Changes Script Output Display

Changes: oL=n, ol=n, oR=n, or=n

The Output Display commands allow you to see the values of Changes script variables or expressions as the script runs. This can be helpful during development of a script, to understand how different values affect the performance.

There are separate Left and Right Output Displays at the bottom of the Pitch-to-MIDI dialog dialog, which are hidden until invoked by an Output Display command. There are upper and lower displays for each side, designated with upper-case 'L' and 'R' for the upper displays, and lower-case 'l' and 'r' for the lower.

oL=n sends the value of n to the upper Left display, and oR=n sends it to the upper Right. Similarly, ol=n and or=n send the value to the lower left and right displays, respectively. The examples below use the upper Left display, but the others use the same format.

n may be any variable or expression, including current MIDI control values, oscillators, random values, User variables, Buffer note values, and computer keyboard key states or mouse position.

If, instead of a numerical value for n you use the character s, the display will show the value of the current pseudo-random seed. If true random mode is active instead (the default), the displayed value will be 0.

Alternatively, you may use a quoted string in place of a numerical value, as in oL="1st Movement". The quotes are mandatory, but are not shown in the display. The display window holds about 22 characters; strings longer than the display can hold are cut off at the right end. However, the characters are still present and can be highlighted and copied.

You can show a quoted string followed by a variable by appending it with a '+' sign, as in oL="Octave "+UO. Note that this will only display integer values; if you use a fixed-point real variable like Ua it will be rounded to an integer for display. You can not use any formatting options like hexadecimal or fixed-point as discussed below.

However, you can use oLO="Octave "+UO to show "Octave ON" if the variable is above 0, or else or "Octave OFF" if not.

You can highlight the Output Display text or value and use CTRL+C to copy it to the Windows clipboard. You can then use CTRL+V to paste it into a separate text editor like Windows Notepad, or the Daqarta Notes Editor, or into a Changes script.

For example, you may have a script that uses random values to set some parameter. If you monitor the parameter value during a performance, you may discover certain values that are particularly useful. You may want to modify the script to use such a value as a constant in place of a random value.

For instance, if you are setting Note Range Max to a random value between 50 and 100 for Voice 2, you could use:

rM2=?(50,100)
oL=rM2

The above example is for an integer parameter. However, if you are setting an oscillator or observing its output, you may wish to use lower-case User variables which support fixed-point fractions. To see the full value including the decimal part, use oLf=n.

Similarly, for some integer values such as the seed for the pseudo-random generator mode, you may prefer to have the display show hexadecimal format via oLh=n.

You can interpret integers as Instrument Numbers and tell the display to show the corresponding name with oLi=n. If the integer is outside the normal 0-127 General MIDI Instrument range, the display will show "Unknown".

Similarly, you can show the integer as a Percussion Instrument Number via oLp=n. If the integer is outside the 27-87 range of General MIDI Percussion instruments, the display will show "Unknown".

oLn=n shows the integer n as a note name. For example, 60 will be shown as 'C4'. Negative values are shown as "Unknown", while positive values greater than 127 are shown as "Off".

oLs=n shows the integer n as a Scale pattern string, which uses the same CdDeEFgGaAbB format as in the Musical Scales List except that missing notes are shown as '^' instead of spaces for clarity. For example, if Voice 1 uses a Pentatonic Major scale, then oLs=S1 would display C^D^E^^G^A^^.

Alternatively, if you use oLS=S1 the display would show Pentatonic Major. If the given value is not in the Musical Scales List and is not one of the Custom Scales, the display uses the above pattern string format.

The Output Displays are re-hidden when the performance is ended by toggling Pitch-to-MIDI On/Off to Off. Since the displays may be changing during the performance, you can use Pause to momentarily halt things while you examine or copy the display values.

See also Changes Script Overview, Changes Script Editor, MIDI Voice Setup Dialogs, Pitch-to-MIDI dialog, Pitch Track Toolbox - Overview