DOS-Lab Introduction

dos-lab
December 8, 1981

DOS-Lab Introduction

— Cornelis de Bondt

1. Required OS and programs

  1. DOS [6.0 or higher] in combination with Windows98
  2. Brief™ – DOS editor, with built-in programming-tools
  3. Turbo Pascal™ 5.0 or higher
  4. PowertoolsPlus™
  5. Key-fake.com
  6. Score™

2. Required Drive and Directory Structure

  1. Two drives: C and D.

    Drive D can also be a virtual diskdrive, created with RAMDRIVE.SYS
  2. On drive C there should be the following directories:

    C:\BRIEF
    Contains the main Editor/Programming tools. The whole system is based on it.

    C:\TP
    Turbo Pascal and Powertools Plus programs, used by the system.

    C:\SCORE

    C:\LIB

    C:\HLP
    These contain all SCORE.EXE files.

    C:\KEYIN
    This is an important work directory, it is used by different programs, this name should not be changed.

    C:\ECSC
    This is used for generating the files created in C:\KEYIN into SCORE. Do not change this name.

    C:\UTILITY
    Contains several BATCH files which are used during processing.

    C:\KX
    Contains several TXT-files, used in SCORE.

3. File data types

  1. KASON01A.TXT
    Chord file – ASCII-format
  2. C:RASON01A.TXT
    Number file – ASCII-format
  3. C:KRSON01A.TXT
    Rhythm file – ASCII-format
  4. C:RKSON01A.TXT
    Number file; for rhythm units – ASCII-format
  5. C:KSSON01A.TXT
    Composition file, processing purposes – ASCII-format
  6. C:KKSON01A.TXT
    Composition file, for handmade editing, and processing purposes– ASCII-format
  7. C:KCSONA01.MUS
    Composition file – in Score™ format
  8. C:KCSON01A.SIB
    Composition file – in Sibelius™ format

File names: the first two characters (e.g. “KA”) indicate the type; the next three (“SON”) refer to the title.
For the KA, RA, KR, RK, KK and Sibelius files, the number (for instance) “01A” is a sequential number for possible different versions. Any number/letter combination can be used.
(The names of DOS files are limited to a maximum of 8 characters plus an extension of 3 characters.
For instance: “AB123456.EXT”.)

4. File Formats

NB! The first line of each file contains information for data computing; don’t change it! A KK-file contains several lines for computing; hitting the name in the KEYIN-shell (typically a ‘BR-name.TXT’ file, brings you to the first line from where you can edit and update the file.

C:KASON01A.TXT – Chord File
The first four positions carry the chord number; don’t change this. The chords start on position 7 and can contain 12 notes. 
Each note consists of 5 characters, e.g. 1G,CX

  • 1 — Staff info – usually it is a “1”, but it can be “2” for piano scores when a note is to be place one staff below.
  • G — Clef – G = Treble clef, F = Bass clef, A = Alto clef, T = Tenor clef, R = percussion clef,
    8 = 8ba Treble clef.
  • , — Register info – relative position, depending on the clef. A “ ” [space] refers to the middle part of the staff; a “.” to the next octave, a “:” to the double octave above; likewise the “,” and “;” refer to the octaves below the staff.
    “1G,C ” is the C below the staff that contains the G-clef. “2F.C ” is the same note, now in the F-clef. The highest note possible in this notation is the high E with six ledger lines. Higher notes should be indicated with an 8va mark. Likewise the lowest note possible is the low A, also with six ledger lines.
  • C — Note info – the seven notes of a scale A, B … G.
  • X — Accidental – X for sharp, S for flat, H for natural, “ ” [space] for no-accidental, * for double sharp and b for double flat.
    [Note: B-flat is indicated as “BS”; the S is derived from the Dutch solmisation system add “es” to flatted notes.]

Example [typically for piano score with two staves]

0001 1G:FX 1G C  2F.D  2F G (…)
0002 1G FH 2F.BS
(…)

C:RASON01A.TXT – Number File
Each number is formatted with an amount of 4-digits. There can be 32 numbers on each line, so 128 characters in total. When the last line is not full, the last 4 digits are 9999; this is information for computing; don’t change it!
The first number in the first line gives the total of numbers in the file. The numbers start in line 2.

Example

  1   2   3   4   5   6   7 (…)

C:KRSON01A.TXT – Rhythm File

Each item consists of 4 characters. The first being N for Note, R for Rest, > for beginning of tie, – for continuation of tie, < for ending a tie. The 3 remaining characters are numbers, they indicate the value of the rhythm.

Example

N001R002N003N001N001N001R012N001 (…) >003-004<001R004 (…)

C:RKSON01A.TXT – Number File

Same format as RA-File. It would contain typically the values 1, 2 and 4 for the units of the rhythm; in this case quarter notes, eight notes and sixteenth notes. 1 is the calculation unit. Any number greater than 1 gives the division value of it, so 2 is an eight note, 4 a sixteenth note, 3 an eight note triplet, 5 a quintuplet, etc.

Example

  1   1   1   2   4   4   4 (…)

The combination with the info from the KR-File gives the concrete note value. An “N” indicates a note, an “R” a rest. Some examples:

Some examples of rhythmic info:

N001	one quarter note
   1
R003	dotted quarter note rest
   2
N001	8th note triplet
   3
N001	32nd note
   8
N007	value of 7 quarter notes [which will be adapted to the meter]
   1

C:KKSON01A.TXT

Each system starts with three line that contain the page number, duration info and bar number.
The next three lines hold the meter info.
The first lines give the duration, just as in any rhythm; the third gives the specific meter, necessary because several meters can have the same duration.
A 3/4 meter carries the number “3” in the RRM-line, a 6/8 meter the number “13”, where in both cases KRM would contain “N003” and RKM a “1”.
The duration of the 6/8 meter can however also be given by “N006” and “2”, since it gives in calculation the same result.
The RRM line decides the specific meter. Each system begins with an empty line, with only “/” at the first position. Comments can be written here if necessary, it will be ignored during computing.
The number on position 3 gives the voice (track) number; there can be a maximum of 9 voices in each system. To create more voices you need another KK-file. KK-files can be combined, to a maximum of 32 voices for each Score page.

Each system has the following lines:

KRM= Meter [N003]
RKM= Meter-unit [ 1]
RRM= Meter-code [ 3]
/ Empty line, e.g. for [not processed] comments
[[[= Beaming – “[” = 1 beam-start, “]” = 1 beam-end, “((” = 2 flags; etc.
KR1= Rhythm-value
RK1= Rhythm-unit
DR1= Dynamics: F=forte, PP= pianissimo, [ = cresc., ] = decresc., / or \ end-cresc. or decresc.; etc.
UR1= Articulation – “>” = accent, “^” = wedge-accent, “.” = staccato, “-” = tenuto; etc.
BR1= Frasing – “[” = begin of slur, “]” = end of slur
XR1= “1” indicates text
XK1= Text – each phrase starts with “@” and ends with “!”.
AK1= Note 1 (top)
>>1= Note 2 

>>1= Note 3 (to a maximum of 12 notes using 12 lines)
/ Empty line, e.g. for [not processed] comments
[[[= Beaming – “[” = 1 beam-start, “]” = 1 beam-end, “((” = 2 flags; etc.
KR2= Rhythm-value [possible Second track; maximum of 9 tracks per system]
RK2= Rhythm-unit
… etc.

Example

/   [PAG-1]                  Page number
/   [RGL=4.1 // TOT=4.1]     Duration info
/   [1]                      Bar number
KRM= N002                  | Meter [in this case 2/4]
RKM=    1                  |
RRM=    2                  | “ | ” = barline
/                          
[[[= SIC  [[          ]]   | Beaming [Staff-1;  max. 9 staves per KK-File]
KR1= >001 <001N001N001N001 | Rhythm [starting with tied quarter note to 16th note]
RK1=    1    4   4   4   4 |     
DR1+   SF        P         | Dynamics
UR1+    >        .   .   . | Articulation
BR1+    [                ] | Frasing
XR1+    1                  | Text
XK1= @subito!              | 
AK1=1G GX   A   BS  FX  GH | Chords [MaxSiz=12]
>>1=1G,D   ,ES ,C  ,EH ,D  |     
/
[[[= SIC  SIC ((  SIC      | The beaming is automatically generated
KR2= R001 R001N001R002     |
RK2=    1    4   4   4     |