Track Data Area to
either the marked measure, selection start measure or selection end measure.
Turn on the marker for measure 9. Youll see the Go To Marker become active.
When you press this button, the Track Data Area will scroll to measure 9. Turn off
the marker by pressing the measure 9 Marker button again and note the Go To
Marker button now becomes inactive (dimmed).
Drag a selection in the Track Data Area between measure 7 and measure 9 on
track 2. Press the Go To Select Start button. The Track Data Area should scroll
to measure 7. Pressing the Go To Selection End button will scroll the display to
measure 1. Why measure 1 and not measure 9? Its trying to scroll the Data Area
with measure 9 on the right side of the display. The Go To Select Start button
tries to scroll the Data Area so that the selection beginning is first measure on the
left. However, the Go To Select End button tries to scroll the Data Area so the
end of the selection is on the right side. This is done to fit as much of the
selection into the viewing area as possible.
Press the Track Select button for measure 2 to select the entire track. The
selection Navigate Buttons will now scroll to either the beginning or end of the
song.
Navigate Buttons Summary:
The Go To Marker button scrolls to the marked measure
positioned to the left side.
The Go To Select Start button scrolls to the selection start
positioned to the left side.
The Go To Select End button scrolls to the selection end
positioned to the right side.
Go To Select End
Go To Select
Start
Go To
Marker
Fig 2.13
Tracks window
Navigate buttons.
VocalWriter - Playing Music Tutorial 37 37 37 37 37
If you look at track 6 in this example music file, youll see the Track Type button is
labeled K for karaoke. This track has special lyric events that can be viewed while
the music is playing.
In the Windows menu, select the Karaoke item. This will open a window that
displays the first four lines of lyrics for this song. Rewind the song and start
playing. When the music gets to the vocals, youll see each lyric line become
highlighted as it is sung. In the next chapter, youll learn how to add these to your
music.
Fig 2.15
Karaoke Window.
Viewing Lyrics Viewing Lyrics Viewing Lyrics Viewing Lyrics Viewing Lyrics
Fig 2.14
Open the Karaoke
window.
VocalWriter - Playing Music Tutorial
38 38 38 38 38
Why Standard MIDI Files? Why Standard MIDI Files? Why Standard MIDI Files? Why Standard MIDI Files? Why Standard MIDI Files?
When you create some music and save it as a file on your computer, most
music applications will write the file using some sort of private data format.
Each application has its own unique data format for saving music files.
Since each music application knows how to read its private format, this
usually is not a problem when you want to open it later on - as long as you
use the same application.
If you want to open your music file using some other music application,
youll have problems because most music applications dont know how to
read someone elses private file format. You usually cant interchange
music files between applications.
Standard MIDI solves this problem by specifying a common data format for
music files. Since it is a mature and open format, music in Standard MIDI
can be opened by most music applications, independent of the computer
platform or operating system. This format has become a popular way to
distribute music files.
Fig 2.16
Standard MIDI
allows file inter-
change between
platforms and
applications.
Playing Standard MIDI Files Playing Standard MIDI Files Playing Standard MIDI Files Playing Standard MIDI Files Playing Standard MIDI Files
VocalWriter - Playing Music Tutorial 39 39 39 39 39
One important feature of VocalWriter is the ability to play Standard MIDI Files that
have been arranged for General MIDI instrumentation. There are thousands of
these, which are available free on the Web, from on-line services and from
commercial sources. The available styles cover the entire spectrum of music.
Whatever your musical tastes may be, the music is probably there for you to play
using VocalWriter.
With VocalWriter youre not limited to just listening to these MIDI files. You may,
for example, take your favorite music and change instruments to experiment with
new and interesting arrangements. You can even add vocals to the music to hear
the melody sung with the lyrics.
As with most tasks on the computer, high quality results are usually a collabora-
tion of many different applications. You may want to leverage some advanced
features from other music editors. In this case, you can export the tracks as
Standard MIDI, then import them into VocalWriter.
You can usually identify Standard MIDI files easily because they will have a three-
character extension to the file name of .mid or .kar (or all caps versions).
Loading MIDI Files Loading MIDI Files Loading MIDI Files Loading MIDI Files Loading MIDI Files
Open the file called Invention.mid. VocalWriter will automatically import
Standard MIDI files. When you play this file, notice the music is instrumental only,
without any vocals. Since the data format for Standard MIDI was defined well
before synthesizers could sing lyrics, it cannot include the required vocal informa-
tion. Standard MIDI files are always limited to instrumental music.
VocalWriter - Playing Music Tutorial
40 40 40 40 40
Songs Menu Songs Menu Songs Menu Songs Menu Songs Menu
After you loaded the Invention.mid file, you may be wondering what happened
to the Five Days.trk demo file which was opened earlier. Since you didnt close
it, its still in memory. Pull down the Songs menu and youll see the three items
shown below in Fig 2.17.
This is a list of files that are in VocalWriter memory. The diamond mark in front of
the file name tells you which specific file is chosen for editing and is currently
displayed in the windows. Select Five Days.trk from this menu and youre back
to where you were earlier.
To remove this file from memory, select the Close item from the File menu. If
you look at the Songs menu now, there should only be two items remaining.
VocalWriter lets you have up to 10 documents open at any time. Its usually a
good idea to close files youre not using to make more memory available for
editing.
Reviewing This Chapter Reviewing This Chapter Reviewing This Chapter Reviewing This Chapter Reviewing This Chapter
If you want to play some of the other VocalWriter demo files or have any personal
MIDI files youd like to try out, now may be a good time to review everything
youve learned in the chapter. Open your files and play them, adjust track levels,
try soloing different tracks, etc. If you hear some very strange arrangements, its
probably because the file is not General MIDI, but an arrangement made to some
specific synthesizer.
Fig 2.17
The Songs Menu.
VocalWriter - Playing Music Tutorial 41 41 41 41 41
Fast Forward Fast Forward Fast Forward Fast Forward Fast Forward
When you Fast Forward and release back to normal tempo on a singing voice,
sometimes youll hear an abnormal stretched or compressed syllable. This side
effect occurs because VocalWriter cant read your mind and predict when youll
press or release the button. Just like a human singer, VocalWriter is looking ahead
when singing and may be committed to finish a specific syllable at the old tempo.
The stretching and compressing you hear is the singing voice trying to catch-up or
slow down to then new tempo. It will always be correctly synchronized by the
next syllable.
Starting Midstream Starting Midstream Starting Midstream Starting Midstream Starting Midstream
If you start playing a singing voice somewhere other than the beginning of the
music file, you may sometimes hear the first word sung without its initial conso-
nant. Heres a trick question, how many syllables are sung in Fig 2.18?
Shes gone.
(SH-IY-z) (g-AO-n)
Fig 2.18
How many
syllables are sung?.
Vocal Idiosyncrasies Vocal Idiosyncrasies Vocal Idiosyncrasies Vocal Idiosyncrasies Vocal Idiosyncrasies
If you consider the song from start to finish, the answer is actually four!
1 - Beginning rest silence.
2 - The syllable Shes
3 - The syllable gone
4 - End silence.
Its important that understand the synchronization of notes to sung lyrics is not
aligning word start to note start. Singing is the alignment of a syllable nucleus to a
note. In this example, the IY (ee) phoneme in Shes is the syllable nucleus, so
its always aligned to the start of the first note (middle D). To stay in beat, a singer
VocalWriter - Playing Music Tutorial
42 42 42 42 42
silence SH IY z g AO n silence
1:1 2:1 2:3 End
Fig 2.19
Syllable nucleus is
aligned with note
start.
will anticipate this and start the word early to force the IY to fall on the first beat of
the second measure. So SH is actually pronounced earlier at the end of the
proceeding rest, before the start of the second measure. SH gets moved back to
become part of the first syllable (silence - SH).
Likewise, to align the syllable nucleus AO (aw) in gone to the second note
(middle E), a singer will sing the consonant g at the end of the first notes (middle
D) duration. The sung events, start silence, note middle D, note middle E, and
end silence are aligned in time as follows:
1:1 - 2:1 silence + SH
2:1 - 2:2 IY + z + g
2:2 - 2:4 AO + n
2:4 - silence
VocalWriter always starts singing at a syllable nucleus. If you start the song on the
second measure, youll hear something like ees gone because SH is part the
proceeding syllable. Even if you started playing at 1:2, youd hear silence then
ees gone because VocalWriter wont start singing until the next syllable nucleus.
To hear SH, you need to start at 1:1 to include the first syllable (remember,
silence is considered a syllable nucleus).
If this sounds overly complex, dont panic. As youll learn later, you dont need to
worry about this syllable realignment when you enter lyrics for your music.
VocalWriter does this automatically when it sings. Just be aware that you may get
this side effect when starting vocal music in midstream.
VocalWriter - Editing Music Tutorial 43 43 43 43 43
About This Chapter
Copy and Paste Tracks
Editing Lyrics
Experimenting with Vocals
Tutorial - Editing Music Tutorial - Editing Music
Tutorial - Editing Music Tutorial - Editing Music Tutorial - Editing Music
Chapter 3
VocalWriter - Editing Music Tutorial 44 44 44 44 44
This chapter covers some of the basic techniques you can use when editing music
with VocalWriter. For this tutorial, you will edit a short song and learn how to:
Copy tracks between songs.
Change track types.
Add and edit lyrics.
Add and edit music controls.
The examples in this tutorial are based around building a short two-phrase song
called Empty Nights. To give you an idea of what youll do in this chapter, a
completed demo of this song is provided. You can use this demo as a reference
throughout this chapter. If youre not quite sure about a specific step in the
tutorial, you can always go and check your work against this completed demo.
So before you get started with the tutorial, open the completed demo file called
Empty Nights.trk. All the files you need for this chapter are found inside the
folder called Tutorial.
Fig 3.1
All the files used in
this chapter are
inside the
Tutorial folder.
After opening this file, go ahead and play it so you can hear what it sounds like.
Notice it has one Vocal track, one Karaoke track, one Drum track, while the rest
are Instrumental.
About This Chapter About This Chapter About This Chapter About This Chapter About This Chapter
VocalWriter - Editing Music Tutorial 45 45 45 45 45
The first step in this tutorial is to build your song by copying music from other
files. You will start off with the base file called Tutorial.trk, which has most of the
tracks already laid out. From there, youll copy the drum track and the vocal
melody track. The files youll use are:
Tutorial.trk - starting base file
Drum Pattern.mid - Drum track
Melody.mid - will become the vocal track
Its probably a good idea to go ahead and open all the files well use in this tutorial
now. This way, theyll be sitting in memory and you can quickly switch between
them as needed. Your Songs menu should look something like Fig. 3.2 after
youve opened these files.
Fig 3.2
Pre-load all the
files youll need for
this tutorial.
From the Songs menu select the Tutorial.trk item and then play it. This will be
your starting file. Youll be taking music from the other two files and pasting them
into this file. Notice that most of the music is already in place. Its missing the
drums, vocals and its in a different key.
Adding a Drum Track Adding a Drum Track Adding a Drum Track Adding a Drum Track Adding a Drum Track
First, youll copy over the drum track. Select the file called Drum Pattern.mid
from the Songs menu. This Standard MIDI file has only a single track on number 3
called Drum Kit. Select the entire track by pressing the Track Select button. As
Copy and Paste Tracks Copy and Paste Tracks Copy and Paste Tracks Copy and Paste Tracks Copy and Paste Tracks
VocalWriter - Editing Music Tutorial 46 46 46 46 46
described in Chapter 2 (see page 2-9), you can select data two ways in the Tracks
window: dragging your mouse with the button pressed over any track range
(click-drag) or selecting the entire track by pressing the Track Select button. Since
you want all the data in this track, select the entire track.
Fig 3.3
Press the Track
Select button to
select the entire
track.
Once the track is selected, choose the Copy item from the Edit menu. The track
data is now stored in VocalWriters internal clipboard. Its important to understand
that all files in VocalWriter share a single clipboard. This way you can copy data
from one file and paste it into another.
Now that you have a copy of the drum track in the clipboard, all you have to do is
paste it somewhere into your base file. Select the Tutorial.trk file from the Songs
menu and find an empty track for the drums. Press the Track Select button for
track 7 and paste the drums in by selecting the Paste item from the Edit menu.
You should see the drum track data appear in blue colors in the Track Data Area.
Fig 3.4
Select track 7 to
paste the drum
track.
Changing the Track Type to Drums Changing the Track Type to Drums Changing the Track Type to Drums Changing the Track Type to Drums Changing the Track Type to Drums
When you play this song youll notice something very wrong: a piano is playing
instead of the drums! VocalWriter doesnt yet know to play the drums for this
track. It always defaults to instrumental. One general rule is when youre pasting
one track type (Instrumental, Drum, Vocal or Karaoke) into a different track type;
VocalWriter - Editing Music Tutorial 47 47 47 47 47
the destination track type always wins. In this case you were pasting Drum data
into an Instrumental track, so it became instrumental data.
To make this new track play the drums instead of the piano, all you have to do is
change its type by selecting the Make Drum item from the Track Type menu (see
page 2-11).
Fig 3.5
Press the Track
Type button to
change track 7 to
Drum type.
At this point, youll probably notice that the drums sound too loud. You can easily
adjust the correct mix for this track. As you learned in Chapter 2 (page 2-10), you
can use the Track Level slider for this. This slider is also active during playbackx,
so you can make your mix level adjustments in real-time.
Select the track 7 and notice the Track Level slider becomes active. Start playing
the music and you can adjust the level to where you like it. For this tutorial, set it
at 66.
Fig 3.6
Select track #7
ans set the mix
level to 66.
Theres one last thing you should do with this drum track before youre done with
it. Double-click on its Track Name field and set the name to Drums (see page 2-
13).
VocalWriter - Editing Music Tutorial 48 48 48 48 48
Go to the File menu and select the Save item (you can also save it under a new
name from the Save As item if you want). Now if you look in the Songs menu,
notice the underlining is gone. This means the file is clean what you have
opened in you computers memory is the same as whats saved on disk. Remem-
ber the usual rule with computers: save your work and save it often.
Songs Menu Summary:
Diamond indicates selected file.
Underline indicates dirty file.
No underlining indicates clean file.
Transposing the Song Transposing the Song Transposing the Song Transposing the Song Transposing the Song
There are two ways to transpose notes with VocalWriter. You can transpose only
your current selection or you can have VocalWriter automatically transpose every
track in the song. As you add synthesized vocals to your music, youll find yourself
transposing the entire song surprisingly often. Its been the authors experience
that many songs seem to have a specific natural base pitch for the vocals. When
you move the pitch away from this, it sounds entirely different.
Saving Your Work Saving Your Work Saving Your Work Saving Your Work Saving Your Work
Before you go on, you should save your modified Tutorial.trk file. If you look in
the Songs menu, youll note the file is now underlined. This shows you the file is
dirty - meaning the file has modifications you havent saved yet.
Fig 3.7
Underlining indicates
a dirty file.
VocalWriter - Editing Music Tutorial 49 49 49 49 49
One point to keep in mind when using the Transpose Song function: you cannot
undo this operation. If you look in the Edit menu, youll see the Undo item
dimmed. Most VocalWriter editing operations can be undone if you change your
mind. However there are a few exceptions. This is one of them. But its not a big
problem, all you have to do is transpose the song again, but invert the direction.
Transpose Song Summary:
Transpose all tracks at once.
Will not transpose Drum tracks.
Cannot be undone.
For Tutorial.trk, youll need to transpose it down a whole step. From the Edit
menu, select the Transpose Song item. Since youre moving down a whole step,
in the dialog box select the Down button to specify direction and select the 2
Semitones button specifying how much to transpose (Fig. 3.8). After pressing the
Transpose button, compare your song to the reference Empty Nights.trk file to
make sure the key of both songs match.
Fig 3.8
Transpose the
entire song down
one whole step.
VocalWriter - Editing Music Tutorial 50 50 50 50 50
Adding the Melody Adding the Melody Adding the Melody Adding the Melody Adding the Melody
You still have one more track to copy over into Tutorial.trk. This is the vocal part
that youll get from Melody.mid. Select Melody.mid from the Songs menu and
select the entire track 3 called Melody. Then copy it using the Edit menu. So far,
this is pretty much the same as what you did when copying the drum track.
However, pasting is going to be different this time. Instead of pasting this track
into beat 1, measure 1 like the drums, youre going to insert it into measure 5. To
do this, youll have to make a selection starting exactly at measure 5. When you
paste data, VocalWriter only looks at the start selection point, ignoring the end
selection point. It then inserts the entire clipboard starting at this point to the end
of the clipboard. In this example, you have 8 measures of notes in the clipboard.
Pasting into measure 5 will fill measures 5 through 12.
So the end selection doesnt matter, only the start selection point is used. Another
point to remember is pasting into a selection is not the same in VocalWriter as
youre used to with word processors. When you paste some text into a selection,
word processors will first delete the selection and then insert the new text,
adjusting the remaining downstream text accordingly. VocalWriter only inserts, if
there are already notes in place, they will be mixed with the new notes. You can
think of Paste in VocalWriter to be more like mix instead.
Make sure you have Tutorial.trk selected from the Songs menu and make sure
the Tracks Window is front and active. The next free track is number 8, so youll
paste the melody notes there. Move the cursor to track 8 and position the cursor
to exactly location 5:1:0 (Fig. 3.9). Now click-drag your mouse for about a measure
to make a selection. The actual number of measures you select is unimportant
since VocalWriter only looks at the start point when pasting notes. After you made
your selection at measure 5, select Paste from the Edit menu to insert the
clipboard data.
Fig 3.9
Move your cursor
to track 8,
location 5:1:0 to
make your
selection.
VocalWriter - Editing Music Tutorial 51 51 51 51 51
Listen to your song, making sure you pasted the notes into the correct location
(your new track will play the piano for now). To save time when checking your
work, start play from measure 5 by setting a marker and using the Play-from-
Marker deck button (see page 2-15). Since it will eventually sing the lyrics, go
ahead and name this track Vocals.
Copying and Pasting Tracks Summary:
Copy will duplicate all events into the clipboard from selection start
through selection end point.
Paste will insert clipboard to selection start point only (selection end
is ignored). Selections are made by pressing the Track Select button
or click-dragging mouse cursor over target area.
Pressing the Track Select button on empty track makes a selection at
measure 1, beat 1 (1:1:0).
Changing the Track Type to Vocals Changing the Track Type to Vocals Changing the Track Type to Vocals Changing the Track Type to Vocals Changing the Track Type to Vocals
Your Vocals tracks is playing the piano because the type is Instrumental.
Remember the new drums tracks played the piano until you changed the track to
Drum. To make your new melody track sing, youll have to change its type to
Vocal.
When you play the song now, you should hear a synthesized voice sing doo
vocals for the melody. However, youll immediately notice two things wrong: the
vocals are too loud and the vocal pitch is too high. Following the same procedure
you used to adjust the drum level on track 7, set the track 8 vocal level to about
70.
Fig 3.10
Press the Track
Type button to
change track 8
to Vocal type.
VocalWriter - Editing Music Tutorial 52 52 52 52 52
Previously you transposed the entire song down two semitones. Now youre going
to transpose only the Vocals track down one full octave. Select the entire track by
pressing the Track Select button for track 8, then select the Transpose Notes item
from the Selection menu. All these functions in the Selection menu work only on
areas of music you currently have selected. If nothing is selected, these functions
are dimmed in the menu.
Fig 3.11
Select the entire
Vocals tracks and
transpose.
At the Transpose Notes dialog select the Down button and select the 12
Semitones button (for 1 octave), then press the Transpose. Now youll hear the
voice sing in a more reasonable octave. Now compare it with the demo Empty
Nights.trk song, except for the doo lyrics, they should sound pretty much the
same.
In the next section, youll be editing the song lyrics. Since lyrics are independent
of the accompaniment, it will probably easier for you to hear what youre doing
without all the instrumentals playing along in the background. You can solo your
Vocals track by selecting the Solo button for track 8 (see page 2-10)
When you play your song, its interesting to realize whats really going on. The
Doos you hear are not just the typical recorded samples of vocals statically
played back by a digital oscillator. Unlike any other music synthesizer youve used,
VocalWriter is dynamically synthesizing the vocals using a mathematical knowl-
edge base of human speech production. In other words, VocalWriter is singing
Doo not because an oscillator is blindly playing some digitized data snippet, but
because it can intentionally encode the speech message which our ears and brain
hear as the word Doo. And it can do the same with Ah, La, Baby and almost
any other English utterance you specify.
VocalWriter - Editing Music Tutorial 53 53 53 53 53
The next step in this tutorial is to change the default Doos to some actual English
lyrics. So far, all of your editing has been done in the Tracks window. This window
is good for manipulating coarse chunks of music. To view and edit finer track
details, you need to launch whats called a Notes window. Each Notes window
shows you the music data for an individual track. Here you can graphically edit
notes, lyrics and MIDI control data.
To open a Notes window for a particular track, you simply double-click where you
want to edit in the Tracks window Track Data Area. For this tutorial example, you
want to edit the lyrics so double-click your mouse somewhere in measure 5 on
track 8.
You should see a Notes window similar to the one shown below. This window is
divided into three basic sections. The piano roll style display is called the Notes
Area. This area shows the track notes in blue (red when they are selected). Here
you can directly enter and manipulate note position, duration and other at-
tributes. The vertical and horizontal scroll bars let you manually navigate your way
around the track data.
Fig 3.12
Double-click on
track 8, measure 5
to open a Notes
window.
Double-click your mouse
button here
Editing Lyrics Editing Lyrics Editing Lyrics Editing Lyrics Editing Lyrics
VocalWriter - Editing Music Tutorial 54 54 54 54 54
Youll probably want to use the vertical scroll bar (the right side of the window)
to center the notes in the window. The scroll bars work just like any word
processor youve used except the display is music instead of text. So scrolling
down will move the display data up. Press the down arrow on the vertical scroll
bar until all the notes fit within your window.
Directly above the Notes Area youll see your lyric text, one Doo string for each
note in the track. This section of the window is called the Control Data Area. This
area lets you edit various standard MIDI and custom VocalWriter music controls.
Besides the lyrics, you can edit such music controls as MIDI volume, pitch-bend,
sustain switch, vocal chorus and many others.
Fig 3.13 The Notes Window.
Virtual
Keyboard
Zoom Button
Control Data
Area
Mode Buttons
Control Density
Button
Notes Area Horizontal
Scroll Bar
Vertical
Scroll Bar
Marker
Buttons
VocalWriter - Editing Music Tutorial 55 55 55 55 55
Surrounding these sections on the top and left are various buttons, sliders,
switches and displays. These are used to set different options for data editing.
Many of these will be described as they are encountered in this tutorial.
Marker Buttons Marker Buttons Marker Buttons Marker Buttons Marker Buttons
As you did in the Tracks window, you can also set a Marker button on a specific
measure in the Notes window. Pressing the deck Play-From-Marker button will
start music playback from this marked measure.
Since you can set the playback marker in both the Tracks and Notes windows,
the hierarchy goes as follows when working from the Notes window and
pressing the Play-From-Marker button:
1 - If theres a Notes window marker, start playback from the
Notes window marker.
2 - If theres no Notes window marker, but a marker is set in the
Tracks window, start playback from the Tracks window marker.
3 - If theres neither a Notes window nor a Tracks window marker
set, start playback from the beginning at measure 1.
Horizontal Zoom Horizontal Zoom Horizontal Zoom Horizontal Zoom Horizontal Zoom
Before you get started with the lyric text, set the horizontal zoom to 2x. Pressing
the Horizontal Zoom button, youll see the menu shown in Fig. 3.14. Selecting
the 2x item means the magnification will be twice the normal value.
After you zoom, scroll the Notes Area so that it displays the track notes and lyrics
starting at measure 5. This is done using the horizontal scroll bar at the bottom of
the window.
Fig 3.14
Set the horizontal
magnification to 2x.
VocalWriter - Editing Music Tutorial 56 56 56 56 56
Typing the Lyrics Typing the Lyrics Typing the Lyrics Typing the Lyrics Typing the Lyrics
As you move your mouse cursor around in the Control Data Area, notice the
cursor changes from the arrow to an I-beam as you pass over a text string. If you
click your mouse button while the cursor is an I-beam, you will enter the edit
mode for the specified lyric text.
Once youre editing the lyric text, the text edit behavior is the same as anywhere
else in VocalWriter (see edit description under Track Name, page 2-13). A few
highlights are:
An active edit field has a blue background.
Selected text characters are in white while unselected characters
are drawn in black.
In addition, the lyric text edit mode has a special key command to make lyric
editing easier and faster. Pressing the Tab key or Space Bar will automatically
advance the text edit to the next note. This way when youre entering strings of
lyric text, you dont have to remove you hand from your keyboard until youre
done.
When youre done editing, simply click your mouse with the cursor positioned in
a neutral (no control) area. As a matter of fact, any action thats not an edit
function will pop you out of lyric text editing. Exiting lyric editing will always cause
the changes to be accepted. If you give it some bogus data, VocalWriter will try to
correct it. Often youll get the default Doo inserted if VocalWriter encountered
an error it cant correct.
So to start editing your lyrics, position your cursor over the first Doo in measure 5
and click your mouse. The background for this text will turn light blue in color
with white lettering (word selected) for the text.
Fig 3.15
Start lyrics editing
on the first note.
VocalWriter - Editing Music Tutorial 57 57 57 57 57
Now, type the lyrics for the first phrase of this song. Remember you can press the
Space Bar to automatically advance your edit to the next note.
Lyric Note
Why F2
do F2
the F2
emp- F2
ty E2
nights D2
seem E2
so F2
long A#1
I G1
know A#1
shes F2
gone E2
Make sure to include the - in the first syllable for emp-ty. This tells VocalWriter
the next syllable on the next note is part of the current word. When you play this
phrase, dont worry about the awkward sounding the on the third note (should
sound like thee). VocalWriter will automatically correct this later. Now finish the
lyrics for this song (there still will be 5 Doos remaining at the end).
Lyric Note
Why F2
did F2
I G2
let A2
her D2
go D2
And here again, note the formal sounding did I and let her. On a word level,
these are pronounced correctly. However in real speech, we slur these words
VocalWriter - Editing Music Tutorial 58 58 58 58 58
together by flapping our tongue against our mouth. You can try this yourself: say
Did, I as two isolated words with a silence between them. Next say them
together (did I) without any pause or silence, but try to pronounce them like
you did with the pause in between. Notice that its very difficult to say the two
words without adding the slurred flap. Thats why we insert the flap, otherwise its
too difficult to say.
You can have VocalWriter scan your lyrics and look for mispronunciations like
these and others. When it finds them, it can automatically correct the pronuncia-
tions for you.
To do this, you first have to specify which notes VocalWriter should scan. You
could go back to the Tracks window and select the entire Vocals track. Or you
could select the range of notes directly in the Notes window. Since you havent
made any note selections in the Notes window yet, as an exercise, youll make
your selection here.
Block selections are made by drawing a rectangular selection marquee around
the notes you wish to select. Try a few block selections by pointing anywhere
inside the Notes Area and click-dragging your mouse. When you select the notes,
theyll be colored red. Notice the window automatically scrolls if you move the
selection marquee past any Notes Area border. Now select all the notes from
measure 5 through measure 10 (Fig. 3.16).
Fig 3.16 Block select all the lyrics.
VocalWriter - Editing Music Tutorial 59 59 59 59 59
In the Selection menu, select the Adjust Phonemes item. At the dialog, keep all
the options at their default values and press the Adjust button. Now, when playing
the lyrics, notice these problems are cleaned up.
Fig 3.17
Making automatic
pronunciation
adjustments.
Since you still have some leftover Doos at the end, you should finish the song
with some of your own lyrics. Remember, only one syllable per note. A syllable
must have a vowel in it. Fig. 3.18 shows some examples of using the syllable split
(-) and vowel repeat (=) characters.
hello
ov- er hel- lo hel- =- lo love- =- =
Fig 3.18 (a) Syllables from the same word are split with -.
(b) To sing a two syllable word on a single note, break the note apart.
(c) Use = to repeat a vowel over several notes.
(d) Three note, single syllable word.
(a) (b) (c) (d)
VocalWriter - Editing Music Tutorial 60 60 60 60 60
Lyric Edit Summary
Open Notes window by double-clicking in Track Data Area.
Click I-beam cursor over lyric text in Control Data Area to start
edit.
Press Tab or Space Bar to automatically advance to next note
lyric.
Split syllables in word with - character.
Carry syllable to next note with = character.
Adding a Karaoke Track Adding a Karaoke Track Adding a Karaoke Track Adding a Karaoke Track Adding a Karaoke Track
So far youve added a new drum track and a new vocals track to this song. You still
have one more track to add: the Karaoke track. A Karaoke track is a special
VocalWriter track type, which instead of playing music, displays synchronized text
in a window. This track is typically used to display the vocal lyrics as its sung.
The procedure for making a Karaoke track is fairly simple. Youll copy the entire
Vocals track, paste it into the Karaoke track, and finally youll format the Karaoke
display with a minor text edit.
Your Karaoke track will be the next one available, track 9. First, make the track
type for track 9 into Karaoke by selecting the Make Kara item from the Track Type
menu. At this time, you should also name this track Karaoke.
Next, select all of track 8 and copy it into the clipboard. Now normally, if you were
to paste this clipboard into track 9, the lyrics would be lost since track 9 is a
different track type than the data in the clipboard. However, you can tell Vocal-
Writer to transfer the lyrics as Karaoke text if you hold the Option key down while
pasting the clipboard.
Fig 3.19
Make track 9 into
type Karaoke.
VocalWriter - Editing Music Tutorial 61 61 61 61 61
So heres what you do, select track 9 by pressing in the Track Select button. Then
hold down the Option key while selecting the Paste item from the Edit menu.
This will not only copy the notes, but will also copy the lyric text. If you open a
Notes window for track 9, you will see your lyric text exactly as in the Vocals track.
Open the Karaoke window by selection the Karaoke item from the Windows
menu. Notice that all the lyrics are display on a single line. This is because
VocalWriter doesnt know how you want to break the lyrics up. You insert the /
character wherever you want to start a new line.
Open a Notes window for track 9 and edit the Karaoke text so it reads as follows:
/Why do the empty nights
/seem so long?
/I know shes gone.
/Why did I let her go?
/Doo Doo
/Doo Doo Doo.
The / character is to designate the start of each line in the Karaoke window. The
character itself is not displayed. However notice that you did enter some punctua-
tion characters, these will be displayed. Now your Karaoke window should look
like Fig. 3.21.
Fig 3.20
Lyrics formatted for
Karaoke display on
track 9.
VocalWriter - Editing Music Tutorial 62 62 62 62 62
When you play the song, the Karaoke display will highlight each line as the
synthesizer sings it. Your version of this song should now be the same as the
demo song Empty Nights.trk. Listen to them both to see if you can hear any
differences. If you hear something different, find out what it is and change your
version.
Karaoke Summary
Copy entire Vocal track as Karaoke track.
Hold down Option key to transfer vocal lyrics as Karaoke text.
Insert / character at line start.
Punctuation will be displayed.
Fig 3.21
Formatted Karaoke
display.
VocalWriter - Editing Music Tutorial 63 63 63 63 63
So far in this tutorial, the main thing youve done with vocals is enter the lyric text.
This is just scratching the surface when you consider the rich set of vocal controls
available in VocalWriter. This next section will show a few things you can do with
vocals. The purpose is to illustrate various VocalWriter procedures and tech-
niques, so these examples are not necessarily musical. In fact, your song will
probably sound much worst when youre done!
Changing the Vocal Instrument Changing the Vocal Instrument Changing the Vocal Instrument Changing the Vocal Instrument Changing the Vocal Instrument
The first thing you can do is experiment with different singing voices for the
vocals. Open a Notes window for the Vocals (track 8) and click on the Control
Select button. From the menu select Instrument item.
Experimenting with Vocals Experimenting with Vocals Experimenting with Vocals Experimenting with Vocals Experimenting with Vocals
This will show any Instrument (or Program) changes for this track in the Control
Data Area. This control works just like MIDI Program changes except on Vocal
tracks it selects an instrument which can articulate English speech. Notice there
are no initial Instrument controls for this track. Just like MIDI defaults to Program
1 when no Program Change is specified, VocalWriter defaults to Instrument 1,
which is the standard male voice called Robert you hear.
To change the voice, you will have to insert an Instrument control somewhere
before the actual vocal notes start in measure 5. But first youll have to put the
Notes window into Insert Mode. When you first open a Notes window, its always
Fig 3.22
Instrument item will
show voice controls in
Control Data Area.
VocalWriter - Editing Music Tutorial 64 64 64 64 64
in Select Mode. Two things show you this: first the Select Mode button is pressed
(Fig. 3.23) and second, the mouse cursor is a cross when its in either the Notes
Area or Control Data Area. Check this by moving the cursor around in either area.
Pressing the mouse button while the cursor is a cross always selects data. Make
sure the function of these two buttons is clear to you, for the remainder of this
tutorial, youll be switching between Insert and Select Mode a lot.
Fig 3.20
The Notes window
Select and Insert
Mode buttons.
Pressing the Insert Mode button, changes the cursor to a pencil. Pressing your
mouse button while the cursor is a pencil, will insert notes in the Notes Area and
will insert controls in the Control Data Area. To insert an Instrument control, click
you mouse while in Insert Mode somewhere in measure 4 in the Control Data
Area. This will bring up the Insert Instrument dialog.
Fig 3.24 Insert Instrument dialog.
VocalWriter - Editing Music Tutorial 65 65 65 65 65
The current selected instrument is shown highlighted in white lettering. To select
a new instrument, just click your mouse in any box. The instruments which have
people names (Robert, Sarah, Tracy, etc.) are the natural voices which emulate
many human characteristics. The remaining voices have instrumental names
(Banjo, Cello, Trumpet, etc.) because theyre special synthetic models of musical
instruments with dynamic vocal tracts.
If you run your cursor over the virtual music keyboard at the top, you can preview
the selected instrument. Try playing some keys on the virtual keyboard and you
will hear Robert sing One two three four. Next, try selecting another instrument
and then check it out on the virtual keyboard.
Select the instrument called Strings, found on the first column, 9
th
row. Press the
Change button to insert the new instrument control. In the Control Data Area you
should see the label Strings at the point where you inserted this control.
Play the song starting from measure 5. It will now sound like a phased chorus
singing the lyrics. If and orchestra could sing, this is what the string section would
sound like. You have the complex phase-shift interactions of many stringed
instruments playing a single note transformed through an artificial vocal tract to
produce speech.
As you move your mouse cursor over the Strings text label in the Control Data
Area, notice the cursor changes from the pencil to an I-beam. This means that you
will change the instrument control instead of inserting a new one. If you click your
mouse when the cursor is an I-beam, youll get the same dialog box as before,
except it will be called Change Instrument.
Now go back to Select mode. Notice the cross cursor does not change to an I-
beam when youre over the text label as it did while in Insert mode. If you want to
edit an existing instrument control while in Insert mode, just double-click you
mouse button with the cross cursor anywhere on the instrument text label. To get
familiar with some of the vocal instruments, spend some time here and try some
of them out. As with any musical arrangement, instruments are context depen-
dent, some will work in this song while many wont.
VocalWriter - Editing Music Tutorial 66 66 66 66 66
Insert and Change Instrument Summary
Click inside Control Data Area while in Insert mode and cursor is
pencil to create new Instrument control.
Click on target Instrument control while in Insert Mode and
cursor is I-beam to change existing control.
Double-click on target Instrument control while in Select Mode
and cursor is cross to change existing control.
Natural voice models are in first two rows of Instrument dialog.
Preview selected instrument on virtual keyboard at top of
Instrument dialog box.
Vocal Chorus Vocal Chorus Vocal Chorus Vocal Chorus Vocal Chorus
In the previous section, when you selected a vocal instrument like Strings, you got
a chorus effect for the vocals. This is because the voice model is built around an
instrument thats inherently chorused. This is fixed and cannot be changed.
However, VocalWriter lets you add chorus effects for the natural voices (1
st
row in
Instrument dialog ). First, make sure Robert is singing your song, this will not
work if youre using any of the special effect voices. Next, from the Control Select
menu, choose the Chorus item. Now, while in Insert Mode, go to 4:2:0 (measure
4, beat 2) in the Control Data Area and move your cursor so the Value display
shows 4. You should have something that looks like Fig. 3.25.
Fig 3.25
Insert a Chorus
control with a
value of 4.
Play your song and notice two Roberts are now singing. If you want to change the
chorus amount, youll have to remove the control and insert a new one. At this
point the fastest way to remove it is to Undo what you just did. You can do this
from the Edit menu.
VocalWriter - Editing Music Tutorial 67 67 67 67 67
Once you have a selection, pull down the Edit menu. At this point you have three
options, you can Cut, Copy or Clear the selection. Since you want to replace this
control with a new one, select the Clear option. The control should now be
removed from the Control Data Area.
Next, insert a new Chorus control at the same location (4:2:0). But now insert one
with a value of (minus) 4. With positive chorus values, a second voice is added
which is slightly above in pitch from the first. Increasing chorus values increase
the relative pitch for the second voice giving more exaggerated chorus effects.
Small positive values will give a somewhat flanging effect to the voice because the
pitch displacement is so small that it causes phase cancellations in the signal.
However negative chorus values also add a second voice, but the pitch is now
displaced by an octave. Increasing negative values decrease the second voices
pitch down from the octave.
Chorus Control Summary
Works on natural voice models only.
Positive chorus values add second voice with positive pitch
displacement.
Negative chorus values add second voice with octave above pitch
displacement.
If you had made other edits to this song and can no longer Undo, you have to
deliberately delete the control. While in Select Mode, click-drag the cross cursor
over the Chorus control. Notice the selection area is highlighted dark gray while
you drag-click (Fig. 3.26) and then the control becomes selected in red when you
release your mouse button.
Fig 3.26
Click-drag to make
a selection.
VocalWriter - Editing Music Tutorial 68 68 68 68 68
Pitch-Bend Pitch-Bend Pitch-Bend Pitch-Bend Pitch-Bend
There are five different ways to specify or alter the pitch of a singing voice.
Obviously you can specify a musical note and the voice sings at that given pitch.
But theres a lot more going on with pitch that can be changed by inserting
special controls into your music.
Like the human vocal tract, VocalWriter doesnt instantaneously jump to a new
pitch when singing notes. Instead it smoothly glides the pitch between notes. The
amount of glide used between notes can be adjusted by inserting Portamento
controls into your lyric tracks.
To make the voices more interesting by giving them an effect of motion, every
vocal instrument has some vibrato added to the pitch. Theres actually an
envelope on the vibrato, which ramps the depth up as the note is sustained.
Vibrato can be changed with the Vib Freq and Vib Depth controls.
You can raise or lower the overall pitch in very small increments with Fine Tune
controls. Sometimes youll notice a problem when you have two or more tracks
singing in chorus. When two tracks sing the same note in unison, you often lose
any separation between the voices. It sounds like only a single voice is singing
instead of two separate ones in unison. Because your computer is very accurate
and repeatable, when two voices sing the same note, they are locked to exactly
the same pitch. And if the two tracks are singing the same voice, the exact the
same waveform is synthesized for each track. When these two identical waves are
added together, the result sounds like one voice singing a bit louder. To add some
separation, you can slightly shift one of the tracks forward or backward in time,
give a different vibrato frequency setting, and use the Fine Tune control to offset
the overall pitch of one track.
And finally, to add pitch profiles, you can insert Pitch-Bend controls to the track.
These work exactly the same as any other MIDI synthesizer youve used. In
addition to Pitch-Bend controls, you can set the pitch range or sensitivity for the
Pitch-Bend controls with the PB Range controls. Again, these work the same as
defined by the MIDI spec.
Got to the Control Select menu and choose the Pitch-Bend item. Make sure
youre in the Insert Mode. Now move the cursor to 5:4:0 in the Control Data Area
and drag-click your mouse in a forward direction. As you move the cursor forward,
VocalWriter - Editing Music Tutorial 69 69 69 69 69
notice that you stretch a rubber-banding line. When you let go of your mouse
button, youll see a staircase between your starting point and ending point. At
each step in the line, VocalWriter will insert a pitch-bend control.
Fig 3.27
(a) Click-drag where
you want a pitch
ramp.
(b) VocalWriter will
insert Pitch-Bend
controls.
You may have noticed when you chose the Pitch-Bend item from the Control
Select menu and went into Insert Mode, the Control Density button became
enabled. Pressing this button produces a menu of several different options you
can choose. Notice the default is set to 10. This means 10 controls are inserted for
every quarter note. As you can see, the available range is from 5 to 50 steps per
quarter note.
(a) (b)
Five steps per quarter note is usually too crude for pitch ramps, youll often hear
the discrete steps. However, the same rubber-band line control is also used for
Volume ramps. Our ears are not very sensitive to volume changes so the 5 steps
per quarter works fine.
Fig 3.28
Control Density
options.
VocalWriter - Editing Music Tutorial 70 70 70 70 70
Select 50 from this menu and draw a new line from where you ended. Select and
new endpoint of zero so the remaining song is in tune.
Fig 3.29
Pitch-Bend ramping
up witha density of
50 controls per
quarter note..
Hopefully this tutorial has given you enough information to get you started.
Obviously the best way to learn is to actually try various functions yourself. If
youre not sure about a certain function, you can always look it up in the next
chapter.
VocalWriter Reference 71 71 71 71 71
VocalWriter Reference VocalWriter Reference
VocalWriter Reference VocalWriter Reference VocalWriter Reference
About This Chapter
The File Menu
The Edit Menu
The Selection Menu
The WindowsMenu
The Deck Menu
The MIDI Menu
The Deck Window
The Copyright Window
The Tracks Window
The Notes Window
Chapter 4
VocalWriter Reference 72 72 72 72 72
This chapter gives a detailed description of every menu, window and dialog used
in VocalWriter.
Menus Menus Menus Menus Menus
The VocalWriter menu bar has seven menus from which various commands can
be executed. The menus have items that are grouped together with common
functions.
VocalWriter Standard Finder features and VocalWriter preferences
File Disk I/O and user preferences.
Edit Basic edit functions and global song changes.
Selection Make changes on selected regions only.
Windows Open or bring windows to foreground.
Deck Command key equivalents of Deck window buttons.
Songs Select opened songs.
MIDI Configure MIDI setup and MIDI panic button.
Windows Windows Windows Windows Windows
There are four basic window types in VocalWriter. The Deck and Tracks windows
are always shown and cannot be closed. The remaining windows can be opened
through a Windows menu selection and independently closed.
Deck Record and playback control.
Tracks Song overview.
Notes Track details.
Misc Information.
Copyright
Karaoke
Performance
Instruments
About This Chapter About This Chapter About This Chapter About This Chapter About This Chapter
VocalWriter Reference 73 73 73 73 73
New New New New New
The New command creates a blank song and adds it to the Songs menu. The
default name for the first song is always Untitled 1. Subsequent New commands
will create songs with names in an increasing sequential order (Untitled 2,
Untitled 3, etc.).
The only data in the new song is a Tempo event of 120 bpm in track 1 at 1:1:0.
The default key signature is 4/4.
The New command can also be initiated by pressing the Command-N key from
the keyboard.
Open Open Open Open Open
The Open command lets you load a music file from your disk into VocalWriter.
This command presents a file directory dialog box, from which you can locate and
choose the file.
Fig 4.1
The File Menu.
The File Menu The File Menu The File Menu The File Menu The File Menu
VocalWriter Reference 74 74 74 74 74
Once you have located your file, open it by double-clicking on its name or by
pressing the Open button after selecting its name. If you change your mind, press
the Cancel key.
You can open only two types of files:
1 - VocalWriter music documents. These usually have a three
character extension of .trk at the end of the file name.
2 - Standard MIDI Files. These typically have a three character
extension of .mid or .kar at the end of the file name.
When importing Standard MIDI Files, VocalWriter looks for either Macintosh file
type of Midi or any file with the .mid (or .MID) extension. Standard MIDI
formats of both Type 0 and Type 1 are supported. Since VocalWriter is MIDI
channel independent, these will automatically be expanded into separate tracks
for each instrument. An error alert will be shown if the result is more than the
VocalWriter limit of 32 tracks.
When importing MIDI files, channel 10 data will be placed into separate tracks of
type Drum. If youre importing a Karaoke file (.kar), the lyrics will be extracted
and placed in an Imported Lyrics window (see the Windows menu).
The Open command can also be initiated by pressing the Command-O key from
the keyboard.
Fig 4.2
Open File dialog.
VocalWriter Reference 75 75 75 75 75
Save Save Save Save Save
Choosing Save will automatically save the current song under the name that
appears on the Tracks window title bar. The exception is for new songs (Untitled
X) and imported Standard MIDI Files. With these, you will be given the option to
rename the song before saving it to disk.
The Save command replaces the new old file with a new file of the same name. In
other words, the old files data is lost forever. In most cases this is desirable since
you mainly care about you most recent version. However, its a good idea to
periodically save your work under a new name (use Save As) just in case
something goes wrong and you need to revert to a previous version. This way you
can always fall back to an older version.
The Save command can also be initiated by pressing the Command-S key from the
keyboard.
Save As Save As Save As Save As Save As
The Save As command presents you with a file directory dialog to save the current
song to a new location or with a new name. You typically use this command to
create a new version of a music file while preserving the previous version.
After you located where you want to store the new version and it has the desired
file name in the text entry box at the bottom, press the Save button to create the
new file. If you change your mind, press the Cancel button.
Fig 4.3
File Save As dialog.
VocalWriter Reference 76 76 76 76 76
Close Close Close Close Close
The Close command will close the current song and remove its name from the
Songs menu. If there are still changes in your song that have not been saved,
youll get a dialog giving you the option to save your work.
Fig 4.4
Closing a somg
with unsaved
changes.
Pressing the Dont Save button will close the song and discard any changes you
made. Pressing Cancel will cancel the Close command and return you back where
you were before initiating the command. The current song remains unaltered.
Finally, pressing the Save button will initiate the same function as the Save menu
item before closing the song.
If there are no more songs in the Songs menu, VocalWriter will create a new blank
song named Untitled X in its place.
The Close command can also be initiated by pressing the Command-/ (slash) key
from the keyboard.
Close Window Close Window Close Window Close Window Close Window
If a Notes window is open and it is the front-most active window, you can close it
with the Close Window command.
The Close Window command can also be initiated by pressing the Command-W
key from the keyboard.
VocalWriter Reference 77 77 77 77 77
Export Export Export Export Export
The Export command lets you save the current song as a Type 1 Standard MIDI
File. This function mostly automated but VocalWriter may need your input on
assigning MIDI channel numbers to tracks. Since VocalWriter is MIDI channel
independent, you can easily end up with more tracks in your song than available
MIDI channels. MIDI only allows for 16 channels while VocalWriter has 32
independent tracks. So VocalWriter cannot simply make a one-to-one track to
channel assignment.
When you chose the Export command, youll first get the Set MIDI Channels
dialog. You can specify the MIDI channel number assignment for each of the 32
VocalWriter music tracks. Shown below is the default MIDI channel assignment for
the demo song LiveShow.trk.
The procedure is to select the target track button and then move the Channel
Number slider on the bottom to the desired MIDI channel for that track. Notice
there are track select buttons for only some of the tracks and not for all 32 tracks.
VocalWriter puts track select buttons only on those tracks that have MIDI channel
data in them. Unless your song is using all 32 tracks, theres no reason to assign
channels to tracks that are unused. The above example song is only using the first
13 tracks.
Fig 4.5 Assign MIDI channel numbers to active tracks.
VocalWriter Reference 78 78 78 78 78
Notice that VocalWriter automatically assigned the songs four Drum tracks to
MIDI channel 10. In General MIDI, channel 10 is the only channel that plays the
drum banks. If youre not exporting to General MIDI, you can change the drum
channel assignment to something else if you want.
Since theres nothing in the MIDI spec specifying what to do with sung lyrics,
VocalWriter exports what it can as standard Meta events. The text for the lyrics are
exported as Text Meta events while the phonemes are exported as Lyric Meta
events. Unfortunately this is not detailed nor robust enough to import back as
sung Vocal events, so once you export your lyrics you cannot import them back.
After accepting your track assignment by pressing the Export button, a file
directory dialog is presented for saving the file. The file name will default with the
.mid extension on the end.
Play-to-Disk Play-to-Disk Play-to-Disk Play-to-Disk Play-to-Disk
The Play-to-Disk command exports the music in your song as an audio file.
Instead of playing the song through your computers audio output port, the music
is rendered in memory and saved as an AIFF file instead. Be aware these audio
files can be very large in size. At 44.1kHz, 16-bit stereo, the file size will be 176K
bytes for each second of music, or 10MB for every minute.
Fig 4.6
Specify the starting
and ending
measure numbers
for Play-to-Disk.
VocalWriter Reference 79 79 79 79 79
Because of the large file sizes, VocalWriter gives you the option to save only a part
of you music as audio. Before issuing the Play-to-Disk command, set up you tracks
exactly how you want to play them. This includes setting the mute or solo buttons
for your tracks. Then select the Play-to-Disk item from the File menu.
At the dialog, specify the range you want to play by typing the start and end
measure number. If you had a selection in either the Tracks or Notes window,
VocalWriter will automatically use this selection range as the default play range for
this dialog.
After pressing the Play button, a file directory dialog is shown for you to specify
the new AIFF file location and name. An .aiff extension is automatically ap-
pended to the end as the default file name. Pressing the Save button will start the
audio rendering. A progress bar is shown while audio is saved.
Quit Quit Quit Quit Quit
Choosing the Quit command will close all songs and exit VocalWriter. If there are
still changes in a song that have not been saved, you will get a dialog giving the
option to save your work (see Close command).
The Quit command can also be initiated by pressing the Command-Q key from
the keyboard.
VocalWriter Reference 80 80 80 80 80
Preferences Preferences Preferences Preferences Preferences
The VocalWriter Preferences is where you set global settings that control features
throughout the entire application. These settings are stored on your hard drive
so they are persisted the next time you run VocalWriter.
The VocalWriter Menu The VocalWriter Menu The VocalWriter Menu The VocalWriter Menu The VocalWriter Menu
Fig 4.8
The Edit menu.
Fig 4.7
The Preferences
dialog.
VocalWriter Reference 81 81 81 81 81
Latency Slider
This slider controls the audio output buffer size. The slider values
are shown in milliseconds. Smaller values will enable faster real-time
response but with the risk of your computer not being able to keep
up. On the other hand, larger buffers can guarantee sufficient CPU
overhead but the cost is longer delays in real-time performance. So
depending on your computer hardware and required voice
polyphony, you may need to adjust this slider for the optimal delay
setting.
If the buffer is too small, youll hear distortion in the audio output
because of random silence gaps in the audio. So the goal is to find
the lowest acceptable setting that wont result in distortion. Typical
values are in the range of 20 to 30 milliseconds.
Reverb Button
You can enable or disable the reverb processing with the Reverb
button. If your Mac audio output is going to some external reverb or
effects processor, you should turn VocalWriters reverb off. Turning
the reverb off will free up a lot of computer bandwidth for more
VocalWriter polyphony.
MIDI In / Out Button
If you plan on connecting VocalWriter to external MIDI devices,
youll have to first enable it with this button. If youre not using
MIDI, turn it off to free up computer bandwidth.
Cancel
Pressing the Cancel button will exit the dialog leaving your original
Preference parameters as they were before.
Done
Pressing the Done button will save your Preferences on your disk, to
be used the next time you run VocalWriter.
VocalWriter Reference 82 82 82 82 82
Undo Undo Undo Undo Undo
The Undo command will in most but not all cases, undo your last changes made
while editing music. It applies to most editing commands that change music data
in a single track. The exceptions for Undo are commands that change music
across multiple tracks or affect the entire song.
The menu label for Undo will change to reflect its current state. For example, if
your last command was a Cut, the menu item will read Undo Cut. If VocalWriter
cannot undo your last command, the item will be dimmed.
The Undo command can also be initiated by pressing the Command-Z key from
the keyboard.
Cut Cut Cut Cut Cut
Choosing the Cut command will delete any selected data and place it into the
VocalWriter clipboard. The clipboard data can then be pasted anywhere in your
The Edit Menu The Edit Menu The Edit Menu The Edit Menu The Edit Menu
Fig 4.8
The Edit menu.
VocalWriter Reference 83 83 83 83 83
music. The cut material will remain in the clipboard until you cut or copy some
other data.
The Cut command can also be initiated by pressing the Command-X key from the
keyboard
Copy Copy Copy Copy Copy
Choosing the Copy command places the current selected data into the Vocal-
Writer clipboard without deleting it. The clipboard data can then be pasted
anywhere in your music. The copied material will remain in the clipboard until
you cut or copy some other data.
The Copy command can also be initiated by pressing the Command-C key from
the keyboard.
Paste Paste Paste Paste Paste
The Paste command will place the entire contents of the VocalWriter clipboard
into a designated area in your music. If you have a selection as your paste target
area, VocalWriter will insert the data at the selection start location. The selection
end point is not used for pasting.
If you have a selection when you paste, VocalWriter does not replace the original
contents with the clipboard contents. Instead, it always mixes the clipboard data
with the track data.
If you paste at the end of your song, VocalWriter will automatically add measures
to the end to accommodate the pasted data.
The Paste command can also be initiated by pressing the Command-V key from
the keyboard.
Clear Clear Clear Clear Clear
The Clear command works much like the Cut command except Clear will not
place any data into the clipboard. Usually you use this command if you want to
delete data without disturbing the VocalWriter clipboard.
VocalWriter Reference 84 84 84 84 84
Transpose Song Transpose Song Transpose Song Transpose Song Transpose Song
The Transpose Song command lets you tune all the tracks in the entire song at
once. Since Drum tracks specify the instruments by their note position, Drum
tracks are not transposed. All the remaining track types (Instrumental, Vocal and
Karaoke) will have their note positions moved up or down after issuing this
command.
Fig 4.9
The Transpose
Song dialog box.
The Transpose Song shows a dialog from which you specify the direction and the
amount to move. The buttons labeled 1 - 12 specify the transposition in steps
of semitones, with 12 indicating a full octave.
This is one of the VocalWriter commands that cannot be undone. However, you
can easily undo this manually by simply executing the Transpose Song command
again but with direction reversed.
Theres one side effect to watch for when transposing. VocalWriter is designed to
work within a 6-octave note range (C0 C6). If the transposition causes some
notes to fall outside this range, VocalWriter will clip these notes to their minimum
or maximum positions. For example, if you are transposing a note to E6, Vocal-
Writer will clip it down to E5.
VocalWriter Reference 85 85 85 85 85
Scale Levels Scale Levels Scale Levels Scale Levels Scale Levels
The Scale Levels command lets you change the settings for all 32 track levels at
once, adjusting the overall loudness of your song. This single command is
equivalent to manually selecting each track one by one and adjusting the Track
Level slider. Initiating this command brings up the Scale Track Levels dialog.
Fig 4.10
The Scale Track
Levels dialog.
There are two ways to adjust the track levels from this dialog. By selecting the top
slider, you can force all track levels to a single value between 0 and 100. Selecting
the bottom slider lets you scale the current track levels by some relative amount
between 0 and 200 percent.
The information display labeled Tracks shows the current minimum and
maximum track level settings in the song. This is shown to give you an idea of the
current range setting before you scale their values.
VocalWriter Reference 86 86 86 86 86
Time Signature Time Signature Time Signature Time Signature Time Signature
You can change the songs time signature with this command. The current time
signature is shown in the upper left-hand corner of the Tracks window. This will
define the measure size for the entire song since VocalWriter supports only one
time signature per song.
At the dialog box, set the time signature numerator using the Beats per Measure
slider and the denominator by selecting a Beat To button.
Reverb Controls Reverb Controls Reverb Controls Reverb Controls Reverb Controls
The Reverb Controls command lets you adjust the VocalWriter reverb parameters.
If reverb is turned off in your Preferences, this item will be dimmed. To allow real-
time feedback in setting these parameters, this menu item is active during play-
back, enabling you to make live adjustments while playing your music.
Fig 4.11
The Change time
Signature dialog.
VocalWriter Reference 87 87 87 87 87
Default Reverb panel
Whenever you create a new song or import a Standard MIDI File, VocalWriter will
assign default reverb parameters to your music. Initially, it defaults to the Hall
preset. You can change this default setting to anything you want by turning this
button on when making your changes. When you press the Change button,
VocalWriter saves this new reverb configuration in your Preference file. Reverb will
now always default to your new setup.
Presets panel
As a convenience, VocalWriter has several reverb configurations predefined for
you.
Reverb On / Off panel
This is a duplicate of the Reverb button in the Preferences dialog box. It is used to
enable or disable reverb processing.
Room Size panel
This slider sets the amount of delay for the reverb acoustic reflections. A value of 1
is the smallest delay while 100 is the maximum.
Wetness panel
This slider sets the mix amount between input (dry) and delayed (wet) signals in
Fig 4.12 The Reverb Controls Dialog.
VocalWriter Reference 88 88 88 88 88
the reverb processor. A value of 50 gives an equal mix of dry and wet signals.
Moving the slider to the right towards 100 increases the wet mix while moving the
slider left towards a value of 0 increases the dry mix. A value of 100 gives a purely
wet signal output while a value of 0 produces a totally dry signal output.
Insert Measures Insert Measures Insert Measures Insert Measures Insert Measures
Delete Measures Delete Measures Delete Measures Delete Measures Delete Measures
These commands are used to adjust the length of you song. If the Tracks window
is front-most, these menu items remain dimmed until you make a selection,
designating the insert or delete target location. They are always active if a Notes
window is front-most since the current cursor location can be used as the target
Fig 4.13 The Insert and Delete Measures dialog boxes.
location.
Insert will push everything downstream to make room for the added measures.
Delete will remove everything in the target measures and move the remaining
downstream data back upstream.
VocalWriter Reference 89 89 89 89 89
Transpose Notes Transpose Notes Transpose Notes Transpose Notes Transpose Notes
This command will move the selected notes up or down by a given amount. At the
Transpose Notes dialog, you specify the direction and the amount to move. The
buttons labeled 1 - 12 specify the transposition in steps of semitones, with 12
Fig 4.14
The Selection
menu.
The Selection Menu The Selection Menu The Selection Menu The Selection Menu The Selection Menu
indicating a full octave.
Theres one side effect to watch for when transposing. VocalWriter is designed to
Fig 4.15
The Transpose
Notes dialog.
VocalWriter Reference 90 90 90 90 90
work within a 6-octave note range (C0 C6). If the transposition causes some
notes to fall outside this range, VocalWriter will clip these notes to their minimum
or maximum positions. For example, if you are transposing a note to E6, Vocal-
Writer will clip it down to E5.
Quantize Notes Quantize Notes Quantize Notes Quantize Notes Quantize Notes
The Quantize Notes command will make all selected notes to occur on multiples
of some number of ticks. It can also make the durations fall into a multiple of
some number of ticks. When working with tick numbers, VocalWriter uses a
resolution of 240 ticks per quarter note.
In the Quantize Notes dialog, the top panel is for quantizing note position and the
bottom panel is for quantizing note duration. These can be turned on or off by
pressing the radio buttons. You can type the exact number of ticks to quantize in
the edit boxes or you can select any one of the preset buttons. The Dot button
works in combination with any of the five note value buttons, increasing their
value an additional 50%.
In Fig.4.16, the notes will be quantized to the nearest quarter note position and
their durations will be quantized into eighth note multiples.
Fig 4.16
The Quantize
Notes dialog.
VocalWriter Reference 91 91 91 91 91
Move Events Move Events Move Events Move Events Move Events
The Move Events command lets you shift selected events forward or backwards by
a set number of ticks. When working with tick numbers, VocalWriter uses a
resolution of 240 ticks per quarter note.
In the Move Events dialog, you specify the number of ticks for the selection to
move. You can type the exact number of ticks to move in the edit box or you can
select any one of the preset buttons. The Dot button works in combination with
any of the five note value buttons, increasing their value an additional 50%.
You specify the direction for the moving in the bottom panel. VocalWriter will
automatically add measures if the forward moving takes it beyond the end of the
song. However, moving will stop if backward movement hits the beginning of the
song at 1:1:0.
Fig 4.17
The Move Events
dialog.
VocalWriter Reference 92 92 92 92 92
Change Duration Change Duration Change Duration Change Duration Change Duration
The Change Duration command lets you modify the note durations of any
selected notes.
In the Change Note Duration dialog, you can choose the top radio button if you
want to force all selected notes to a single duration value. You can set this fixed
duration by either selecting one of the preset note buttons or by typing the exact
number of ticks in the edit box. The Dot button works in combination with any of
the five note value buttons, increasing their value an additional 50%. When
working with tick numbers, VocalWriter uses a resolution of 240 ticks per quarter
note.
You can also scale the selected note durations by some relative amount by
choosing the bottom radio button. Type in amount you wish to sale in the edit
box to the right of the button. Any number between 1 to 999 percent will work.
VocalWriter will automatically add measures if the new duration takes it beyond
the end of the song.
The bottom panel shows the range of duration values in the current selection.
The duration values are in tick count units.
Fig 4.18
The Change Note
Duration dialog.
VocalWriter Reference 93 93 93 93 93
Change Velocity Change Velocity Change Velocity Change Velocity Change Velocity
The Change Velocity command lets you modify the velocity value of any selected
notes.
From the Change Note Velocity dialog, you can choose the top radio button to
force all selected notes to a single velocity value. You set this fixed velocity value
by moving the slider to any value between 0 and 100.
You can also scale the selected note velocities by some relative amount by
choosing the bottom radio button. Set the slider to any percentage value between
0 to 200%.
The bottom panel shows the range of velocity values in the current selection.
Change Controller Change Controller Change Controller Change Controller Change Controller
The Change Controller command lets you modify the values for any VocalWriter
control event in your selection. Like all commands in the Selection menu, the
selection can be in the Tracks or Notes window. If the current selection does not
contain any control events, this menu item will remain dimmed.
Fig 4.19
The Change Note
Velocity dialog.
VocalWriter Reference 94 94 94 94 94
From the Change Controller dialog, you must first select which of the VocalWriter
controls you want to change using the top panel menu button. The button face
text shows the current target control. Pressing this button brings the menu shown
in Fig. 4.21. Choose your target control type from the menu.
The bottom panel gives you three options on what you can do with the target
control. Selecting the top radio button will force all selected controls to a single
value. You set this fixed velocity value by moving the slider to the desired value.
You can also scale the selected controls by some relative amount by choosing the
middle radio button. Set the slider to any percentage value between 0 to 200%.
Fig 4.21
Choose the target
control event type
from the menu.
Fig 4.20
Change Controller
dialog.
VocalWriter Reference 95 95 95 95 95
Choosing the bottom radio button lets you cut all the selected target controls into
the clipboard. The controls are deleted from the selected region. You can then
paste them back anywhere you want in your song. This option gives you a way to
cut, copy and paste selected controls using the Tracks window.
Adjust Phonemes Adjust Phonemes Adjust Phonemes Adjust Phonemes Adjust Phonemes
When youre entering lyrics, VocalWriter automatically figures out the pronuncia-
tion of each word as you type. However in English, some pronunciations change
depending on their context in the phrase. The Adjust Phonemes command lets
VocalWriter scan the selected lyrics and automatically make the required pronun-
ciation adjustments.
Fig 4.22
The Adjust
Phonemes dialog.
From the Adjust Phonemes dialog, you have five options for pronunciation
correction that you can turn on or off.
The Thee
The word the is pronounced two ways depending on the word
that follows. If the following word begins with a consonant (the
man), it is pronounces as DH UX. Otherwise if the following word
begins with a vowel (the ant), it is pronounced as DH IY.
VocalWriter Reference 96 96 96 96 96
Double Vowel
When two vowels follow each other, speakers usually insert a glottal
between the vowels (we eat). Although common in speaking, this
is usually handled better by controlling note durations while singing.
It goes both ways when singing, sometimes you want the first vowel
to smoothly flow into the second or you may want to shorten the
duration of the first vowel to break the two vowels apart. For this
reason, this option is turned off in the default setting.
In English, there are some phonemic sequences that are unnatural and more
difficult to pronounce than others. Often, these difficult sequences will assimilate
with neighbor phonemes to make the difficult transitions easier to articulate. The
assimilation usually results in a new articulated consonant. The remaining three
options are available to cover these cases.
Y-Slur
Pronouncing a t or d followed by a y requires a difficult change
in mouth position. So typically speakers will replace the t with a
ch (at your to atch your) and the d is replaced with j (had
you to haj you).
Glottal-T
Under many cases when a t is followed by a consonant, the t
disappears or it becomes a subtle glottal sound. Examples of this are
at last, at the, at me and at you.
Flap
Very often, a tongue flap replaces a d or a t when followed by a
vowel (but I). This tongue flap is unique because it closely
resembles a rolled-r, which is not an American English phonetic unit.
Of all the five options available here, this is by far the most impor-
tant and most noticeable. If these flaps are not correctly placed in
you lyrics, the speech sounds very awkward and incorrect.
VocalWriter Reference 97 97 97 97 97
Deck Deck Deck Deck Deck
Choosing the Deck command will select and make the Deck window the front-
most. The Deck command can also be initiated by pressing the Command-D key
from the keyboard.
Tracks Tracks Tracks Tracks Tracks
Choosing the Tracks command will select and make the Tracks window the front-
most. The Tracks command can also be initiated by pressing the Command-T key
from the keyboard.
Notes Notes Notes Notes Notes
Choosing the Notes command will open a Notes window for the selected track in
the Tracks window. The Notes command can also be initiated by pressing the
Command-N key from the keyboard.
If you have any Notes windows opened, they will be appended to the bottom of
the Windows menu. In Fig. 4.23, there are three Notes windows opened: Choir,
Drums and Vocals track. Choosing any of them from this menu will bring the
selected window to the front.
The Windows Menu The Windows Menu The Windows Menu The Windows Menu The Windows Menu
Fig 4.23
The Windows
menu.
VocalWriter Reference 98 98 98 98 98
Copyright Copyright Copyright Copyright Copyright
Choosing the Copyright command will open or select the Copyright window.
Imported Lyrics Imported Lyrics Imported Lyrics Imported Lyrics Imported Lyrics
When importing Karaoke (.kar) files, VocalWriter will extract the lyric text events
and copy them to a special window called Imported Lyrics. You can use this as a
reference when typing the lyrics in a Notes window.
Choosing the Imported Lyrics command will open the Imported Lyrics window.
The Imported Lyrics command can also be initiated by pressing the Command-L
key from the keyboard.
Karaoke Karaoke Karaoke Karaoke Karaoke
Choosing the Karaoke command will open the Karaoke window. A Karaoke
window is used to display the lyrics, synchronized in real-time while they are sung
by VocalWriter. The Karaoke command can also be initiated by pressing the
Command-K key from the keyboard.
Fig 4.24
The Karaoke
Window.
VocalWriter Reference 99 99 99 99 99
Synth Stats Synth Stats Synth Stats Synth Stats Synth Stats
Choosing the Synth Stats command will open an under-the-hood informational
display. This window can be used to diagnose real-time performance problems.
The bar graph on the far left shows the amount of computer power being used to
synthesize the music. A graph bar to the top means 100% of your computer is
being used to synthesize the current notes. If you get this, you are overloaded and
are probably hearing breaks and distortions in your music. Go to your Preferences
dialog and start lowering your VocalWriter CPU bandwidth (turn off reverb, lower
polyphony, etc.).
The bar graph on the right shows the real-time instrumental polyphony being
used to play the music. The bar graph is calibrated as a percentage of the
maximum instrumental polyphony of 48.
Fig 4.25
The Synth Stats
window.
VocalWriter Reference 100 100 100 100 100
Instrument Map Instrument Map Instrument Map Instrument Map Instrument Map
Choosing the Instrument Map command will open an Instrument Map window for
the active song.
The General MIDI instruments being used are shown in white text. This display is
informational only and cannot alter your music data in any way.
Fig 4.26 The Instrument Map window.
VocalWriter Reference 101 101 101 101 101
Play Play Play Play Play
Play-From-Marker Play-From-Marker Play-From-Marker Play-From-Marker Play-From-Marker
Stop Stop Stop Stop Stop
Record Record Record Record Record
Rewind Rewind Rewind Rewind Rewind
The Deck menu commands duplicate the functions of the Deck window buttons.
They are provided in this menu for their command-key equivalents. Sometimes
youll find these faster and more convenient than clicking on the Deck buttons.
The Deck Menu The Deck Menu The Deck Menu The Deck Menu The Deck Menu
Fig 4.27
The Deck menu.
VocalWriter Reference 102 102 102 102 102
Output Setup Output Setup Output Setup Output Setup Output Setup
When playing music, you can designate any track to output its events to your
external MIDI connection instead of playing the internal VocalWriter synthesizer.
The Output Setup command opens a dialog where you can set this up.
The MIDI Menu The MIDI Menu The MIDI Menu The MIDI Menu The MIDI Menu
Fig 4.29 Setting tracks for MIDI output.
Fig 4.28
The MIDI menu.
VocalWriter Reference 103 103 103 103 103
To designate a track for MIDI output, select its button and adjust the Channel
Number slider to the desired channel number. Now, all events on this track will
play out on your MIDI out connection on this channel number. Blank buttons
have MIDI output turned off and will play the internal synthesizer.
The Output Connection panel has a popup menu for selecting the OMS output
connection port.
Input Setup Input Setup Input Setup Input Setup Input Setup
When you turn MIDI on, VocalWriter is always listening to your MIDI input
connection. You can customize this so it plays a specific instrument and that it
listens to s specific MIDI channel number. The Input Setup command opens a
dialog where you can set this up.
Fig 4.30 Choosing the MIDI input instrument.
VocalWriter Reference 104 104 104 104 104
To select which General MIDI instrument you want playing when VocalWriter
receives MIDI input events, simply click in any one of the 128 boxes in the dialog.
All the controls in this dialog are live, so you can check out your selection as soon
as you make it. The current selection is highlighted with white lettering.
If you want to limit MIDI input to a specific channel number, move the Listen to
Channel slider to your desired channel number. VocalWriter will now only listen
to this channel and ignore all events on the other channels.
The Output Connection panel has a popup menu for selecting the OMS output
connection port.
Turn Metronome ON Turn Metronome ON Turn Metronome ON Turn Metronome ON Turn Metronome ON
Turn Metronome OFF Turn Metronome OFF Turn Metronome OFF Turn Metronome OFF Turn Metronome OFF
This commend will toggle the on/off state of the recording metronome. When the
metronome enabled, the menu will read Turn Metronome OFF. Likewise when
the metronome is disabled, the menu will read Turn Metronome ON so you can
enable it again.
All Notes OFF All Notes OFF All Notes OFF All Notes OFF All Notes OFF
If you ever get stuck or hung notes, the All Notes OFF command turns off all
notes on all channels for both the internal VocalWriter synthesizer and any
external MIDI devices. This function is provided as a panic button and under
normal circumstances should be used very infrequently.
VocalWriter Reference 105 105 105 105 105
The Deck window is used for music recording and playback. As shown in Fig.
4.31, the window has a stereo VU meter panel, six deck control buttons and a
location counter display.
The control buttons are similar in function to a tape deck or VCR unit.
Rewind Rewind Rewind Rewind Rewind
The Rewind button will reset the location Counter to measure 1 beat 1 (1:1). The
next Play or Record will now start from the beginning of the song. The Rewind
button is active only while music is stopped.
Stop Stop Stop Stop Stop
The Stop button halts playback or recording at the current location. It also
releases the activating button (Play, Play-From-Marker or Record). The location
Counter set to where it was when you pressed the Stop button, it does not reset
to the beginning. Pressing Play will pickup and continue the music from the point
where you stopped.
The Deck Window The Deck Window The Deck Window The Deck Window The Deck Window
Fig 4.31
The Deck
Window.
Rewind Stop Play Play
from Marker
Fast
Forward
Counter VU Meter
Record
VocalWriter Reference 106 106 106 106 106
Play Play Play Play Play
The Play button starts music playback from the current location Counter position.
When you press the Play button, it releases the Stop button. If you dont press the
Stop button, music playback will continue until it reaches the end of the song. At
which time the Stop button is automatically pressed and the location Counter is
reset to 1:1.
Play-From-Marker Play-From-Marker Play-From-Marker Play-From-Marker Play-From-Marker
Instead of starting playback from the current location Counter like the Play
button, the Play-From-Marker button starts playback from the measure location of
an active Marker button in either the Tracks window or a Notes window. Once it
starts playing, it behaves exactly like the Play button when it reaches the song end.
If the Tracks window is front-most and active, playback will start from the Tracks
window marked measure. If there is no marked measure, then playback will start
from the beginning at 1:1.
If a Notes window is front-most and active, then playback will start from the Notes
window marked measure. If there is no Marker set in the active Notes window,
then playback will start from the Tracks window marked measure. And if there is
no marked Tracks measure, then playback will start from the beginning at 1:1.
Record Record Record Record Record
In order to record, youll have to make sure two things are set before you start.
Youll need to have MIDI input initialized and working. And second, youll have to
set one of the 32 tracks for record input. This is done in the Tracks window by
pressing a target Play-Record button.
Fig 4.32
Setting record on
track 3.
VocalWriter Reference 107 107 107 107 107
Here are some operational details to note when recording music with
VocalWriter:
Recording always starts at the Marker location in the Tracks
window. If there is no marked measure, then recording will start
from the beginning at 1:1.
Recording will always mix the new notes with the track data.
Nothing gets deleted in the track.
Recording is Undoable, so if you dont like what you just
recorded, simply Undo it from the Edit menu.
Recording will automatically append measures if the song end is
reached.
Since VocalWriter is track based and not based around MIDI
channel numbers, the channel numbers are ignored for the
recorded events. The recorded events behave as though they
were all filtered into a single channel. If you have some split
keyboard arrangement or are feeding and external sequencer
into VocalWriter, record each channel on a separate VocalWriter
track.
The metronome can be disabled and enabled from the MIDI
menu.
Fast Forward Fast Forward Fast Forward Fast Forward Fast Forward
The Fast Forward button will speed up the performance of you music while its
playing. The increased tempo will remain as long as the button is pressed.
Releasing the button will return the music its normal tempo. The Fast Forward
button is active only while the music is playing, pressing it while the music is
stopped will have no effect.
VocalWriter Reference 108 108 108 108 108
Window and Button Behavior Window and Button Behavior Window and Button Behavior Window and Button Behavior Window and Button Behavior
A general rule with VocalWriter is buttons and controls inside an inactive window
are disabled. Theyll work only when the window is active. Inactive windows
become active whenever you click your mouse anywhere inside the window.
The sole exception to this rule is the Deck window. The Deck buttons are always
active. If you press any of them when the Deck window is inactive, theyll still
work. In addition, pressing a Deck button on an inactive Deck window does not
activate the Deck window. Whatever window was active when you pressed the
Deck button still remains active.
This non-standard Deck window behavior is there for your convenience. It lets
you play or stop your music with a single mouse click when youre working in
another window. It also keeps your current window active after pressing Deck
buttons. This saves a lot of unnecessary mouse clicking in windows.
VocalWriter Reference 109 109 109 109 109
When youre distributing or publishing your MIDI music, usually youd like to
include some text to give credits, describe the music, publish your email address,
etc. The Copyright window lets you include and display a text string up to 255
characters in length.
The Copyright Window The Copyright Window The Copyright Window The Copyright Window The Copyright Window
Fig 4.33
The Copyright
window.
VocalWriter Reference 110 110 110 110 110
VocalWriter uses a multi-track tape deck analogy to control and organize music
data. And like a multi-track deck, each of the 32 individual tracks can be edited
and controlled independent of one another.
The Tracks Window The Tracks Window The Tracks Window The Tracks Window The Tracks Window
Fig 4.34 The Tracks window.
The Tracks window is divided into three basic areas. The topmost area of the
window has a collection of miscellaneous displays and controls. Below these are
the individual tracks with each horizontal row representing one track in the music
Navigate
Buttons
Cursor Location
Display
Marker
Buttons
Track Data Area Track Control Area
VocalWriter Reference 111 111 111 111 111
file. On the right is the Track Data Area where the horizontal colored lines are
miniature piano-roll representations of the notes for each track. On the left, the
Track Control Area, is a series of buttons for controlling, editing and naming each
track.
Except for the first track, all remaining tracks can have note data. Track 1 is unique
because it only contains tempo changes. This is called the Tempo Track. Tempo
change events are shown as small vertical gray bars. Often youll see one in the
first measure on the first beat to represent the opening tempo for the song.
Cursor Location Display Cursor Location Display Cursor Location Display Cursor Location Display Cursor Location Display
As you move your mouse around the Track Data area, youll see the Cursor
Location Display indicate the cursor position in the song. The left display labeled
T shows the track number. This reflects vertical mouse position as the cursor
passes over each individual track. To the right of this is a display showing
horizontal cursor position (M B F). The number under the M label shows the
measure location of your mouse, B shows the beat and F shows the fine units.
These fine units are small subdivisions of the beat. They are usually referred to as
ticks per quarter note. VocalWriter has 240 of these fine subdivisions for a
quarter note.
Track Control Area Track Control Area Track Control Area Track Control Area Track Control Area
Shown in Fig 2.7 are the Track Controls for track 2. Each one of the 32 tracks has
an identical set. These controls are used for track editing and track playback
control.
Fig 4.35
TheCursor
Location Display.
VocalWriter Reference 112 112 112 112 112
Track Select Track Select Track Select Track Select Track Select
In the Tracks window, there are two ways you can select track data. You can select
track regions by simply click-dragging the mouse in the Track Data Area. Or you
can select the entire track by pressing the Track Select button for the target track.
The Track Select buttons give you the convenience of selecting the entire track
with a single action. These buttons behave like standard Mac radio buttons since
selecting a new track also deselects the old track.
Track Type Track Type Track Type Track Type Track Type
Pressing the Track Type button shows a pop-up menu that lets you specify the
data type for each track. The letter drawn on the Track Type button shows you
the current data type selected for the track.
Track
Select
Play -
Record
Track
Type
Track
Name
Track
Mute
Track
Solo
Fig 4.36
Track Control
Buttons.
Instrumental Play General MIDI instruments
Drum Play General MIDI drum set
Vocal Sing lyrics
Karaoke Display lyric text
Tempo Play tempo changes
Fig 4.37
Track Type
Pop-up menu.
VocalWriter Reference 113 113 113 113 113
Since track 1 is always the Tempo track, you cannot change its type. All the
remaining tracks can be Instrumental, Drum, Vocal or Karaoke. Only one track can
be designated as the Karaoke track. VocalWriter uses this to display the lyrics in a
special window while the music is playing. Once you designate the Karaoke track,
its selection in the Track Type pop-up will always be dimmed for all tracks.
Fig 4.38
Hold the OPTION
key down to get
instrument location
popup menu.
If you press the Track Type button while the OPTION key on the keyboard is
down, the pop-up menu now shows the location of every instrument change
event in the track. In this special pop-up menu, the numbers on the left show the
instrument location while the label on the right shows the instrument name.
Selecting an item from this menu will automatically scroll the Track Data Area to
the target instrument change location. You can use this power button to quick
navigation or you can use this to simply display the instruments used in a
particular track. In the latter case case, dont select anything in the pop-up menu
and the Track Data Area will not change its position.
Track Name Track Name Track Name Track Name Track Name
As you move your mouse cursor over the Track Name field, the cursor changes
from the arrow to an I-beam. This is to remind you that this field can be edited.
Clicking your mouse inside the Track Name area will display the dialog window
shown in Fig 4.39 your screen.
VocalWriter Reference 114 114 114 114 114
The current track name is displayed in white letters in the dialog text edit field.
Clicking your mouse anywhere inside this field, the letters will change color to
black and a blinking insertion cursor appears by nearest text character to your
click point. Selected text in edit fields is always colored white while unselected
text is always colored black.
Pressing the DELETE key on your keyboard removes characters on the left side of
the insertion cursor. If you have an area selected in the text field, the DELETE key
will remove the selected text. You can move the insertion cursor by simply
clicking your mouse to the desired point or by using the left and right ARROW
keys on your keyboard. To select an area, drag your mouse over the desired
characters.
When youre finished, there two ways to exit this dialog. If you press the Cancel
button, no changes will be made to the track name when you exit the dialog.
Pressing the ESC key on your keyboard will do the same thing.
If you want the track name changed to the text you typed in the edit field, press
the Change button. The border around this button means the button can also be
activated by pressing the RETURN key on your keyboard.
Track Mute and Solo Track Mute and Solo Track Mute and Solo Track Mute and Solo Track Mute and Solo
Pressing the Mute button turns the sound off for each individual track during
playback. This is indicated with the track drawn as grayed out. Pressing the Mute
button again re-enables the track playback and the track is no longer displayed as
grayed out.
Fig 4.39
Edit Track Name
dialog.
VocalWriter Reference 115 115 115 115 115
The Solo function is the complement of the Mute function. While the Mute button
turns sound off for only the specified track, the Solo button turns sound off for all
tracks except for the specified track. When a track is in solo, all remaining tracks
will be grayed out.
Any number of tracks can be in Solo or in Mute. To un-Mute or un-Solo a track,
press the button again. These buttons work much like standard Mac check-box
buttons.
Play / Record Play / Record Play / Record Play / Record Play / Record
This button is used to designate any target track for MIDI recording. Normally
with the button out, each track is set in play mode. This is shown with the letter
P on the button face. Pressing in a Play/Record button changes the designated
track to record mode. This is shown with the red letter R on the button face.
Track Level Track Level Track Level Track Level Track Level
The Track Level slider can be used to adjust the mix balance for each track. Its
especially useful when youre experimenting with different instrument arrange-
ments for a track. Youll find it much easier than trying to scale note velocity or
volume controls. The slider becomes active when any track selection is made in
the Tracks window.
Dragging the Track Level thumb towards the left makes the track output propor-
tionately quieter until the track becomes silent. Dragging the thumb towards the
right will make the track louder again. The slider display is calibrated from 0% to
200% of normal loudness.
Fig 4.40
Track Level slider.
VocalWriter Reference 116 116 116 116 116
Marker Buttons Marker Buttons Marker Buttons Marker Buttons Marker Buttons
Directly above the Track Data Area is a horizontal series of buttons (labeled 1,
2, 3...) called Marker Buttons (see Fig 4.41). Each button is labeled with the
song measure number.
Markers are used to automatically position the music playback to the marked
measure when using the Play-From-Marker function. Like standard Mac radio
buttons, the old marker will automatically release when you press a new one.
Navigate Buttons Navigate Buttons Navigate Buttons Navigate Buttons Navigate Buttons
The Navigate Buttons are used to automatically scroll the Track Data Area to
either the marked measure, selection start measure or selection end measure.
Whenever you set a marker or make a selection in the Track Data Area, the
appropriate Navigate Button will become active.
Fig 4.41
Marker set on
measure 5.
The Go To Marker button scrolls to the marked measure positioned to the left
side. The Go To Select Start button scrolls to the selection start positioned to the
left side. The Go To Select End button scrolls to the selection end positioned to
the right side.
Go To Select End
Go To Select Start Go To Marker
Fig 4.42
Tracks window
Navigate buttons.
VocalWriter Reference 117 117 117 117 117
There are two ways to open a Notes window. You can double-click a location in
the Tracks window Track Data Area. A Notes window will be open, starting at the
nearest beat where you clicked your mouse. You can also open a Notes window
by choosing the Notes item in the Windows menu whenever you have a selection
in the Tracks window. Here, the new Notes window will open at the selection
start position.
The Notes Window The Notes Window The Notes Window The Notes Window The Notes Window
Fig 4.43 The Notes Window.
Note Velocity
Slider
Position
Displays
Button Panel
Virtual
Keyboard
Control Data
Area
Notes Area Horizontal
Scroll Bar
Vertical
Scroll Bar
Marker
Buttons
VocalWriter Reference 118 118 118 118 118
This window is divided into three basic sections. The piano roll style display is
called the Notes Area. This area shows the track notes in blue (red when they are
selected). Here you can directly enter and manipulate note position, duration and
other attributes.
Directly above the Notes Area is the Control Data Area. This area lets you edit
various standard MIDI and custom VocalWriter music controls. To the left is the
Button Panel. This is a collection of miscellaneous Notes window editing modes,
options and functions.
Quantize Button Quantize Button Quantize Button Quantize Button Quantize Button
When you manually create or move notes, you can force then to snap into grids of
sixteenth, eighth, quarter and half note boundaries. You can select the quantize
value from the Quantize button popup menu.
Fig 4.44
The Notes window
Button Panel.
Quantize
Button
Zoom
Button
Select Mode
Button
Insert Mode
Button
Note Duration
Palette
Control Density
Button
Navigate
Buttons
VocalWriter Reference 119 119 119 119 119
With Quantize turned OFF, notes can be created and moved anywhere in
individual tick clock increments. With Quantize turned on, notes will snap to the
nearest grid value specified in the button menu. Besides creating and moving
notes, Quantize also snaps manual duration changes to this grid.
Horizontal Zoom Button Horizontal Zoom Button Horizontal Zoom Button Horizontal Zoom Button Horizontal Zoom Button
The Zoom button sets the amount of horizontal magnification for the Notes and
Control Data Areas. The magnification amount is set in the popup menu.
Fig 4.45
The Quantize
button popup
menu.
The numbers in the menu specify the magnification amount. For example, 2x is
two times magnification, 3x is four times magnification, and so on.
Select and Insert Mode Buttons Select and Insert Mode Buttons Select and Insert Mode Buttons Select and Insert Mode Buttons Select and Insert Mode Buttons
While in the Notes Area or Control Data Area, there are two basic actions that can
be done with your mouse pointer. You can either select notes and controls or you
can insert notes and controls. Choosing between these two modes is done with
the Select and Insert Mode buttons.
Fig 4.46
The Zoom button
popup menu.
VocalWriter Reference 120 120 120 120 120
When you first open a Notes window, it is always in Select Mode. The Select Mode
button is pressed and the mouse cursor is a cross when its in both the Notes Area
and the Control Data Area.
Pressing the Insert Mode button, changes the cursor to a pencil. Pressing your
mouse button while the cursor is a pencil, will create notes in the Notes Area and
will create control events in the Control Data Area.
Note Duration Palette Note Duration Palette Note Duration Palette Note Duration Palette Note Duration Palette
When youre manually entering notes, you set the note value and location by
clicking you mouse in the Notes Area. The vertical axis specifies the note value
and the horizontal axis specifies the note location in the song. The actual duration
of the new entered note is selected in the Note Duration Palette.
Fig 4.47
The Select and
Insert Mode
buttons.
This palette only becomes active when youre in the Insert Mode, otherwise all
the buttons are dimmed in Select Mode. The Dot button works in combination
with any of the note duration buttons, increasing their value an additional 50%.
Fig 4.48
The Note Duration
Palette.
Dot button
VocalWriter Reference 121 121 121 121 121
Control Density Button Control Density Button Control Density Button Control Density Button Control Density Button
For controls that are created by drawing a line segment, this button shows a
popup menu letting you select the spacing between events.
This button becomes enabled only when the Notes window is in Insert Mode and
the Control Data Area is displaying Volume, Pitch-bend, Brightness or Noise. The
available values shown in the menu are calibrated as events per quarter note. The
available range is from 5 to 50 events per quarter note.
Navigate Buttons Navigate Buttons Navigate Buttons Navigate Buttons Navigate Buttons
The Navigate Buttons are used to automatically scroll both the Notes and Control
Data Area to either the marked measure, selection start measure or selection end
measure. Whenever you set a marker or make a selection, the appropriate
Navigate Button will become active.
Fig 4.49
Control Density
options.
The Go To Marker button scrolls to the marked measure positioned to the left
side. The Go To Select Start button scrolls to the selection start positioned to the
left side. The Go To Select End button scrolls to the selection end positioned to
the right side.
Fig 4.50
The Navigate
buttons.
VocalWriter Reference 122 122 122 122 122
The Virtual Keyboard The Virtual Keyboard The Virtual Keyboard The Virtual Keyboard The Virtual Keyboard
There are three way to enter notes in the Notes Area: manually click you mouse at
the desired song location, play each note one at a time through MIDI, or finally,
you can press the appropriate key on the Virtual Keyboard.
Notes are created only when the window is in Insert Mode. You can enter only
one note per mouse button click since the note is created on the button release.
Playing the Virtual Keyboard in Select Mode only plays the instrument at the
current Notes Area insertion cursor. Since the Virtual Keyboard cannot play vocals,
youll hear it play instrumentals on vocal tracks.
For both Virtual Keyboard and manual mouse-click note entry, the slider above
the keyboard specifies the created notes velocity. All VocalWriter volume
parameters are calibrated in 0 to 100 unit ranges. For velocity, a slider value of 100
actually corresponds to a MIDI value of 127.
Note Velocity Slider Note Velocity Slider Note Velocity Slider Note Velocity Slider Note Velocity Slider
This slider lets you edit a selected notes velocity value. It is only active when you
make an individual note selection. Otherwise the slider is inactive.
All VocalWriter volume parameters are calibrated in 0 to 100 unit ranges. For
velocity, a slider value of 100 actually corresponds to a MIDI value of 127.
Fig 4.52
The Note Velocity
slider.
Fig 4.51 The Virtual Keyboard.
VocalWriter Reference 123 123 123 123 123
Position Displays Position Displays Position Displays Position Displays Position Displays
These two display shows you the mouse cursor position in both the Notes and
Control Data Areas.
The MFB display shows the horizontal position in Measure, Beat and Fine units.
The Fine units have a resolution of 240 ticks per quarter note. The Value display
shows the vertical position in the appropriate units for the current display.
Marker Buttons Marker Buttons Marker Buttons Marker Buttons Marker Buttons
Directly above the Control Data Area is a horizontal series of buttons (labeled 1,
2, 3...) called Marker Buttons. Each button is labeled with the song measure
number.
Fig 4.53
The Position
Displays.
Markers are used to automatically position the music playback to the marked
measure when using the Play-From-Marker function. Like standard Mac radio
buttons, the old marker will automatically release when you press a new one.
Control Select Button Control Select Button Control Select Button Control Select Button Control Select Button
The Control Select button chooses the control event type that is displayed in the
Control Data area. The options shown in the menu vary, depending on the track
type. Tempo and Karaoke tracks contain only one control type each, so the menu
is inactive. The menu for Instrumental and Drum tracks is shown in Fig. 4.55a
while the menu for Vocal track type is shown in Fig. 4.55b.
Fig 4.54
Marker set on
measure 6.
VocalWriter Reference 124 124 124 124 124
Except for Vocal track Text and Phon selections, all the remaining control types
are independent control events. This means each control is separate and can be
moved independent of one another.
The Text and Phon types are not events but additional note attributes, much like
velocity. They are permanently linked to a corresponding note. If you move a
note, the Text and Phon strings follow along.
The current selection is shown with a small diamond mark in the menu and an
abbreviated text label on the button face.
Instrumental Controls Instrumental Controls Instrumental Controls Instrumental Controls Instrumental Controls
Volume
The Volume control event is the same as MIDI Volume except the
value range is 0 to 100. Default value is 100.
Sustain
The Sustain control event is the same as MIDI Sustain Switch except
the value range is OFF or ON. Default value is OFF.
Pitch-Bend
The Pitch-Bend control event is the same as MIDI Pitch-Bend except
the displacement range is -50 to +50. Default value is 0.
(a) (b)
Fig 4.55
Control Select menu for:
(a) Instrumental tracks
(b) Vocal Tracks.
VocalWriter Reference 125 125 125 125 125
PB Range
The PB Range control event specifies the gain for Pitch-Bend
controls. The values are calibrated in half-step increments. The
range is 0 (Pitch-Bend disabled) to 12 (+/- one octave). Default
value is 2.
Instrument
The Instrument control event is the same as MIDI Program Change
for General MIDI. Inserting or editing Instrument events display the
Instrument dialog box. Default value is Instrument #1, the Piano.
Fine Tune
The Fine Tune control event has a range of 50 to + 50 units.
Default value is 0.
Additional Vocal Controls Additional Vocal Controls Additional Vocal Controls Additional Vocal Controls Additional Vocal Controls
Brightness
The Brightness control event has a range of 0 to 100. Default value is
50. This control filters the voicing for the natural voices.
Chorus
The Chorus control event has a range of -25 to +25. Default value is
0. This doubles the voicing for the natural voices. Positive chorus
values add a second voice with positive pitch displacement. Negative
chorus values add second voice with octave above pitch displace-
ment.
Vib Depth
The Vibrato Depth control event has a range of 0% to 12.7%. This
control specifies the vibrato modulation index. Default value is 1.5%.
Vib Freq
The Vibrato Frequency event control has a range of 0 to 12.7 hertz.
Default value is 4.5 hertz.
Portamento
The Portamento control event has a range of 0% to 100%. This
control specifies the glide time between notes. Default value is 40%.
VocalWriter Reference 126 126 126 126 126
Breath
The Breath control event has a range of 0% to 100%. This control
specifies the amount of aspiration in the voice. Default value is 0%.
Noise
The Noise control event has a range of 0% to 100%. This control
specifies the gain for noise type consonants (t, s, sh, f, etc.).
Default value is 0%.
Text
When this item is selected, the lyric text string for each note is
displayed. These strings can be modified while in both the Select
and Insert Modes. As your mouse cursor passes over a Text field, the
cursor changes to an I-beam. Clicking your mouse button at this
point will open an edit box at the Text string location. This is shown
with a blue background and white selected letters.
The edit box behaves as any other in VocalWriter except youre
restricted on what you can type in. Only the a - z, A - Z and -
and = are accepted. All other characters will be ignored.
When you are finished with the string, any action not for the edit
box (clicking outside the edit box, menu item selection, etc.) will
close the edit box and process the text. If you need to edit additional
lyrics, clicking on another Text string while the cursor is an I-beam
will automatically close the current edit box and open a new on the
Text string where you clicked.
If youre editing a sequence of lyric Text strings, you can press the
Space Bar or Tab key to close the current edit and automatically
open the next Text string. If you get to the right edge of the Notes
window, VocalWriter will automatically scroll the window to fit the
next string at the window center. You can use these keys to rapidly
enter the lyrics in for the first time.
When you close the edit box, VocalWriter automatically figures out
the pronunciation and fills in a corresponding Phoneme string for
the note. If you need to extend a word over several notes there are
two additional characters you can use to specify how this should be
done.
VocalWriter Reference 127 127 127 127 127
VocalWriter can sing only one syllable per note. So if a word has
multiple syllables, they will have to be split over several notes.
Syllables of the same word are linked together with the - character.
For example, the word over is entered as lyrics for two notes as
ov- and er. Dont worry about correctly splitting the syllables,
VocalWriter will split the syllables correctly for the Phoneme
spelling. The above example can be split the following ways and they
all will be sung correctly:
ov- er
o- ver
ove- r
The other command character, =, is used to extend a single
syllable over two or more notes. For example, the word love
cannot be split over two notes by typing it as lo- and ve. This is a
single syllable word, so VocalWriter will sing it on the first note only.
The cover both notes, you can type love- and =. This is telling
VocalWriter the word continues to the next note and to extend the
vowel through the second note.
These can be combined as the following example shows. The word
no is sung over two notes and satisfaction is sung over 5 notes.
I can get no- = sat- tis- fac- tion- =
Finally, its important to understand that a syllable always needs a
vowel nucleus. When youre entering lyrics, make sure every note
has a vowel somewhere in the syllable.
Fig 4.56
Command
characters
example.
VocalWriter Reference 128 128 128 128 128
Phon
When this type is selected, the pronunciation string for each note is
displayed. These phoneme strings can be modified while in both the
Select and Insert Modes. As your mouse cursor passes over a
Phoneme field, the cursor changes to an I-beam. Clicking your
mouse button at this point will open an Edit Phonemes dialog box.
This dialog is used to fine tune the pronunciations of your sung
lyrics.
The dialog is divided into two sections, the Lyric List and the
Phoneme Palette. The English text is shown on the right side of the
Lyric List while the corresponding phonemes are shown on the left
side of the list. The phonemes in the Lyric List are further divided
into individual phoneme fields. The Lyric List shows the label -Rest-
wherever there are silences in the vocal track. This is added to help
you reference back to your music. You can use the Lyric List scroll
bar to access all lyrics in the track.
Lyric List
Fig 4.57 The Edit Phonemes dialog.
Phoneme Palette
VocalWriter Reference 129 129 129 129 129
You can use the Lyric List to edit both the English text and pho-
nemes. When you select the English text, an edit box opens on the
selected text field. Here you can edit the lyric, although youre
limited to only the letters a - z, A - Z and - and =. When
you choose another entry or quit the dialog, VocalWriter will
automatically update the new pronunciation.
Selecting a phoneme field not only highlights the phoneme in the
Lyric List, but also highlights the phoneme in the Phoneme Palette.
Choosing a new phoneme from the palette will change the pronun-
ciation of the selected syllable. The Phoneme Palette shows the
phoneme symbol and an example word of the pronunciation. To
remove a phoneme, select the empty item from the palette.
When youre modifying phonemes, make sure to include one vowel
for every note. Otherwise you may get unpredictable results.
Notes Area Notes Area Notes Area Notes Area Notes Area
The Notes Area is where you can manually create and modify note events. Using a
piano-roll style display, you can edit either individual notes or selected groups of
notes.
The horizontal and vertical scroll bars are used to move around in the song. The
blue bars show the individual note positions and the bar length shows the
duration. On Vocal tracks, silence gaps between notes are drawn as hollow bars.
Selected notes are drawn in red. A blinking insertion point indicates where MIDI
or Virtual Keyboard note insertions will appear.
When youre in the Notes Area, the cursor shape tells you what will happen when
you click your mouse button or when you click-drag the mouse cursor. The
options are selecting, inserting, moving, stretching or scrubbing.
VocalWriter Reference 130 130 130 130 130
Group Select Cursor Group Select Cursor Group Select Cursor Group Select Cursor Group Select Cursor
The group select cursor is shown whenever the Notes window is in
Select Mode and the mouse point is not over any note event.
Click: Moves the insertion point to the new location.
Click-drag: Draws a marquee rectangle around the group of
notes that will be selected when you release the
mouse button. This will automatically scroll the
Notes Area if the selection rectangle hits any Notes
Area edge.
Insert Cursor Insert Cursor Insert Cursor Insert Cursor Insert Cursor
The insert cursor is shown when the window is in Insert Mode.
Click: Creates a new note at the mouse point position.
Click-drag: Same as click.
Move Cursor Move Cursor Move Cursor Move Cursor Move Cursor
The move cursor is shown whenever the Notes window is in Select
Mode and the mouse point is over the front and middle area of a
note event.
Click: Selects the note.
Click-drag: Moves the note.
Stretch Cursor Stretch Cursor Stretch Cursor Stretch Cursor Stretch Cursor
The stretch cursor is shown whenever the Notes window is in Select
Mode and the mouse point is over back end area of a note event.
Fig 4.58
Click-drag the
rectangle to make
a group selection.
VocalWriter Reference 131 131 131 131 131
Click: Selects the note.
Click-drag: Stretches the notes duration.
Scrub Cursor Scrub Cursor Scrub Cursor Scrub Cursor Scrub Cursor
The scrub cursor is shown whenever the Command key is pressed.
Click: Plays all notes at current mouse point location.
Click-drag: Plays and tracks any notes at current mouse
point location.
Because Vocal tracks are monophonic and Instrumental and Drum tracks are
polyphonic, there are some basic differences when editing either type. On
polyphonic tracks, you can place any number of notes anywhere without limita-
tions. However on monophonic tracks, notes can only follow one another in a
single sequential order. Notes can never overlap each other. When youre
converting an Instrumental track to Vocal or youre inserting notes in a Vocal
track, VocalWriter automatically adjusts the track notes to fit this monophonic
requirement.
Control Data Area Control Data Area Control Data Area Control Data Area Control Data Area
VocalWriter control events are displayed and edited in the Control Data Area. The
specific control event type that will be shown is chosen from the Control Select
buttons menu. Controls are events that can be inserted and edited independent
of each other and any notes. The only exceptions are the Text and Phon items.
These two are not really controls but additional attributes for a vocal notes.
The control events can be divided into three classes, depending on how they are
displayed and edited. Almost all of the controls are graphically shown as step
transitions to a new level. The controls value is indicated by its vertical position.
These level type controls can be further classified by how they are manually
created in the Control Data Area. Most are created one at a time by mouse button
clicks while in Insert Mode. These single events are inserted by positioning the
pencil cursor to a target location and level and then clicking your mouse button to
create the new control event.
VocalWriter Reference 132 132 132 132 132
For some of the controls, you can create a series of controls at once by drawing a
line between a starting and ending position. VocalWriter will automatically insert
interpolated controls between these points. The actual number of controls
which are interpolated is determined by the Control Density buttons menu
selection.
Fig 4.59
Inserting a single
control event.
Fig 4.60
(a) Click-drag where
you want a control
ramp.
(b) VocalWriter will
insert controls.
(a) (b)
Finally the third class of control events are special controls whose value cannot
be represented by a numerical level. These are created and edited through text
edit boxes and dialogs.
Single level insertion Line insertion Special Single level insertion Line insertion Special Single level insertion Line insertion Special Single level insertion Line insertion Special Single level insertion Line insertion Special
Sustain Volume Instrument
PB Range Pitch-bend Text
Fine Tune Brightness Phon
Chorus
Vib Depth
Vib Freq
Portamento
Breath
Noise
Tempo
VocalWriter Reference 133 133 133 133 133
Fig 4.61
Click-drag to make
a selection.
Except for Text and Phon items, the remaining events can be group selected by
click-dragging your mouse pointer in the Control Data Area. As youre dragging,
the target area is highlighted dark gray. When you release your mouse button,
any controls in the target area will be selected and colored red.
VocalWriter Reference 134 134 134 134 134
Blank Page