{fb1000000Digital Symphony is currently the state of the art sample sequencing software for Acorn Risc OS machines. Some of the features which make it stand out in front of its rivals are: the range of effects possible, full compatibility with the original Amiga Protracker format, and the quality of sound output.
{fb1E00000What is a sample sequencer?
{fb1000000A sample sequencer is software which enables you to store and play short pieces of sound which have been recorded digitally. This doesn't sound very exciting until you realise that the speed at which the sample is played back can also be controlled through the software. "Why should the speed of playback be so exciting?" I can hear you asking. That is because the faster you play the sample, then the higher the sample will sound: eg John Major recorded at 24MHz and played back at 48MHz would sound like Margaret Thatcher. Margaret Thatcher recorded at 24MHz and played back at 12MHz would sound like John Major [shurely shome mishtake - Ed].
Before microcomputers became as versatile as they are now, this process was carried out by recording on to magnetic tape, and chopping the tape up into single sounds then reassembling in the correct order. The BBC Radiophonic workshop did a lot of pioneering work in this area. The advantage of using a computer to record and manipulate the sounds is that a) you don't need tape editing skills - one cut in the wrong place and you can ruin hours of work, and b) a wider range of processes can be applied to the sound without special equipment.
{fb1E00000Getting started
{fb1007000Loading the samples
{fb1000000The first thing you need to do after you have loaded Digital Symphony is to decide what samples you are going to use, and load them into Digital Symphony. This is achieved by dragging them from their directory display to the sample list. To bring up the sample list either press Shift+F6 or take the following route from the icon bar menu: 'General' > 'Samples list'. You only need a few sounds to start with. If you find you need more, it is easy enough to drag them to the list when you need them.
When you have loaded your samples, you can check out the sound with the sample editor. This can be accessed either by Shift+F11 or from the iconbar menu taking the following route: 'Edit' > 'Edit samples'.
{fb1007000Playing the samples
{fb1000000You should now have the sample editor window open. If you are lucky enough to have a MIDI keyboard and interface, you can play the sounds direct from your keyboard provided that the mouse pointer is over the sample wave form. This is the best way of playing the sounds, and is also the best way of entering the notes when we come to that. In fact I strongly recommend you to go out and buy those things if you haven't already got them. If you haven't, don't worry, you can still play and enter sounds using the computer keyboard, and, while you are in the sample editor, with the mouse. Playing from the computer keyboard works like this. The four rows of keys are split into a piano keyboard like this:
{sds1
If you press one of the keys, you will play its corres- ponding note. Similarly with the mouse, if you click on one of the piano keys in the editing window, you will play the corresponding note.
To change sample click on one of the two arrow buttons to the left of the sample name, or, if Digital Symphony has the input focus, use the up and down arrows on the computer keyboard. The other things you may want to do at this stage are a) change the volume of the sample which can be achieved by clicking on the arrow buttons to the right of "Volume" (the current value is shown in the window between the buttons) and b) change the tuning of the sample so that it fits with the others. Again the arrow buttons to the right of "Fine tune" will do this, the current value being shown in the window in between.
{fb1007000Creating the patterns
{fb1000000Now that you are happy with your samples, the next task is to create some patterns to work with. Unlike most other sample sequencers, Digital Symphony defines a pattern as being
