TRACKERS MOONBLASTER EN V15

MoonBlaster version 1.4

Additional manual

Why 1.4?

After the release of MoonBlaster 1.3 bleacher according to many users some important options are missing. There were also some small mistakes and imperfections. These were partially solved with the patch, but later some other errors surfaced.

Differences from version 1.3

The main differences are the following new options: Brightness control, Transpose and Status bytes. Furthermore, in the sample menu with [F2], the sample addresses can be reset to the initial values with blocks of 4 kB per sample. Even after loading an FST Drum kit, this will now automatically be switched back to. The input of the Current Sample Block, Sample Frequency and Threshold is also slightly extended. In addition to the old way of input, it is now also possible to increase and decrease these values with the cursor left and right. This is done in connection with a greater speed.

Brightness control

With the brightness control, the sound of an instrument can be made brighter or less clear. With the MSX-AUDIO this is possible with all instruments, with the MSX-MUSIC this is only possible with software instruments. If a hardware instrument has been selected on a channel and there is still a brightness event, it is ignored. If you use a multi-channel software instrument at MSX-MUSIC at the same time, the brightness change will also occur in the other channels.

The brightness can be entered by pressing the [X] key on channels 1-9. Then you indicate the strength of the brightness change. This can be done by pressing the [+] or [-] key and then entering a value of 1-6. The brightness change is immediately executed. If a brightness change is given after this, it is added to the current brightness, so if an X + 12 is required, for example, this must be done in two steps of X + 6.

You can switch back to the default brightness value by selecting the instrument again. The default brightness can be set by changing the Total Level value of Generator A with Own Voices. The value of total level is 63 min the brightness!

Transpose

It often happens that the same is played repeatedly within a song, but in a different pitch. This can now be easily obtained with the transpose option. This will reduce or increase the entire song by one or more semitones. This can be done by pressing the [R] key in the CMD channel. Now TR comes into the picture. Behind this a value can be entered from a minimum of 24 (2 octaves down) and a maximum of +24 (2 octaves upwards). This always assumes the standard note values. So two TR + 1 eight CRs each continue to transpose ONE half note upwards and not two! Note: the TR command does not start on the next step!

Status bytes

The status bytes have no effect on the song, but these can be useful for the programmer using the MoonBlaster replayer in its own programs. With games and demos it happens that you have to wait with the continuation of the program until the music has reached a certain point. With the status bytes it becomes very easy to test on this.

3 status bytes can be set. This can be entered by pressing the [S] key in the CMD channel and then entering a value of 1-3. When the music starts, the status bytes are set to 0. If a STAT is played in the track, the relevant status byte is set to 255. Note: this is never reset during play. If this is desired, this must be done by the programmer himself. How the bytes should be read can be found in the relevant replays.

New replay

This new version of MoonBlaster also includes a new replay routine. This new replay can of course play MoonBlaster 1.4 music, but there are a number of extra options added. The most important of these is the fade out, with which the music can fade away at the desired speed. Furthermore, more addresses can now be read.

Fade

With the BASIC replay you can have the music fade out with the command CALL MBFADE (speed). For speed you can enter a number from 1-255, with 1 being the fastest. So for example _MBFADE (2).

The fade is of course also present in the ML source, I refer you for further explanation to the comments to the source.

Addresses

Now more information can be read out when using the BASIC replay. For the sake of clarity we give here the complete overview (all addresses hexadecimal):

DAOO	set soundchip with _MBCHTP command
DA01	status (0 = does not play, 255 = does play)
DA02	set mapper bank with _MBBANK command
DA03/DA04	set memory address with _MBADDR command
DA05	current position during playback
DA06	current step during playback
DA07	status byte # 1
DA08	status byte # 2
DA09	status byte # 3
DA0A-DA16	music data that will be played in the next interrupt, this can be used for example when making VU meters