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- Ŵ ⇨Documentation for !Effex
- € Effex written by and copyright Paul Mason
-
- Like most computers nowadays (with the exception of the PC),
- Acorn machines have the ability to play high quality sound. This
- is achieved by literally controlling the speaker. A sample is
- basically raw data describing the various positions of the
- speaker. By such low-level control as this, it is possible to
- create very nearly any sound. Such samples are obtainable from
- several different sources. Many good sounds can be found on PD
- discs, and Amiga/ST PD has a wealth of samples. Alternatively, if
- you have access to a sampler, almost any sound can be captured
- and saved onto disc. The other main option is to calculate your
- sample, using mathematics or one of the good commercial programs.
- Whichever way you obtain your sample, you will need to play it
- back and if you are more adventurous, manipulate it.
-
- Effex is a versatile sample editor. It allows fully controllable
- editing of the sample - cutting and pasting, mixing, and a whole
- host of other special effects that you can use to add a little
- something to the sound.
-
-
- ŴThe main window€
-
- When you load a sample into Effex, by either double-clicking on
- its icon, or dragging it to the Effex icon, the main window
- will open, with a view of the sample at the bottom. On the far
- right of the window, just above the sample viewer, you will find
- a zoomer box. This operates in the standard way - like the one on
- !Draw or !Paint. Note that it is not possible to have the zoom
- set to less than 1 (ie. the right number larger than the left).
- If you zoom in on the sample, you can move about inside it by
- dragging the scroll bar at the bottom.
-
-
- ŴSelections and the caret€
-
- In order to edit the sample, you should first know how to select
- an area, and move the caret. The selection defines what is going
- to be acted on, and the caret specifies where any destination
- data (eg. a move or copy) will go.
- To select an area, click (select) where you want the start to be,
- and drag the pointer to where you wish to end the selection. To
- change a selection, click (select) on the end you wish to change
- and drag. If you click (select) inside the sample view, the
- nearest end of the selection will jump to where you clicked.
- To clear the selection, click (menu) over the window, and choose
- 'Clear selection' off the selection submenu. Alternatively, press
- CTRL Z.
- To select the entire sample, choose 'Select all', or press
- CTRL A.
- When you make a selection, the icons either side of 'Sel' on the
- main window will change to reflect the position within the sample
- €of you selection. The left icon is the start, the right is the
- end. You can enter values into these to change the selection.
- To zoom the selection so as it fits the entire window (if
- possible), press Z or choose Zoom from the Selection submenu.
-
- To move the caret, simply click (adjust) in the view, and a red
- line will appear, marking the caret position. Again, the icon by
- the word 'caret' will change to reflect the caret position. You
- can enter a value into here also. Alternatively, click on the up
- or down arrows to move the caret (very slightly). Pressing shift
- while clicking on these will step the caret by 16. (Note that
- shift has that effect on any up/down arrows - the value in
- question steps by 16).
-
- Full details about the sample, selection and caret positions can
- be obtained from the Sample window in the Misc submenu.
-
-
- ŴOperating on a selection€
-
- All menu selections described in this section are made from the
- Selection submenu unless otherwise stated.
- Once you have made a selection, you may wish to move, delete or
- copy it.
- Deleting a selection can be achieved by choosing Delete, or
- pressing CTRL X.
- Moving a selection to the caret position can be done by choosing
- Move or pressing CTRL V.
- Copying can be done with two effects. To copy the block,
- inserting it at the caret position, choose copy, or CTRL C. To
- copy it, overwriting data at the caret position, choose copy
- over, or CTRL Y.
-
- Mixing enables you to overlay parts of the sample. If, for
- example, you have in your sample, a sound of a motorbike, and
- later on, a sound of a scream, they can be mixed together, to
- produce the sound of a motorbike while someone is screaming. To
- mix the selection with data after the caret, choose Mix. To mix
- data directly before the start of the selection, choose pre-mix.
- To mix after the end of the selection, choose post-mix.
-
-
- ŴPlaying the sample€
-
- In order to play the sample, bring up the menu, and choose Play
- from the Playing submenu. Alternatively, press CTRL P. If the
- sample plays too fast or slow, change the sample rate. This can
- be done by altering the value by the word KHz, or the value by
- the word …µs€. If you increase the KHz value, the sample will speed
- up (on replaying). The µs value is inversely proportional, ie.
- increasing it will slow down the sample.
- To alter the volume, click on the up/down arrows above and below
- the value 127. Alternatively, enter a new value. If you cannot
- hear any sound, the speaker is either off, or the master volume
- €level is too low. Press F12 and type :
- *Speaker On
- *Volume 127
-
- To stop playback of a sample, choose Stop from the Playing
- submenu, or press CTRL S. During playback it is possible to alter
- the volume (as normal), and also 'bend' the pitch. The latter is
- achieved by clicking on the Pup and Pdown icons, or choosing
- Pitch up or down from the playing submenu. Maximum volume can
- instantly be set by choosing Max. volume or pressing CTRL L.
- If you wish to see what part of the sample is being played,
- choose Play tracking or press CTRL T. This will then move the
- caret in sync with the sample. Clicking (adjust) anywhere in the
- viewer while play tracking will play from that position. Once the
- sample has stopped, you can move the caret anywhere and press
- space or choose Continue, and playing will start from the caret.
- Note that if you have finished playing a selection, the play
- cannot be resumed with the caret after the end of the selection.
-
- To playback the selection, choose Play from the selection
- submenu, or press CTRL E.
-
-
- ŴSample types€
-
- At present, Effex supports logarithmic, signed linear and
- unsigned linear samples, and can play all of these. The following
- file formats are interpreted by Effex :
-
- LogSampl (&631) : loading this forces the sample type to Log
- SgnSampl (&632) : loading this forces the sample type to Signed
- UnsSampl (&633) : loading this forces the sample type to Unsigned
- Effex (&634) : the format when saved is restored, as is the
- selection and caret details, and sample rate.
- Armadeus (&D3C) : sample type is set to unsigned, and sample rate
- is restored.
-
- Any other file type defaults to unsigned.
-
- The sample type can be changed by choosing the appropriate type
- from the Misc submenu.
- To convert from a Log sample to Signed linear, choose Log2Lin
- To convert vice versa, choose Lin2Log
- To change from Signed to Unsigned, choose (Un)Sign.
-
-
- ŴEffects€
-
- All menu selections described here are made from the Effects
- submenu unless otherwise stated.
-
- If you wish to add a special effect to your marked selection
- only, ensure the 'Selection' option (at the top) is ticked.
- Otherwise, the effect will be enforced on the whole sample.
- €
- Reverse : reverses (flips) the chosen area
- Silence : amplifies the chosen area by 0
- Fade in (CTRL I) : fades the area in from quiet to full volume
- Fade out (CTRL O) : fades the area out from full to quiet
- Amplify : amplifies the area by the given percentage
- Quieten : amplifies the area by (10000/value) percentage
- ie. Quietening by 200% will counteract an amplification of 200%
- Eor : eors each byte of the area with the given value
- Add : adds the given value to each byte of the area (moves the
- sample up or down)
- High-Amp filter : clips any values that exceed the given value
- Low-Amp filter : clips any value that fall below the value
- Core filter : See below
- LowFreq boost : Boosts low frequencies and volumes
- HighFreq boost : Boots high frequencies and volumes
- Modulation and Echo : see below
-
-
- ŴFilters
-
- €HA : if a + precedes the value, the centre (normally 128) is
- added to the value before clipping
- LA : is a - precedes it, it is subtracted from the centre
- Core filter : if any value falls within the given value either
- side of the centre, it is rounded off to the centre value. If
- used carefully (and subtley), this filter can remove noise from a
- sample, without affecting the quality too seriously.
-
-
- ŴModulation€
-
- To modulate the sample, enter a formula into one of the five
- spaces (the top may contain a two-way scrambling formula). The
- following variables are guaranteed to be defined :
-
- X = x position within sample
- Y = value
- Z = previous value
-
- The formula should output a new value for Y, ie. for every byte,
- X,Y and Z are set up, and the formula is called, storing the
- result back in the sample.
- Please note that modulation is very SLOW!
-
-
- ŴEcho€
-
- Three different echoes are provided to enhance your sample. By
- changing the echo length, different 'depths' of echo can be
- obtained. The echo strength will affect how powerful the echo is.
- Echo strengths above 100% are not recommended.
-
- Echo (or pressing E) is the softest echo
- €Flange echo (F) produces are hard, metallic echo
- Hall echo (H) produces a complex echo
-
- A pipe-effect echo can be achieved by a strong hall echo (80%)
- with length 64 or thereabouts, and then repeated LF boosts of
- about 2-8. LF boosts often have the effect of smoothing an echo
- (or any sound).
-
-
- ŴSaving the sample€
-
- To save the sample, open the Save submenu. From this, upto three
- save windows can be opened. Saving from the Log submenu can only
- be achieved when the sample is logarithmic. It will settype its
- file to LogSampl (&631). The Unsigned and signed submenus operate
- in a similar way, but saving as unsigned or signed files.
- Saving from the Effex submenu can be achieved at any time. As
- well as saving the sample, it will store details about sample
- rate, selections and caret position. It also stores the sample
- rate.
- Saving as an Armadeus file is only possible with an unsigned
- sample, and saves the sample rate along with the sample.
-
-
- ŴProgramming techniques
-
- €The Wimp front end for Effex is written entirely in BASIC, using
- machine code only for the movement and special effects (except
- modulation) routines. This means that Effex is easily customable
- for an experienced programmer. This does however have the slight
- drawback of slow redraws (even this isn't too noticeable on an
- Arm3). The menu structure is such that extra options can be added
- later - indeed, I would be interested in improvements/additions
- made to Effex.
-
-
- ŴKnown problems€
-
- Effex has several known problems which will hopefully be removed
- in a future version.
- Saving to !Edit is only possible if you first open a window and
- then drag the icon into that.
- In high magnification, the selection may not always be displayed
- properly.
- Due to the way 256-colour modes organise their palette, the
- selection may not be displayed at all in such modes.
- It is only possible to zoom in on the selection when in 1:1 zoom.
-
-
