Copyright: (C)opyright 1992 - 1994, Singular Software, Gravis


Contents
PatchMgr: The UltraSound Patch Manager

The Ultrasound Patch Manager lets you control which instrument patches are loaded into your UltraSound's memory and lets you audition patches that are loaded.

Quick Tour

Procedures

Commands

Definitions

The Bank Manager


Quick Tour

This quick tour will acquaint you with many of PatchMgr's features. Make sure the Ultra Wave and MIDI Synth driver is loaded before you start.

1. What you see when you start

When you start PatchMgr, you will see four main windows which display patch numbers, names and sizes. The two left windows show what patches are available (on disk) for melodic and percussion instruments. The two right windows show which melodic and percussion patches are currently loaded into UltraSound's memory. The two right windows might well be empty, unless you have previously loaded patches using PatchMgr or have played a MIDI file with a program such as Media Player.

2. Load a patch

Now select Acoustic Grand (patch 0) in the upper left window by clicking on it with the mouse. Press the double right arrow button to load the patch. This patch now appears in the upper right window indicating it is loaded. Notice that the Memory Remaining number in the lower right corner has decreased and the memory gauge below it is starting to fill up.

3. Audition the patch on the synthesizer

Select the patch name in the right hand window by clicking on it with the mouse. Then move the mouse pointer onto the PatchMgr synthesizer. Press the left mouse button to play a note. Drag the pointer around the synth keyboard to play several notes.  If you have a MIDI device connected to your computer, you can use it to play the notes too.  You can also use the computer keyboard to play melodic patches.  After clicking in the Melodic Patches Loaded listbox, your computer keyboard becomes a musical keyboard. 'Z' and 'Q' are C notes, 'S' and '2' are C sharp, 'X' and 'W' are D, etc.  To shift the keyboard range up and octave, press the right arrow key once.  To shift down an octave, press the left arrow key once.  You can shift up or down two octaves from the starting octave.  Pressing the <shift> key causes the notes you are holding down to be re-struck.

4. Audition a group of notes with the mouse

Now click on the Note Memory button so that it is checked. Play a note on the synth keyboard. Each note played is now highlighted. To un-highlight a note, and remove it from Note Memory, click on it with the right mouse button.

Select a few notes and then click on the patch name in the upper right window. The group of selected notes now plays with the patch name selected.

5. Audition other patches

Load a few more melodic patches (as in Step 2) and click on each one in the Patches Loaded  window. Each patch will play the notes selected on the synth.

6. Audition drums

Load in a few percussion patches as described in Step 2 and click on one of these. The PatchMgr synth keyboard now displays a grey keyboard with some white keys.  Each white key corresponds to an individual drum sound—try it! Note Memory does not work for drum patches, because the keys play the drum sounds individually.

7. Adjust the volume on the synthesizer

Press one of the buttons with an up or down arrow on it in the middle top of the synth.  This will adjust the audition volume.  Note that the red LEDs to the right of the buttons show you the current volume.

8. Display several audition keyboards

Choose All... under the Audition menu.  A group of audition keyboards will be displayed, one for each loaded patch.  They can be played with the left mouse button.  Notes will play as long as the left mouse button is held down.

You can adjust the volume of the currently selected audition keyboard with the Volume control in the toolbar at the top.  For melodic patches, you can select a different instrument for the current keyboard by pressing the Instruments... button on the toolbar.

If you have a MIDI input device connected to your computer, you can use it to play notes for the currently selected patch.

The audition windows can be moved around and resized just like any other window. When you are finished with these audition keyboards, close the window.

Notice that the note value of the note you are playing is displayed in the toolbar.  Both the note name (e.g., "C5" for middle C) and the note number (e.g., 60 for middle C) are shown.

9. Load patches used by a MIDI file

Get back to the initial PatchMgr window, the one with the four lists of patches.  Choose Get from MIDI file... from the File menu. Select the name of a MIDI file.  PatchMgr reads the MIDI file and loads the patches it needs.  You can then play the MIDI file with another program that does not know how to load patches.

10. Change the patch names

Choose Names... under the Options menu. Click the check box labelled Use names from patch files and then OK. The names shown in the list of patches are now those that are stored in the patch files, rather than the General MIDI names for the corresponding patch number.


Procedures

Patch Manager Main Screen

How to Load and Unload Patches

How to Play the Synthesizer

How to Audition Patches

How to Change Patches Available

How to Change Patch Names

How to Save a Patch Set

Bank Manager Screen

How to Create a New Bank

How to Delete a Bank

How to Rename Bank

How to Map a Program

How to Demap a Program

Creating a Bank from a MIDI File


Commands

Patch Manager Menu

Instruments

Audition

Options

Volume

Get from MIDI file

Save and Load Configuration

BankMan

Bank Manager Menu

File menu

Options menu

Special menu

PatchMan


Definitions

Memory Remaining

Note Memory


Patch Configuration Files

In the Patch Manager File menu, there are items for creating and loading patch configuration files.

Save Configuration saves information about which patches (and which banks) you have loaded.

Load Configuration uses this information to load the patches into your Ultrasound's memory.


How to Load and Unload Patches

Loading Patches

There are three methods for loading patches.

(1) Select patch names in one of the left hand boxes labelled Patches Available.  Several patches can be selected at a time by dragging the mouse, or by extending an existing selection by a shift-click of Ctrl-click. Then press the button labelled >>. The patches loaded will be displayed in the right hand box labelled Patches Loaded.

A single patch can be quickly loaded by double-clicking its name in the Patches Available box.

Note that if there are more patches selected than can fit in memory, the melodic patches will be loaded first, in numerical order, then the percussion patches, in numerical order, until memory is full.

Sometimes a patch won't fit into memory even though the Memory Remaining display indicates there is enough room.  This is because the UltraSound memory is partitioned into segments of 256K and patches won't load across a segment boundary.

(2) The patches required by a MIDI file can be loaded using the Get from MIDI file... command under the File menu.

(3) There is an indirect way to load patches. Some Windows programs (such as Media Player) will load patches when they play a MIDI file.  The Patches Loaded boxes are updated by PatchMgr when  control is given to it.

Unloading Patches

Select patch names in one of the right hand boxes labelled Patches Loaded.  Several patches can be selected at a time by dragging the mouse, or by extending an existing selection by a shift-click of Ctrl-click. Then press the button labelled <<. The selected patches loaded will move to the left hand box labelled Patches Available.

Related Topics

Loading patches from a MIDI file


How to Play the Synthesizer

First select a patch name in one of the Patches Loaded boxes.  Then click the left mouse button on the notes you wish to play.  Notes play as long as the mouse button is held down.  Dragging the mouse across the keys will play several notes.

If Note Memory is on, the notes played will be colored gray and played when a patch name is selected in the Load Patches box.  Notes can be removed from Note Memory by clicking them with the right mouse button. All selected notes can be cleared by turning off Note Memory.

The volume that the notes are played can be adjusted by clicking the volume buttons on the synthesizer.  The red LEDs indicate the current volume.

Related Topics

How to Load and Unload Patches

How to Audition Patches


How to Audition Patches

You must first load the patch you want to audition. You can then audition the patch by playing the synthesizer or by creating audition windows.  If you have a MIDI input device connected to your computer, you can use it to play the notes for the selected patch, whether you are using the synthesizer or the audition windows.

You can also use the computer keyboard to play melodic patches.  After clicking in the Melodic Patches Loaded listbox, your computer keyboard becomes a musical keyboard. 'Z' and 'Q' are C notes, 'S' and '2' are C sharp, 'X' and 'W' are D, etc.  To shift the keyboard range up and octave, press the right arrow key once.  To shift down an octave, press the left arrow key once.  You can shift up or down two octaves from the starting octave.  Pressing the <shift> key causes the notes you are holding down to be re-struck.

You can use the up and down arrow to change the melodic patch being played.


How to Change Patches
How to Change Patches Available

The patches that are available to load and audition with PatchMgr are those that are available in a particular Windows session.  When Windows is started up, the UltraSound Windows driver looks for the environment variable ULTRADIR.  The ULTRADIR directory contains the file ULTRASND.INI which lists the names of the patch files for each patch number. These are the patches that will be available for that Windows session. To change to a different patch set, you must use a different ULTRASND.INI file and restart Windows.

If there is no patch file listed for a number, or if the patch file name is "blank", then the patch name does not appear in the list of Patches Available.


How to Change Patch Names

There are three possibilities for the names that are displayed in the Patches Available and the Patches Loaded boxes. The default is to use the names in accordance with the General MIDI standard. However, each patch file can contain its own name and you may wish to display this instead (since a patch need not conform to the General MIDI standard).  You may also request that the file names themselves be displayed.

To use the patch name that is stored in its file, choose the Options menu, select Names... and click the Use names from patch files option.

If you have not already retrieved the patch names and sizes, they will be retrieved when you choose OK (if you have changed to a new name type to display).   This may take several seconds.


Toolbar Control: Instruments...

When a melodic audition is window is active, you can change the patch for that window by pressing the Instruments... button on the toolbar.  A list of available patches is displayed.  Click on the desired one and it will become the patch for that window.


Menu Command: Audition

You can create one or more audition keyboards for the loaded patches by selecting the Audition menu.  The following options are available from this menu:

Melodic A single new audition window will be created for a melodic patch.  The patch associated with the window can be changed by pressing the Instruments... button in the toolbar.

Percussion A single new audition window will be created for all the percussion patches.  Each available patch is assigned to a key (in conformance with MIDI convention).  The keys with an available patch are white; the rest are grayed out.

All Several auditions windows are created, one for each of the melodic patches loaded and one for all the percussion patches loaded.

Related Topics

How to Audition Patches


Menu Command: Options

Names... allows you to change the displayed patch names.

Banks... allows you to display and load patches in alternate banks.

Get Names and Sizes retrieves the patch names and sizes from the individual patch files.  The patch sizes are displayed beside their names.  Since the program must search through all of the patch files, it may take several seconds.

MIDI Thru lets you use a MIDI keyboard or other input device to play patches.  If you have a MIDI input device connected to your computer and MIDI Thru is checked, then input from the device will be sent to the UltraSound to play notes for the currently selected patch.  This gives you an alternative to the synthesizer, audition window keyboards, and computer keyboard for playing patches.

Use MIDI In Velocity: This option is on (checked) by default, which means that whatever note velocity is being sent by the MIDI input is used to play the note.  If your keyboard is not velocity sensitive, or you for some other reason don't want to use the MIDI In velocity, select Options | Use MIDI In Velocity to uncheck (turn off) this feature.  The computer will then use its own velocity for all notes coming through the MIDI port.

Unload All Patches:  This option (surprise) unloads all of the patches from memory.

Related Topics

How to Audition Patches


Toolbar Control: Volume

The volume control in the toolbar of the audition window allows you to change the volume that a patch will play in the current window.  Note that each patch window has its own volume.

Related Topics

How to Audition Patches


Menu Command: Get From MIDI File...

This command lets you load patches that are needed to play a MIDI file. This command is available under the File menu.  When selected, it asks you to choose the name of a MIDI file.  The file you select is read and the patches used in the file are loaded.  Any patches already in memory are removed first.

Once the patches are loaded, the MIDI file can be played by other Windows MIDI software that you may have, even if it is not UltraSound-aware.


File Menu
Bank Manager File Menu

The file menu contains the following items:

New Bank allows you to create a new program bank.

Save to Bank 0 copies the instrument mapping from the current bank to the primary bank.

Delete Bank deletes the currently displayed program bank.

Rename Bank renames the currently displayed program bank.

Get From MIDI File creates a new bank based on the information contained in a MIDI file.

Exit causes the program to shut down.


Memory Remaining

The amount of UltraSound memory remaining for holding patches.


Note Memory

When selected, notes pressed on the PatchMgr synthesizer will be remembered and shown in gray.  These notes are played when a melodic patch name is selected in the Patches Loaded box. Note Memory is inactive for percussion patches.


General MIDI Names
Alphabetical List of General MIDI Names

The lists in this section can help you find a patch when you know its name, but not its number. Melodic instruments are listed first, then percussion instruments, each in alphabetical order. Each name is followed by the General MIDI number of the instrument, in square brackets. The number is zero-based, that is, the numbers range from 0-127. (Some discussions of General MIDI put the instrument numbers in the range 1-128.)

Melodic Instruments

Accordion [21]

Acoustic Bass [32]

Acoustic Grand [0]

Acoustic Guitar (nylon) [24]

Acoustic Guitar (steel) [25]

Agogo [113]

Alto Sax [65]

Applause [126]

Bagpipe [109]

Banjo [105]

Baritone Sax [67]

Bassoon [70]

Bird Tweet [123]

Blown Bottle [76]

Brass Section [61]

Breath Noise [121]

Bright Acoustic [1]

Celesta [8]

Cello [42]

Choir Aahs [52]

Church Organ [19]

Clarinet [71]

Clav [7]

Contrabass [43]

Distortion Guitar [30]

Drawbar Organ [16]

Dulcimer [15]

Electric Bass (finger) [33]

Electric Bass (pick) [34]

Electric Grand [2]

Electric Guitar (clean) [27]

Electric Guitar (jazz) [26]

Electric Guitar (muted) [28]

Electric Piano 1 [4]

Electric Piano 2 [5]

English Horn [69]

Fiddle [110]

Flute [73]

French Horn [60]

Fretless Bass [35]

FX 1 (rain) [96]

FX 2 (soundtrack) [97]

FX 3 (crystal) [98]

FX 4 (atmosphere) [99]

FX 5 (brightness) [100]

FX 6 (goblins) [101]

FX 7 (echoes) [102]

FX 8 (sci-fi) [103]

Glockenspiel [9]

Guitar Fret Noise [120]

Guitar Harmonics [31]

Gunshot [127]

Harmonica [22]

Harpsichord [6]

Helicopter [125]

Honky-Tonk [3]

Kalimba [108]

Koto [107]

Lead 1 (square) [80]

Lead 2 (sawtooth) [81]

Lead 3 (calliope) [82]

Lead 4 (chiff) [83]

Lead 5 (charang) [84]

Lead 6 (voice) [85]

Lead 7 (fifths) [86]

Lead 8 (bass+lead) [87]

Marimba [12]

Melodic Tom [117]

Music Box [10]

Muted Trumpet [59]

Oboe [68]

Ocarina [79]

Orchestra Hit [55]

Orchestral Strings [46]

Overdriven Guitar [29]

Pad 1 (new age) [88]

Pad 2 (warm) [89]

Pad 3 (polysynth) [90]

Pad 4 (choir) [91]

Pad 5 (bowed) [92]

Pad 6 (metallic) [93]

Pad 7 (halo) [94]

Pad 8 (sweep) [95]

Pan Flute [75]

Percussive Organ [17]

Piccolo [72]

Pizzicato Strings [45]

Recorder [74]

Reed Organ [20]

Reverse Cymbal [119]

Rock Organ [18]

Seashore [122]

Shamisen [106]

Shanai [111]

Sitar [104]

Skakuhachi [77]

Slap Bass 1 [36]

Slap Bass 2 [37]

Soprano Sax [64]

Steel Drums [114]

String Ensemble 1 [48]

String Ensemble 2 [49]

Synth Bass 1 [38]

Synth Bass 2 [39]

Synth Drum [118]

Synth Voice [54]

SynthBrass 1 [62]

SynthBrass 2 [63]

SynthStrings 1 [50]

SynthStrings 2 [51]

Taiko Drum [116]

Tango Accordion [23]

Telephone Ring [124]

Tenor Sax [66]

Timpani [47]

Tinkle Bell [112]

Tremolo Strings [44]

Trombone [57]

Trumpet [56]

Tuba [58]

Tubular Bells [14]

Vibraphone [11]

Viola [41]

Violin [40]

Voice Oohs [53]

Whistle [78]

Woodblock [115]

Xylophone [13]

Percussion Instruments

Acoustic Bass Drum [34]

Acoustic Snare [37]

Bass Drum 1 [35]

Cabasa [68]

Chinese Cymbal [51]

Claves [74]

Closed Hi-Hat [41]

Cowbell [55]

Crash Cymbal 1 [48]

Crash Cymbal 2 [56]

Electric Snare [39]

Hand Clap [38]

Hi Bongo [59]

Hi Wood Block [75]

Hi-Mid Tom [47]

High Agogo [66]

High Floor Tom [42]

High Timbale [64]

High Tom [49]

Long Guiro [73]

Long Whistle [71]

Low Agogo [67]

Low Bongo [60]

Low Conga [63]

Low Floor Tom [40]

Low Timbale [65]

Low Tom [44]

Low Wood Block [76]

Low-Mid Tom [46]

Maracas [69]

Mute Cuica [77]

Mute Hi Conga [61]

Mute Triangle [79]

Open Cuica [78]

Open Hi Conga [62]

Open Hi-Hat [45]

Open Triangle [80]

Pedal Hi-Hat [43]

Ride Bell [52]

Ride Cymbal 1 [50]

Ride Cymbal 2 [58]

Short Guiro [72]

Short Whistle [70]

Side Stick [36]

Splash Cymbal [54]

Tambourine [53]

Vibraslap [57]


Menu Command New Bank
New Bank

How to create a new bank

Selecting the File | New Bank menu item brings up a dialog box for defining a new bank.  The dialog box fields are as follows:

Bank Number edit box: Enter a unique bank number.  A drum bank and melodic bank can have the same numbers.

Bank Type radio buttons: Select the type of bank (Drum or Melodic) with the radio buttons.

Copy Current Bank checkbox: If you wish to start the new bank as a copy of the currently selected bank, check this box.

Bank Name edit box: Enter a descriptive name that will help you to distinguish this bank from the others.

Patch Directory edit box: Enter the name of the directory in which the patches used in the bank will be located.  If you don't remember the directory name, you can use the browse button to locate it.

Once you have completed your selections, press the "OK" button.  The program will verify that the information you provided is valid. If it is, your bank will be created, and you will be able to edit it.  If it is not, an error message will be displayed indicating the error.  If you decide you do not want to create a new bank, simply press "Cancel."


Menu Command Delete Bank
Delete Bank

How to Delete a Bank

Selecting the File | Delete Bank menu item will delete the currently selected bank.  You will be asked to confirm this action.

You cannot delete the primary program banks.


Menu Command Rename Bank
Rename Bank

How to Rename a Bank

Selecting the File | Rename Bank menu item allows you to change the name of the currently selected bank.

Enter the new name in the edit box.  To accept the new name, press "OK."  If you don't want to change the name after all, press "Cancel."


Menu Command Exit

Selecting this item causes the program to shut down.


Menu Command PatchMan

Selecting this menu item returns you to the Patch Manager main screen.


Menu Command BankMan

Selecting this menu item brings up the Bank Manager main screen.

The Bank Manager screen allows you to maintain and edit custom instrument sets.  It has a File menu, a Special menu, a Help menu, and a menu item which returns to the Patch Manager screen.

The main screen contains three list boxes whose functions are described below.

Selected Bank:  This listbox is a drop-down listbox which is used to select the current bank.  The bank numbers and names are displayed here.  Clicking on the down arrow of the listbox will display the names of all the banks.  Click on the the bank you want to view/edit.

Program Map: This listbox shows a list of program numbers, their General MIDI instrument names, and the name of the patch mapped to this program.  There is a button above this listbox marked with the symbol [image] .  This is the Expand button.  When the screen first comes up, you are in collapsed bank mode.  This means that only program numbers with patches mapped to them are shown.  When you press the Expand button,  the list is changed to show all program numbers.  Programs with no mapped patch have a blank in place of the patch name.  Also, when you press the Expand button, it changes into the Collapse button, marked with the symbol [image] .  Pressing this will return to collapsed bank mode.

Patches Available: This listbox shows which patches are available in the patch directory associated with the currently selected bank. This is where you select patches to Map, Load and Get Information about.

At the bottom of the screen, there is a synthesizer keyboard just like the main Patch Manager screen.  It functions in a similar manner.  Use this in conjunction with the Load button to audition patch files.  See also: How to Audition a Patch File

Related Topics:

How to Map a Program/Patch

How to Demap a Program


How to Map a Program

First, identify the program you wish to map by selecting the corresponding General MIDI program.  If the desired program is not visible, you must press the Expand button.

Next, identify the patch file you wish to map by selecting the name of the file in the Patches Available listbox.

Finally, click on the button marked <<.

The program will be added to the Program Map listbox.

Related Topics:

How to Demap a Program


How to Demap a Program

Identify the program you wish to demap by selecting it in the Program Map listbox.  If the program number appears in the General MIDI listbox, you may select the corresponding program there instead.

Click on the button marked << to remove the mapping.

The program will be removed from the ProgramMapping listbox.

Related Topics:

How to Map a Program/Patch


How to Audition a Patch File

To hear what a patch file sounds like, select the patch file name in the Patches Available listbox and click the Load button.  The program will load the patch into memory, and you may hear it by clicking on the synthesizer keys.

You can also use the computer keyboard to play melodic patches.  After clicking in the Patches Available listbox or the Load button, your computer keyboard becomes a musical keyboard. 'Z' and 'Q' are C notes, 'S' and '2' are C sharp, 'X' and 'W' are D, etc.  To shift the keyboard range up and octave, press the right arrow key once.  To shift down an octave, press the left arrow key once.  You can shift up or down two octaves from the starting octave.  Pressing the <shift> key causes the notes you are holding down to be re-struck.


Patch Information
Show Patch Information

Selecting Special | Show Patch Information will display a dialog box that shows information stored in the patch file (i.e. instrument name and size of patch).  You must have previously selected a patch file name from the Patches Available listbox.


Creating a Bank Based on a MIDI File

Selecting the File | Get From MIDI File... menu item allows you to create a custom bank containing the instruments used in a MIDI file.

In the dialog box that appears, select the select the MIDI file to read.

When the file has been read, a New Bank dialog box comes up to allow you to name the bank and assign it a number.  Both melodic and drum banks are created.

Technical Note:

The program responds to Continuous Controller #0 messages.  When a Program Change message or CC#0 message is received, Bank Manager attempts to retrieve the instrument patch from the selected Program/Bank combination.  It uses the GS MIDI fallback arrangement if the requested Program/Bank does not exist.  User banks (40H-7EH) and special effects programs (70H-7FH) do not use the fallback mechanism.  If a program number is used on more than one channel and different banks are selected for each channel, Bank Manager will remember only the last bank number selected for that program.  Likewise, when on a drum channel, if a key is used with more than one Program Change number, only the last Program Change number selected is remembered.


Menu Command Save to Bank 0

The File | Save to Bank 0 menu command is useful for maintaining alternate patch sets.  It remaps the patches in the primary bank (bank 0) so that any program numbers mapped in the current bank use the same patches as the current bank.

For example, if you had a set of brass instrument patches, you could set up a bank with only those patches (presumably mapped to their corresponding General MIDI programs).  Then, when you select File|Save to Bank 0, the brass instrument patches in the primary bank will be replaced by your brass instrument patches.

Additionally, if a MIDI playback program you are using doesn't respond to Continuous Controller 0 (bank change) messages, and you want to play a MIDI file which uses them, you can use File|Get From MIDI File to create a bank with the proper instrument patches, and then use File|Save to Bank 0 to remap the bank-switched instruments.

To restore a primary bank to its original condition, select Special | Restore Primary Melodic Bank or Special | Restore Primary Drum Bank.


Special Menu

The Special menu contains the following items:

Show Patch Information displays information about the currently selected patch file.

Get Patch Sizes retrieves and displays the size of patch files in the current bank's patch directory.

Restore Primary Melodic Bank restores Melodic Bank 0 to a saved configuration.

Restore Primary Drum Bank restores Drum Bank 0 to a saved configuration.


Menu Command Get Patch Sizes

When you select this menu item, the program will read the sizes from all the patch files in the current bank's patch directory.  It then displays the sizes (in K) alongside the patch file names in the Patches Available listbox.

Related Topic:

Patch Information


Menu Command Restore Primary Bank

Restore Primary Melodic Bank copies a saved version of your Melodic Bank 0 to ULTRASND.INI

Restore Primary Drum Bank copies a saved version of your Drum Bank 0 to ULTRASND.INI

The first time you use Bank Manager, it saves a copy of the two primary banks.  These functions use that copy to restore any MIDI programs that have been altered.

Note: You can force Bank Manager to save a new copy by removing the line that says "SavePrimary=FALSE" from your BANKMAN.INI file (in your windows directory).


Options Menu

The following menu items affect the order in which lines are displayed within the Program Map listbox:

Sort By Program: the lines are sorted by program number.

Sort By General MIDI Name: the lines are sorted alphabetically by the General MIDI names.

Sort By Patch Name: the lines are sorted alphabetically by the name of the patch.