Thread:Brizobst/@comment-24720902-20130809015301/@comment-7603355-20130809024220

What ever level your at though, I think this will help:

First, decide how many tracks you want. Let's say you want 3: melody, bass and drums.

Write your melody like this:

MEL$=":1 O3 @46 V100 T90 [ C D8 E8 F E8 D8 C < C> C2 ] 2

Now, let's look at the details. MEL$ is just a label for the string, so you could use PIANO$, A1$ or whatever, it doesn't matter.

the :1 means track 1. You can use tracks 0 through 7 for a total of 8 but for some reason I've had problems for some reason when I use track 0 so just be warned.

O3 means Octave 3. Lower numbers mean lower pitch.

@46 tells the program which instrument to use (There's a list in the manual). Most of my composing time is tinkering with the different sounds by changing this number around.

V100 is the volume. I think the default is 127, which is the max. You can change it at any point. It's most useful for getting the balance you want amongst instruments, though I suppose you could use it to get crescendo/decrescendo effects.

T90 is the tempo. Its the number of quarter notes per minute, just like a metronome.

The brackets [ ] are for repeating/looping. I put a 2 at the end so it will repeat twice and then end. Putting a 0 or just leaving it blank results in an endless loops. You can have repeats within repeats but only three layers. Anymore gives you an error.

Obviously C8 is an eight note, C16 is a sixteenth note etc. Just take note that leaving a note blank is a quarter note by default. You use & for ties: C&C8 would be a dotted quarter for example. R is used for rests. The are for moving amongst octaves.

I know I'm going through this fast but just read over everything a few times and let me know if you have questions.

Going on. Let's add a simple bass line and drums.

MEL$=":1 O3 @46 V100 T90 [ C D8 E8 F E8 D8 C < C> C2 ] 2

BASS$=":2 O2 @45 V80 [ C2 < B2> C G C2 ] 2

DRUMS$=":3 @128 [ 01B [01B8] 2 ]  ] 2 01A 01A R2 ] 2

BGMSET 129, MEL$, BASS$, DRUMS$

BGMPLAY 129

Ok, so if you look at the bass line there shouldn't be any surprises.

The drums however might be a little confusing. If you look at the manual all the different drum voices are labeled like 01A, 03c# etc. Just play around with the different drums and see what you like. I think you have to use @128 or @129 so only 2 tracks of drums max (should be more than enough though).

I put some repeats within repeats just to show you how that works. To get an entire song to repeat you need to encase EACH track with brackets like this:

MEL$=":1 O3 @46 V100 T90 [ [ C D8 E8 F E8 D8 C < C> C2 ] 2 ]

BASS$=":2 O2 @45 V80 [ [ C2 < B2> C G C2 ] 2 ]

DRUMS$=":3 @128 [ [ 01B [01B8] 2 ]  ] 2 01A 01A R2 ] 2 ]

Last, just notice that you only have to put the tempo once. Hope this helps and wasn't too confusing!