Table of Contents
Pitch, Volume and Noise Elements
The music player automatically combines Pattern Notes with Ornament and Effect before they are finally sent to the Sound Chip.
However the calculations for the conversion should be understood to make better use of the facilities available.
WAVE Pitch
A Pattern Note is always the base note that all subsequent changes are applied to.
The Pattern Note is adjusted by the Ornament Semitone offset then converted to Pitch.
The Pitch is then adjusted by Pitchbend(if present) then adjusted by any Effect pitch variance before being sent to the Sound Chip.
(Pattern Note +/- Ornament) » Pitch +/- Pitchbend +/- Effect Pitch » AY
WAVE Volume
If the Effect assigns volume control to the EG then any volume changes will not take place until control is switched back again. If Volume is used then the Pattern Volume sets the presidence. The Effect variance then adjusts the volume before it is sent to the Sound Chip.
If a Sample is played on Channel C whilst a note is played then the Sample will always take presidence.
Pattern Volume +/- Effect Volume » AY
WAVE Noise
Noise is primarily set in the Pattern Noise Column. Any Effect Noise variance will act upon this before it is sent to the Sound Chip. If (In the usual case) Noise is not used in the column then any Noise variance in the Effect will be based upon the last Noise value or Zero if never set.
Pattern Noise +/- Effect Noise » AY
WAVE EGPeriod
WAVE EGPeriod is always 8 bit thus ranges 0 to 255 even though the Pattern format only permits values from 0 to 62.
The Period may be adjusted in the Effect before it is sent to the sound chip.
Pattern EG +/- Effect EG » AY
The Pattern permits values in the range of 0 to 62 and selection of Saw, Triangle or Pulse modes to be selected.
This means in most cases the composer is attempting to synchronise the pitch in the Period to a Notes pitch in the Chip Channels.
As such the table below gives some guidance to the synchronised notes possible. Note then that the values vary between Sawtooth and Triangle waveforms. This is because a Triangle period represents 1 half of the waveform whereas Sawtooth period represents a full cycle.
| Note(Sawtooth) | Note(Triangle) | EG Period Value |
|---|---|---|
| C-6 | ||
| B-5 | 00 | |
| A#5 | ||
| A-5 | ||
| G#5 | ||
| G-5 | ||
| F#5 | ||
| F-5 | ||
| E-5 | ||
| D#5 | ||
| D-5 | ||
| C#5 | ||
| C-6 | C-5 | |
| B-5 | B-4 | 02 |
| A#5 | A#4 | |
| A-5 | A-4 | |
| G#5 | G#4 | |
| G-5 | G-4 | |
| F#5 | F#4 | |
| F-5 | F-4 | |
| E-5 | E-4 | 04 |
| D#5 | D#4 | |
| D-5 | D-4 | |
| C#5 | C#4 | |
| C-5 | C-4 | |
| B-4 | B-3 | 06 |
| A#4 | A#3 | |
| A-4 | A-3 | |
| G#4 | G#3 | |
| G-4 | G-3 | 08 |
| F#4 | F#3 | |
| F-4 | F-3 | |
| E-4 | E-3 | 10 |
| D#4 | D#3 | |
| D-4 | D-3 | |
| C#4 | C#3 | 12 |
| C-4 | C-3 | |
| B-3 | B-2 | 14 |
| A#3 | A#2 | |
| A-3 | A-2 | 16 |
| G#3 | G#2 | |
| G-3 | G-2 | 18 |
| F#3 | F#2 | |
| F-3 | F-2 | 20 |
| E-3 | E-2 | 22 |
| D#3 | D#2 | |
| D-3 | D-2 | 24 |
| C#3 | C#2 | 27 |
| C-3 | C-2 | 29 |
| B-2 | B-1 | 30 |
| A#2 | A#1 | 32 |
| A-2 | A-1 | 34 |
| G#2 | G#1 | 36 |
| G-2 | G-1 | 38 |
| F#2 | F#1 | 40 |
| F-2 | F-1 | 42 |
| E-2 | E-1 | 46 |
| D#2 | D#1 | 48 |
| D-2 | D-1 | 52 |
| C#2 | C#1 | 54 |
| C-2 | C-1 | 58 |
| B-1 | B-0 | 62 |
