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Text File | 1991-08-03 | 20KB | 365 lines

============================== Blaster Master V.4.1 for the CMS Sound Blaster (C) by Gary Maddox 08/01/91 ============================== The CMS Sound Blaster is the best IBM sound card available today. One of the outstanding features of the Sound Blaster is the ability to sample sound and play it back. BLASTER Master is a tool kit for working with RAW, UNCOMPRESSED Sound Blaster VOC files. BLASTER Master includes many features available on Digital Audio Workstations costing many thousands of dollars. OVERVIEW: This program is a very fast graphic editor to help you tailor your sound files. Useless and noisy sample data at the beginning and endings of VOC files can be quickly removed. Sections from within the sample can be saved as a new sample file. The entire sample is displayed and a grid is drawn that divides the sample into seconds to aid in selecting the "cut points". A zero-crossing/phase approximation method is used to select the bytes that are displayed to help in choosing the "cleanest" points for processing. Where needed, cross-fading is applyed to splice points. Function keys F1 - F5 changes the pallettes used to control the colors used to display the screen. During playback, a pulsing index line displays the position of the file being played. The various digital processes can be selected using the mouse or in most cases, ALT+the first letter of the option can be used. Example: ALT-P will select to "PLAY" the currently selected sound file. (ALT-P means hold down the ALT key and press the "P" key simultaneously) SELECTING A SOUND FILE: If a sound file is not specified when starting the editor, a file selection dialog box will appear. The current path can be changed by selecting the top input box and entering a new path, such as: C:\SB\VOC\*.VOC. Specifying the "*.VOC" will select all files with an extension of VOC in the chosen path. From this dialog box, you can PLAY the sound file, RECORD a new sound file, DELETE an unwanted sound file, ACCEPT the file to process or CANCEL the program and return to DOS. Choosing the PLAY option to Audition a file will also display useful information about the file. The various options can be selected using the mouse or in most cases, ALT+the first letter of the option can be used. Example: ALT-P will select to "PLAY" the currently selected sound file. (ALT-P means hold down the ALT key and press the "P" key simultaneously) RECORDING A SOUND FILE: Selecting RECORD from the File Selection Dialog Box displays the Record Dialog Box. Enter the name of the VOC file you wish to record. NOTE: If you specify a VOC file that already exists, it will be OVER WRITTEN. Using a mouse, select the sample rate to use when recording (13,000-4000). The higher the sample rate, the better the file will sound. When using the various digital processes, a higher sample rate will also produce a much better sounding file. The LEVEL selection button will display a graphic level graph that is very useful for setting the volume of the device you are recording directly from. Select the RECORD button to begin recording. Press the ESC key to stop recording. Your file will be displayed on the Editor screen for modifying. EDITING A SOUND FILE: To select a section of the sound file to be removed, saved, heard or zoomed, position the mouse cursor over the graph at the first desired cut point and press the LEFT mouse button. Position the mouse cursor again over the second cut point and press the LEFT button. Once a section has been marked with the blue box, you can HEAR that section, CUT it from the sample or SAVE it as a new file. The MUTE button will cause the selected block to be replaced with silence bytes. The ZOOM option will display the marked section across the screen and allow you to select a new block from the zoomed area. You can zoom the file until the resolution reaches 1:1. The current resolution is displayed just above the options selection box. By using the ZOOM feature, you should be able to edit sound files with surgical precision. * NOTE: The editor program should work on all single block compressed data. This does not include silence encoding. The graphic representation of the sound data will not be accurate. The time display should be very close. SPECIAL PROCESSES: BLASTER Master includes several special digital processes to modify your sound files. The special processes supported are: SCOPE, ECHO, REVERSE, INSERT, FAST, SLOW, RATE, VOLUME, PITCH, PACK and MIXER. All of the proc- esses are not displayed at the same time on the Wave Edit screen. Selecting the MORE button will display the next set of options. The various options can be selected using the mouse or in most cases, ALT+the first letter of the option can be used. EXAMPLE: ALT-E will select to "ECHO" the currently selected sound file. (ALT-E means hold down the ALT key and press the "E" key simultaneously) The NEW button can be used to select a new file when in the Editor screen or to un-mark a block when in the Cut/Save/Zoom screen. The EXIT button will return to DOS immediately. A list of the special processes are described in detail below: SCOPE: This process graphically displays sample input real-time.Speak into a microphone and see what your voice looks like or play music directly into the Sound Blaster. This program works particularly well on faster machines. Any key will cancel the scope and return you back to the editor. ECHO: This process adds echo or delay to a VOC file to give it a richer, fuller sound. It is also great for adding special effects. Two para- meters are used to determine the type of echo desired. The number of milliseconds before the echo starts sets the "size" of the effect. Delays of 60-100 sound like a large room. Larger delays, upto 200 milliseconds, will sound like a cavern or canyon. The second parameter is the mixture, i.e., how loud should the echo be mixed in. This also has an effect on the type of echo desired. A 30-60% mixture will sound more realistic than using a higher volume for the delayed sounds. REVERSE: This process reverses the playback of a VOC file. It is effectively the same as playing a tape backwards. See for yourself if "number 9" says "turn me on, dead man" backwards. (for older Beatles fans) This is a great tool for televangelists to search for those pesky satanic references in rock & roll songs! Did you know that the famous Tarzan yell sounds the same backwards as forwards? Try it. INSERT: This process will allow a another sound file to be inserted into the sound file being edited. Selecting INSERT will once again bring up the File Select Dialog Box. From here, you can select a VOC file, RECORD a new sound file or CANCEL the INSERT process and return to the Edit screen. Once a VOC file for insertion is selected, use the mouse to select the point in the original sound file to INSERT the new sound file. If the sample rate of the new sound file does not match the original file, the sample rate will be adjusted to blend in correctly. Care should be used to select a new sound file that is not packed, contains silence compression or is a multi-block file. The resulting sound file will not be usable. SLOW: This process extends the time domain without effecting the frequency domain... in plain english, you can re-sample a VOC file that will play back at approximately 1/2 speed without effecting the pitch. This function will double the size of the original sound file. Imagine you are a guitar player and want to learn the latest white hot guitar licks from Joe Satriani or Eric Johnson... SLOW makes listening and learning MUCH easier! It is also very useful for muti-media presentations. FAST: I couldn't have a "slow down" process without a "speed up" one too. Unlike SLOW, FAST includes a "slider" for selecting how much of a speed increase is desired. This function will decrease the size of the original sound file accordingly. RATE: This process allows a VOC file created with a high sample rate to be "down" sampled to a lower sample rate. Some PC's have problems playing VOC files with the higher sample rates, this is a way to change the sample rate to something more compatible with your PC. It is also a good way to make files smaller without the degradation associated with compression. A VOC file recorded at 12,000Hz+ down-sampled to 8000Hz will probably sound better than if it had been originally recorded at the slower rate. Sound files originally sampled on the MAC at 22,000Hz can be down-sampled to 12,000Hz or less with almost no loss in clarity. This process is also capable of "up" sampling, although you WILL NOT gain any noticable resolution. Approximating the "missing" byte is just not the same as having the original bytes in all cases. VOLUME: This process can either increase or decrease the amplitude of VOC files. One way to get a very clean sample is to make your sample at a fairly low volume and then re-sample up to a higher volume. The Sound Blaster has a tendency to introduce distortion as you increase the volume used for sampling. This works very well for sampling directly from a CD or tape deck. Enter either "I" to Increase the volume or "D" to Decrease the volume. The numeric value entered next will determine the amount of change in the resulting file. When increasing the volume, values of 10-50 will have a subtle effect on the resulting sound file. Values of 50-200+ will have a more dramatic effect. When decreasing the volume, values of 1-99 will cause the resulting file to have volume of approximately the percent of the number entered. Entering "50" will produce a sound file that is only 50% as loud as the original. If a value greater than 100 is entered, the effect will be to INCREASE the volume, even though DECREASE was selected. MIXER: This process blends two VOC files into a single sample. There is also a volume mix parameter that controls how loud the mixed in sample will be. The volume mix can be a number between 1 and 100. 50 to 60 is often a very good mixing level. The Mixer is a great way to add special effects to your sound files. This process does not try to adjust the sample rates if the two files are different. PACK/UNPACK: These processes will either pack or unpack a sound file, depending on its current state. The previous functions only work on unpacked files and a great many of the available file come packed. Once unpacked, all of the special BLASTER Master features can be applied. PITCH: This process alters the sample rate value contained within the VOC file. Raising or lower the pitch can be accomplished by selecting the slider. Altering the pitch will also effect the playback time, but not the size of the file. EXTERNAL FUNCTIONS: The following programs must be ran externally to BLASTER Master. In a future version of BLASTER Master, the EQ function will probably be added to the BLASTER Master editor. HI-RES SAMPLER (an 80386 is strongly recommended) The Sound Blaster can be "pushed" to actually sample at a higher rate than 13khz. The main limitation is the speed of the machine running this program. I have optimized this program to push the Sound Blaster and your PC to the absolute maximum of their capabilities! To do this, I had to cut some corners. Unless otherwise specified, all of available memory will be used for sampling. A smaller amount of memory can be selected by using the "/Sn" command line switch. Enter "SAMPLE ?" at the DOS prompt to see all available commands. THIS PROGRAM CAN ONLY BE RUN FROM THE DOS PROMPT. VOC FILE COMPILER This program will "compile" a standard .VOC or .WAV file into a stand alone executable file. In other words, typing VCOMP YODEL.VOC at the DOS prompt will process the soundfile YODEL.VOC into YODEL.EXE. YODEL.EXE can now be played by running it from the DOS prompt. VCOMP should work with any .VOC format except stereo. If there seems to be enough interest in this program, (i.e. registrations), I will write versions in the future that will also detect the type of hardware present and run on the PC speaker, Sound Master, etc... --- REPORTING TROUBLE Most of the episodes of users having problems with BLASTER Master has been the result of trying to re-process COMPRESSED or LOOPED files. This also includes silence compression files. BLASTER Master can only process RAW 8 bit sample files. The example file FROGS.VOC is a looped file and will not work with any of these utilities. If the VOC file you are trying to re-sample sounds bad or locks up your computer after playing it, then it is probably NOT a raw file. MOST of the VOC files that are floating around BBS's have been compressed. I have tried to display information about the sound files and to limit the processing of packed files. Version 4.1 has under gone a very good examination for bugs and inconsistancies. Some of the problems with smaller files should no longer be a problem. If you do find a bug, please report it in as much detail as possible so that I can fix it in the next version. I need to know which specific function you were using, where the VOC file originated from and the sample rate. If the problem is hardware related, such as the video display or mouse functions, please include information about the system you are using. Support beyond that will only be given to registered users. --- SUGGESTED READING: If you are interested in learning more about how BLASTER Master works, you should read the following books: "Principles of Digital Audio" by Ken C. Pohlmann Howard W. Sams & Co., 1985, 1989 second edition This is an excellent introduction to everything from fundamental accoustic theory to the way compact disks work. Some chapters are relatively easy to understand and others are definitely NOT for the faint of heart. "Musical Applications of Microprocessors" by Hal Chamberlin Hayden Books, 1985, 1987 second edition This is absolutely the best edition ever published in the field of digital sound production and is universally considered a classic. This book is 800 pages long and an understanding of advanced mathmatics is required. "Elements of Computer Music" by F. Richard Moore Prentice-Hall, Inc. 1990 This is also an excellent source of information about digital sound re-production. It is especially good for C programmers as all of the examples are working C routines. "An Introduction to Digital Signal Processing" by John H. Karl Academic Press, Inc. 1989 This is a very good crash study course in DSP and assumes the reader is familiar with higher mathmatics. --- Distribution BBS Numbers These BBS's should always have the latest release. BLASTER Master is also available on hundreds of other BBS's around the world. CompuServe GO MIDI Channel One 617 354-3137 Data Dimension 404 921-1186 Musical Chairs 416 438-1688 New Dimension 408 274-5550 Rusty & Eddy's 216 726-3589 User-to-User 214 492-6565 GEnie IBMPC --- BLASTER Master is the result of many, many hours of programming, study and experimentation (not to mention 6 years of college). If you find this program to be interesting and of use to you, then please register BLASTER Master and help support future development towards more applications of sound files. I would like to take this opportunity to thank the individuals and institutions that have already registered. Your support has made this version possible. As long as you continue to support BLASTER Master, I will continue to release new versions. All future updates are free. One registration will automatically register future versions. Please mention the version number in your letter. I would also like your telephone number and your computer system hardware. I would also be interested in knowing which BBS you downloaded it from and hearing any suggestions for future enhancements. When I receive your payment, I will send you your registration number and instructions on installing it. To Register, send $29.95 in US dollars to: Gary Maddox 1901 Spring Creek #315 Plano, TX 75023 USA Foreign orders mailed directly to me should include $5.00 for the extra postage and PLEASE, send payment in US dollars only. To Register in Germany, send 50 Deutche Marks plus handling fee to: CDV Ettlingerstr. 5 D-7500 Karlsruhe 1 Germany I suggest you contact CDV to find out the current handling charges and to obtain a catalog of their other excellent shareware offerings. To Register in the U.K., send 16 pounds Sterling to: Carl Ricketts 54 St. Anne's Road Tankerton Whitstable Kent CT5 2DR England Thank you for using my Sound Blaster software. * Sound Blaster is a registered trademark of Creative Labs, Inc ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- BLASTER Master (C) 1990, 1991 by Gary Maddox, all rights reserved. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------end-of-author's-documentation--------------- Software Library Information: This disk copy provided as a service of Public (software) Library We are not the authors of this program, nor are we associated with the author in any way other than as a distributor of the program in accordance with the author's terms of distribution. Please direct shareware payments and specific questions about this program to the author of the program, whose name appears elsewhere in this documentation. If you have trouble getting in touch with the author, we will do whatever we can to help you with your questions. All programs have been tested and do run. To report problems, please use the form that is in the file PROBLEM.DOC on many of our disks or in other written for- mat with screen printouts, if possible. PsL cannot debug pro- programs over the telephone, though we can answer questions. Disks in the PsL are updated monthly, so if you did not get this disk directly from the PsL, you should be aware that the files in this set may no longer be the current versions. Also, if you got this disk from another vendor and are having prob- lems, be aware that some files may have become corrupted or lost by that vendor. Get a current, working disk from PsL. For a copy of the latest monthly software library newsletter and a list of the 3,000+ disks in the library, call or write Public (software) Library P.O.Box 35705 - F Houston, TX 77235-5705 1-800-2424-PSL MC/Visa/AmEx/Discover Outside of U.S. or in Texas or for general information, Call 1-713-524-6394 PsL also has an outstanding catalog for the Macintosh.