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1989-12-31
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182 lines
=============
Stereo Master
=============
We've probably all dreamed of getting our own voices on to
disk, or even our own sounds. Things like a window opening
causing "Hallelujah" samples to play or when you pick up an
icon to move it, it screams "Put me down! Put me down I can
walk on my own" in the tone of Norman Bates' mother from the
classic, Psycho! Even using your own sounds in trackers
would be good. But it's all too dear - £100 and £150 for
good sampler programs. Never mind.....
Well! All that's changed because Stereo Master is here.
Costing only £39.95 you get everything you need to get
going, apart from the sound source. Stereo Master comes in
two parts; the hardware and the software. We'll take a look
at each one in turn.
Software
--------
The Stereo Master software works on any ST but if you own an
STE takes full advantage of DMA and stereo sound. Of course,
the more memory you have, the larger the samples can be. But
then if you have 4Mb and a sample which takes up all the
memory, you can't save it to floppy disk because a floppy
can only hold 720k. However, there is a shrinking mode which
shrinks the sample down as much as possible and allows you
to save it; then when you load the sample in again, you
enlarge it. There is no loss of quality, volume etc. when
doing this and it is a very good option.
The software is very well presented, although not GEM
compatible, and has lots of features; one of which is the
real-time effects which can be added to incoming samples.
Let's take a look at the software specifications.
SAMPLING: Record, Auto Record Trigger, Play and Monitor
input. Real time digital sound effects.
MEMORY: Utilises full RAM of any ST range up to 4Mb.
ANALYSIS: Dual Digital oscilloscopes, 3D Fast Fourier
Transform display and Real Time Spectrum Analyser.
FREQUENCY: Play frequencies from 3.0 to 28KHz in "STFM" mode
and 6, 12 and 25KHz in "STE" mode.
EDITING: Cut, copy, insert, paste, delete, overlay, swap
channels, copy between channels, fade in/out, filter,
shrink, volume up/down, stereo bounce, reverse.
FILE: Load and save samples in RAW and AVR sample formats.
MIDI: Up to 10 samples can be assigned and split accross a
MIDI keyboard.
These specifications show that you get quite a lot for your
money with Stereo Master.
When you first load it up, you are presented with two
windows at the top of the screen which contain the samples,
and two windows either side of the screen with oscilliscopes
that measure the volume of the incoming/playing sample. They
are provided to allow you to set the volume to the right
amount on your sound source. If they are too high, the sound
source is too loud and if they are too low, the sound source
is too soft. If you don't set the volume correctly, you'll
get poor quality samples.
There are also standard tape player controls. Pressing
record, records the sample. Pressing play, plays the sample.
Stop, well you know.... The only one you don't associate
with a tape player is the "monitor" function. Clicking on
this lets you hear the incoming sound source without
actually recording it. This is useful for getting to the
right place on a CD or tape. You can also switch into stereo
mode by clicking on the speaker icons, providing you have an
STE, and you can use the STE's DMA sound hardware. Changing
to STE mode means you can record in 6, 12 and 25KHz
frequencies which all give better quality than the
alternatives in the "STFM" mode. If you use an STE, use DMA
sound. It's a lot better, believe me.
The normal functions are all there; cut and paste, fade
in/out and volume increase/decrease. The best thing about
Stereo Master is its ability to add effects in real-time to
incoming sounds. You just click on add effect, choose the
effect you want, click on record and you hear the effect
being added in real-time. Here are the effects available,
they're brilliant:
ECHO: This is a single echo that repeats only once, rather
like a parrot. You may set the length with the control to
alter the delay speed and length simultaneously.
REVERB: This adds depth to sound, rather like being in a
cathedral, without actually echoing. You may control the
reverb delay and length with the controls.
MULTI ECHO: Multi Echo is a repeated echo effect that will
give any sound a new dramatic gravity! This effect is
equally suited to speech as well as music. The lunchtime
news becomes a thundering sermon! Use the delay slider to
set how fast the sound echoes, and the length to set how
long each echo lasts.
PITCH UP: This will increase the frequency of sounds. This
effect is very good with speech - you can make people sound
like helium breathers.
PITCH DOWN: Use this effect on speech to turn yourself into
a baritone - even if you're a female!
CHORUS: Chorus blends pitch up, a pitch down and normal
sound to create a harmony effect.
PHASER: Phaser mixes a sound with itself to create a subtle,
whoosing timbre especially with trebbly sounds and music.
The delay control sets the speed of the phasing, while the
length control sets the duration for each phase.
REVERSE: Reverses the sound in real-time!
RAMP: Ramp changes the volume of the sound rapidly to create
a sort of tremelo effect. This is especially effective when
a fast rate is used with guitar controls.
PITCH BEND: This very versatile effect lets you raise and
lower the pitch of sounds with time to create vibrato
effects. Slow rates and small shifts can make speech sound
rather inebriated. You can also use this effect to create a
Dalek sound - EXTERMINATE... EXTERMINATE...!
!The above descriptions were taken from the manual!
The effects are really good, and show just what Stereo
Master is capable of. The only real thing wrong, that I've
found, with Stereo Master is that sometimes it doesn't save
samples. I've yet to come up with a remedy for this....
The Hardware
------------
Not much to say about this really. The hardware is a little
cartridge that plugs into the cartridge port of your ST. It
is quite small and has a little stereo jack socket where you
connect either a microphone or a 3.5mm lead to a CD, tape
recorder or other sound source. Here are the specifications
of the Stereo Master hardware.
INPUT: 3.5mm stereo jack socket.
SAMPLING: Maximum frequency approximately 40KHz.
SENSITIVITY: 2.5 volts (peak to peak)
CONNECTION: Plugs into computers' ROM cartridge port.
Well, there you have it. A full description of a cheap, but
excellent, sampling package.
From: HiSoft/AVR/Microdeal
Contact: (0525) 713716
Price: £39.95 inc. manual, software & hardware
The Uppers....
--------------
* Loads of nice effects
* Utilises STE's extra hardware
* Can record in stereo
* Works on even a 512k machine
* Very cheap
* Well presented software
and the Downers
---------------
* Sometimes software wouldn't save samples
* Won't record higher than 25KHz
* Jack lead not supplied
Overall: 85% * Bronze Star Award *