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INSTEDIT.DOC
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1991-01-21
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INSTEDIT : An Instrument Bank File editor for Windows 3.0
(C) 1991 by David Giller
Instedit allows you to modify the parameters used to define an instrument using
FM synthesis. You will be able to modify any instrument found in a BNK file.
BNK files are files in a format created by Adlib Inc. for storing large numbers
of instrument names and the parameters that define them. These files may be
found on online services such as CompuServe, or the various privately-supported
Bulletin-board systems around the world. The Save option is disable in this
demo version so don't worry about wrecking your BNK files. The file BNK835.BNK
is included with this release which contains most of the instruments you will
need for playing ROL files.
INSTEDIT Instructions:
File Menu-
New. This option would allow the user to create a new BNK file,
which he/she could fill with newly-created instruments.
Open... This opens a new bank file for editing.
Save. This would save changes made to the current bank file, but
is disabled for this demo version.
Save As... This option would be used to save the current BNK file
with a user-supplied file name.
Exit. This quits the InstEdit demo.
About... This selection shows information about the editor.
Instrument menu-
New. This option would create a new, blank instrument.
Open... This option selects an instrument from those in the currently-
selected bank file.
Save. This option saves the current instrument back to the bank file,
but does not save the bank file back to disk.
Save As... This menu item would save the current instrument to the
bank file with the given instrument name, but not save the bank file to disk.
Controls-
The InstEdit controls represent the various variables involved in the
description of an instrument. An instrument is, in most cases, made up of two
'operators'. These operators interact with each other to form the sound that
comes out of the sound board.
The first operator, the carrier, is the basic form of the sound. it
determines the volume, shape, etc. of the sound.
The second operator is the modulator, which, in FM mode, modifies the
characteristics of the carrier. In Additive Synthesis mode, the Carrier and
the modulator are both played simultaneously and independantly. This is how
older organs used to create sound, and there is limited usefulness of this
mode.
Percussive instruments are the exception to the rule of two operators
per instrument. Except for the Bass Drum, the Percussive instruments (Tom,
Cymbal, Snare, and Hi Hat) use only one operator: the Modulator. In these
cases, the modulator modifies a wave generated by an internal noise generator.
The controls are fairly easy to get used to. This file is no place
for a lengthy discussion of acoustics, so only a couple of non-obvious notes
will be made here.
The Voice control differentiates between indended voices. Because the
FM boards treat each of the percussive instruments differently, you must
specify which instrument you intend to use. An instrument designed as a tom,
for example, could not be used in the snare voice of the Visual Composer.
Oddly enough, there seems to be little difference between the Melodic mode and
the Bass Drum mode. Instruments created for the Melodic mode may be useable
in the Bass Drum voice in many cases, and vice versa. You should experiment
with this relationship a bit if you need this interchangeability of voices.
The Feedback parameter is another area of confusion. If you are not
familiar with the phenomenon of feedback, you can just play with this control
and see the effects. When this control is turned up, a bit of the carrier
signal is fed into the modulator, creating an effect similar to distortion on
electric guitars.
The Waveform controls affect the basic shape of the operators. These,
too, should be played with to see their effects. A sine wave is the smoothest-
sounding, while a pulse-sine is similar to a triangle wave.
The Test Note bar controls the pitch of the notes generated by the
Testing buttons on the lower right of the InstEdit window. The lower the
number, the lower the note.
There is also some confusion over the nomenclature of Vibrato and
Tremolo. Vibrato is variation in volume, and Tremolo is variation in pitch.