mmt8-utils.txt

MMT8
====

Overview
--------

MMT8 is a small DOS utility for manipulation of MMT8 files. It's
primary objective is to provide functionality which is not easily
obtained on the MMT8 itself. This includes:

- Quick overview of parts and songs.
- Naming of parts and songs (no more dreary +/- !)
- Adding parts or songs to existing songs in an MMT8. This is
  possible directly on the MMT-8 using the cassette interface, but
  not directly via MIDI.
- Extraction of parts and songs to individual files for future
  manipulation using the MMTDECOD and MMTENCOD utilities.


Theory of operation
-------------------

MMT8 reads and write standard Sysex (.syx) files, which can be
processed by MIDI sequencers and dump programs, such as Dumpster.

In normal use, a Sysex file from the MMT-8 is read by MMT8, the
data is manipulated as needed, and the resulting Sysex file
sent back to the MMT-8.

MMT8 can also handle files containing individual parts or songs.
These files simply contain the binary representation of a single
part or song, prefixed with the characters MMP, for a part file,
or MMS for a song file. These files are intended for further
processing using the MMTDECOD and MMTENCOD utilities.

MMT8 contains two buffers for MMT-8 data. The first is the Main
buffer, on which operations take place, and the other is the
Aux buffer, from which part and song inserts are taken. The two
buffers can be swapped using a single command, which is how
the Aux buffer is read and written to and from disk. Each buffer
contains a complete MMT-8 memory dump.

In order to read a file into the Aux buffer, the S (swap) command must be
used: First, execute S once to swap the buffers, then issue an R (read)
command to read the file. Finally, execute S once again to transfer
the newly-read file to the Aux buffer, and restore the Main buffer.

Note that when creating an MMT-8 Sysex file from scratch, for instance
by combining parts and songs from other files, it's necessary to
start with a valid MMT-8 Sysex file in the Main buffer, instead
of starting with a completely empty buffer. This is because there are
certain internal pointers and variables within an MMT-8 Sysex file
which would otherwise be uninitialized, ultimately confusing the MMT-8
to which the file would be downloaded.

If MMT8 has been compiled with MIDI set to 1, it can receive and
transmit data directly via a MIDI interface. This has been
primarily designed for the MIDI interface on my T1000 portable,
and is not SoundBlaster compatible. Instead, this option requires
the MIDI interface to be connected to the COM1 serial port,
with the UART clock running at 1 MHz.



A note on song 99
-----------------

The MMT-8 uses song 99 in an undocumented way. This song is never
deleted; if it is empty, it contains a song with the name NO SONG NAME,
with no parts in it. Deleting this song will thurouhgly confuse the
MMT-8, so to keep things simple this song can not be changed by
the MMT8 utility. The remaining 99 songs should be ample for song use.


Invokation
----------

MMT8 is invoked by

$ mmt8 [filename]

The file name is optional and specifies the input file to be read;
it can also be specified once the program has started. Once MMT8 is
running, it has its own prompt, enabling commands to be entered.


Internal commands
-----------------

All MMT8 commands are single-letter abbreviations. Most commands
are followed with additional parameters. The following commands are
supported. The are described in more detail further on.


H                lists available commands.
L[P|S]           list used parts/songs.
U[P|S]           show used parts/songs.
N[P|S]<no>       set part/song name.
D[P|S]<no>       delete part/song.
I[P|S]<no><file> insert part/song from file.
I[P|S]<no1><no2> insert part/song no1 from aux no2.
X[P|S]<no><file> extract part/song to file.
W[<filename>]    write to [new] file.
R[<filename>]    read [file] or midi.
M                send to midi.
S                swap main and aux.
T                display statistics.
Q                quit.


Note that many commands need to be suffixed by P or S depending on
whether a part or song is intended.


H
-

This command lists the available commands (help).


LP
LS
--

L lists parts or songs, and must be suffixed with P or S, respectively,
hence LP or LS. All parts or songs are listed, together with their
respective names and lengths (for parts) or tempi (for songs).


UP
US
--

U is a short form of L, just listing the numbers of the parts or songs
that have data in them. It is invoked in the same way.


NP <part no>
NS <song no>
------------

N must be followed by P or S, and lists the name of a part or song;
it also displays the length (of a part) or tempo (of a song).

Once the name has been displayed, it is possible to change it. Just
enter the name on the computer keyboard followed by Enter; to keep the
name as it is, just press Enter on its own.


DP <part no>
DS <song no>
------------

D deletes a part or song, and must be followed by P or S and the number
of the part or song. There is no undo function (although the original
file is of course untouched on disk until the buffer is saved).


IP <part no> <filename>
IS <song no> <filename>
IP <part no> <aux part no>
IS <song no> <aux song no>
--------------------------

I inserts (adds) a part or song in the Main buffer, and can be
used in two ways.

The first method is used for adding a part or song that has
previously been extracted to file using the X command. This is
useful when the part or song data has been edited using the MMTDECOD
and MMTENCOD utilities. In this case, I is to be followed by P or S, the
number of the part or song to be written to, and the file name from
which to fetch the data.

The second method is used for adding a part or song from the Aux buffer.
In this case, I is followed by P or S, the number of the song or part
to be written to (in the Main buffer), and finally the song or part to
be inserted (in the Aux buffer). Note that the contents of the Aux
buffer is not affected by this operation.

In both cases, the part or song number to be written must be unused,
if not, first delete it using the D command.


XP <part no> <filename>
XS <song no> <filename>
-----------------------

X is used for extracting a part or song to a file, which can then be
processed and edited using the MMTDECOD and MMTENCOD utilities, and
ultimately re-inserted using the MMT8 I command.


W [<filename>]
--------------

Writes the Main buffer to <filename>. If no file name is specified,
the name of the file originally read will be used. In any case,
if the file already exists, the user will be prompted for confirmation.


R [<filename>]
--------------

Read <filename> into the Main buffer. If the buffer has not been saved,
the user will be prompted for confirmation.

If no filename has been specified, and the program has been compiled
with MIDI set to 1, the R command will wait for a connected MMT-8 to
transmit its memory dump (press any key to interrupt the receive
operation), which will then be loaded into the Main buffer.


M
-

Transmit Main buffer over midi to a connected MMT8. This command is
only available when the program has been compiled with MIDI set to 1.


S
-

Swap Main and Aux buffers, and print out statistics for both.


T
-

Display statistics for Main and Aux buffers, including number of
bytes in each, and number of bytes free. An asterisk (*) indicates
that the buffer in question has not yet been saved to disk.


Q
-

This command exits MMT8. If either buffer is unsaved when attempting
to quit, the user is asked for confirmation.


MMTDECOD
========

Overview
--------

The MMTDECOD utility converts a file containing a single part or song,
extracted from an MMT-8 Sysex file using the MMT8 X command, into
readable text. The text file produced can either be viewed directly, or
be written to a file for editing using a text editor. Once the file has
been edited it can be converted back for insertion into an MMT-8 Sysex
file using the MMTENCOD utility.

Invokation
----------

$ mmtdecod <infile> [<outfile>]

<infile> is the input file, extracted from an MMT-8 Sysex file using
the MMT8 utility X command. The <outfile> is optional; if not specified
the data will be written to stdout.

Most of the syntax of the resulting output file should be self-
explanatory; for a detailed description, see the MMTENCOD command.


MMTENCOD
========

Overview
--------

The MMTENCOD utility converts a text file containing MMT-8 data into
a part or song file, which can then be inserted into an MMT-8 Sysex
file using the MMT8 utility I command.

Invokation
----------

$ mmtencod <infile> [<outfile>]

<infile> is the text file containing the part or song to be compiled.
Normally an <outfile> is specified; if not, the input file will
just be checked for syntax and no output will be produced.

Syntax
------

MMTENCOD follows the same syntax as produced by MMTDECOD. Just editing
files is usually easy as it is just a question of following the same
syntax already obvious from the file. However, if a new file is to be
produced, it might be helpful to know something of the syntax required
by MMTENCOD.

First of all, MMTENCOD completely ignores empty lines, and lines
starting with ;, so the semi-colon can be used for comment lines
within the file. Note that lines containing only spaces are not
ignored, but will generate a syntax error, so it's wise to prefix
all unused lines with ; .

A file starts with a part or song specifier, in the following format

PART NAME " NAME OF PART " BEATS number-of-beats   or
SONG NAME " NAME OF SONG " TEMPO bpm

The name of the part or song must be exactly 14 characters long, and
surrounded by quotes. The number of beats (for a part) or tempo (for
a song) must also be specified.

Note that the song or part number is not specified; this is done
first when the part is inserted into an MMT-8 Sysex file (using the
MMT8 utility I command).


Part specification
------------------

A part is made up of eight tracks, which in turn are made up of at
least one event (any number of MIDI events plus one END event).
All eight tracks must be specified, and they must be specified
in descending order, starting with track 8 and finishing with track 1.

A track is specified in the following way:

TRACK number CH channel
[AT beat/clock] [event specification]
[ ... more events ... ]
AT  beats-in-part/0 END

The channel sets the MIDI channel for the track, and may be set to 0
to indicate that the midi channels of the actual events within the
track are to be used. Specifying an actual channel 1..16 will force all
events to that channel upon playback.

Any number of events may be specified per track, including none at all,
but there must always be one END event at the end of each track.

Part events
-----------

Part events may or may not have a time specifier, indicating when events
are to be played. An event time is specified in the following way:

AT beat/clock

and must be on the same line as the corresponding event specifier.

Note that AT must be in the first column in the line. Beat/clock indicates
the time of the event; beats beaing quarter notes, and there being
96 clocks per quarter note.

If an event specification lacks a time specification, it will occur
at the same time as the event preceeding it. This is for instance
how chords are specified.

An event specification may be one of the following

 CH channel NOTE note-number VEL velocity DURA beats/clocks
 CH channel CTRL controller-number VAL value
 CH channel PRGM program-number
 CH channel AFTR aftertouch-value
 CH channel BEND bend-value
 SYSX value
 SYSX value1 value2
 SYSX value1 value2 value3
 END

Note that, firstly, if an event time is not specified, the event
specification must start with at least one space character, and
secondly, that the END event must always have an event time
specification. There must be an END event on the last beat of
each track, even if the track is otherwise empty.

Most of the event specifications should be self explanatory. The DURA
specification for a NOTE event specifies the length of the note.
The bend value for a BEND event must be in the range -8192 to 8191.

For system exclusive messages, the SYSX event specifier is used. It
may specify up to 3 sysex bytes. If several three-byte SYSX events
are specified after each other without any event time specifiers
("AT's") (except for the first), they will be transmitted as one
continguous sysex message, with MMT-8 adding SYSEX and EOX
bytes upon playback. A one- or two-byte SYSX event will terminate
the sequence, causing an EOX to be sent. A three-byte SYSX event
with an event time specifier ("AT") will also terminate the previous
sysex sequence and start a new one. (For this reason, when
one- and two-byte SYSX events are decoded by MMTDECOD, they are
suffixed with EOX. The EOX's are optional for MMTENCOD, however).

A note on event specifications: all event time specifications
("AT's") must be in ascending order within a track. It is not even
legal to have two event times specifying the exact same time; in
this case, the second one should simply be removed, causing that
event to occur at the same time as the previous one.


Song events
-----------

Song events are rather more simpler than part events; indeed, the
only event that can be present in a song is a part step, specified
in the following way:

PART part-number TRACKS 12345678

This should be more or less self-explanatory. The digits after TRACKS
specify which tracks should play for the song step in question. Any
track to be muted should have it's corresponding digit replaced with
"-", so that for instance to specify that only tracks 3,4 and 7 should
play, the song step specifier would look like this:

PART 34 TRACKS --34--7-

Note that the hyphens must be present.

The end of a song is marked, quite simply, in the following way:

END


Examples
--------

Example of a complete part specification, with four notes played
on track 2 and a chord on track 1.

PART NAME " EXAMPLE PART " BEATS 4
TRACK 8 CH 0
AT 4/0 END
TRACK 7 CH 0
AT 4/0 END
TRACK 6 CH 0
AT 4/0 END
TRACK 5 CH 0
AT 4/0 END
TRACK 4 CH 0
AT 4/0 END
TRACK 3 CH 0
AT 4/0 END
TRACK 2 CH 0
AT 0/0 CH 2 NOTE 60 VEL 64 DURA 1/0
AT 1/0 CH 2 NOTE 62 VEL 57 DURA 0/93
AT 2/0 CH 2 NOTE 64 VEL 60 DURA 1/3
AT 3/0 CH 2 NOTE 65 VEL 67 DURA 1/1
AT 4/0 END
TRACK 1 CH 0
AT 0/0 CH 1 NOTE 60 VEL 64 DURA 4/0
       CH 1 NOTE 64 VEL 60 DURA 4/0
       CH 1 NOTE 67 VEL 63 DURA 4/0
       CH 1 NOTE 72 VEL 60 DURA 4/0
AT 4/0 END


Example of a song, with the same part being played eight times,
each time with a different track.

SONG NAME " EXAMPLE SONG " TEMPO 124
PART 3 TRACKS 1-------
PART 3 TRACKS -2------
PART 3 TRACKS --3-----
PART 3 TRACKS ---4----
PART 3 TRACKS ----5---
PART 3 TRACKS -----6--
PART 3 TRACKS ------7-
PART 3 TRACKS -------8