Brief introduction to Super Commands (FTC)

frantic's own introduction to defmon's "less known" batch-editing mode: Super Commands multiply any ordinary edit keystroke over many steps, many repetitions, every Nth line, or all sequences at once — defMON's replacement for block operations and track-transpose functions.

Key claims#

• Worked example — transpose a whole sequence 7 semitones up:
  1. CTRL+G twice → cursor to the very first step of the sequence.
  2. CTRL+S 20 → set STEPS to $20 ("the number of steps in a sequence"); every edit keystroke now applies to $20 steps forward, including the cursor step.
  3. CTRL+R 7 → set REPEAT to 7: each edit keystroke is applied 7 times per step instead of once.
  4. Press . (dot — normally "transpose the current step one step upwards"): the whole sequence jumps up 7 steps.
• The mode stays armed for every subsequent keystroke — "If you continue pressing other keys you will notice that you are messing up your tune… You clearly want to escape this mode quickly." Exit with CTRL+ENTER; "This will clear the color in the border, to indicate that you're no longer in Super Command mode." (The coloured border is the on-screen indicator that Super Command mode is active.)
• WIDTH parameter: "sets the number of steps between each STEP. So, to edit every second line of a sequence, press 'CTRL+S 10 CTRL+W 2'."
• ZONE ALL: CTRL+Z A applies edits to ALL sequences at once. Clearing an entire tune: "press 'CTRL+Z A CTRL+S 20'", go to the first line of any sequence, and C=+SHIFT+SPACE — "This will apply the 'clear line operation' for 20 steps in all sequences, which equals clearing the tune. Don't forget to press CTRL+ENTER to get out of this potentially very destructive Super Command setup."
• Closing judgement: "You probably won't use Super Commands very often, but sometimes they come in handy."

Practical takeaways#

• The grammar is: CTRL+S steps, CTRL+R repeats, CTRL+W width, CTRL+Z A zone all, then any normal edit key, then CTRL+ENTER to disarm. All values hex; a sequence is $20 steps by default.
• Sequence transpose = STEPS $20 + REPEAT n + one press of . (or >/< per s-defmon-wiki-defmoning-102); REPEAT $C gives octave jumps in one keystroke.
• WIDTH 2 targets every second row — the way to batch-edit off-beats or backbeats only.
• Watch the border colour: armed Super Commands plus one stray SPACE can erase every note in the song.

Notable quotes#

• "You probably won't use Super Commands very often, but sometimes they come in handy." (FTC)

Relevance to the wiki#

Fills the "block operations" gap in the defmon page's cheat sheet: defMON has no copy/paste blocks, but STEPS/REPEAT/WIDTH/ZONE composes the same results out of ordinary keystrokes. Complements the Super Command key labels (S:STEPS, S:RPEAT, S:WIDTH, S:ZONE, S:CLEAR) on the key map in s-defmon-wiki-manual.

Pages touched#

defmon, frantic, tracker