DigiStudio 1.5 Manual
Contents
Introduction
DigiStudio 1.5 is a tracker for MS-DOS made by The SpacePigs and published by Covox International in 1992. It allows MOD-music to be played via the simple and cheap Covox Speech Thing, as well as the Covox Voice Master, Soundblaster-compatible soundcards, and even the PC speaker. It bears a close resemblance to Protracker, the famous Amiga tracker of 1990, which in turn bears a close resemblance to The Ultimate Soundtracker of 1987, the first tracker. DigiStudio is mostly compatible with Protracker modules - although not all effects are supported, most songs should play. This version of DigiStudio is a crack, and you must run the crack ("DS-CRK.EXE") every time you want to use DigiStudio (I use a batch file to do this). If asked by DigiStudio to enter a word from the manual, press return without entering anything.
The Interface
The interface of DigiStudio 1.5 is not particularly complex, having only two different screens, and uses a combination of mouse and keyboard input (the keyboard can be used to simulate the mouse, but this is a rather cumbersome way of using the tracker). The first screen you see when you open the tracker is the main screen, where you will do all of your composing. Pressing the button labelled "SMP-ED" will bring up the other screen, the sample editor, where you can edit samples.
The Main Screen
The main screen is divided into six main parts:
- The top left contains fields pertaining to the ordering of patterns in the song. "Position" selects the position of the song currently being edited. "Pattern" selects the pattern of the song to play at that position. "Length" sets the length of the song ("Position cannot exceed this), and "Restart" selects the position the song will jump back to when it has finished playing.
- The top right contains a number of clickable buttons with fairly self-explanatory labels. "Play Sng" plays the whole song. "Play Ptn" plays the current pattern. "Rec Sng" plays the whole song, with record mode enabled. "Rec Ptn" plays the current pattern, with record mode enabled. "Stop" stops the song if it is playing. "Edit" toggles edit (record) mode. "Print" prints the song. "Filter" toggles the filter. "Disk Op." brings up the disk operations dialog, where you can load/save/delete samples and modules (press the "Exit" button on that dialog to leave and return to the main view). "Smp-Ed" brings up the sample editor screen, which will be discussed later. "Config" brings up a config dialog where you can choose the sound device, sample rate, and colour scheme, amongst other things. Press "Save" to save settings or "Exit" to exit from this dialog. "Clear" brings up a dialog where you can chose to clear any or all of the different parts of your song. Choosing any option (or "Abort") on this dialog will take you back to the main view. The buttons labelled "1" through "4" mute the corresponding channels.
- The middle left section contains fields pertaining to the samples used in the song. "Sample" selects the current sample. "Volume" sets the volume of this sample (maximum is $40). "Length" sets the length of this sample. "Repeat" sets the starting loop point for this sample, and "Replen" sets the length from that point to loop.
- The middle right section displays the DigiStudio logo, a spectrum view, or an oscilloscope. Click it with the mouse to cycle through these.
- The bar below these sections displays the name of the song and the name of the current sample. You can click to edit them and press return when you have finished editing them. "Help" displays the onscreen help (containing some of the information in this manual), and "Clr" clears the current sample name.
- The section at the bottom is the pattern editor. When edit (record) mode is enabled, you can add notes and special effects here using the letter keys on the keyboard (navigate with the arrow keys). The text field labelled "Status" displays various messages about the status of DigiStudio. The clock next to that displays the amount of time the current song has been playing for. Next to that, "Tune" tells you the size in kilobytes of your song, and "Free" shows the amount of space free to use. In the top left corner of the pattern editor is a two digit number which shows the number of the current pattern.
The Sample Editor
The sample editor screen has two main areas: the graphical display of the sample waveform on the top, and the buttons below. On the waveform, you can click to start a selection, and click again to end the selection. Now I will describe the buttons:
- "Cut" cuts the current selection.
- "Copy" copies the current selection.
- "Zero" sets the volume for the whole of the current selection to zero.
- "Paste" pastes whatever was copied or cut to the start of the current selection.
- "Clear" removes the current selection (the section after it will be moved forward).
- "Play" plays the whole sample.
- "Range" plays the current selection.
- "Stop" stops playback.
- "Sample" opens the sampler dialog where you can record audio if your sound device is capable of that.
- "Special" brings up a dialog with more buttons:
- "Tuning" allows you to retune and resample the whole sample (not the current selection).
- "Volume" allows you to adjust the volume or add volume envelopes to the current selection.
- "Filter" applies the filter to the current selection.
- "Set Rep" sets the loop start point. Press the button and then click on the waveform to set the loop start point.
- "Set Repl" sets the loop end point. Press the button and then click on the waveform to set the loop end point.
- "Mix" mixes whatever is has been copied or cut with the current selection.
- "Move" adjusts the DC-offset (vertical position) of the whole sample.
- "Echo" applies a delay (echo) effect to the sample.
- "Reverse" reverses the current selection.
- "Exit" leaves the special menu.
- "Show All" zooms out to show the whole sample.
- "Show Range" zooms in to show only the current selection.
- "Free" displays how much space is free to use.
- "View" displays how many bytes of the sample are currently being shown in the waveform view.
- "Mark" displays the length of the current selection.
- "Sample" chooses which sample to edit. If you have made changes to a sample and you choose another sample, you will be asked if you wish to keep your changes.
- "Length" displays and sets the length of the sample.
- "Repeat" sets the starting loop point (it is easier to do this with "Set Rep" in the special menu).
- "Replen" sets the ending loop point (it is easier to do this with "Set Repl" in the special menu).
- "Offset" displays the position of the start of the current selection.
You can name your sample at the top (press return to finish naming the sample) and you can exit the sample editor with the "Exit" button in the top left corner. If you have made changes to a sample you will be asked if you want to keep them when you exit the sample editor.
General Keys
| Right Ctrl | Play Song |
| Alt-gr | Play Pattern |
| Right Shift | Record Pattern |
| ' | Record Song |
| Space | Toggle Stop/Edit |
| F1/F2 | Set Octave |
| Shift+F5 | Cut Pattern |
| Shift+F6 | Copy Pattern |
| Shift+F7 | Paste Pattern |
| Ctrl+F5 | Cut Track |
| Ctrl+F6 | Copy Track |
| Ctrl+F7 | Paste Track |
| F9 - F12 | Pos in Pattern |
| Delete | Delete Note |
| Num Lock | Filter On/Off |
| Scroll Lock | HQ Mode |
| Caps Lock | Chord Mode |
| Numpad | Set Sample Number |
| Numpad + | Increase Sample Number |
| Numpad - | Decrease Sample Number |
| Ctrl+Arrows | Change Pattern |
| Shift+Arrows | Change Position |
| Tab | Change Track |
| Ctrl+Shift+Arrows | Move Mouse Cursor |
| Ctrl+Shift+Space | Click Mouse Cursor |
Disk Op Keys
| Alt+[Char] | Find [Char] |
| Alt+Arrows | Up/Down in Dir |
| Return | Load/Save/Delete |
| Numpad * | Read Sample Dir |
| Numpad / | Read Module Dir |
| Shift+Numpad * | Save Sample |
| Shift+Numpad / | Save Module |
| Ctrl+Numpad * | Delete Sample |
| Ctrl+Numpad / | Delete Module |
Hexadecimal to Decimal Conversion
| 0-9 | 0-9 |
| A | 10 |
| B | 11 |
| C | 12 |
| D | 13 |
| E | 14 |
| F | 15 |
The Note Representation
Example 1: C-2 02 C40
C-2: Note C, octave 2
02: Sample no. 02
C40: Special Effect C with data 40
Example 2: D#1 1F D16
C-2: Note D#, octave 1
02: Sample no. 1F
D16: Special Effect D with data 16
Special Effects
| 0xy | Arpeggio | Note pitch quickly alternates between written note pitch, written note pitch + x, and written note pitch + y |
| 1xx | Portamento Up | Pitch slides up with speed xx |
| 2xx | Portamento Down | Pitch slides down with speed xx |
| 3xx | Tone Portamento | Pitch slides from previous note to written note with speed xx |
| 4xy | Vibrato | Vibrato (pitch modulation) with speed x and depth y |
| 5xy | Portamento + Volume Slide | Current Tone Portamento effect continues while volume slides up with speed x or slides down with speed y |
| 6xy | Vibrato + Volume Slide | Current Vibrato effect continues while volume slides up with speed x or slides down with speed y |
| 9xx | Sample Offset | Sample is played starting from offset position. New position is xx if sample is less than $100 long, xx0 if sample is $100 to $1000 long, xx00 if sample is $1000 to $10000 long, etc |
| Axy | Volume Slide | Volume slides up with speed x or slides down with speed y |
| Bxx | Position Jump | Jump to position in song xx |
| Cxx | Set Volume | Set volume to xx. Max volume is $40 |
| Dxx | Pattern Break | Jumps to row xx of next pattern |
| E0x | Filter On/Off | Sets filter on/off status to x. x can be 0 (off) or 1 (on) only. |
| Fxx | Set Speed | Sets speed to xx. A lower value for xx means a faster speed |
Credits
I copied much of the information in this manual from DigiStudio's in-built help. The extra information about the special effects is taken from the OpenMPT wiki. The rest was all by me (ant1). I wrote this manual on August 31st/September 1st 2012. I hope you find this useful, whoever you are!