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DigiDesign Sounddesigner for Emulator II User Guide

1. Frequency Analysis and Resynthesis The Fast Fourier Transform The Fast Fourier Transform FFT is a powerful digital signal processing algorithm that is very useful for analysing and resynthesizing sound files Sound Designer uses the FFT to divide sound files into many typically 256 seperate frequency bands A snapshot called a time slice is taken of the amplitude of each frequency band every few milliseconds The result is an accurate representation of the sound s frequency content as well as changes in frequency content as time passes This is the basic information required for frequency analysis and resynthesis Frequency Analysis Sound Designer s frequency analysis tool plots the FFT time slices in sequence on the Macintosh screen creating a three dimensional representation of the sound s frequency content as it changes through time To plot the frequency analysis of the active window sound file select Frequency Analysis from the Tools menu Turn the scale marks off in the waveform display window before performing the frequency analysis Redrawing the Waveform To redraw the original two dimensional waveform select Draw Waveform from the pull down Display menu Frequency Axis The frequency axis is the horizontal axis that extends along the front of the frequency analysis display The frequency axis is calibrated in kilohertz 1 000 Hz with low frequencies displayed on the left increasing to
2. If the Macintosh is not able to communicate with the Emulator ll for any reason i e interface cable not connected Macintosh interface software not installed in the Emulator Il etc a Can t Communicate alert box will appear If this happens check the interface cable connections and Emulator Il software see the introduction Getting Started E2 gt Mac File Transfer Dialog Box The E2 gt Mac File Transfer dialog box appears after E2 gt Mac is selected from the File menu Use this dialog box to select the Emulator ll voice to transfer to the Macintosh The up and down arrows located to the left of E2 Voice can be used to scroll through available Emulator ll voices The length of the selected voice in samples will appear below the voice name Once you have selected the voice you want to transfer to the Macintosh click on OK in the dialog box Naming The New Sound File Another dialog box will appear for naming the new sound file The name assigned to the Emulator Il voice will appear highlighted in the dialog box as the default name To give the Macintosh sound file a different name simply type the new name when the dialog box appears the old name will be automatically erased Selecting The Storage Drive On the right side of the dialog box are two buttons and the name of the currently selected disk drive The sound file will be saved on the currently selected disk drive unless you select anot
3. type sounds At high frequencies these sounds resemble guitar or mandolin sounds At lower frequencies Karplus Strong can synthesize sounds that resemble huge plucked strings one type of sound has been characterized as a plucked Golden Gate Bridge cable To activate the Karplus Strong synthesis program select Karplus Strong from the digital synthesis algorithm list and click once on the open button A dialog box will appear with the following parameters Frequency Enter the desired frequency of the synthesized sound file in this box Frequencies from 20Hz to 100Hz produce good bridge cables and frequencies from 150Hz to 1 000Hz produce sounds ranging from plucked bass guitar to clavinet type sounds Higher frequencies will produce mandolin like sounds File Size Enter the desired File Size sound length in samples of the synthesized sound file in this box Remember 27 777 samples will equal one second of sound when played back at the correct pitch Pluck Position The Pluck Position parameter simulates the effect of plucking the string at different locations along the string s length Imagine a guitar string as the string is plucked closer to the bridge the tone changes Pluck position values can range from 0 to 100 50 represents the middle of the string 0 and 100 are the string s endpoints Harmonics The Harmonics parameter simulates lightly muting the string at different locatio
4. undoing the last edit even if a back up file is not created Preview The preview function transfers the sound file in the active window to the Emulator Il for playback This function is particularly useful for quickly listening to any edits or modifications made to a sound file you are working on If an area of the sound file is selected reverse highlighted only that section of the sound file will be transferred to the Emulator Il When a sound file is transferred using the Preview function it is assigned to a two octave range at the bottom of the Emulator Il keyboard from Cl to C3 with the original pitch at C2 The Preview function transfers sound files very quickly because it only transfers sound file data stored in the Macintosh s memory no data is read from the disk If the sound file is too long to be stored in memory or if several sound file windows are open Preview may not be able to transfer the entire sound file to the Emulator If this is the case use the normal file transfer procedure to listen to the entire sound file on the Emulator When using the preview function you may want to load a preset into the Emulators memory with all analog parameters i e VCA VCF LFO etc set to nominal settings the filter should be completely open highest cutoff frequency the VCA ADSR parameters should be Attack 01 Decay 31 Sustain 32 Release 31 and no LFO functions should be assigned This wi
5. 1 sample 2 2 To accurately reproduce audible high frequencies remember we removed the super sonic frequencies the computer must measure the waveform at least twice during each period If it cannot measure each period at least twice it cannot figure out the shape and frequency of the waveform In fact without two samples the computer might get so confused that it thinks the waveform is a completely different frequency This is a disasterous effect known as aliasing Another problem to avoid when working with digital sounds is clipping You are probably familiar with the analog clipping distortion that occurs when the guitarist turns his amp up loud Analog clipping can sound good under certain circumstances Although analog clipping is usually undesireable in audio systems small amounts of analog clipping typically do not sound terrible On the other hand digital distortion sounds truly awful as you will certainly discover when you try to sample a sound with the Emulator Il s gain setting too high Digital clipping is sometimes refered to as hard clipping when the signal exceeds the maximum level the A D converter continues to produce the same number the highest possible sample value Avoid excessive clipping when sampling sounds clipping can cause problems when working with the sound file and it sounds bad SECTION 2 However sampling a sound with the Emulator ll s gain set too low will result in a
6. Guitar A2 Name Amount Amount O Puise Noise O Chaboar Figure 7 1 Karplus Strong Dialog Box 7 3 Emulator Il Front Panel If you have not already done so set up your Macintosh and Emulator Il and connect them with the Sound Designer interface cable see the introduction Getting Started Be sure that you have installed Macintosh interface software on your Emulator disks install Macintosh interface software in the Emulator Il Switch the Emulator We power off and insert an Emulator Il boot disk the disk must have version 2 2 software into the primary Emulator Il disk drive Turn the Emulator Il on The software required to interface to Sound Designer will be automatically loaded into the Emulator Il when it is booted from this disk Start up Sound Designer Insert the Sound Designer master disk this disk should be used as the startup disk into the Macintosh and double click on the Sound Designer program icon Enter Emulator Il front panel mode Sound Designer automatically displays the waveform display screen when started Switch to Emulator II front panel mode by selecting E2 front panel from the pull down mode menu Macintosh Mode Sound Designer will automatically switch the Emulator Il to Macintosh Mode when transferring sound files or programming Emulator Il front panel functions The Emulator Il LCD display will read Under Control of Macintosh when it is in
7. MIDI Keyboard Figure 3 4 MIDI Keyboard 3 9 3 10 SECTION 3 Storing Emulator Banks on Macintosh Disks If you have a hard disk or double sided floppy disk drive you can save entire Emulator banks to Macintosh disks These banks can then be transferred back to the Emulator using Sound Designer To save an Emulator bank to a Macintosh disk select Get Bank From E2 from the Extras menu Sound Designer must be in E2 Front Panel mode The bank that is currently loaded in the Emulators memory will be transferred to the Macintosh and saved as a disk file To transfer an Emulator bank from the Macintosh to the Emulator select Send Bank to E2 from the Extras menu Sound Designer must be in E2 Front Panel mode A dialog box will appear with a list of available Emulator bank files Select the bank you want to transfer to the Emulator and click once on the OK button The selected bank will be transferred to the Emulator s memory replacing any sample and preset data already stored in the Emulator s memory The bank will not be saved to the Emulator s disk Waveform Editing The MacWrite program supplied with your Macintosh is a word processor it allows you to edit and reformat text words to create a finished document Similarly Sound Designer is a sound processor the sound equivalent of MacWrite Sound Designer uses many of the same editing techniques such as cut copy and paste used in MacWrite an
8. Macintosh Mode All SECTION 8 Emulator Il controls are de activated and the keyboard will not produce sound when in Macintosh Mode all functions are completely controlled by Sound Designer To exit Macintosh Mode select Exit Mac Mode from the Extras menu bar A Mode icon is also provided in each Emulator II programming screen for exiting Macintosh Mode Display voice selection menu Select current voices from the pull down extras menu A dialog box will appear with a list of available voices on the left and a current voices list on the right Available Voice List The available voice list displays all voices that are stored in the Emulator II s sound memory bank Current Voice List The current voice list displays the voice s that will be affected by any changes made using the Emulator II front panel modules At leastone current voice must be selected to use the Emulator Il front panel programming screens Adding and Removing Voices To add voices to the current voice list click once on the available voice it should become highlighted and click once on copy To remove voices from the current voice list click once on the voice to be removed then click once on remove All voices can be removed from the current voice list by clicking once on clear 8 1 8 2 SECTION 8 Voice Selection Each modules programming screen has a Voice Selection box that runs along the top of the screen immediat
9. a vertical splice point line A pair of buttons are provided at the top of the window for selecting the Sustain or Release loop Because the Emulator Il does not offer release loops be sure the Sustain loop is selected A small icon in the upper right corner of the loop window indicates the loop type single arrow forward loop double arrow forward backwards loop Ds Loop of Vibe G2 Loop Sustain Ofelpase Endpoints Not Aligned E Em Loop of Vibe G2 Loop Loop Sustain ORelease Loop Sustain ORelease O Re ua ase a 640 65 msecmsec 20_BScale ale Slope Not Consistent The waveform before the loop end is displayed in the left half of the window and the waveform after the loop start is displayed in the right half of the window Time and amplitude readouts at the splice point are provided below each waveform When the loop is properly placed the waveform displayed in the overall loop window should look continuous The waveform endpoints should line up at the splice point and the slope of the waveform should be consistent it should not change at the splice point A pair of scrolling arrows are provided beneath each waveform section for fine tuning the splice point Use these arrows to scroll the waveform and match the loop endpoints Set the loop start point first then use the loop end point scrolling arrow to match the slope and amplitude of the loop end and loop s
10. active window The scaling indicators represent in minaturized form the time and amplitude axis of the active waveform display window The greyed out rectangle indicates the relative amount of the waveform s amplitude range that is displayed as well as the location of the display in the waveform Zoom Box 1 The zoom box is used to zoom in on a selected area of a waveform Operation of the zoom box is similar to the selection box in MacPaint Click once on the zoom box icon the small dash box located in the control panel Move the mouse cursor over the active waveform display window the cursor will become a crosshair Position the cursor near a section of the waveform you wish to zoom in on Drag the zoom box to enclose the area to zoom in on and release the mouse button The area of the display inside the box will be enlarged to fill the entire waveform display window Click twice on the zoom box icon to restore normal scaling to the display Practice using the scale box and zoom box to magnify and examine the talk talk waveform Scroll Bars When the Talk Talk waveform first appreared on the screen the scaling was adjusted to display the entire waveform in a single window However if you use the zoom box or adjust the scaling to magnify the waveform the window will display only part of the overall waveform If this is the case you can use the scroll bars to scroll through the wavef
11. and click on Open You will return to the Karplus Strong dialog box Notice that the name of the sound file you have selected is displayed below the Soundfile button and the length of the sound file has been entered in the File Size box To change the length of the string s decay i e to decay longer than the sound file for a smooth fade out enter the desired length in the File Size box SECTION 7 An Amountparameter will appear to the right of the Resonator On Off buttons Amount controls the amount of the sound file data that drives the resonating string The higher the Amount value the more the resulting sound file will retain the charactor of the original sound file Lower Amount values will produce more plucked string sound Resonating sound files through very low frequency strings i e 10 50 Hz will produce reverb like effects Higher frequencies will produce vocoder like effects If the Resonator is OFF and a sound file is selected as the Input Sound the first period of the sound file data will be used to pluck the string When all parameters have been entered click on Continue to synthesize the new sound file Sound Designer will assign the default name Res orig name to resonated sound files AT Karplus Strong Plucked String Algorithm Frequency Hz File size samples Pluck Position 0 1 00 Harmonics 0 100 Resonator O off Je Un Input Sound O Random Nese Soundfile
12. and various VCF and VCA parameters can be adjusted using the rectangular graphs located in the middle of the Voice Definition programming screen These graphs provide sloping lines that represent the change in each parameter as keyboard velocity increases from slow left to fast right The response of each parameter to key velocity can be changed by dragging up or down the grab box that is attached to the end of the sloping line Range The range of each parameter is listed next to its graph VCF and VCA attack times are displayed in seconds milliseconds VCA level is displayed in decibels VCF cutoff frequency is displayed in Hertz and VCF Q is displayed in the Emulator numerical value Sound Loop Length The Sound Length Loop Length and Loop Start values in number of samples are listed in the upper left corner of the screen Loop Controls The loop controls are buttons that set various Emulator ll loop parameters refer to the Emulator Il manual for more information about each parameter Control Enables The control enables buttons switch the Emulator lls various controls off and on See the Emulator Il manual for a complete description of each control Voice Attenuation Tuning Scroll bar type controls are provided in the upper right corner of the screen for adjusting voice attenuation and voice tuning A scroll bar type control is also provided to adjust the LFO Pitch amount File Voice D
13. are labeled on the left end of the bars The ranges of each voice are separated by thin lines the voice names do not appear in the display Output channels above areas of the keyboard that do not have voices assigned will appear greyed out Assigning Output Channels To assign output channels click on the desired output channel bar above the voice you wish to assign To select more than one output channel drag the mouse vertically through the channel bars to select the desired channels If a voice is assigned to more than one output channel the assigned output channels must be adjacent channels For example a voice can be assigned to channels 2 3 4 and 5 but not to channels 2 4 6 and 8 Secondary Outputs Secondary outputs can be displayed and assigned by pushing the Secondary Outputs button SECTION 8 File dif Display Calibrate Tools Made Extras IE 0101 piano 1 Select Preset etup mm HA O Select Single Voice View of Keyboard Parameters O Primary Voices O Positional Crossfades nai 2 7 O Secondary Uoices O Velocity Crossfades Primary Outputs Uelocity Switches Secondary Outputs 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Figure 8 8 Keyboard Setup Primary Outputs 8 17 8 18 SECTION 8 Crossfades Switches All positional fades velocity crossfades and velocity switches assigned to the selected preset are displayed when either the Positional Crossfades Velocity Crossfades or Velo
14. can be removed from the loop marker stack have a small letter S inside These are the sustain loop markers Use these markers to set Emulator Il loops Release Loop Markers D The next two markers have a small H inside These are release loop markers The Emulator Il does not use release loops it will ignore these markers The release loop markers are provided so that sound files created on different versions of Sound Designer will be compatible Separate symbols are used to represent the start and end of loops Loop Start markers point to the right SECTION 4 Loop End markers are the mirror image of the loop start marker the tip points to the left If no loop markers have been set the sustain loop start marker is shown in the control panel When the loop start marker has been set the sustain loop end marker is shown in the control panel Sound Designer assumes that you will usually set the loop stat first If all loop markers have been set including release loop markers a greyed out loop marker appears in the control panel Locating Loop Points Sustain loop markers can be quickly located by typing command lt to locate the loop start or command gt to locate the loop end Be sure to hold down the command keys while typing the lt or gt keys Use option command or gt to locate release loop markers Looping Technique The following guidelines will help you create successful loops i
15. created containing the merged sound file it will not be displayed in a window SECTION 5 Ey Merge From G Piano G3 Marker Number o O Ten Sax G3 Marker Name Attack To QG Piano G3 Marker Number 2 Ten Sax G3 Marker Name Decay Start Merge length 0 24 samples or 0 24 seconds Ca cel Continue 1 Figure 5 3 MERGE Dialog Box SECTION 5 mme GAIN CHANGE The Gain Change module provides gain change gain normalize and peak value functions Select Sound File Sound files that occupy open windows are listed beneath Select Sound File Click on the button next to the name of the desired sound file The Gain Change programs will affect only the selected sound file Change The Change function can be used to increase or decrease the gain amplitude of a sound file by a percentage or decibel db value The decibel values given are dbV they represent output voltage ratios not power ratios Decreasing a sound e amplitude by 6 db will reduce the output voltage 50 halve it Increasing a sound s amplitude by 6 db will increase the output voltage 200 double it Percentage values can be entered instead of db Entering 50 will reduce the amplitude 6 db halve it Entering 200 will increase the amplitude 6 db double it When the desired gain change has been entered db or click on OK to change the selected sound file s gain Clipping If you increase the gain of
16. msec which is equal to Figure 1 1 1kHz Sine Wave one thousandth of a second We can see that the waveform completes a pattern in exactly one millisecond Thus the frequency of this waveform is 1cycle pattern per millisecond or 1 000 cycles per second Hz Each cycle of the waveform is called a period In addition to a fundamental frequency or pitch virtually all sounds also contain a number of additional frequencies known as harmonics Harmonics are also called partials Overtones are harmonics with frequencies higher than the fundamental frequency The harmonics of pitched sounds have frequencies that are based on multiples of the a SECTION 1 fundamental frequency For example A Except for the fundamental harmonics above middle C played on a piano will are not heard as distinct pitches they produce a fundamental frequency of determine the timbre or tonal quality 440 Hz and harmonics at 880 Hz of the sound 2x440 1320 Hz 3x440 etc 440 Hz is considered the first harmonic If we add a second sine wave with a 880 Hz the second harmonic this frequency of 2 000 Hz to the waveform pattern continues for all harmonics in our first example an entirely new present in the sound s harmonic waveform shape is created series 1 K 2K sine Figure 1 2 1kHz 2kHz Sine Waves As we continue to add harmonics the waveform shape becomes increasingly complex Most natural sounds consist of very complex
17. placed Marker Information Double clicking on a placed marker will produce a dialog box containing information about the marker A name or brief description may be assigned to the marker in the text box labelled marker name Exact time and amplitude information for the marker position are also displayed in the dialog box A relative time reading indicates the time difference positive or negative of the marker s position from the reference marker Reference marker Any marker may be designated as the reference marker To designate the reference marker enter 0 as the marker s relative time position Loop Markers B D G Loop markers are used to mark the beginning and end loop points in a sound file When a sound file is transferred from the Macintosh to the Emulator Il loop points set using Sound Designer loop markers will be transferred to the Emulator Il s looping program To set loop markers click on the loop marker icon located in the control panel and drag the marker into position along the time axis of the waveform display window Loop markers can be removed by dragging them back to their control panel icon Scale Marks must be ON to place loop markers A solid cursor line with time and amplitude readouts below the control panel is displayed as the loop markers are placed A dotted line is displayed at the loop points after they have been placed Sustain Loop Markers B The first two markers that
18. selected two new buttons will appear below the Assign and Delete buttons Select Prim on Top if you want the primary voice to be full amplitude at the top of the crossfade range Select Sec on Top if you want the secondary voice to be full amplitude at the top of the crossfade range If Velocity Crossfade is selected two new buttons will appear below the Assign and Delete buttons Select Prim on Hard if you want the primary voice to be full amplitude when the keys are struck with the hardest velocity Select Sec on Hard if you want the secondary voice to be full amplitude when keys are struck with the hardest velocity If Velocity Switch is selected two new buttons will appear below the Assign and Delete buttons Select Prim on Hard if you want the primary voice to play when the keys are struck with greater velocity Select Sec on Hard if you want the secondaryvoice to play when keys are struck with greater velocity When the primary secondary voice parameters are set click once on the Assign button to assign the crossfade or switch Click once on the Delete button to remove all crossfades from the selected voice pair SECTION 8 File difDisplau Calibrate Tools Made Extras Keyboard B gep J Select Preset Setup 2 Select Single Voice View of Keyboard Parameters O Primary Voices O Positional Crossfades O Secondary UoiVoicesces Velocity Crossfades O Primary Outputs Velocity Switches S
19. short sequences To display the MIDI Keyboard select MIDI Keyboard from the pull down Tools menu A window will appear displaying a 5 octave keyboard and 3 buttons Click the cursor on the keyboard to manually play the Emulator Il MIDI information is transferred to the Emulator via the interface cable to play the notes you click on The Record button allows you to record a short MIDI sequence about 50 notes To record a sequence click on the Record button and play the Emulator Il keyboard or Sound Designer s on screen keyboard Click anywhere in the MIDI Keyboard window to stop recording The Play button will play back the last recorded sequence The last sequence will be saved when you quit the Sound Designer program Sequences recorded by playing the on screen keyboard will be played back in step time each note has the same duration The Pattern button plays a slow glissando up the entire keyboard allowing you to hear all sounds currently assigned to the keyboard The MIDI Keyboard transmits and receives MIDI information on channel 1 only SECTION 3 Information About Vibe G2 File Size 18751 samples Data Format 16 bit Linear Sample Bate 27777 Hz Created Monday August 25 1986 at 9 30 PM Modified Monday August 25 1986 at 9 30 PM Comments Bright vibe sample played with rubber mallet __ EQ 10dB at 2 kHz Figure 3 3 Sound File Information Get Info Dialog Box
20. should get a Macintosh hard disk drive A hard disk can store up to 20 million bytes the contents of 50 Macintosh floppy disks or more Sound Designer will run fastest when used with an internal hard disk such as the Hyperdrive External hard disks that connect to the Mac s serial ports run slower than internal hard disks but are usually less expensive Apple Computers Hard Disk 20 is an excellent 20 megabyte external hard disk that connects to the Mac s disk drive port allowing it to transfer data faster than other external hard disks 3 1 3 2 SECTION 3 If you have not already done so set up your Macintosh and Emulator Il and connect them with the Sound Designer interface cable see the introduction Getting Started Be sure that you have installed Macintosh interface software on your Emulator ll disks Load Macintosh Interface software into the Emulator Il Switch the Emulator II s power off and insert a Emulator Il boot disk the disk must have Version 2 1 software into the primary Emulator Il disk drive Turn the Emulator Il on The software required to interface to Sound Designer will be automatically loaded into the Emulator Il when it is booted from this disk Start up Sound Designer Insert the Sound Designer master disk this disk should be used as the startup disk into the Macintosh and double click on the Sound Designer program icon Sound Designer automatically displays the waveform display scr
21. time axis of the waveform display window Remember the scale marks must be ON to use markers As you drag the marker into position a cursor appears at the tip of the marker to indicate the exact location of the marker for accurate placement Precise time and amplitude readings are provided in two rectangular boxes located directly above the screen cursor time and amplitude readings 10 markers numbered from 0 to 9 are available for each waveform display window These markers act independently of markers placed in other waveform windows changing marker 5 in one window will not affect marker 5 in another window All marker information is saved with the sound file when the file is closed Markers are automatically numbered when placed in the sound file The control panel marker icon displays the number of the next available marker If markers 0 1and 2 have already been placed the marker icon will display a 3 Markers can be removed from the sound file by dragging them from the waveform display window back to the control panel marker icon The marker returns to the marker stack and the marker icon will display the marker s number if it is the lowest available marker For example if markers 0 1 and 2 have been placed and marker 1 is dragged back to the marker stack the marker icon will display the number 1 The next available marker top of the stack is always the lowest numbered marker that is not currently
22. waveforms with many harmonics 1 3 14 SECTION 1 Phase Relative time locations within a single wave period are expressed in degrees of phase with 360 degrees per period much like a circle The halfway point in a wave is 180 degrees Degrees of phase are not an absolute measure of time like a second or minute their length is determined by the frequency or length of the period 1 degree of phase is 1 360th of a single period Sine wave uterina Limana lui Figure 1 3 Waveform Phase Identical periodic waveforms with periods that start at different times are out of phase unless the time difference offsets the waveforms exactly period If identical waveforms are exactly 180 degrees 1 2 period out of phase they may depending on the nature of the waveform completely cancel each other when combined Phase cancellation occurs whenever waveforms that are not perfectly in phase are combined Phase cancellation other than exactly 180 or 360 degrees typically produces changes in the tonal balance of the combined sound When two or more waveforms are combined their phase relationship plays an important role in determing the resulting waveform On page 2 we combined two sine waves of different frequencies If we combine the same two waves but delay the 2 kHz sine wave slightly the resulting waveform looks nothing like the results obtained without the time delay The delay changes the phas
23. will release the Emulator Il from Mac Mode The Emulator Il cannot be played when it is in Mac Mode you must exit Mac Mode before you can play the Emulator Il Sound Designer will automatically switch the Emulator Il in and out of Mac Mode as neccessary No manual Mac Mode switching is required in normal operation Look Button When pushed the Look button will update the module programming screen with the current voice s parameters When a new current voice is selected the Look button must be pushed to display the voice s parameters Quit Button The Quit button exits the module programming screen and returns to the Emulator Il front panel display Saving Changes Emulator Il voice and preset parameters are stored on Emulator Il performance disks only To save any changes made using Sound Designer s Emulator II front panel programming screens you must save the modified preset to an Emulator Il performance disk SECTION 8 Module Menu The Module menu allows you to switch between front panel programming screens without returning to the master E2 Front Panel menu To change modules select the desired module from the pull down Module Menu Filter SH Cello GI Current Voice List comm RA O Select Single Voice Figure 8 1 Voice Selection Box 8 3 8 4 SECTION Filter Module The Filter module programming screen provides a filter Attack Decay Sustain Release ADSR graph a fi
24. CTION 3 E2 Mac File Transfer Get E2 Voice V04 Hrpscrd C5 i Length 27768 Figure 31 E2 gt Mac File Transfer Dialog Box Mac gt E2 File Transfer Mm File Hrpscrd C4 Send Length 53467 E2 Voice V10 Hrpscrd C4 Length 53595 Figure 3 2 Mac gt E2 File Transfer Dialog Box 3 5 3 6 SECTION 3 Back up Files When a sound file is opened into a sound file window Sound Designer will attempt to create a back up file on the same disk If there is not enough room on the disk to store the back up file a dialog box will appear with the message A back up file cannot be created because the disk is full All changes made to this file will be permanent The back up files are created in case you change a file and accidently save unwanted changes A Save Changes dialog box will appear each time you close a file that has a back up file If a back up file is not created all changes to the sound file will be saved when the file is closed The Save Changes dialog box will not appear this option requires a back up file If the sound file is too long to create a back up file on one disk make a copy of the sound file before you modify it Turning Back up Files ON OFF Sound Designer s automatic back up file feature can be disabled by selecting Back up Files Off from the Calibration menu Select Back Up Files ON to restore automatic creation of back up files The Undo function remains active for
25. DI mode is set to either OMNI or POLY on Emulator Il performance disk Reboot reset both Macintosh and E2 Always turn the E2 on after the Macintosh has booted started If you have any problems you need help with don t hesitate to call us at 415 494 8811 Ask for Sound Designer Customer Service Most problems can be quickly and easily solved over the phone If you discover any bugs in the program nobody s perfect try to write down exactly what you did immediately before the problem appeared Give us a call or write us aletter describing the problem We ll fix it as quickly as possible and send you an updated copy Appendix C COMMAND SUMMARY This section includes a brief description of each command that appears on Sound Designer s menu bar Refer to the manual for a more detailed description of each function open X Save As Get Info 381 Get Info 361 E2 gt Mac Mac gt E2 Quit The NEW command opens displays an empty untitled sound file window A sound file can be opened into the window using the Open command or by creating a sound file using the Synthesis program If three sound file windows are already open the New command will not be able to open an additional window The OPEN command displays a dialog box listing all currently unopened sound files on the Macintosh sound file disk A sound file can be selected by clicking on its name and opened by clicking on the Open button If a n
26. Emulator using the preview function Peak Value The Peak Value function locates the sample with the highest amplitude in a sound file and displays its level as a percentage of full scale PFS This is the maximum peak value in the sound file and is useful for determing the maximum gain increase that can be applied to a sound without clipping SECTION 5 To find and display the peak value in a sound file Select the sound file click on the Peak Value button and click on OK Once you have completed any gain change functions click on Quit to return to Sound Designer s waveform display mode EW Gain Change Module Select Sound File O Voice A3 O Flute A2 Piano G3 Select Function Change s db or a z O Normalize O Peak Value Clipping Total 0 Total Quit samples clipped samples seconds continuously OK Figure 5 4 Gain Change Dialog Box 5 7 5 8 SECTION 5 ss CROSSFADE LOOPING Crossfade looping mixes sound data from the area around the loop end with sound data from the area around the loop start and vice versa to create a click free loop crossfade function similar to the one used in Merge is used to mix the data Crossfade looping does not smooth the amplitude of the looped area It is still important to select a loop area with stable amplitude Place Loop Markers To create a crossfade loop place the sustain S loop start and loo
27. However you may need to be a bit patient when using some of the more complicated algorithms 5 1 SECTION 5 LEV HR Mixer Functions The digital mixer can be activated by clicking once on the control panel mixer icon the blender When activated a dialog box will appear with a list of currently available mixer functions Each mixer function is a DSP algorithm designed to process sound file s in a specific way Some of these functions are based on analog processing types that you may already be familiar with such as mixing equalization and compression In these cases the function parameters have been designed to imitate analog equipment Digital mixer functions operate only on sound files in open waveform display windows Sound files that are not loaded into an open sound file window cannot be accessed by the digital mixer Number of windows Some functions operate on single Select a function Gain Change Figure 5 1 sound files only a single window must be open Other functions such as Mix and Merge operate on multiple sound files and require at least two open windows Required markers Some functions require that markers be placed in the sound file s to indicate processing locations i e beginning and end of merges New sound files Digital mixer functions that combine two or more sounds to create a new sound will also create a new sound file A dialog box will appear for naming the new so
28. Karplus Strong Section 8 Emulator Il Front Panel Voice Selection Filler Module VCA LFO Module Voice Definition Module Preset Definition Module Real Time Control Module Special Module Keyboard Setup Primary Outputs Crossfades Switches Appendix A Hard Disk Installation Appendix B Troubleshooting Help Appendix C Command Summary T N yy N e sch O N mm sch sch CO O BD List of Illustrations Figure Page H 1kHz Sine Wave 1 2 1 2 1kHz 2kHz Sine Waves 1 3 1 3 Waveform Phase 1 4 2 1 Sine Wave before quantizing 2 2 2 2 Quantized Sine Wave 2 2 3 1 E2 gt Mac File Transfer Dialog Box 3 5 3 2 Mac gt E2 File Transfer Dialog Box 3 5 3 3 Sound File Information Get Info 3 9 3 4 MIDI Keyboard 3 9 4 1 Control Panel 4 3 4 2 Scaling Box Adjustment 4 7 4 3 Looping using Overview 4 13 4 4 Looping scaling waveform display 4 13 4 5 Loop Start Placement 4 14 4 6 Loop End Placement 4 14 4 7 Loop Window Examples 4 16 9 1 Mixer Function Dialog Box 5 2 5 2 MIX Dialog Box 5 3 5 3 MERGE Dialog Box 5 5 5 4 GAIN CHANGE Dialog Box 5 7 5 5 CROSSFADE LOOPING Dialog Box 5 9 5 6 Crossfade Pattern Crossfade Looping 5 9 5 7 DIGITAL EQ Dialog Box 5 11 6 1 Frequency Analysis Calibration Menu 6 3 7 1 Karplus Strong Parameter Dialog Box 7 2 8 1 Voice Selection Box 8 3 8 2 Filter Module 8 5 8 3 VCA LFO Module 8 7 8 4 Voice Definitlon Module 8 9 8 5 Preset Definition Module 8 11 8 6 Real Time Control Modul
29. SOUND DESIGNER Computer Music System for the Emulator Il and Macintosh User s Manual Version 112 digidesign Inc 920 Commercial Street Palo Alto CA 94303 Tel 415 494 881 1 1986 Digidesign inc All rights reserved Introduction Section 1 Section 2 Section 3 Section 4 Table of Contents Getting Started Registration System Requirements Emulator Il interface software Master Disk Updates Hard Disk Installation Interface Cable About Sound Sound Waves Phase Envelope About Sampling The Basics Sound Files Diskettes and Disk Drives Starting Sound Designer Transferrlng Sound Files Emulator to Macintosh Transfer Naming Sound Files Macintosh to Emulator Transfer Back up Files Preview Function Play Sound Macintosh Speaker Select Port Sound File Information Get Info MIDI Keyboard Storing E2 Banks on Mac Disks Waveform Editing Waveform Display Control Panel Cut Copy and Paste Smoothing Reverse Scale Box Scaling Zoom Box Scroll Bars Scale Marks Overview Screen Cursor Markers Loop Markers Looping Technique Waveform Drawing Loop Window Page i 1 1 4 1 6 2 1 3 1 3 2 4 10 4 11 4 15 4 16 Section 5 The Digital Mixer Mixer Functions MIX MERGE GAIN CHANGE CROSSFADE LOOPING DIGITAL EQUALIZATION Section 6 Frequency Analysis and Re synthesis Fast Fourier Transform FFT Frequency Analysis Frequency Plot Calibration Section 7 Digital Synthesis
30. The E2 FRONT PANEL command switches Sound D signer to the E2 Front Panel mode if Sound Designer is currently in Waveform Display Waveform Display E 2 Front Panel C 13 Current Voices Exit Mac Mode Extras Exit Mac Mode The EXTRAS menu is present in both Waveform Display and E2 Front Panel modes However the two commands currently listed in the Extras menu are primarily used in the E2 Front Panel mode The CURRENT VOICES command displays a dialog box with a list of available Emulator II voices Use this dialog box to select a current voice list when working with more than one voice in the E2 Front Panel mode See page 8 1 for more information The EXIT MAC MODE command manually releases the Emulator Il from Macintosh control The Emulator Ils LCD Display will read Under Control of Macintosh when the Emulator is in Mac Mode The Emulator s controls and keyboard are inactive when in Mac Mode Sound Designer automatically switches the Emulator Il in and out of Mac Mode as necessary However the Emulator Il may become stuck in Mac Mode due to a data transfer error If this occurs use the Exit Mac Mode command to release the Emulator from Macintosh control See Page 8 1 for more information KEYBOARD COMMANDS Most of Sound Designer s keyboard commands duplicate menu commands Keyboard equivalent commands are listed next to the corresponding command name in the pull down menus The keyb
31. a sound file clipping amplitude too high may occur If clipping occurs the clipping indicators at the bottom of the dialog box will indicate the total number of samples that clipped and the longest string of continuously clipped samples in both samples and seconds If the number of continuously clipped samples is small typically under 100 the clipping may not be audible depending on the type of sound Some sounds have a very transient attack that can be clipped without causing audible distortion to maximize the average level of the sound file Normalize The normalize function increases the amplitude of a sound file until the peak amplitude of its loudest sample reaches 100 of full scale To normalize a sound file select the sound file you wish to normalize click on the normalize button then click on OK It is generally a good idea to normalize the gain of all sound files once they have been transferred from the Emulator to the Macintosh However gain normalizing will not improve the resolution quantizing accuracy of sampled sounds To obtain maximum resolution always sample sounds as hot as possible without clipping When a sound file is transferred to the Emulator using the Mac gt E2 Transfer function the sound file s amplitude is automatically normalized This automatic normalizing maximizes the Emulator s playback signal to noise ratio Sound files are not normalized when transferred to the
32. all rights reserved Under copyright laws this manual may not be duplicated in whole or part without the written consent of Digidesign Inc except in the normal use of the software or to make a back up copy Limited Warranty Except to the extent prohibited by applicable law all implied warranties made by Digidesign Inc in connection with this manual and software are limited in duration to ninety 90 days from the date of original purchase and no warranties whether express or implied shall apply to this product after said period E Inc makes no warranty either express or implied with respect to this software its quality performance merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose As a result this software is sold as is and you the purchaser are assuming the entire risk as to its quality and performance In no event will Digidesign Inc be liable for direct indirect special incidental or consequential damages resulting from any defect in the software or documentation Some states do not allow the exclusion or limitation of implied warranties or liability for eee or consequential damages so the above limitation or exclusion may not apply to you
33. all samples in the selected area to zero amplitude To perform edits on smaller segments of the waveform we must magnify the waveform zoom in To scale the waveform display and zoom in on small waveform segments we must use the 4 6 Scale Box and Zoom Box functions Scale Box The scale box located in the lower left hand corner of the screen is used to scale the waveform display of each window The scale box allows the waveform to be stretched or shrunk on its horizontal amplitude and vertical time axis Each axis may be adjusted independently Scale adjustments are made using the time and amplitude stretch bars located around the outside of the scale box see fig 4 2 Amplitude Scaling To magnify the amplitude scaling stretch the waveform s height click on the small box in the amplitude stretch bar and drag it upwards Dragging this box downwards will reduce the amplitude scaling shrink the waveform s height Time Scaling To magnify the time scaling stretch the waveform s length click on the small box in the time stretch bar and drag it to the right Dragging this box to the left will reduce the time scaling shrink the waveform s length Scale Indicators You may have noticed when adjusting the time and amplitude scaling that the time and amplitude scale indicators see fig 4 2 changed each time you changed the corresponding stretch bar The scale indicators independentl
34. ant fact to remember is that a Macintosh sound file is essentially an Emulator Il voice Sound files are represented on the Macintosh desktop by sound file icons which look like documents with a sine wave Cello G2 A sound file icon Diskettes and Disk Drives Sound Designer requires two floppy disk drives or an internal hard disk If two floppy drives are used the Sound Designer program disk should be inserted in the internal drive and a sound file disk should be inserted in the external drive The program disk must be a Sound Designer master program disk copies will not work Any standard formatted Macintosh disk can be used as a sound file disk SECTION 3 Macintosh diskettes can store 400 000 bytes of information The Emulator Il has 484 559 bytes of sound storage memory Samples are stored in 8 bit words in the Emulator Il a special encoding technique provides approximately 14 bit resolution However to take full advantage of the 16 bit Macintosh s computing accuracy Emulator Il samples are converted to 16 bit form when transferred to Sound Designer which doubles the amount of memory storage required As a result only about half of the Emulator Il s total sound storage can be stored on a single Macintosh disk Fortunately very few individual samples exceed 8 seconds in length In fact most samples are less than 2 seconds long Hard Disks If you wish to work with samples longer than 8 seconds you
35. antizing noise the samples are more accurate The process of converting sound into a stream of numbers is called Analog to Digital conversion A D conversion Analog audio sound is simply electrical signals that have not yet been converted into digital form numbers The result of A D conversion is a sound file consisting of many samples How many This depends on the length of the sound a 17 second Emulator Il sound file contains nearly half a million samples To reproduce the sound the conversion process is reversed The sound file numbers are converted into an analog voltage that appears at the Emulatorll mix output Logically enough this process is called Digital to Analog conversion D A conversion Output filtering helps smooth the jagged edges in the waveform caused by the A D conversion and the resulting sound is an accurate reproduction of the original sound 2 1 SECTION 2 Let s quickly review the basic sampling into numbers samples and stored in a process The sound arrives at the sound file During playback the Emulator Ils sample input as an analog samples are converted back into an voltage electrical signal Input filtering analog voltage and output filtering removes unwanted high frequencies smooths the waveform from the sound which is then converted Sine wave Figure 2 1 Sine Wave Before Quantizing Sine wave Figure 2 2 Quantized Sine Wave Each line represents
36. approximately 13 kHz on the right the highest frequency the Emulator can sample Several frequency points are labeled the labeled frequency slice is aligned with the left end of the number Time Axis The time axis extends into the Macintosh screen you have to visualize the depth of the display The time axis is calibrated in milliseconds each horizontal line is a single time slice Amplitude Axis The vertical axis is amplitude Higher peaks indicate higher amplitude at the specific time frequency position on the surface Sound File Location When Frequency Analysis is selected from the tools menu the FFT will analyse the waveform starting at the currently displayed location in the Sound file If you want the FFT to start at the beginning of the sound file be sure to return to the beginning of the file using the horizontal scroll bar thumb before starting the frequency analysis 6 1 6 2 SECTION 6 Frequency Analysis Plot Calibration The parameters of the FFT frequency analysis can be adjusted by selecting Frequency Plot from the Calibration menu A dialog box will appear displaying the current settings of the frequency analysis plotparameters Number of Bands The number of frequency bands the FFT will divide the sound file into is determined by the Number of Bands parameter The default setting is 128 bands The Emulator II s high frequency response extends to approximatel
37. ave been set click once on OK to return to the sound file window Select Frequency Analysis from the Tools menu to re plot the frequency analysis with the new parameters See page 6 2 for a description of each parameter The SERIAL PORT function selects the Macintosh serial port either Modem or Printer that Sound Designer will use to communicate with the Emulator Il Sound Designer will automatically select this serial port each time the program is started The selected serial port can be changed at any time Be sure that the interface cable is connected to the selected serial port See page 3 7 for more information C 11 C 12 Tools Frequency Analysis The FREQUENCY ANALYSIS function plots a three dimensional waveform showing the frequency time amplitude characteristics of the sound file in the active window This analysis is based on a Fast Fourier Transform FFT of the sound file The parameters of the frequency analysis display can be adjusted using the Frequency Plot function in the Calibrate menu Turn scale marks off before performing the frequency analysis See page 6 1 for more information The MODE commands are used to switch between Sound Designer s two basic modes Waveform Display Waveform Display and E2 front Panel E 2 Front Panel The WAVEFORM DISPLAY command switches Sound Designer to the Waveform Display mode if Sound Designer is currently in E2 Front Panel mode
38. cal amplitude lines Time Interval The Time Interval parameter selects the length of the sound file segment that will be analysed and displayed The default setting is 100 milliseconds SECTION 6 Frequency Analysis Calibration Number of bands Bands on screen O16 256 AI O From fo to O 32 O 512 Graph Scales 0 64 O 1024 Frequency Linear Log O 128 2048 Amplitude Linear O Log Display View Time interval I msec O Front to Back Back to Front Mesh O Graph O Chart h Figure 6 1 Frequency Analysis Plot Calibration Menu Digital Synthesis c VI Sound Designer s digital synthesis program allows direct digital synthesis of Emulator ll sound files Sound files voices are created on the Macintosh and transferred to the Emulator Il for playback Synthesis Algorithms Sound Designer creates synthesized sounds using digital synthesis algorithms We discussed algorithms briefly in Section 5 The Digital Mixer Algorithms are basically computer language formulas used in Sound Designer to manipulate sound file samples Whereas the Digital Mixer uses digital signal processing algorithms to manipulate existing sound files the Digital Synthesis program uses synthesis algorithms to create new sound files Sound Designer is theroretically capable of performing any type of digital synthesis because it is software based Hardwave based digital synthesizers are typically capable o
39. cified marker in the Merge From sound file and end at the specified marker in the Merge To sound file To select the Merge From and Merge To sound files click once on the button next to the sound file name Specifying Markers Marker and Marker Name boxes are located to the right of the Merge From and Merge To sound file lists The Merge From marker will be the point at which the merge begins The Merge To marker is the point at which the merge ends any additional sound file information located in the Merge To sound file after the marker will remain Markers can be specified by typing either the marker number or the marker name When the markers have been specified click once on the Continue button to perform the merge New Sound File Once the merge process is completed a dialog box will appear for naming the new sound file and specifying a disk drive for saving the new sound file Sound Designer will automatically assign the name Merge Temp to the new merge sound You may want to listen to the results of the merge using the preview function before you rename the merged sound file If you decide to change marker locations and redo the merge the new Merge Temp file can replace the previous one saving you the trouble of manually deleting the file If two windows were open when the merge was performed the new sound file will be opened into a third window If three windows were open a disk file will be
40. city Switch button is pushed Crossfade and switch functions are represented by black and grey patterns above the keyboard Positional Crossfades Look at Figure 8 9 facing page In the lower range of the keyboard voice 04 Bird 1 is the primary voice indicated by the P before the voice name and voice 03 WindChime 3 is the secondary voice indicated by the S The black triangle shape represents the amplitude of the bottom voice grey represents the top voice within the assigned keyboard range If you play up the keyboard starting at the bottom of the range assigned to these voices the bottom voice will become softer as the top voice becomes louder Either the primary or secondary voice can be the top voice this parameter is set when the crossfade or switch is assigned Velocity Crossfades In the middle of the keyboard shown in Figure 8 9 a velocity crossfade is assigned to voice 06 Stream the primary voice and voice 01 Wind Chime 1 the secondary voice Velocity Switches At the top of the keyboard a velocity switch is assigned to voice 05 Bird 2 primary and voice 02 Wind Chime 2 secondary Assigning To assign crossfades or switches click once on the button next to the name of the type of crossfade or switch desired Next select the primary and secondary voice pair their keyboard ranges must overlap by clicking on the voice names above the keyboard If Positional Crossfade is
41. d many other Mac programs The mouse movements used to perform these editing functions such as drag click double click etc also conform to the Mac standard If Sound Designer is the first Macintosh program you have used stop tight here and spend some time using MacWrite and MacPaint to familiarize yourself with basic editing and mouse techniques This section assumes that you are familar with these techniques However the characteristics of sound are far more complicated than those of a typical text document such as a letter As a result Sound Designer has some editing features that do not have a precedent in MacWrite or other programs These techniques will be explained in detail Why would you want to edit sounds If you have purchased this program you probably already know but let s discuss a few examples anyway SECTION 4 Imagine that you have sampled a fabulous piano sound However upon listening closely to the sound you realize that an extraneous noise anything from the creak of a chair to a musician s untimely burp occured during sampling With editing capabilities the portion of the sample containing the unwanted noise can be removed cut and the sample becomes usable Extraneous noises can also be caused by data loss during sampling Although the E2 is a reliable instrument individual samples numbers are occasionally lost due to a variety of causes resulting in a noticable click in t
42. d to any MIDI controller number by typing the number in the controller s MIDI box The controller can be assigned to control pitch or channel pressure ChP using the appropriate buttons SECTION 8 File tdit Display Calibrate Tools Mode Extras Preset SH peunidon E ce Select Preset Memory Remaining 166601 bytes 484559 Arpeg Mode Extension Note Value O Off O Normal O 1 4 O 1 4 triplet O Up O 1 Octave O 1 8 O 1 8 triplet Down 2 Octaves 1 16 O1 16 triplet Fa eHn Range O1 32 1 32 triplet O Program to MIDI Mode Controller Rssign O Off Left Wheel O Off OMIDI Omni Rt Wheel OOff MIDI 0 Poly z Preset Change OK Pedal Off OMIDI a Ead Local Control MIDI A O0ff MIDI m MIDI B Ooff MIDI Basic Channel Da MIDI C O Off MIDI 19 Pitch O ChP Pitch O ChP Pitch O ChP Pitch O ChP Pitch O ChP Pitch O ChP O O O O O Figure 8 5 Preset Definition Module 8 11 8 1 SECTION 8 Real Time Control The Real Time Control programming screen displays all assignments of controllers wheels pedals MIDI footswitches to parameters pitch filter cutoff frequency etc Wheels Pedals MIDI The top list of six controllers can only be assigned to one of the eight parameters listed in the top parameter list To assign a parameter to a controller push the controller and parameter buttons then click once on the Assign Patch but
43. delay from the time when a note is depressed until the LFO is switched on The output of the LFO is a triangle wave The graph consists of this triangle wave with a zero amplitude segment a horizontal line before the wave to indicate delay time As the LFO Rate control is adjusted the length of the triangle wave s period will change to indicate changes in the LFO frequency The zero amplitude line segment will become longer as the LFO delay control is increased and become shorter as the LFO delay is decreased LFO Rate values are display in both milliseconds per period and Hertz frequency LFO Delay values are displayed in milliseconds seconds LFO Variation The LFO Variation control adjusts the amount of random variation in the LFO rate The Emulator Il numerical value is displayed for this parameter LFO gt VCA The LFO gt VCA control adjusts the amount the VCA is modulated by the LFO The Emulator Il numerical value is displayed for this parameter File roi Display Calibrate Tools Made Extras Current Voice List O Select Single Voice Attack 180 ms Decay 850 ms LFO Delay LFO Rate LFO Variation LFO B VCA Figure 8 3 VCA LFO Module SECTION 8 8 7 SECTION 8 EE ee Voice Definition The Voice Definition programming screen contains keyboard velocity programming graphs and other voice parameter controls Keyboard Velocity Graphs The relationships between keyboard velocity
44. e copied waveform section is stored in the waveform clipboard it can be Pasted into another location in the sound file or into another sound file See page 4 4 for more information The PASTE command inserts the contents of the waveform clipboard at the selected insertion point The waveform section after the insertion point will be moved down to accomodate the pasted waveform section the existing waveform is not overwritten or erased A copy of the waveform section stored in the waveform clipboard will remain in the waveform clipboard after each Paste is performed See page 4 4 for more information C 7 C 8 Reverse Smoothing R Show Clipboard Paste SU Reverse The REVERSE command reverses the selected section of the waveform in the active window The Reverse function can be undone using the UNDO command See page 4 6 for more information The SMOOTHING function inserts a very short inaudible crossfade between the end points of cut and paste edits to prevent clicks and other discontinuities To turn Smoothing on select Smoothing from the Edit menu A check will appear next to the word smoothing to indicate that smoothing is on Smoothing must be turned on before the edit is performed edits can not be smoothed after they have been performed To turn smoothing off select Smoothing again from the Edit menu The check next to the word smoothing will disappear indicati
45. e no clicks or rapid amplitude changes in periodic waveforms 1 Using the Overview function find an area of the waveform where the amplitude is fairly constant the sustain section of the envelope Loops are usually placed near the end of the sound file 2 Scale the waveform to display a single period of the waveform Stretch the amplitude range height of the waveform to fill most of the window Turn the scale marks and zero line ON SECTION 4 3 Scroll through the waveform and look for repeating patterns in the waveform When you have recognized the repeating pattern period of the waveform identify a point in the period where the waveform crosses the zero line a zero crossing 4 Drag the loop start marker into place at the zero crossing point The loop marker amplitude reading should be 0 or very close to 0 when the mouse button is released Use the loop marker s cursor to help align the loop marker with the zero crossing 5 Scroll the waveform through several periods see the Number of Periods section on this page Place the loop end marker at a zero crossing point where the waveform shape looks very similar to the waveform shape of the loop start 6 Use the Preview function to transfer the sound file to the Emulator to listen to the loop If a slight click is present in the loop your loop points may be off by a few samples or the loop is too long too much change in the waveform If th
46. e relationship between the two waveforms Although changes in the phase relationships of a waveform s harmonics can cause significant changes in the waveform s look its sound will typically change very little sa SECTION 1 The sound s character timbre is primarily determined by the amplitude of each harmonic in the waveform s harmonic series So far we have only discussed periodic waveforms Aperiodic waveforms do not follow repeating patterns or cycles at least not easily recognizable ones Very random or irregular waveforms called Noise are a common example of aperiodic waveforms Noise sounds like the static you hear on a radio tuned between channels There are even several different types of noise named after colors white noise and pink noise Noise is an important part of musical sounds more on this subject later SECTION 1 Envelope As time passes and the amplitude of a sound changes a waveform is created The waveform examples we have discussed so far consist of very rapid changes in amplitude resulting in the characteristic called pitch Remember a waveform must complete a minimum of 20 periods per second a frequency of 20 Hz for us to be able to hear the pitch of the sound However the waveforms of most sounds also change gradually resulting in another type of waveform called the Envelope The envelope consists of overall amplitude changes that occur too slowly to be perceived as p
47. e 8 13 8 7 Keyboard Setup Primary Voices 8 15 8 8 Keyboard Setup Primary Outputs 8 17 8 9 Keyboard Setup Crossfades Switches 8 19 ABOUT THIS MANUAL This manual assumes that you are familiar with basic Macintosh operating techniques If you do not have any Macintosh experience read the Macintosh manual first The Introduction Getting Started contains general information about Sound Designer including registration updates and software hardware requirements Sound Designer system set up is covered in this section Section 1 About Sound discusses the basic principles of sound and acoustics Sound Designer users should be familiar with these fundamental concepts Section 2 About Sampling provides a simplified technical description of the sampling process This section will help you understand how the Emulator Il and Macintosh computers manipulate digitally sampled sounds Section 3 The Basics outlines the basic techniques for transferring sampled sounds between the Macintosh and Emulator Il and listening to the sounds on both the Emulator and the Macintosh Other topics discussed in this section include sound files diskettes hard disks back up files and serial port selection Section 4 Waveform Editing describes the various editing functions available in Sound Designer s Waveform Display mode Sound file windows cut and paste editing waveform scaling zooming scrolling looping sound file markers and pencil edi
48. e corner frequency Lo Shelving boosts or cuts frequencies below the corner frequency Enter Boost Cut Amount in decibels dB Hi Lo Pass Hi and Lo Pass filters remove frequencies above or below a specified cutoff frequency Hi Pass removes all frequencies below the cutoff frequency Lo Pass removes all frequencies above the cutoff frequency Cutoff Frequency is the only parameter Display Frequency Response To display the actual frequency response curve of the EQ you have selected click once on the Show Me button The frequency response scale is a linear scale you will not be able to see much detail below 1 2 kHz It is usually a good idea to check the actual frequency response before performing the EQ if you have entered parameter values that the EQ program cannot accomodate the frequency response curve will reveal any problems Once you have entered the EQ parameters click on Continue to equalize the selected sound file For a more detailed description of filter types refer to a recording engineering techniques book such as Sound Recording by John Eargle or Modern Recording Techniques by Robert Runstein SECTION 5 Ep Peak Shelf Equalizer Equalize Cello C 1 1 kHz Sine Wave Guitar R2 Filter Type nes IN Peak Notch Sample Rate 2711 Center Freq Hz 5000 BandWidth Hz 1000 Boost Cut dB 6 Ok 3k 6k 10k 13k Figure 5 7 DIGITAL EQ Dialog Box SECTION 6
49. e sound file is too long to transfer using the preview function use the Mac gt E2 transfer function on the File menu Loop points are stored with the sound file on the Macintosh disk Be sure to save voices on the Emulator Il performance disk to retain loop points set using Sound Designer EE Number of Periods Loops that are a single period long are the easiest to create the waveform does not change much in a single period However single period loops only sound good with sounds that are fairly static the waveform does not change much as time passes such as an organ The waveforms of most sounds evolve over a period of time much longer than a second Sounds that are not static should have loops that are many periods long the actual length of the loop will vary depending on the sound More Looping Tips Some sounds are difficult to loop because the pitch changes during the evolution of the sound For example immediately after a guitar string is plucked it produces a slightly higher pitch than when it has settled into its sustain portion Loop points should be placed in the pitch stable sustain portion of the guitar waveform Vibrato also causes looping problems In general sounds should be sampled without vibrato vibrato can be added later using the Emulator s LFO To loop a sound with vibrato shrink the time axis until the vibrato pattern can be seen in the waveform envelope Try to place the loop poi
50. econdary Outputs Positional Velocity Velocity Crossfade Crossfade Switch 1 l 1 P 04 Bird 1 P 06 Stream P 05 Bird 2 S G2 Wind Chime 2 Figure 8 9 Keyboard Setup Crossfades Switches 8 19 Appendix A Hard Disk Installation Sound Designers copy protection allows you to install the program on a hard disk without requiring you to insert the master disk when you start the program Never delete the Sound Designer program icon from a hard disk You must use the Remove function for Sound Designer to be re installed on a hard disk To install Sound Designer on a hard disk 1 Boot the Macintosh from the hard disk 2 Insert the original Sound Designer master disk a copy won t work The disk must be unlocked Start Sound Designer from this disk by double ciicking on the Sound Designer icon 3 A hard disk install remove menu will appear Click on the Install button 4 A dialog box will appear that lists the available disk volumes and folders that Sound Designer can be installed on Use the Disk button to select the hard disk or hard disk volume to install Sound Designer on You cannot move Sound Designer to a different volume once it has been installed 5 Click once on the Install button After the installation is complete the hard disk install remove menu will appear Click on the Execute Installed button to run Sound Designer or the Finder button to quit the Finder To remove Sound Designer from your hard disk 1 Boot
51. een when started Transferring Sound Files Sound Files voices are transferred between the Emulator Il and the Macintosh at a very high data rate 500 000 bits per second When a sound file is transferred from the Emulator Il to the Macintosh the following steps occur 1 Sound Designer automatically switches the Emulator Il to Macintosh mode the Macintosh controls the Emulator Il 2 The contents of the sound file the samples are transferred to the Macintosh 3 The sound file data samples are converted to Sound Designer s 16 bit data format 4 The converted samples are saved on the Macintosh sound file disk as a sound file During the full sound file transfer process sound files are named by the user and saved to disk As a result the transfer process can be fairly time consuming When editing sounds you will want to listen to the edited sound file very quickly A Preview function is provided in Sound Designer s waveform editing program that quickly transfers sound files to the Emulator Il for immediate playback The regular transfer process is then used to name a finished sound and save it to disk Emulator Il to Macintosh Transfer To transfer a sound file from the Emulator Il to the Macintosh select E2 gt Mac from the pull down File menu Sound Designer should be in Waveform Display mode A dialog box will appear for selecting the Emulator Il voice you wish to transfer to the Macintosh
52. efinition dif Display Calibrate Tagis Made Extras Sound Length 35993 Loop start 4 Loop Length 41600 samples i No Loop i O Forward Loop O Fwd Back Loop Loop In Release i YCF Solo Mode EE Backwards Mode vcr Q samples i a Voice Atten samples i Voice Tuning LEO B Pitch i VCF Fe 17 30 Control Enables Pitch LFO gt Pitch LFO Filt Cutoff bids LFO gt VCA Level Filt Cutoff vca Level VCA Attack 40 150 Figure 8 4 Voice Definition Module Clos wind Chime 5 lUind Chime 3 Current Uoice List E Select Single Voice SECTION 8 to 15870 Hz msec to 100 msec to 4 dB msec to 20 msec 8 9 Preset Definition The Preset Definition programming screen permits quick set up of arpeggiator parameters MIDI mode channel and controller assignments Memory Remaining The amount of unused memory in Bytes is displayed across the top of the screen Arpeggiator Parameters Buttons are provided for setting all arpeggiator parameters The desired arpeggiator range can be entered by typing in the Range boxes The exact tempo of the arpeggiator can be set using the Tempo up down arrows Tempo is indicated in beats per minute BPM MIDI Mode MIDI mode and basic MIDI channel assignment can be selected using the buttons in the lower left side of the screen Controller Assignment Each controller 2 wheels 2 pedals and 3 MIDI controls can be assigne
53. ely below the menu bar This area of the screen also has an Enter Exit Mac Mode Icon a Look Button and a Quit Button The name of the module currently in use is displayed in the upper left hand corner of the screen Two buttons labeled Current Voice List and Select Single Voice are located immediately to the right of the voice selection box When the Select Single Voice button is pushed the Voice Selection box displays the name of the single currently selected voice and changes made to Emulator Il parameters will affect only this voice unless the parameter is a preset parameter New voices can be selected by scrolling through the available voice list using the Voice Selection Box s up and down arrows The voice that is displayed in the Voice Selection Box is the current voice it will be affected by changes made to Emulator ll parameters When the Current Voice List button is pushed the name of the DIS voice on the current voice list will be displayed and changes made to Emulator Il parameters will affect all voices on the current voice list The current voice list can be set by selecting Current Voices from the pull down Voices menu Enter Exit Mac Mode The Enter Exit Mac Mode Icon a small Macintosh and keyboard displays a cable connecting the Mac and keyboard when the Emulator Il is under control of the Macintosh Mac Mode Clicking once on the Icon will cause the cable to disappear and
54. ew untitled window is available the Open command will open the selected sound file into the untitled window If an untitled window is not available a new window will be opened containing the selected sound file If three windows are already open the Open command will not be able to open the selected sound file C 1 The CLOSE command closes the active top sound file window Sound File windows can also be closed by clicking once on the small Close Box located in the upper left hand corner of the window Get Info l Print The SAVE command saves the sound file in the active window to the Macintosh sound file disk All changes made to the sound file will be saved Mac gt E2 Quit ael The SAVE AS command saves the sound file in the active window to the Macintosh disk Before the sound file is saved a dialog box appears for naming the saved sound file This command is useful for saving a modified sound file under a different name the original sound file is not erased from the disk if a new name is assigned The GET INFO command displays a dialog box containing information about the selected sound file The sound file does not have to be open The Get Info dialog box includes the Name of the sound file the sound file length in samples the data format 16 bit linear and the date the sound file was last modified In addition a comments field is provided for the user to enter notes about the sound
55. f only one type of digital synthesis i e additive FM etc because the synthesis circuitry is hard wired Sound Designer s synthesis circuitry is software softwired and can be changed simply by changing the synthesis program Software based synthesis can be very flexible SECTION 7 The Digital Synthesis program can be activated by clicking once on the synthesis icon a sine wave located in the upper left hand corner of the control panel When activated a dialog box will appear with a list of currently available synthesis algorithms Each synthesis algorithm is a separate program To activate an algorithm click once on the algorithm name then click once on the Open button If an untitled window is opened when a new sound file is created using a digital synthesis algorithm the synthesized sound file will be loaded into the untitled window If fewer than three windows are open a new window will be opened containing the synthesized sound file If three windows are open a disk file will be created containing the synthesized sound file but the sound file will not be displayed in a window 7 1 7 2 SECTION 7 mm KARPLUS STRONG The Karplus Strong synthesis algorithm was developed by Kevin Karplus and Alex Strong at Stanford University s Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics CCRMA Karplus Strong is a relatively simple algorithm that is useful for synthesizing plucked string
56. ffset factor will subtly affect the tone of mixed sounds Larger offset values thousands of samples can help synchronize envelope characteristics of mixed sounds New sound file The mix function produces a new sound file the mixed sound A dialog box for naming the new sound file and specifying a storage drive will appear after the mix is completed Percentage 65 Percentage 35 Offset en samples Pontinue Figure 5 2 MIX Dialog Box 5 4 SECTION 5 MERGE The merge function allows two sound files to be spliced together merged The splice consists of a crossfade between markers positioned in the two sound files The length of the splice crossfade is specified by the user For example merging a human voice and a trumpet will create a new sound file that consists of a human voice becoming cross fading into a trumpet The rate at which the sound changes is determined by the merge length Requirements Two sound files must occupy open windows Each sound file must have a marker positioned to designate either the start or end point of the merge splice Merge From To The Merge dialog box displays two lists of the sound files currently in open windows The top list is labeled Merge From and the bottom list is labeled Merge To The Merge From sound file will start the merge the Merge To sound file will end the merge The actual crossfade will begin at the spe
57. file C 3 C 4 SIIT ETTET TETIT Get Info 381 Print E2 Mac Mac gt E2 The E2 gt MAC command is used to transfer Emulator Il voices to the Macintosh When the Emulator Il voice s has been transferred a new Macintosh sound file is created When the E2 gt MAC command is selected the E2 gt MAC Transfer File dialog box is displayed This dialog box contains a list of available Emulator Il voices and their lengths in samples A voice can be selected for transfer to the Macintosh A second dialog box appears for naming the new Macintosh sound file See page 3 2 for more information The MAC gt E2 command transfers the selected Macintosh sound file to the Emulator Il The transferred sound file replaces a selected Emulator ll voice When the Mac gt E2 command is selected a dialog box will appear with a list of available Macintosh sound files Use this dialog box to select the sound file you wish to transfer to the Emulator Il The sound file does not need to be opened to be transferred to the Emulatorll Once a Macintosh voice has been selected the Mac gt E2 File Transfer dialog box will appear This dialog box displays the name and length in samples of the selected Macintosh sound file and provides a scrolling list of available Emulator Il voices Use this dialog box to select an Emulator Il voice to replace with the transferred sound file The Emulator Il voice should be as long or longer tha
58. he sound With editing capabilities the lost sample is easily restored Our first two examples have been of purely practical applications of editing repairing bad samples However the truly exciting applications of editing are the creative ones the ability to rearrange sounds to remove parts of sounds and to combine portions of different sounds to create new hybrid sounds With Sound Designer editing features you can perform elaborate microsurgery on sounds that is simply not possible with synthesizers or most other computer music systems Let your imagination be your guide to creating truly new sounds 4 1 4 2 SECTION 4 Waveform Display When you double click on the Sound Designer program Icon the little Mac with E2 on the screen and a music keyboard in front the Waveform Display screen appears The waveform display screen consists of a control panel and up to three Windows that can display the waveforms of Sound Files If you entered the waveform display screen by double clicking on the Sound designer icon a single empty window will be open displayed Sound Designer is waiting for you to either create a new sound using synthesis transfer a voice from the Emulator ll or open an existing sound file to fill this window You can also enter the waveform display screen by double clicking on a sound file icon In this case the waveform display screen will appear with an open window conta
59. her drive using the drive button If you want to save the sound file on a disk that is not inserted into the Macintosh click once on the eject button and insert an alternate disk SECTION 3 Click once on OK when you have finished naming the sound file and selecting a disk drive Sound Designer will now transfer the sound file from the Emulator Il to the Macintosh and create a Macintosh disk file This process will take from 10 to 30 seconds depending on the size of the sound file Most of this time is required to write the Macintosh disk file a hard disk can complete the transfer process much faster than a floppy disk drive If an empty window is not open in Sound Designer s waveform display a new window will be opened containing the transferred sound file If a single untitled window is open the transferred sound file will be loaded into the window If three windows the maximum number available are open the transferred sound file will be stored in a disk file but will not be opened into a window A disk full alert box will appear if the sound file is too large to be stored in the available disk space If this is the case repeat the transfer process using a Macintosh disk with adequate storage space Remember if you are using floppy disks the sound file cannot be longer than approximately 8 seconds The Delete function allows files to be deleted from disks without quitting the Sound Designer program To dele
60. ining the selected sound file Up to 3 sound file icons may be selected and opened simultaneously by double clicking To open an additional sound file select Open from the file menu A dialog box will appear with a list of available sound files Click on the desired sound file then click on the dialog box open button The sound file may also be opened by double clicking on its name To open an empty window for creating a sound using synthesis select New from the file menu An untitled empty window will appear on the screen Up to three windows may be open simultaneously The active window the window on top or in front can be closed at any time by clicking on the small close box in the window s upper left hand corner Selecting quit from the file menu will automatically close all open windows before exiting the program Ail editing functions you perform will affect only the active window Let s try opening a sound file Insert the sample sound file diskette in your external disk drive and open the sound file titled talk talk To open this sound file you must tell the dialog box where to look by clicking on the drive button This tells the Mac to look on its other disk drive in this case the external drive If you click on drive again the Mac will list sound files located on the internal drive Once you have located the Talk Talk sound file double click on it The waveform d
61. ion that occurs after the insertion point is moved to the right later in time to accomodate the pasted inserted waveform segment If no insertion point has been created the paste command will be greyed out in the edit menu Try experimenting with selecting sections of the Talk Talk waveform To select a waveform section that is too long to fit on the Macintosh screen 1 click the mouse button at the beginning of the section 2 scroll to the end of the section 3 position the l beam cursor and 4 hold down shift and click the mouse button once Ready to perform a basic edit The Talk Talk sound file consists of the words Sound Designer Each word is easily visable in the waveform as an area with a lot of waveform activity high amplitude areas Refer to page 4 4 if you have forgotten how to pet form any of the basic editing functions 1 Select the word sound Try to select as little low level noise area between words as possible 2 Choose cut from the edit menu 3 Create an insertion point after the word designer 4 Choose paste from the edit menu 5 Click once on the preview icon the keyboard and note in the control menu 6 Listen to the results of your edit on the Emulator Il the preview function quickly loads the sound file in place of the voice assigned to the lowest range of the keyboard the sound can be played in this range after the preview function tran
62. isplay screen should appear with a waveform displayed in a window titled Talk Talk So far so good Control Panel At this point we are ready to look at the control panel located on the left hand side of the screen The upper left half of the screen is occupied by the function icons These icons represent various editing and processing functions you can perform with Sound Designer A function is activated by clicking on its icon Some functions are actually groups of functions and clicking on their icons will cause a menu of available functions to appear First we will discuss the editing functions represented by the Selection insertion and Pencil icons Synthesis Zoom Box Scale Marks Ansertion Selection Pencil Digital Mixer Play Sound Macintosh Speaker Doi Screen Cursor Preview Loop Markers Zero Line Markers Figure 4 1 Control Panel 4 4 Click once on the Selection Insertion icon then move the mouse cursor around the screen You probably noticed that the arrow becomes a vertical line with y s at the top and bottom This cursor is called an Il beam and is used to select sections of a waveform or create an insertion point A section of a waveform can be selected by 1 positioning the cursor at the beginning of the section 2 clicking the mouse button 3 dragging the cursor to the end of the section and 4 releasing
63. itch Virtually all natural sounds are composed of a high frequency waveform the audio waveform and a very low frequency waveform the envelope Imagine a gong When struck the sound quickly builds to a loud roar then gradually decays and dies away The change in overall loudness from silence before the gong is struck through the build up to full loudness and the subsequent decay to silence is the envelope of the sound All envelopes begin at zero amplitude The elapsed time from zero amplitude to full amplitude loudest point in the sound is called the attack After full amplitude is reached the time required for the sound to die away completely is called the decay Two more envelope factors must be considered if the sound is performed from a keyboard or other controlling device Sustain level is the amplitude a sound will maintain after the initial attack and partial decay when a key is held down Release is the final decay that occurs once the key is released Envelopes are often called ADSR curves Attack Decay Sustain Release About Sampling Computers can t hear sound like people n fact computers can only do useful things with numbers Sounds must first be converted into groups of numbers called samples before a computer can record manipulate and replay them Sound consists of vibrations that can occur very rapidly Although the upper limit of human hearing is 20 000 waveform periods
64. l processing is very flexible if the characteristics of a desired type of processing can be mathematically represented an algorithm can be created to perform the processing SECTION 5 The major advantage of digital signal processing over analog signal processing is its inherent accuracy Analog electronic circuitry is subject to a variety of problems noise distortion electrical instability etc and typically relies on proper calibration DSP algorithms are mathematical functions that are completely predictable with no loss of quality due to deteriorating components or poor calibration In general digital signal processing tends to produce results that are greatly superior to analog processing However digital signal processing has limitations The resolution and quality of DSP results are determined by the mathematical accuracy of the computer Like sampling resolution the mathematical resolution of a computer is determined by the number of bits in each computer word a sample is one digital word typically 8 16 bits The method the computer uses to multiply and add these numbers also affects the resolution of its digital signal processing Many DSP algorithms require thousands of additions and multiplications to arrive at the desired result Fortunately the Macintosh is a very fast and powerful computer capable of performing DSP functions faster and with more accuracy that most other personal computers
65. litude differences between the ends of the waveform sections If a waveform section that ends with a relatively high amplitude sample is pasted before a waveform section that begins with a low amplitude sample a click will occur at the transition between the waveform sections 4 5 SECTION 4 mmm To reduce the occurance of clicks or extraneous noises at cut and paste edit points Sound Designer provides a smoothing function Smoothing can be turned on by selecting Smoothing from the pull down Edit menu check will appear next to the word smoothing to indicate that smoothing is on To turn smoothing off selectsmoothing again from the menu Smoothing must be turned on before the edit is performed The smoothing function analyzes the amplitude difference between the end samples of cut and paste edits and creates a very fast inaudible crossfade at the edit point This smoothing technique prevents clicks in virtually all edits However you should avoid cutting and pasting waveform segments with extremely different amplitudes When smoothing is on the undo function will not undo the crossfade that was created by the smoothing program As a result the original waveform may be slightly modified Reverse This function reverses the selected waveform segment Select the waveform segment to be reversed using the selection bar then select Reverse from the Edit menu to reverse the segment Zero The Zero function sets
66. ll allow sound files to be previewed without being modified by the Emulator s analog circuitry The preview function does not change the Emulator II s analog processing parameters The Preview function is activated by clicking once on the Preview icon see Figure Control Panel SECTION 3 Play Sound 4 Macintosh Speaker in addition to the Preview function Sound Designer can also play sounds out the Macintosh speaker or speaker output jack using the Macintosh s internal digital to analog converter The sound file in the active window can be played by clicking on the Play Sound Macintosh Speaker icon see Figure 4 1 Control Panel If an area of the sound is selected reverse highlighted only that section of the sound will be played This feature is useful for locating specific sounds i e an unwanted noise within a sound file Like the Preview function the Play Sound function will only play back the sound file data that is stored in memory If the sound file will not fit in the available memory only the portion currently in memory will be played Playing Loops Loops can be played out the Macintosh speaker by clicking on the Play Sound icon and holding down the mouse button The Sustain S loop will play until the mouse button is released then the rest of the sound file will be played To play the Release R loop hold down the option key while you click the mouse button Altho
67. ll ship updates via UPS 2 day service or overnight service for a small additional fee immediately after we receive your master disk Do not lose or give away either of your disks Hard Disk Installation If you plan to use Sound Designer with an internal hard disk drive see Appendix A Hard Disk Installation for instructions on copying Sound Designer to your hard disk The Interface Cable The interface cable supplied with Sound Designer is 15 feet long Due to the high data transfer rate used by Sound Designer we do not recommend using a longer cable length or different type of cable If you absolutely require a longer cable length contact the Digidesign telephone help number for custom cable information Connecting the Macintosh and Emulator Il Connecting the interface cable is simple Plug the 9 pin D connector the small end into either the Macintosh Modem or Printer port see Page 3 7 for instructions on selecting the port and plug the 25 Pin D connector into the Emulator Il computer interface connector Sound Designer will automatically control the mode of the Emulator Il manual mode switching is not neccessary Once you have connected the Macintosh and the Emulator Il turn on and boot the Emulator Il be sure you boot from a disk with the correct software and the Macintosh The Sound Designer system is now interfaced and ready to go read on About sound Most people have a ge
68. lt we can continually add new features and make improvements to existing features As a Sound Designer owner you are entitled to receive all future updates to the Sound Designer program at a nominal cost to cover disk duplication documentation printing shipping etc typically 25 per update Digidesign will also provide a telephone help line 415 494 881 1 and a dial up electronic bulletin board service for user s tips new feature suggestions problems etc We hope to offer sound file downloading and uploading for sharing sounds Registration However to receive updates telephone support and a bulletin board password you must be a registered Sound Designer owner So please right now without any further delay send in your registration card You will need to state your registration number to receive telephone help System Requirements Sound Designer requires a 512K Macintosh or Macintosh Plus INTRODUCTION an external floppy disk drive or a hard disk highly recommended and an E mu Systems Emulator IItligital sampling keyboard with Macintosh interface and version 2 3 or higher software Sound Designer program software a sample sound file disk a manual and a special interface cable are provided with the Sound Designer package Emulator Il Macintosh Interface Current production Emulator II s are equipped with a standard RS 422 Macintosh interface Emulator II s with serial numbers below 1 000 were equi
69. lter cutoff frequency and Q graph a keyboard tracking graph and an LFO gt cutoff frequency control ADSR Graph The ADSR graph provides a visual representation of the filter ADSR parameters In addition values for the attack decay and release parameters are displayed in seconds mSec and the sustain level is displayed in Hertz The ADSR graph has 4 segments These are from left to right attack time decay time sustain level and release time Each segment has a small black grab box located on the right end of the segment ADSR Editing Each ADSR parameter may be edited by clicking on its grab box and dragging the segment end to a new location The actual values for the parameter will change as you drag the grab box The attack decay and release time grab boxes may be dragged to the left longer time or right shorter time The sustain grab box may be dragged up higher frequency or down lower frequency Envelope amount can be adjusted using the scroll bar along the right side of the ADSR diagram The envelope amount is zero when the scroll bar thumb is in the middle Move the thumb up for a positive envelope amount down for a negative envelope amount Click and hold the thumb to display the actual filter envelope ADSR contour envelope amount Filter Cutoff Frequency Q Graph The cutoff frequency and Q resonance of the filter are displayed by the graph in the lower left hand corner of the Filter
70. module programming screen The graph is a traditional frequency response graph the vertical axis is amplitude and the horizontal axis is frequency from low left to high right Q is represented by the bump at the cutoff frequency The current cutoff frequency value in Hertz and Q amount the Emulator ll numerical value are provided below the graph Cutoff frequency can be adjusted by dragging the dotted vertical line s grab box to the left lower cutoff frequency or right higher cutoff frequency Q amount can be adjusted by dragging the horizontal dotted line s grab box up higher Q or down lower Q Keyboard Tracking The relationship between keyboard position and filter cutoff frequency is displayed by the small graph in the lower left corner of the screen Dragging the grab box up increases the keyboard tracking the sound will become brighter as you play up the keyboard Dragging the grab box down decreases the keyboard tracking sounds will become duller as you play up the keyboard The keyboard tracking parameter value is displayed to the left of the graph LFO gt Cutoff Frequency An LFO gt cutoff frequency control is provided below the ADSR graph SECTION 8 File Edit Display Calibrate tools Made Extras Filter eler O Current Voice List comm HA Select Single Voice Attack 100 ms Decay 3 4 set Sustain 934 Hz Release 3 4 set ela Pit LFO gt Fc h Kbd tracking 1 0 octa
71. n the Macintosh sound file to avoid truncating cutting off the sound file See page 3 4 for more information The QUIT command closes all open sound files and exits the Sound Designer program Mac gt E2 C 5 opt Reverse Smoothing Show Clipboard Reverse Smoothing Show Clipboard C 6 The UNDO command undoes the last edit i e Cut Copy or Paste performed The Undo function will not undo the last edit if any other commands have been selected between the completion of the edit and selecting the Undo command The CUT command cuts removes the selected section of the sound file in the active window The cut waveform section is stored in the Waveform Clipboard where it remains until another Cut or Copy is performed While the cut waveform section is stored in the waveform clipboard it can be Pasted into another location in the sound file or into another sound file See page 4 4 for more information Undo an Rene neenneaeenecsnecasecancenneaacenasansecacasesesces EA EEEEEEEEEEERE EES EE FER EE ups aes a Pan ese nee ERR ER Reverse smoothing Show Clipboard Hadp RER CEE EEE ERR EERE EFFE NEE ateniese ERR EEE ERR ERR Reverse smoothing Show Clipboard The COPYcommand copies the selected section of the sound file in the active window The copied waveform section is stored in the Waveform Clipboard where it remains until another Cut or Copy is performed While th
72. neral idea of what sound is yet they cannot describe the actual events that occur when sound is created or heard To best use Sound Designer you should have a good understanding of the principles of sound and acoustics If you are already well versed on the subject you may wish to bypass this chapter However a little review can t hurt Sound consists of vibrations transmitted through the air These vibrations are created by a vibrating source such as a drum a violin or a voice and heard when the vibrations or sound waves reach our eardrums Of course other devices can hear much like our ears microphones contain a diaphram that senses sound waves and converts them into electrical signals Loudspeakers reverse this process converting electrical signals into sound waves Microphones and speakers are called transducers because they convert one form of energy electricity into another air vibrations Acoustics refers to both the nature of a sound at its vibrating source and the effect of the environment or acoustic space on the sound waves If you clap your hands in a large under ground parking garage the sound that reaches your ears will hardly resemble the sound caused by a hand clap in a small bathroom Although the sound source is the same the acoustic space is quite different SECTION 1 The three main factors that will influence the quality of sounds sampled with the Emulato
73. ng that smoothing is off See page 4 5 for more information The SHOW CLIPBOARD command displays a window with the contents of the Waveform Clipboard This waveform segment can not be edited or modified it is displayed for reference purposes only See page 4 4 for more information Reverse Show cupboard C 9 Display Draw Waveform Overview Display Draw Waveform Overview The DRAW WAVEFORM command redraws the waveform in the active window Use the Draw Waveform command to redraw the two dimensional standard waveform after a three dimensional frequency analysis waveform has been displayed The OVERVIEW function displays the entire sound file waveform reduced to fit within the Overview window An Overview Cursor is provided that can be positioned at any point in the sound file To move the sound file window to a new location in the sound file move the overview cursor to the desired location and click once on the Continue button The Cancel button returns to the standard sound file window without changing the window s location in the sound file See page 4 9 for more information Calibrate Frequency Plot Serial Port Calibrate Frequency Plot Serial Port Calibrate The FREQUENCY PLOT command displays a menu of frequency plot parameters Number of Bands Bands on Screen Display View and Time Interval can be set using this menu When the parameters h
74. notching Hi Lo Pass and Hi Lo Shelving The sound file you wish to equalize must be open Click on the digital mixer icon and select Peak Shelf EQ If more than one sound file is open select the sound file to equalize by clicking on the button next to its name Filter Type Select the filter type by clicking on the icon that represents that filter type The name of the selected filter type will appear to the right of the icons The following filter types are provided Peaking Notching c1 In Peaking Notching mode Sound Designer s digital equalizer is modeled after an analog parametric equalizer Center Frequency 5andwidth and Boost Cut Amount parameters are provided Enter Center Frequency and Bandwidth as Hertz HZ values and Boost Cut Amount as a decibel dB value To enter a negative cut value type a minus sign before the dB amount Use the mouse or Tab not Return to move to the next parameter box The peaking notching filter has a limited slope if a narrow Bandwidth i e 100 Hz and a large Boost Cut Amount i e 12 dB are selected the bandwidth may increase due to filter slope limitations To obtain greater boost or cut within a narrow bandwidth run the equalizer several times using a smaller Boost Cut Amount 5 10 Hi Lo Shelvin E Hi and Lo shelving filters affect the entire frequency range above or below a specified corner frequency Hi Shelving boosts or cuts frequencies above th
75. ns along the string s length If the string is muted at a harmonic interval i e 1 2 or 1 3 the length of the string the harmonic will produce an audible overtone The harmonic s frequency can be determined by this formula Harmonic Frequency Frequency Original 100 Saronic Value For example selecting a harmonic value of 50 is equal to muting the string at its midpoint and will produce a harmonic 1 octave higher 2 times the original frequency Enharmonic values such as 3 or 82 will produce extremely muted sounds fast decay The Amount parameter controls the amount of the harmonic sound that is mixed with the original sound If the harmonic amount exceeds 50 the harmonic will probably mask the fundamental frequency Input Sound Input Sound is the sound data used to pluck the string Random Noise is white noise It simulates a pluck Pulse Noise consists of full value positive and negative samples It produces a sharper pluck Clipboard excites the string with a segment of the data stored in the waveform clipboard This segment is taken from the start of the clipboard and its length is equal to one period of the Karplus Strong waveform Soundiile In conjunction with the Resonance parameter a sound file can be used to continuously excite the string If you click on either the Resonator On or Soundfile button a dialog box will appear listing available sound files Select a sound file
76. nts around a single vibrato pattern When looping on single periods of a waveform if the pitch of the sound becomes slightly lower during the loop the loop is a few samples too long If the pitch becomes higher during the loop the loop is a few samples too short Pitch changes are the result of changes in period length ss SECTION 4 Continue Figure 4 3 Use Overview to locate stable area sustain piano A2 Figure 4 4 Scale waveform display to show single period SECTION 4 piano A2 210 Figure 4 5 Place loop start at zero crossing piano R2 d i 8 al 10 1 52 1 1 53 Figure 4 6 Place loop end at zero crossing with similar waveform shape 4 14 Crossfade Looping Some complex sounds such as vocals or string horn sections can be very difficult to loop This is often the result of a rapidly changing waveform the waveform at the loop start looks very different from the waveform at the desired loop end point Crossfade Looping mixes sound data from the waveform surrounding the loop start with sound data surrounding the loop end to create a click free loop See page 5 8 for crossfade looping instructions Waveform arawin YA Segments of sound file waveforms can be redrawn using the Pencil Waveform drawing is particularly useful for removing clicks or other visable glitches in sound files To redraw a waveform area scroll the so
77. o E2 Voice and Length Sound File Length The Emulator Il voice that will be replaced by the transferred sound file must be the same length as the transferred file or longer to provide enough sound memory If the transferred sound file is too large for the available current voice memory a Sound File Too Long alert box will appear The alert box will ask if you wish to truncate the sound shorten it to fit within the available memory space If you choose not to truncate the sound the transfer process will be cancelled EI Sound File Transfer Disk To avoid sound file transfer problems due to insufficient voice memory create a special Emulator Il sound file transfer disk This disk should have a single voice with the Emulator s entire 17 seconds of sound storage assigned to the voice Use this disk for routine sound file transfers and copy the transferred voices to Emulator Il performance or library disks as required Voice Preset Naming When a Macintosh sound file has been successfully transferred to the Emulator Il it will be stored as an Emulator Il voice in place of the current voice The new voice will retain the name of the replaced voice A new name can be assigned to the voice in any Emulator Il front panel module except Preset Definition or Real Time Control or by using the Emulator ll s voice naming function Presets can be renamed in the Special Real Time Control and Preset Definition modules SE
78. oard commands listed below do not appear as keyboard equivalents in Sound Designer s pull down menus COMMAND MARKER NUMBER COMMAND lt COMMAND gt OPTION OR SHIFT COMMAND lt OPTION OR SHIFT COMMAND gt A marker can be located in the active sound file window by holding down the Command key and typing the marker number from 0 to 9 The sustain loop start marker can be located in the active sound file window by holding down the Command key and typing the lt key The sustain loop end marker can be located in the active sound file window by holding down the Command key and typing the gt key The release loop start marker can be located in the active sound file window by holding down the Option or shift and Command keys then typing the lt key The release loop end marker can be located in the active sound file window by holding down the Option or shift and Command keys then typing the gt key Sound Designer Credits Functional Design Concept Peter Gotcher Evan Brooks Software Evan Brooks Manual Peter Gotcher Additional DSP software and many good ideas Dana Massie Special Thanks to Marco Alpert Suz Howells Dave Rossum Donna Murray Kevin Monahan Riley Smith Scott Wedge Susan Alvaro Randy Nelson Mark Jeffery Kim Harvey Patrick Feehan and Bobby Nathan Copyright This manual and the software described in it are copyrighted 1985 by Digidesign Inc with
79. oo close to the start or end of the sound file a lower value will appear for the crossfade length If the crossfade length is very short less than half of the loop length move the loop markers further from the start or end of the sound file Because crossfade looping uses sound data from around the loop start and loop end points try to select a loop area that has stable amplitude around the loop area as well as within the loop area When crossfade length is equal to loop length the sound file data from before and after the loop points is equal in length to one half of the overall loop length see figure 5 5 SECTION 5 Ey Crossfade Looping File To Loop Cello C 1 O 1kHz Sine Wave Q Guitar A2 Loop Type Forward Forward Backward Xfade Type O Linear Equal Power Loop Length 402 samples Crossfade Length 402 samples Figure 5 5 CROSSFADE LOOPING Dialog Box A B C D Start Li T l PY l End 1 ZI MS P if The loop area is divided into two equal segments B and C and two additional segments A and D each equal to 1 2the loop length are created before and Da the loop area These four segments are crossfaded so that the loop start and loop end points consist of the same sound data A C B D mplitud Figure 5 6 Crossfade Pattern 5 9 SECTION 5 2 RL DIGITAL EQUALIZATION The digital equalizer provides several types of high quality digital filters including peaking
80. orm Scale Marks Calibrated scale marks for both the time and amplitude axis of the waveform display can be activated by clicking once on the scale mark icon located in the control panel The amplitude scale marks are calibrated as percent of full scale PFS Calibration in volts or dB is not used because the actual voltage level at the E2 s outputs is not controlled by Sound Designer 100 amplitude is the point at which digital clipping occurs It is the largest number the computer can assign to an individual sample Unlike a VU meter on a tape machine PFS is not an indicator of the average level of the sound PFS indicates the actual peak level of each individual sample Calibration of the time scale marks varies depending on scaling conditions When the time axis is sufficiently reduced shrinking the waveform on the time axis the time scale marks will be calibrated in seconds As the time axis is magnified streched the scale mark calibration units become milliseconds msec one thousandth of a second and eventually microseconds usec one hundred thousandth of a second Overview The Overview function displays the entire active window sound file in the Overview Window To move the sound file window to a new location in the sound file move the cursor to the desired location and click once on the Continue button SECTION 4 The Cancel button returns to the active sound file window
81. ormat is the method employed by the ND converter to measure the waveform and calculate samples The resolution the accuracy of each amplitude measurement of a sampling instrument is determined by the data format In general the greater the number of bits digital O s and 1 s used to measure each sample the better the resolution However storing a greater number of bits requires more computer memory which is expensive Very high quality digital audio recording systems such as the compact disc typically offer 16 bit resolution Sampled sound instruments sound reasonably good with only 8 bit resolution most first generation samplers had 8 bit data formats The Emulator ll uses a non linear data format capable of approximately 14 bit resolution which is excellent for a sampled sound instrument The Basics Sound Files In Sound Designer terminology a sound file is a single sampled sound The Emulator ll term for a single sampled sound is a voice An Emulator Il voice and a Sound Designer sound file are very similar Each contains a set of samples representing one digital recording So why does Sound Designer use a different name The name difference helps differentiate between samples that are stored on Emulator Il disks and samples that are stored on Macintosh disks The Macintosh is based on a filing system and the name sound file best describes the contents of a sound document The import
82. p end markers in the sound file following the instructions on Page 4 11 Don t place the loop markers too close to the start or end of the sound file the crossfade process requires sound data from before and afterthe loop points You can truncate the sound file after the crossfade loop has been created Once you have placed the loop markers click on the digital mixer icon and select X fade Looping from the menu The Crossfade Looping dialog box will appear Select the Sound File If more than one window is open select the sound file to crossfade loop by clicking on the button next to its name Loop Type Select the loop type The loop type must be the same as the loop type assigned on the Emulator Il i e a forward Crossfade loop will not work if it is played on the Emulator Il in Forwards Backwards loop mode Crossfade Type Select the crossfade type Linear will work best in most cases Use Equal Power to obtain a different amplitude contour of the looped area Loop Lenght Crossfade Length Loop length and crossfade lenght are displayed in the Crossfade Looping dialog box Sound Designer automatically sets the crossfade length to the longest possible value This value will usually produce the best results but you should experiment with shortening the crossfade length The crossfade length is normally equal to the loop length If there is not enough sound file data before and after the loop markers they are t
83. pear on the keyboard When both range and original have been set click once on the Assign Patch button to assign the new voice to the keyboard Delete To delete a voice from a keyboard setup select the voice click once on the voice name then click once on the Delete button Secondary Voices Secondary voices are displayed by clicking on the Secondary Voices button Secondary voices can be assigned and deleted using the same techniques as primary voices Transpose Non Transpose Transpose and Non Transpose buttons will appear under the Assign and Delete buttons when a voice assigned to the keyboard is selected or while a voice is being assigned to a keyboard range Use these buttons to set the transpose mode of the selected voice SECTION 8 File Edit Display Calibrate Tools Made Extras Keyboard Gjo riono 1 Select Preset Setup A O Select Single Voice View of Keyboard Parameters Primary Voices O Positional Crossfades O Secondary Uoices O Velocity Crossfades O Primary Outputs O Velocity Switches Transpose O Secondary Outputs O Non Transpose 03 piano D4 05 piano F 5 01 piano A2 02 piano F 3 04 piano A 4 06 Piano D Figure 8 7 Keyboard Setup Primary Voices 845 8 16 Primary Outputs The Primary Outputs display shows the output channel assignments 1 8 of the primary voices Output channels are represented by horizontal black bars running above the keyboard The channel numbers
84. per second many sounds contain frequencies higher than 20 000 Hz Since we cannot hear these high frequencies we can safely eliminate them without adversely affecting the sound Eliminating super sonic too high to hear sounds makes the process of converting sound into numbers easier for the computer Input filtering is used to remove or filter out unusable high frequencies To record and reproduce sound the computer must measure the amplitude of the sound wave many times per second the amplitude value of each measurement is one sample The frequency with which these samples are taken is the sampling rate The resulting collection of numbers is a road map of changes in amplitude as time passes This is the information the computer requires to recreate the wavefonn However the accuracy of the amplitude value assigned to each sample is limited by the computer s capabilities For example an 8 bit computer can only represent 256 different numbers The computer assigns each sample SECTION 2 the available number that is closest to the actual value As a result the waveform is represented as a series of jagged steps that follow the pattern of the original waveform This process is called quantization When the computer s resolution is inadequate the reproduced waveform will sound grainy due to quantizing noise The higher the number of bits the computer uses to describe each sample the less qu
85. poor signal to noise ratio Experiment carefully with gain settings to obtain the highest possible sample level without noticable clipping A little analog compression applied before the Emulator Il sampling input helps tame sounds that have a wide dynamic range or transient peaks that cause clipping The basic principles of sampling apply to all sampling keyboards despite any manufacturer s marketing hype you may hear to the contrary So why do some sampling instruments sound great we have a particular one in mind and you own it and others sound well not so great Three main factors determine sampling quality sampling rate data format and filter quality Of course the quality of the input signal is also very important A sampling instrument can t improve a bad sound However with Sound Designer s editing and processing capabilities flawed sounds can often be improved Stay tuned for details As we mentioned earlier sampling rate is the number of samples the computer takes each second The Emulator ls sampling rate is 27 777 samples per second The input and output filters used in all sampling instruments currently available are analog filters The quality of these filters varies tremendously Input filters are patticulariy critical they must sharply roll off unwanted high frequencies to prevent aliasing Hence input filters are often called antl aliasing filters 2 3 2 4 SECTION 2 Data F
86. pped with RS 232 interfaces that will not interface with the Macintosh A simple and inexpensive hardware update from RS 232 to the RS 422 Macintosh interface is available from E mu Systems Emulator Il Software Sound Designer requires Version 2 3 or later Emulator Il software Emulator owners with earlier software can obtain the most recent version from E mu Systems at a nominal cost Very Important Version 2 3 Emulator software must be installed on all disks that will be used to boot start up the Emulator ll Use the Emulator Il Write Software function Special 14 to copy the updated software to all boot disks MIDI mode Preset Definition 30 must be set to either OMNI or POLY on all Emulator Il disks that will be used with Sound Designer INTRODUCTION Master Disk A master program disk is provided with Sound Designer Make a copy of this disk immediately Run Sound Designer from this copy using the original master as a key disk When you start the Sound Designer program from the copy a dialog box will appear on the Mac screen asking you to insert your master disk When this message appears insert the master disk briefly then insert the working copy Replacement Master Disk A replacement master disk can be purchased from Digidesign for a nominal cost only if the damaged master disk is returned Updates To receive updates the master disk must be returned to Digidesign for updating We wi
87. r Il are sound source instrument acoustic space and transducer microphone SOUND WAVES Sound waves that follow a repeating pattern have a characteristic known as pitch and are referred to as periodic waves The pitch of a sound is determined by its frequency the number of repeated vibrations per second Frequency is expressed in Hertz Hz or cycles per second Middle C on a piano for example produces a sound wave with a fundamental frequency of 264 Hertz The human ear can hear frequencies that range from approximately 20 Hz to 20 000 Hz This figure varies between individuals as people age or are frequently exposed to very loud music they tend to lose sensitivity to very high frequencies 1 2 SECTION 1 Let s look at a simple waveform a sine wave E Sine wave The waveform is placed on a graph similar to the display of an oscilloscope The vertical axis represents amplitude the level or loudness of the sound wave The horizontal axis is time Most musical waveforms are periodic they follow repeating patterns and they change through time Examining only a very small section of a waveform would not tell us much about the overall sound because we could not see the waveform change as time passes The chart also includes a horizontal zero line because amplitude has has both positive above the zero line and negative below the zero line values The time axis is labelled in units of 1 millisecond
88. sfers it from the Macintosh Sound Designer has now become Designer Sound And you designed it Although the edit you have just performed could have been accomplished with magnetic tape and a razor blade electronic editing is capable of much greater precision Let s perform another edit to create a stuttering announcer SECTION 4 1 Select a short segment at the beginning of the word sound remember sound is the second word now The segment should be approximately one third of the total word This is the s sound 2 Choose copy from the edit menu 3 Create an insertion point at the beginning of the word sound 4 Choose paste from the edit menu This will paste a copy of the s sound at the beginning of the word Choose paste from the edit menu several more times to insert additional s segments 5 Click once on the preview icon to listen to the results of your edit on the Emulator Il The result is a stuttering announcer created by electronic editing This edit is possible although difficult with magnetic tape editing However Sound Designer is capable of editing sound files with single sample accuracy one 27 777th of a second This degree of accuracy is impossible with traditional sound editing techniques Smoothing You may have noticed clicks in your sound file where you have made cut and paste edits These clicks are the result of amp
89. stored with the Macintosh sound file To display information about the active sound file select Get Info from the pull down File menu A dialog box see page 3 9 will appear titled Information About sound file name This information includes File Size in samples Data Format see page 2 4 Sample Rate Date Created Date Last Modified changes were saved and Comments The Comments box is provided for general notes about the sound file i e Fat Snare boosted 10 dB at 1 kHz Click the cursor inside the box then type your comments or notes The Sample Rate value can be edited Sound Designer assumes that sound files transferred from the Emulator Il have a 27777 Hz sample rate If the sound file was sampled on a different sampler a different sample rate may appear The playback pitch when played out of the Macintosh speaker of a sound file can be altered by entering a different value for the sample rate For example if you change the sample rate of an Emulator sample to 13888 the playback pitch will be halved shifted down an octave The Mac Speaker must be set to play back at the Sound File Sample Rate select Mac Speaker from the Calibrate menu to set the playback mode MIDI Keyboard The MIDI keyboard is an on screen picture of a five octave music keyboard that can be used to play the Emulator ll from the Macintosh The MIDI Keyboard also includes a single track polyphonic sequencer for storing
90. tart loop of vibe G2 Loop Sustain ORelease Loop Sustain ORelease O Re Tm ase amr SER D Good Loop Splice Figure 4 7 Loop Window Examples 7 The Digital Mixer Sound Designer s digital mixer provides a variety of digital signal processing DSP functions Remember samples are numbers measurements of the amplitude of the sound at an instant in time Digital signal processing occurs when samples are mathematically manipulated multiplied added etc to create new sample values A type of computer language formula called an algorithm can be used to manipulate the samples to produce a desired change in the sampled sound A relatively simple example of digital signal processing is digital mixing Two sampled sounds can be digitally mixed by adding their corresponding samples i e add the first samples of each sound file together then the second samples etc This operation produces results that are very similar to analog mixing The formula add sample 1 of sound A to sample 1 of sound B and repeat this process for all samples in the sound file is a simple mixing algorithm DSP algorithms can also be used to model imitate complex types of analog signal processing such as equalization and compression Many digital signal processing functions such as time compression and pitch shifting are not possible or practical using analog techniques Digital signa
91. te files select Delete from the File menu A dialog box will appear with a list of files that may be deleted 3 4 Macintosh to Emulator Il Transfer To transfer a sound file from the Macintosh to the Emulator Il select Mac gt E2 from the pull down File menu If the Macintosh is not able to communicate with the Emulator ll for any reason i e interface cable not connected Macintosh interface software not installed in the Emulator Il etc a Can t Communicate alert box will appear If this happens check the interface cable connections and Emulator ll software see the introduction Getting Started Select a Sound File to Transfer If the Macintosh Emulator Il interface is functioning properly a dialog box will appear with a list of sound files available on the current disk drive Drive and Eject buttons are provided for changing the current disk drive or ejecting disks Highlight the file you wish to transfer to the Emulator and click once on the Open button or simply click twice on the sound file name Select An EI Voice to Replace Once you have selected the Macintosh file the Mac gt E2 Fife Transfer dialog box will appear This dialog box displays the name and length in samples of the Macintosh sound file to be sent to the Emulator il The Macintosh sound file must replace an existing Emulator Il voice Select the Emulator Il voice you wish to replace using the up and down arrows located next t
92. the Macintosh from the hard disk 2 Insert the original Sound Designer master disk a copy won t work The disk must be unlocked Start Sound Designer from this disk by double clicking on the Sound Designer icon 3 A hard disk install remove menu will appear Click on the Remove button 4 A dialog box will appear that lists the available disk volumes and folders that Sound Designer can be installed on Use the Disk button to select the hard disk or hard disk volume that Sound Designer is installed on Locate the Sound Designer file and select it click on its name 5 Click once on the Remove button After the remove is complete the hard disk install remove menu will appear Read the dialog box it should say that you have the option to install 1 copy Click on the Finder button to quit to the Finder PROBLEM 1 Macintosh locks up cursor cannot be moved while in Waveform Display or E2 Front Panel Mode 2 Macintosh locks up cursor cannot be moved while in Waveform Display or E2 Front Panel Mode try I first 3 Hyperdrive users only Macintosh locks up the first time it tries to put the E2 into Mac Mode Appendix B Troubleshooting CAUSE Macintosh unable to switch E2 to Mac Mode Macintosh unable to recover from a software error Hyperdrive startup caused communications error Help CURE Press Special 16 on the Emulator front panel manually enter Mac Mode Be sure MI
93. the mouse button The selected waveform section will then become reverse highlighted To create an insertion point simply position the l beam cursor at the desired insertion point and click the mouse button once A flashing vertical line will be displayed at the insertion point Cut Copy and Paste are the three primary waveform editing functions of Sound Designer These functions are located on the pull down edit menu Cut removes the selected waveform section and places it in the waveform clipboard where it is stored until another cut or a copy is performed The waveform clipboard always contains the most recently cut or copied waveform section Copy duplicates the selected waveform section and stores this copy in the waveform clipboard The selected waveform selection is not removed from the waveform As with the cut function the copy of the waveform section remains in the waveform clipboard until another cut or copy is performed Cut and copy will only work if a section of the waveform is selected An insertion point cannot be cut or copied If a section of the waveform is not selected the Cut and Copy commands will appear greyed out in the edit menu indicating that these functions are not available Paste inserts the contents of the waveform clipboard at an insertion point Pasting a waveform section into an insertion point will not overwrite replace any part of the waveform The waveform informat
94. ting are covered in this section Section 5 The Digital Mixer discusses the principles of Digital Signal Processing Sound Designers Digital Mixer functions including Mix Merge and Gain Change are described in this section Section 6 Frequency Analysis and Resynthesis describes the Fast Fourier Transform FFT specifically Sound Designer s FFT based frequency analysis and resynthesis version 2 0 only Section 7 Digital Synthesis covers Sound Designer s algorithm based Direct Digital Synthesis including Karplus Strong and waveshaping version 2 0 only Section 8 Emulator Il Front Panel includes a complete description of Sound Designer s programming aids for each Emulator Il front panel module Appendix A is a procedure for installing Sound Designer on an internal hard disk Appendix B provides troubleshooting tips and a help number to call in case of problems Appendix C is a summary of Sound Designer s menu bar commands A brief description of each command or function is provided for quick reference Special keyboard based commands are also listed Getting Started Congratulations on your purchase of Sound Designer software Our goal at Digidesign is to produce powerful music software at breakthrough prices we think you will agree that Sound Designer offers better features and performance than other computer music systems at a much lower cost Sound Designer is a software based system As a resu
95. ton If the Assign Patch button is greyed out then you have selected an incorrect parameter controller combination i e Left Wheel Sustain that cannot be assigned Footswitches The bottom controller parameter lists set the functions of the Emulator We two footswitches Footswitches can only be assigned parameters from the bottom parameter list Controller parameter combinations can be assigned by clicking on the Assign Patch button SECTION 8 File dit Dismay Calibrate Tools Made Extras Real Time Control Control O Left Wheel O Right Wheel O Pedal A D O MIDI Control A O MIDI Control B MIDI Control C O Footswitch 1 O Footswitch 2 Select Preset Parameter Pitch O Off LFO gt Pitch O Pitch 7 Filter Fc Leuel Leuel LFO gt Filt Fc O LFO gt Pitch Rttack Rate O LFO gt Filter Fc O LFO gt Level on O Attack Rate O Off Q Sequencer Control Sustain O Sustain Release O Release O Sustenuto Assign Patch Advance Preset Figure 8 6 Real Time Control Module 8 13 Special Module Keyboard Setup The Keyboard Setup programming screen can be displayed by clicking once on the Special module Select Preset The keyboard setup information is displayed for the Emulator preset shown in the Preset Selection Box at the top of the screen The up down arrows next to the preset name can be used to scroll through the available presets To display the ke
96. ugh the quality of the Macintosh s playback is inferior to the Emulator Il it is suprisingly good certainly good enough for listening to sounds when the Emulator Il is not available For example a travelling musician could work on sounds in a hotel room without setting up an Emulator Il External Speakers However the maximum output level of the Macintosh s internal speaker amp is very low An external speaker or a set of headphones should be plugged into the external speaker output on the Macintosh rear panel for listening to the Macintosh s playback If you must use the Macintosh s internal speaker set the volume to maximum 7 using the Macintosh control panel not Sound Designer s control panel which can be displayed by selecting Control Panel from the Apple menu Select Port Sound Designer can use either of the Macintosh s serial ports printer or modem to communicate with the Emulator Il To set the port you wish to use select Serial Port from the pull down Calibrate menu you must be in Sound Designer s Waveform Display mode see Section 4 A dialog box will appear with icons representing the two serial ports The modem port is represented by a telephone icon and the printer port is represented by a printer icon Click the button next to the desired serial port Once you have selected a port click on OK 3 7 3 8 Sound File Information Get Info Information about each sound file is
97. und file and specifying the disk drive for storage If the sound file disk does not have enough room to store the new file eject the disk insert a new disk and prepare to swap disks as the function is performed To avoid excessive disk swapping use sound file disks that have substantial free space when performing digital mixer functions Cantinue Mixer Function Dialog Box MIX The mix function allows 2 sound files to be mixed in any proportion The mix function mixes adds the entire contents of two sound files Requirements Two sound files must occupy open windows Mixing proportions The proportion of each sound is specified as a percentage of the mixed sound to be created For example to create a new mixed sound file consisting of equal portions of piano and clarinet enter 50 as the percentage for the piano 50 will automatically be entered by the computer as the percentage of the clarinet sound file to be mixed with the piano sound file As the percentage of piano is increased the mixed sound will sound more like a piano and less like a clarinet G Piano G3 O Ten Sax G3 O G Piano G3 Ten Sax G3 Cancel SECTION 5 Offset An offset feature is provided that allows one sound file to be offset in time before mixing This feature is useful for accurately varying the phase relationship of sounds to be mixed Offset values are specified in units of samples Small variations in the o
98. und file window to the location of the area you wish to redraw Scale the waveform to show a fairly stretched waveform the waveform should not be filled in black to permit accurate drawing Click once on the Pencil Icon located in the control panel the cursor will become a pencil similar to the MacPaint pencil when it is positioned inside the sound file window SECTION 4 Position the tip of the pencil at the waveform at the location where you want to start drawing Click and hold down the mouse button and draw a new waveform the overdrawn waveform segment will be erased The new waveform segment will look fractured as you draw don t worry Sound Designer will smooth the waveform When you have finished drawing release the mouse button Draw the end of the segment very close to the original waveform to avoid clicks due to large amplitude differences between waveform segments 16 SECTION 4 Loop Window The Loop Window displays the active window s loop start and loop end points in a single window The actual splice between the loop endpoints is shown and fine adjustments can be made to the loop points To use the Loop Window select Loop Window from the Tools menu Loop markers must be placed in the sound file Be sure the loop markers are placed close to the desired loop points use the Loop Window for fine tuning The loop window has a horizontal zero line and
99. ve actave Cutoff 15870 Hz Filter 0 21 Key board Figure 8 2 Filter Module 8 5 EIERE VCA LFO Module The VCA LFO module programming screen provides a VCA Attack Decay Sustain Release ADSR graph an LFO low frequency oscillator Rate and Delay graph and LFO Rate Delay Variation and gt VCA controls ADSR Graph The ADSR graph provides a visual representation of the filler ADSR parameters In addition values for the attack decay and release parameters are displayed in seconds or milliseconds and the sustain level is displayed in db below peak level The ADSR graph has 4 segments These are from left to right attack time decay time sustain level and release time Each segment has a small black grab box located on the right end of the segment ADSR Editing Each ADSR parameter may be edited by clicking on its grab box and dragging the segment end to a new location The actual values for the parameter will change as you drag the grab box The attack decay and release time grab boxes may be dragged to the left longer time or right shorter time The sustain grab box may be dragged up higher sustain level or down lower sustain level Any changes made to the filler ADSR can be auditioned by playing the current voice in its assigned range on the Emulator keyboard LFO Rate Delay Graph The LFO Rate Delay graph provides a visual representation of the LFO s rate frequency and the
100. without changing the window s location in the sound file If the Overview Window is displayed with the sound file window at the beginning of the sound file the cursor will be positioned at the extreme left end of the window and may be difficult to see Screen Cursor A Although time locations and amplitude values can be determined with good accuracy by looking at the scale marks the screen cursor permits precise time and amplitude measurements With the scale marks displayed on click once on the screen cursor icon located in the control panel to activate the cursor The cursor will appear on the screen and exact amplitude and time readings will appear in two rectangular boxes located in the control panel Move the cursor by dragging it along the time axis Notice the changing time and amplitude values in the indicator boxes These values update continuously as you move the cursor to help you locate specific time or amplitude values 4 9 SECTION 4 Markers 9 Each waveform window has 10 markers available for marking exact locations in the displayed sound file Markers are neccessary for many functions of the digital mixer see Section 5 Markers are also useful for labeling points of interest in a sound file such as the location of an unwanted noise or a possible editing point To place a marker click on the marker icon located at the bottom of the control panel and drag the marker into position along the
101. y display the current scaling of the time and amplitude axis As you magnify the amplitude scaling stretch the waveform vertically the vertical scale indicator Sine wave Normal Scaling sl less Sine wave 44 0 45 0 Time Axis Stretched US Sine wave Amplitude Axis Stretched Figure 4 2 Scaling Box Adjustment SECTION 4 4 7 4 8 SECTION 4 also stretches Similarly when the time scaling is magnified streching the waveform horizontally the horizontal scale indicator also stretches The scaling indicators show at a glance the amount a waveform is stretched or shrunk on the time and amplitude axis The small greyed out rectangle located between the scaling indicators shows the portion of the waveform that is visable on the amplitude scale For example if you have greatly magnified the amplitude scale so that only a very small part of the vertical waveform is visable the rectangle will become very thin The thin rectangle represents the narrow view you now have of the waveform The position in the overall waveform of the slice being displayed is indicated by the position of the line relative to the scaling indicators If a slice from the top of the waveform is displayed the thin greyed out rectangle will be located at the top of the scaling indicators The greyed out rectangle represents only vertical amplitude scaling and positioning of the
102. y 13 kHz If we divide this frequency range into 128 bands each band has a range of about 100 Hz Bands On Screen The Bands on Screen parameter selects the range of bands to be displayed on the screen For example to display the frequency analysis of the lower frequencies of a sound in greater detail click on From and select bands Oto 50 If a 128 point FFT is used the plot will display an analysis of frequencies from Direct Current 0 Hz to 5 000 Hz When the All button is selected all of the FFT bands will be displayed in the frequency plot Graph Scales The time and frequency graph scaling linear or logarithmic can be independently selected The default setting for both scales is Linear Logarithmic scaling can be usefull for displaying finer detail under some Display View The frequency analysis display can be viewed either front to back or back to front Front to back displays the first time slice at the front of the screen with each subsequent time slice plotted behind the previous slice Back to front displays the first time slice at the back of the screen with each subsequent time slice plotted in front of the previous slice Mesh displays the frequency response plot as a mesh surface of intersecting time and frequency lines Graph displays the frequency response plot as either frequency slices lines or time slices lines Chart displays the frequency response plot as unconnected verti
103. yboard setup information for a different preset select the preset and click once on the Look button to update the screen Primary Voices When the Primary Voices button is pushed the keyboard setup display will show all primary voices assigned to the current preset To show the range and original pitch location of a voice click once on the name of the voice The transposing range of the voice is indicated by a black bar running along the top of the keyboard and the original pitch is indicated by a grey block If many voices are assigned in a small keyboard area the voice names are stacked click on an area of the voice name that does not overlap other voice names Assigning Voices To assign a voice to the keyboard select the voice to be assigned using the voice selection box at the top of the screen To place the voice on the keyboard click on the note you wish to assign to either end of the range low or high Hold down the mouse button and drag the cursor to the other end of the range and release the mouse button The range is now assigned To assign the original pitch position the cursor on the desired note and click the mouse button once You can drag the original note position along the keyboard while the mouse button is depressed the location will not be set until you release the mouse button Assign Patch Incorrect range and original pitch settings will not be displayed only correct settings ap

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