First of all, if you want to create a symphonic masterpiece, you're not in the right place ;)

I designed the SqSynth script language (or SqScript) to be as simple as possible to learn. This tutorial will show you how to create your first song and explain all the script commands you need to know for this.

1. Script structure

- Initializes the synth channels and parameters;

- Describes the song patterns;

- Describes the song pattern playlist.

2. The .init section

Well, let's get into it ! The .init section, as written above, initializes the synth channels and parameters. Every parameter MUST be specified by hand, which allows the maximal customization range for the composer. These parameters are : the song tempo, the channel waveform type, arpeggiator, ring modulation and, if channel is set to square, the variable pulse high ratio. Let's detail a bit :

- tmp x : sets the tempo value to x BPM.

- chn x,y : sets the channel number x to the waveform type y (0=pwm, 1=triangle, 2=sawtooth, 3=noise)

- rng x,f : sets the ring modulation for channel x to frequency f; 0 is off.

- arp x,t[,n,a,b,c....] : sets the arpeggiator for channel x  : each step's length is 1/t time (0=off and parameters between brackets are ignored, you can even not write them); if t!=0, then n indicates the number of steps, and every step has a frequency factor (so that played frequency = a*f, then b*f, then c*f.....) you acn have as many steps as you want.

- pwm x,r : if channel x is set to waveform 0 (square), this instruction sets the PWM high ratio to r% (0<r<100) . for instance, if r=20 then the wave would be like this :

__          __          __...

  |        |  |        |

  |        |  |        |

   ________    ________

2. The .map section

Okay, now the synth's prepared to play the awesome tunes you want it to, there's a few things to know before you let your fingers type feverishly on your keyboard, writing the song in your favorite text editor =]

There is no instruction to use directly in the .map section, because it is divided in patterns, which are divided into notes. Let's take an example, a part of the .map section of example.sqs, available on the home page :

.map
    PTN00:
        len 16
        NOT00:
            non 3,440,75
    PTN01:
        len 16
        NOT00:
            non 0,440,100
            non 3,440,75
        NOT02:
            non 0,544.36,100
        NOT04:
            non 0,587.32,100
        NOT06:
            non 0,622.25,100
        NOT08:
            non 0,587.32,100
        NOT10:
            non 0,544.36,100
        NOT12:
            non 0,496.88,100
        NOT14:
            non 0,544.36,100

The way to write your song map is easy really : just write PTNxx:, where 00<=xx<=99, then choose the length of the pattern (length in times, which means len 16 means a 1-measure-long pattern), then start writing events for each note (NOTxx:, where 00<=xx<len value)which has some (you do not have to write notes which have no event assigned). The instructions to use for this are :

non c,f,v : activates channel c at frequency f, velocity v (0<=v<=127)

nof c : deactivates channel c (note : if you just want to change frequency or velocity, you do not need to nof the channel, just non it again)

rng c,f; arpx,t[,n,a,b,c....]; pwm x,r : same action as above.

Note : the frequency parameter is only present for this version; next version will use standard british notation system (but will still correctly read frequencies for compatibility purpose).

3. The .sng section

The job's nearly done ! Now you've written your patterns as you see fit, SqSynth must know when to play them; this is the reason .sng section exists. This is done easily : first of all, there is two markers, start and end; only patterns listed between them are played (you can list some before and/or after these markers for testing only parts of your song, for example). to play a pattern, just write ptn xx, where xx must exist in the .map section. Here is an example (example.sqs, downloadable form the main page) :

.sng
    start
        ptn 00
        ptn 01
        ptn 01
        ptn 01
        ptn 01
        ptn 02
        ptn 02
        ptn 02
        ptn 02
    end
        ptn 01
        ptn 01
        ptn 01
        ptn 01
        ptn 02
        ptn 02
        ptn 02
        ptn 02

Conclusion : I really hope you found the SqScript simple, I really tried it to be so. If you need further documentation, see the manpage or the complete documentation on the homepage.

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