SKALE FOR NEWBS
This help-file is designed to help the new user get more comfortable inside skale tracker. I decided to make it due to a lack of beginner help files. If I made any mistakes, or any corrections need to be made, please feel free to email me at Kerm_Ed@hotmail.com

### Table of Contents

1. Pattern Editor
2. Disk Options
3. Instrument Editor
4. Advanced Instrument Editor
5. Sample Editor
6. Mixer
7. Multi Effects
8. Song Info
9. Track Editor
10. Config
11. Zap

### Answers

1. Pattern Editor
   First, you must set the tracker to Record Mode by hitting the spacebar! Your screen should look like this:
   The Pattern Editor allows the user to enter samples as notes into the song. Its format is as follows: NOTE - INSTRUMENT - VOLUME - EFFECT. Using Shift+up or Shift+dwn allows the user to switch instruments fast without having to use the mouse.
   Eg:
   You can also mute channels by clicking on the channel box on the left hand side of the screen.
   Eg:
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2. Disk Options
   The Disk Options is what allows the user to load .SKM (song) files, .XI (instrument) files, .WAV (sample) files, and VST (effect) files.
   First, Open up the Disk Options like so:
   Then simply Browse to the wanted files. You must first select the file-type by the menu on the left.
   Eg:
   When trying to Save a file, be sure to enter a filename under the filename box on the bottom left. Please note also, that directories can be set ahead of time using the SkaleConfig.exe [Back to the top]
3. Instrument Editor
   The Instrument Editor allows the user to "tweak" his or her instruments.
   FineTuning allows you to finetune the pitch of the desired instrument. This is important for anyone using loops and trying to get the loop to land perfectly on the beat.
   Octave and Halftone change the playing pitch of the sample. For instance, changing the Tone-Relative from C-4 to F-4, effectively transposes (adjusts) the sample to F-4. This is usefull, because a user can change the entire key of their sample by playing with this little doohicky.
   Vibrato look carefully at the shape of the symbols. These represent the depth-effect of vibrato on the sample. For instance, a square will have a more blocky vibrato, that seems to jump from top to bottom without crossing over. The Z looking guys sound interesting with a nice stereo effect, because when the depth of the vibrato fades to its lowest - it automatically jumps to the highest depth available.
   Volume and Panning envolopes change how samples are played on a timeline idea which is very simple to use. You will need to uncheck Sustain if you wish to have your instrument fade out.
   Setting the Volume and Panning envolopes:

   > The Envolope Loop button - Enable this if you want your envelope to loop until the sample ends.

   > Click on Sustain to enable volume envolopes

   > Point sets the starting point for sustain to begin.

   > Add Point/Remove Point adds and removes points on your envolope.
   > [Back to the top]

4. Advanced Instrument Editor
   The Advanced Instrument Editor allows the instrument more options for transposing as well as other little tweaks here and there.
   Midi-in options can be configured here via the Midi Controllers option. (Unfortunately I have been having Midi problems lately and am unable to elaborate)

   > The Note Death feature affects the way the instrument behaves after it has been restruck on a same channel.
   > Eg. if a note is added after another and note death is in cut mode, the previous note immediately stops playing completely when the next note starts. On the other hand, if note off is enabled, the previous note can be set to slowly fade off while the next note is playing. This is done by setting the sustain point and the following envelope from the instrument editor.
   > -dBlues [Jul21]

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5. Sample Editor
   Sample Editor - definately a cool toy and a must-have for any tracker.
   Here, you can set the looping points of your instrument. Please note it can be very tricky to set a loop, and requires a lot of patience. Personally I prefer trackers that allow the loop to adjust itself to held-notes without having to retrigger the sample (for ease and for speed).
   Setting a loop on PingPong tends to give the sample more depth (effectively doubling its length) but can have an unwanted sound for some effects. Eg: Try looping a rain sound effect in ping-pong, and you will hear the drops fall backwards. Still an interesting sound when layered properly however.
   Play Selection seems to be disabled, which is a shame.
   Delete is a very useful tool because some samples have bad header information inbedded in them. Producing a small Click or Pop at the start of the samples playing, using delete you can remove this.
   Crop does just that, it crops the sample!
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6. Mixer
   The mixer is a key component for any new tracker nowadays. (Remember the channel mixer from IT2? Things have sure come a long way since! And for once its a good thing!)
   The little numbered knobs let you set channels to effects. The knob can also be tweaked to add more or less sound into the sound effect plugin
   Volume Sliders allow you to change the volume of various channels. [Note: It is a generally accepted practice to make sure your sounds never Peak aka: raise in volume past the top of the volume meter. Peaking causes distortion, which although is often wanted by musicians, most musicians tend to use distortion sound effects due to their ability to tweak the sound)
   Panning knobs allow you to change where on the stereo spectrum the samples are playing.
   Sub Groups allow you to place multiple channels into groups together - reducing ram and cpu use by allowing groups of samples to use the same effects together. Think of it as pouring 10 bags of flour down a large funnel, instead of pouring 10 bags of flour down 10 funnels. Ok bad analogy, but it can help reduce drop-outs and cpu overhead.
   Master sets the master volume for the song.
   Instrument/Synth button allows you to change between your playing samples and VST Synth Plugins. If your confused, chances are you want this set to Instrument.
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7. Multi Effects
   Multi Effects are (as of the creation of this help guide) simply Cubases VST's that you have loaded into your song by selecting FX from the Disk Options.
   Here you can tweak the effects.
   For instance, if your using a delay style VST (echoing) you would most likely want to tweak the delay to fall into the beat of the song, by matching the songs tempo to your desired triggering. Effectively creating the ghost note effect softly underneath your song.
   Loudness Maximizers - Another useful VST for Mastering. These plugins pull your sample to its maximum volume, sometimes even thickening it, without running the sample over its Peaking point.
   Vocoders - Allow you to place a different modulation on a carrier wave. Or, in simpler terms, you can make instruments literally speak or keyboard sounds that play like a guitar, etc. More commonly used in dance music, but could be found in Cher's Believe and KidRocks Only God Knows Why.
   Reverb - Allows you to add a reverberating sound (like the almost echo-like quality of yelling in a hallway, etc.)
   Stereo Expanders - Techniques vary on the VST's but designed to thicken the sample(s) by expanding their panning.
   Gates and Compressors - Tend to be more usefull for live recordings as they make loud parts quieter, and quiet parts louder. (ie: equalizing the volume dynamics of a guitar so its consistant throughout a song)
   Phazers and Flangers - change the depth (almost like someone turning up and down your tone-knob while you play guitar). Very useful for sweeping synths or long pads.
   Wah and Humanizers - tend to be better for short stroke lines. A wah makes that porno-video sound on an instrument, and a humanizer alters the sound to make very human like sounds. Usually vowels, AEIOU.
   Distortion - Simular to raising a sound above its peaking point. But the plugins tend to allow you to shape the sound, virtually taming the beast so to speak.
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8. Song Info
   Here you can enter Comments about your song, as well as author information, weburls, email, etc. etc. This is particularily useful if you plan to release your song in .SKM format to the public, as it gives fellow trackers the possibility to communicate back to you their impressions. Comments are especially useful though because they help you to make a name for yourself by labeling your tunes.
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9. Track Editor
   The track editor is an interesting concept that has been around for a long time on older style trackers and had all but vanished off the scene until recently.
   The track editor allows you to dynamically change Volumes, Pannings, and Effect Strengths by simply dragging your mouse down the bars while the tune is playing. This is interesting because it gives the song a more live, realistic feeling. And you can turn up and down resonating filters etc. to better simulate techno software like Rebirth.
   Effect - allows you to pick an effect to play with when your doodling on your channels. Nifty.
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10. Config
    This menu allows the user to Configure Skale to their individual likings.
    NOTE: I highly recommend changing the Channels box to 8! Because this will allow an extra gap to fit in on each channel that controls your channels volume! Without this set at 8, it is very difficult to set volumes in Skale.
    Here you also have the option to change your skin. (The overall appearance, colours, and images of your Skale Tracker). Although, at the time of this tutorials making I believe skins are currently unavailble. (If anyone can send me skale.skin creation information I would be happy to make a ton of them!)
    Amplification changes how loud your Skale tracker is in relation to your other software. (Recommend 100%)
    Latency by lowering this value you increase your Skales reaction time - but at the expense of CPU overhead. (Recommend: 50-100 ms)
    Interpolation changes how rounded your instruments sound. Reducing this will in theory make your sound more blocky. (Recommend: Cubic)
    Keyboard Rep changes how fast the repetition is for your keyboard with a key held down.
    Keyboard Delay how long before it starts repeating held-down keys.
    Record Velocity/NoteOff/Transpose this is for Midi-In users who use either pressure-sensitive keys, want to record note duration, or being able to transpose your samples in mid-recording.
    HEX vs DEX this sets what the count-numbers (the numbers going from 1-64 on the left of the screen) look like. Dec is decimal counting in straight numbers. The Hexidecimal system counts in sets of 16 instead of 10. Eg: 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-A-B-C-D-E-F-17-18- etc. Dec is recommended for new users.
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11. Zap
    Another very useful feature, Zapping allows the user to zap the entire song, or parts of the song, allowing them to create an entirely new song. Or start a clean song without any patterns, etc.
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