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1992-06-15
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****************************************************************************
Surf Version 0.9 (beta) June 1992
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
WAV audio file toolbox for Windows 3.1
****************************************************************************
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~ ~
~ Surf is Shareware. If you use Surf for more than 10 ~
~ days, you must register. ~
~ ~
~ You can register Surf two ways: ~
~ ~
~ 1. A License number for this version...........$10.00 ~
~ ~
~ 2. To have the latest version shipped to you...$15.00 ~
~ ~
~ ~
~ Print out and send in the ORDER.FRM file to register. ~
~ ~
~ Please include $2.00 for shipping outside the U.S. ~
~ ~
~ Please send checks or money orders in U.S. dollars only ~
~ ~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~ Thanks for trying Surf! ~
~ ~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Introduction
------------
Surf is designed to be a toolbox for modifying and editing Windows 3.1
WAV files. You'll need Windows 3.1 and a sound device capable of digital
output (e.g. SoundBlaster, Pro Audio Spectrum, Adlib Gold, etc). Regular
Adlib cards cannot play WAV files. There is a driver for the built-in
speaker inside your PC that was released after Windows 3.1. The quality
is poor, but it is free from Microsoft.
Surf is designed to be fun and useful. I've tried to leave out the tech-
nical details wherever possible. I'm planning a much more technical
version if Surf is successful. Alot of people won't understand if you
say "inverting the sample", but if you say "sounds like playing in a
garage", they get the idea. I'm by no means an expert, and this is a good
place to thank Jason Bell (my brother) and Na'im Ru for explanations,
ideas, and even some source code.
This is a beta copy of Surf and you'll notice that alot of "regular"
features are missing. Surf has no way to delete portions of a WAV, mix,
or insert other files, etc. These are of course in the works for future
versions of Surf, but it seemed smarter to work on neat effects rather than
editing functions. For the moment you can use Windows' Sound Recorder
for most (albeit crude) editing functions. Surf is also currently
limited to 8-bit monophonic sound editing.
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
% %
% If you have an idea for a function for Surf, drop me a line. %
% My address is: %
% %
% James Bell %
% 4511 Sherwood Trace Phone: (904) 372-3695 %
% Gainesville, FL 32605 Internet: jb1@cis.ufl.edu %
% %
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
Surf is a file-based toolbox, which means that WAV files are never held
in memory (except partially, during playback), so the only limitation on
WAV file size is the size of your hard drive.
Using Surf
----------
To start up Surf, just copy the SURF.EXE file onto your hard drive and
use Program Manager or File Manager to run SURF.EXE.
You should see the Surf window appear with a status bar at the bottom.
Choose "File...Open" and select a WAV file for editing.
The status bar will display information about the WAV file you opened,
and will look something like this:
+----------------------------------------------------------------------+
| File opened 22050 Hz (8-bit mono) 1.1 seconds (24255 bytes) |
+----------------------------------------------------------------------+
Interpreting the status bar
---------------------------
The "22050 Hz" refers to the "Sample Rate" of the WAV file. This is the
number of samples that were collected in one second during recording.
For 8-bit recordings, a "sample" is one byte.
You can verify the numbers for playback time ("1.1 seconds") and number
of bytes ("24255 bytes") with a little math:
(1.1 seconds) X (22050 samples/second) = 24255 samples
You may hear of sample rates in the kilohertz (kHz), so note that
"1000 Hz" is the same as "1 kHz".
For various (technical) reasons the sample rate determines the highest
frequency of sound that can be reproduced. The sample rate must be
twice as high as the highest frequency to be recorded or played back.
For reference, most people's speaking pitch is below 5000 Hz, and most of
us cannot hear tones over 20,000 Hz. Below are some common sample rates:
Sample Rate Highest Freq. Comment
----------- ------------- ----------------------------------------
4000 Hz 2000 Hz The slowest possible sample rate for
many common sound devices*.
11025 Hz 5512 Hz A common sample rate (1/4 of CD rate).
12000 Hz 6000 Hz Highest possible (recording) sample rate
for many common sound devices.
22050 Hz 11025 Hz A common sample rate (1/2 of CD rate).
23000 Hz 11500 Hz Highest possible (playback) sample rate
for many common sound devices.
44100 Hz 22050 Hz Sample rate for CD-quality sound.
* "common" = Creative Labs' SoundBlaster card
Playing with Surf
-----------------
Once you have your sound file open, you're ready to start modifying the
sound.
There is a "button-bar" for easy access to many of the functions below.
Here are some of the things you can do with Surf:
Show - You can view the WAV file you're working on in three ways,
all three views scale themselves to the current window size:
The "Current" choice on the "Show" menu is the quickest way
to look at the sound. It will select 1 sample out of several
and draw it as one line on the screen.
The "Compare" choice shows you the current sound as well as
the previous one. This will let you compare, for example,
the original samples with the sound after you've added echo.
The "Extended" choice is slow, but gives a more accurate
picture of the sound samples. It draws ALL the samples (on
top of one another if necessary) in the window.
Play - This (of course) plays the current sound. You can restart
the playback by selecting Play again before the sample
finishes. The playback is in the background, so you can
continue editing while it is playing.
Undo - This will "undo" the last function. After you