Short: Create sounds by adding together sine waves Author: kimflarsen@hotmail.com (Kim Fastrup Larsen) Uploader: kimflarsen hotmail com (Kim Fastrup Larsen) Type: mus/edit Architecture: m68k-amigaos 1 LEGAL STUFF Harmonics version 1--a simple additive synthesizer Copyright (C) 2004 Kim Fastrup Larsen This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at your option) any later version. This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details. You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc. 59 Temple Place - Suite 330 Boston MA 02111-1307 USA 2 WHAT DOES IT DO? Harmonics is a simple waveform synthesizer program. Waveforms a created by adding sine waves of different frequencies and amplitudes. You are limited to working with 12 different frequencies: The base frequency (called the first harmonic), base * 2 (the second harmonic), base * 3 (the third harmonic), and so on up to base * 12 (the twelfth harmonic). Harmonics are added to the waveform simply by adjusting the twelve sliders that determine the amplitude of each harmonic. Setting a slider to zero (far left) leaves that harmonic out of the waveform altogether. The resulting waveform is automatically scaled to use the full amplitude range of -127 to 127. You can test the waveform by playing notes with the keyboard. You have two full octaves available on the keyboard at any time. You can choose between the 5 available octaves using F1-F4. Yes, that's only 4 keys, but since you have two octaves available at a time, this WILL give you access to all 5 possible octaves. Try it out, you'll see. Harmonics projects contain simply the setting of the twelve sliders and so are very small files. In order to use a waveform in another program you must use the "export IFF" facility of the program. This will save a 5-octave IFF 8SVX sound file that most Amiga music software will be able to load. Full sources are included for your amusement. 3 A NOTE ON SOUND QUALITY Harmonics generates 5 octaves of waveform data. The lowest octave is a 256 sample waveform. The higher octaves contain 128, 64, 32 and 16 samples, respectively. This ensures the highest sound quality possible on an Amiga. Still, you should observe the following limitations: Harmonics 9-12 will be inaudible or distorted in the two highest octaves. Harmonics 5-8 will be inaudible or distorted in the highest octave. Harmonics 1-4 sound fine in all octaves. Therefore, if you wish to make use of all 5 octaves, you should only use harmonics 1-4, and likewise if you want to use all but the highest octave, use only harmonics 1-8. If you need only the lower 3 octaves, you can use all harmonics. Also note that if you somehow switch off the Amiga's built-in low-pass filter you WILL experience distortion (so-called "aliasing distortion"--the sampling rate interfering with the sound frequencies) that would not otherwise be noticable. This is due to hardware constraints and cannot be avoided. The filter is there for that very reason. Some music software switch off the filter without asking or even informing you. You can tell that the audio filter is switched off if the power led is dimmed. 4 WHAT'S UP WITH THE ANTIQUATED STYLE? I programmed this in Kickstart 1.3 style. It should run on every Amiga ever sold by Commodore. Why did I do it like this? For the fun of it, I guess. I like the simplicity and flexibility of the old Kickstart. The playful philosophy of the Amiga went out the the Windows (sic) with 2.0. Display database? What a nightmare. Don't try to be something you're not! Amiga 500 rules, etc. Consider it a design exercise. I tried to make it as simple to use and easy to understand as possible for the computer novice in the true Amiga spirit. Consequently, the program does not even have "proper" file requesters. This shields the user from files not seen on the Workbench. The user can load projects by multi-selecting icons or using the "default tool" mechanism so entering filenames is kept to a minimum anyway. I also tried to make the software "safe" and "professional" with a full complement of menus, requesters and error messages. There are no bugs or design problems that I am aware of. But please report them if you find any! See below how to contact me. The look of the program is totally borrowed from Workbench 1.3 and requesters look a lot like Kickstart 1.3's system requesters. I am a programmer, not a graphics designer. Anyway, it looks nice if you ask me. Who needs Gadtools? It does look best when run under Kickstart 1.3 though. Harmonics was actually coded on my beloved A4000/030 so go figure. It has been tested under various A500-like conditions as well using WinUAE. 5 CONTACT ME If you have bug reports or other comments, you can reach me (Kim Fastrup Larsen) on the following e-mail address: kimflarsen@hotmail.com 6 HAVE FUN! Have fun!