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- Awave, Troubleshooting and Frequently Asked Questions, (c) FMJ-Software
- =============================================================================
- Last updated: 960917
-
- Contents:
- 1) General questions
- 2) Problems under Windows 3.1
- 3) Auditioning troubles
- a) General
- b) Advanced Gravis UltraSound
- c) Creative Labs SB AWE32
- d) Turtle Beach WaveFront synths
-
- =============================================================================
-
- 1) General questions:
-
- Q I can't save in .XYZ format even though Awave claim to support it!
- A Not all formats can store _all_ types of data. Ex: only very few
- formats support saving whole bank files while most formats (supported
- by Awave) supports saving single waveforms. What type of data you are
- trying to save is determined by what kind of 'node' or 'item' in the
- tree view list you have selected. See 'File Formats' in the program
- help file and look at the export formats list for info about what
- formats support what data types.
-
- Q I try to load, audition or play this really huge file, but it takes a
- very, very long time or the program just exits with an out-of-memory
- message...
- A Awave is currently limited to working only with files it can fit into
- memory. To play huge files you may need a huge amount of physical RAM.
- This is especially true for large MPEG audio files (BTW, the MPEG de-
- compressor is not very optimized at all so don't even expect a 1/10th
- of the speed of real time decompressors, e.g. XingSound).
-
- Q The AudioPlayer doesn't work. I get no sound, or it sounds really
- strange..
- A Try selecting 'Use Window multimedia services, unbuffered output' in
- the Options->Program->AudioPlayer property tab.
-
- Q Why don't you make a Machintosh version?
- A With Softwindows 95 you can in fact run Awave on a Power Mac. For a
- 'native' version, see the next Q.
-
- Q Why don't you make a DOS/OS2/Linux/Unix/Amiga/Atari version?
- A Because I don't have the time or the motivation.
- If there's enough people interrested interest (read "I'd register if
- only you'd do an"), I might be persuaded to do a command line version,
- stripped of the user interface and all editing functions...
-
- Q Is there a batch convert function?
- A Sort of; you can open multiple files (in the standard Windows fashion,
- hold down Ctrl or Shift while selecting files) and then save all items
- by using the 'Save all in multiple files...'function on the File menu.
- This will save all instruments, or, all waveforms, depending on the
- capabilities of the output format you choose. The items will be saved
- as files with the name you choose, the last two characters in the
- filename beeing used as an increasing index. Ex: Myfile00.Wav
-
- Q When saving stereo data to a format that only support mono waveforms
- or when doing an SDS transfer, how do I specify which channel of the
- stero data should be used?
- A In theese situation Awave always automatically merges the channels by
- an 'arithmetic average' algorithm. However, you can use the waveform
- item->Properties->Editor->Process wizard to specifically convert the
- data to mono before you save it; there you can choose between 'average
- of channels', 'left channel only' or 'right channel only' algorithms.
-
- Q My synth doesn't support bidirectional or reverse looping, what can I
- do about wavforms that uses it?
- A Try: 'Edit->Process all->Comvert loops'.
-
- Q How do I unistall Awave and remove all the file type associations?
- A Run awave, then Options->Program->Uninstall. Or, under Windows 95, you
- can use the Windows 95 Control Panel's Install/Uninstall feature.
-
- Q Where is all the audio processing functions listed in the help file for
- the Audio precessing wizard? I only see a few of them!
- A Some of them are only applicable to some sorts of data (like 'convert
- mono to stereo' is only meaningfull for mono data) while other is only
- implemented for some data types (like remove silence only works on mono
- data) and finally, many of the functions requires you to select a range
- in the waveform first. To do that,in the wavform properties editor tab,
- press down a mousebutton over the waveform, drag with the mouse and
- release the button. To unselect all, just click on the waveform again.
-
- Q For some synthesizers formats, Awave can only read 'disk images', why
- can't it read the disks directly?
- A Because they are not in FAT compatible format and thus are not readable
- by the OS. This means that it would require some serious lowlevel
- reprogramming of the floppy disk controller in order to read them.While
- this is possible under DOS and perhaps under Win3.1, it is far more
- difficult under Win95, not to speak of under Win NT, requiring (three
- different) custom ring 0 device drivers (for the three resp. OS's).This
- is not a project I care to embark upon... There are Shareware/Freeware
- DOS programs for the resp. synthesizers that you can use to make disk
- images instead.
-
- Q How do I do to 'hear' the loop in the loop point editor?
- A First enable auditioning. Backin the loop point editor,press the'Apply'
- button to update the loop point. Then play it on your keyboard! If you
- don't have an external midi keyboard and are using Awaves 'virtual
- keyboard' then you'll have to use some other 'virtual keyboard' program
- since Awave's doesn't work in the property sheet boxes (you need the
- keyboard for typing in numbers there!). If you don't have one of the
- supported wavetable cards, you may use Awaves 'Audio Player synth' but
- beware that, due to interpolation artifacts, the loop point may sound
- wrong (pops and cracks) if you do not play it at the midi 'root key'.
-
- Q I'd like to be able to add a few audio file format conversion functions
- to my commercial softwares,is it possible to license parts of the Awave
- code from you?
- A Yes it is, for more information look at my www page:
- URL: "http://hem.passagen.se/fmj/awlcpack.html"
-
- Q In the waveform advanced properties page, why is the data type controls
- always 'greyed out' for some file formats (like .WAV) ?
- A Theese controls are only available for file formats that internally in
- Awave is handled by a 'generic' waveform data reader. Some file formats
- has more specialized readers that won't let you change theese things.
- There's really no reason why you should change theese things in thoose
- cases; the data type controls is intended for use when reading raw data
- formats which lack any 'header information'and you may have to manually
- adjust the data type.
- Another reason they may be 'greyed' is if you have done any editing or
- processing on the waveform data.In that case they are greyed to prevent
- the 'editing' from beeing lost(by rereading the data from disk which is
- what happens if you change the data type).
-
- Q I just get a 'Windows error: 32' message when I try to start Awave!
- A Look in your Autoexec.bat and Config.sys files to see if'Share.Exe' is
- beeing loaded. If it is, then remove it.
-
- Q I just hangs when I try to read a'raw 32 or 64bit floating point' file
- A This may happen if it isn't in fact a floating point file, it is a
- corrupted file, it is not in IEEE format or something like that...
-
- Q Why can't it read the Adlib's .ROL format?
- A Awave can only handle 'wavetable' based audio and instruments, i.e.
- things based on digital recordings of actual sounds. The adlib (and the
- .ROL files) uses FM-synthesis which is a 'mathematical formula' for
- producing sounds and simply isn't compatible with Awave,nor with any of
- Awave's 'export formats'.
-
- Q Why can't I read a .MID file and convert it to a .WAV?
- A A .MID, or 'midi file' contains the 'score', instructions on how a
- synthesizer should play a piece of music. Awave only handles 'wavetable'
- audio (see previous Q) which is a different thing altogether. Of course,
- I could do a 'software synthesizer' that could 'play' a .mid file and
- output it as a .WAV file rather than to the speakers.However that would
- be a lot of work to implement, and I really mean *a lot*, if you want
- professional quality results. Also it would require a midi instrument
- library which would increase the size of the Awave package with a
- couple of megabytes.Besides,it all falls sort of outside what Aweave is
- intended to be.
-
- Q I try to play a .MOD file but I can only hear sound 'snippets', why?
- A A .Mod file contains basically a bunch of wavetable based instruments
- (like a bunch of .WAV files) plus one 'score' (like a .MID file). Awave
- only handles the wavetable instruments (the 'samples') and it is theese
- you can play. See the previous Q on why the score can't be played.Get a
- program like 'Mod4Win' if you want to play the 'score'.
-
- Q Why can't it read .CDA (i.e. Audio CD's under Windows 95)?
- A I have not been able to figure out how / if this could be done under
- Windows 95; nor has anyone else to the best of my knowledge. It is
- possible to do under DOS/Windows 3.1 though(by calling the MSCDEX driver
- which isn't used under Windows 95 or Windows NT). Awave has to run under
- all Windows platforms so I can't do that... There are a few Shareware
- programs around that should do the trick (they generally run under DOS).
- Beware that some CD-ROM drives has hardware 'locks' that will prevent
- them from reading raw data from audio CD's so it still may not work...
-
- Q How do I read a file as 'raw audio' data, i.e. how do I override Awave?
- A If the file in question is 'autodetected' with '100% certaincy' (in the
- lower right portion of the file open dialog) as a supported file format
- then you cant.You can however often go 'waveform->properties->advanced'
- tab and change the data type there. This will not work for some types.
- If the file type can't be detected at all (0% certaincy)then it will be
- read as 'raw data' and you will automatically get to this tab when you
- load the file.
- If however it is detected with say '33% certaincy' and you get an error
- message when you try to open the file then you may try to remove the
- file extension (e.g. turn 'foo.bar' into 'foo') in order to fool Awave
- into not detecting it at all (0% certaincy) and read it as raw data.
-
- Q Why don't you do a French/Deutch/Japanese/whatever language version?
- A Partly because I do not have the necessary language skills, but mostly
- because developing and maintaining several different language versions
- would mean a huge amount of additional work and I believe that 99.99%
- of the users knowns enough of the english language to use the present
- version. If anyone would like to translate the help file, then I'd be
- happy to supply the necessary english source texts.
-
- Q Why is the first letter in item names sometimes bogus?
- A Awave attempts to ensure that all items have unique names(since this is
- required by several synthesizers), this is often done by 'increasing'
- the first letter.
-
-
- =============================================================================
-
- 2) Problems under Windows 3.1:
-
- Q Program complains about not being able to load COMCTL32.DLL when I try
- to start it.
- A You must have a Win32s version that supports the common controls
- introduced in Windows 95.When this was written,this means Win32s v1.3.
- Look in the WIN32S.INI file in the ...\WINDOWS\SYSTEM directory to
- determine what version of Win32s you have. If you need an update you
- can get it from Microsoft, or, you can dowload it from my WWW-page.
-
- Q The Midi SDS transfer and/or the auditioning stuff doesn't work.
- A No. For some strange reason 32bit multimedia callbacks doesn't work on
- a few Win32s systems, Sorry...
-
- Q This automatic file association stuff doesn't seem to work.
- A No. It is disabled under Win32s because it was designed for Windows 95
- and under 3.1 it really clutters up things and doesn't work that well;
- so you'd probably not want it after all. You can manually associate
- files in the File Manager if you want to.
-
- Q It just hangs when I try to start Awave?
- A It seems like Win32s isn't compatible with a few systems (say 1%).
- If this is the case for you, then no other 32bit Win32s programs are
- working either.
-
- Q Why does X happen when I try to do Y?
- A Don't know, the Win32s libraries seem to be quite buggy on some systems
- (I guess they are not a very high priority at Microsoft :-)).
-
- Q Now I don't dare to install Win32s on my system!
- A Take it easy, when you only run W31 programs Win32s will lie dormant and
- not affect your system whatsoever. It is first when you start a 32bit
- program that Win32s gets loaded into memory.
-
- =============================================================================
-
- 3) Auditioning troubles:
-
- a) General
-
- Q The virtual keyboards key layout is not well suited for my non-querty
- keyboard (e.g. german keyb. may have X and Y swapped). What can I do?
- A You can edit the key assignment for the virtual keyboard with the
- registry editor (regedit.exe) that comes with Windows 95.
- Open "this_computer->HKEY_CURRENT_USER->Software->FMJ-Software->Awave"
- and edit the mtVKeys string. It's just a string of (normally 29, but
- maximum 36) characters holding the ascii key to assign to a note,
- begginning with C3 for the first character, then in increasing order.
-
- Q Why doesn't the virtual keyboard work in the property sheets?
- A Because there you may need your keyboard to type in numbers and stuff.
- Use some 'onscreen' virtual midi keyboard program instead (like the
- vpiano.exe program that comes with Cakewalk Audio).
-
- Q When I have the AudioPlayer in DirectSound mode and have enabled
- auditioning using the Awave software synth. Now I can't use the audio
- card in any other program. Qhy?
- A With this particular setup, Awave keeps the digital audio device open
- (almost) all the time which prevents other programs from using it. If I
- don't do it like that, then there would be a 'click' when you start and
- stop playing a note on the software synth which I think would be worse.
- You can quickly toggle auditioning on/off using the Options>Auditioning
- menu item. When it is off, then you can run that other program.
-
- b) Advanced Gravis UltraSound
-
- Q Auditioning doesn't work on my GUS PnP!
- A Auditioning on the PnP is not supported at the moment. You can put it
- in GUS classic emulation mode and use the old GUS windows drivers, but
- that will also lose you all benefits of the PnP.
-
- c) Creative Labs SB AWE32
-
- Q Program complains about not being able to load AWEMAN32.DLL when I try
- to use auditioning on the SB AWE32 (or comapatible).
- A You must have this .DLL installed in your WINDOWS or WINDOWS\SYSTEM
- directory.You must also have the very latest drivers that supports the
- new .SF2 file format.
-
- Q I get this message: AWEMAN32::AWE_ERR_DEVICE_DRV_INVALID
- A You have 'mixed' up driver versions. This happened to some people who
- had installed the 'beta SF2 drivers' and then an sbw95up.exe package
- which conatined newer SB16 drivers but in fact older AWE32 drivers.
- Get and install the very latest sbw95up.exe package.
-
- Q After running Awave and using auditioning for the AWE32,I have trouble
- running a few 16bit programs that uses the AWE32. Why?
- A This is a bug in the 'beta SF2' drivers. Get the release drivers.
-
- Q Where can I find theese .SF2 compatible drivers for the AWE32.
- A From: "http://www.creaf.com/creative/files/win95/sbw95up.exe"
-
- Q When auditioning waveform items, I can only hear anything within a
- certain keyrange.
- A It seems like the EMU8000 synthesizer use by the AWE32 can only
- interpolate within a certain range so if the note is too far off from
- the Root key, then nothing will sound.
-
- d) Turtle Beach WaveFront synths
-
- Q Program complains about not being able to load WFGATE.DLL when I try
- to use auditioning on the Maui/Tropez.
- A You must have this .DLL installed in your WINDOWS or WINDOWS\SYSTEM
- directory. It is available from Turtle Beach and it comes (and is
- automatically installed) with the latest versions of their WavePatch
- and Wave SE softwares.
-
- Q When having auditioning enabled, why does it take such a long time to
- start up?
- A Not my fault. It's the same thing as when starting TB's WavePatch.
-
- Q When I load a bank file (.WFB) in WavePatch to my Tropez or Rio, I get
- a 'bank not saved for the Tropez/Rio' message. Why?
- A Awave sets 'Maui' as synth name in the WFB files but that is the only
- thing that would differ from a Tropez or a Rio bank. Just click ok to
- load it anyway.
-
- =============================================================================
-