Post by Valiancy on Mar 1, 2016 9:22:48 GMT -8
The easiest way to make the music for Mabi, MML, is with a player-made program called 3ML Editor 2.
The interface for it may be confusing at first, so take your time to look around and poke different buttons to see what they do. I also recommend you appreciate this program and take the time to play around with it; When I was first learning MML I only had Notepad!
This is the way it looks when you open it up. Track 1, Track 2, and Track 3 are more or less your Melody, Chord 1, Chord 2. Where it says Lute is the dropdown box for you to change which instrument plays the currently selected track. Depending on your version of 3MLE this list will look different. I modified mine to be more concise (removed all those pesky random sounds that aren't used by mabi) and to include the Harp.
The big gray box on the left tracks the time signature and note ID across the track. There's not much need to pay attention to it unless you're advanced with the program or prefer it. The one next to it, with the piano roll, will visualize the notes. Under that is the big ol' white box where your music code will actually go.
Default tempo is 120, octave is 4 and length is 4. The higher the tempo, the faster it goes. The higher the octave the higher the notes. The lower the length the longer it sustains, or plays. The max volume (v) is 15. The higher the volume, the louder the sound. Each track may have a different volume!
You do not need to precede the note text with tempo (t), octave (o) or length (L) if the variable you want is by default the number you want. If I wanted to set the tempo to 90, I would have to put t90 at the start, or wherever it is needed. However, if I want a tempo of 120, that is the preset and I would not have to add it in manually. < and > are shortcuts for jumping down or up 1 octave, so you do not have to write o# in the text each time you want to change. It's fairly minor, but it saves space.
Let us start by making Do Re Mi Fa So La Ti Do- a simple scale.
In Track 1's white box, write in cdefgab>c like this.
The first C starts on the default octave, 4, so it is only natural to use > to jump up 1 octave step and end on the last C.
Play it back to yourself to see how it sounds. It will be very basic on it's own, so lets add in the same thing on track 2 but lower it an octave. To do this very easily, just hit Ctrl+A to select all in the current field then Ctrl+C to copy. Click the Track 2 tab to switch view over, click in the blank field, and do Ctrl+V to paste it in.
The notes for each track correspond with the tracks color next to the names. Track 1 is pink, so the notes on it will be pink as well. When two tracks are overlaid or intersecting you will only be able to see the notes of the track you currently have selected. Now, to add some depth to this scale let's add o2 before the first note in the sequence to drop it down to that octave- Two steps down, so many steps right B)
Track 2 will look like this.
It still sounds a little boring right now, so let's spruce it up a little bit more. For track 3, we'll do an A major scale. The notes in A Major are A B C# (sharp) D E F# G# A. Put it on any octave level you want; I personally prefer it on o1.
Track 3 will look something like this;
You'll notice that after the first B I went up with >. That is because of A being the starting note for this particular scale and 3MLE assumes C to be the starting note of the octave.
For example if you do o4D E F G A B C, that last C will drop instead of rise because the program still assumes you want o4 C and not o5 C.
Play around with the basics and poke and prod the buttons to your heart's content. I'll post another tutorial later about importing a MIDI file and writing the song from there =)
The interface for it may be confusing at first, so take your time to look around and poke different buttons to see what they do. I also recommend you appreciate this program and take the time to play around with it; When I was first learning MML I only had Notepad!
This is the way it looks when you open it up. Track 1, Track 2, and Track 3 are more or less your Melody, Chord 1, Chord 2. Where it says Lute is the dropdown box for you to change which instrument plays the currently selected track. Depending on your version of 3MLE this list will look different. I modified mine to be more concise (removed all those pesky random sounds that aren't used by mabi) and to include the Harp.
The big gray box on the left tracks the time signature and note ID across the track. There's not much need to pay attention to it unless you're advanced with the program or prefer it. The one next to it, with the piano roll, will visualize the notes. Under that is the big ol' white box where your music code will actually go.
Default tempo is 120, octave is 4 and length is 4. The higher the tempo, the faster it goes. The higher the octave the higher the notes. The lower the length the longer it sustains, or plays. The max volume (v) is 15. The higher the volume, the louder the sound. Each track may have a different volume!
You do not need to precede the note text with tempo (t), octave (o) or length (L) if the variable you want is by default the number you want. If I wanted to set the tempo to 90, I would have to put t90 at the start, or wherever it is needed. However, if I want a tempo of 120, that is the preset and I would not have to add it in manually. < and > are shortcuts for jumping down or up 1 octave, so you do not have to write o# in the text each time you want to change. It's fairly minor, but it saves space.
Let us start by making Do Re Mi Fa So La Ti Do- a simple scale.
In Track 1's white box, write in cdefgab>c like this.
The first C starts on the default octave, 4, so it is only natural to use > to jump up 1 octave step and end on the last C.
Play it back to yourself to see how it sounds. It will be very basic on it's own, so lets add in the same thing on track 2 but lower it an octave. To do this very easily, just hit Ctrl+A to select all in the current field then Ctrl+C to copy. Click the Track 2 tab to switch view over, click in the blank field, and do Ctrl+V to paste it in.
The notes for each track correspond with the tracks color next to the names. Track 1 is pink, so the notes on it will be pink as well. When two tracks are overlaid or intersecting you will only be able to see the notes of the track you currently have selected. Now, to add some depth to this scale let's add o2 before the first note in the sequence to drop it down to that octave- Two steps down, so many steps right B)
Track 2 will look like this.
It still sounds a little boring right now, so let's spruce it up a little bit more. For track 3, we'll do an A major scale. The notes in A Major are A B C# (sharp) D E F# G# A. Put it on any octave level you want; I personally prefer it on o1.
Track 3 will look something like this;
You'll notice that after the first B I went up with >. That is because of A being the starting note for this particular scale and 3MLE assumes C to be the starting note of the octave.For example if you do o4D E F G A B C, that last C will drop instead of rise because the program still assumes you want o4 C and not o5 C.
Octave: a series of eight notes occupying the interval between (and including) two notes, one having twice or half the frequency of vibration of the other.
