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───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
Vplus, The Ultimate Sound Digitiser.
Copyright (c) 1991, Andrew MacBeth
Programme Documentation
───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
Page One
Table Of Contents
─────────────────
Table Of Contents ......................... Page Two
Introduction ......................... Page Three
Hardware Requirements ......................... Page Four
Programme Features ......................... Page Five
Playing Samples ......................... Page Six
Recording Samples ......................... Page Seven
How To Sample ......................... Page Seven
Sampling Tips ......................... Page Eight
Script Files ......................... Page Ten
Programme Support ......................... Page Eleven
────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
Page Two
Introduction
────────────
This programme is designed to make digitising, and playing
digitised samples simple.
Not everybody realises just how simple it is, to turn your
SoundBlaster card into a professional quality sampler. The
aim of this programme is to make available to you, the user,
a simple medium to record and to playback digitised samples.
This user manual will assist you with the use of the Vplus
programme. It will also help you to overcome a lot of
problems that are to be found with sampling. You will find
the helpful tips that are in this manual to be of great
help, when you are sampling your own files.
A Big problem with sampling, is the amount of space that it
takes up. Samples can become very large when you are
sampling sounds of any length. This introduces new problems
of its own, as your computers memory may not be large enough
to contain the whole sample.
To solve this, Vplus uses Disk Double Buffering. This means
that sounds are not stored in memory, but rather swapped in
an out in blocks when they are required.
This allows you to record, and play files of unlimited
length. Indeed, your only limit is the size of your hard
disk.
The quality of sampling is defined by the sampling rate. The
higher your sampling rate, the higher quality the sample.
However, high sampling rates mean high sample sizes. You
will have to trade─off size against quality for yourself.
This manual can be considered as a guide to using Vplus, and
a helpful guide in creating your own samples. Sampling
experts should ignore a lot of this manual, as it is
designed to help the novice.
────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
Page Three
Hardware Requirements
─────────────────────
Vplus requires hardware minimums. As you can appreciate,
sampling can take a lot of the computers processing. Because
of this, hardware minimums have to be defined.
To run this programme, without noticing any degradation of
sampling quality, you will need at least an IBM compatible
AT style computer. If you have a fast XT, then you may be
alright. A Lot of this rests on the type of controller card
your machine has. More on this later.
You will need at least 512K of ram. Although the programme
is mostly disk based, it still uses large buffers to store
data. This takes up a considerable amount of space.
Multi─Taskers are not recommended for sampling, unless you
have a very powerful machine, such as the 386 and 486 class
of IBM compatibles. If you attempt to sample on a slow
machine, you will notice that the programme wont run up to
its full capacity.
You will need a Hard Disk drive. This really goes without
saying. Floppy drives simply cannot keep up with the data
transfer rates that are demanded by Vplus.
Obviously, you will also need some sort of medium to get the
sound samples from an external source, into your
soundblaster card. This can take many forms, depending on
what external source you are taking sounds from. If you want
to sample directly from a microphone, then the microphone
with a 1/8" jack is all you will need.
If you want to sample from a CD player, then you will need
some sort of cable. Consult your sound output device for the
types available.
And you will need undying patience. Sampling properly takes
time. Very rarely do you get it right the first time around.
────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
Page Four
Programme Features
──────────────────
Vplus contains many features to assist you in sampling
sounds that you will not find in any other sampler.
These features include :
. Direct sampling of raw sounds to disk, allowing files
of unlimited length to be played, and sampled.
. Scripts can be created, to allow you to play samples
directly from DOS. This allows you to place sounds
within batch files, for presentation. This has the
bonus of Vplus being transparent to any programmes
that you decide to write. You can shell to Vplus
without the programmer having to worry himself
about how to play and record samples. Vplus
does not 'Identify' itself in any way, when
run in script mode.
. The programme is very simple to use. You dont need
to remember complicated command line parameters.
. Sliding windows are implemented in play mode. You can
tell how much has been played, and how much is to be
played as a percentage of the total file size. A
sliding bar is used to implement this.
. Sampling rates from 5,000 and 13,000 Khz are
available in steps of 200 Khz.
. Mouse support. Vplus can be accessed via the mouse
in some aspects of its operation. This makes life
a little easier.
. And last, but not least, the programme has helpful
and decorative 'Exploding windows' to make Vplus
easy, and enjoyable to use
────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
Page Five
Playing Samples
───────────────
Playing VOC files, is simple with Vplus. Vplus can detect
the sampling rate of the file, and change itself to ensure
output is of the proper speed.
To play a file, follow these simple steps :
. Run Vplus
. Select [Play A VOC File] From the main menu
. You will now be presented with a list of files that
are available in the current directory. If the file
you want to play is not in the current directory, you
can move around the current logged drive and select
files from other directories. the [..] file listed
in the files list, is the directory lower down in
the hierarchical file structure than your current
directory.
NOTE: Directories are YELLOW entries, and playable
files are WHITE.
You can use the mouse to select files. Move the mouse
up and down to move the pointer, and the left mouse
button can be used to select files/directories.
. Once you select your file, output will commence.
. To Pause output, press any key, to resume playing
press any key again.
. You can abort the playing of the file, at any time by
hitting your [ESC] Key.
. Once output has finished, press any key to return
back to the main menu.
That's it! That is all you have to do, to play back files.
The playback of files, is the simple part. The hardest part
about digital sample usage, is the correct and proper
procedure of creating your own samples. I will deal with
this in the next section.
────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
Page Six
Recording Samples
─────────────────
The recording of digitised samples is a very tricky process
to get just right.
If you are just starting out with Vplus, and sampling, then
the best way to learn is by trial and error. The more
experience you get with sampling, the better you will
become. Its just like riding a bike.
If you intend to sample from a CD player, then you have
chosen the easiest way to sample. If your CD has a Headphone
Jack built into it, with a volume control then you will find
the process of sampling relatively simple.
If you are going to be sampling from cassette, then get
ready for a lot of 'Mucking Around' to get it just right.
How To Sample
─────────────
Sampling files with Vplus is straight forward. Follow these
steps.
. Connect a cable from your external sound device, into
the input socket of your Soundblaster
. Load Vplus
. Select 'RECORD A FILE' from the main menu
. You will now be presented with a prompt to enter the
filename. You need only enter a filename, without
the extension. Vplus will automatically add the
extension '.VOC'.
. Select the sampling rate that you require. The
higher the rate, the better the quality but the
higher the space required.
. If you are sure you want to continue, press 'Y'
when prompted. Sampling will now commence.
. When you are finished sampling, hit the [ESC] key.
You will then be returned to the main memory, and
sample will be stored on disk.
────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
Page Seven
Sampling Tips
─────────────
This section contains information to help you make perfect
samples. Use this guide if you are having troubles getting
your samples just the way you like them.
Use an Optimum volume
─────────────────────
A very important issue when sampling files, is to make sure
that you have your input devices volume at an optimum level.
Ensure that the external device is turned up as loud as
possible, before you start getting 'Crackles' on your
samples. This will make sure that background noise is
reduced, and your sample is the only thing that can be
heard.
Use a decent cable
──────────────────
Make sure that the cable that you are using, is shielded,
and of high quality. If you dont, then you will find that
you get a high amount of background noise.
Get Treble and Bass adjustments correct
───────────────────────────────────────
This is VERY important if you are sampling from sources
other than Compact Disk.
If the Bass is turned up too much on the sound device, then
you will get 'Muffled Samples'. Optimum samples are attained
when treble is high.
Even if you think the treble is too high, still TRY it, and
see how it turns out. The soundblaster adds a lot of its own
bass to samples, so it will probably still turn out alright.
────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
Page Eight
Adjust volume level during samples
──────────────────────────────────
Some samples may have loud, and quiet sections. If this is
the case then you will have to make sure that optimum volume
is achieved at all times. To do this, you will have to
manually adjust the external devices volume as the sounds
change. This can be tricky to get just right, but without
it, your samples wont sound very good.
Make many tests of each sample
──────────────────────────────
If your sample turned out 'Ok' then dont let that stop you
from taking the sample again. Do it as many times as you see
fit, adjusting sound output each time, until you get the
sample just right.
This is the most time consuming part of sampling, but it is
also the most important.
These are the main points that you will have to observe
while you are sampling your own files.
Remember that HUGE samples dont make the best samples. The
best samples are those that are interesting, make there
point, and impact the listener in some way.
────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
Page Nine
Script Files
────────────
Vplus also has the capability of being able to play sound
samples from the DOS prompt.
This will allow you to add 'flair' to your batch files.
Imagine a computer that plays the tune from StarWars, each
time its booted up!
You can use this feature to add professional quality to your
demonstration programmes. Imagine a demo that 'Speaks' to
the user while he is viewing it!
Programmers can use Vplus as a shell, to play files in the
middle of their programmes!
Vplus does not display any internal information, or update
screen memory in any way. You dont even know its running,
apart from the fact that you can hear the sample!
Creating a script file is simple. All you have to do, is
load up your favourite text editor and create one in the
following format :
─────────────────────────
c:\samples\1.voc
c:\samples\test.voc
c:\sounds\demo\game.voc
────────────────────────
Simple isn't it? Each line of the file contains a filename,
That's it!
Vplus will go through your list, playing each file in turn.
If a file cannot be found, you will get a warning message.
The file you create, MUST be called 'VPLUS.SCR'.
To run Vplus in script mode, just add the command line
SCRIPT when you run Vplus, ie VPLUS SCRIPT will load VPLUS
in script mode.
And That's it!
────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
Page Ten
Programme Support
─────────────────
I hope you get a lot of pleasure with Vplus. Sampling sounds
can either be a fun hobby, or a demanding profession.
If you are having difficulties using VPlus, I urge you to
contact me with your questions.
I run a BBS, that is almost totally dedicated to the
SoundBlaster and its supported files. If I cant answer your
question, no doubt somebody will!
You can contact me, on my BBS, on the Telephone number
+61─9─295─3453. The Board can answer calls 24 hours a day,
and can support all baud rates up to and including 9600
Baud.
If you are not fortunate enough to own a modem, then you can
simply post me a letter!
You can post me, at the address :
Andrew MacBeth
PO Box 270
Mundaring, 6073
Perth, Western Australia.
Even if your not having troubles, I would still be
interested to hear from you!
Well that brings us to the end of the documents. I hope you
have a lot of fun sampling files, and I hope this programme
makes it a little easier for you!
Bye for now,
Andrew MacBeth . Perth, Western Australia.
18 July 1991.
────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
Page Eleven
