Table of Contents
WAVE Sample Builder
The WAVE Sample Builder is used to create a block of up to 6 Sound Samples for use in the Wave Music Editor.
Display
The utility displays a list of around 134 Samples which are split (by heading) into Instruments and Sound Effects. The list is further split into Categories (by colour).
Samples cover Instruments, Percussion, Vocals and Sound Effects.
Brass BrassStab 1280 «x1()
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Brass | The Sample Category |
| BrassStab | the name of the sample. When in Wave this name will be concatinated to 7 characters (“BrassSt”) |
| 1280 | The size of the sample in Sample units(half Bytes) |
| « | Marker to indicate this sample is to be included in the compilation(Unmarked would show blank) |
| x1 | The speed of the sample can be set to x1(normal), x2(Double speed, half size) or x4(Quad speed, quarter size). This will be reflected when playing of the sample |
| () | Loop offset of the sample which is shown as +xxxx where xxxx is the offset or blank for no offset. This will be reflected when playing the sample. |
The bottom legend gives a constant report of the number of Samples to be included in the compilation, the size of the compilation and the number of Samples free.
Navigation
All samples are suitable for playing at 5Khz 4bit and are already stored in LHL format.
However if you desire any selected Sample by be halved in size (which doubles the frequency) and vice versa with ,/. Keys. The current speed is indicated on the right with the x1 or x2 flags.
The Sample may also be played (which will be played at the set rate) with the RETURN key.
To select a sample for a compilation press the Space bar. To deselect the sample press Space bar again.
| Key | Operation |
|---|---|
| Cursor Up | Move up list. List is a push scroll type |
| Cursor Down | Move down list. List is a push scroll type |
| , | Decrement Play Speed |
| . | Increment Play Speed |
| Return | Play or Stop Sample at Play speed and Looped(optional) |
| Space Bar | Toggle Sample with compilation |
| L | Toggle Sample Loop |
| - | Decrement Sample Loop Offset |
| = | Increment Sample Loop Offset |
| I | Import LHL sample on disk |
| B | Build Compilation |
| ESC | Quit(with confirmation) to Main Wave Menu |
Looping Samples
Samples may also be looped and the point of looping may be set using the -/= keys with the loop offset shown to the right of the speed flag in brackets. The looping may be toggled on or off with the L key.
Building the compilation
Finally to Build the compilation (Sample names will be concatanated to the first 7 characters) press B. The display will change to show the directory and the filename prompt will ask for the filename to save the compilation as.
Importing your own Samples
Samples can potentially be imported into Wave using a couple of utilities on the system disk.
Samples must be no longer than 32K. During the conversion they will be doubled in frequency and halved in size. In addition the image on disk will be a quarter of their original size since each sample is just 4 bits and two are held in each byte.
Firstly the format of Wave samples is a variant of 4Bit 5Khz whereby the end of the sample is when a byte contains Zero.
Therefore the sample needs first to be converted to 5Khz, converted to 4 Bit, reduced resolution again by 1/16 to exclude zero and packed into the LHL format. This conversion is done in the following process.
To ease this the Sample should first be converted to 8 bit 10Khz unsigned and RAW (No header data) and then given a tape header (use OSDK's HEADER utility) with a start address of $5000.
Next load and save to an Oric disk. Boot up Wave system disk and select Import Sample from the menus. This will convert the sample to 5Khz 4 Bit and save the file with the extension .LHL. Unfortunately clarity will be lost in the conversion due to the halving of both the frequency and resolution.
The above Sample Builder will provide the means to add the generated sample to a compilation.
