Internal Sounds Kit
Internal Sounds Kit
Internal Sounds Kit - AmigoPhone
AmigoPhone DESCRIPTION: The AmigoPhone converts the Amiga's sound-generating hardware into a multi-timbral synthesizer. Like the MIDI Out Tool, the AmigoPhone is an Output Tool. When you place it on the end of a PipeLine, it uses the Amiga's internal sound hard-ware to play notes that enter it. The AmigoPhone loads standard IFF sampled sounds. Therefore, in addition to the extensive library of sounds that comes with the Internal Sounds Kit, you can use sounds created by third parties. Each AmigoPhone Tool can play a different IFF sound, as well as share a sound with other AmigoPhones. Best of all, the number of loaded sounds is limited only by the amount of available chip memory, which the Amiga's hardware must access to play each sound. Note: The AmigoPhone requires that the MathTrans library, located in the "libs" directory of your Workbench, be installed. If the MathTrans library can't be found, the AmigoPhone will not load. Under normal circumstances, this shouldn't be a problem because the MathTrans library is included by default on Workbench. In other words, don't worry about this unless the AmigoPhone mysteriously refuses to load from disk. SPECIAL TYPE: Output. USAGE: PipeLine. CONTROLS: Double-click on the AmigoPhone icon to open its Control window. By default, the AmigoPhone doesn't contain any loaded sounds. To load a sound from disk, click on the New button, located in the upper right-hand corner. The file requester will open. From the file requester, select an IFF sample, then click on the Load button. The AmigoPhone displays the loaded IFF sound's name in the box to the right of the IFF Sample: prompt. The IFF Sample: box can also be used to select a sound from a list of currently loaded sounds. If you've installed more than one AmigoPhone and loaded an IFF sound in each, click on the IFF Sample: box and hold down. A scrolling pop-up menu will appear under the mouse with a list of all currently loaded sounds. Scroll through the list by moving the mouse up or down. Select a new sound by releasing the mouse button over it. Use this feature to save precious memory; Instead of loading the same IFF sound into more than one AmigoPhone, load it in only once. If you load a sound, but elect not to use it, the AmigoPhone will remove the sound from memory once you've closed the Control Window. Because each IFF sound file consists of a specific range of octaves, the AmigoPhone displays this range after the Octaves: prompt. The AmigoPhone will not play notes above and below the highlighted octaves. The AmigoPhone can play sounds at two different sample rates. The higher sample rateproduces better quality sound, but at the expense of shorter playing time. Select high or Low after the Fidelity: prompt. Use the Fine Tune slider to correct any slight error in pitch. Drag it to the right to raise the pitch up to a quarter tone and to the left to decrease the pitch down to a quarter tone. To shift pitch by any greater amount, use Fine Tune in conjunction with the Modulate command. Drag the Modulate: slider to increase or decrease the pitch in increments of half steps. The AmigoPhone provides a range of a major seventh below to a inajor seventh above. To increase the sound's pitch up or down by octaves, drag the Octave Shift: slider. The AmigoPhone responds to MIDI Pitch Bend events. Drag the Pitch Bend: slider to set the range of a full pitch bend. For example, if the slider is set to "m6th", rotating the pitch bend wheel up all the way shifts the pitch by a major sixth above. Add vibrato to your IFF sampled sound with the Vibrato Rate and Vibrato Depth sliders. The Vibrato Rate ranges from a slow 1 hertz (one cycle per second) to a very fast 15 hertz. The Vibrato Depth ranges from 0, for no effect to 100, for an extremely pronounced Vibrato. The AmigoPhone also responds to note velocity events, translating them into loudness. The harder you press a key, the louder the sound. Set the degree to which the velocity influences the volume by setting the Emphasis: slider. When dragged all the way to the left, the AmigoPhone plays all notes at a constant volume. When dragged all the way to the right, the sounds have the maximum dynamic range. Set the attack and release times with the Attack: and Release: sliders. When the attack is very short (all the way to the left,) the sound starts very abruptly. When the attack is long (all the way to the right,) it fades in. Percussive instruments, such as piano and guitar, have a short attack. Strings, on the other hand, have a longer attack time. Likewise, the release time of a sound determines how long the sound takes to fade out once the note is released. An organ has a short release time, while a sitar has a very long one. Finally, you can set the overall volume with the Volume: slider. With the exception of the sample name, none of the parameters abOve are part of the IFF sample format. Instead, the AmigoPhone keeps track of these independently. When you save a song that contains AmigoPhone Tools, Barsss&Pamp;Pamp;Pipes saves the parameters along with the IFF file name as part of the song. This way, the AmigoPhone can easily reload the sound when you next work on your composition.
Internal Sounds Kit - SpareKeys
Spare Keys DESCRIPTION: Spare Keys uses the Amiga's mouse and keyboard as an alternative to a MIDI controller for your input source. As with the MIDI In Tool, Spare Keys sits at the beginning of the PipeLine. SPECIAL TYPE: Input USAGE: PipeLine CONTROLS: In order to use Spare Keys, you must open its Control window. Do so by double-clicking on its icon in the PipeLine. You can enter notes either by clicking the left mouse button on the piano keyboard in the Spare Keys Control window, or by playing the notes directly on your Amiga's keyboard. In the case of the latter, the bottom two rows of characters serve as the white and black keys of the piano. For example, the letter 'z' is the note C, while 's' is C#. Because Spare Keys is limited in its range of piano keys, we've provided the Octave: slider to extend the range. Slide it to the left to drop the octave and to the right to increase the octave. Note that the Spare Keys window need not be active for the keyboard to work. In other words, you don't have to continually click on the window before you can play a note. While this is a convenience when using Barsss&Pamp;Pamp;Pipes, it may startle you if you switch screens in your Amiga's multi-tasking environment, and, for example, start typing away at your word processor only to be accompanied by a cacophony of notes. To deactivate Spare Keys, close all opened Spare Keys Control windows.