r PSOUND.DOC A Mini-Doc for PSOUND.ARCI. Introduction. This file forms a small documentation file for the PSOUND.ARC archive,and the Perfect SOund sound editor contained therein. This file is NOT inplace of the full manual, which can be had (along with an update of theprogramitself and further information) from SunRize Inc. Ordering information can begotten from the program itself...Just go to the rightmost menu and select"About...". The program was made to interface with the Perfect Sound audiodigitizer, copyright 1986 from SunRize Inc. The digitizer itself, along withafull Manual and an upgrade to the program, can also be ordered directly for a$79.00 charge (See above for ordering information). Enough..on to the how touse.II. Features of the program. The Perfect Sound editor can work with both IFF and non-IFF sampled- More (Y)/N/NS? nssounds, and can play (and create) IFF-format instrument files. For fulldetails on the IFF (Interchange File Format) format, see the IFF_SND_FORMATfile on this BBS. This textfile will only deal with IFF where necessary. Toload a sound, go to the File menu and select "Load". A requester will pop upand will default to df0: for sound files. If your sound files are in anotherdrive/directory, then click in the box marked "Drawer" and enter the newdirectory at any time. Otherwise, click on the file you want to load, thenclick on the gadget marked "Load". The editor (depending on memorylimitations) may have up to 15 sounds loaded at any one time. You will seethenames of available sounds (which is the same as the filename) will be shownonscreen at all times. Clicking on the name of a sound is the same asclickingon the gadget marked "Play Sample" in the lower right-hand corner of thescreen. a. Gadgets and tools onscreen There are 5 base gadgets onscreen at any one time. They aremarked: 1.Pos'n 2.Start 3.End 4. Play Range 5. Play Sample The use of these are as follows: 1. Pos'n: This one, which means position, is used to define where inthe sound any inserting will be done. Otherwise, this gadget has no effect. 2. Start: This gadget defines the start of an edit range, an editrangebeing that part of a sound where most editing takes place. If you have everused a wordprocessor, this is much like "block Start" on a WP. The "PlayRange" gadget will begin playing the sound starting from this point in it. There is a numerical indication of the position of this slider gadget in thebottom of the screen. The arrows to the right of this gadget will raise/lowerthe value of this gadget by 1 for fine-tuning purposes. Is also used todefinethe repeating part of an instrument when an instrument is being defined. Hasno other effects. 3. End: This gadget defines the end of the range, and is similar tothe"Block End" on a regular wordprocessor. The arrows at the end of this gadgetare for fine-tuning, as they are for the Start gadget. No other effects. 4. Play Range: This will play the range defined for the current sound. 5. Play Sample: Plays the entire sound, regardless of the Start andEndmarkers. b. Menu Items All menu items are active, save for the "Digitize" menu. Do NOT usethis menu unless you have the digitizer, or you will lock the system with noway to get out of it, as the program looks for a signal that never comes.Other menu items are: Edit,Special,File(explained above) The useful menus areexplained below, save for "File", which is self-explanatory. 1. Edit The Edit menu's functions (most of them) will operate on thecurrently-selected range. These functions are: a. Delete a range: Simple enopugh, delete the currently-defined range. b. Delete sample: Delete entire sample from memory c. Insert marked range: This willcopy part of one sample into anotheror even into the same sample. First, select the range to be copied from. Then, select the sound to copy the range into. Set the pos'n gadget to theplace in the sound you want the other sound to be inserted into. Then, selectthis menu item. Click on the sound you want to insert FROM. The marked rangefrom that sound will then be copied to the current ound, starting at the placemarked by the pos'n gadget. d. Copy Range to new Slot: Copies the currently-marked range into anewslot, making it a sound in it's own right. There are 15 slots maximum, andyouwill be prompted for a name for the new sound. e.Append Slot to Slot: This will append two slots together (a "slot"isequivalent to a sound in this instance). You will be prompted for the slot toappend, then for the slot to append to. f. Alter Playback Speed: Just what it says. It's used to alter theplayback period for a sound, or to set it in the case of a non-IFF sound or ifyou're digitizing a new sound. Move the slider gadget until the desired valueis shown in the numerical readout, then click the "OK!" gadget. 2. Special The Special menu includes some of the "goodies" and frills of theprogram, such as the frequency changers, the grapher and other things.Functions are: a. Flip current sample: Reverses current sample, making a mirror-imagesound that is backwards from the original sound. b. Graph current range: Graphs the range shown by the START and ENDmarkers. The graph is scaled between 0 and 255, with 128 as the median value.The program does internal conversion for this, so you don't have to worry. Ismostly of use if you're interested in such things, or if you're setting thedigitizer to work with a particular sound source. The graph loses accuracy inporportion withthe size of the range graphed: i.e. the larger the range, theless accurate the graph. c. Create Instrument: Creating instruments is somewhat complex (nottheprogram's fault, the IFF FORMAT is complex for instruments). To create aninstrument will be dealt with in Section III below..this is just the menuchioce you make to do it with. d. Freq=Freq/2: This will divide the frequency of the current sampleby two without changing the playack period. This is done by doubling thesample size and interpolating. It's main use is to create octaves forinstruments <see below> and to have fun with. e. Freq=Freq*2: Is the converse of the above, this will double thefrequency of the current sample by removing every other sample value. Ismostly used in creating octaves, and for having fun.III. IFF Instruments This editor makes use of the IFF 8-bit SFVX format for sounds andinstruments. This at base means tat this program can be used with anyIFF-based program that utilizes sounds or instruments..a growing number. Instruments can be created with this program as well as sampled sounds: thewayto do this follows. 1. Iff Insrument Format A knowledge of this is necessary to understand how to createinstruments. An IFF instrument is made up of octaves, each octave consistingof a single-shot sound (a sound played once at the beginning of the note) andan optional repeated sound (A sound that will be repeated for frequency droneduring the length of play of the instrument) An IFF instrument must have atleast one octave (it can have more). The octaves must be in order ofdecreasing frequency (the highest octave must be first), and each successiveoctave must be double the length of the preceding. The repeating parts of allthe octaves must have the same number of cycles. If this is all confusing,seethe IFF_SND_FORMAT file for full documentation as put out by Electronic Arts. 2. Creating an Instrument To create a instrument using the Perfect Sound Editor, do thefollowing: a. Make sure that all slots are clear save for the octaves (sounds)that will go into the instrument. b. Use the START marker on each sound to mark the repeating portion ofeach octave (move it all the way to the right if there is to be no repeatingpart, all the way to the left if it ALL repeats). c. Select "Create Instrument" under the Special menu. The sounds willbe arranged by the program in order of decreasing frequency, and you will bewarned if there's any variation from IFF specs (for example, if one of thesounds is not a multiple of 2 of the preceding, you'll get a warning, 'causethat usually means an odd octave).You cannot double-click on an instrument to play it, instead use the functionkeys to play each octave of an instrument.I hope this file helps you in your appreciation of the Perfect SOund editor!File: PSOUND.DOC 8576-T 12-SEP-86 Dir: 3 Sec: 8 - Sound/Music FilesFrom: John Mesiavech Acc: 6MiniDoc for the PSOUND.ARC file.Download(D R Q):
