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Advanced DigiPlayer V3.0ß User's Guide Copyright (C) 1991 Sami Tammilehto ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- HOW TO USE THIS MANUAL It is suggested that you print this manual and test the features described in the manual with the program right away. This makes it easier to understand the different functions. To test sample editing functions, load a sample by loading the program with DOS command line: DP <sample-file-name> In this manual the Advanced DigiPlayer is often referred to as ADP. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- CONTENTS 1 Executing the Advanced DigiPlayer 1.1 The DP batch file 1.2 Command line switches (all are non-case-sensitive) 1.3 Command line filenames 1.4 Program requirements 2 Memory usage 2.1 Virtual memory 2.2 Disk temporary file 3 Screen usage 3.1 Virtual screen technique 3.2 Pointer 3.3 Buttons 3.4 Sample windows 3.5 Info window 3.6 File window 3.7 Pop-up windows 4 Keyboard/Mouse 4.1 Mouse 4.2 Keyboard mouse 4.3 Global keys 4.4 Keys in message windows 4.5 Aborting processes 5 Sample windows 5.1 Selecting the current sample window 5.2 The sample outlook 5.3 Position indicator 5.3.1 What is a position indicator? 5.3.2 Moving sample position indicator 5.4 Area 5.4.1 What is an area? 5.4.2 Selecting an area 5.5 Loop 5.5.1 What is a loop? 5.5.2 Changing a loop 5.6 Infoline 6 Playing the sample 6.1 Selecting a playing mode 6.2 Selecting a loop mode 6.3 Select continuing 6.4 Playing 6.5 Stopping the sample 7 Viewing/Marking buttons 7.1 General 7.2 Commands 8 Info window usage 8.1 Different modes 8.2 Info window buttons 8.3 Scope options 8.4 Vars mode 9 Editing commands 9.1 General 9.2 Clipboard 9.3 Commands 10 Special editing commands 10.1 General 10.2 Commands 10.2.1 Commands: Misc.Modify 10.2.2 Commands: Filters 10.2.3 Commands: Volume 10.2.4 Commands: Chords 10.2.5 Commands: Position 10.2.6 Commands: Resampling 10.2.7 Commands: Special 11 File window 11.1 General 11.2 Scrolling the windows 11.3 Loading a sample 11.4 Saving a sample 11.5 Displaying a sample 11.6 Loading directly to window 11.7 Adding new empty samples 11.8 Marking samples in memory 11.9 Removing a sample 11.10 Renaming a sample 11.11 Changing directories 12 Digitizing 12.1 General 12.2 Commands 12.3 Using the scope 12.4 Hints for digitizing 12.5 SoundBlaster's oversampling problems 13 Options 13.1 General 13.2 Switches 14 SM-Lists 14.1 General 14.2 SM-List contents 14.3 Loading a SM-List 14.4 SM-List window 14.5 Commands 15 Miscellaneous commands 15.1 General 15.2 Commands ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1. Executing the Advanced DigiPlayer 1.1 The DP batch file The ADP is normally executed with a batch file. This batch file is called by default DP.BAT. The batch file will then execute the actual executable file (DIGIPLAY.EXE) with correct command line parameters to specify configuration and other options. The basic DP.BAT should look something like this: DIGIPLAY %1 %2 %3 %4 %5 Add all the switches between the 'DIGIPLAY' and '%1', for example: DIGIPLAY /P1 %1 %2 %3 %4 %5 1.2 Command line switches (all are non-case-sensitive) /H Displays a list of all available options /E Enables the EMS usage. If you have expanded memory (EMS) you can tell ADP to use it with this switch /F Force EGA mode. If you have an EGA card but the colors are weird etc the ADP may have recognized your card to be a VGA compatible one. In this case this option should help. /K Use keyboard mouse. This switch disables a mouse if one is on the system and orders ADP to use cursor keys for moving the pointer. If no mouse is found, this option is automatically used. /C Use Covox Sound Master II -sound card. /D Debugmode. With this switch the ADP shows some information while initializing. This may help you to pinpoint where the initialization fails (if the machine for example hangs because of wrong settings). /T Testmode. Do not check for soundcard. The switch orders the ADP to skip the soundcard presence check. If soundcard is not present and ADP is executed with /T ADP will seem to work properly until you start to play/digitize something. At this point the program will work incorrectly or even hang the machine. This switch should be used for test purposes only. Avoid it unless you fully understand it. /A### Specifies the address of the sound card (consult card manual for details) /I# Specifies the interrupt number of the sound card (consult card manual for details) /S#### Specifies the default samplerate for ADP. /P# Selects the color set for the screen. Following sets (palettes) are available: 0 = Gold-Velvet (default) 1 = Full-Metal 2 = Cream-Metal 3 = Wild-Neon! (VGA only) 4 = Arctic (VGA only) 5 = Desert (VGA only) 1.3 Command line filenames You can specify one or more files on the command line. For example: DP sample1 sample2 sample3 The example loads all three samples to the memory (%#'es in the batch file will be replaced by DOS with the correct filenames. Consult your DOS manual for more information on passing command line parameters through batch files). First two samples are displayed in the two windows while others remain in memory and can be displayed with methods described later. 1.4 Program requirements The Advanced DigiPlayer requires a SoundBlaster-card (from Creative Labs, Inc.) or a Sound Master II -card (from Covox Inc.) and EGA/VGA compatible display and a hard disk. It also supports mouse and EMS (expanded memory) which both make the program easier and faster to use. The program also uses the hard disk as virtual memory, so the more diskspace you have, the larger samples you can edit. ADP practically requires an AT or higher to operate fast though it works with a fast PC as well. Mainly when playing/ digitizing with high speeds or looping small loops may take more processing power than the PC is able to give. Also using the scope will slow down the program. With AT or higher there should be no speed problems. 2 Memory usage 2.1 Virtual memory The ADP can handle multiple samples (64 to be exact) with combined size up to 32MB. It uses virtual memory to accomplish this. In practice, it means that the ADP uses the harddisk as a temporary storage. ADP can also use EMS as virtual memory, and if EMS is enabled (with commandline parameter) it is filled first, and the hard disk is used only after EMS is full. 2.2 Disk temporary file The ADP uses a temporary file DIGIPLAY.TMP on the harddisk. ADP removes the file after the program has ended. If the program for some reason terminates abnormally, the DIGIPLAY.TMP will remain on the harddisk. Also a number of lost clusters may appear (because ADP fails to close the file). You can correct this problem by running DOS'es CheckDisk with parameter /F (for fix). Thus you type: CHKDSK /f and press enter. This will create some files to the root directory with the appendix .CHK. (the files have normally a format FILE####.CHK where #### is a number). You can remove these and after this all of the 'lost' diskspace is freed. 3 Screen usage 3.1 Virtual screen technique The ADP uses a virtual screen of 640x800 pixels. In practice this means that only a part of the screen is displayed at once, and the screen can be scrolled by moving the pointer near the top or bottom border. Horizontally the entire screen is always visible, but vertically you will only see about half of it (depending on your display. VGA shows 480 pixels, EGA 350). Because of this screen mode, the ADP requires either an IBM VGA or IBM EGA compatible display. VGA is preferred because it has a larger palette, and the program will thus look better. 3.2 Pointer The Pointer is a white arrow which you can move either with mouse or arrow keys (keyboard mouse mode). The pointer is used to point, press, and mark things and areas. Here are some words used for referring the usage of the pointer. Point - Move pointer to an object Click - Click object (with left button unless specified otherwise) Double Click - Click twice in rapid succession (with left button unless specified otherwise) Drag - Hold (left unless specified otherwise) button and move mouse to mark an area 3.3 Buttons There are three kinds of buttons in the screen. They differ by visual appearance (except in some nondefault palettes). The command buttons are (in default palette) gold colored, and can be clicked to activate commands. They descend when you press them and pop up when you release the button (there are some exceptions like the play/stop buttons which act like the ones in a tape recorder; for example play stays down as long as the sample is being played). The selection buttons are (in default palette) a bit more orange than the command buttons. They are always in (normally vertical) groups. Of a group, only one selection button can be selected at once. When you click a selection button, it goes down, and the previous selection pops up. Switches can be either on or off. They can be recognized from a little red (in default palette) light in their right end. When the light is on (red) the switch is on. You can click switches to toggle their state. 3.4 Sample windows There are two windows in the virtual screens topside where you can display samples. They are named 'upper' and 'lower' respectively. More about sample windows later in this document. 3.5 Info window Info window is a little window just below the sample windows on the right side. It can contain various kinds of information. You can select the information it shows with a selection group just left to it. 3.6 File window The file window is in the bottom-right corner of the virtual screen. It contains two smaller windows of which the left one displays the samples in memory and the right one samples in current disk directory. The file window and buttons related to it are separated from other buttons by being on a bit higher level. 3.7 Pop-up windows There are many different kinds of pop-up windows. In the default palette they are all metallically colored. Information windows only pop up and display information. They will disappear when the process they were informing about is finished. Warning/Message windows are similar to message windows, but they have an OK button which you must press before you can continue (You can also press ENTER). Query windows have two buttons, YES and NO. You must press the correct button according to the question the window asks. Question windows have a little subwindow to which you can enter a number or text based on the question. Number Question windows have a similar subwindow as the Question windows for entering data. The also have a bar above the subwindow from which you can by clicking/dragging select a value with mouse. Entering a number from keyboard is of course more exact, but if you don't need to be exact, using mouse may be easier. 4 Keyboard/Mouse 4.1 Mouse The different mouse methods (click, drag etc.) were specified earlier. The default mousebutton is the left one, and the right one is used only in special places. Normally it doesn't matter with which mouse button you press on a screen button, but in arrows for example, pressing the right button changes values/scrolls faster than the left button. 4.2 Keyboard mouse The keyboard mouse emulates a normal mouse with the numeric keypad. By pressing arrows the pointer will move (and accelerate) and by holding down shift simultaneously the pointer will go at faster steady rate. The two mouse buttons are emulated with INS (left button) and DEL (right button). For example to drag, just hold down the correct button. 4.3 Global keys By pressing ESC the program will generally abort whatever it's doing (although it may take a while). If nothing is happening the ADP will prompt whether or not you want to quit to DOS and acts accordingly to your answer. CTRL-PGUP/CTRL-PGDN scrolls the virtual screen up and down; It may be handy if you are using keyboard mouse. When you are using a normal mouse though, it may be easier just to go to the border and 'push' it. [ and ] (angle brackets) select the active sample window. The sample window can also be selected by clicking the desired window with the mouse. SHIFT-F1 will display quick keyhelp on all the buttons. These keyhelps appear as little letters in each buttons top-right corner. They specify the key(s) to press to activate that button. The buttons which have no keyhelps, must be activated by clicking them with the pointer. You will probably find the keyboard shortcuts more effective when you get used to the program, but in the beginning using mouse is simplier. F1 offers help by displaying a help window. 4.4 Keys in pop-up windows You can exit a message window with ENTER. For queries you can also press 'Y' or 'N' according to your selection. 4.5 Aborting processes You can abort the sample editing functions like CUT,COPY,SET VOLUME etc. Please avoid aborting these functions, because doing so will probably corrupt the sample you were processing because the operation couldn't be finished. If you do abort them, the part of the sample they already got processed will remain in processed state, and the part not yet processed will also remain so. Thus the result is probably very undesirable. You'd better save a sample before doing very complicated operations on it, for you cannot undo if something went wrong. 5 Sample windows 5.1 Selecting the current sample window The current sample window is selected by clicking on it with the pointer. You can also click on its border so that your click won't affect its contents. Dual vertical bars will be displayed on both sides of the selected window to identify it. 5.2 The sample outlook The sample is displayed in green and it represents the sound curve. The sample is shown as it would be shown on an oscilloscope though it is seldom in normal size and is often unzoomed, so that you could see the sample entirely. When the sample is unzoomed a lot, you can only see the general amplitude of the sound along the sample. The more the curve goes up und down, the higher the volume. 5.3 Position indicator 5.3.1 What is a position indicator? The sample position indicator is a white vertical line which is laid over the sample (it will show red on top of green (in default palette)). The position indicator specifies a position to which you will want to do something (like add silence, paste or mix other samples etc). When playing it also shows the place at which the sample is being played. The point the position indicator is on when playing is the point you hear from the speakers. The pointer returns to its original position when the playing is stopped. 5.3.2 Moving sample position indicator You can move it by clicking the right mousebutton at the location where you wish to move it. When playing, you cannot move the pointer for it automatically follows the playing position. 5.4 Area 5.4.1 What is an area? Area is displayed with grey background (and brighter sample color). It is used to specify a part of the sample you wish to edit/process. It can also be used as a boundary for playing; you can for example play the area over and over. 5.4.2 Selecting an area You can select an area by dragging it with the pointer. You can also change only one end of the area by dragging it (remember to point the end of the area as exactly as possible). If you want to reselect an area, but the new area is so close to the old one the program thinks you just want to adjust the previous area-ends, then click somewhere farther or unmark the area after which you can select a new one easily. 5.5 Loop 5.5.1 What is a loop? The loop is represented with two big arrow brackets on the sample (brown in default palette). The [ represents the loop start and the ] represents the loop end. The loop is saved into the header when you save a file. It's used to identify a part of the sample that can be played continuously. For example, if you are editing an instrument the loop can specify an area that can be looped to make the instrument sound longer. The loop is something you don't generally use in the ADP. It is information meant for the programs that will use the sample you have created with the ADP. Thus the loop can only be changed (see next chapter) or copied to the area or vice versa. Generally you'd seek a good looping point by using the area, and when the area sounds good, you can copy it to the loop and then perhaps try to enhance the area. If the enhanced result doesn't sound good, you can always revert to the loop by copying it to the area and try again. 5.5.2 Changing a loop You cannot create a loop directly. You can, however, change it by taking a hold of its ends with the right button (as you'd move the position indicator) and then drag the loop begin/end. 5.6 Infoline Infoline is displayed under both sample windows. It has several modes which can be changed by clicking on the line. In mode 1 you can see following things: Pos: position indicator's position in bytes from the beginning of the sample Size: size of the entire sample DispStart: first byte in display DispEnd: last byte in display 1:### zoom factor, where ### is a number. For example 1:10 means that every horizontal pixel in screen equals 10 bytes in the sample In mode 2 you will see same information except that the DispStart and DispEnd are changed to AreaStart and AreaEnd specifying the area you have selected. In mode 3 the AreaStart and AreaEnd are changed to AreaLength and LoopLength to inform the length of the area/loop (end-beginning+1). Mode 4 is same as mode 2 except that it shows LoopStart/ end instead of AreaStart/End. In mode 4 you can see a time axis specifying the positon from the beginning of the sample in seconds: '\mm:ss.xx' '\' points to the point where this time value is correct and mm is minutes, ss second, and xx fractions of a second. mm and ss are omitted if they are zero. 6 Playing the sample 6.1 Selecting a playing mode There are four modes for you to select. They are displayed in a selection group beside the playbutton. They are the following: Area Play area Loop Play loop Screen Play entire window Sample Play entire sample If no area/loop is selected for the two first modes, entire window is considered to be an area. 6.2 Selecting loopmode The loop switch is below the play button. When it is on, the sample will be looped until you stop it with the stop button, otherwise it will stop automatically after the selected area has been played once. 6.3 Select continuing If the continuing button (beside the loop button; the one with a 'C' letter on it) is on, the playing will start at the position indicator and not at the beginning of the area/loop/screen/sample as normally. 6.4 Playing To play the sample, press the PLAY button. Note that scope can be used while played (More about the scope later). The sample will be played at the samplerate specified by the samplerate defined in the Vars mode of the Info window (the samplerate can be seen in the Memory mode of the Info window, too). Remark that the PLAY button stays down while the sound is being played and pops up only after you press STOP or HALT or the sound ends. Remark also, that if you loop very little areas at high speed, it may take a moment before the ADP can syncronize itself if your machine is not fast enough. Also if you play at very slow speed, it may take a while before the sound can be heard (around a second or so). As said, the samplerate is located in the Vars mode of the Info window. If you change this rate from the Info window, it will not effect the playing speed before PLAY is pressed. Thus if you are playing and change the samplerate, it will only take effect after the sample is restarted. There is also another option for setting the samplerate; a button right of the RECORD and ANALYZe buttons. If you change the rate with this button, it also effects the playing immediately. 6.5 Stopping the sample There are two options for stopping. The first option; STOP stops the sample and returns the position indicator to its original position before the playing started. The second option; HALT stops the sound, but leaves the position indicator to where it was when the HALT was pressed. 7 Viewing/Marking buttons 7.1 General These buttons are next to the playing/stopping buttons on their right. They are all in a single column. 7.2 Commands VIEW ALL This command adjusts the zoom factor to fit the entire sample to the window. ZOOM AREA This command adjusts the display start/end and zoom factor to fit the selected area to the window. UNZOOM This command divides the zoom factor by 2 while keeping the samples center at the sample position and thus enables you to see more of the sample. MARK SCRN Marks the entire window as on area. UNMARK Removes a marked area. <<< Scrolls the sample left. [F] Attempts to make a mathematical fix of the area looping. In practice: 1) select an area which sounds pretty good as a loop. 2) press [F] This button tries to align the area beginning and end so that there would be minimum cracks when the area loop. Remember though that this is a mathematical solution, and the human ear generally beats it. Also if a sample is very 'unloopable' this button can't accomplish much. Also the [F] may be unable to fix very small areas (in this case the area will disappear as the result of the fixing). >>> Scrolls the sample right. BEG Marks area beginning at the position indicator. POS Moves the position indicator to byte specified with a question window. END Marks area end at the position indicator. Ar>Lo Copies the current area to loop. This is the only way to actually create a loop if none is previously selected. Lo>Ar Like the previous, but vice versa. SampleRate Will change the samplerate. Also effects the sample being played. 8 Info window usage 8.1 Different modes The mode can be selected with a selection group left to the window. Following modes area available: MEMORY shows the amount of free memory and some other memory statistics and also the samplerate. VARS shows different variables (more about it later in this manual). SCOPE shows a scope (try it to see what it is) of the sound outputted or inputted. 8.2 Info window buttons Below the info window there are four arrow-buttons for adjusting values; use PREV and NEXT buttons to select a field, and SET VALUE button to set an exact value with a question window. 8.3 Scope options When the scope is displayed, you can halt it temporarily by holding down the arrow-buttons. 8.4 Vars mode In Vars mode you will see the samplerate (in Herz) and Mixing values (see the mixing command later in the manual) You can select a field you wish to change with PREV and NEXT buttons, and then adjust it with either the SET VALUE or arrow buttons. (note that the samplerate can also be set with an another button: SampleRate) 9 Editing commands 9.1 General Editing commands are arranged into a column right to the viewing commands. You must always select an area for most of these routines because they process it. Some routines need the position indicator, for they'll affect the position it points. 9.2 Clipboard There is one special sample, the <ClipBoard> which is used by the editing commands. It is the first sample in the memory list. It can NOT be edited (all editing commands except SAVE AREA and DUPLICATE are inoperative in clipboard), but it can be played and displayed to see what it happens to contain after a series of CUT etc. operations. Note that the Clipboard is NOT a place to store samples etc. for most of the editing commands will destroy its previous contents. For example cut clears the clipboard before it cuts the selected area. If you want to save the clipboards contents, you might DUPLICATE it (dealt later in this manual). 9.3 Commands CUT this command 'cuts' the selected area from the sample (thus removing it) and copies it to the clipboard. If you cut mistakenly, you can undo your cut by pressing PASTE which will paste the cutted block back. COPY this command only copies the area to the clipboard and does not remove it. DUPLICATE this command copies the area to a new sample it creates by asking its name in a question window. The new sample will be created to MEMORY and it is not saved to disk unless you save it from the filebox. PASTE this command inserts the clipboard to the current sample at the position indicator. MIX this command mixes the clipboard to the current sample at the position indicator. It will set the sample's volume to Mixvol/Sample percent (specified in Infowindow/Vars mode) of the original volume and the clipboard's to Mixvol/paste percent, and then mixes them together. The volume changes are only temporary during the mixing. ZERO this command zeroes (silences) the area. REMOVE this command cuts the area but does not copy it to the clipboard and thus destroys it. Take care with this option for the removed part can not be restored. PASTE ZERO this command inserts a number of zeroes (silence) bytes (specified with a question window) to the position indicator. SAVE AREA this command saves an area directly to the disk. (it will not be added to the memory list) 10 Special editing commands 10.1 General These commands are situated below the editing commands. They too process an area, but default to the entire window if no area is specified. They modify the sample in multiple different ways. If the sample is being played while you press any of these commands the sound is temporarily halted. 10.2 Commands The commands are divided to following categories: 10.2.1 Commands: Misc.Modify Amiga->PC will convert a signed sample to unsigned and vice versa. If a sample is copied from Amiga it'll by default sound terrible (a lot of hi frequency noise) but with this command you can covert it to the PC format and save your ears. SB/digfix will attempt to remove cracs caused by the poor digitizer on SoundBlaster. If you digitize at a 'too-high' volume and the curve overflows from the top or bottom, the SB may create nasty cracks to the sound. This command can generally remove them if they are not too big. 10.2.2 Commands: Filters Boost:hi this filter enhances high frequencies in the sample. F:Hi-pass will filter low frequncies away and pass the hi ones creating a very (normally too) clear sample. F:Lo-pass will filter hi frequencies and thus removes things like noise etc. with the cost of clarity. 10.2.3 Commands: Volume MaximizeVol if the sample has a lot of 'empty space' above or below it you can use this command to automaticly set the samples volume so that it is the highest possible without the sample going over edges. You often put the sample over edges a little with the Set volume command without any quality loss and it's generally a good idea if the sample has a lot of different volume levels. Set volume will set the volume to a specified precentage relative to its current percentage. Slide vol. will slide the volume. The command asks the volume for the beginning and end of the area and slides the volume in between. Smooth ends makes a little (100 byte) slide to the end and beginning of the area and thus assures the sample is 'quiet' in both the beginning and the end. 10.2.4 Commands: Chords MakeMajor Will make a major chord (CEG) of the sample. Generally usable for instruments. MakeMinor Will make a minor chord (CEbG or CD#G) of the sample. Generally usable for instruments. MakeCustom Will make a custom chord. The command asks you two half note adders to create a three note chord. The first note is always C, the two others are specified by half note additions to C. For example, if you want to create a CEA chord you can enter 4 and 8 for the two half-note adders. The half note adders are: 0:C 1:C# 2:D 3:D# 4:E 5:F 6:F# 7:G 8:G# 9:A 10:A# 11:B 12:C2 10.2.5 Commands: Position MoveCenter Moves the 'center' of the sample. For example RealSound samples are only 5 bit ones, so they are shown in the top area of the sample window (with often a weird effect when the emphaz.curve option on). A positive value moves the curve downwards, a negative one upwards. AutoCenter This function determines the center by taking an average of the sample and then moves the average point to the center. Generally works pretty well. 10.2.6 Commands: Resampling Resample resamples the sample to a new samplerate. For example if you have a sample digitized at 12000Hz and you'd like to put it into a program that plays it with 10000Hz, you can resample it to 10000Hz with this command. The sample length is of course changed. Also some quality will be lost if you resample to a lower frequency. When resampling up, multiplying the current samplerate by a power of 2 gives the best results. The Double command is a quick way to resample up by 2. Halve will resample to (current samplerate)/2. Double will resample to (current samplerate)*2. 10.2.7 Commands: Special Reverse will reverse the selected area and playing it after this command naturally plays it backwards. Reverb adds multiple close echoes to the sample like in a big room (though not just like so). You can specify the amount of reverbing. Very big values tend to garble the sample though. Echo echoes the sample/selected area. You will be first asked the number of echoes you wish. By answering 0 the program will produce an indefinite number of echoes. The second question asks the echo magnitude. 100 means the volume will never change, 50 means that every echo will be twice quieter than the original sample (echo volume=50% of the original volume). You can also specify number over 100, in which case echoes will be STRONGER than the original sample. The next question determines the amount of bytes between echoes. For example 5000 means that the first echo starts at the beginning of the area+5000. The last question specifies the maximum size for the sample. If you order the ADP to produce indefinite echoes, it will do so until the length of the sample is the one specified here. Note that the echoes can and generally will extend beyond the area you selected to be echoed. Blastecho will create an explosion like 'tzzhounng' to the beginning of the sample. It's best when used with sounds like explosions, drums, cymbals etc. Crossfade will mix the sample with itself backwards. Practically the effect makes the sample to be easier to loop. For example a crossfaded piano will start normally, but from the middle on the beginning attack of the sample will grow and the sample will end into a reverse bing of the piano-sample. Generally the crossfade is usable for pretty uniform samples (like strings) that can't be easily looped because of their sound characteristics. Robotize will make the sample sound like 'robot speech' by making small silence periods throughout the sample. Generally works best with speech. You can specify the amount of silence. Flanging will add multiple resamplings of the sample to itself generating a sort of a lenghtened blastecho effect. You can specify the amount of flanging. Very big values tend to garble the sample though. 11. File window 11.1 General The file window is situated in the lower-right-hand corner of the virtual screen. It has two subwindows of which the left one specifies the samples in memory and the right one the samples in current disk directory. 11.2 Scrolling the windows You can see the area the list window is displaying from the green bar between the arrows on the right. You can scroll a list by pressing the arrows. (right button scrolls faster). 11.3 Loading a sample Select a sample from the disk box and press the LOAD button (between the lists). You can alternatively doubleclick the samplename. Especially if you are using the keyboard, a quick way to load is to press 'l' (or the NAMELD button) after which ADP will prompt for a filename to load. This is especially handy if you remember the name of the file to be loaded. The loaded file is automatically placed into a sample window. To reload the sample you are currently editing (if some effect went wrong etc.) you can press the REVERT (or 'e') to revert to the saved copy of the sample. You'll be prompter if you're sure you want to overwrite the sample in memory. 11.4 Saving a sample Same as loading, except you must select the sample from the memory list and press SAVE. You can also press the SAVEC (or 's' at the keyboard) to save the current sample you are editing. Note that each sample in memory has the original path from which it was loaded stored so that if you use the SAVEC or REVERT button the sample will be saved/loaded to/from its original path. If you press the SAVE button between the two windows, the path will be discarded and the sample will be saved to the current directory. Also using RENAME will discard the path. 11.5 Displaying a sample To display a sample in memory, select it and press To^ to get the sample to the upper window, Tov to get the sample to the lower window or ToO to get the sample to the window NOT currently selected (you can also doubleclick in the memory window to view a sample clicked). 11.6 Loading directly to window Select the sample from the disk box and press directly To^/Tov/ToO button. Note that you must NOT doubleclick the sample in the diskbox. 11.7 Adding new empty samples To add a new empty sample for example for digitizing press the Add NoName button. The ADP will then add a sample called 'NoName' to the memory list. If there already is a sample called 'NoName' ADP will prompt you to rename the old one. 11.8 Marking samples in memory You can mark a selected sample in memory window with Mark button. A marked sample will be displayed in dimmer color. Marking is used when playing multiple samples; more about it later in this manual. Marking a marked sample will unmark it. 11.9 Removing a sample Select a sample and press REMOVE. This function will remove the sample from memory and it can NOT be restored. Take care with this function. 11.10 Renaming a sample Select a sample and press RENAME. ADP will prompt for the new filename. 11.11 Changing directories To change to a directory/drive, select it from the file window (directories are preceeded by a little arrow) and press LOAD or doubleclick the filename. 12 Digitizing 12.1 General The digitizing commands area is situated just below the playing buttons. The digitizing buttons act as the PLAY button and stay down until STOP is pressed. 12.2 Commands RECORD This command will record sound to the current sample. NOTE that the previous contents of the samples will be destroyed. ANALYZ This command acts otherwise as record, but it doesn't save the data digitized nor does it destroy the contents of the samples. It can be used to study the incoming sound in scope and to adjust volumes etc. correctly. 12.3 Using the scope You should never digitize with too big incoming volume, for this will ruin the sample. You can use the scope (press the scope button and scope will appear to the info window) to display the incoming sound. Remember to press ANALYZe as well to engage the analyzing process. To get the volume correctly, play the sample you are about to digitize and adjust the volume so that the scope WON'T go to red (at least not often). You can see this by looking at a green bar beside the scope on the right side. When this bar flashes to red, the volume is too high. It usually doesn't matter if the scope flashes only briefly in few places of the sample, but it is suggested that you try to avoid it getting to red in any case, for this will give better quality. Do not keep the volume too low either, for then you will also lose quality. The idea is to adjust the volume as high as possible without the scope going red. 12.4 Hints for digitizing Always record the voices you want to digitize first on a cassette (unless you have a very good microfone and a very bad tape recorder) for adjusting volume etc. will be easier when the source is stable. Also it's easy to record the desired sound multiple times to get a good one on the tape, and then digitize the tape multiple times on different options to get optimum quality. First ANALYZe the incoming sound with scope and adjust the volume correctly. Then rewind the cassette and RECORD the sample. It is also a generally good idea to record a bit extra before and after the actual voice you want to digitize. You can then DUPLICATE or SAVE AREA or CUT the wanted voice from the larger sample by selecting it to an area and then executing the correct command. Never digitize until your memory is filled, because then also your harddisk will be filled and you will be unable to save the sample unless you have multiple drives and save the sample to another drive. Of course you can digitize till the memory is full and then REMOVE the nondesired parts of the long sample to get free memory. 12.5 SoundBlaster's oversampling problems If the volume is too big, even a little, the SoundBlaster will create nasty clicks to the points where the sample goes 'out of scope'. Not to all of them, but pretty many depending on the amount of extra volume. There is a special command SB/digfix which can remove most of these clicks, and it's suggested that you use it if your sample goes near the edges. Also it's sometimes wise to digitize over if you have for example a music sequence which has noisy drums but quiet melody. If you digitize over you will get better accuracy on the melody, and the drums may not sound so bad if you use the SB/digfiz command. Experiment with the oversampling, and you'll learn what's the right amount (if any) in different cases. 13 Options 13.1 General The options are situated below the PLAY/STOP keys and are all switch buttons. 13.2 Switches EMPHAZ.CURVE When on, the curve in sample windows is enhanced so that it shows the amplitude of the sample clearer. When sample is zoomed enough the EMPHAZ.CURVE is automatically disabled. It only enhances the display when the zoom factor is big. DIG.PASS.THR (digitize pass through) When this option is on, the SoundBlaster's output is kept on when digitizing. This apparently doesn't work properly on all blasters, and it is thus suggested that you don't use it. Generally you should here the incoming sound but with terrible quality. The actual sound digitized is however as good as without this option. It's generally designed for you to be able to digitize from a headphone connector etc. which disables you to hear the equipment playing the sound. This option is for the SoundBlaster only. SCOPE HOLD This option, when set, causes the scope to try to hold waveforms steady so that for example sine waves of different frequency will not 'roll' in the scope window. This slows down the scope and is thus not suggested in slow machines. The best way to get a grip of the scope holding is to analyze incoming sound and connect a microphone to the sound input and then say for example letters and toggle the scope holding. The scope hold won't work well on very low or high frequencies. DIGITIZ.WAIT When enabled, the digitizer will start digitizing only when sound of some magnitude is coming from the sound input. When off, the digitizer will start digitizing immediately when the DIGITIZE button is pressed. SAVE HEADER When enabled, the ADP will save it's own header to the start of all the samples saved. When disabled no header is saved. It is suggested that you save headers unless you want to transfer samples to another program not supporting ADP headers (like ScreamTracker 2.x). If you do not use this option, no loop/samplerate information can be stored to the sample. SAVE SETTINGS Is a command button, and saves the above settings to a disk file DIGIPLAY.SET from where the settings will be loaded when ADP is executed. 14 SM-Lists 14.1 General The SM-Lists are lists with which you can order the ADP to play multiple samples in a specific order (you can also add specific spaces between the samples). 14.2 SM-List contents There are three different list entries. The primary entries are file (sample) names of the sounds to be played. There is also a special method for adding spaces. By entering a name with a ? (question mark) in the beginning you can enter a specific number of bytes of emptines (for example ?15000 will add 15000 bytes of silence). Remember NOT to put a space between the question mark and the number and also note that the maximum silence length is 32000 bytes. (you may chain multiple silences to make longer ones). You can also enter a special name * (asterisk). When an asterisk is to be played the ADP will restart the list and thus play the list round and round until you stop it. For example a SM-list: sample1 ?5000 sample2 * will first play sample1, then 5000 bytes of silence, the sample 2 and then again sample1 etc. 14.3 Loading a SM-List There are two options, either entering a string by hand (SM: LOAD ORDER STRING) or loading it from a file with SM: LOAD ORDER FILE. If you enter the string by hand you will only have one line to fill, but with files, you can specify up to 256 orders (or 2048 bytes) worth of list. Both buttons will load all samples entered to the list but not found in memory. You must not use path names in the SM-list. 14.4 SM-List window The little window situated to the left of the SM-buttons is named the SM-List window. It shows the samples in the list (or <LOOP> or <SPACE>). The highlighted name is the one being currently played and from this list you can see which sample is being played. When the list is not being played the first sample is highlighted. 14.5 Commands SM: Load order string This command will ask for a directory string as in SoundModule and load it to memory. All samples that have to be loaded are automatically marked. If a sample specified in the string is already in the memory, it is NOT loaded nor marked. SM: Load order file This command acts as the previous one but the oreder string will be loaded from a file whose name is asked. The string must be on the first row of the file. SM: Play This command plays the lastly entered order string at samplerate specified by the first sample of the list. SM: Remove marked This command removes all the marked samples from the memory. Remark that it DOES NOT individually check for each file for whether or not you want it to be deleted. It can be used to remove samples loadad by the last load order string/ file command. If there is a sample you do not want to remove, unmark it first. You can also use this command to remove a group of samples from memory by marking them with the MARK key. 15 Miscellaneous commands 15.1 General These commands are situated below the infowindow. 15.2 Commands REDRAW ALL This command redraws the entire screen. It can be used if some garbage etc. appears. This may happen if you move the mouse a lot while playing. Also if some pop-up window pops on either the scope or the sample while you are playing some garbage may appear. You can remove it with this command. DOS SHELL This option will shell to dos. You can exit from the DOS SHELL by typing EXIT at the dos prompt. You will have aproximately 200KB of free memory, but it's suggested that you avoid running any complex programs. The DOS SHELL is mainly meant for file management when for example the disk fills. Be sure not to remove the temporary file DIGIPLAY.TMP or virtual memory will be corrupted and all the samples in memory will be lost! -----------------------------------------------------------------------------