This assumes you know how to operate a computer and have fundamental knowledge of music - key signatures, chords, keys on a piano keyboard, time signatures, etc. 

I will take you step by step through initially setting up SuperJam! and creating an arrangement suitable for singing along to (KARAOKE: n, Japanese term for pain in ear) or as a backup for an instrumental solo. 

SuperJam! seems complex and difficult at first glance, but is in fact an efficient program with a very flexible and friendly user-interface. It gives the user great control, but with the level of power comes some initial complexity. Once you get the hang of it, it only takes a few minutes to knock out a full blown back-up group for most any piece.

This tutorial is not a substitute for the manual, but will get you started. However, once one understands how a piece goes together, much of the stuff on the menus becomes self-explanatory, and can be discovered through experimentation. 

Do not skip the first section on Set-Up or the information in the second section on doing the arrangement will be of little use. It will introduce you to the Styles, Band and Keyboard windows and is absolutely fundamental as the foundation for getting listenable sound out of SuperJam!.

Amiga with MIDI interface. While Amiga voices can be used, they are truly inadequate for this program and will drive you mad enough that people will notice - even though you are a musician and some degree of madness is expected and ignored.

MIDI instrument.

Song - may be sheet music with chords, song book with chords or fake-book. For this example, I suggest you choose a simple 32 measure pop song that pretty much follows an AABA pattern. 

If you are well educated in music, it is possible to derive the chords from even polyphonic renaissance or baroque music for use in SuperJam!. Palestrina's works are absolutely hair-raising as a Rock Ballads. For the sake of the tutorial, just pick a simple piece of pop that has the chords written in and leave the SuperJam! version of Wagner's Complete Ring Cycle for later - when you are familiar with the program.

Open SuperJam!

Click on "Styles" on Toolbar at top of screen. A window opens with a list of Styles that are currently installed. Clicking on any Style in the list makes it the current Style for this song. From here, you can install further Styles. With this window selected, hit Open in the menu and install whatever Styles you wish to add - assuming you have un installed Styles on your drive. Choose a Style. (It can be changed later.)

As you see, there is a number at the top of the list window. This is the Tempo. Assuming a pop ballad, set it at 115 for the moment. This can be done with the up and down arrows on the left or by clicking on the number and mousing up or down. It can be changed later.

Find the icon with the group of musical instruments - this is the Band. Click to open. SuperJam! comes with a directory of Bands that serve as a starting point for customizing your own. The Band window has its own menu bar. While the Band window is selected, go to the menu and choose LOAD. SuperJam! will ask if "you want to replace this band". Agree and a requester will open with a list of all bands installed. Look for a Band that matches the Style you selected. If you selected the Style "Rock Ballad" find Rockballad.band. It can be changed later.

Note: If the list of bands does not show up in the requester the first time you try, look for them under DH0:SuperJam!/Bands. Adjust you path according to where you installed SuperJam! Once you have found the Bands, the requester will open at the proper place from now on.

Ok, let us test what we have done so far - selected a Style, selected a Tempo and selected a Band.

If the Keyboard Window is not open at the bottom of the screen, click on Keyboard to open it. 

Notice that there is a blue arrow on the right Hand side of the window. Click on it. The arrow turns into a red button that can be clicked to stop playing. You should now hear the Style playing. If not, check to see that your instrument is turned on, sound system is turned on, engineer is turned on - tuned in or dropped out, MIDI is hooked up, etc.

Notice that the Tempo and Band icons are in this window as well. While you listen to the Style playing, you can adjust the Tempo interactively. There is a grid of buttons with Chord names - M - M7 - M6, etc. that allow you to preview how the Style handles chords. You can try the Style in other keys by clicking on the Keyboard. 

Between the icon marked SECTION and the arrow are eight buttons marked A B C D Intro Break Fill End. These are "Grooves" and allow you to preview how they impact the chosen Style. Generally, A is simplest with D the most complex. Some Styles have little or no difference between "Grooves" and others change dramatically. Set the Style playing again, and play around with the "Grooves". Clicking on End will wind up the demo.

This may be a good time to edit the Band as well. If needed, drag the Band Window close to the Keyboard window. If the Band Window is not open, click on the Band icon. The "meters" at the top of the Keyboard Window will show which instruments are used with the current Style. Styles can use up to all six instruments, but many do not. If only two or three instruments show in the meters, that is as it should be for that specific Style or Groove.

There is a grid - with icons of instruments - in the Band Window. Dragging an icon left to right will move it along the stereo spread if your MIDI instrument has stereo out. Volume is controlled by moving the icon up or down the grid. This allows one to set an initial mix of the instruments. If you want to listen to an individual instrument, drag the others to the bottom of the window.

I set the icons so they are about midway up and all the way across. This gives maximum stereo and leaves headroom for me to solo above the mix. It also means that my solo instrument will be in proper balance with the arrangement every time I open it, and the mix will be embedded in the file. If levels are consistent between files, you never have to touch a slider on your mixing board or grab for the volume knob on your amp. It really makes life a LOT better! This applies to sequencing as well. It may be easiest to drag all the instruments to the bottom of the window and place them one at a time while the Style is playing.

If an instrument is sounding too low and muddy, click the up arrow to transpose it up an octave. If it is too high, click the down arrow. The blue numbers are for MIDI channels. The drums should be on channel 10 if General MIDI, but the rest can be on any channels as long as no two or more instruments are on the same channel.

There should be a patch name for each instrument showing on the buttons - middle left. If only a number is showing, click on picture icon on the left side of the window. A slider-window will open. Select it and hit Open in the menu. If you have a General MIDI instrument, select it for that icon. The proper patch name will show up. 

If you have an instrument that is not supported, open the edit window and step through the instrument, typing in patch names. Save the edit, and open it for each Band member. If you have Patchmeister, it can also do a patch-list for you. If you have a rack of synths, you can have different modules for every Band member if you wish. You will have to match channels and patch-lists to the individual modules, mapping to active channels. SuperJam! will save all this in the file for the Band and in the file for the song.

In the Band Window, you can click on the patch-name and change it. If you want jazz guitar instead of a steel, click on the name, and select jazz guitar from the pop up list. Of course you can use any instrument in any slot other than drums. Nothing to stop you from using a brass section to play the guitar part. You can save the Band under a meaningful name. If you don't rename it, you will wipe out the default settings - which may be OK. All my Bands are now customized to the specific setup I use to make music.

Finally, check the piece of music you are about to arrange and set the key in the Keyboard Window using the up and down arrows. The cutesy smiley face is for major keys and a click turns it to a frown for minor. On the bar of the Keyboard Window - right side - you will see a chord written. It will be the last key and chord you tried. It will also show up globally as the first chord of every Section (see below). If the piece is in F and the chord is say - D#m6 - click F on the Keyboard and M in the Chord grid. An aid to maintaining sanity.

Anything set in the Keyboard or Style Windows is global. Every Section will open with these settings. Opening the Band or setting the Tempo in the Keyboard Window does exactly the same as in the Styles window. In fact, four Styles can be installed on buttons on the right of the Keyboard Window using the Magic Wand. Feel free to start in the Keyboard Window if it suits your fancy.

All the Global settings will be accessible from within the Section windows and can be modified locally. Changes in Global settings have no effect upon Sections already arranged. 

To change the Tempo or Style of a finished piece, you will have to manually open each Section and make the changes there. I had really hoped there would be an easy way to make global changes to a finished piece in Version 3, but that was not to be since Billy G came to Blue Ribbon with wallet open.

Now you have the basic global setup for the piece of music. While this seems complex the first time through, it will just take seconds down the road. As you customize your Bands and save them, most of this will be eliminated. 

Click on "Song" on Toolbar at top of screen. The Song Window will open.

Click on the first icon on the Song Window icon bar - the Pencil. Cursor turns into Pencil. Click on window below icon bar with Pencil.

A requester pops up asking for you to name a Section. Let us call it A. You can name it anything, but let us keep it simple.

Next a slider pops up asking for Section length. Since we are doing an AABA pop number, accept the default of 8 measures. The Section window opens. Notice that once again you see familiar icons. 

UNDOCUMENTED FEATURE. In any window, you can select the icons by hitting the corresponding function key - left to right!

Any changes made to the Band, Tempo, key signature or whatever ONLY impacts this Section. Thus if you want the opening two Sections to have a piano and an organ on the third, with the piano returning in the fourth, this is made easy by local changes.

Go to the menu - Preferences. 

Leave Auto Scroll as is. 

Count Down gives two measures of metronome prior to playing and drives me nuts with boredom, so I turn it off. 

Automatic Octave Selection works pretty well, so leave it on.

Automatic Chord Selection is for the terminally brain-dead, so turn it off.

Ignore the other two.

NOTE: Preference settings are lost when cloning sections under most circumstances. This is normal - stupid - but normal. 

Each of the blocks in the grid represents a beat. Chord changes can only take place on a beat. The numbers obviously represent measures. Above the first measure there should be a chord written. Below it will be the Groove - generally C - the default. Coloured blocks represent the instrument icons on the left. For example, the black blocks represent the Keyboard. Any beat can be muted by clicking on it with the magic wand. The wand acts as a toggle.

Take a look at the first line of your piece. If the first chord is wrong, click on it with the Pencil and a one-octave keyboard will appear under the Pencil. Let us say the chord was C and you want a G7 chord. Click on the note G. A pop-up list of Chords will appear under the Pencil. Scroll down to 7 and click - the chord is now correct. Enter the rest of the chords for the first line by clicking above the appropriate beat.

If you make a mistake, click again with the Pencil and change the chord. If you place it on the wrong beat, click on the Hand and drag it to the correct beat. Next to the Hand is the Clone Tool. If you have a piece with repetitive chords - say C G7 C G7 C G7 C G7 - just do the first two and Clone the rest. Finally there is the Eraser which does exactly as you would expect.

Ok, now that you have the chords written in, click the arrow to play it. Left Arrow plays it once, right arrow plays continuously. You can proofread by ear, and then make any changes. If any chord sounds low and muddy or high and thin, you can turn off Automatic Octave Selection and manually change it up or down. Generally, it makes a good choice automatically. When it is very lovely, close the window.

The Section shows up as a red object in the Song Window - as you probably noticed.

Click it with the Clone Tool in the Song Window. Now you will have a duplicate to use for the second A Section. Click the Cloned Section with the Magic Wand to open, and look for differences in chords from the first A Section. Generally there will be differences in measure eight and probably seven. Edit the changes and close the window.

Click on the Song Window with the Pencil Tool and name the new Section you create B. In most pop ballads, the B Section is quite different from the A Sections, so fill in the chords from scratch. Listen to it and close the window.

Drag an A Section after the B Section with the Clone Tool and open it with the Magic Wand. Edit the chords that are different. Close the window and now you should be able to sing or play along by hitting start in the Song Window. You can also start it by hitting 0 in the keypad and stop it by hitting Enter.

OK, it works but IS a bit boring and repetitious. Fine - if that is what you want - but let us make it more interesting. 

Click the first A Section and click on the Groove above measure one. (Remember, the Groove is just above the grid and below the Chords. it will be marked either A B C D Intro Break Fill or End - but probably C.) Grooves only change at the beginning of a measure. 

Choose A in measure one and choose Fill in measure eight. Close the window. 

Open the second A Section and use Groove B in measure one and Break in measure eight.

Open the B Section and use Groove C and Fill.

Open the last A Section and use Groove D and End.

Now it sounds a whole lot more interesting and live. Depending on the Style chosen, it builds from a quiet start to a strong ending. You get the idea and can change the groove wherever you want to fit the mood of the moment.

OK, you only have one verse, and you want to do a three minute single. Again use the Clone Tool and drag the Section objects - IN ORDER - to make a second and third verse. Change the End groove in the first two verses to Fills or Breaks. You might want to change the Band slightly in the second verse - perhaps swap an organ for a piano.

Need an intro? Clone a B Section, open it and hit the first four measure's chords with the Eraser Tool. Now use the Hand Tool to move the chords in the second four measures to the first four, and go to the Section - Length menu and prune it to four measures. Use the Hand Tool in the Song Window to move it to the beginning of the piece. The same technique can be used for interludes between verses.

I hope I don't have to tell you to SAVE your arrangement once you have finished.

If you are wanting to experiment with Styles and orchestration, it is wise to have a piece or two written as a single Section. Of course you lose the ease of cloning Sections this way, and it is much harder to find your place in the song, but it makes making changes very simple.

For a quick and dirty way to do this, open a Section and load chords from the Chords menu into the Section. Using the canned chord progressions that come with the program can also be a quick way to knock out sound-track music for multi-media without running into copyright issues and may also serve as the basis for songwriting.

It can be effective to mix styles as well - say - Latin on the A sections and Jazz of some stripe on the B section. Or a related group of dance beats alternating sections. Change instruments in the band as well.

Speaking of bands, I keep a band swap file that I call !Ephemeral.band. The leading exclamation point brings it to the top of the requester. If I am putzing around with the Band in a Section and manage to get it highly perfect and want exactly the same Band in all the Sections, I save it to this file and then open it in the Band of every other Section. If is so overly perfect that I think I might want to use it again in another piece, I will also save it under a meaningful name associated with the style - PunkaramaSymphonica.band or whatever.

If you have questions, post them to the Bars & Pipes mailing list so everyone can read the answers. I can also be reached at the e-mail address:

[email protected]

• Related Support
  • Amiga Realm: Resources > Audio & Video Support
  • Amiga Realm: Knowledge Base Channel > The Faqs > Sound Cards
  • Amiga Realm: Internet Services Channel > Mailing Lists & News Letters
  • Amiga Realm: People and Chat Channel > Personal Web Sites > Music
  • Amiga Realm: Entertainment > Music