Vectronix 2

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Text File | 1994-01-07 | 22KB | 429 lines

CUBASE AUDIO FALCON cracked by MCA of ELITE Consider this a Test version for the simple fact that we dont have a Digital/Audio Converter to test it with ( Cubase Audio Clock ) ! For as far as we can check it , it seems to work ok . You will need a D/A Converter and a SCSI Harddisk to use this Awesome program . At least you know have the chance to take a glimpse of what this program can do , so you can consider buying the Original ! Ist worth every penny ! The main loader + mainfile may not be packed ! To all these assholes that are selling cracked versions of Cubase for large amounts of money .. FUCK YOU ! Your the real Pirates ! Hope you get caught soon ! Please note that this Documentation is from a earlier version , so there might be considerable changes to whats written below , but hey the real fanatics figure it out , or buy the Original ! Elite here for the challenge ! Not the fucking money ! -------------------------------------------------------------------- W A R N I N G: If You are not yet familiar with SCSI, and You want not to destroy files, READ THE SCSI SECTION before you start! FALCON SPECIFIC HARDWARE AND SETUP TOPICS To start, you will have to - make sure the computer is switched OFF. - plug the CAC (Cubase Audio Clock) interface into the DSP Port. - connect an SCSI Harddisk to the SCSI port. If you are not familiar with SCSI yet, you should most definately examine the following SCSI section before you proceed! - connect the Stereo Mini-Jack Audio Output from the Falcon. This Output provides Headphone Level, which can be lowered by some amount in the software. You can connect this Output to a mixing desk, or directly into a Monitor System (or Hi-Fi Amplifier, for instance, Auxiliary Input). - connect the Stereo Mini-Jack Audio Input to your Audio Source. This Input has Microphone Level Sensitivity, which can be adjusted by some amount in the software. You can connect this to a Mixing Desk, plug in a Microphone, or, for instance, a Guitar Effects Processor. In the case where you want to feed line level into this input, you may run into problems, as the Input is much too sensitive for such signals. There are two ways around this: Make a cable which has build-in serial resistors (10K - 50K Ohm). The other method is to change the Hardware inside the Falcon (doing so, you might want to install cinch type connectors as well). See the Atari recommendation at the bottom of this document for better Audio Quality. - Switch on the HD (HardDisk) first. Then turn on the Falcon. - Make sure that the colo(u)r resolution is limited to 2 colo(u)rs. Unfourtunately, due to the design of the Falcon, the communication between the CPU and the DSP may loose data if more than 2 colo(u)rs (black+white) are used, and the Audio will be distorted. 16 colo(u)rs seem to work, but aren't guaranteed yet. - For this version, you should most definately NOT use MultiTos. Also, if you encounter any problems you can't explain to yourself, try and remove all Accessories (and re-boot). - Start CUBAUDIO.PRG . - Read the Manual! SCSI Cubase Audio for the Falcon requires a so called SCSI (Small Computer Systems Interface) Harddisk for Harddisk Recording. It is not possible to record or playback directly from the internal (IDE) disk. However, Samples for the built-in Sampler Device, and Ram Tracks may be played back (but not recorded) from any drive (even the Floppy Disk), as these are loaded into the internal memory. SCSI is a very sensitive beast if you don't know about its potential dangers. On the other hand, once you learned to always check for proper installation, you are equipped with one of the fastest mass storage systems so far. There are three most significant items that you should always check whenever you change your setup: - SCSI ID: there may be up to 7 devices connected in parallel on the SCSI bus. To be able to distinguish between these devices, each device (HD, Laser Printer, Streamer, CD-Rom etc) has to be assigned a unique IDentifier. Selecting the SCSI ID is different for every vendor's device, and you must read the manual of the device to find out how to assign an SCSI ID for that specific device. To make things easier, if you just want to connect one SCSI Harddisk to the Falcon, you should just set the HD's ID to zero. For Cubase Audio, it could be any ID, but unfortunately most versions of the Atari's SHDRIVER.SYS only check from ID zero upwards until no more device is found, ignoring devices which have a higher ID. Eventually, there will be a SHDRIVER.SYS on one of the Cubase Disks, which you should copy to the boot partition (normally, named 'C'). This will also allow you to use certain Harddisks which your SHDRIVER.SYS eventually can't handle (because it has a bug). If you want to use more than one SCSI device, ALWAYS make sure that each device is assigned its own ID before you switch on anything, otherwise you may loose up to all of your data. - SCSI TERMINATION: This topic is not so easy to understand for us normal human beeings, albeit even more dangerous if not handled very carefully. The SCSI bus is current-driven to achieve high speed data transmission. Whatever this means, it is ex- tremely important that THE LAST (AND ONLY THE LAST!) DEVICE IN THE SCSI CHAIN NEEDS A TERMINATOR! Yes, Arnold Schwarzenegger should always point his gun on you whenever you change anything. Actually, a Terminator is a bundle of Resistors which 'pull' the current up so that there is a closed loop. Otherwise, the current is freely floating, and proper data transmission is no more guaranteed (in the worst case, SCSI devices may even be damaged). What makes this termination buisiness even more dangerous is that it may seem to work even without proper Termination; then, from time to time, although everything looks good, important data such as the bootsector, or rootsector, or directories may be destroyed forever. A Terminator is normally installed in a Harddisk when you buy it. It represents itself as a couple (mostly, 2 or 4) of little boxes with 8 or 16 pins, located directly above the SCSI connector and can be easily plugged and unplugged. You should most definately exactly know whether your HD is terminated or not. If it is, as in most cases, and you just want to connect only this one HD to the Falcon, you may safely connect the HD to the Falcon and start the fun. If you ever think about using more than one SCSI device, you should remove the internal termination resistors from all of the SCSI devices, and connect an external Terminator to the last (and only the last!) device's socket in the chain: ---------- --------- -------- -------- ------------ | Falcon |---| ID 0 |---| ID 1 |---| ID 2 |---|TERMINATOR| | | | | | | | | ------------ ---------- --------- -------- -------- In this example, you don't necessarily have to assign the ID's in ascending order, but it helps to keep things more clear. Also, it doesn't matter which of the two connectors of an SCSI device you use for what connection, as these are always connected in parallel. If you are sure that no device is terminated internally, it is easy to see that ALL SCSI connectors must have a plug applied. The third item about SCSI is quite easy to understand, but can be as easily forgotten about: ALWAYS SWITCH ON ALL SCSI DEVICES! First switch all SCSI devices on, then the Computer. If some device is not powered, this may also cause a loss of data. Last but not least, you should only use high quality SCSI cables, which must not exceed a certain length. The shorter, the better. To sum it up: If you are about to buy a Harddisk (or other SCSI device), you should ask your dealer all the questions that may arise from what was said above. It is a good idea to let your dealer adjust the SCSI ID, make sure whether termination resistors are applied or not, and buy good cables and an external SCSI Termi- nator. PROBLEMS THAT YOU MAY RUN INTO: - If Cubase ever crashes (which it shouldn't), while you are in a 'ready to record audio' mode, there will be a huge file on your Harddisk which leaves almost no more space on that partition. This is so because the program creates a file which covers almost all the space on the partition when you want to record something. This is also why you should always leave the program by 'QUIT' instead of re-setting the Computer (otherwise Cubase can not free the disk space not used anymore). If this happens, delete this file from the desktop. On the other hand, you should NEVER delete any file while running Cubase manually (don't use 'Delete Files' for Audio files!), for instance, via a 3rd party fileselector or some acessories. To delete an Audio file you may do so from the Pool Window, or select an Audio Part, hold the Control key, and select 'Delete Part' from the menu, or hold 'Control' and delete a segment in the Audio Editor. Related to this topic: If you want to save anything (e.g. a song, or a file created by Offline Tools such as 'Time Compression') onto the partition on which a file is prepared for Audio Recording, a 'Write Error' or 'Disk Full' error may occur. To avoid this, select an Audio Track which can not record (no name assigned in the Monitor Window) before such operations, or use a different partition or disk. - from time to time, an 'HD too slow!' alert may appear, although the song has been played a hundred times without problems before. This may happen with some Harddisks having a so called 'Auto Re-Calibration' feature. Unfortunately, in most cases this can not be switched off. What happens is that the HD starts some extensive calibration procedure at a more or less regular interval, and during this time it can't proceed data to the Host Computer fast enough. - if you don't hear anything after you recorded Audio, make sure the Monitor is switched off! - if you don't hear anything at all, or only some channels: make sure that the Mixer Track belonging to the current Effect (in 'Hardware Setup') is active and has the right Mixermap. Mixer Tracks for Effects which are not used should be muted for better performance. - if you try to adjust the incoming audio signal, it may be totally distorted but the monitor meters just raise to 3/4 of the maximum?? Note that the total volume of a channel is composed of the volume in the Monitor Window AND the volume in the Midi Mixer. The input clip is shown in the Hardware Setup dialog. Always make sure that the mixermap belonging to the current Effect is active. CHANGES TO THE FALCON HARDWARE SOUND INPUTS AND OUTPUTS TO INCREASE THE AUDIO QUALITY (as recommended by ATARI): - first please note that these changes will invalidate your warranty. - to remove the bass boost on the output: - change C58 and C59 from 100PF to 1000PF - change R123 and R130 from 10K to 15K - change R59 and R68 from 100K to 4.7K - change C95 and C90 from 0.033yF to 1K Resistor - to reduce the speaker amplifier gain: - add 10K Resistor between pin 2 of U21 (@R119) and AGND (@R111). - to reduce the Input Gain by 6dB: - remove R56,R57,R90,R92,C21, and C81 - change R66 and R87 from 100K to 47K - add 470pF NPO +/- 5% in parallel with R67 - add 470pF NPO +/- 5% in parallel with R68 - add 100pF NPO +/- 5% in parallel with R66 - add 100pF NPO +/- 5% in parallel with R87 Hardware Requirements - a Falcon030, if EVER possible with full (14MB) ram, should have internal hard drive - Cubase Falcon Audio software and key - the C.A.C (Cubase Audio Clock) interface connected to the dsp port (it won't do without!) - audio cables for audio in/out - Monitor, cable, adaptor - min. 1 SCSI drive - stereo amp + speakers, or headphones (can be directly connected to audio output) Set it up - READ THE SETUP DOCUMENT!!! - connect the HD - plug in oscillator - forget the key - connect monitor - connect audio - start the HD and wait until it's booted - start the falcon - start CUBAUDIO.PRG - start the fun when new software comes in... - contains the program and evtl. FFONT.SYS. This file MUST be present in the CUBASE.DAT folder (important!). The README will inform about changes. Eventually the mixermaps will change (and be provided). You should use the DEF.ALL provided with the program. How does it work? - Just like any other Cubase Audio. Only SCSI drives are supported. Samples and Ram Tracks may be played from any drive, though. Only 44.1 kHz sample rate is supported. - there are 8 audio CHANNELS in the audio engine. Normally, a channel is an output for an hd audio track. With fast hard drives, 8 tracks of contigous audio can be played back at 44.1 kHz simultaniously! The engine can handle 3 different types of audio sources: - hard disk tracks as usual - ram based tracks - sampler outputs - Ram tracks: - these behave exactly like hd tracks. You can edit them in the audio editor as usual. The segments are loaded into ram whenever it becomes necessary (editing). Then these segments are played back from ram leaving power for the hd. Very useful for short loops and repetive stuff. - Sampler outputs: - You can drag a segment from the pool into the configuration page (described later), and assign it a note, channel, and output. Then you can trigger these samples from a normal midi track on the SAMPLER output device. Samples can not be tuned in realtime, and each voice requires one output. - the 8 audio channels are mixed down in the dsp with additional effects. Currently, reverb, chorus (2 short delays with sine wave lfo), and filters (3 para- metric eq's per channel) are available. - The mixes are on a mixer track, each channel has a volume, pan, and either reverb send, and a common reverb parameters section, or 2 delay sends per channel and two common delay parameter sections, or the filters. Note you need the according mixermaps. - VU meters are displayed in the monitor window, where you can also adjust the overall volume and mutes for each channel. - recording can be done as usual. Mono and Stereo recording is possible without additional harware, but only either Stereo, Left, or Right may be recorded. On the other hand, you may record the entire mix. Note that you can record the mix to an audio track which is set to a sampler channel (thus it can't be played back, but recorded on). If you attempt to record onto a track set to 'any' in the Arrange Window, channel 1+2 will record Stereo if that Audio Track is selected (and a record name was assigned to channel 1 in the Monitor Window). Hardware Setup: - selected from 'Hardware Setup' in the audio menu. The right side shows a list with the samples loaded and their note, channel, and output assignment. Just drag segments from the pool into the window. - the left hand column is the most important one. You can assign each of the 8 channels a hd track, ram track, or a sampler output. - above this list the effects can be selected. As mentioned before, currently reverb, chorus, and filters are available. You must activate the associated mix track when selecting a new effect (for better performance, you should mute all other mixer tracks for dsp effects). Also, it is a very good idea to have chase events ON for at least the mixer. - the Audio input select determines the source for Recor- ding. If a mono Recording is made, the LEFT or RIGHT assignment becomes valid, for Stereo these are don't care. The MIX is always exactly what you hear; in this way, you can layer Recordings and use the effects several times. Of course, the mix stays in the digital domain, thus there is no loss of quality. -------------------------------------------------------------------- known problems: - Midex doesn't work with the falcon because of a hardware change on the rom port. It may be used for key-switching, though. The modified Midex will also not work with THIS Cubase because of not enough processing power for midex AND audio. - The SMP 24/SMP II works with the provided driver. Also note that you MUST use MROS3_37 or higher. - the early Falcons have a serious hardware bug. One effect of this is, that the audio has crackles in it. Much more serious is the fact that GARBAGE DATA ARE WRITTEN TO (HARD) DISKS! There is a test program provided from ATARI, but we can't guarantee that it will work. We haven't yet tried whether the hardware modifications recommended by ATARI will solve the latter problem.