| Revision:4 Date:29-03-2002 Psycle version:1.6Final |
 |
Introduction
This tutorial aims to be the reference for newcomers to Psycle.It explains the basics of composing with Psycle.
Notice that you might need knowledge about Trackers in general, to understand some aspects.
Please, choose your next Step:
Machines. All that you need to know
Definition
A Machine is an element that creates or processes a signal (in Psycle, an audio signal).
There are three types of Psycle Machines: Generators ,
Effects and Master Machine.
But if you want to use samples, Psycle offers you the Sampler Machine.
Creation
To add Machines, press F2 or this: 
button to go to the Machine View (if you are not already there)
Then, double click over the background (or press F9 ).You'll see a Window similar to the following one:
Machines are divided in 3 categories: Internal Machines, Native and
VST Plugins. (or Generators and Effects, if you click on "Sort by Class of Machine"). The Image
that preceeds each name helps you identify the Machine's class and Type.
Select Arguru Synth 2f and press OK (or double-click it, if you preffer). After that, Add Arguru Cross Delay.Now you can
move them to any place by dragging them.
Connection
To connect these two Machines that you have created, press the SHIFT key and drag Arguru Synth 2f
to Arguru CrossDelay. Doing so you'll see a line that goes from one to the other. Leave the mouse button and both machines will be connected.
Do the same from Arguru CrossDelay to the Master.
If you have done it right, your screen will be similar to this Image:
The white triangle that appears between the Machines indicates the direction of the sound.
If you doubleclick it, the Connection Dialog will appear, and you will be able to define the volume attenuation between both machines.
Usage
Now, doubleClick over Arguru Synth 2f This will pop up the Parameters Dialog.
From here you can change the parameters of the machine to make it sound different. To tweak a value, click over a
Knob and drag up and down. You'll see that the value is updated.
Finer Tweaks can be done pressing simultaneously the CONTROL key (10x finer) or
SHIFT key (change one by one) while you drag the mouse.
Also, you can Right Click over the parameter to pop up the Tweak Dialog, where you can specify the exact
value.
Note: This is the value that the plugin uses internally. Sometimes, it has nothing to do with the displayed one. You'll have to find it out.
Sampler Usage
Using the sampler is just like any other Machine. To add samples, press the Load button next to
the "Wave" Combobox.
If you press the Edit button, you'll be
shown the Instruments dialog where you can change the volume, panning and
other parameters of the Sample.
Note: Some of the options are disabled (the most important, the Layer support). The sampler will be
recoded in one of the new versions of Psycle to make it better.
Firstly, Psycle has a Tracker Style edition mode. You have patterns where you put notes and commands, and a sequence, where you define the
order on how these patterns are created.Press F3 or this: 
button to go to the Pattern Editor.
By default, you have 16 Tracks to compose, but you can adjust it from 4 to 32 using the first Combobox that says
Tracks. On the upper side of each channel you have two indicators, one Red (M), and one Green (S).These indicators allow
you to Mute or Solo that channel.
You can use either the Mouse or the cursors to
positionate the Cursor to the track you want.
Before you start, you might want to change the Tempo (BPM) and the ticks per beat (TPB).
Bigger BPM, faster song. Bigger TPB, more space between ticks (or faster pattern playing)
Entering Notes and commands
To be able to enter values in the Pattern editor, The Edit Mode has to be turned On.
To do this, you have to press the Space Bar once.
Now, let's explain each Track's row:
The first column is the Note column. Here you enter the notes. 2 octaves are mapped in your PC keyboard.
To go to a higher/lower octave, press the * or / keys respectively (the ones in your numeric keyboard!)
The second column is the Auxiliar Column. In the case of the Sampler, this column indicates the Instrument to be played,
for VST Plugins, it indicates the MIDI Channel, and when using the Tweak Command, it indicates the Parameter number.
The third column indicates the Machine number. Note that Effect Machines are numbered from 40 to 7F (Hexadecimal values)
And the fouth column is the commands Column. Take a look at the Commands and Tweaking subsection to know more about it.
Updating the Sequence
Now that you already have a Pattern ready, It's time to put it on the sequence:
The active pattern position is highlighted. You can use the "+" and "-" buttons (as well as the "+" and "-" keys on the numeric keyboard) to increase/decrease the pattern number.
If you activate the Follow song, this indicator, and the pattern in the Pattern View, will be refreshed to show the one being played.
Also, don't forget to change the sequence Length (The last two buttons under the Sequence labeled "Ln.") because if not, only the first pattern will be played.
Changing the Parameters' values in Realtime
Commands are deprecated in Psycle in favour of Tweaking. Take a look at the
Tweakings and Commands.txt file included with psycle for a "in deep" explanation of
both.
Tweaking
Tweaking a machine from the pattern is changing the value of one parameter to another one. This allows you to control the machine in playback time.To enter them, you put the cursor in the Note Column, and press the tweak key.
The Tweak key differs from different keyboard languages, and you might probably find it on the º ' \ ~ ` keys. You can Always Configure it in the Keyboard Configuration DialogBox.
The second column indicates the Parameter that you want to change. If you look again to the Parameters' Dialog Image you'll see that in the Titlebar you can see a number in Hexadecimal value. This is the one you need. With VST's, it is the one that appears in the Parameters' List.
For Internal Machines (Those that Use a Dialog Box), you can see the number next to the parameter name:
The third column indicates the Machine number. If you tweak an Effect Machine you can know the number changing the "Generators" Combobox to "Effects" as shown in the image below:
Finally, the fourth column indicates the Value that the parameter will take.
If you tweak a VST Plugin you'll have to give a value between 0 and FFFF (meaning 0 minimum, FFFF maximum)
For a Native Plugin, you have to indicate the exact value that it will take. Check it from the Tweak Dialog.
And for Internal Effects... Sorry, you'll have to find it by yourself, but usually it is the value indicated in the dialog.
This is what you'll see:
or this, for effects:
Note: With VST plugins, if you click out from the GUI (i.e. On the parameters' list), you'll have to close the Dialog and open it again.
I hope this tutorial will give a clearer view on how to use Psycle, and its possibilities as a professional tracker.
For more info about Psycle and the community I recommend you to visit:
Psycledelics
psycle.pastnotecut.org/Also you're welcomed at #psycle IRC Chat channel on EFNet network.
Thanks go to : Arguru, Mats, ksn, JAZ, SAS, Tao, Pikari, alk, Bohan, ZombieHead, Imagineer, FatalD, dj_d and all other users of Psycle!