The main dialog is where you define the Pages, Sequences, Steps and Events that do all the cool stuff you want to do.
Main dialog. No objects are selected so the Page properties are displayed.
Element |
Description |
Page Select combo | Shows/selects the active page. |
Add Page button | Adds a new Page. New Pages are created using the default Page template. |
Delete Page button | Deletes the active Page. If there's only one page, it will be replaced with a new Page created from the default Page template. |
Clear Page button | Replaces the current page with a new page created from the default page template. |
States button | Opens the Machine States dialog. See Machine States. |
Enable Page load events checkbox | Enables/disables triggering of Page load events when a Page becomes active. See Page Load Events" |
Chase MIDI button | Enable/disable MIDI Chase. See Sequence and Trigger Set Event. |
Object tree | Displays the contents of the current Page. See Object Tree. |
Properties Pane | Shows the properties of the currently selected objects. See Properties Pane. |
Status Bar | Displays context sensitive help for the control that has focus. If Object tree is focused, might display some information about the selected objects. |
Save Page as default | Save the contents of the current page as the template which will be used to create new Pages. |
Load template | Load a Page template from disk. See Page templates. |
Save template | Save all Pages to an xml template. See Page templates. |
Close | Close main dialog. |
Cut | Cut selected objects to the internal clipboard. |
Copy | Copy selected objects to the internal clipboard. |
Paste | Paste objects from the internal clipboard. |
Merge | Merge clipboard content with selected object. Menu text indicates what will be happen. |
Duplicate | Duplicate selected objects. |
Add | Add an object. What will be added depends on the selection. |
Remove | Remove selected objects. |
Undo | Undo last action. The menu text will indicate what will be undone. Pretty much all changes made via the main dialog can be undone. Note that Magic undo/redo is not connected to Buzz's own undo/redo. |
Redo | Redo last action that was undone. Menu text indicates what will be done. |
Most of these set the corresponding machine attributes.
MIDI Channel | Set the MIDI input channel. Same as the machine parameter. |
MIDI Listen | Enable/disable MIDI input. Same as the MIDI Input parameter. |
Chase MIDI | Enable/disable MIDI Chase. See Sequence and Trigger Set Event. |
Reset on stop | If checked, all objects will be reset to their initial state when playback stops. Same as machine attribute. |
Enable keyboard filter | If checked, Magic will try to stop you typing garbage into the text boxes. The code is pretty sucky so if it gives you trouble, you can turn it off. |
Auto-select new machines for state capture | If checked, newly created machines will automatically be selected for inclusion in the song state capture. See Machine States |
Capture song state on Page change | If checked, machine states will be captured before new Page is activated. See Machine States |
Restore song state on Page load | If checked, machine states will be restored after new Page has loaded. See Machine States |
Restore song state on load | If checked, machine states will be restored when the song is loaded from disk. See Machine States |
Restore song state on stop | If checked, machine states will be restored when playback stops. See Machine States |
Record mode | See Recording |
Default Anti-flam time | Sets the machine level anti-flam which is inherited by any object that doesn't specify it's own value. See Anti-flam. |
Default Anti-flam mode | Sets the default anti-flam mode. Objects that do not specify their own anti-flam mode will use this setting. See Anti-flam. |
Default Peer Event Note-off Mode | Sets the default note-off mode for newly created Peer Events. See Note-off modes. |
Default MIDI Event Note-off Mode | Sets the default note-off mode for newly created MIDI Events. See Note-off modes. |
Default Control Event Note-off Mode | Sets the default note-off mode for newly created Control Events that use note-offs. See Note-off modes. |
Default Peer Event Note-cut Mode | Sets the default note-cut mode for newly created Peer Events. See Note Cut Modes. |
Default MIDI Event Note-cut Mode | Sets the default note-cut mode for newly created MIDI Events. See Note Cut Modes. |
Default Set Triggers Event Set Mode | Sets the default set mode for newly created Set Triggers Events. See Set Triggers Event. |
Default delay units | Sets the default delay units for newly created Events. See Note-off modes. |
Warnings | Enable/disable various warning messages. See Warnings |
The contents of the Actions menu depends on what objects are selected in the Object Tree. More actions will be implemented as soon as I think of them and can find the enthusiasm to make them happen. Feel free to make suggestions in the forum.
Selection | Action | Description |
Step, single | Jump to Step. | Sets the selected Step as the current Step of the parent Sequence. |
Event, multiple | Create sequence from selected Events | Automatically sets the accumulator settings for the selected Events so that they will fire sequentially, one after the other. You can even do this to Events belonging to different Steps, which is either a bug or a feature, not sure which. |
Messages | Opens the Messages dialog. |
MIDI | Opens the MIDI dialog. |
Resources | Opens the Resources dialog. |
Machine States | Opens the Machine States dialog. |
Show PAL | Launches BTDSys PAL2 (if present) |
Preserve Window States | If checked, the position of the various dialogs will be preserved when they are closed and saved with the song. Clearing the check will reset all dialogs to their initial position. |
Documentation | Sounds much more dignified than "help". |
The Object Tree is where you create, edit, arrange and select the Sequences, Steps and Events.
Action | Description |
Left-click on object | Select the object and display its properties in the properties pane. |
Shift + left-click on object | Select all visible objects from the previously clicked object to the object under the mouse cursor. |
Ctrl + left-click on object | Toggle the object in/out of the selection. |
Left-click on empty space | Clear the selection (selects the active Page). Note that "empty space" means the empty area below the last visible object. |
Double-click on empty space | Creates a new Sequence. |
Right-click on selected object | Shows the context menu for the selected objects. The contents of the menu depends on the type of objects selected. |
Right-click on unselected object | Selects the object (clearing any existing selection) and shows the context menu for that object. |
Left-drag/drop | Move the selected objects. You can reorder objects freely by drag/drop. The help bar text will show what will happen when the objects are dropped. |
Ctrl + left-drag/drop | Duplicate the selected objects. The help bar text will show what will happen when the duplicate objects are dropped. |
Key | Action |
Arrow keys/Page Up/Page Down | Navigate through the object tree. |
Shift + Arrows/Page Up/Page Down | Navigate through the object tree, adding/removing objects from the selection. |
Ctrl + Up/Down | Move selected objects up/down the tree. |
Ctrl + Left/Right | Collapse/expand the selected objects to show/hide child objects. |
Ctrl + Alt + Left/Right | Collapse/expand all objects. |
Delete | Delete selected objects. |
Insert | Insert new Sequence if no objects selected or add Step to selected Sequences. |
Ctrl + X | Cut selected objects. |
Ctrl + C | Copy selected objects. |
Ctrl + V | Paste objects. |
Ctrl + Shift + V | Paste merge objects. |
Ctrl + D | Duplicate selected objects. |
Ctrl + E | Enable/disable selected Sequences/Events. |
Ctrl + Z | Undo last action. |
Ctrl + Shift + Z | Redo last action. |
Alt + Space | Toggle MIDI Chase. |
Ctrl + Alt + '+' | Add new Page. |
Ctrl + Alt + '-' | Delete current Page. |
Ctrl + Page Up/Down | Activate previous/next Page. |
Escape | Close dialog. |
The properties pane shows the properties of the currently selected objects. If multiple objects are selected, the controls will set the relevant property for all of the selected objects. Values common to all of the objects in the selection will be displayed while values that differ will be left blank, or occasionally disabled. If nothing is selected, the properties of the current Page are shown.
Properties will only be displayed if all selected objects are of the same type. If all of the selected objects are Events but are of different types, only the base Event properties will be displayed.