Chip: Hang es video/CHIP_ZENESZERKESZTO_2005.ISO/audio_1/AmbiLoop/readme.txt

Text File | 2002-09-24 | 22KB | 412 lines

AmbiLoop 1.40 - September 23rd, 2002

Contents:
    Welcome
    What is AmbiLoop?
    How Does it Work?
    Features
    Using AmbiLoop
    License

Welcome:
Thanks for your interest in this fourth major release of the AmbiLoop
software.  AmbiLoop may be downloaded and used free of charge, subject to
the license agreement shown on the download web page and at the end of
this document.  We hope you enjoy the program and welcome comments,
questions and bug reports related to it.

Chris MacDonald & Chris Roberts
[e-mail]


What is AmbiLoop?
AmbiLoop is a Windows software application that uses your sound card to
implement a real-time, multi-tracking audio looping recorder.


How Does it Work?
AmbiLoop basically functions like a multi-track endless audio tape loop or
digital delay box with feedback.  Simply set the desired loop time for a
track and press the record button.  Incoming audio is recorded in real
time for the length of the loop.  Recording continues seamlessly as the
loop repeats and the previously recorded audio begins playing back at a
volume set by the feedback control.  Or just grab a single loop on the fly
with the Insert Record feature.  AmbiLoop will play up to eight tracks
simultaneously.  Loops can be slowed to half speed or played backwards,
and a multimode filter and reverb algorithm are available for non-destructive,
realtime effects processing.


Features:
 (New to Version 1.40)
 * MIDI Control allows nearly all AmbiLoop commands to be triggered via MIDI.
 * Session load/save remembers loop and effect settings unique to your projects.
 * Configuration load/save allows customization of global system settings.
 * Mix-to-track allows real-time mixdown of up to seven tracks to an eighth track.
 * Reverb effect.
 * Pan slider allows panning of mono and stereo tracks.
 * Metronome improved with count-off and auto-mute features.


 (New to Version 1.32)
 * Windows size properly with large system font
 * small application icon corrected

 (New to Version 1.30)
 * Updated track interface.
 * Solo button per-track.
 * Slow and Reverse now selectable per-track.
 * Mute per-track.
 * Insert Record mode to automatically record
   a single, complete pass through a loop.
 * Set loop time via tempo and measures.
 * Change loop time for all tracks simultaneously.
 * Metronome available in play and/or record.
 * Option to use spacebar for Record instead of Play/Pause.

 (New to Version 1.20)
 * Play up to eight loops simultaneously.
 * Record and play loops in mono or stereo.
 * Stereo state variable filter with Low/Band/High/Notch outputs plus LFO.
 * Record and playback in reverse.

 (New to Version 1.10)
 * Improved user interface.
 * Undo last recording.
 * Half speed recording & playback.
 * Keyboard shortcuts for transport controls.
 * Monitor latent input.

 (new to Version 1.01)
 * Stereo loop recording and playback.
 * Seamless recording through loop end-to-beginning transition.
 * Loop times up to 100 seconds or more (memory limited).
 * Set loop point while recording.
 * Instant multiply doubles loop length.
 * Load and save loops as .wav files.
 * Multiple sample rates supported (depends on audio card).
 * Input and output device selection.
 * Adjustable latency time.
 * Uses PortAudio library technology (thank you PortAudio group!).


Using AmbiLoop:

SETTING INPUT: You will be recording audio that is sent to the input
(usually "line" or "mic") of the selected sound card.  See your sound card
documentation for information on how to select which input will be used.
Use the Windows volume control application to set the input monitoring
level.  If everything is working properly you should see AmbiLoop's Input
Meter flickering as you make sounds.  Be careful not to overload the input
of your card, as audible distortion can occur.  Avoid extreme or prolonged
over-driving of the sound card.  Consult your soundcard documentation for
correct operation of your card.

SETTING LOOP TIME: You may set a loop time by choosing the
Options->Set_Loop_Time menu option.  To enter the desired loop time in
seconds, click on the Seconds "radio button" and enter a value (the Tempo
value will be recalculated based on the new time and the current Measures
value.)  Or, select the Tempo radio button and enter a value for tempo and
measures (the loop time will be automatically computed, 4/4 time is assumed).
If you wish to change the loop time of all the tracks to the new value, check
the "Set All Loops to This Time" box.  To change the time of empty
(unrecorded) loops only, check the box marked "Set Empty Loops to This Time."
Click Okay to change the loop times.

RECORDING A LOOP: Press the Record button on the Transport control and
begin your performance.  The Loop Position indicator will advance, showing
where you are in the loop (numbers below the bar show time in seconds).
Your performance is being recorded, and when the loop completes the Loop
Position indicator will reset and whatever you played during the first
pass through the loop will begin playing back.

You are still recording at this point and may continue to play over what
was previously recorded.  If you want to stop the loop, press the Stop
button on the Transport.  To play back without recording, press the Play
button.  To pause the loop at its current position, press Pause.  Press
the Record or Play buttons to resume after Pausing.

SETTING THE FEEDBACK AMOUNT: As you continue recording the sound will
gradually die out at a rate specified by the Feedback slider.  If the
slider is set to 0, no recorded sound will be heard during recording.  If
it is set to 50, the recorded sound will become half as loud on each pass
through the loop.  If the slider is set to 100, the recorded sound never
gets quieter.  Be careful at high feedback settings, it's easy to "pile
up" so much sound on top of itself that distortion occurs.  The feedback
slider has no effect during playback, only recording.

SETTING THE LOOP POINT: If you begin recording and decide that you want
the loop to end before the full loop time has passed, press the Record
button again, or press the Set Loop button.  This will cause the loop to
recycle immediately and the loop length will be set to the position at the
time the button was pressed.  This only works during the first recording
pass through the loop.  After the loop has recycled once the feature is
disabled.  If you Erase the current loop, the feature will be enabled
again for the first pass of recording.

FROM RECORD TO PLAY WITHOUT STOPPING: If you are recording and want to
switch to the play mode without stopping the loop, press the Record button
a second time.  (This only works after the first pass through the loop has
completed, otherwise you will be setting the loop point as described in
the paragraph above.)

INSERT RECORDING: This feature can be used to record a loop exactly once
from beginning to end.  If you press the Insert button while playback is
under way, the insert light will begin to flash green, indicating it is
"armed".  The insert light will switch to red and recording will begin as
soon as the recording track wraps back to the beginning of its loop.
Recording will continue until one pass through the loop has been made,
then the insert will end and playback will continue without further
recording.  If the Insert button is pressed when playback is stopped (Stop
light is lit), the Insert light will turn red and recording will begin
immediately.  One pass through the loop will be recorded and then the
transport will switch to the Play mode.

MIX-TO-TRACK RECORDING:  The Mix To Track feature allows a loop to be
recorded which will contain the sound from any other loops that are
playing when recording takes place.  This allows up to seven tracks to
be mixed down onto one track.  To use this feature, select the "Rec"
button of the track on which you would like to record.  Then select the
"Mix To Track" check box located to the right of the Reverse button in
the Transport Controls area.  When the Record button is pressed, any
loops that are set to play back will be recorded onto the recording track.
You can change volume, pan, and effect settings during recording and
these changes will be audible on the recorded track.  The recorded track
is an ordinary AmbiLoop loop, and may be any length (i.e. not necessarily
the same length as the loops that are playing back.)

MULTIPLYING A LOOP: If you have recorded a short loop but now want to
record a longer passage over it, press the Multiply button.  This will
double the loop length and copy the old loop contents twice, seamlessly
multiplying the loop by two.  Now you can continue recording over the new,
longer loop.  This feature works at any time.

USING MULTIPLE TRACKS: There are eight "tracks" available on which to
record loops.  By default you will record on Track 1.  To select a
different track for recording, simply click the Record "radio button" for
the corresponding track in the Track section at the top of the AmbiLoop
window.  You can now record on the new track and any recording you did on
Track 1 will remain untouched.  You can move from track to track in this
way, recording wherever you wish.  The loop transport controls, feedback
slider, and large loop position indicator will all refer to the track you
on which are currently recording.

MUTING A TRACK: If you don't want to hear a particular track, check its
Mute box.  Note that the current recording track must be unmuted or
no sound will be recorded.

SOLOING A TRACK: Click on a track's Solo box to silence all other tracks
and hear the soloed track alone.  You can solo multiple tracks at once.
Solo even works on a muted track.  Be sure to uncheck all the solo boxes
when you are done.  If you can't figure out why a particular track isn't
playing, make sure that other tracks aren't being soloed.

SETTING TRACK VOLUME: To change the playback volume of a track, move the
track's vertical slider up and down.  The meter just to the left of the
slider will show the track's current "post fader" volume.

SETTING TRACK PAN: To change the position of a track in the stereo field,
move the horizontal pan slider (located below the Reverse checkbox) left
or right.  There is a "detent" at the center position so it is easy to
re-center sounds.

TRACK LOOP POSITION: The horizontal meter located above the track volume
control indicates that track's current loop position.

SAVING LOOPS: To save your loops to disk, choose the File->Save_Loop menu
option.  A dialog box will appear asking which of the eight tracks you
would like to save.  Select a track and click Okay.  A file requester will
appear allowing you to save your loop as a wave file.  A warning will be
displayed if there are unsaved loops when quitting via the File menu, or if
a session save is attempted while unsaved loops exist.  This warning can
be disabled in the Preferences dialog.

LOADING LOOPS: You can also load wave files into AmbiLoop and play them as
loops.  Select the File->Load_Loop menu option.  A dialog appears which
allows you to specify the track on which you would like the loop loaded.
Select a track and click okay.  A file requester will appear allowing you
to find and load your file.

SAVING SESSIONS:  A "session" file in AmbiLoop is a file that remembers
what loops are currently loaded, what track and effect settings are
currently set, and the current tempo and measures.  To save a session,
select the File->Save_Session menu option.  You can then enter a name and
location for your session file.  Note that loop data is not stored in the
session file, only the location on disk where the loops can be found.

LOADING SESSIONS: Select the File->Load_Session menu option to load a
previously saved session file.  If loop files were moved after the session
file was saved, a requester will appear prompting for the new loop file
locations.  The session file must then be saved to record the new loop
file locations.

SAVING CONFIGURATION: The configuration file records the current settings
for latency, metronome, preferences, and devices.  It also records the
current "session" information, such as loops loaded and track and effect
settings.  This information is stored in two files, SysConfig.xml and
Default.session, located in the AmbiLoop directory.  These settings will
be automatically restored every time AmbiLoop is started.  To save the
configuration, select the File->Save_Configuration_as_Default menu option.

LOADING CONFIGURATION: The default configuration file is automatically
loaded when AmbiLoop starts up.  To re-load the configuration file, select
the File->Load_Default_Configuration menu option.

REVERSE FEATURE: Select the Reverse checkbox for any track you would like
to be reversed.  The Reverse transport button causes playback direction to
change for all selected loops.  Press reverse to hear your loops
backwards!  If you have checked the Reverse box for the current recording
track, you can record a loop while in reverse, then press Reverse again to
hear the new loop backwards while previously recorded loops play forwards.

UNDO FEATURE: It is possible to undo the last recorded layer of a loop by
pressing the Undo button any time.  There is only one layer of undo, so
every time you press the record button, any previous recording is
"commited" to the loop.  If your system is tight on memory, try disabling
the Undo feature in the Options->Preferences menu.  The next time you set
a new loop time or load a loop from disk, less memory will be needed for
the loop.

SLOW FEATURE: Select the Slow checkbox for any track you would like to be
slowed.  Press the transport Slow button to hear those loops at half
speed.  If you have checked the Slow box for the current recording track,
you can now record at half speed as well.  Pressing the Slow button again
will return the selected loops to normal speed.  Anything recorded at half
speed will now sound twice as fast and the pitch will be doubled.

METRONOME: Access the metronome features dialog box by selecting
Options->Metronome from the menu.  Check the "Audible on Record" box to
enable the metronome sound to be heard during recording.  Check the
"Audible on Playback" box to hear the metronome during playback.  Or check
both if desired.  The metronome volume may be adjusted with the volume
slider.  The metronome tempo is set to the last Tempo value entered in the
Set Loop Time dialog box (Options->Set_Loop_Time from the menu).  The
metronome has a count-off feature which causes metronome clicks to play
for a set number of measures before recording actually begins.  To use
this feature, click the "Count Off n Measures" box and enter the number
of measures of count-off desired.  When the Record button is pressed, the
metronome clicks will sound for that many measures before recording begins.
There is also an auto-mute feature, which causes the metronome to go
silent after a set number of measures.  Click the "Mute After n Measures"
check box to enable this feature, then enter the desired number of measures
for the metronome to sound before muting.  Count-off measures are included
in this total.  Pressing Stop resets the mute measure counting.

KEYBOARD SHORTCUTS: There are several keyboard shortcuts available for
the transport controls:

spacebar = Stop/Play (or Record via "Spacebar Record" preference)
return = Stop/Play
r = Record/Set Loop Point/Play
p = Pause
v = Reverse
s = Slow
l = Set Loop Point
E = Erase Loop (uppercase E only, a small safeguard)
m = Multiply
u = Undo
i = Insert Record

If you wish to use the spacebar to trigger recording rather than
play/pause, click the "Spacebar Record" checkbox in the Preferences dialog
box (Options->Preferences from the menu).

MIDI CONTROL: Nearly all AmbiLoop commands may be triggered via MIDI.  To
access this feature, select the Options->MIDI_Control menu option.  This
brings up the MIDI Control dialog box.  Although the dialog contols may
seem complicated at first, the operation is fairly simple.  The goal of
the dialog is to match up a MIDI command (called a "MIDI Trigger") with an
action in the AmbiLoop software (called an "AmbiLoop Event").  After this
mapping is made, any time the MIDI Trigger is received, the corresponding
AmbiLoop Event will occur.  To create a new mapping, click the New button
in the lower left corner of the dialog.  This will create a default trigger
and map it to a default event.  Now select the desired MIDI command and
other parameters in the MIDI Trigger list boxes in the upper right of the
dialog.  AmbiLoop is also "listening" for MIDI commands at this point and
will automatically set the MIDI Trigger information to correspond to any
supported incoming MIDI command.  Once you have set your MIDI trigger,
select the AmbiLoop event you would like this trigger to control.  When
you are done editing, click the OK button to save your changes to disk,
or Cancel to abandon your changes.

USING THE FILTER: AmbiLoop features a modeled state variable filter that
you can use to filter your loops during playback.  The actual contents of
the loops are unchanged, only the playback sound is affected.  To use the
filter, click the Enable box in the filter section.  Then click the Effects
box for the particular track you would like filtered (you can filter as
many of the tracks as you wish).  Select the Low radio button in the
filter section.  Now press Play and try moving the Frequency slider to the
left.  The loop sound will become more muffled until it finally
disappears.  Move the Resonance slider up to 50% and try moving the
Frequency slider back to the right.  You will hear a resonant filter sweep
of your loop.  If you wish to filter the left and right channels
independantly, uncheck the Link box in the filter section.  You can now
move the Frequency and Resonance sliders individually.  Filtering is
non-destructive; your original loops are unaffected by the filtering.

USING THE FILTER LFO: The filter features a dual Low Frequency Oscillator
that can be used to automatically sweep the filter frequency.  To use the
LFO, check the Enable box in the LFO section.  Set the Rate slider to
around 1Hz and the Depth slider to 100%.  With a filtered loop playing,
you will hear the filter frequency rising and falling at a rate of one
cycle per second.  If you wish to modulate frequency of each filter
independantly, uncheck the Link box in the LFO section.  Now you can move
the sliders individually.

REVERB EFFECT:  The Reverb effect is located after the filter in the effects
"chain".  To enable Reverb, click the Enable box in the Reverb controls area.
The Length slider controls reverb time.  The Mix slider controls the ratio
of dry sound to reverbed sound.  The Damping slider controls the high
frequency rolloff of the reverb sound.

MONITORING SOFTWARE INPUT: It is possible to monitor AmbiLoop's "latent"
input (input after it has arrived for processing by the software).  Check
the box in the Options->Preferences dialog to do so.  Note that this audio
will be delayed somewhat, in proportion to system speed and other factors.
For general usage, it may be better to listen to the "real time" input
sound via the Windows mixer.  AmbiLoop's latency compensation is designed
to work with the real time input rather than the latent input.  If you
have a very fast system you may not notice much difference though.

SETTING LATENCY (CLICKING AND POPPING): If you experience periodic
clicking or popping while playing loops, you may need to increase the
latency time.  The default value is 70 which should be sufficiently large
for most computers.  Finding the right value is a matter of
experimentation.  To set latency, choose the Options->Set_Latency menu
option, enter a value (units are in milliseconds) and click okay.  Try
increasing the value by 10 or 20 until the clicking is eliminated.
Conversly if you have a fast system, you may be able to reduce the latency
amount.  AmbiLoop has a latency compensation mechanism so that newly
recorded sound will match up with playback sound.  This should greatly
reduce any noticable effects of latency.  Monitoring the latent input
(described below) may help to more rapidly set a latency value as it
allows you to immediately hear the effects of the latency time setting
without needing to record a loop.

SELECTING AUDIO DEVICES AND SAMPLE RATE: AmbiLoop will automatically
select an audio input and output device (sound card) upon startup.  If you
have multiple sound cards or otherwise need to change devices, choose the
Options->Select_Audio_Device menu option.  A dialog box will be displayed
with the available input and output devices.  Clicking on a device will
cause its properties to be displayed below the selection box.  The sample rate
at which AmbiLoop records can also be set in this dialog box by clicking on
one of the rates shown.  Click Okay to save your changes.


License:
AmbiLoop 1.xx may be downloaded and used without charge.  Redistribution
by any means is prohibited.
THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS AND CONTRIBUTORS "AS
IS" AND ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO,
THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR
PURPOSE ARE DISCLAIMED.  IN NO EVENT SHALL THE COPYRIGHT OWNER OR
CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL,
EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO,
PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR
PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF
LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING
NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE OF THIS
SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.

Copyright 2002, Christopher MacDonald.