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AMW.DOC - Documentation for "A Multimedia Workstation / Voice"
Version 1.0
AMW Version 1.0, "A Multimedia Workstation / Voice"
Copyright (C) 1993, by Joseph Duer, All Rights Reserved.
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
What is "A Multimedia Workstation / Voice" ?. . . . . . . . . . . . 3
What is a Sound Blaster ? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
How is voice recorded and processed ? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
What can this program be used for?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
What's with the "/Voice" ?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Installing AMW . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Running AMW. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
The AMW screen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
The Scope . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
The Status Line . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
The Buffer Information. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
The top level menu. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
The File Menu. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Load. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Save. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
New . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Change Dir. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Change Device . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Quit. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
The Edit Menu. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Zoom. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
UnZoom. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
The Play Menu. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Full Voice. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Zoomed Section. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
The Record Menu. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Set Sampling Rate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Record Voice. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
The Voice Processing Menu. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Set Sampling Rate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Raise Volume. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Lower Volume. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Reverse Voice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Introduction
What is "A Multimedia Workstation / Voice" ?
This program is a utility that allows a user to manipulate
Sound Blaster voice files. You can make them faster,
slower, louder, and quieter. You can also ZOOM in on a
particular part of the voice data and save that part only,
thus serving as a true voice editor.
What is a Sound Blaster ?
The Sound Blaster is a voice / music card, manufactured by
Creative Labs. The basic Sound Blaster contains a FM chip
for music generation and a 8 bit DSP, which is what does
the voice input/output. The Sound Blaster also is offered
with a 16 bit DSP, 2 voice channels and many other options
and combinations. This program will utilize the basic
SB options, so that it will work with all Sound Blasters.
How is voice recorded and processed ?
This is actually a fairly simple thing to explain. When you
set the blaster to start recording, it "listens" a certain
number of times per second and assigns an integer value
based on how loud the incoming sound is. How many times per
second? That is defined by what is called the "sampling
rate". The default sampling rate is usually 8000, or 8000
samples per second. This sample data is stored in memory
and can be saved to disk. You can then load the voice file
and "play" it out of the blaster to a speaker whenever you
want.
What can this program be used for?
AMW is a voice recorder / player / editor. You can record
your own voice with a microphone, record music by connecting
your stereo to the blaster, or even connect your audio VCR
output and record the soundtrack of a movie. Once you have
recorded it, you can then change the sampling rate, raise
of lower the volume, or even flip the voice over so that it
plays in reverse! You then have the option of saving your
changes to disk.
For editing, the ZOOM feature allows you to select a certain
part of the voice data, this would allow you to remove
unwanted "noise" at the beginning or end of a file.
What's with the "/Voice" ?
AMW will be a full Multimedia application including Voice,
Music, and Images. This is only the Voice module. Not
too far into the future, all the modules will be available.
Registration information
AMW is shareware. That means that you can distribute this
program to whomever you like. It also means that you can
use it yourself for a 30 day evaluation period.
After 30 days, if you still want to use it, you must
register your copy or else you will be in violation of
the copyright.
Registration is easy, and cheap. A single user license
is $20. A unlimited user site license is $100. Use the
form in the file REGISTER.FRM and mail to the address
below:
Joseph Duer
P.O. Box 414
Trumbull, CT 06611
Please note:
People ordering from outside the USA must enclose a check
in US funds, drawn from a US bank, and add $5 to help with
the additional shipping costs.
With registration, you will receive a printed copy of the
documentation as well as the ability to get help with
any problems that you may have running the software.
You can reach me by mail at the above address, my CompuServe
my id is [73750,2263], you can send me a message in the
sound card area in the MIDI forum on CompuServe.
Installing AMW
AMW will work from any location on a disk drive. To install
the program, create a directory for the software and change
directory over to the new directory:
Example:
C:\> MKDIR AMW
C:\> CD AMW
C:\AMW>
Then, copy all the files from your distribution diskette
into the new directory:
Example:
C:\AMW> COPY A:*.*
This command will copy all the AMW files into the AMW
directory. When that is done, you are ready to run AMW.
Running AMW
To start AMW, simple type AMW at the DOS prompt:
Example:
AMW
At that point, the screen will clear and the AMW screen
will be displayed.
The AMW screen
The Scope
The Scope is the large aqua rectangle in the center of the
screen. It is where the voice data is displayed. The center
line is 0, and the top and bottom lines are 127 and -127
respectively. If you don't know what that means don't
worry, Just remember that the further away from the center
line you go the louder the voice will be.
The Status Line
The status line looks like this:
00:00.00-Time Index Data/Graph ratio 1 to 1 Time Index-00:00.00
The "Time Index" is what point in time the displayed voice
data is at. For example, if you have just loaded a voice
file that was 5 seconds long, the left time index would be
00:00.00 (the start of the data) and the right index would
be 00:05.00 ( the end of the data).
If you then ZOOMed in on the center of the data, your time
indexes might look like this
Left: 00:03.25 - Start of zoomed data is 3.25 seconds
into the voice.
Right: 00:04.75 - End of zoomed data is 1/4 second from the
end of the voice data.
You can also deduce from this that the zoomed data is 1 1/2
seconds long.
The Data/Graph ratio is the number of bytes that were
averaged together to plot a specific point. Since there are
only 640 pixels across a VGA screen, and some voice files
are 500,000 bytes or more, you cannot plot every voice data
on the screen. So, the data is averaged with the data
around it and one point is plotted representing a group of
voice data. The first number in the ratio tells you how
many numbers were averaged together to plot each point.
The Buffer Information
In the lower left hand corner of the screen, you will see
the information pertaining to the voice currently loaded:
Buffer name: The name of the file read in or NONAME if
recording.
Voice size: The total size of the voice data (in bytes)
Sampling rate: The current setting of the sampling rate.
Playing time: How long the voice would take to "play"
out of the external speaker.
Free memory: How much free far memory is available.
The top level menu
When your first start AMW, you will see the following
options on the top line of the screen:
File Edit Play Record Voice Processing
The File menu is used for loading, saving, and clearing
voice data. The Edit menu is used for moving through and
selecting specific voice data. The Play menu is used to
send the voice data out to an external speaker. The Record
menu is used to record voice from and external source into
memory. The Voice Processing menu is used for manipulation
of the voice data. All menu selection are explained below.
The File Menu
Load
The first selection on this menu is "Load". When this
option is selected, a box will appear in the center of
the screen with a list of all available .VOC files in the
current directory. You can choose one of the files by
clicking on the filename with the mouse twice. The first
click will highlight the selection, the second click will
select it and begin the process of loading it. To cancel,
click on the cancel option at the bottom of the box.
Save
This option allows you to save a file to disk. It will save
the current voice data and settings. When you select this
option, you will see a box appear in the center of the
screen. This box will contain the prompt "Enter Filename:".
You then enter the name you want the file to be called and
press the Enter key. The file will then be saved to disk.
To cancel this command, press the Escape key.
New
This option clears out the voice buffer of any data and
resets all parameters to their original values. You would
use this if you wanted to clear out data you were working on
so you could record something. Be sure to save your work
before you clear it out.
Change Dir
Change Dir is the equivalent of the DOS CD command. When
you select this option, you will see a box appear in the
center of the screen with the following prompt:
Enter name of directory to move to:
At this point, enter the name of the directory you want to
change to, for example: C:\VOC. If you enter a directory
that does not exist, you will see the error message "Invalid
directory" and you will be prompted again. Press Escape
at any time to exit this command.
Change Device
This option is used if you want to work with voice files
that are on another disk drive. When you select this option
you will see a box in the center of the screen and the
following prompt:
Enter letter of the device to move to:
At this point, enter the name of the disk drive you want to
access, for example: A. You only have to type in one letter
and press the return key.
Quit
The quit option allows you to exit the program normally.
Once again, be sure to save your work before you exit.
The Edit Menu
Zoom
The Zoom selection allows you to close in on a specific area
of the voice data. After you select Zoom, you will see a
message near the top of the screen that says:
Click mouse on the first point of the ZOOM area
Now, click the mouse on the spot where you want the zoom
area to start. A yellow line will appear. That is one
boundary. The program will then display another prompt:
Click mouse on the second point of the ZOOM area
At this point, click the mouse at the point where you want
to define the other boundary. You will then see a yellow
line where you clicked the mouse. The program will then
automatically ZOOM in the area between the two yellow
lines, and will display the zoomed area on the scope.
You may zoom in on the data as many times as you like.
UnZoom
This command undoes all the zooming you have done and
redisplays the entire voice data on the scope.
The Play Menu
Full Voice
You would use this option when you want to listen to the
entire voice file. When you select this option, the program
will start "playing" the voice data immediately. You will
also see a red line travelling from left to right across the
screen. This line shows the voice data being played at that
instant. This is helpful if you want to zoom in on a
certain sentence. Just watch the screen as the voice is
played and then zoom in on the points where the sentence
began and ended.
While the voice is being played, the message "Playing voice,
press Escape to pause..." will appear near the top of the
screen. You can pause or stop the voice playing by pressing
the Escape key. If you press once, the voice pauses. Press
it again, and it cancels the request to play and waits for
your next command.
Zoomed Section
This option is for playing the data you have zoomed in on,
and not the entire voice data. See Full Voice for details
on playing voice.
The Record Menu
Set Sampling Rate
This command allows you to set the sampling rate for the
voice you are about to record. The "sampling rate" is the
number of times per second the sound blaster "listens" to
incoming voice. Generally, the higher the rate, the better
quality the recording. A good rule of thumb is to use 8000
for recording male voices and 11000 for female voices. The
female voice is more complex and requires a higher sampling
rate to achieve the same quality.
Record Voice
When this option is selected, the program immediately begins
to record the voice coming into the sound blaster. The
message "RECORDING... Press escape to terminate" appears
near the top of the screen. The program will continue to
record the voice coming in until you press the Escape key,
or you run out of free memory. When recording is done, the
new voice data is displayed on the scope.
The Voice Processing Menu
Set Sampling Rate
This option sets the sampling rate the program will use when
playing out the voice data. Some very interesting effects
can be created by using this option. For example, you could
load a voice file that has a sampling rate of 8000, and
you use this option to set the sampling rate to 12000. When
you play the voice, it will sound much faster and people
speaking will sound much like the cartoon "Chipmunks". If
you had changed the sampling rate to be lower, the voice
would sound much slower and deeper, like a record playing at
the wrong speed (For those of you old enough to remember the
record players!).
Raise Volume
This option is used to make the voice data "Louder". When
Raise Volume is selected, you will see a box appear in the
center of the screen with the prompt:
Enter percentage to raise volume:
You can enter a number between 1 and 999. Remember that
raising the volume 100% will make it twice as loud, so be
careful that you don't make the voice data unlistenable.
Lower Volume
This option is used to lower the loudness of the voice
data. When you select "Lower Volume", you will see a box
appear in the center of the screen with this prompt:
Enter percentage to lower volume:
You can enter a number between 1 and 999. Remember that
lowering the volume by 100% cuts the volume in half, so
be careful not to lower the volume so much that you can't
hear it.
As a footnote to the Record, Raise and Lower Volume
commands, it is better to Record the voice at a low level
and then raise it with the Raise volume command. You will
find when recording loud voices, your voice data will sound
metallic, tinny, or just plain awful. When the voice
sounds like this it means that you are exceeding the sound
blaster's capabilities and the high volume sounds are being
lost. That is why it is better to record low, and then
raise the volume.
Reverse Voice
This option is a very simple one, yet interesting. Reverse
Voice takes the voice data and flips it over. This puts the
end of the data at the beginning and the beginning data at
the end. A far simpler analogy woulcd be for you to look
at your computer screen through a mirror. Everything
backwards, right?
Since this option literally flips the data you can use it
again to flip the voice data back to the way it originally
was. This is the best option to use when trying to show
this program to your friends.