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Text File | 1992-08-21 | 18.8 KB | 385 lines

---------------- Q V E D I T v1.0 ---------------- 0. Grovel QVEDIT is SHAREWARE. If you like it, and intend to use it, then dig deeply into your pockets and send a tenner+ to me (address at the end). This will give you the privelege of being a registered user, and you will recieve the upgrade as soon as it's ready. If you'd like to be a tester, please let me know, and any feedback on V1.0 would be good as well. QVEDIT is (C) 1992 Julian Gold. 1. Introduction. Well, I hear you ask, just what is QVEDIT when it's at home in front of the fire warming its little toes? The simple answer is, that it's a patch editor for the Alesis QuadraVerb Plus digital effects processor. If you are still none-the-wiser, then perhaps this software isn't for you (but by all means have a play!). However, if you're still with me, then good. This little baby, weighing a mere 155K, will take all those programming nightmares away when you want to write a patch for the QuadraVerb. Instead of straining eyes/back/fingers prodding away at buttons with an LCD screen with a view, you can now strain your eyes/back/fingers clicking away at Ami instead. It's a whole new dimension of physico-mental suffering. But seriously, writing patches for modern-day synths is no joke unless you have a patch editor (or you're kinky about weeny LCD displays). QVEDIT will allow you to: o See ALL the relevant parameters at once without having to flick up and down pages. o Edit all the important parameters in a consistent and (relatively!) user-friendly way. The changes you make can either be sent in (nearly) real time, or in one go. o Send, recieve, save and load whole data dumps or individual patches from the QuadraVerb. o Locate patches with particular properties. o Test the current patch with a sound form either the Amiga or a MIDI source. o Produce hardcopy of all or some parameters. Interested? Read on... 2. Getting Started In order to use QVEDIT to it's full, I recommend the following set-up: o An Amiga running Workbench 1.3 or 2.0x. I've no idea how it will react to 1.2 ROM's, most probably unfavourably. As for the beige one, I think it should run on all models, though the A1000 is another question. I would recommend 1 Meg of RAM minimum, the program requires a few large arrays to hold your precious data. o A MIDI interface of some description, any will do, but I like the ones with flashing lights that let you see data transfers. So, connect your MIDI cables (we need both in and out) up, and go to Old Kent Road... o An Alesis QuadraVerb Plus. I don't know what will happen if you try to use QVEDIT on a vanilla QuadraVerb or (more ambiguously) a QuadraVerb GT. I suspect some of it will still function rather normally. If you would be interested in a version for the GT, then write to me and ask nicely. I may well entertain that concept. If you have none of these bits of hardware, you can still use QVEDIT, though I would describe the potential for doing anything useful with that setup as limited. Good, now with that hardware checklist out of the road, here's the software you'll need: o MIDI.library V1.0. Yes, I know there are later versions, but QVEDIT was designed using V1.0 because my other patch editors choked on later versions. MIDI.library is (C) Pregnant Badger Software. Stuff this into your LIBS: directory. o ASSIGN the logical (yeek! VMS-talk) QV: to the directory you've put QVEDIT in. Otherwise, Workbench won't know what to do when you start QVEDIT from a dump icon. Oh, I apologize for the gratuitous use of the word "dump" throughout the software and documentation. It bears no relation to a natural function of most creatures, but is a MIDI term that has few synonyms. Anyway, put your ASSIGN in your startup-sequence (WB 1.3) or user-startup (WB2.0x) for keeps. That's about it. QVEDIT uses a startup file called qv.config, but it will use default values if this can't be found, and anyway, at this point in the software's history, it contains only a few less-than-vital pieces of information such as screen colours. In the next release of QVEDIT (a few months hence-it will probably contain a lot of information pertaining to an upgraded test window, edit window positions and the like). Anyhow, relax, the startup file will be automatically created when you quit. You can have as many of them as you wish and load them at any time using the Misc menu, but that's just icing on the cake right now. 3. Running and using QVEDIT. Choose your weapons, Workbench or CLI. 3.1 Workbench From Workbench, you can run it either by double-clicking on the QVEDIT icon, or on a *DUMP* file icon (note emphasis!) stored somewhere. Patch file icons can be used to start QVEDIT, but they won't be loaded. You can also use the extended-select method: click on a dump file icon, hold down SHIFT, double-click the QVEDIT icon. If you chose to (try) to load a dump file, then QVEDIT will do its best to do so. Dump and patch files are written with ID headers to make sure you don't load any old rubbish, so if QVEDIT loads, thinks about it, then quits, chances are you've got a corrupt or non-existent dump file. If in doubt, there is an example dump file called qv.dump in the archive. If you just double-clicked on the QVEDIT icon, you'll get a window telling you a lot of tosh about QVEDIT and my good self. Click on my name for more hot air. There are two big buttons down the bottom of the window which allow you to opt for either loading a file from DOS or sucking the data from your QuadraVerb. You must do one or the other, if either fails you will be returned to where you started. The LOAD FILE option brings up a file requester which should be sort of familiar. Click in the DIRECTORY string gadget and press RETURN to get a listing of all files that match the current pattern. You get the idea... If you chose to get a dump from the QuadraVerb, you will be prompted to select the MIDI channel that it recieves on. (This is so that the Real-time edit option sends program change messages on the correct channel!). This channel is saved in the startup file. Use the up or down arrows to increase or decrease the channel (you can't type a number in because, due to a feature of Intuition, string gadgets trash other imagery. Click on OK, and the program will try to suck data from the QuadraVerb.If the program can't locate the QuadraVerb after you asked for a dump, you'll get a requester that allows you to either exit or retry again. Check your wiring if this happens! Finally, should you wish to abort the dump, hit 'C'. {ASIDE: In fact I used Peter da Silva's STDFILE requester,or at least is 99.9% his - I had to modify it in places to compile under Lattice (some of the bugs made me wonder how it, V2.0, ever compiled at all). I avoided using Commodore's asl.library requester for two reasons: (1) Not everyone has a 2.0x machine with asl.library. (2) I don't have a smegging clue how to call it. Future versions may utilise it if available and the new Libraries documentation surface. I also avoided using the arp.library requester because I lost a header file and found STDFILE before I could find that. STDFILE is (C) Peter da Silva.} 3.2 CLI usage. Staring at the CLI prompt, if you type qvedit -h then you should get a list of the options: qvedit -l <dumpfile> to load a dumpfile at startup. qvedit -d to get a dump from the QuadraVerb qvedit -h to remind you of the above. qvedit on its own will start with the big "About" window mentioned above. 3.3 Onwards... OK, by this point a dump file should have found its way into RAM by hook or by crook. You should see a cute little requester-like window with a scroll bar and a few gadgets. This is the PATCH SELECT window. You can scroll up and down using the slider to see the names of all 100 patches. Double-clicking a patch will select that patch to be the current one; otherwise a single click on the patch followed by either <RETURN> or a click on the OK gadget on the bottom right will do similarly. The two arrow gadgets under the slider move you up and down the list by 1. Other useful keys are: T - move the the top of the list (ie patch 99) B - move to the bottom of the list (ie patch 00) M - move to the middle of the list (patch 50) 0 to 9 - move to patch starting with that digit. Clicking on the close gadget returns you to the current patch which defaults to 0. Now the main window opens. It looks superficially like a QuadraVerb but isn't meant to replicate the functions exactly. The current patch name appears in the backdrop window, top left; along from that is the program's current status; and along from that the configuration of the current patch. IMPORTANT: all the menus and keypress options are linked to this window. In order for these to function THIS WINDOW MUST BE ACTIVE. No, it is not a bug, though I think "feature" suits the occasion. Each of the QuadraVerb's edit pages can be displayed as windows, so you can view all your reverb parameters (say) at once. There are various ways to obtain these edit windows: (1) Type a letter: r for reverb d for delay p for pitch e for EQ m for mix o for mod. (2) Menu: go to the edit menu, and select an item. If an item is ghosted, it isn't available in that configuration. You'll also see a command sequence to obtain the same effect. (3) Click on a button in the main panel window. If the page does not appear in the current configuration, nothing will happen. If it does, and the window is not open, then it will be opened (surprise!). If it is open, then it will be pushed to the front. The windows can be opened, closed and depth-sorted at will. Note that when you change program, all the function windows are closed. Don't worry, no changes will be lost. A dot after the name shows that patch has been modified. 3.4 Program Selection. There are several ways to access any of the 100 patches as well. The Patch Selector window can be brought up at any time by menu, Right Amiga-E, or clicking the PROG button on the edit panel. Clicking on the two white arrows move up or down to the next/previous patch - this is replicated by the up and down arrow keys, with the additional twist that holding down shift when you press the key moves you up or down in jumps of 10. Typing a numeral moves you to the patch starting with that digit (so 3 selects patch 30). T and B move you to the top or bottom of the list. 3.5 Editing values. To edit a value, click on it! An edit window will pop up, with a slider and two arrow keys, and a display showing the current value. Despite its appearance, this is not a string gadget, software to parse every possible parameter value would take a good few K more, and I don't want the code to grow excessively. Instead, use the gadgets as makes sense: the slider to make large changes, the arrows small changes - a quick click changes by 1 unit, click and hold will scroll up or down after a short pause. When satisfied, click on OK or select CANCEL to abort that edit. If you click OK and the value has changed, ALL open edit windows will be refreshed (because some parameters affect other windows). Note that edit requests are queued up, so if you click on another parameter after the edit window appears, it will be edited AFTER the current edit. It's probably bad news to deliberately do this, Intuition might not like it if RAM is in short supply. There are 2 parameters handled differently to the majority - Name and Configuration. A patch name is changed by activating the string gadget with the program name on it on the control panel (either by clicking or choosing NAME from the EDIT menu). To change the current patch configuration, you must use the CONFIG >> sub-menu on the EDIT menu. The current configuration is ticked. If you change this, all the edit windows will close. 4. Menus Many of QVEDIT's functions can be replicated by hotkeys. However, there are several commands deliberately left without command sequences because they involve pretty heavy changes to your edited data or the Quad itself (or it's a trivial-ish function like change the screen colours). Anyhow, here's a guide to the options available on Menu. 4.1 Project From here, you can load or save both whole data dumps or individual patches (later versions of QVEDIT will allow you to save blocks of patches). The SAVE <?> AS... options will pop up a friendly file requester, the SAVE option will only work if you've already saved a dump. The LOAD/SAVE PATCH functions relate to the CURRENT patch. The ABOUT entry gives you the good old blurb window, click OK to get rid of it. QUIT - I'll leave you to figure that out :-) One point to bear in mind - the QuadraVerb transmits its data in a special packed format which QVEDIT decodes. It is the PACKED data that is saved as a DUMP, but patches are stored as UNPACKED data. 4.2 Midi This menu controls information coming from and going to your black beauty (it's OK, you don't need a horse...). GET DUMP & PUT DUMP will receive/send a whole data dump (100 patches) from/to the QuadraVerb. These are heavy options, and so an Are You Sure requester pops up before they execute. WARNING! You can inadvertantly destroy all your QuadraVerb patches with PUT DUMP. I take no responsibility for this happening, you're the one holding the mouse... A dump takes about 5 or 6 seconds on my machine. During this time, your machine will "lock up" - don't worry, this is because the midi.library routines run at a higher priority than the input.device. Normal service is resumed as soon as the dump has taken place. GET/PUT PATCH pops up a little requester. The requester has several gadgets which allow you to select the source and destination patches. You can click on the number and type in your own digits, or use the cluster of up/down arrows to change up or down by 1. Once happy (or not), click OK (or CANCEL). Transfer is pretty quick. REAL-TIME EDIT allows you to change parameters on the QuadraVerb when you accept them in the program. Hence, clicking on OK will send the new value straight to the effects unit. Be careful with this option. In order for you to be aware of its presence, "MIDI Editing" will appear in the title bar status display. To turn it off, select it again. 4.3 Edit This gives menu/hotkey access to the edit windows, the patch requester and the ability to change the configuration of the current patch. There's also a CLEAR option which closes all the open edit windows. 4.4 Misc This really is a miscellany of functions! First up is the (for now) trivial LOAD PREFS... which brings up the inevitable file requester. Handy if you get sick of the colours half-way through an edit :-) Next we have COLOURS... the (almost as) familiar colour editor. Play about as you please, the colours I chose were motivated by my nice 8-colour Workbench and the QuadraVerb itself. Rather more of use is the TEST... requester. With this, you can send an audio signal to the QuadraVerb either from the Amiga itself or from a MIDI instrument appropriately connected. (Note: in V1.0, it isn't easy to change a sound by real-time edit and hear the difference immediately. The next release will cure this). Click on the LED-thingys to select the various options, select a MIDI channel (string gadget or arrows) or a sine/square wave from Ami (click on AMIGA and then on SINE or SQUARE). A small icon on the right shows you what the sound source is to resolve ambiguity. To hear a noise,click and hold the big green ball in the centre. The sound stops on release. To change the note, type in a note in the gadget left of the slider, or use the slider to change to a note in the 3-octave range. Finally, click on OK to get rid of the window. Also jolly useful is the FIND... option. Up pops a requester which allows you to find a particular type of patch. Click on an LED to select the appropriate target and then click FIND to find the first one, or FIND NEXT to er, find the next one, or CANCEL to forget it completely. There's also a NAME PATTERN MATCHING option. To use this, click on the LED (it won't work unless you do this!) then type the pattern. The pattern uses AmigaDOS wildcards, ie #? to match anything, ? to match a single character, | to do a this OR that match, % for no string at all,etc. Now PRESS <RETURN>. Failure to do so will cause failure of the find, because the pattern must be pre-processed on <RETURN>. In essence, nothing will happen till you re-select the pattern and hit <RETURN>! Last but not least is PRINT. Selecting this will gave you a printout of the parameters in the OPEN edit windows: none open, no data except a name. Of course, this presumes you have a printer! 5. Problems and Shortcomings. No program is without problems, QVEDIT is no exception. Here's a list of some things to watch out for (and if you have an idea what's happening please let me know!). o The "double dump" problem. Sometimes you have to GET DUMP twice before anything changes within QVEDIT. Probably due to some MIDI snag-up because the Amiga's serial port is being pushed quite hard to accept the large (14K+) volume of data from a dump. o The "spurious data value" problem. If you change (say) delay mode from mono to stereo, you can get bizarre values for the delay time. I can't say I'm pleased with this bug, it should be easy to crack but isn't. However, it IS easy to remedy : just edit the right value in! o The "lost bytes" problem. RAM creep of an unusual nature, it happens only the first time the program is loaded. 512 bytes vanish. Odd number, huh? After that things seem fine. I'm pretty sure I've closed all the crap I opened, and have free()'d all I've malloc()'d so perhaps the problem's elsewhere? Or maybe it's a fragmentation thing? Ideas on a postcard... These are the only ones I can recall as persisting. Because the QV has so many possible combinations of functions and modes, it is impossible to test them all in a finite lifetime. So if you see strange values for parameters (especially in connection with ducks), please let me know. And of course, any other bugs, or anything you'd like to see implemented that's not, or is but could be better... It's been mostly fun writing QVEDIT. I've been hampered by a number of grotesque inaccuracies in the QuadraVerb MIDI implementation document I obtained (if you're interested, I can send you a copy with the correct stuff on it), and it's been nearly 8 weeks of nearly solid coding. It's been a learning experience, etc. I will be having a break for a few weeks, then getting back down to writing the next upgrade. It's tough at the top... Well, that's about it. All I can say is "happy editing", and I look forward to receiving some dosh and feedback :-) Julian Gold, c/o 29 High Street, Chesterton, Cambridge, UK.