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B's Wave Centre (BWC) Version 1.06 Copyright 1990,1991 B & J Corporation Kim Heino Arttu Kontkanen All rights reserved. =============================================================================== Contents of this manual: 1 General information 2 Commands 2.1 Command line parameters 2.2 Commands in editor 2.2.1 Infolines 2.2.2 Menus, keys 2.3 Hotkeys for commands 3 Setup 4 Technical information 5 Last words, version information 5.1 Last words 5.2 Version information =============================================================================== 1 General information BWC is the best sample editor program available for IBM PC and compatibles. Only requirements are EGA or EGA-Mono display adapter and 256kB of memory. BWC supports JDAC (see JDAC.DOC), Sound Blaster card and the PC internal speaker. The best result is obtained by a JDAC connected to your stereo set. You can easily make the JDAC with the instructions included in this package. It is a simple 8 bit D/A-converter to be connected to your parallel port. Also a product named Covox Speech Thing seems to be compatible with the JDAC. It is possible to use it with BWC. Sound Blaster's I/O address and IRQ number can be configured with CFGBWC. The default settings are IRQ 7 and I/O address 0220h (SB 1.5). The internal speaker routine plays the samples only with 6 bits. It is IBM's fault! Another internal speaker playing routines, like RealSound, plays the samples just like we do. But we convert the 8 bit data to 6 bit in real-time to get the best result. Note that you can easily hang your computer by playing samples with too high digirates. BWC supports MSMOUSE-compatible mouse. Remember to load your driver before starting BWC. BWC identifies automatically following sample formats: RAW, IFF, RealSound (Steve), Sound Blaster's (Voxkit) format, Akai Professional Sampling Keyboard (see part 4 of this document) and of course our own format. Don't panic if you find some undocumented features in BWC. Just report them to us and they will be mentioned in the future versions. 2 Commands 2.1 Command line parameters Usage of BWC is following: BWC [filename] {filename2} {/I | /1 | /2 | /3 | /4 | /S} {/M} {/P{hz}} {/Vvol} Filenames are the name(s) of the sample(s) you want to load in the startup. You must specify one, the other is optional. You can specify full pathname, or just the name. See Defaul Dir setting in Setup for more information. "/I", "/1".."/4" and "/S" are the output device used. This overrides the Setup setting. /I = Internal Speaker /1 = JDAC (or other D/A-convertor) in LPT1 /2 = JDAC (or other D/A-convertor) in LPT2 /3 = JDAC (or other D/A-convertor) in LPT3 /4 = JDAC (or other D/A-convertor) in LPT4 /S = Sound Blaster "/M" must be given if you are working on EGA-Mono display. The default setting is EGA-Color. BWC does not automatically detect your screen type. With "/V" you can give start-up volume for sample-player or editor. Default is 100%. When "/P" is given BWC just plays the sample and exit. So BWC can also be used as a sample-player. You can specify the playing rate by writing it right after "/P". No spaces or other characters. Just like "/P22000". This parameter replaces the value detected in load. 2.2 Commands in editor After the sample(s) are loaded the main screen will appear. The upper area is the first sample in graphical type. There is also the sample's infoline. Below it are the same things for the other sample. Below them there is general information about memory, editing, buffers, markings, volume and zoom. And in the bottom of the screen is the menu of available commands. 2.2.1 Infolines The sample's infoline is: ??? Size: ??????B Lenght:???????s Digirate:?????Hz Type:???? And the general info is: Editing: ????? Marked: ??????B, ???????s Volume: ??? Free mem: ??????B Buffer: ??????B, ???????s Zoom: ????? In sample's infoline the first word tells you the name of the sample. DOS's limits are used, 12 character name and 3 character extension. Size lets you know about the size of the sample as bytes. Lenght does the same, though informing it as seconds. You can see the digirate of the sample after word Digirate. It is showed as hertzs. Type shows the type of the sample. It is processed as bits. Here is the list of available types: 0000 = RAW sample, loops off. 0001 = RAW sample, loops on. 0080 = IFF sample, loops off. 0081 = IFF sample, loops on. In general info editing tells the sample you are editing. Is it "Upper", "Lower" or "Both". Marked shows the size of the area marked with the mark lines in bytes and seconds. If the mark lines are off, the size is zero. The volume shows the percental volume rate of playing. It is handled real-time, so you can test which would be the best volume. Free mem informs about the available memory. You can't process with bigger sample than you have free memory. Buffer tells you the size of the copy buffer in bytes and seconds. If you have Both-function On, the buffer functions are directed to the both samples, upper and lower. Therefore the number of free memory for buffer must be bigger than marked area. Zoom lets you know the ratio of the zoomed area. If it is "2", the ratio is 1:2, one byte in screen means two bytes in memory. 2.2.2 Menus, keys To move between the upper or lower samples press the spacebar key. Also if you are in Both mode, press the spacebar to set it off. You can choose the desired function in the command line by pressing the button which is lighted in the command word. By using ESC the program returns to the main menu. You can also use F1-F9 to jump directly between the menus. If you try to do some uncomfortable command suggestions to the program or there are not enough memory available, BWC will answer to you by saying BEEP. File menu: Save: Save saves the sample to the disk and asks the new name of the sample. The default is the original name. If you don't change the name the original sample will be replaced. The sample will be saved to our own format. There are not any possibilities to save the sample in some other format in BWC 1.06. When you have saved the sample, the new name of the sample will replace the original sample name in the sample's infoline. Load: Loads sample from disk to the memory. A little window appears to screen. Write the desired sample path and name to load the sample. You can also specify the sub directory for the samples in Setup, and when loading something, you don't have to give it again, you just choose the sample. The sample always will be loaded to lower sample. Copy buffer will also be cleared. Exit: By the function Exit you quit the program. There is not any kind of Dos Shell in BWC. Also there isn't any "Are you sure" -prompts. Play menu: All: Plays the whole sample. You can stop playing at the any time just pressing any key. Note that you can't play under multitasking. Marked: Plays the marked part of sample. If the mark lines are off, the command is disabled. Loop: Starts playing the sample from begin. But repeats the part marked as a loop until key is pressed. Loops must be on for this command. Mark: This is the only command in main menu which has not its own sub menu. This command turns mark lines on and off. You can choose particularly area of the sample just by moving the mark lines with the cursor keys. One push in cursor key will move the mark line one byte. Cursor key and Ctrl together moves it 15 bytes in the same time. There is two mark lines, begin and end. To change the selected mark line press the Tab-key. The area between the lines is marked. Use the Mark function to specify the area to copy, delete, play etc. You can also move the mark lines with mouse. If you for example have 80000B sample in the screen, which showes only 640B in one sight, the mark lines and all the other functions works only 80000/640 resolution (the zoom ratio). This means that the mark line jumps always 125B when the mark line is been moved only one byte in the screen. Of course the situation will be different, if the sample is short or zoomed in. Buffer menu: Cut: Saves the marked part of sample to copy buffer, and deletes it from sample. The previous content of the copy buffer will be deleted. If Both is on, this and most of the other commands works with both samples. Copy: Like Cut, but doesn't delete the marked part from sample. Copy buffer will be replaced. Paste: Makes space in sample, and copies the content of the copy buffer. The place must be specified by the left mark line. Over: Just like paste, but copies the buffer replacing the corresponding part of the sample. Delete: Deletes marked area of the sample. Clear: Clears the contents of the copy buffer. Zoom menu: In: By moving mark lines you can define the part of the sample and zoom it to screen. Out: Zoom out is an opposite command to Zoom in. Zoom out will automatically zoom to the previous Zoom in situation. For example if you first zoom in to 20987B and then to 14063B, and then use the function Zoom out, the screen shows the previous zoom situation (in this case 20987B). Only ten latest zoom positions will be saved to the memory. Half: Zooms in. New zoom factory is half of the original. The middle of the screen is the part zoomed in. All: Zoom all shows the whole sample in the screen. This is the same situation as in the startup. Screen: Marks the whole screen, but doesn't change the zoom factory. Envelope: The envelope diagram shows the sample's level distribution. There is four parts in an instrument sample, A-D-S-R. Attack determines how quickly the instrument starts to sound in its top level. Delay is the time the sample slows down to its normal volume level. Sustain is the time sample's so called normal level lasts. Release time is the slowing down to zero- time. Envelope Both: Envelope Both -command shows the envelope of the samples in the same window. The envelopes will be in different colors. The command zooms the envelopes in by the larger sample. So the other sample might leave a bit short propotioned to the other, depending of course the ratio of the lenghts of the samples. You can't edit the envelopes but you can edit the samples and the corresponding changes you can see in the envelope. It is really useful to know sample's ADSR when mixing them. If the envelope seems to be little weird (up and down lines), try Envelope Fix setting to fix it. Mix menu: Back: Backwards turns around the whole sample or the marked part of it. After turning, the sample will be redrawn to screen. Zero: Zero function zeroes desired part of the sample data. You can specify the part of the sample to zero with mark lines. Echo: Version 1.06 of BWC contains only two kind of echoes. First you must specify the delay of the echo in bytes. If delay is smaller than length of the sample, the echo type one will be used. It mixes the original sample and the echo together. You can also specify the volume of the echo. If delay is bigger than length of the sample, the echo type two is done. You can specify the number of echoes, volume of first echo, and sub of volume in next echoes. Two2one: Stereo to mono mixs the left and right channel of the samples to one mono sample. You can also mix two different samples together. The sample you get can be processed like one mono sample. But before you mix two samples together, be sure that the samples have been digitized in the same digitizing rate. If not, resample them to the same digirate. One2two: This command doubles the sample which is in the upper window. It makes a complete copy of upper sample to the lower sample. This is an easy and fast way to make a backup copy of sample you are editing. You can save the editing situation, when there is very critical moment going on. And then use the Swap up/lo to get the "saved" sample back to editing. The copy buffer will be deleted when you use this command. Swap: This command swaps the samples. This is useful when you are editing a sample and you want to digitize some other piece of sound while you have one sample already in the screen and it is in the lower window. And because digitized sample always replaces the lower window, the original sample can be moved to safe in the upper window. This command clears the copy buffer. Add space: Add space adds space. :-) By using this command you can get a desired quantity of work space to your editing. The size of the sample will changed. You can specify the size of extra space as bytes. The space will be displayed to the place you have specifyed with the mark lines. Resample: If you have digitized a sample for example rate 25 kHz and you think it is a bit too much for your needs, and the sample takes too much disk space, you can soft resample the sample and make it smaller, or bigger. The volume can also be changed. By raising this volume you can raise the level (amplitude) of the sample. Original sample volume is 100 (percent). With resample you can also change the format of the sample, IFF or RAW. If you have mark lines on you can only change the volume of the marked area. Loop menu: Loop on/off: Turn loops on and off. The loop is shown in the samples graphical view with three lines. Mark begin: Marks loop's begin. You can specify it with the left mark line. Mark end: Marks end of the loop, which can be specified with the right mark line. Seek forward: This function finds the suitable place for loop end. First you must specify both start and end lines. Then using this function the end line will be moved forward to the suitable place. Function checks out the sample diagram's angle in the start point of loop and seeks for equivalent place in the end of it. The best result is given by choosing the angle of the start points near by ±45 degrees. Seek backward: Same as above but the end line will be moved backwards so looped area will be shorter. Digitize menu: Record: The only function of Digitize is record. BWC's first versions supports only the Sound Blaster's digitizer. To record: Connect the sound source to your Sound Blaster. Press the record on. The program asks the digitizing rate. Put the source on and when desired part of sound is playing, press Y. Your available memory will be used as a buffer for your digitizing. You can stop digitizing by pressing any key. After digitizing you can use the sample as any other samples. The digitized sample will replace the lower sample window. This also clears the copy buffer. Setup menu: Volume: Raising the number of the volume you are able to hear the sample playing louder. The volume raises the level of the playing, not the sample level. Volume is working as real-time volume and is showed as percents. The original sample volume corresponds rate 100 %, and you can raise or decrease it between 1-250 %. Max volume: BWC will examine the sample data (or both) for maximum peak level and then adjusts it's volume to maximum. This is a good thing to do always after you have digitized something. Remember to resample the volume to the sound data too! Type: If the sample doesn't look or hear like it should be, there might be some differences between the sample format and the setupped format. BWC identifies automatically most of the sample formats, but if it doesn't, you must change it. Only IFF and RAW is supported by this command. Hertz: You can specify the digirate of the sample, if BWC does not identify it by itself. It is given in hertz. Envelope fix: Envelope diagram might get a bit strange with some samples. You can fix it up by making some changes to the numeric rate (0-9) of the envelope fix. This is the fixing resolution of the envelope diagram. Both: Both allows you to edit two samples in the same time just operating the another sample. So you don't have to make same changes twice when you are working with stereosamples or you want to edit two mono samples in the same time. You can't use the copy buffer first in the Both mode and then paste it in the mono mode. For example if you copy 602B area to the copy buffer from both samples, the copy buffer size will look like there is 1204B, like there is, in a way. Then you turn to mono mode and try to Paste the content of the copy buffer to the one sample. Well, it's not gonna work. Marked area indicator shows copy buffer size as bytes of one sample. You can turn both off by pressing the spacebar. 2.3 Hotkeys for commands This is the complete list of hotkeys: Command Key Command Key --------------------------------------------------------- Main menu ESC, Enter Play 0 File menu F1 Play at 6000Hz 1 Play menu F2 Play at 8000Hz 2 Mark on/off F3 Play at 9000Hz 3 Buffer menu F4 Play at 11000Hz 4 Zoom menu F5 Play at 13000Hz 5 Mix menu F6 Play at 15000Hz 6 Loop menu F7 Play at 17000Hz 7 Digitize menu F8 Play at 21000Hz 8 Setup menu F9 Play at 25000Hz 9 Both on F10 Cut - Fast move/scr Ctrl-Cursor Copy * Move/scroll Cursor Paste + Upper/lower Space Zoom in . Change markl. TAB Zoom out , Load Alt-L Loop on/off Alt-P Save Alt-S Loop begin Alt-3 Envelope Alt-E Loop end Alt-4 Resample Alt-R Hertz Alt-H One2two Alt-1 Output Alt-O Two2one Alt-2 Type Alt-T Add space Alt-A Volume Alt-V Swap Alt-W Zero Alt-Z Back Alt-B Echo Alt-C Loop seek <- Alt-5 Zoom half Alt-F Loop seek -> Alt-6 3 Setup To change colors, output device or default directory, there is a file called CFGBWC.EXE. This is a config-program for BWC. First it asks the filename to configure. It is not wise to config your only copy of BWC. Always have the original backup. If you just press the Enter-key to some question, it will not be changed. First there is the output device, then the colors. You can check the meaning of the color numbers from DOS's manual, or almost any other manual. Last question before saving the values is default dir. If you give filename without path or drive, this will be added to the begin of the name. So you can easily have BWC main files and samples in the different directories. 4 Technical information BWC's samplefile format is following: Offset Meaning 0000 The header, always letters "BJH" 0003 (word) Digirate of the sample in hertz. 0005 (word) Type of the sample. 0007 The sampledata starts here. Or, if (type and 1)=1 then 0007 (word) Loop begin offset. 0009 (word) Loop end offset. 0011 Begin of real sample. Akai Professional Sampling Keyboard -fileformat is a concat of two files transmitted by S700 and X7000. First there is sample parameters -file (319 bytes) and then sample dump -file. BWC can read this file and convert the data to 8 bit resolution. This procedure is quite slow. Formats are: - SAMPLE PARAMETERS (as recognised and transmitted by S700 and X7000) BYTE RANGE TYPE DESCRIPTION 0 0F0h B System exclusive code 1 47h B AKAI identifier 2 0-15 B MIDI Channel no. 3 10 B SPRM, Function code for sample parameters. 4 65 B S700, X7000 identifier. 5 0-5 B Sample number. 6 0 B Reserved (must be 0). Next are 32 sets of sample parameters, one for each program. Each consists of 4 data elements: 7,8 0-99 DB KEYL Lowest key in keyrange for this sample in first program. 9,10 0-99 DB KEYH Highest key in keyrange. 11,12 0-255 DB TRNSP 7 LSBs are signed key transpose, +/-60. MSB is set for constant pitch. 13,14 0-255 DB ATPTCH Audio trigger. MSB set to disable, 7 LSBs give MIDI note. 15-262 31 further blocks of four elements for 2nd to 32nd programs. Each block coded as bytes 7-14 above. 263,264 X DB undefined. 265,266 1,2,4,9 DB RPMODE 1=One shot, 2=Looping, 4=Alternating, 9=Drum triggered one shot. 267-270 0-32552 DW SSTRT Start point. 271-274 X DW undefined. 275-278 200-32752 DW SEND End point + 1, must be >= SSTRT + 200. 279-282 0-32752 DW SLOOP Loop point, must be smaller than SEND. 283-286 X DW undefined. 287,288 0-99 DB LFSP LFO speed, 0 = 2 Hz, 99 = 8 Hz 289,290 0-99 DB LFDP LFO depth, 99 = +/- semitone. 291,292 0-99 DB LFDL LFO delay, 99 = slowest buildup. 293,294 0-99 DB FLTFRQ Filter frequency, 99 means maximum. 295,296 0-99 DB RLEASE Release time, 99 means slowest. 297,298 0-99 DB LDNSS Loudness, 99=max. LSB is 0.375 dB. 299,300 0-255 DB SFNTUN Fine tuning, signed. LSB=1/16 semitone. 301,302 24-96 DB RECNP Nominal recording pitch, coding as for MIDI KEY in semitones (69=A3 440Hz). 303,304 36-77 DB RECBW Recording bandwidth, defines original sample rate. 69 means bandwidth of 10.56 KHz which corresponds to sample rate of 26400 Hz. Other rates are computed according to ((RECBW-69)/12) Rate = 26400 * 2 If RECNP=RECBW and SFNTUN=0 and TRNSP=0 then samples made with 60 points per cycle will come out at concert pitch (A3 440Hz). 305,306 0,255 DB RVRSE 0=Forward, 255=Reversed. Used only for display. 307,308 0-99 DB VELFIL Velocity/filter interaction. 309,310 0-99 DB VELLDN Velocity/loudness interaction. 311,312 0-99 DB VELRLS Velocity/release interaction. 313,314 X DB undefined. 315,316 X DB undefined. 317 0-127 B Checksum, XOR of bytes 7-316. 318 0F7h B End-Of-Exclusive. - SAMPLE DUMP FORMAT (as recognised and transmitted by S700 and X7000) BYTE RANGE TYPE DESCRIPTION 0 0F0h B System-exclusive code 1 07Eh B Common non-realtime identifier 2 1 B SD, Sample dump code 3 N B LS, Sample number. Incoming sample will replace X7000's sample numbered N+1 where N is 0 to 5. if N>5, then the sample being edited will be replaced. 4 0 B Reserved (must be 0). 5 8-16 B Bits per sample word. X7000 transmits 12, but can accept 8 to 14. 6-8 0-127 TB Sampling period in nS. X7000 accepts 15259 to 500000. X7000 assumes the nominal pitch of samples is C3 (MIDI 60) unless a subsequent set of sample parameters specifies it otherwise. 9-11 0-127 TB Total words in sample. X7000 accepts 200 to 32752. 12-14 0-127 TB Loop start point. If it is >= Total word - 5, assume non-looping. 15-17 0-127 TB Loop end. X7000 takes this as sample end point. It takes the start point as 0, unless subse- quent set of sample parameters specify it otherwise. 18 0-1 B Mode, 0=looping, 1=alternating (One shot, if loop length < 5). Next follows a variable number of sample blocks. Each has the same format: 0 0-127 B Block number LSByte. 1,2 0-4095 SW Sample data. 3-120 0-4095 SW 59 more sample data points. 121 0-127 B Checksum, XOR of previous 120 bytes. A final byte follows the last block: ?? 0F7h B End-Of-Exclusive. - Coding of types B, DB, TB, DW and SW: - B represents a byte transmitted as a single MIDI byte. - DB represents a 8bit value transmitted as 2 MIDI bytes: first byte: 0 d6 d5 d4 d3 d2 d1 d0 second byte: 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 d7 - TB represents a 21bit value transmitted as 3 MIDI bytes: first byte: 0 d6 d5 d4 d3 d2 d1 d0 second byte: 0 d13 d12 d11 d10 d9 d8 d7 third byte: 0 d20 d19 d18 d17 d16 d15 d14 - SW represents a 12bit value transmitted as 2 MIDI bytes: first byte: 0 d11 d10 d9 d8 d7 d6 d5 second byte: 0 d4 d3 d2 d1 d0 0 0 - DW represents a 16bit value transmitted as 4 MIDI bytes: first byte: 0 d6 d5 d4 d3 d2 d1 d0 second byte: 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 d7 third byte: 0 d14 d13 d12 d11 d10 d9 d8 fourth byte: 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 d15 5 Last words, version information 5.1 Last words This program has no copy protection. Only thing is your name displayed after exiting. It can be changed, but remember, it is not the only one. It is crypted all over the EXE file too. If you have ideas, have found some bugs, or anything, contact us. See REGISTER.DOC for more information. Thanks to... Patrick Aalto for ideas, testing and Akai-help. David Komatsu for ideas, testing and distribution. To keep lawyers happy... IBM PC, XT, AT are registered trademarks of International Business Machines Corp. RealSound is a registered trademark of Steve Vitzel. Sound Blaster is a registered trademark of Creative Labs, Inc. Akai Professional Sampling Keyboard X7000 is a registered trademark of Akai Electric Co, Ltd (Japan). Akai Professional Sampling Keyboard S700 is a registered trademark of Akai Electric Co, Ltd (Japan). DESQview is a registered trademark of Quarterdeck Office Systems. 5.2 Version information v1.00 This is the first released version. No bugs, we hope. v1.01 Change volume parameter added to Resample command. Both-mode and mark lines with Resample command. Sound Blaster configurable via CFGBWC. More free memory (64kB). Documents fixed. New version of JDAC (didn't work with all amplifiers). v1.05 Support for Akai Professional Sampling Keyboard files. Zoom Half command. Max Volume command. v1.06 Volume for command line. Loop seek backward command. Loop seek forward command.