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About: PSGSr4.SHK
POLYSONS v5.1 - Copyright (c) 1994 by PTA/1WSW/BABARWARE
(REVISION 4 - 12/06/94 )
Status and Program functions: IIgs MIDI Sequencer, FFT- Waveform and Sound Editor
GENERALITIES
Poly-Sons is above, all a program for the composition of sounds. It is not a simple sound librarian. It was created for the direct manipulation of the waveform.
There are two procedures used to generate a sound. A synth is made of entirely artificial data. A digitization starts out from the beginning as a musical sound.
Waves created by Synth are in general much shorter than digitized waves because synths are looped. Whereas, digitized waves are only read once. Within Poly-Sons, a wave represents one period, or one electric signal.
This is why when Poly-Sons reads in a digitized wave, it can't understand it and all you hear is a small click.
The waves saved on the disk are IFF format. It is better to use IFF as the standard. This is true in that if they weren't IFF, an error would be generated when you try to load a Poly-Sons wave into another program that uses IFF files. But most other programs read the IFF file only once, and that will give equally strange results.
Music Studio also uses the IFF standard. But note: you can't formally recover the wave-banks or add to them.
The "Validation" option in the "Util" menu tells IIgs owners of older ROMs (v00) what is present. It transfers the wave to the DOC-RAM by force. With the newer ROMs (01 & 03) the transfer option always (or almost always) works correctly.
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SECURITY
Poly-Sons is a program destined to fall into the hands of children eventually. The program's solution to this is a philosophy of prevention of risk. As a result, when you boot up (start the program), there is a window which gives you a choice of two modes:
�Adult - All functions active
�Child - A filtration of functions which can bring
catastrophy to disks. All DA's are disabled because
Poly-Sons doesn't know which DA's are dangerous.
(IF A CHILD IS GOING TO USE THE PROGRAM-SELECT THIS MODE)
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PRINCIPLE WINDOW
Once the security choice has been made, you are once again in a familiar environment. At first it resembles the desktop. It has the same color as the desktop, but it is not the desktop!
It is the principle window of Poly-Sons. It is immovable and indestructible. If you click on it, all the windows opened at the moment disappear behind it. You can recall them with the menu. This was conceived for the usage of Poly-Sons with all future MultiFinder and Miltitasking programs.
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Commands:
�Volume- It is logarithmic, respecting the sensitivity of the human ear and is controlled with the selector at the end.
�Vibrato Speed- Does this need any further explanation?
�Vibrato Depth- Setting to a strong value makes "cosmic" sounds.
�Detune- A sound is produced with 2 oscillators, an even and an odd. One shifts to the accord of the second. The command is made easy by the presence of 2 cursors. The large one sets the larger command and the small the smaller one. Setting a light detune makes a rich sound in harmony with the inter-modulation phenomenon. Setting a strong detune permits you to hear harmony in only one note. The command is measured in halftones.
Therefore a detone of 3 halftones produces a third minor; 4 gives a third major; etc...
� Transposition- The IIgs keyboard is limited to one octave per environ.
With this command there is a scale of 127 halftones and 12 octaves.
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4. FOURIER
This window allows the creation of a waveform starting with the transformations in "Fourier." The cursors at the bottom of the window represent the harmonics and thus their amplitude. Cursor #1 corresponds to harmonic #1. Cursor #2 corresponds to the amplitude of harmonic #2, and so on.
A general rule: The harmonics of the even range generate the soft sounds which are more agreeable to the ear, and the harmonics of the odd range, make the strange and often (to some), disagreeable sounds. A careful blend of both creates a very high quality sound.
The curve, which represents the position of the cursors, is called a spectrum.
The "Visual Essay" button gives a graphic rendering of the spectrum but does not alter the current wave.
The "Validation" button enters the spectrum and alters in consequence, the current wave.
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5. BY MOUSE
This window permits the direct modification of the waveform by means of the mouse. In general, it is used to modify the waves created in "fourier."
The "Grid" button provides a guide for precise positioning of the mouse pointer. You could also use the NDA "Mouse Position."
The "Symmetry" button evaluates the waveform and displays an axis of symmetry in the middle. It allows for rapid modifications of waves made in "Fourier."
The "Undo" button cancels the modifications since the last validation.
The "Validation" button enters the changes and modifies the current wave.
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6. ENVELOPE
The envelope of a sound is a variation of sound volume within time. It is made up of 8 segments, whose height exactly corresponds to that instant. A break point is the passage of one segment to another.
segment 1
break-point 1
segment 2
break-point 2
segment 3
break-point 3
segment 4
break-point 4
segment 5
break-point 5
segment 6
break-point 6
segment 7
break-point 7
segment 8
For each segment there is a larger command RPx and a small command RFx. The large cursor at the bottom of the window allows variation using this command. The placing of the scale is automatic and the total duration of the sound is shown in seconds.
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7. MULTI-TIMBRE
Within this mode note: that you can launch up to 4 generators at the same time or 8 oscillators. Each generator provides the proper waveform and its proper envelope.
Within this window, each unit corresponds to a generator. The opening of a wave (previously saved) is done with a click of the "load" button. The unloading is done with a click of the "unload" button. To set the volume at zero, use the small cursor at the bottom of the window.
For each voice, select a position of two oscillators (even, odd) within the stereophonic space.
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A stereo card is indispensible when you consider the alternative of Mono sound.
I recommend a SoundMeister stereo card from: Tony Diaz
Alltech Electronics Co.
2618 Temple Heights
Oceanside, CA 92056
619-724-2404
Priced at $69.00 currently, the SoundMeister is certainly the best available for your Apple IIgs.
Poly-Sons has been revised and updated to create sounds and waveforms as FFT, in real-time, which will allow the presents of many subtle overtures and harmonics, that simply can't be presented to the human ear, from the IIgs, using just a stereo card.
There is a very reasonable priced ($69.00, plus S & H charges) device know as: 'The
(Model AK-500) Hughes High Definition 3-D Audio Sound Retrieval System'. It goes between your IIgs stereo card and your stereo system. It is exactly what its name implies.
It gives you all the lost sounds qualities, dimensionality and soundscapes, that are present, but not able to be audio rendered, from a simple stereo card, alone. Using the High Definition 3-D Audio -SRS- Sound Retrieval System, it presents the ultimate, in 3-D Audio Soundscapes. I recommend, you get one, to use with the SoundMeister stereo card, for the very best output or 3-D input of either stereo or mono. Yes I said 3-D mono. This device can emulate high definition 3-D stereo soundscapes, from even a mono input or output audio signal.
The (Model AK-500) Hughes High Definition 3-D Audio Sound Retrieval System, is available from: Sound City, Inc.
Meadtown Shopping Center
Rt. 23 S., Kinnelon, NJ 07405
201-838-3444 or to place an Order call: 1-800-54-7283
I advise you to order one, if you want one, promptly. I talked with them today 12/6/94 and they only have about a months supply of them left in stock. It's no longer made andd when the remaining stock is gone, that's it !
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The "joystick" buttons permit a variation in real time of the next three commands:
�Detune of the voice (pitch)
�Vibrato Depth
�Volume which thus replaces the command by cursor.
Each of these commands is controlled by your joystick.
For the pitch you can align the joystick with the aid of a balance command,
which Poly-Sons plays, only when the joystick is at zero.
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�Importing/Exporting POLYSONS Sounds/Waveforms, for use with other Apple IIgs programs:
The current POLYSONS v5.1 saves its sound/waveform files with special compression and fourier coding techniques, that allow them to be loaded and used with the POLYSONS program only.
If you have a desire, (as many people have expressed they do) to use the complex and impressive special effect sounds/waveforms, generated by the sound/waveform files from POLYSONS, with other music programs such as; SoundSmith, Noise Tracker GS, etc. and/or for additional enhancements and/or modifications, via your favorite sound editors, you can do so, by simply exporting/recording them onto a high-quality cassette tape, from your Apple IIgs, by playing them within the POLYSONS program.
You can then record/digitize and Import them, from the cassette tape back to your Apple IIgs and save them, in any standard sound file types of your choice, for use with your favorite music program or sound editor. Using this method, you can even save them as Rsound files, to use with your favorite GS/OS Applications or with the Finder, etc.
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8. MAGNETOPHONE or (MIDI)
This function records what you play. You can record up to 16,000 notes or 18 minutes. The apple blinks to signal that the magnetophone is working.
Recording automatically stops at the end of the allowed space.
The "Open" Button opens a sequence and the "Save" button saves the current sequence.
(You can't have more than one sequence in memory, at the same time).
Opening a sequence will destroy the previous sequence in memory, whether opening from disk or recording. If you record and haven't installed anything, the sequence is considered nonexistant. During this mode, you can not open the edit window. To make a sequence entirely by editing, you must first register a sequence "empty" with less than one note.
Within the edit window, you can view each note and its position. You can modify the higher tone of the note (MIDI halftone). To delete a note, click the "delete" button. To add a note, select the (soon-to-be) preceding note and click the "insert" button. The note is then duplicated from memory.
The system permits the placing of more notes over the same position and thus allows playing at the same time.
(Trick: If more notes are shifted to one position 1/60 of a second, the sound rendered resembles a guitar).
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9. METRONOME
The metronome is entirely independent of the other functions of Poly-Sons. It does not preoccupy the MIDI or timbral modes.
The tone buttons let you adjust the sound to your ear (or your personal audio needs).
The tempo selector lets you choose tempo from a very wide range. The volume selector is (of course) logarithmic.
To stop the metronome, click the window off.
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10. MIDI
Every time you close the MIDI window, the program saves the configuration within the file "MIDI.CONF." If that file doesn't exist, it will be created. At boot it tells Poly-Sons where to open the default MIDI driver.
The Receive Channel selector sets the MIDI input channel and the Transmit Channel selector selects the MIDI output channel. The split point selector designates a border between the low and high notes which correspond to the upper and lower timbre.
The MIDI input option allows MIDI capture by direct playing or recording.
(PLEASE NOTE):
With the (older IIe MIDI card) it is common to lose notes or even lock up Poly-Sons. For this reason I advise the usage of an AppleMIDI interface or other IIgs compatible MIDI cards ot interface devices. The bug (or problem) is not in Poly-Sons but the card itself. You should also note, that programs like; Music Studio or Music Writer do not support that older interface for playing or output.
The MIDI output option allows Poly-Sons to send all that is played over the MIDI channel. Arranging the MIDI reception over one channel and output on another makes a MIDI transcoder that is both; practical and economical.
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11. CONTACT
For all criticism (constructive please), contact:
Jean Pierre Charpentier - (Babar de Saint Cyr)
2 Residence "Les Fougeres"
78340 Les Clayes sous Bois
FRANCE
Voice Tel.(011- 33) 1-30-55-4681
or
Charles T. (Dr. Tom) Turley, Ph.D.
Cofounder - Executive Coordinator - 1WSW
115 Santa Clara St.
Brisbane, CA., 94005
USA
Voice Tel. (415) 468-1609
e-mail: Internet - 3D5D1WSW@Calon.com
And finally,
H I T O A L L
from:
JEAN PIERRE CHARPENTIER
(BABAR DE ST. CYR)
1 World Software Wizards
115 Santa Clara St.
BRISBANE, CA. 94005
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Additional DATA of interest follows: