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<LI><A NAME="tex2html269"
HREF="node1.html#SECTION00110000000000000000">License, Version and Legalities</A>
<LI><A NAME="tex2html270"
HREF="node1.html#SECTION00120000000000000000">Installing <I><B>MMA</B></I></A>
<LI><A NAME="tex2html271"
HREF="node1.html#SECTION00130000000000000000">Running <I><B>MMA</B></I></A>
<LI><A NAME="tex2html272"
HREF="node1.html#SECTION00140000000000000000">Comments</A>
<LI><A NAME="tex2html273"
HREF="node1.html#SECTION00150000000000000000">Theory Of Operation</A>
<LI><A NAME="tex2html274"
HREF="node1.html#SECTION00160000000000000000">Case Sensitivity</A>
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<H1><A NAME="SECTION00100000000000000000">
Overview and Introduction</A>
</H1>
<P>
<I>Musical MIDI Accompaniment</I>, <I><B>MMA</B></I><A NAME="tex2html2"
HREF="#foot193"><SUP>1.1</SUP></A>, generates standard MIDI<A NAME="tex2html3"
HREF="#foot194"><SUP>1.2</SUP></A> files which can be used as a backup track for a soloist. It was written especially for me--I am an aspiring saxophonist and wanted something to practice my jazz solos. With <I><B>MMA</B></I> I can create a track based on the chords in a song, transpose it to the correct key for my instrument, and play my very bad improvisations until they get a bit better.
<P>
I also have a small combo group which is always missing at least one player. With <I><B>MMA</B></I> generated tracks we can practice and perform even if a rhythm player is missing. This all works much better than I expected when I started to write the program.
<P>
<H1><A NAME="SECTION00110000000000000000">
License, Version and Legalities</A>
</H1>
<P>
The program <I><B>MMA</B></I> was written and is copyright Robert van der Poel, 2002--2004.
<P>
This program, the accompanying documentation, and library files can be freely distributed according to the terms of the GNU General Public License (see the distributed file ``COPYING'').
<P>
If you enjoy the program, make enhancements, find bugs, etc. send a note to me at <TT><A NAME="tex2html4"
HREF="bvdp@uniserve.com">bvdp@uniserve.com</A></TT>; or a postcard (or even money) to PO Box 57, Wynndel, BC, Canada V0B 2N0.
<P>
The current version of this package is maintained at: <TT><A NAME="tex2html5"
HREF="http://mypage.uniserve.com/~bvdp/mma/mma.html">http://mypage.uniserve.com/~bvdp/mma/mma.html</A></TT>.
<P>
This document reflects version 0.12
of <I><B>MMA</B></I>.
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\textbf{Warning:} \it This progr...
...t much easier for me to generate a really good product for all of us to enjoy.}$">
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<P>
<DIV ALIGN="CENTER">
</DIV>
<P>
<H1><A NAME="SECTION00120000000000000000">
Installing <I><B>MMA</B></I></A>
</H1>
<P>
<I><B>MMA</B></I> is a Python program developed with version 2.3 of Python. At the very least you will need this version (or later) of Python!
<P>
To play the MIDI files you'll need a MIDI player. Pmidi, tse3play, and many others are available for Linux systems. For Windows and Mac systems I'm sure there are many, many choices.
<P>
You'll need a text editor to create input files.
<P>
<I><B>MMA</B></I> consists of a variety of bits and pieces:
<P>
<UL>
<LI>The executable Python script, mma, must somewhere in your path. For users running a Windows system, please check our website for details on how to install on these systems.<A NAME="tex2html6"
HREF="#foot244"><SUP>1.3</SUP></A>
<P>
</LI>
<LI>A number of Python modules. These should all be installed under the directory /usr/local/share/mma/modules.
<P>
</LI>
<LI>A number of library files defining standard rhythms. These should all be installed under the directory /usr/local/share/mma/lib/stdlib.
<P>
</LI>
</UL>
<P>
The script ``install'' will (hopefully) install <I><B>MMA</B></I> properly for you. It assumes that main script is to be installed in /usr/local/bin and the support files in /usr/local/share/mma. If you want an alternate location, you can edit the paths in the script. The only supported alternate to use is /usr/share/mma.
<P>
In addition, you <I>can</I> run <I><B>MMA</B></I> from the directory created by the untar. This is not recommended, but will show some of <I><B>MMA</B></I>'s stuff.
<P>
You should be ``root'' to run the install script.
<P>
<H1><A NAME="SECTION00130000000000000000">
Running <I><B>MMA</B></I></A>
</H1>
<P>
For details on the command line operations in <I><B>MMA</B></I> please refer to chapter <A HREF="node2.html#sec-running">2</A>.
<P>
To create a MIDI file you need to:
<P>
<OL>
<LI>Create a text file (also referred to as the ``input file'') with instructions which <I><B>MMA</B></I> understands. This includes the chord structure of the song, the rhythm to use, the tempo, etc. The file can be created with any suitable text editor.
<P>
</LI>
<LI>Process the input file. From a command line the instruction:
<P>
<TABLE CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=5" BGCOLOR="OldLace" BORDER=3><TR> <TD>
<BLOCKQUOTE><B>mma myfile <ENTER> </B></BLOCKQUOTE>
</TD></TR></TABLE>
<P>
will invoke <I><B>MMA</B></I> and, assuming no errors are found, create a MIDI file ``myfile.mid''.
<P>
</LI>
<LI>Play the MIDI file with any suitable MIDI player.
<P>
</LI>
<LI>Edit the input file again and again until you get the perfect track.
<P>
</LI>
<LI>Share any patterns, sequences and grooves with the author so they can be included in future releases!
</LI>
</OL>
<P>
An input file consists of the following information:
<P>
<OL>
<LI><I><B>MMA</B></I> directives. These include <I>Tempo</I>, <I>Time</I>, <I>Volume</I>, etc. See chapter <A HREF="node17.html#sec-directives">17</A>. .
<P>
</LI>
<LI><I>Pattern</I>, <I>Sequence</I> and <I>Groove</I> See chapters <A HREF="node4.html#sec-pats">4</A>, <A HREF="node5.html#sec-seqs">5</A> and <A HREF="node6.html#sec-grooves">6</A>.
<P>
</LI>
<LI>Music information. See chapter <A HREF="node8.html#sec-music">8</A>.
<P>
</LI>
<LI>Comment lines and blank lines. See below.
<P>
</LI>
</OL>
<P>
Items 1 to 3 are detailed later in this manual. Please read them before you get too involved in this program.
<P>
<H1><A NAME="SECTION00140000000000000000">
Comments</A>
</H1>
<P>
We do believe that proper indentation, white space and comments are a <I>good thing</I>. But, in most cases <I><B>MMA</B></I> really doesn't care:
<P>
<UL>
<LI>Any leading space or tab characters are ignored,
<P>
</LI>
<LI>Multiple tabs and other white space are treated as single characters,
<P>
</LI>
<LI>Any blank lines in the input file are ignored.
</LI>
</UL>
<P>
Each line is initially parsed for comments. A comment is anything following a ``//'' (2 forward slashes).<A NAME="tex2html7"
HREF="#foot275"><SUP>1.4</SUP></A>
<P>
Comments are stripped from the input stream. Lines starting with the <I>Comment</I> directive are also ignored. See the <I>Comment</I> discussion for details (<A HREF="node17.html#comment"><IMG ALIGN="BOTTOM" BORDER="1" ALT="[*]"
SRC="file:/usr/lib/latex2html/icons/crossref.png"></A>).
<P>
<H1><A NAME="SECTION00150000000000000000">
Theory Of Operation</A>
</H1>
<P>
To understand how <I><B>MMA</B></I> works it's easiest to look at the initial development concept.Initially, a program was wanted which would take a file which looked something like:
<P>
<TABLE CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=5" BGCOLOR="OldLace" BORDER=3><TR> <TD>
<BLOCKQUOTE><B>Tempo 120
<BR>
Fm
<BR>
C7
<BR> ...</B></BLOCKQUOTE>
</TD></TR></TABLE>
<P>
and end up with a MIDI file which played the specified chords over a drum track.
<P>
Of course, after starting this ``simple'' project a lot of complexities developed.
<P>
First, the chord/bar specifications. Just having a single chord per bar doesn't work--many songs have more than one chord per bar. Second, what is the rhythm of the chords? What about a bass line? Oh, and what drum track?
<P>
Well, things got more complex after that. At a bare minimum, we needed the ability to:
<P>
<UL>
<LI>Be able to specify multiple chords per bar,
</LI>
<LI>Be able to define different patterns for chords, bass lines and drum tracks,
</LI>
<LI>Make the input files easy to create and debug,
</LI>
<LI>Provide a reusable library that a user could simply plug in, or modify.
</LI>
</UL>
<P>
From these simple needs <I><B>MMA</B></I> was created.
<P>
The basic building blocks of <I><B>MMA</B></I> are <I>Pattern</I>s. A pattern is a specification which tells <I><B>MMA</B></I> what notes of a chord to play, the start point in a bar for the chord/notes, and the duration and the volume of the notes.
<P>
<I><B>MMA</B></I> patterns are combined into <I>Sequence</I>s. This lets you create multi-bar rhythms.
<P>
A collection of patterns can be saved and recalled as <I>Groove</I>s. This makes it easy to pre-define complex rhythms in library files and incorporate them into your song with a simple two word command.
<P>
<I><B>MMA</B></I> is bar or measure based (we use the words interchangeably in this document). This means that <I><B>MMA</B></I> processes your song one bar at a time. The music specification lines all assume that you are specifying a single bar of music. The number of beats per bar can be adjusted; however, all chord changes must fall on a beat division (the playing of the chord or drum note can occur anywhere in the bar).
<P>
To make the input files look more musical, <I><B>MMA</B></I> supports <I>Repeats</I> and <I>RepeatEnding</I>s. However, complexities like D.S. and Coda are not internally supported (but can be created by using the <I>Goto</I> command).
<P>
<H1><A NAME="SECTION00160000000000000000">
Case Sensitivity</A>
</H1>
<P>
Just about everything in a <I><B>MMA</B></I> file is case insensitive.
<P>
This means that the command:
<P>
<TABLE CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=5" BGCOLOR="OldLace" BORDER=3><TR> <TD>
<BLOCKQUOTE><B>Tempo 120 </B></BLOCKQUOTE>
</TD></TR></TABLE>
<P>
could be entered in your file as:
<P>
<TABLE CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=5" BGCOLOR="OldLace" BORDER=3><TR> <TD>
<BLOCKQUOTE><B>TEMPO 120 </B></BLOCKQUOTE>
</TD></TR></TABLE>
<P>
or even
<P>
<TABLE CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=5" BGCOLOR="OldLace" BORDER=3><TR> <TD>
<BLOCKQUOTE><B>TeMpO 120 </B></BLOCKQUOTE>
</TD></TR></TABLE>
<P>
for the exact same results.
<P>
Names for patterns, and grooves are also case insensitive.
<P>
The only exceptions are the names for chords, notes in <I>Solo</I>s, and filenames. In keeping with standard chord notation, chord names are in mixed case; this is detailed in Chapter <A HREF="node8.html#sec-music">8</A>. Filenames are covered in Chapter <A HREF="node20.html#sec-paths">20</A>.
<P>
<BR><HR><H4>Footnotes</H4>
<DL>
<DT><A NAME="foot193">...</A><A
HREF="node1.html#tex2html2"><SUP>1.1</SUP></A></DT>
<DD>Musical MIDI Accompaniment and the short form <I><B>MMA</B></I> in the distinctive script are names for a program written by Bob van der Poel. The ``MIDI Manufacturers Association, Inc.'' uses the acronym MMA, but there is no association between the two.
</DD>
<DT><A NAME="foot194">... MIDI</A><A
HREF="node1.html#tex2html3"><SUP>1.2</SUP></A></DT>
<DD>MIDI is an acronym for Musical Instrument Digital Interface.
</DD>
<DT><A NAME="foot244">... systems.</A><A
HREF="node1.html#tex2html6"><SUP>1.3</SUP></A></DT>
<DD>If someone using a Mac system could let me know how to install on this system I'd be glad to include those details on my website.
</DD>
<DT><A NAME="foot275">... slashes).</A><A
HREF="node1.html#tex2html7"><SUP>1.4</SUP></A></DT>
<DD>We wanted to use ``#'' for comments, but that sign is used for ``sharps'' in chord notation.
</DD>
</DL><HR>
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<ADDRESS>
Bob
2004-12-02
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