MainHelpLine
                   __..--[SCC Blaffer NT active help!]--..__

Welcome to SCC Blaffer NT... This help file will help you getting used to all
functions of SCC Blaffer NT... It will give a short summary of all commands
and key combinations that can be used in SCC Blaffer NT... As it is a short
summary of all functions and key combinations, you might not understand the
options directly... If that occurs, then we refer to the real user manual
delivered with the package... But we think you'll understand most of the
functions directly, as SCC Blaffer NT has a MoonBlaster (Sunrise) style shell.
Well... In any case we hope you'll have a lot of fun working with SCC Blaffer
NT... And remember that you can always send comments, bugs, and/or suggestions
to 'twz@iname.com'... We really need you to send those thingies, 'cause the
more you suggest, the better the tracker eventually will be!! And we also need
the comments about the project, 'cause we are humans after all, and if we know
people see a future using SCC Blaffer NT, then we get the spirit to continue
making the project perfect!

Updates since the first version of SCC-Blaffer NT is released:
+ PMV support
+ Philips and Toshiba music keyboards supported

In SCC-Blaffer press CTRL-H in any menu to get help about the menu you're
currently in (Everything is in this document, but when pressing CTRL-H, the
offset of the text will be adjusted...)...



About the project:

coding           : d-fader
graphics/design  : d-fader
music            : Dj. Chaos
documentation    : d-fader

time to create   : About 3 months...
source code size : about 30000 lines, over 350Kb!

Software used    : Chaos assembler 2.0
                   Turbo Pascal 7.0
                   Graph saurus 2.0
                   Age
                   MSX4PC 4.0
                   FMSX 1.62
                   RuMSX 0.16

Hardware used    : P133 with 48Mb Ram, 1.7GB and 8.4GB hard disk
                   2 CD-ROM drives, 12 speed and 48 speed
                   ZIP drive
                   Philips NMS 8255
                   Philips NMS 8250
                   512Kb Memory mapper
                   Nemesis 2 (2x)
                   King's valley 2 (msx1 version)
                   The Offspring's 'Ignition'
                   The Offspring's 'Smash!'
                   The Offspring's 'Americana'
                   Loads 'o coffee
                   And even more 'van nelle halfzware' shag!

Thanks to        : Manuel Bilderbeek     //\\      Quintus
                   Thank you for the idea of PIE, if you didn't mention that,
                   SCC Blaffer NT would *NOT* be released at all!

                   Laurens Holst         //\\      ~Grauw
                   Thank you for beta testing this little ( ;) ) project, and
                   also of course for your BUG reports, and of course for
                   (co-)organising the Bussum fair 1999! Keep up the good
                   stuff!

                   Cameron McCormack
                   For Chaos assembler, and for willing to adjust it to MSX!

                   Heleen Roordink       //\\      ...
                   Well... This girl is 'the' girl of HeXx, and ohohoh...
                   They're so in love... Maybe a little too much... Anyways,
                   the story is as follows... HeXx makes the hard-copy docs of
                   SCC Blaffer NT, and eh... It's one and a half week before
                   the Bussum fair, and I haven't seen 1 character on paper!
                   So also thanks to you, Heleen... (Don't get me wrong...
                   It's HeXx' own fold!!)

                   Konami                //\\      ...
                   For the SCC... (and the many, many, MANY hours I played
                   your games!)


Anti thanks      : Marco Borsato         //\\      ...
                   It's simple, if he wasn't alive, the air was cleaner, and
                   (ofcourse) the grass was greener...



 SCC Blaffer NT .. Now also the PSG couldn't be left alone .. SCC Blaffer NT

                          (C) 1999/2000 TeddyWareZ

                           (All rights reversed!)

Dj. Chaos    : Hey, d-fader??
d-fader      : What up??
Dj. Chaos    : Why did you reverse all rights??
d-fader      : Because I didn't reserve 'em...
Dj. Chaos    : Oh, ok...
Blue Crystal : very, Very, VERY big <SIGH!>

SongEditLine
Ŀ
                                 song editor 
                               


The main song editor:

select                  Switch interrupt frequency between 50Hz and 60Hz
graph-1                 Force music to go through slot 1
graph-2                 Force music to go through slot 2
graph-a                 Switch all channels 'ON'
graph-b                 Switch auto block marking
graph-e                 Swap equaliser type between 'NORMAL' and 'VOLUME'
graph-i                 Show current loaded instrument kit and the instrument
                        kit that's used by the song

graph-s                 Switch current channel as solo channel
graph-t                 Calculate song time (mm:ss)

graph-up                Increase last position with 4
graph-right             Increase last position with 1
graph-down              Decrease last position with 4
graph-left              Decrease last position with 1
graph-del               Delete row

tab-up                  Increase current position with 4
tab-right               Increase current position with 1
tab-down                Decrease current position with 4
tab-left                Decrease current position with 1

ctrl-a                  Switch note audition
ctrl-b                  Mark beginning of block.
ctrl-e                  Mark end of block

ctrl-c                  Copy operation.

                        1. If a block exists, then the block will be copied
                           (if possible that is) to the current position of
                           the cursor.

                        2. If no block exists, then one channel in the current
                           pattern will be copied to another in the same
                           pattern.

ctrl-d                  Deselect block
ctrl-g                  Grab instrument
ctrl-l                  Change loop position
ctrl-n                  Change song name
ctrl-p                  Copy one or more patterns to another place in the song
ctrl-r                  Reinitialise SCC
ctrl-s                  Swap settings scan
ctrl-t                  Change initial tempo
ctrl-x                  Switch cursor mode
ctrl-home               Changes the current pattern to the pattern that will
                        be played in this position

ctrl-del                Delete pattern

ctrl-up                 Increase current pattern with 4
ctrl-right              Increase current pattern with 1
ctrl-down               Decrease current pattern with 4
ctrl-left               Decrease current pattern with 1

shift-1,2,3,4,5,6       Switch channel x 'ON' or 'OFF'

shift-home              Cursor home (moves cursor to row 1, channel 1)
shift-delete            Delete column
shift-up                Increase the current volume with 1
shift-down              Decrease current volume with 1
shift-right             Increase current instrument with 1
shift-left              Decrease current instrument with 1
shift-[                 Decrease current octaves
shift-]                 Increase current octaves

shift-.                 Shift up 1 octave

                        1. If the cursor is located inside a block, then all
                           notes in the block will be increased with 1 octave.

                        2. If the cursor is located outside a block, then all
                           notes in the current column will be increased with
                           1 octave.

shift-,                 Shift down 1 octave.
                        (See shift-.)

.                       Shift up 1/2 note.
                        (See shift-.) Only now all notes will be increased
                        with 1/2 (c-1 will be c#1).

,                       Shift down 1/2 note.
                        (See shift-,) Only now all notes will be decreased
                        with 1/2 (c#1 will be c-1).

f1                      Play song from current position
f2                      Play pattern on screen
f3                      Go to instrument menu
f4                      Go to PSG editor.
f5                      Go to disk menu.
shift-f1                Go to pattern/position menu
shift-f2                Reset song
shift-f3                Go to info/settings menu
shift-f4                RAM options (load/save/swap)
shift-f5                The standard help screen (introduction of Blaffer NT)

up                      Move cursor up over grid.
down                    Move cursor down over grid.
left                    Move cursor left over grid.
right                   Move cursor right over grid.

] of NUM .              Move cursor right, way 2
[ of NUM ,              Move cursor left, way 2

delete                  Delete operation.

                        1. If the cursor is located inside a block, then all
                           cells within the block will be deleted.

                        2. If the cursor is located outside a block, then the
                           current note and value or only the value will be
                           deleted (depends on where the cursor is located.)

home                    Home position (go to position 0)

insert                  Insert row

CAPS                    Switch edit mode.

                        see note input


In the three options that follow, 'with block' means that a block exists, and
that the cursor is located inside the block. These options can also be used in
the 1Key edit mode, but then shift also have to be pressed. (z will be
shift-z)

z                       Fill in volumes 1
                        1. With block           Will fill all places in the
                                                block that are empty, or
                                                contain a note with the
                                                current volume...

                        2. Without block        Will fill the places in the
                                                current column that are empty,
                                                or contain a note with the
                                                current volume...

x                       Fill in volumes 2
                        1. With block           Will fill all places in the
                                                block that contain a note with
                                                the current volume...

                        2. Without block        Will fill all places in the
                                                current column that contain a
                                                note with the current volume.

graph-x                 Fill in volumes 3
                        1. With block           Will fill all places in the
                                                block that are empty with the
                                                current volume...

                        2. Without block        Will fill all places in the
                                                current column that are empty
                                                with the current volume...

The playing of a song:

As soon as you press F1, the song will be played from of the current song
position. If the current pattern does not compare with the pattern that should
be played, then the pattern that should be played will be the pattern that
will be played... When playing from of position 0 then the tempo which will be
played will be the initial tempo. Also all the song settings will be conveyed.
When a song is not played from of position 0, then the settings scan comes in
action (if switched on that is of course)... This option will scan from of
position 0 till the current position for a few settings that may occur in the
song. These are: Instrument changes, detune settings, transpose settings, auto
volume slides and of course the play tempo.

When playing the song, it'll play until (if the 'Loop position' is 'OFF' that
is) the last position is played. If there is a 'Loop position' then the
current play position will be set to the 'Loop position'. In this way the song
is 'trapped' in an infinite loop. But, the song can be stopped manually.
Actually there are 2 ways to stop a song:

With ESC                The song stops, de current position and pattern will
                        be what they were before the song was playing.

With STOP               The song stops, the current position and pattern will
                        be what they were at the last moment the song was
                        playing.


Other key combinations during playback:

graph-e                 Swap equaliser type between 'NORMAL' and 'VOLUME'
graph-1..6              Channel x will play solo
shift-1..6              Switch channel 'ON' or 'OFF'


The playing of a pattern:

Plays a certain pattern. Well, actually it plays the pattern that is currently
on screen. Also if the pattern doesn't 'belong' to this position, it will be
played. The playing (ofcourse) stops after the pattern is played. For the
rest there are no differences between playing a pattern and playing the song.


Note input:

If the edit mode is 'Type':

c, d, e, f, g, a, b             Input note. After this #, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7
                                or 8 for half note or octave.
                                If '#' is chosen, then after that the octave
                                has to be inputted. ESCape to cancel.

                                When a note is played the pitch and modulate
                                the last note played could have will be
                                turned 'OFF'... It is possible to continue
                                that pitch or modulate with the new note. This
                                is accomplished by setting the high nibble of
                                the command value to 1. e.g.:

                                     -[SCC Channels]-
                                [row][Ch.1][Ch.2][Ch.3][Ch.4][Ch.5]
                                 #01 C 50F - 00 - 00 - 00 - 00
                                 #02 P1+01 - 00 - 00 - 00 - 00
                                 #03  - 00 - 00 - 00 - 00 - 00
                                 #04  - 00 - 00 - 00 - 00 - 00
                                 #05 C 41F - 00 - 00 - 00 - 00
                                 #06  - 00 - 00 - 00 - 00 - 00

                                Now on row 1 an C 5 note will be played. On
                                row 2 the pitch will slide up. As soon as the
                                replayer comes to row 5, an c 4 will be
                                played, and after it's played, the note will
                                automatically slide up.

                                When inputting a note, the command value will
                                be automatically filled with the current
                                volume.

Other commands on the note part of a channel:

i                               INS event. The command value gets the value of
                                the current instrument.

ctrl-i                          INS event. The command value has to be filled
                                in by the user.

m                               Modulate event
o                               OFF event
p                               Pitch slide event
s                               Set auto slide
t                               Detune setting
v                               Volume slide event



Note input if the edit mode is '1Key':

On screen you see the 'current octaves'... Imagine these are 4-5...

The '1Key' system works as follows:

(Note)         C# D#    F# G# A#    C# D#    F# G# A#
                              
                              
(What you    23  567  SD  GHJ 
 type)              
             Q W E R T Y U Z X C V B N M
            
(Note)        C  D  E  F  G  A  B  C  D  E  F  G  A  B
                 (Octave 4)           (Octave 5)


When current octaves is set to '  1', then Q through U won't work. Z through
M get octave 1, when current octaves is set to '8  ', then Z through M won't
work. Q through U get octave 8.

In the '1Key' edit mode all other inputs also work, but when inputting another
command, press SHIFT plus the key assigned to the command, e.g. SHIFT-P equals
pitch event.


Inputting the PSG channel:

0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9             Start input of PSG instrument. This has to be
                                a number from 1 through 44.

Inputting the command (CMD) channel:

t                               Tempo change
e                               End of Pattern (EndOp)
r                               Transpose Change
p                               PSG Maximum volume
                                With this command you can control the maximum
                                volume of the PSG channels. In this way you
                                can make e.g. fading percussion instruments.
                                Valid entries: 0 through 15.

PatPosEditLine
                               
                                PAT/POS edit
                               

The pattern/position editor:

select                  Switch interrupt frequency

ctrl-b                  Mark beginning of block
ctrl-e                  Mark end of block
ctrl-c                  Copy block to current position
ctrl-d                  Deselect block

ctrl-g                  Grab last position
ctrl-l                  Change loop pos
ctrl-r                  Reinitialise SCC
ctrl-s                  Swap settings scan

ctrl-t                  Change initial tempo

graph-1                 Force music through slot 1
graph-2                 Force music through slot 2
graph-e                 Swap equaliser between 'NORMAL' and 'VOLUME'
graph-g                 Grab loop position.
graph-i                 Show current loaded instrument kit and the instrument
                        kit that's used by the song

graph-t                 Calculate song time (mm:ss)
graph-up                Increase last position with 4
graph-right             Increase last position with 1
graph-down              Decrease last position with 4
graph-left              Decrease last position with 1

cursors                 Move over grid

home                    Home position
delete                  Delete pattern
insert                  Insert pattern
space or enter          Enter pattern

f1                      Play song from current position
f2                      Play current pattern
esc                     End pattern/position edit.


Play song in pattern/position editor:

Exactly the same as the normal play song, only the SHIFT-1..6 and GRAPH-1..6
aren't valid anymore...


Play pattern in pattern/position editor:

Exactly the same as the normal play pattern, only the shift-1..6 and
graph-1..6 aren't valid anymore...


InsSelectLine
Ŀ
                                ins. selector 
                               

The instrument selector...


cursors                 Select instrument
ctrl-n                  Change instrument name

[                       Lower octaves
]                       Increase octaves

f1..f4                  Set start instrument of channel x

f5                      Go to SCC instrument disk menu

shift-f1                Go to instrument editor.
shift-f2                Change input-keyboard type.

space, return or
escape                  Return to song-editor. The current instrument will
                        be the instrument selected.

tab                     Go to start settings menu.

Also you can play some notes of the instrument that is selected... In total
up to five notes can be played at the same time... This (ofcourse) is because
the SCC has five channels to play them on...

SCC-Blaffer NT supports 3 types of input:
1. The MSX keyboard.
2. The Philips NMS-1205 keyboard
3. The Toshiba MUX-901 keyboard

If the input-keyboard type is set to MSX then the keyboard lay-out is as
follows: (Imagine the current octaves are 4-5)


(Note)         C# D#    F# G# A#    C# D#    F# G# A#
                              
                              
(What you    23  567  SD  GHJ 
 type)              
             Q W E R T Y U Z X C V B N M
            
(Note)        C  D  E  F  G  A  B  C  D  E  F  G  A  B
                 (Octave 4)           (Octave 5)

In this way e.g. Q + E + T will play an C chord...

Sometimes the sound can hear pretty false... This is a hardware bug in the
MSX... Try hitting E + T + U... These are three keys, but on screen you see
the active channels showing that 4 channels are playing. This is the bug. The
MSX somehow sees that 4 keys are pressed, and SCC Blaffer NT plays (as it
should, because the MSX says so) 4 channels. Try hitting '[' and after that
C + B + M... Now the same notes are played correctly... And this does not
sound false at all...

The other two types of input don't have that strange false noise ofcourse...

StartMenuLine
                           
                            start settings menu
                           


The start settings menu...

up                      Last channel
down                    Next channel
right                   Next setting
left                    Last setting

Settings: These are a few settings with which will be started when the song
          starts to play.

Here they are:          instrument      Instrument with which will be started
                                        on this channel when playing the song.

                        volume          The start volumes of all channels

                        autoslides      The starting auto-slide values

                        detune          The starting detune settings


All these options can be set with the key combinations that follow:

shift+up, shift+right,
ctrl-up or ctrl-right                   Value +1

shift+down, shift+left,
ctrl-down or ctrl-left                  Value -1

(HeXx: Four key combo's with 1 purpose?? Hmmm, interesting...)


Other keys:

tab                                     Return to instrument selector

escape                                  Return to song editor, the last
                                        instrument selected with the
                                        instrument selector will be the
                                        current instrument.


InfsMenuLine
Ŀ
                           info and settings menu 
                          

The info and settings menu...

In this menu you can set all 'user preferences', and ofcourse you can save
'em... Also you find an RC shower right here. There you can see if there's an
SCC detected, and the coolest part is that you can see which SCC is detected!
All ROMS ever made by Konami (if they have a RC number stored in the ROM) will
be recognised. As soon as an SCC is detected, it will be used as primary SCC.

(we're very proud of this!)

On the upper-right hand of the screen you see the main menu of IASM (info and
settings menu). Here you can choose out of 4 options.


Edit colour settings                            With this option you can set
                                                all colours with which Blaffer
                                                will start.

Edit predefined settings                        With this option a few other
                                                things can be set.

Save all settings                               Saves all things that can be
                                                set with the 2 last options.

Leave menu                                      Return to the song editor.
                                                (ESCape has the same function)


ColorLine
                             
                              colour settings
                             



The colour settings can be easily adjusted... Press a, s, or d to increase the
intensity of respectively red, green or blue... And press z, x or c to
decrease the intensity of red, green or blue...

The coolest part is that you can press more keys at the same time to change
the colour. For example, when you press z and c, then (if possible that is,
ofcourse) the red and the blue intensity will be lowered with 1...

With shift 1..7 you can also set some 'predefined' palettes:

1. Factory settings
2. Midnight tracking
3. Gold
4. Red
5. Green
6. Blue
7. I'm a PIG! (the most ugly we could think of ;) )

Try Midnight tracking and Gold... Those are the most relaxing for your eyes...


PredSetLine
Ŀ
                               other settings 
                              

Edit predefined settings:

Option:                         Key:            Action:

Interrupt frequency             space           50/60Hz
Settings scan                   space           ON/OFF
Note audition                   space           ON/OFF
Equaliser type                  space           Normal/Volume
Cursor type                     space           Normal/Switched
Edit mode                       space           Type/1Key
Octaves                         [ and ]         [  1][1-2]..[7-8][8  ]
Keyboard                        space           MSX/TOSHIBA/PHILIPS

                             
                              save settings
                             

Save all settings.

Saves all colour and predefined settings to disk in drive A:. When an error
occurs, this will be noticed in the hint-line at the bottom of the screen.
There won't be automatically tried to save the settings again. You will return
to the main menu of the info/settings menu.


PIEditLine
Ŀ
                                    PIE 
                                   


The PSG instrument editor...

Inputting commands, frequencies, volumes, etc.

PIE works very easy. Here are the keys:

The command channel (1)
R - Repeat         (Rep:??) -> Where ?? is a number from 1 to 15, defining
                               the number of times the loop is to be executed.

D - Do Repeat      (DoRep)  -> If a DoRep is encountered the replayer will
                               jump back to the position at which the last
                               Rep:?? was defined. After finishing the loop
                               the replayer will continue playing at the
                               position following the DoRep.

W - Wait           (Wait:?) -> Where ? is a number ranging from 1 to 9. This
                               will result in a ?/50 second wait before the
                               next row is executed.

P - Point          (Point)  -> Set pointer on this row.

G - Goto Point     (GotoP)  -> Continue playing at the row containing the last
                               Point instruction, resulting in an infinite
                               loop.

E - End of Pattern (EndOp)  -> Stops replaying the PSG sound.

T - Tempo          (Tmp:??) -> Makes the replayer wait for (15-??)/50 second
                               before it continues executing the next row. ??
                               is a number from 0 till 15, with 0 being the
                               slowest setting...

The frequency channels (2, 3 and 4)

0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,A,B,C,D,E of F - Enter a frequency in the range of $000 -
                                     $FFF.

+, =     - Followed by a number from $00 till $FF. Raises the frequency by
           ?? in this row.

-        - Followed by a number from $00 till $FF. Lowers the frequency by
           ?? in this row.

O        - 'OFF' event... The frequency currently playing on this channel will
           will be turned off.

You can also enter 'notes'. The computer-keyboard is a sort of music-keyboard.
For example, typing SHIFT+Z will play a C note. Using TAB + -> or <- you can
select an octave (1-8).

The computer-keyboard is defined as follows:

(Note)         C# D#    F# G# A#
                     
                     
(What you    SD  GHJ 
 type)          
             Z X C V B N M
            
(Note)        C  D  E  F  G  A  B


The noise channels. (5,6 and 7)

Space     - Toggle noise ON or OFF for this channel at this row.


The noise frequency. (channel 8)

shift + -> or <-  - Increase or decrease the noise frequency.

U                 - Followed by a number from 0 till 31, resulting in the
                    noise frequency being raised by ??...

D                 - Followed by a number from 0 till 31, resulting in the
                    noise frequency being lowered by ??...

If a plain number is entered here, all noise channels set 'ON' will be set to
this frequency.

Volume channels (9, 10 and 11)

Numbers from 1 to 15 will set the volume of the selected channel.

U                 - Followed by a number from 0 till 9, resulting in the
                    volume being raised by ?...

D                 - Followed by a number from 0 till 9, resulting in the
                    volume being lowered by ?...

When raising or lowering the volume, should it exceed the top or bottom values
(0-15) it will be clipped at its maximum or minimum.


PIE also has some global keys (ofcourse):

Select                  change interrupt frequency

cursors                 Move cursor over grid
ctrl-right              Next instrument
ctrl-left               Last instrument
ctrl + up               Instrument + 4
ctrl + down             Instrument - 4

ins                     Insert a row.
del                     Delete current cell.
shift-del               Delete column.
graph-del               Delete row.
ctrl-del                Delete instrument

enter                   Repeat last action executed on that channel.
ctrl+n                  Change the name of the instrument (max. 8 characters)

esc                     Quit PIE

f1                      Play instrument. The initial tempo is 15. (the
                        fastest)

stop                    Stop sound (If the instrument is finished playing, and
                        there are still sounds to hear, the sound is turned
                        'OFF'... If the instrument is still playing, the
                        playing will also stop).

f5                      Go to disk menu.


DiskMenuLine
                           
                            disk menu
                           

The disk menu...

The main disk menu:

Options:

Load from file          Load file in memory
Save to file            Save memory to file
Show files              Show all files with the current file filter.

Delete file             Remove file from disk.

Format disk             Format disk in current drive.


Keys:

ctrl-f                  Change file filter
ctrl-a                  Set file filter on 'All files'

a-p                     Select a drive.

f5                      Go to instrument kit disk menu.

esc                     Leave disk-menu. If you're in the Instrument kit
                        disk menu there will be returned to the menu from
                        whereof the disk menu was called.


While selecting a file:

ctrl-r                  Reload files with current file filter.
ctrl-a                  Set file filter on 'All files' and Reload files.

graph-a..p              Select a drive, and reload files.


Ŀ
                                     Disclaimer 
                                    


And finally, the disclaimer...

TeddyWareZ, or anyone affiliated with us, cannot be held responsible to any
hardware, software, mental, psychical or any other form of damage resulting
from use of this product. We do not encourage any illegal, immoral or
irresponsible use or misuse of anything or anyone associated with us and this
product. All procedures described in this TeddyWareZ product are executed by
user his/her own risk.

signed Thursday January 20 2000, 22:42.
d-fader^TwZ

[EOAH]
(End Of Active Help) ;)

