Phoo Tools
Phoo Tools
PhooTools - Introduction
What are PhooTools, and why are they special? Well, PhooTools are a collection of personal Tools by Kelly Craven, the creator of the Power Tools (c)1993 and Performance Tools (c)1993 from Blue Ribbon SoundWorks, Ltd.
They are 'special' Tools because most were created to do a very small personal task for their creator, so small that the normal user may never have a use for some of them. There are no other Tools which do some of these tasks, although some other Tools are similar. This makes them 'special'. On the other hand, some of these are so useful that they may get used on almost every track. Don't let the word 'special' run you off.
PhooTools may be very specific in their use but there are many other unforseen uses for them. Therefore, there is no good reason to keep these in the closet preventing others from experimenting with them.
My greatest hope is that if you, the user, do not own Power Tools or Performance Tools that you will buy the real copies of them and not use pirated versions.
Phoo
PhooTools - AutoDynamics
AutoDynamics DESCRIPTION: AutoDynamics reads through a track, averages the velocity of the Notes and places Dynamics Events in the track representing the averaged velocities. NOTE: The way Bars & Pipes Professional manipulates Dynamics Events is rather odd, for lack of a more descriptive term. Thereore it's a good idea to use the AutoDynamics Tool to Toolize the whole track at once from the Tracks Menu rather than from within the Graphic Editor. USAGE: ToolPad. CONTROLS: The Dynamics Spacing may be set from the Tool edit window. Spacing may be any time from 1 drum clock to one whole Note, 768 drum clocks. Resolution is displayed in measure time format: 1.001.000. *TIP* A neat trick is to create Dynamics for the first track and export them to the Master Parameters, then import them to the second track. By using the Phrase Shaper Tool on the second track the dynamics of the first track will be applied to the velocities of the Notes in the second track. *TIP* It's also good idea to erase all Dynamics Events from a track before Toolizing to prevent the possibility of old stray Dynamics Events being left in the track accidentally. AutoDynamics does not erase all Dynamics Events when Toolizing, only Dynamics Events which are located where new Dynamics Events are to be placed.
PhooTools - DoubleKeyBias
DoubleKeyBias DESCRIPTION: The DoubleKeyBias Tool raises and doubles the velocity range of a synth keyboard, making it more sensitive to touch. A MacroTool, it uses a KeyBias Tool and a VeloMap Tool. SPECIAL TYPE: MacroTool. USAGE: PipeLine, ToolPad. CONTROLS: The DoubleKeyBias Tool is a MacroTool which consists of a KeyBias Tool and a VeloMap Tool. To edit the parameters, double-click on either icon and edit it as you would the corresponding Tool.
PhooTools - DuraCheck
DuraCheck DESCRIPTION: Flashes the screen when a Note has not been played as the coded (stored) duration states it should be played. This situation will usually only occur when a Tool has changed how long the Note is played and not set the duration field within the stored event. While this is not usually a problem, and not something the user must be concerned with, there are times when placing a Tool which uses the duration field after a Tool which improperly sets (or does not set) the duration field may produce unexpected results. Sometimes this situation can nullify the previous Tools actions or prevent Tools further down the Pipeline from working properly. Tools which do not set the duration field are usually older Tools. Tools which do not set the duration field are not buggy and usually don't cause any problems. Most were programmed before it was realized that the duration field could be used for more than simply storing Note length. Duration is not part of the MIDI standard, it is a Bars & Pipes convention. These types of situations only occur when Toolizing in the PipeLine in real time and never when Toolizing a track or section. NOTE: Note On events which have a zero duration are thought to be realtime events and are not checked by DuraCheck. NOTE: Overlapping Notes may make DuraCheck flash the screen wrongly because it doesn't know which Note off goes with each Note On of the same value. A flashing screen does not mean there is a problem. USAGE: PipeLine. CONTROLS: DuraCheck has no control window. EXAMPLE: The Articulation Modifier changes how long a Note sounds but does not change the stored Note duration. The Link Tool attempts to fix scrambled Note On/offs be freeing all Note offs and creating new ones for each Note On. If the duration of a Note On is set improperly then the Note Off created by Link will play at the wrong time. Place the Link Tool after the Articulation Modifier as an experiment. DuraCheck is used to find the Tool which cause this situation.
PhooTools - FlashChord
FlashChord DESCRIPTION: The FlashChord Tool flashes the screen and stops the Transport on out of chord conditions. It is generally only useful when doing manual editing on troublesome Tracks; when a Track doesn't play quite right for some reason such as when Notes are being lost or getting stuck for no known reason. NOTE: FlashChord must have the chords in the Track to work properly, otherwise it will think all Notes are out to lunch and the Transport won't work. USAGE: PipeLine. CONTROLS: The FlashChord Tool has no control window.
PhooTools - FlashKey
FlashKey DESCRIPTION: The FlashKey Tool flashes the screen and stops the Transport on out of key conditions. It is generally only useful when doing manual editing on troublesome Tracks; when a Track doesn't play quite right for some reason such as when Notes are being lost or getting stuck for no known reason. NOTE: FlashKey must have the key set in the Track to work properly, otherwise it will think all Notes are out to lunch and the Transport won't work. USAGE: PipeLine. CONTROLS: The FlashKey Tool has no control window.
PhooTools - FlashOver
FlashOver DESCRIPTION: The FlashOver Tool flashes the screen and stops the Transport on overlapping Notes. It is generally only useful when doing manual editing on troublesome Tracks; when a Track doesn't play quite right for some reason such as when Notes are being lost or getting stuck for no known reason. USAGE: PipeLine. CONTROLS: The FlashOver Tool has no control window.
PhooTools - ForceTab
ForceTab DESCRIPTION: ForceTab assigns Notes on the keyboard to specific strings and frets before tablature ever gets a hold of the Notes. Used in conjunction with the Guitar Tool you can know exactly which string and fret will be played when the Note you play on the keyboard is passed to it. This will allow external triggering of preset chords from the Guitar Tool via any assigned Note. USAGE: PipeLine, ToolPad. CONTROLS: ForceTab has two edit modes, selectable by the Edit Mode Bar in the middle of the Edit Window. Edit String Mode Edit String Mode allows you to set which Notes will go on the selected string, or to be plugged. The string is selected by the String Buttons just below the little keyboard. The long bar below the String Buttons selects Plug or Branch instead of a string. Notes sent here will not be forced onto a string but be freed or branched depending on if the Tool is connected to another Tool or not. This bar will change text depending on the Tool mode. When in Edit String Mode, Notes on the little keyboard will be highlighted to show which ones are assigned to the selected string. The highlighting color scheme will be Red and Yellow. Clicking on the keyboard with the mouse will assign the Note under the pointer to the selected string. To assign Notes to other strings click on the string button of your choice, then click on the little keyboard again. Edit Note Mode Edit Note Mode is the opposite of Edit String Mode. Highlighting of the little Keyboard will be Blue and Purple. The highlighted Notes are the ones assigned to the selected string, just as in Edit String Mode but clicking on the little Keyboard will not assign Notes to strings. It will stitch the String Buttons to the string assigned to the Note under the mouse. String assignment is done by clicking on the String Buttons. The Edit Note, the Note by the Note Slider at the top of the window will be assigned to the selected string. The Note Slider at the top of the ForceTab Edit Window will always be available to select the desired Note for editing, as well as the Fretboard at the bottom for selecting the desired string and fret. The Note shown on the Fretboard will be the same Note shown by the slider at the top. These are just different ways of making the same selection. The All button makes a global assignment of all Notes to the same string in any mode. A good starting place is to assign all Notes to the plug, then assign only the Notes you wish to have assigned. *TIP* The Tool is of most value when used in conjunction with the Guitar Tool. ForceTab can be used to assign keys on the keyboard or specific Notes to specific frets within the Guitar Tool. This allows the user to trigger chords from single keys on the keyboard (a really neat trick).
PhooTools - Guitar Engine
GuitarEngine
DESCRIPTION: The GuitarEngine is a special Midi Output Tool which will send events to seperate MIDI channels from one Output. Previously to do this would require splitting a track into six tracks, one for each MIDI channel.
The idea for this is to send MIDI to guitar modules which require each string from a guitar synth to be on different MIDI channels. For example string one goes to MIDI channel one; string two, MIDI channel two...etc. Also, with this Tool it is possible to use a different sound on each string for some very interesting effects.
With this type of setup it is possible to send Pitch Bend to some channels while other channels don't get pitch bend, all from the same Tool.
NOTE: Note events will be split according to tablature sttings, as is the case in most other guitar Tools. Other event types have toggles to filter or copy them to each output. Sysex events are only set to the first channel.
SPECIAL TYPE: Output.
USAGE: PipeLine.
CONTROLS: The GuitarEngine Edit Window contains the same event toggle switches as all other Output Tools. These toggles function exactly the same way also, as global switches to filter certain data type and prevent them from being played.
To the right of the event toggles are rows and colums of buttons. These are for string one through six. In standard tuning that is low E to high E, left to right.
Each column is headed by a MIDI channel select button. Each column corresponds to an Output MIDI channel. The first defaults to the channel selected in the track which contains the Tool. Next, in order, the columns default to increments of the first channel.
The channels may be changed by clicking and dragging the mouse up or down, scrolling through channels 1-16.
A single mouse click, without moving the mouse, will toggle the specific channels Output on/off. A raised button with a blue number is off; red and in is on.
Clicking the first button on the left will toggle all six channels off or back to their original on/off position. This first button is a global defeat button, similar to the event toggles. When this button is off, all buttons will be off and will display the default MIDI channel from the track. In this mode the GuitarEngine will behave exactly like a normal Output Tool.
Below the MIDI channel select buttons are a bunch of minitoggles to select which channel gets the other event types. These buttons correspond to the global toggle gadgets to the left. There is one button per output channel for each event type, except SysEx.
When an event type toggle is ON any events of that type will be copied to that channel. It is possible to send copies of all types of events to all output channels except Notes and SysEx.
NOTE: There is the possibility of a small conflict, or at least an unexpected result, when strings set to the same MIDI channel. If two strings are set to channel one and Pitch Bend is on on one channel and off on the other then both strings will bend. Also, with the same two strings, if Pitch Bend is ON on both channels the channel one will get double Pitch Bend events. Neither of the scenarios should cause problems, but neither is ideal.
An extra added feature of the GuitarEngine is the ability to select which Output device it sends to from a PopUp Menu. Below all of the event toggle buttons and to the right of the SysEx toggle is a PopUp Menu gadget with a list of all current output devices. The list is:
One Stop Music Shop SoundEngine
One Stop Music Shop Midi, or Output 1
One Stop Music Shop Midi Output 2
One Stop Music Shop Midi Output 3
Triple Play Plus 1
Triple Play Plus 2
Triple Play Plus 3
Standard Serial Midi Output
The menu items are slightly abbreviated. Selecting one of the will instantly reconfigure the GuitarEngine for that device. The default is OSMS SoundEngine. The Tool icon in the pipeline will change colors to show how the GuitarEngine is configured.
PhooTools - KeyBias
KeyBias DESCRIPTION: Adds a Velocity bias, or slant, to the keyboard. For example, makes the lower keys play louder than the top keys. KeyBias can be used to create smooth overlapping transitions of patches instead of the usual abrupt split. Actually, KeyBias is much more complicated than that but that is the basic use. It can apply any amount of velocity scaling to any Note irrelevant of the others. If for whatever reason you wanted to have only middle C to play at half the velocity of all the other Notes, that could be done. Drum tracks may need this type of treatment; to soften just a tom part, for example, without effecting the others parts. The range of scaling is 100% to 0% of the original value. If boosting of velocity is desired then the Velocity Modifier Tool or the VeloMap Tool could be placed after the KeyBias to compensate for the lack of a boost feature. USAGE: PipeLine, ToolPad. CONTROLS: There are twelve preset starting bias maps, selectable from a PopUp Menu under the Presets Gadget. The little display below the Presets displays the current default as red and the undo buffer as blue. It doesn't do much; seemed like a nice idea at the time. The Branch Gadget turns branching on and off. If on any Notes whos velocity is below the value, set with the Branch Slider below the gadget, will be branched or freed. Since this is a converted VeloMap Tool most of the same edit features exist here.
PhooTools - KeyLyric
KeyLyric DESCRIPTION: The KeyLyric Tool takes the Keys/Scales set within a Track and copies them into the Lyrics. This allows the printed score to contain text names for the Key and Scale within a Song. For those of us that don't read music to well. NOTE: Usage of this Tool overwrites any previous lyrics. USAGE: ToolPad. CONTROLS: The KeyLyric Tool has no control window.
PhooTools - OffKey
OffKey DESCRIPTION: The OffKey Tool assigns Duration to a Note that will be played when a Note Off Event occurs. Essentially this means that a Note will play when you let up on a key of the keyboard. The Note will have the same value and velocity as the key, but the Duration will be set from within the Tool. NOTE: OffKey is a Branching Tool. If the Tool is connected to another PipeLine, the OffKey Note will be passed to the branch. USAGE: PipeLine, ToolPad. CONTROLS: The OffKey Tool has a single slider used to set the Duration of the OffKey Note.
PhooTools - OverLap
OverLap DESCRIPTION: The OverLap Tool prevents overlapping Notes by chopping up overlapping Notes and discarding all but one Note per time period. It leaves one drum clock between resulting Notes. NOTE: This Tool may create Notes with very short durations. Notes with less than three drum clocks are not placed in the eventlist though. Use the DeGlitch and DeFlam Tools to remove troublesome Notes. USAGE: PipeLine, ToolPad. CONTROLS: The OverLap Tool has no control window. *TIP* Place the Duration Tool or the Articulation Modifier Tool after the OverLap Tool to control the amount of time between Notes. For example, the Duration Tool placed after OverLap and set to 'Minus 0.00.001', will leave two drum clocks between overlapping Notes by shortening all Notes by one drum clock. *TIP* Place the Duration Tool before OverLap and set its parameters to 'Plus 1.00.000' for a legato/reverb effect. This will not work with the Articulation Modifier Tool because it does not set the Duration field in Note which pass through it. (No this is not a bug, but it does avoid a great big can of worms which the Duration Tool steps in.) There is a Reverb Macro-Tool included which does this.
PhooTools - PanSee
PanSee DESCRIPTION: The PanSee Tool is a very simple data display Tool. The original concept was to have a Tool which showed the location of the instruments within the left/right stereo field, hence the name, PanSee. In its default state that is what PanSee does. The red line jumps and holds whenever MIDI control 10 passes through PanSee. *TIP* If the user desires to check any other data types a MacroTool with an Event Converter placed before PanSee could be made to convert the desired data type into a type which can be displayed by PanSee. USAGE: PipeLine. CONTROLS: The PanSee Tool has a small data window, and an options Menu. Different types of data can be selected for display from the menu. They are Pan, Volume, Note Value, Note Velocity, Pitch Bend. These selections are mutually exclusive, only one may be selected at a time. There is no difference in the display for these types. A value of 0 will be to the left and a high value of 127 will be to the right, regardless of data type. Checking the menu is the only way to know what type of events are being shown. There are no visable system gadget in PanSee, but there are ways to handle these actions. The display window may be closed by selecting the Close Window item from the PanSee menu. The window may also be closed by pressing ESC or right-Amiga X while the window is active. The window may be moved by clicking and dragging on any location within the window, therefore no dragbar is necessary. The window will automatically pop to the front whenever an event passes through it, or for that matter, whenever any action is done to it which causes a window refresh, so no depth gadget is needed.
PhooTools - Reverb
Reverb DESCRIPTION: The Reverb Tool gives a pseudo-reverb effect. A MacroTool, it requires the Duration Tool and the Overlap Tool. The Duration Tool lengthens Notes to the max allowed and the OverLap Tool makes sure they don't interfere with each other. The result is a sound similar to reverb. SPECIAL TYPE: MacroTool. USAGE: PipeLine, ToolPad. CONTROLS: The Reverb Tool is a MacroTool consisting of a Duration Tool and an Overlap Tool. Double-clicking on the Duration Tool will allow you to edit its parameters. *TIP* Synth sounds with lots of decay work best.
PhooTools - Slipper
Slipper DESCRIPTION: The Slipper Tool offsets the timing of Notes relative to how many Notes are currently playing. If one Note is playing then there is no offset. Whenever another Note is played while a Note is still playing, one drum clock is added to the time of each new event. This prevents any Note events from playing at exactly the same time. This can help ease MIDI logjams. NOTE: The Slipper Tool does not check for overlapping Notes or Note order. Whenever out of order Notes pass through the Slipper Tool conditions are favorable for the creation of stuck Notes. Also, if Notes are moved to far stuck Notes may occur anyway. As fixes for these conditions try placing the OverLap Tool or the Link Tool in the PipeLine after the Slipper Tool or the Sort Tool before it. The Link Tool seems to do best. USAGE: PipeLine, ToolPad. CONTROLS: The amount of time a Note is moved will be the number set with the Time slider multiplied by the number of Notes playing. The default is one. The slider allows the user to select a time from 0, no time slip, to 192, the amount of time in a quarter Note. *TIP* The Slipper Tool may be used to create a strumming or picking effect. There is a Strum MacroTool included with the set.
PhooTools - StringOut
StringOut DESCRIPTION: The StringOut Tool works together with the StringReturn Tool to split Notes into separate Tracks, relative to which string they are placed on in Tablature or by the Guitar Tool. The StringOut Tool checks the Tablature string settings of the Notes and then looks in all the Tracks for any StringReturn Tools which match the string which that Note is played on. If one or more is found then the appropriate action is taken. If none are found the StringOut Tool does nothing, except pass the Notes through to the next Tool in the PipeLine (even if the Tool is set the Branch or Elbow). StringOut may be set to Branch, Elbow, Thru, or Plug on a string by string basis. *TIP* It is possible to send each string to a separate Track and MIDI channel. This makes it possible to have a different sound on each string. USAGE: PipeLine. CONTROLS: The possible actions for each string are: Plug: Notes which are on that string will be removed from the pipeline. Thru: Notes which are on that string will be passed through, unaffected in any way. Branch: Notes are duplicated. The original is sent down the PipeLine as in Thru and the duplicates are branched to the StringReturn Tools. Elbow: Notes are only branched to the StringReturn Tools. No Notes are sent down the current PipeLine. There is a menu, Other Events, attached to StringOut which will allow the user to select which actions will be done to MIDI Events other than Note Events. When a Menu item is checked, that Event type will be acted upon just as the Note Events are for the respective string settings. The Plug, Thru, Branch, and Elbow settings for each string determine where these events go and the Menu determines if these events are acted upon at all. Non-Note Event types do not have a tablature string setting therefore the string used for these Events will be assumed to be the string of the StringReturn Tool. NOTE: All Notes which pass through, or are created by, the Guitar Tool will have been tabulated by the Guitar or will have been previously tabulated by Bars & Pipes Pro. Likewise, if you want complete control over which Notes go on which strings then the ForceTab Tool may be used to assure Tablature settings. NOTE: If you are not using the Guitar or ForceTab Tools then you may have to open the Graphic Editor and manually choose 'Tabulate All' from the Tablature Menu to be sure that the Notes have been tabulated. Otherwise, untabulated Notes are just passed through StringOut.
PhooTools - StringReturn
StringReturn DESCRIPTION: The StringReturn Tool works together with the StringOut Tool to split Notes into separate Tracks, relative to which string they are placed on in Tablature or by the Guitar Tool. The StringOut Tool checks the Tablature string settings of the Notes and then looks in all the Tracks for any StringReturn Tools which match the string which that Note is played on. *TIP* It is possible to send each string to a separate track, and MIDI channel. This makes it possible to have a different sound on each string. USAGE: PipeLine. CONTROLS: The StringReturn Tool is a special Merge Tool which may be set to accept only Notes from one of six strings using the slider. See the StringOut Tool for more details.
PhooTools - Strum
Strum DESCRIPTION: The Strum Tool produces a strumming or finger picking effect. A MacroTool, it uses the Slipper and Link Tools. It is not a substitute for the Guitar Tool but may be more useful when the 'fretting' is not desired. NOTE: The Guitar Tool does not produce strumming the same way as this MacroTool therefore the effect produced by this Tool is not the same. SPECIAL TYPE: MacroTool. USAGE: PipeLine, ToolPad. CONTROLS: The Strum Tool is a MacroTool, and parameters can be edited in the usual way.
PhooTools - TieTool
TieTool DESCRIPTION: The TieTool ties Notes together almost as a musical tie does on the staff. If two Notes are the same value and are close enough together then the first Notes duration is lengthened to be as long as the total as the two Notes plus any time between them, then the second Note is removed because it is no longer needed, as the first Note will now be playing in its place. This Tool is intended to be a complementary Tool to the OverLap Tool. OverLap can create Notes separated by very small amounts of time. Ocassionally the user may want to let these Notes sound as a single long Note rather than a series of shorter Notes butted up against one another. The TieTool is intended to remove these secondary Notes leaving the total duration the same. NOTE: Only Notes of the same value are checked, because in MIDI only Notes of the same value may be truely tied together. (unless you attempt to do this with pitch bend, and I'm not) USAGE: ToolPad. CONTROLS: There is one parameter to set in the TieTool Edit Window, Gap. The Gap is the amount of time between Notes. This Gap time is the time from the end of one Note to the start of the next Note, not from start time to start time as most Tools do. Therefore the start time of the first Note is irrelevent, only the time from when the first Note ends until the next Note starts.