Revision History - v11.5.0

Daqarta v11.5.3 - 30 July 2021

New Buf0#Zf=1 command allows .DQA files saved using Macro Array File Operations to force the main screen Zero to be toggled on when the file is later opened, even if it wasn't on during recording. (This is the case for the DC_Chart_Recorder when in Display mode.)

Bug Fix: When unipolar .DQA files were saved using Macro Array File Operations, the displayed waveform grid did not match the Y-axis at certain display magnifications.

Bug Fix: When using the DC_Chart_Recorder while simultaneously saving sound card files using DDisk, the sound card file erroneously reported the (much slower) sample rate of the chart recorder when subsequently opened.

Bug Fix: Files saved by the DC_Chart_Recorder in Display mode were clipped at half the full DC range. Also, if more than one channel was active, the screen Zero positions were not properly set when the file was opened.

Daqarta v11.5.2 - 15 February 2021

New Peter Knight's Windows 10 Guide for Daqarta added to Troubleshooting section, includes advice on sound cards, connections, use of HDMI screen inputs, effects of privacy settings, and visual step-by-step setup for using Daqarta with Windows 10.

Bug Fix: Macros that read ToneFreq settings did not return values with the full accuracy of the control, typically showing discrepancies in the 5th decimal place and beyond. The bug did not affect actual generated frequencies, nor those measured with the Frequency Counter.

Bug Fix: WaitTime macro did not properly recognize current-relative times specified with @H format, such as WaitTime=@H:15 to wait until 15 minutes after the hour, or WaitTime=@H:M:00 for the next minute, or WaitTime=@H:M:S: for the next second.

Daqarta v11.5.1 - 27 October 2020

New Gen#F macro toggles the Generator on or off while applying Generator On/Off Fade, if enabled. Existing Gen command operates immediately, ignoring Fade.

Bug Fix: Toolbar Generator button was supposed to be disabled during Fade toggle-off until the fade completes, but remained enabled if the Generator control dialog was open.

Bug Fix: FadeOn macro did not work with FadeOn=1 or FadeOn=0, only FadeOn=x to toggle current state.

Daqarta v11.5.0 - 20 October 2020

Daqarta no longer starts at its maximum screen size; to set a larger size, go to the Start Preferences dialog. The main Daqarta window size is proportional to the main font size, and dialog size is proportional to the dialog font size.

New Music_from_Anything macro mini-app creates music from a wide variety of sources, including nothing at all. A huge assortment of adjustable parameters gives you creative control.

New Generator On/Off Fade controls under the Attenuator Options Dialog allow smooth fade-up and fade-down on Generator toggles. Fade macros allow fades while running.

Calibration (.CAL and .FRD) Files topic now includes step-by-step instructions for the inexpensive Dayton Audio iMM-6 calibrated measurement microphone (under $20 US) that needs no phantom power supply.

New Pixel Operations use the Pix command in Spectrogram mode to read or set individual screen pixel colors, for smooth line drawing with the mouse, and for reading image bitmaps from the Windows Clipboard. Used in the _Music_Mouse and _Music_Clipboard subroutines of the Music_from_Anything macro mini-app.

Macro Array File Operations now support the use of Buf0#W=64 before loading a DAT file. This is typically used to pack a buffer with text at 8 characters per index position, in the format used for Buf0-7 String Storage.

Macro String Arrays Str0-Str7 now allow linking to a macro array buffer Buf0-Buf7 via StrN#B=n, where N is 0-7 to specify the string array and n is 0-7 to specify the buffer to be linked, which is typically packed with up to 8192 text characters loaded from a file (see above). String operations allow easy manipulation of text, including string searches. This linked text is read only; you can't write to the StrN string array until it is released via StrN#B=-1.

Macro String Arrays, including an array linked to Buf0-Buf7 as above, can now be searched for a substring via Str0[UN]#F="FindString", with subsequent search status returned in UF=Str0?F and pointer to next character in UP=Str0?P.

Macro String Arrays now allow individual numerical text values such as "1.234" or "h12AB" to be read via X=Str0?V and related operations. These are designed to work together with the above string search to efficiently read data from text files that use standard separators like spaces, commas, tabs, or carriage returns.

Posn?m in Mouse and Miscellaneous Position Macros allows reading the left mouse button state (1=down, 0=up). Only works for main Daqarta window below the toolbar.

Uppercase and Lowercase options for String Arrays may now be used in IF statements to compare two strings while ignoring case, by forcing both to be read as upper or lower. Examples: IF.Str0?U[UA,UB]="TEST STRING" and IF.Str0?U[UA,UB]=Str1?U[UC].

Shortcut Buf0= (with nothing on the right side) fills macro array buffer Buf0 with zeros, equivalent to Buf0="<=(0)".

MIDI Buffer Copy now supports copying between MIDI Buffers and main macro buffers Buf0-Buf7, or macro string arrays Str0-Str7.

Similarly, MIDI Direct Array Access now allows reading from and writing to main macro buffers Buf0-Buf7, and macro string arrays Str0-Str7.

The MIDI Voice Pattern Copy / Paste button now allows SHIFT+click to remove all three patterns, convenient if you want to start over with manual entry.

MIDI Output Display and Field commands now support display of seconds values as H:M:S time via a 't' format character, as in F2t=UT to display UT seconds in Field2.

The Percussion Setup Dialog now has Percussion Hold controls for each voice, enabling percussion beat rates slower than the main Tempo BPM / msec setting.

The Percussion Velocity Pattern control now supports special characters K through Z to enable drum rolls. Also, the MIDI Buffer Velocity and Chord Maps topic discusses how to use MIDI script commands to apply rolls with greater ranges of rates and loudness, as employed by the Music_from_Anything macro mini-app.

New Loading Multiple Text Files To One Buffer subtopic added to Macro Array File Operations Help topic.

Buf0?B now returns the total bytes in a file that has been opened for reading by macro array file operations. (Previously it only worked for saving or appending.)

Frequency Counter, Voltmeter, and Sound Level Meter, along with Custom Meters, Custom Macro Messages, and the MIDI Changes Script Output Display all allow clicking in the central region of the display to copy the text to the Windows Clipboard. Now, if you hold down the SHIFT key when clicking, the meter or message title will be copied as well, and appear just above the text when subsequently pasted.

New SmplRate#M=24000 sets the Sample Rate to 24000, but only for Pitch-to-MIDI operation. This forces eXpand Min an octave lower to allow display of lower MIDI notes. The prior sample rate is automatically restored when Pitch-to-MIDI is toggled off. Used by Music_from_Anything macro mini-app in its _Music_Proc subroutine.

New bswp() and bswp2() byte swap function reverse the order of bytes in an integer to simplify conversions between "big-endian" and "little-endian" binary storage conventions. For example, JPG image headers store section sizes in 16-bit big-endian values, which need conversion to the little-endian format used by Windows processors.

The MIDI random generator now includes a usage counter that records the number of "hits", for use in measuring overall repeat cycles when using short-sequence pseudo-random generators. (The default true-random values don't repeat, while the default full-sequence pseudo-random cycle is 2^32 hits.)

New X0=20 MIDI Changes Script command toggles Pitch-to-MIDI off while retaining an exit message the script has written.

New AllScales List of Musical Scales and GlossyScales List of Selected Musical Scales topics added to Help Appendix, showing complete lists of Scales used in MIDI music such as GlossyTracks.DQM script and Music_from_Anything macro mini-app.

Likewise, GlossyInst List of Selected Musical Instruments shows those instruments selected from the full General MIDI Instrument Sounds list for use in GlossyTracks.DQM and Music_from_Anything.

DaqMusiq macro mini-app now sets PitchShow=3 (show voices) instead of PitchShow=2 (show instruments).

GlossyTracks MIDI setup now shows the track title above the main Daqarta window.

Macro Arrays Buf0-Buf7, BufV now includes Command Summary subtopics under Math Operations, Spectrum (FFT) Operations, Frequency Counting, and Edge/Event/Trigger Detection.

BMP Image to WAV Sound and Spectrogram Image macro mini-app Help topic now includes a step-by-step discussion for using IrfanView to prepare images. For this application, Irfanview is just as powerful as GIMP but much easier to use. (Both are far better than Windows Paint.)

Bug Fix: If the font size was increased beyond the default in Edit - Start Preferences, the Volume Slider, the dB Slider, and the Multi-Channel Volume Sliders dialogs were cropped to the original frame size.

Bug Fix: Macro IF statments using AND., OR., or XOR. lines failed to work properly with nested IFs... the inner test always passed.

Bug Fix: The oMx Custom Message option of the MIDI Changes Script Output Display produced an error on most strings (any not terminated by null). Also, some strings included old garbage unless ";" was appended.

Bug Fix: The above oMx Custom Message option also prevented subsequent manual entry of some normal Daqarta controls.

Bug Fix: Macro String Array command Str0#A=Buf0[UB](aE) to copy a block of 2048 characters from mMacro Array Buffer Buf0 failed if UB was too high to allow all 2048 bytes to be copied. Now copies whatever is there, and pads the rest of Str0 with nulls.

Bug Fix: MIDI "IF not equal" test following an immediate index, as in [Bs0.123!="0", was causing "Bad number entry" error unless index was delineated as in [Bs0.<123>!="0".

Bug Fix: Mouse position macro Posn?x did not return proper dialog units, instead returned same screen units as Posn?X.

Bug Fix: Under certain conditions the Spectrogram color bar was not getting redrawn after a dialog had moved over it.

Bug Fix: Spectrum and/or Spectrogram vertical Ylog range jumped to minimum after certain macro IF tests using quoted immediates, such as IF.UX="A".

Bug Fix: Wave Block Size now limited to 4 KB minimum to prevent "Invalid Device Handle" error.