============================================================================== _ _ _ _ _ _ __ ___ (_) | | ___ _| |_ _ __ __ _ ___| | _____ _ __ | '_ ` _ \| | | |/ / | | | __| '__/ _` |/ __| |/ / _ \ '__| | | | | | | | | <| |_| | |_| | | (_| | (__| < __/ | |_| |_| |_|_|_|_|\_\\__, |\__|_| \__,_|\___|_|\_\___|_| the fantastic guide |___/ by null1024 ====================================================================Beta 2.51= last modified on [10.26.2011]m.d.y Warning::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: This document is more accurate than my AHX one by far, considering I'm a regular at using Milky. However, there are omissions, inaccuacies [well, maybe , maybe not], and just plain hard-to-read sections in this. I apologise beforehand, just in case something screws up. About::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: Are you a newbie to tracking? Are you a pro coming to tracking on the PC? Are you familiar with Milky, but wonder where the shortcuts are? Is ModPlug too much of a piece of crap to you? Schism too odd? Just need something to read?! Then... this is the guide for you. Tips+Notes...::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: * Use FT2 edit mode rather than Milky. Trust me, it's easier. Especially since this is the mode you're most likely to get help with, very few use Milky's "modern" edit mode. Hell, this guide is written assuming you're using FT2 style. Don't expect many of these shortcuts to work in FT2 though, lots of them are for Milky's new [or nicer] features. * Go to Config > Resampling > No Interpolation if you are doing any of the sample synthing tricks in this file. Trust me. Keys [take note, written for a US key layout, sorry!]::::::::::::::::::::::::: * Caps Lock or 1: note-off. This screws people up a lot, but note that on not- Windows platforms, it's usually 1. Try 'em both to see which one works. * Most of your keys with letters on them: insert note. You should know this. * F1-F7: change octave. Note that the number after the F is the octave for the Q key, not the one for Z. * Ctrl-Alt-C: Copy. There's another shortcut, but I think that's Alt-F4, and that doesn't work on some non-Windows platforms [namely because the window manager likely has Alt-F4 bound to say... clicking the close button on the window] * Alt-F3 or Ctrl-Alt-X: Cut. * Ctrl-Alt-V: Paste. There's another key shortcut, but it doesn't work on my machine [I dunno if the window manager is picking it up or not] * Alt-F6: Porous Paste. Mixes together what was underneath what you paste and what you paste on top, rather than clearing it out like normal paste does. Quite useful, especially for single-channel echo. * Alt-Arrow key: Select. You do this before you copy or cut or whatever :D * Shift-Up/Down: Change instrument. * Shift-Left/Right: Move in orderlist. * Shift-V: Volume scale the track. * Ctrl-V: Volume scale the pattern. * Alt-V: Volume scale the block you selected. * Ctrl-Alt-Z: Undo. * Ctrl-I: Bring up instrument editor. * Ctrl-S: Bring up sample editor. * Ctrl-A: Bring up advanced edit box. * Shift-I: Interpolate. This is useful as hell. A special little tip is to use it on effects: put an effect that has memory on. At the top and bottom of where you want to apply the effect, put it there. Select the effect column from the top of where you want it to the bottom, and interpolate. Then put in the parameters for the effect at the top. Seems long, but it beats holding down the effect letter for 64 rows. Much faster than it sounds. * `: Change edit step [how many rows to skip when inserting notes]. Adds 1 to it. Use Shift+` to decrease it. Seems not to work on OSX. Getting Started::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: * Earlier revisions of this file assumed the reader had some knowledge of using a tracker. I don't know why they did, you are likely reading this because you don't. So, to business: * Load up Milky. You should see the note grid. Pressing spacebar will change between edit and preview modes [edit mode allows the user to input notes in the grid, preview lets you test an instrument]. * Before we can even input a single note, we need an instrument. Click the Sample Edit button [it might be abbreviated, maybe as Smp. Edit, depending on your Milky resolution]. Rightclick in the big black box with a line [otherwise known as the sample area], and click "New". In the dialog that appears, type 128 and press OK. * Now, rightclick that area again, go to Generators > Sawtooth. Change volume to 40. Press OK. * This is the most important bit of making an instrument this way [eg, not using outside sample sources] -- set the loop. There should be a bunch of radio buttons near the sample area, click the one that says "Forward". *There, you have a sample! On to getting notes in the pattern! Check out the Instrument Tips section of this document for more information on sample making. * Making notes in a pattern -- press space so the line is red, arrow keys move the cursor, use the keyboard letters to input notes, function keys set octave. Instrument Tips::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: * Want an easy echo effect? Does your sample loop? Then... either A: make an instrument with an envelope like so: ================== \ \ |\ \| `, |`, \ \| `,|``.. ================== if you want a fairly lazy echo. Try to keep the lengths of the fades the same, and realize that this echo doesn't sustain. At all. ...or B: if you want sustain... ================== | `, | ================== Use a really steep, really short drop that doesn't completely reach the bottom. Sustain it at the first point, and have a really low fadeout [try say, around 07C or so]. Remember, XM instruments don't stop at the end of the envelope, unlike in IT. When you're ready to cut the note, use a note-cut or Kxx on that. If working at speed 6, I like using K04, personally. * Using the sample editor for anything described here? Then you'll need a little setup. Remember -- unless specified, make sure your settings are as so for any samples you make for the "Sample limited?" section below... When making a new sample [right-click when on the wave area > New], set the length to 100. When choosing your wave [right-click wave area > Generate > anything but Noise or Silence], make sure volume is at 50.00 and period is at 1.0. Why? Prevents clipping, and these are the settings the sounds here were created with. Also, I mention this here because this guide is written a bit inconsistently -- I mightn't explain something earlier on that I eventually get to later, so putting this before lets me ignore that issue because what you need is before now. Once you're comfortable [or feel like I'm hand-holding you too much], you can do things differently. Actually, in normal use, I use 40.00 when I make samples. Also, a lot of my samples are synthed by bouncing them out of another tracker, Renoise, which has a bunch of DSPs and stuff, and supports VST/DSSI plugins/instruments. * Sample limited? Try synthing out samples in Milky. Try combining waves that you generate with the built in sample editor. Drawing works too, but sometimes things sound better with clean and well-formed chipwaves. NOTE NOTE NOTE! When doing this, remember to turn off interpolation due to the nature of these waves, unless you want muddy samples. Remember to do this in the .WAV Disk Op menu as well [change the resampler to no interpolation on the save as box, underneath where it says Quality]. One nice thing you can easily synth is a supersaw. Assuming instrument 1 is a saw, put this at the top of your pattern, set it to speed 6, BPM 125, and do a WAV disk-op on it [Ctrl-D, select .WAV and Save As in that order, then hit record]: 00|C-5*1*****|C-5*1**X18|C-5*1**X28|C-5*1**202|C-5*1**102| and that's it. Load the sample into Milky and clean it up a bit by cutting off the very beginning: you'll hear the instruments detuning slowly until they form a supersaw. Try changing the parameters on this one, for example, making the values smaller produces a nice phasing instrument. Try to loop it well, it's a bit tricky. Cut any excess sample you don't need, too: long samples are huge. Another nice trick is doing a kick drum. With sample 1 being a square and sample 2 being a triangle at speed 3, 125 BPM. 00|C-5*110250|C-5*240250| 01|*****0C200|*****30200| 02|*****08200|*****20200| 03|*****04200|*****10200| 04|*****00***|*****00***| Record that, load it back into Milky in another slot, and cut the silence at the end off. Why mix the square and triangle, and why is the square so quiet? Square alone sounds distorted. Nice for a gabber track, but you probably don't want such a harsh sound. Triangle alone sounds wimpy. Seriously, mute the channel with the square when testing how it sounds. You will hear how wimpy it is on its own. The square would overpower the triangle at full volume, so it's quieter, and the mix gives it a richer sound. There's an even better kick drum if you want more of a clubby sound. In Milky's sample editor, make a sine wave for instrument 1. Ping-pong loop it. Then, at speed 6, 160 BPM... 00|C-7*140240 01|*****30200 02|*****20200 03|*****10200 04|*****00*** and do the record thing. The ping-pong sine has a sound like a low-pass filtered square wave, so it retains the best characteristics of a sine [smoothness, clearness], and a square [loudness, punch]. Take note, the BPM and speed values listed are just for best effect when sampling these sounds. You can use a different BPM/speed combination, but then you'll have to tweak the sounds to fit. Take further note -- you don't have to bounce these sounds to samples and load them back in if you don't want to, but you will have to deal with the channel usage that this incurs. Also, changing the notes as needed too. With that in mind, here's a sound that doesn't lend well to sampling, PWM. It works when sampled, and sounds the same almost, but looping it is annoying, unless you want to spend a while figuring out where it sounds just right. Here's what you do: Make 2 sawtooth waves. Take the second one and go to Advanced > Backwards in the wave area's right-click menu. Go to the Ins. Edit screen [the button is in the top left corner of the Milky display, or just hit Ctrl-I] and change the finetune to -003 or so. Then, in your pattern... 00|C-4*1*****|C-4*2***** and remember to substitute C-4 for the note you want. If you don't want the sound to start over when you have a new note, for any note except the first you use this instrument on in the pattern, use the effect 3FF. So an example pattern would be 00|C-4*1*****|C-4*2***** 01|**********|********** 02|**********|********** 03|**********|********** 04|D-4*1**3FF|D-4*2**3FF 05|**********|********** 06|E-4*1**300|E-4*2**300 <--NOTE! 3xx has memory, so you only need to do 3FF 07|**********|********** once on the pattern. You can just type 300 on 08|**********|********** the rest [so, just type 3 in the first column]! ...and you can see where this goes. Pattern Tips:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: * The 3FF tip is useful for a lot more than just the PWM not resetting, you can apply that to most other samples, especially if it has a long attack and you don't want it constantly restarting. If the attack is done with envelopes instead of in the sample, you might just want to zero out the instrument column [just type 0 over whatever is in it, DO NOT HIT DELETE], which will prevent the instrument from restarting. * Volume column effects are fantastic. Look those up in the official Milky manual, which is the best reference for what you can do. One of my favorites is vibrato and portamento. Set vibrato on first note, then use V0 in the volume column down the pattern. Then, on the first note to portamento to, use 3xx [say, 330], and continue that down the pattern. You can even do things like arps with vibrato [although, you'll have to set the vibrato with 4xy somewhere else, either in the pattern above, or in some empty space above your notes if there is any. There is the option of setting it with Sx and Vy on the first 2 notes of the arp if neither of the previous options is avaliable, but you won't have vibrato on the first row [or it might be screwed up from a previous vibrato setting... take note!]] ****************************************************************************** Contact: IRC: null1024 or null|phone on irc.esper.net, shoot me a PM or join #null. email: nullsolaris@gmail.com [note, this often goes unchecked] ****************************************************************************** [EOF]