Pickin' Pal MIDI Player
Main Menu

The Main Menu section (just below the title bar) consists of the File, Track, MIDI, Range, and Help sub-menus.

To view the sub-menus of each menu topic, place the arrow on a particular menu and “click“ the left mouse button. The drop-down box will show all the sub menus of the selected topic. To activate a sub menu, place the arrow on the sub menu item and “click“ the left mouse button. The menu topics and their sub menus are explained below.


File Menu
The File Menu topics are used for opening, saving MIDI files, and exiting the program.

• File|Open, open an existing file.

• File|Save, save the currently loaded file.

• File|Save As, save the currently loaded file by another name.

• File|MRU List: If there were previous MIDI files opened, the user can place the arrow on any recent file name, and “click“ the left mouse button. The program will load the selected MIDI file.

• File|Exit, allows the user to exit the program. Automatically closes the current fille.

Note: There is no File|Close in the program. To load another file, select file open.

Track Menu
The Track Menu topic is used to view any one of the tracks of the loaded MIDI file.

• Track|View Events, view any one track (showing the particulars of each Note-On MIDI event).

MIDI Menu
The MIDI Menu topics allow the user to stop, pause, play, rewind, fast-forward, and transpose the loaded MIDI file. However, the buttons below the menu, called the toolbar, are much faster and more convenient.

• MIDI|Stop, stops the song, if playing.

• MIDI|Pause, pauses the song, or starts playing the song again, if in the paused mode.

• MIDI|Play, starts playing the song, if no current song is playing or in the paused mode.

• MIDI|Rewind, allows the user to rewind the loaded file to a particular location.

• MIDI|Forward, allows the user to fast-forward the loaded file to a particular location.

• MIDI|Transpose, allows the user to transpose the loaded MIDI song to a different key by moving all notes to a higher or lower pitch. If no file is loaded or the file is playing, the command is disabled.

Caution: If you transpose a loaded MIDI file, DO NOT save the file, as it will permanently change the original file settings. See Pickin’ Pal help file for complete details.

Range Menu
The Range Menu topics allow the user to play only the selected measures (bars) of the song or loop the selected measures continuously until pressing the MIDI|Stop button. However, the play-range and loop buttons below the menu are faster and more convenient.

Note: Before you can use the play-range or loop functions, you must:

1. Place the arrow inside the "From:" window and click the left mouse button.

2. Type the bar and Beat you want to start playing from (X.X) and press enter (notice the dot between the X's). Example (2.1, 6.1, 12.1, etc.).

3. Place the arrow inside the "To:" window and click the left mouse button.

4. Type the Bar and Beat you want to play to (X.X) and press enter.

• Range|Play-Range, plays only the “From:“ measures (bars) to the “To:“ measures (bars).

• Range|Loop, plays the selected “From:“ and “To:“ measures (bars) over and over again until the stop button is pressed.

Help Menu
The Help Menu in divided into three sections.

• Help|Contents, get help on a particular function of the program.

• Help|Using Help, how to use “Help.“

• Help|About, shows the Copyright notice of the Pickin’ Pal MIDI Player.

The Toolbar
The Toolbar buttons allow the user to:

• MIDI|Rewind 

• MIDI|Stop

• MIDI|Play

• MIDI|Pause

• MIDI|Forward

• MIDI|Transpose

Note: See MIDI Menu above for details.

Range Windows and Buttons
The Range Windows and Buttons allow the user to play only the selected measures (bars) of the song or loop the selected measures continuously until pressing the MIDI|Stop button. The play-range and loop buttons are much faster and more convenient than the Range Menu as explained above.

The Range|Play-Range button
The Range|Loop button

Bar:Beat:Click
The Bar:Beat:Click window shows the current bar, beat and click now playing.

Current Time
The Current Time window shows the current time elapsed since the beginning of the song.

The Channel Buttons
Each Channel button can show the Patch (instrument) currently playing for that particular channel. Click on any Channel button containing an active track(s) and a dialog box will appear showing the type of instrument currently playing (piano, guitar, bass, flute, etc.).

The Channel buttons also allow the user to change the current Patch (instrument) to any of the 127 MIDI instruments. To change a Channel instrument, place the arrow inside any Channel button and click the left mouse button. Then, click on the down-arrow at the right of the dialog box list, and select another instrument, which will change the current instrument. The channel must be active to view or change to a different patch (instrument).

Note: If you change any of the buttons, knobs or tempo window, DO NOT save the file as it will permanently change the original file settings.

The Patch Windows
The Patch windows show the current instrument number on each active channel. To view the corresponding instrument name, click on the Channel button(s).

The main purpose of the Patch windows is to show which channels are active.

The Volume Control Sliders
The Volume Control sliders are used to increase or decrease the volume on each active channel. To change the volume on a channel, place the arrow on the slider button, hold down the left mouse button, and move the slider button up (for more volume) or down (for less volume).

Tempo
The Tempo window shows the current tempo of the loaded file. This will become the most important function while practicing the exercises and songs. To change the tempo, place the arrow inside the tempo window. Click the left mouse button and type in the new tempo and press ’enter’ (i.e. 120.00). Or, click the up-arrow button for a slower tempo, the down-arrow button for faster tempo.

Status
The Status window shows the current status of the loaded file (playing, stopped, paused, etc.).

The Solo Buttons
When pressing this button on any active channel, all other active channels are “muted“ – leaving only the selected channel playing. This is used to hear only one channel (usually the melody you are currently learning) and blank out the others. To hear the other channels again, just press the solo button again.

The Mute Buttons
The Mute button works opposite the Solo button. When pressing this button on any active channel, it mutes that channel only – leaving the other active channels playing. To hear the muted channel again, just press the mute button again. You can mute several channels by pressing each of their mute buttons.

The Reverb Control Knobs
The Reverb control knobs add or lessen reverb to the song. To change the reverb, place the arrow on the outer part of the control and move the mouse left (for less reverb) or right (for more reverb). The control knob works the same as the knobs on a stereo or radio. These control knobs work only if your MIDI sound card has the reverb capability.

The Chorus Control Knobs
The Chorus control knobs add or lessen slightly delayed copies of a sound of the original to create the illusion of multiple instruments sounds playing at once. The control knobs work the same as the reverb controls. These control knobs work only if your MIDI sound card has the chorus capability.

The Pan Control Knobs
Panning establishes where, in the stereo sound field (from left to right), an instrument appears to be – the left or right speaker. The Pan control knobs works the same as the reverb and chorus control knobs. These control knobs work only if your MIDI sound card has the pan capability.

Why Use Pickin’ Pal?
Over the many years of teaching guitar, the biggest problem my students have is practicing the lesson material correctly (notes and rhythm), and how to play the exercises and songs more rapidly with no mistakes (technique). Also, practicing on the guitar with no accompaniment can be very boring and the student can easily develop bad habits -- creating a waste of time, effort, and slow progress, whereby the student may loose interest.