Run the program GMF.EXE or select File|New to start a new song.
You must be looking at the "Global Tab" of the program. Except for one
parameter (the song length) all the parameters that affect the whole song
(temp, key, signature, etc...) will be in this tab. There are three more
tabs: the "Microsequences Tab", the "Blocks Tab" and the "Macrosequences
Tab".
We will use the default global parameters: a tempo of 100 BPM, a 4/4
signature and a key of C Major. You can modify the title, author's name
and comments about this song if you want. Also, select the MIDI port that
the program will use to output data (your soundcard's MIDI synth will be
enough). The Global Tab should look like this:
As it was explained in the previous section ("How songs are constructed"), a song is made by superimposing one or more macrosequences. Each of these macrosequences corresponds to a block. And each block is made with two microsequences. Therefore, we must create some microsequences first. Click on the Microsequences Tab and you will see the following window:
Click on the "Create new sequence" button. A new sequence with index 0 will be created. In the Description field you can type a name for the sequence. In this case I chose to name it "Melody". Change the Period to 8 and click on the "Save current" button to save the changes you've just made. It will look something like this:
As you can see, the we will be using a Mandelbrot fractal for this microsequence. The odd blue-ish bulb-like image on the right side of the Fractal Parameters section is a typical drawing of the Mandelbrot set. We will take some points from this drawing and convert them into numbers to form our sequence. Those points can be taken from an "orbit" or a straight line on the picture. This time we will choose an orbit, which is the default option.
Click on the "Fix Point(s)" button. A white dot will appear at the center of the Mandelbrot drawing. You can use the big arrow buttons to move the dot around. Click the Up arrow button three times and the Left arrow button another three times. As the dot moves, it will "spread" in smaller dots. Those dots form what is called an "orbit" of the Mandelbrot fractal. The orbit spreads itself as you move the initial dot away from the center, which translates in wider intervals between notes or wider dynamics.
Click the "Fix Point" button to fix the dot in its current position.
Then click the "Save current" button once more to save the changes to the
microsequence.
Let's make another microsequence. Click on the "Create new sequence" and a new sequence with index 1 will be made. Name it as you want (I named it "Velocity") and make it of period 16. We will use the Mandelbrot fractal again but this time we will take the points from a straight line instead of an orbit. Select the "Line" option on the Fractal Parameters section and then click the "Fix Point(s)" button. The white dot will appear again. Move it to one of the ends of the line and click on "Fix Point #1". Use the arrow buttons again to move the dot and you'll see how the line is created. The first point stays fixed while we move the second. When the second point is placed where you want it, click on the "Fix Point #2" button and then on the "Save current" button to save the changes. If you don't click on "Save current" after making any changes to any microsequence, the changes will be lost when selecting another microsequence or jumping to another tab.
Anyway, try to draw a line similar to the one shown here:
If you didn't quite get it the first time, you can click again on the
"Fix Point(s)" button and edit your line. Don't forget to save any changes
you make!
Ok, now that we have two different microsequences, we can build our
first block. In fact, you could build a block with only one microsequence
(using the same for pitch and velocity) but I'll leave that for you to
experiment.
Click on the Blocks Tab. You can create blocks in a similar way to microsequences. Click on the "New Block" button, edit the parameters, and then click on the "Save" button to save any changes.
Create a new block (which will have index 0) and set the parameters as shown below:
Set the Description field to anything you want ("Piano" in our example). Set a Length of two measures for this block. We will allow only 1/8 and 1/8 dotted notes for this sequence. To achieve this, set the 1/8 slider on the Rhythmic Probability Distribution section all the way up (100% probability) and the other sliders all the way down. You can also select a preset probability curve by selecting 1/8 as the center and a Fixed Value curve type (always select the center value first and then the curve type). Then you must activate the "Allow dotted notes" option in the Rhythm section.
Now, for the Melody section, select the "Melody" microsequence (index 0) with a range of 10 and offset 1. The range is the number of notes from the scale that the program can choose from. The offset is a transposition value. If a scale has seven notes in it (ie.- a major or minor scale), an offset of 7 will transpose the melody one octave up; an offset of -7 will transpose one octave down, and so on...
For the Velocity section, select "1: Velocity" as the sequence and a range value of 40. The default values for the other parameters should work fine.
Click on the "Save" button. Now would be a good time to save our work to a file with the File|Save option. Then you can click on the "Listen" button (in the MIDI section) to hear what the block sounds like. You should hear a simple but nice piano riff.
Now let's see what macrosequences look like. Click on the Macrosequences Tab. There's a "General" section with only one parameter: the song length. That's the only global parameter which is not in the Global Tab. There's also a "Regenerate" button that is used to show the macrosequences in a sequencer-like display. If you click it, you'll see two red blocks placed on the first (topmost) track. Those red blocks correspond to the 2-measure block we made. If you increase the song length and click on "Regenerate", more red blocks will appear to fill the given song length. Use the "Play" button on the MIDI section to hear the results.
When you're ready, jump to Making a song step by step,
Part 2.