Tutorials with Screenshots; Windows and Mac..

[muzycian]

OK, great that we advanced 1 step: LUNA is playing

Now next step is to plug in a VST instrument in order to get sound.

You can see it like this: the Bach part with the notes is like a score: it contains musical events, but a score doesn't make a sound from itself. It needs to be played by an instrument e.g. a piano, organ, bass, ...

So, in this case, we have to plug in an instrument in Rack A, because that's where the events of the part go to.

Do you know about vst plugins?

[MUDX]

well, Jo, i gotta say i am now understanding enough to go ahead. thank you!

looks like i can go with the LUNA version. you didn't say to change anything.

alright!

the "events" are the collection of each note's 'information' with all of the others;
each "event" is a note. right?

vst: you give me a link to download one of those appropriate for a Mac Powerbook G4 10.3.9 and we're on to the next wave !
and how to have it show up in my version of LUNA, please ?.

water's still cold but i'm swimming now with a shoreline in view.
i need something cute, tanned, and curvy out there for me to make it..
(lol)

[MUDX]

look at this !


"LUNA is one of the most straight forward approaches to creating a computer based Virtual Studio. The software offers simplicity and multi-platform support. Therefore, it is a good tool to teach electronic music concepts. And we must mention that it is free. If you want to get started in electronic music, it is an excellent place to start before you shell out a lot of dough and spend hours and hours learning the more sophisticated features that can cause you to have to negotiate a very steep learning curve. By learning the basics with these tutorials, you will have a good foundation to be able to adapt to more sophisticated music software at a faster rate. Try it, you won't be disappointed."


this is from johnny's tutorial linked above here.

i want to mention here that this tutorial lists a "controller" necessary for tutorial use. i don't have one. newbies usually don't.
a "controller" i think is an outside keyboard connected to the computer.
so i'm hoping that the computer keyboard is mentioned in the tutorials as a way of "clicking in notes" should one have a vst to provide the sound as Jo was saying earlier.
and i'm hoping that this is correct.

[muzycian]

the "events" are the collection of each note's 'information' with all of the others; each "event" is a note. right?

An "event" can be a note, but could also be e.g. a parameter event.

Each note is an event
But each event may not be a note.

vst: you give me a link to download one of those appropriate for a Mac Powerbook G4 10.3.9 and we're on to the next wave !
and how to have it show up in my version of LUNA, please ?.

Please use the Kvr search function to list all free vst plugins for OSX.

Here is a link to such search:

http://www.kvraudio.com/get.php?mode=re ... =1&rpp=100

[muzycian]

look at this !
so i'm hoping that the computer keyboard is mentioned in the tutorials as a way of "clicking in notes" should one have a vst to provide the sound as Jo was saying earlier. and i'm hoping that this is correct.

No you cannot use the computer keyboard as a piano keyboard.

But you can use the Pencil tool to draw in notes, so you can create music without a midi controller

[MUDX]

i went to johnny's tutorial to look for Jo's VST, to hear something like Bach.

want to say that this link opens to a page that doesn't include the mentioned "piano".
but if you click on 'VST Synths'
in the blue highlighted line of choices at the top

you see the 'Piano' choices though the addy looks the same.

i may be looking forward to a list of everyone's favorite free VST's for their LUNA
or the newer version,
but this will hopefully do the sound now

[MUDX]

parameter events: now i'm interested !

thanks Jo for the link to the available VST plugins at KVRaudio..
(what a great source!) thanks to KVR too very much!

the pencil tool, that i haven't seen yet, on my LUNA, sounds Neat.
so if i click in a line of measures of notes this way, and then enable
another line somehow (tutorials), i'll be hearing (with the newly downloaded VST ) a duet of notes that i've penciled in ?

i think something good is now waving at me from the shoreline... . lol

[MUDX]

update: Version 8.4 !...

even tho johnny's tutorial carried me through with no worries up to "Using a VSTi Virtual Instrument", right there i started feeling something like a huge eel playing with my toes.
there is a big difference in the screenshots johnny provides in the tutorial and what i am looking at.
for instance, just so you know, in mine the File/Edit/Help area is on the left (where it should be)(lol), but on his screenshot it is shown on the right. maybe the cool thing, a world thing, would be to have it in the middle?
excuse the extra bs lol
here is the present problem from that chapter of the tutorial for me:
"The track should be darkened.
Now right-click on the track and then click Part and then click Choose Player."

i do not see the 'Choose Player' to click... .

____

so in the Help button, i returned to the provided tutorials in LUNA.
i can now see that the "Bach" fragment provided to listen to is a
"Sequence" if i had penciled in the notes myself.
the way it is now, it is a "Composition" in its entirety.
what i am looking at is "The Composer", or the "Arrange Page".
there are more than just this one track provided, so i may be able
to pencil in notes to accompany this provided "Bach" Sequence.
my "Part" would 'back' the "Bach".. .
depending on my virtuosity, Bach may or may not begin to spin in his grave.
Warning: the Devil/Angel Team may pop up on opposite shoulders.
LUNA will do whatever YOU want (.and know how to do.).
like you can have more than one track, you can also have more than one Composition in a "Session".

" A Rack is a collection of plugins that process your audio and events and route it to an output. "

i downloaded three piano VST/plugins from KVRaudio.
i like that horizontal splitter bar in the Sequence Editor.


the Modular Plug Area screenshot in the LUNA tutorial
does not match the one i'm seeing. (8.4)
using the Tab key on my computer keyboard takes me back to the
racks
and i see that i have 'mda Piano' in the topmost space in Rack A.
using the Tab again, coming back to the MPA (spelled above), i see
a red line connecting Rack A with Audio Output.

HOLY BACH !!!

it's playing!

well, this is too much for me without opening the refrigerator
for a cold one.. .
LOL


*

[MUDX]

Jo? i was sent an email saying to come here to read a response.
don't see any. maybe a screenshot ?

so since i'm here now anyway i'll mention a few things i'd like to hear about.
erp.

in a new session, i clicked and dragged out twenty measures on the top track (no Bach to help me now), and enabled the pencil tool, and allowed the chickens to run up the line, sometimes all pausing as a group. (flock) ... a Chord.

with the Rack A all proudly decked out with the VST, the cacaphony played to a very surprised face.

1. any way to Hear the notes that are being clicked in while they are being clicked in ?

2. how to enable a track for an unknown distance of measures, to click the notes in with the pencil tool without that limitation of greying the writing block (agelessly) ?

3. and, of course, how to then attach the second rack with the VST enabled into a second track, in order to have two tracks play simultaneously ?

[muzycian]

Jo? i was sent an email saying to come here to read a response.
don't see any. maybe a screenshot ?

didn't receive such email.

1. any way to Hear the notes that are being clicked in while they are being clicked in ?

It's in the LUNA docs: http://www.mutools.com/luna/docs/sequence-editor.html

Hold Alt while Pencil

2. how to enable a track for an unknown distance of measures, to click the notes in with the pencil tool without that limitation of greying the writing block (agelessly) ?

Move the Loop locator more to the right, as much as you want.

3. and, of course, how to then attach the second rack with the VST enabled into a second track, in order to have two tracks play simultaneously ?

To create a new rack: right-click at the right of the most right rack, thus in the background of the Rack Desk => "Create New Rack".

Note that with LUNA Free, you can use up to 8 Racks.

[MUDX]

now i can explore sounds

[MUDX]

(just to be clear, the KVR mailbot sent me a message that there was a response. there was none when i got here that time. just thought to mention this as part of keeping this forum working well, no problem.)

i went to the Docs. i found out how, with the pencil tool, to create a new part.

upon opening the saved session, there was an already greyed out "loop" area designated with the grey highlight between the tenth and eleventh measure, that i might have chosen before, the last time i had opened LUNA. (should the chosen areas for looping be better blank upon reopening a session?)

when i created a new part, or new track, i made it as long as the previous one, 12 measures.
when i had filled that length of track with penciled in notes, i turned off the sound of the previously written track in order to only hear this new one.
before i searched for how to enable a second part, or track, i had clicked and dragged to 12 measures just above the first part in the numbers of measures line area. i was guessing that this would enable the next part for notes to be written into. a mistake. i found out how by searching in the Docs. but the greyed area stayed highlighted.
* this bothers me, thinking that the program is keeping something in mind that i am not going to need to use. any way of turning this looping off until it's needed ?

the result is that this new part plays but only
to the eleventh measure
though the loop marker was at 12, and then even reset to 13th measure.

i see now that THOUGH i had set each part to start at the beginning of the second measure equally, this second one starts actually in measure ONE and somehow the last measure of it goes beyond the designated 12th.
so the last measure of 12, identical in chosen length to the first part, is beyond the first part's twelfth measure and begins one measure earlier, effectively bringing the second part to fourteen instead of the sought after 12.

*what to do here ?

the traveling bar line counter following the sound of notes, when using the return button to get to the beginning of the parts, stopped at just after the 11th measure, which it has stopped doing after two plays through.
it now stops at the 12, for some unknown reason at between 6 and 7, and measure 2, and, of course, the very beginning.
hope this helps you to see what i can do to fix.

thank you Jo!
( i haven't found any answers in the Docs about this )

[MUDX]

ok Jo !
i noticed the measure counter that changes numerals of what measure you are hearing in the upper mid portion of the LUNA face.
i see now that the "START" is actually the start of the sequence, ignoring the first measure.
i used the eraser for the first time, and ended the piece with the chords i'd wanted.

the simplest thiings can be included in the newbie Windows and Mac tutorials.
i'm hoping you can think like one, need these things, when writing them.

thanks for everything so far

[muzycian]

any way of turning this looping off until it's needed?

Just drag the "Loop" locator as far to the right as needed.

[MUDX]

i have invited a friend to download LUNA 8.4 (like mine on a Mac) to her Windows computer.
she has now sent me a .mid file.
it turned into a Quicktime .mid file here, and i heard sounds in the Quicktime player.
this file has been imported into LUNA.
i can't hear it.

how do i connect it to Rack A if necessary, what plugin, if any, do i need selected there, and/or do i select the same instrument that she used (mda Piano) in Rack A?

secondly - i read in LUNA Docs where we can use the arrow or pencil tool to extend out or trim back the beginning or end measures of a part. this works for me in the end area of the part. to trim a few measures off of the beginning of a part, this seems to only overlap and not cut the excess off.
how is this done?