miniMusic NotePad Demo
miniGrid - Version 0.6
10/15/00

This demo version of miniMusic NotePad will let you write a melody in standard music 
notation on your Palm Computing connected organizer.  It should function on any 
handheld running version 2.0 and higher of the Palm OS.  Many features of the 
miniMusic NotePad application are not available in this demo, including: the ability to 
save multiple songs, 4-voice writing (chords and counterpoint), triplets, and more.  
There are three demos available for NotePad: miniScore, miniPiano, and miniGrid.  
The full application allows you to work in all three views.

Please visit our website to get the full NotePad application:
http://www.5thwall.com/minimusic

**USING MINIGRID WITH MIDI**
All miniMusic software is designed to use the built-in speaker on your handheld computer, or an attached electronic musical instrument.  This 0.6 version of the demo has been improved to work with the new Palm MIDI modules from Swivel Systems (www.SwivelSystems.com) and Shinei (www.tsunamidi.com/tsunamidi.htm).  You can also connect to many other MIDI compatable devices using your HotSync cable or our Palm-to-MIDI interface.

To use MIDI, chaeck the "MIDI" checkbox in the preferences screen (choose "Preferences" from the "Options" menu or tap on the tempo marking).

For more information about MIDI, see our "MIDI page" at
http://www.5thwall.com/minimusic/midi.html

**MAIN FEATURES**
The screen is divided into three areas: a toolbar across the top, the drawing area in 
the center, and a control bar across the bottom.

The top toolbar includes the draw tool (pencil), the rest tool (eraser), and the select 
tool (arrow).  When the pencil tool is highlighted, a tap on the grid will add a new note; 
while the pen is down the note can be streched longer, or moved to a different pitch.  
The eraser will remove notes, and can also be 'dragged' to erase a long area.  Notes 
and rests can only be up to a measure in length.  The select tool will select a note to 
be moved (with hardware buttons or graffiti commands) or deleted.  A selection will 
be identified by a small black arrow at the top of the drawing area; if more than one 
note is selected (by dragging the pen), a small white arrow will mark the end of the 
selection.

Beneath the score overview, is the piano keyboard.  Two octaves of notes are able to 
be played.  To play a higher or lower octave, tap on the arrows to either side of the 
keyboard.  You'll notice that the numbers on each 'c' key will change to reflect the 
octave.  The lowest octave begins with  a 'c' marked by the number '1', and the highest 
with a 'c' marked by a "4".

The drawing area shows three octaves of notes (vertically).  The pitches can be 
identified by the piano keyboard running along the left side.  An additional octave can 
be accessed by using the scroll arrows above and beneath the piano.

Beneath the staff, on the far left is a play button.  When you tap 'Play', the whole 
song will be played until interrupted by an event (tap anywhere to stop playing).  To 
the right of the 'Play' button is the measure control.  The number is the current 
measure being viewed, and the arrows allow you to move forward or backward through 
the song (also the outside arrows will jump to the beginning or end of the song).  To 
the right of this, are a number of icons which are not implimented in the demo.  In the 
full application these icons will allow you to jump between the different views.

**MENUS**
Tapping the 'silkscreened' Menu button will bring up three menus:

The Options menu will provide you with information about the program, basic 
instructions and how to contact us.  'MIDI toggle' will turn MIDI output on or off.  When 
MIDI is on,  notes will be sent to the serial port instead of the speaker -- if your Palm 
device is connected to a MIDI instrument, the song will be played by that instrument!  
When MIDI is off, all notes will be played by the speaker on the organizer. 'Set Tempo' 
lets you change the speed at which the song is played, and 'Set Key Signature' will let 
you choose what scale to write music with.

The Edit menu lets you Cut or Copy the current selection to a clipboard, Paste the 
clipboard (will be pasted immediately following selected note), and Select the entire 
song for easy transposing, or a quick way to clear it and start over.  A large clipboard 
is a quick way to run out of memory (the demo version only allows a limited number of 
notes); if this happens, try copying just one note to clear the clipboard.  Also in the 
Edit menu is the Invert command which flips the selected material upside down, and 
the Retrograde command which flips the selection backwards.

The Play menu gives you three options: Play the entire song (same as tapping the Play 
button), Play just the selected notes, or Loop the selected notes, replaying the 
selection over and over until you tap somewhere on the screen to stop it.  "Free Play" 
will put you in a play only mode - notes will not be written on the score and notes will 
sound freely as they are played.  Select this menu item again to turn it off.

Since no text is currently used (the full application will allow you to attach lyrics to a 
song) characters written in the graffiti area have the following effects:

Additional Graffiti commands:
a through g = will add a note of that pitch immediately after selection.  If the pencil 
tool is chosen, the new note will be just a sixteenth long; if the eraser is chosen, the 
new note will be a quarter long.
(space) = lengthen selection.
(backspace) = shorten selection.
u or (prev field) = shift selection up one half-step.
i (down stroke) or (next field) = shift selection down one half-step.
! = shift selection up one octave.
' = shift selection up one octave.
p = play song.
s = play selection.
l = loop selection.

Other menu commands can be performed in the usual way, using the 'command' stroke.

Hardware buttons:
page up - shift selected note up one half-step.
page down - shift selected note down one half-step.

VERSION HISTORY:
New Features in version 0.5 include: 
-- Graffiti implemented to match miniMusic application.
-- Select range of notes.
-- Saves song after closing miniGrid.
-- Full editing capabilities of the miniMusic application.
-- Database will not conflict with other demos or full application.

Please visit our website or contact us about purchasing the miniMusic application.  
It integrates all three demos allowing you to freely enter, edit and play music in any 
view.  You can also save an unlimited number of catagorized songs in the Library view.

miniMusic
P.O.Box 210761
San Francisco, CA 94121-0761

www.5thwall.com/minimusic/