README File for TRAX
PASSPORT DESIGNS
100 Stone Pine Rd.
Half Moon Bay, CA 94019
(415) 726-0280
INSTALLING TRAX
Installing TRAX is easy. You simply boot your computer and run
the TRAX installer program, SETUP. In addition to the TRAX
application, you can also install some sample music files.
The end of this document contains additional information about
Windows, MIDI Drivers, Port and IRQ settings and troubleshooting
tips.
MIDI setup
Although you can use TRAX without a MIDI instrument, in order to use
TRAX with a MIDI instrument, you must configure the software so that
it can communicate properly with your hardware. See the instructions
below.
INSTALLATION
By running the Setup program from within Windows, you can quickly
and easily install TRAX and all related files.
Note: For the following installation Microsoft Windows must
already be installed on your hard disk.
To install TRAX from Windows with the Multimedia Extensions
or Windows 3.1 or later:
1. Run Windows.
2. Insert the TRAX Program Disk into your computer's disk
drive (A: or B:).
3. Choose "Run" from the File menu of the Windows Program
Manager. The Run dialog appears.
4. In the "Command Line" text box, enter A:SETUP (or B:SETUP if
the Program Disk is in drive B:).
5. Click OK or press Enter to run the TRAX Setup program.
The Setup dialog appears.
The default drive and directory to which TRAX will be copied
are displayed in a text box. If you want to install TRAX in a
different directory or drive, simply make the appropriate changes to
the text box.
Several installation options are listed in the box at the bottom of the
dialog. These include installation of the TRAX program files and
MIDI drivers The options are pre-selected (reverse highlighted) for
installation (the Passport MIDI drivers will automatically be de-selected on
Multimedia PCs or PCs running Windows 3.1 or later).
De-select any options that you do not want.
6. Click OK and follow the on-screen prompts.
A dialog appears that asks if you would like the Setup program to
create a TRAX Program Group in the Windows Program
Manager.
7. Click Yes or press Enter to create a TRAX Program Group.
MIDI setup
Although you can use TRAX without a MIDI instrument , in order
to use TRAX with a MIDI instrument, you must configure the software
so that it can communicate properly with your hardware.
1. Open the TRAX Program Group in the Windows Program Manager
(if it is not already open), and double-click the TRAX icon
to run the program.
2. Pull down the Goodies menu and choose the MIDI Setup item.
The MIDI Setup dialog appears.
Ports
TRAX can communicate with the MIDI world over any one of your
computer's output ports. This lets TRAX address sixteen MIDI
channels over any port.
There are three drop down list boxes that enable you to make port
assignments. The first box lets you designate the output port of
your interface. This list box allows you to select which of your
computer's MIDI hardware ports will be used for MIDI playback.
TRAX's output can also be routed to the onboard synthesizers on
sound cards like Anchor Electronics' Media Concept board, Creative
Labs' Sound Blaster and Media Vision's Pro AudioSpectrum.
Next to the output port list box is a check box labeled "Send
Sync". Click this box to transmit MIDI sync messages on that port.
TRAX sends MIDI song position pointer, MIDI start, stop and
continue and MIDI clocks.
The next list box, labeled "Record port" tells TRAX which port is
connected to the MIDI controller with which you'll enter notes onto
your score.
TRAX can play or record based on your computer's own internal
clock or on a MIDI song position pointer and MIDI clocks received
from an outside source. If you'll be synchronizing your computer to
an external signal, you may want to keep the incoming sync signal
separate from MIDI data you're recording. The "Receive sync port"
item lets you do this.
Sync Source
The "Sync Source" radio buttons determine whether you'll use your
computer's clock or an external MIDI device as TRAX's master
clock.
If you won't be using an external MIDI sync source to control the
playback of TRAX: Check Internal.
Your PC's internal clock will control TRAX's playback speed.
If you do want to "slave" TRAX's playback functions to an
external source: Check External.
********************************************************
TRAX and Windows
This version of TRAX is designed to run with the Multimedia
Extensions to Windows 3.0 or with Windows 3.1.
The Setup program creates a Program Manager group called "TRAX"
and several Program Manager items (icons) for the TRAX executable
program and sample files.
Several sample music files are included with TRAX. Some of the
files are authored and voiced according to authoring guidelines for
Multimedia PCs, where channels 1 through 10 are for Hi-End General
MIDI style sound modules, while channels 13 through 16 are for
base-level Adlib, SoundBlaster or MediaVision style FM synth cards.
The best way to get these files to sound good on your system is to
play them back through a correctly configured MIDI Mapper. You can
do this by selecting the MIDI Mapper as the output port in TRAX's
MIDI Setup dialog. Alternativly, you can playback the base-level
channels directly to an Adlib sytle FM synth, by selecting the
corresponding output port in the MIDI Setup dialog and by soloing
the tracks that are assigned to channels 13 through 16. Of course,
if you have a General MIDI synth, such as the Roland SC-55 Sound
Canvas connected to a MIDI out port, then you could solo all tracks
that are assigned to channels 1 through 10 and play them back
directly to the General MIDI synth.
The other sample music files that are included are generic enough
to sound good on just about any synth or sound module. These files
are not intended for multimedia purposes and will probably not
sound right when played back through the MIDI Mapper.
************************************
TRAX -
Sound Card and MIDI Interface Address and Interrupt settings
You can use the "Drivers" Applet in the Windows Control Panel
to adjust the settings that are used for your MIDI hardware.
Select the driver that you want to configure and then click on
the "Setup" button to change the port address and interrupt level.
If the driver that you need does not appear to be installed then
click on the "Add" button to install it.
You can also edit the SYSTEM.INI file directly using the Windows
SYSEDIT application. Look for the section in the SYSTEM.INI that
contains the settings for your driver. If the driver is currently
using the default settings then you may have to add the section as
shown in the examples below:
; default settings for an MPU-401
[mpu401.drv]
port=330
int=2
; for Soundblaster or Media Concept MIDI
[sndblst.drv]
port=220
int=7
The first entry, for instance, will tell the Windows MIDI
driver to look for your MPU-401 on interrupt 2 at port
address 330. Check your card and its documentation for help
on finding out what these values are. The above values are
the defaults. You need only add an entry to your SYSTEM.INI
file if your values are different than these.
Windows provides a program which makes editing your
SYSTEM.INI file, and other system files, easy to do. It is
called SYSEDIT.EXE and can be found in your Windows system
directory. Add it to your Main group if you haven't done so
already. It is great to have around. Take care when you edit
these files, however. They must be just right for your
system to work. Keep backups around just in case.
***********************************
TROUBLE SHOOTING
-> If you get the message 'Out of environment space' when
booting after installing TRAX, increase the
environment size in your CONFIG.SYS file. The statement:
shell=command.com /e:512 /p
will most likely provide you with ample space. If not,
increase the number after '/e:'.
-> If you get no MIDI I/O whatsoever, make sure that you have
selected the correct MIDI ports in the MIDI Setup dialog. If
you still get no MIDI I/O then make sure that the SYSTEM.INI
settings are correct for your hardware. Check your card and
its documentation to make sure of what the values are.