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Amiga computer related discussion => Amiga Software Issues and Discussion => Topic started by: XDelusion on April 29, 2010, 09:24:39 AM
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I used to use OctaMED Sound Studio all the time back in the latter half of the 90's. Since then I moved on to PC where I basically got hooked because of a handful of software that just does not exist on ANY OTHER Operating System and I can not live without them.
While having this extra power I began using Open Mod Plug Tracker and my OctaMED use fell to the way side, but...
...here we are, years later and I'm beginning to tinker with the old hardware again and I was that particular sound that only a real Amiga can produce in that unique Amiga flavor.
So I'm installing OctaMED S.S., but on disc two, it turns out that the Installer gives me an error.
Mind you I have updated the installer via Aminet and I still receive this error:
Sorry... an Error Has Occured!
Coyfiles: Problem with source file/drawer "OctaMED_SoundStudio2:Rexx" in line 150.
DOS Error Type: Unable to locate a file or Drawer.
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How can I resolve this issue? I've always had this problem since the 90's and always had to do an install by hand.
I've had other programs that had issues during and install, and I never understood why that would be.
In regards to advice, what settings would you veteran users suggest for an Amiga 1200 030/40Mhz with 16Mb of RAM. And what setting would you suggest for an Amiga 600 68000 with 4Mb of RAM total?
By this I mean OctaMED's Frequency settings, channels, halfing, sample quality, size, and all that jazz.
BTW, what is Sample halfing anyhow, and should I use it, because it only seems to make the samples sound like crap.
Finally, why is it that when I am using OctaMED Sound Studio, that it sometimes begin to put out garbage instead of the sounds it is supposed to? The only way I've found to resolve this is to reboot.
Again, thankx in advance!
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I'd look at line 150 what's missing, if it could be fixed by hand - have done it sometimes meaning there can be an error in the installer script.
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I used to use OctaMED Sound Studio all the time back in the latter half of the 90's. Since then I moved on to PC where I basically got hooked because of a handful of software that just does not exist on ANY OTHER Operating System and I can not live without them.
While having this extra power I began using Open Mod Plug Tracker and my OctaMED use fell to the way side, but...
...here we are, years later and I'm beginning to tinker with the old hardware again and I was that particular sound that only a real Amiga can produce in that unique Amiga flavor.
So I'm installing OctaMED S.S., but on disc two, it turns out that the Installer gives me an error.
It looks like the installer failed to either create or locate a drawer or assign. Have a look at the line of the script to see if you can fix it.
I think I installed mine manually. In the end, it only needs an assign or two anyway IIRC.
In regards to advice, what settings would you veteran users suggest for an Amiga 1200 030/40Mhz with 16Mb of RAM.
On an 020 with 4MB of fast ram I had no problems with 8-channel mixed mode at 27000Hz (can't remember the exact value, it is the upper limit of Paula for PAL). On my 68040, I've played over 32 channels in mixed mode before, although nowadays most of my stuff uses MIDI.
And what setting would you suggest for an Amiga 600 68000 with 4Mb of RAM total?
By this I mean OctaMED's Frequency settings, channels, halfing, sample quality, size, and all that jazz.
For a 68000, you are probably best sticking to regular 4 channel mode or using it as a MIDI sequencer. You will probably get away with turning on FastMemPlay though, increasing the total sample size you can get away with.
BTW, what is Sample halfing anyhow, and should I use it, because it only seems to make the samples sound like crap.
Sample halving is used in legacy 5-8 channel mode. In this mode, 2 "software" channels are mixed into 1 hardware 8-bit channel, requiring that the overall sample output never exceeds the 8-bit range. The only way to guarantee that is to half the volume of the samples used on those channels. This isn't needed in mix mode, which uses a full software mixer for all channels.
If you want my advice, don't use the old 5-8 channel mode. Use the mixed mode on your 030. It's almost certainly faster and has far fewer limitations.
Finally, why is it that when I am using OctaMED Sound Studio, that it sometimes begin to put out garbage instead of the sounds it is supposed to? The only way I've found to resolve this is to reboot.
Again, thankx in advance!
That sounds like a bug. I've only had that happen in non-Mixed 5-8 channel mode with very short sample loops, but only rarely.
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I dont think the latest free version of Octamed has an installer?. I think you just copy the drawer to your hard drive. It's been a while though...could be wrong! :)
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Where is the final release anyhow?
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At one point you had to join the mailing list to download it. I can't find the Amiga section anymore on the official Octamed homepage. Wasn't version 1.03 on Aminet?. It's blocked from work so I can't check.
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The version I'm using is the one that was given away by CU Amiga magazine (1.03c, I think). I recall trying a beta v2, but it was far from complete.
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That's what I got is the CU Amiga version. I can't tell you how psyched I was when I found that issue on the stands! :)
Anyhow, ya the OctaMED site seems to have dropped Amiga support totally and announced that an OS4 port probably will never happen due to the ill health of the guy who was porting it. Also, no code release, what a shame. :/
If I could find a copy that doesn't have the annoying pop ups when you start it, I would be elated!
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Surely the popup isn't that annoying?
Anyway, regarding OS4, it runs just fine - at least as far as sample playback goes. MIDI, I haven't got working yet (probably because OctaMED SS bangs CIA/serial port directly for MIDI, I guess). In another thread, I think you were asking me about the instrument properties. The screenshot I added was running on OS4.1.
The way to get it working on OS4 is to use a tool called "The Maestrix" (or some such pun on the matrix) which emulates one of the supported soundcards on AHI. This application is also 68K and therefore works with classics/UAE as well (confirmed) and I expect it works in MorphOS too.
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This is all interesting to me, as well. I've got an M-AUDIO 88 controller, the BTBuilder game that I'm developing art for now has OGG support and I'm the only "musician" (and I use that term lightly) available. I was considering using Med SS to do the music, as I don't have any soft synths, nor any mixing software. I haven't done *ANY* sort of music since the early/mid 90's.
Any help would be appreciated, as well.
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IIRC u need to merge the folders from the 2 floppys into one directory instead of 2 seperate names, one on each disk.
(Folder repetition across disks)
Cant think mstraight now, too tird.
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About your original error, let's assume the floppies are in good shape. You must have an Installer that does not like this script, some version difference is to blame. Those are the tell-tale errors/signs of a wrong Installer version.
I tell you if you can download the 1.03c you may be better off, I've done that many times. And I concur it does not come with an installer; you just put fonts and libs where they need to go and when OSS stops bitching, you installed it!
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Karlos: Yes the pop up does annoy me that much!!! :)
I'm not wealthy enough to run OS 4.1 anyhow. I was just hoping for an updated port that matches the features of the latest Winblows version, and was keeping my fingers crossed that it would also run on MorphOS for when I buy an old MacMini or what ever to run it.
The Goose: Is there anywhere to has the last release of this available for download that is not the CU Amiga edition?
Tension: I'll give that a try.
Methuselas: I intend to keep posting information as I find it, and will probably be setting up a section on my web page later just for OctaMED Sound Studio for the Amiga since the official site is lacking in the department.
I'm also interested in checking out DigiBooster again some day and seeing what that's all about...
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OMG WTF is going on here:
http://www.medsoundstudio.com/
Someone plaese nuke this site. There use to be a humble yahoo group no too long ago for the original cool people. Newsflash - OSS will never work properly on a Pee Cee.
Whew, loosing my cool. XDelusion you can still get 1.03c at good old:
http://m68k.aminet.net/package/mus/edit/OctamedSS1.03c
But you just need a little common sense tinkering to get all working, like I was saying.
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The CU Amiga version on Aminet is the latest version... There may have been a 1.03d version but I don't think anything really changed.... You just have to change a setting to get rid of that annoying pop up screen at startup.
Karlos: Yes the pop up does annoy me that much!!! :)
I'm not wealthy enough to run OS 4.1 anyhow. I was just hoping for an updated port that matches the features of the latest Winblows version, and was keeping my fingers crossed that it would also run on MorphOS for when I buy an old MacMini or what ever to run it.
The Goose: Is there anywhere to has the last release of this available for download that is not the CU Amiga edition?
Tension: I'll give that a try.
Methuselas: I intend to keep posting information as I find it, and will probably be setting up a section on my web page later just for OctaMED Sound Studio for the Amiga since the official site is lacking in the department.
I'm also interested in checking out DigiBooster again some day and seeing what that's all about...
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Goose: So it was on Aminet. I wonder why none of my searches brought that up for me?
Anyhow, my problem isn't getting it running, I do remember enough about the Amiga to still accomplish that much, I was just curious why people release stuff with bad install scripts basically.
For poops and giggles I did copy the contents of both discs to a directory and assigned the floppies to that directory, but no matter what, it kept asking for disc two which eventually leads to failure during the install. Oh well.
In regards to the OctaMED site...
...ya, looks like us OctaMED users need to organize our own site for the Amiga original or something. Sad times!
They author seems kind of ticked that no one wants to pay for the Amiga software, but I guess if you your latest update was free, and you haven't worked on it since, then what can you expect? He should at least write a small update for the 680x0 Amigas with a few new features. I'd buy a copy for sure! I just don't care about the Windows port in the least. I have Open Mod Plug Tracker for that.
Besides, I want something for the Paula chip, not my Sound Blaster Live. :)
spihunter: I'll look for those settings. In the mean time care to post where they are at in case I don't find them and also in case others might want to turn it off as well? Thankx! :)
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Goose: So it was on Aminet. I wonder why none of my searches brought that up for me?
Anyhow, my problem isn't getting it running, I do remember enough about the Amiga to still accomplish that much, I was just curious why people release stuff with bad install scripts basically.
For poops and giggles I did copy the contents of both discs to a directory and assigned the floppies to that directory, but no matter what, it kept asking for disc two which eventually leads to failure during the install. Oh well.
In regards to the OctaMED site...
...ya, looks like us OctaMED users need to organize our own site for the Amiga original or something. Sad times!
They author seems kind of ticked that no one wants to pay for the Amiga software, but I guess if you your latest update was free, and you haven't worked on it since, then what can you expect? He should at least write a small update for the 680x0 Amigas with a few new features. I'd buy a copy for sure! I just don't care about the Windows port in the least. I have Open Mod Plug Tracker for that.
Besides, I want something for the Paula chip, not my Sound Blaster Live. :)
spihunter: I'll look for those settings. In the mean time care to post where they are at in case I don't find them and also in case others might want to turn it off as well? Thankx! :)
The other way is to download the iso of the CD-ROM of OctaMED Soundstudio, and install from there.
Someone said they would help me in this thread:
http://www.amiga.org/forums/showthread.php?t=51329&highlight=octamed
but no one ever did :(
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Did you ever come by the ISO then?
If so I'd really like to have it, for the extra samples if anything.
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Did you ever come by the ISO then?
If so I'd really like to have it, for the extra samples if anything.
no sadly :(
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There is a copy on Ebay of 1.1, which I presume one can update. ONly $10.00
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no sadly :(
@ Tension, damn doood I hate that popup too! Where can we find this ISO!? BTW - I bought at least 2 versions; Octamed 6 and then SS. I still have the v6 version on floppies buy not the SS version.
I remember when I showed spihunter Med, think version 4 on my Amiga 1000, we were in high school band with a drum machine back then. He was blown away. I was like "DO YOU KNOW WHAT THIS MEANS MHANNNN!"
Amiga was always delivering these eureka moments, that's what people miss. And they don't get, they can't get it back. It was just part of the early evolution of computing. Be happy you were there.
@XDelusion - no, they don't upgrade, sry. But maybe we can find this no popup-CU version...
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I have looked all over and there does not seem to be a setting to turn off the pop-up, and ironically, dude man above never reposted to tell us where it is allegedly at. :/
Anyhow, here's another questions:
Why do IFF files always have that static sound in the background? What file formats are you guys using for your OctaMED creations? I'm tinkering with downsampled wavs as we speak...
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Regarding the noise issue, there's nothing wrong with the IFF format itself. Obviously 8-bit sound has a rather limited resolution and you will notice quantisation noise with any 8-bit linear sound format (note that there are 8-bit encodings that are logarithmically delta encoded, which provide better SNR (signal-to-noise ratio) but aren't really supported as general sample formats).
The chances are that many .iff sound files you come across have been captured on an old 8-bit parallel port sound digitizer (or so we used to call them in the good old days). They didn't generally have the best SNR properties to begin with and the noise level will be in the least significant bit(s) of the sample. Add to that the fact that a lot of those sounds were captured at, or resampled to the old pro-tracker C-3 note playback rate (which is about 17kHz IIRC), then you get aliasing noise too. End result are audible hiss, ringing and other artifacts.
If you've used a 16-bit .wav or .aiff sound source, the chances are it's been captured on a reasonable recording device, perhaps even professionally, at a CD quality or better sampling rate. Scaling down to 8-bit adds quantisation noise again, but the original signal noise, which should have been in the least significant bit(s) of the 16-bit data, is now off the small end of the scale. That is to say, none of the noise in the original 16-bit recording, assuming it was recorded properly, can realistically be present in your 8-bit version as it doesn't have the precision to represent it. Only quantisation noise should be present. If you downsample the rate properly (using antialiasing) from 44kHz to say 22kHz - conveniently close to the F-3 note, you shouldn't get too much audible aliasing noise either.
Note that you can use 44kHz samples anyway, if you intend to use mix mode. It's nice if you want to do a direct-to-disk version of a track, since the extra quality is noticable in the end result.
In short, an 8-bit sample downsampled from a 44kHz 16-bit source will always sound cleaner than one sampled on an 8-bit parallel port :)
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"In short, an 8-bit sample downsampled from a 44kHz 16-bit source will always sound cleaner than one sampled on an 8-bit parallel port"
That is strange to me, but after I took a whole drum kit from my SP404SX, down sampled them, I thought they sounded pretty good.
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If you read up on sampling theory, it'll make more sense. The salient points are:
1) The sample rate should be at least 2x higher than the highest frequency component of the sound being sampled. So, don't use low sample rates for bright sounds (cymbals and the like). Keep them 22kHz or better if possible.
2) A 16-bit sampler basically has 256x the precision, per sample, than an 8-bit one. Assuming the background noise level only affects the least significant bit(s) of the sample, conversion from 16-bit to 8-bit produces a better quality than sampling at 8-bit. However:
3) Reducing the bit depth of a sample introduces quantisation noise.
If you are used to 8-bit sample quality, you won't really notice the effects of (3) so much but you should at least be able to tell the difference from an 8-bit sample that was sampled at 8-bit and an 8-bit sample that was reduced from 16-bit.
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O.K. Thank you all, I think I have a better understanding now, and I'm getting the idea (through experience) that I should stay clear of 16-bit samples on a 68000 machine because it can't play them properly and turns them into industrial noise (which has it's uses actually).
When my 030 arrives in the mail I'll play with them more, in the mean time I'll tinker with the info above and try to convert what I have into the cleanest 8-bit sounds I can come up with.
I have a DSS8+, but I don't really see the need to resort to that when I can do all the conversion work on my PC then send it to the Amiga, unless you guys are suggesting I might maintain better quality going through it.
And anther question. I was once told to hit HELP in the Instrument Editor or something to bring up OctaMED's guide...
...well that never happens and I don't even see the guide on the discs I have.
Thankx again to all who are taking their time to help here! :)
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@XDelusion
In order to play 16-bit samples in OctamedSS, you'll need to enable mix mode (or alternatively have one of the sound cards for which there is built-in support. See the earlier post about using The Maestrix for 16-bit AHI output). Otherwise, the 16-bit sample data is misinterpreted as 8-bit. The first (most significant) byte of the 16-bit word in each sample probably plays fine. It's the second byte (least significant) that will be misinterpreted as another 8-bit sample, which will almost certainly have no sensible relationship to the value it just played, producing some ungodly screech.
Unfortunately, mix mode on vanilla 68000 probably isn't going to work well as it needs too much CPU.
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I wish there was some library of good 8bit sounds on the web, you know of anything like that Karlos?
Well I might have to get this...
http://www.retrothing.com/2010/02/8-bit-weapon-chiptune-sound-library.html
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I wish there was some library of good 8bit sounds on the web, you know of anything like that Karlos?
Well I might have to get this...
http://www.retrothing.com/2010/02/8-bit-weapon-chiptune-sound-library.html
There used to be a collection of SoundTracker sample disks back in the day. You could tell when they'd been used in .mod files, they were usually called ST-.
In the end, I've gathered my own sample library over the years. More often than not, these days, I rely on MIDI stuff controlled by octamed rather than it's own sample playback.
These days, you can get high sample libraries on CD in .wav / .aiff format.
Speaking of MIDI, there's a nice MIDI triggered sample playback tool called MIDI-In which uses AHI for output. What I've done in the past is to use a spare A1200 (with just fast ram) as the sequencer, running OctaMED SS to control various other midi gear, including my main A1200T, which has 256MB of RAM running MIDI In. The sound output in calibrated 14-bit mode is superior to what OctaMED SS itself can produce in realtime and furthermore, MIDI In is a bit more capable in that it can replay 16-bit samples without some of the OctaMED limitations. The sound output of that was routed through my MIDI tone gen which has AD inputs (as well as providing the remainder of the MIDI sound). A bit fiddly but the end result was quite nice :)
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KARLOS: And where do I go to turn on Mix Mode? I thought I had it, but I'm still getting noise, so I must be in the wrong place. Are you talking about setting it to 14-bit mode (since I am going through paula), or something else?
Also if you could ever put up a youtube video of your midi set up in action, that would be awesome!
I'm still trying to wrap my mind around midi on top of OctaMED and eventually want to control my 2600 through my Amiga and perhaps set things up sort of like how you've got it. From the sounds of it, that's the way to go, but a video would help me visualize, since I'm not totally sure I fully understand how your set up works.
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The first step is to set 1-64Ch Mix Mode. You will find this in the Song options window (see attached image) which you get via the Song -> Set Options menu.
In the window you should see that you have the option of 4Ch/MIDI, 5/6/7/8Ch (these are the old OctaMED style channels, where 2 software channels are mixed into one 8-bit hardware channel) and finally 1-64Ch Mix Mode. The latter also supports MIDI too :)
The "high quality" mode only applies to the old 5-8Ch mode. It has no effect on mix mode.
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The second step is to configure your preferred mixing setup. Choose the Settings -> Mixing menu item. You should get the window shown in the attachment.
In this window, you need to choose your output mode, mixing rate, number of channels, panning etc.
Obviously, the more channels you choose, the more CPU is required. I had no problems with 8 channel 14-bit stereo at 28kHz (highest you can get in PAL mode) on the basic A1200 with added Fast RAM. Your 030 should be able to handle it no problem. I've had 32 channels on the 040 without any real issues.
The smoothing option uses interpolation when playing back samples at a rate lower than the mixing frequency. This produces a cleaner sound but the CPU load goes up dramatically with the number of channels. Unless you have a very fast 68060, forget it for realtime playback, use it when you want to try the Disk 16-bit mode.
As you increase the number of channels, OctaMED SS recomputes it's internal mixing tables to make sure that you don't clip the output. This causes it to get progressively quieter. You can compensate for this using the volume adjust slider, which boosts the output beyond what is theoretically the safe clipping limit. In practise, it's almost always a good idea to do so. In 16-channel mode, I've used volume adjusts of 350% without clipping.
The mix buffer size, is as the name suggests, size of the mixing buffer. Larger mix buffers decrease stutter when CPU load is high, but also increase latency and decrease responsiveness. The only time I've used higher mix buffers is when using direct-to-disk output.
If you click the panning button, you'll get a sub window with sliders for each of the channels. Panning is from -15 (extreme left) to +15 (extreme right). The "free panning" option limits the volume to avoid clipping issues again. I almost always have it turned off and rely on the overall volume adjust to get the maximum non-clipped playback volume.
The effects button opens another window with a few basic SFX that apply globally, such as stereo widening and echo. To be honest, I've not much use for those, since I route my audio through external gear anyway.
Hopefully this answers a few questions :)
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One final point to note. When you enable Mix mode, the note range for sample playback is increased by 2 octaves in the low register. That is to say, the pitch you'd get from C-3 in 4 channel mode is now 2 octaves lower. To get the same pitch, you need to use note C-5.
You'll encounter this problem if you load an old 4 channel mod and enable mix mode and try to play it. To correct it, you need to use the Edit -> Transpose option which opens the transpose window. You'd need to globally increase all notes by 2 octaves.
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Also if you could ever put up a youtube video of your midi set up in action, that would be awesome!
I've only really got my digital camera and if old experiments are anything to go by, the quality isn't great.
I'm still trying to wrap my mind around midi on top of OctaMED and eventually want to control my 2600 through my Amiga and perhaps set things up sort of like how you've got it. From the sounds of it, that's the way to go, but a video would help me visualize, since I'm not totally sure I fully understand how your set up works.
I've made a quick diagram of my two most often used configurations:
(http://www.amiga.org/forums/picture.php?albumid=24&pictureid=538)
This is my usual day-to-day configuration. For the most part, I rely on MIDI to control the tone generator, with just a few samples perhaps from OctaMED itself. My tone generator has two MIDI inputs as it supports 32 parts. It allows you to map any number of parts to any of the 16 channels from either input. Live input from the controller keyboard is routed out of the tone generator and back into OctaMED so I can capture live performance data. Once a composition is complete, I then connect the MIDI Out of the Tone Generator instead of the MIDI Thru and dump all the SysEx data to OctaMED so it can be saved off as part of the current song.
Here (mp3 2.7MB) (http://extropia.co.uk/_temp/oscar_theme.mp3) is an example track that uses only MIDI (no samples) that was created in this configuration. It's a remake of the Oscar theme tune (it was the first AGA game I played on my A1200, so I was feeling nostalgic).
Here (mp3 9.5MB) (http://extropia.co.uk/_temp/orientia_remix2.mp3) is an example track that uses MIDI and regular Paula 4-channel stereo with 8-bit samples only. The 4-channel raw output from Paula is processed by the Tone Gen to adjust panning, add reverb and so on.
(http://www.amiga.org/forums/picture.php?albumid=24&pictureid=539)
The above config is something I experimented with when I wanted to try some really sample-heavy stuff. For this, I used my rather less powerful regular A1200, with just a 4MB memory expansion in the trapdoor. In this configuration, OctaMED is not playing any samples itself. It is acting as a pure MIDI sequencer. One of the MIDI outputs is sent to the Tone Generator, as before, and the other is sent to the MIDI Input of the A1200T. The A1200T is, in this configuration, running a piece of software called (confusingly) "MIDI In". This piece of software is actually rather good and is best described as a "software sampler". It handles many samples mapped to arbitrary MIDI channels with full support for keyboard split multisamples (ie you might have a drumkit with a different sample on every note). It accepts all the usual MIDI performance stuff: note velocity, modulation, pitchbend etc., making it very easy to control from a keyboard or from OctaMED. Lastly, it supports both 8/16-bit samples without any of OctaMED's own internal 16-bit replay limitations as it uses AHI for playback. With calibrated 14-bit output, it can sound surprisingly good.
Here (mp3 3.6MB) (http://extropia.co.uk/_temp/mashup.mp3) is an example track created on the above configuration. It uses several large MIDI triggered 16-bit samples being played by the "MIDI In" application on my A1200T. AHI calibrated 14-bit output was used and processed through the Tone Generator to apply volume compression (was designed to sound deliberately overcompressed to make the percussion punchy). All of the sequencing and effect controls were handled by the basic A1200.
In both configurations, the audio output from the A1200T is connected to the A/D input of my Tone Generator, which not only results in the sound being mixed, but also allows me to add realtime effects to the incoming Amiga audio stream which in turn can be controlled via MIDI too.
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^ And yes, to get that working I have 2 MIDI interfaces, one for each machine. Both have 1x MIDI In, 1x MIDI Thru, 3x MIDI Out (sadly, not separately addressable).
If you just want to attach 2 Amiga machines together and use them as a MIDI sequencer / MIDI device pair, a plain serial cable will do the trick. Traditional MIDI is basically RS232 sent down a 5-pin DIN lead anyway.
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Karlos is my hero, great posts... I didn't know you were down with the music stuff so hardcore! I got some midi questions/problems I might bother you about.
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Karlos, I really enjoyed the tracks, especially the last one! Great work!
I don't consider my self a musician, but I LOVE to experiment with noiz as it were.
Once my 030 arrives int he mail and am more prepared, I'm going to start tinkering with some of the stuff you mentioned above, and like The Goose, I'm sure I will have questions galore, but so far, I "think" I understand what you are describing more or less.
In regards to Mix Mode on OctaMED...
...that's what I had done, but I still get noise, so I'm assuming an 020 with minimal RAM is not suitable for the job. Hence the reason I'm going to wait for my 030 to arrive before I mess with higher quality samples at all, in the mean time, I'm going to try to use that static constructively. :)
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Karlos, Many thanks for the diagrams and info! I've always wanted to get into MIDI on the Amiga, but could never really figure it out. It would be great if an OSS tutorial could be done, using this material as a starting point....
Now, I'm gonna download some of those tracks... :)
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I'm uploading some material I put together in Comic Book Reader (CBR) format, and will post the link to it and it's viewer for Winblows when done. Otherwise you can rename the file and give it a ZIP or RAR extension to extract the pictures inside.
The first page I believe still applies to the Amiga version, and the rest of the pages are guides, introductions, and tips from a couple issues of CU Amiga magazine.
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The Guide:
http://www.gigasize.com/get.php?d=4w987mbt70f
The Reader(s):
http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_the_best_comic_book_reader_program.
I use CDisplay personally, and am aware of viewers for Linux.
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In regards to Mix Mode on OctaMED...
...that's what I had done, but I still get noise, so I'm assuming an 020 with minimal RAM is not suitable for the job. Hence the reason I'm going to wait for my 030 to arrive before I mess with higher quality samples at all, in the mean time, I'm going to try to use that static constructively. :)
Dunno about that. I have definitely used it on an 020, even without any additional fast ram. It isn't very useful in that case, but you can certainly use 4 channels in mix mode, even if the only reason you use it is to adjust their stereo position.
With fast ram, on an 020, I've used mix mode with up to 12 channels before at 14-bit/22kHz. I used to use that configuration. One of the reasons I bought my first accelerator card was so that I could do more complex stuff with more channels.
This static you are getting. Is it constant? Do you get it in normal 4-channel mode? If so, the problem might be ageing capacitors.
If you only get it in mix mode, have you checked whether or not the "echo" effect is turned on? It has a tendency not to properly fade to zero, causing a small amount of repeat noise after a sample has played. Hitting the space bar cancels all sample playback.
As a test, load a regular 4 channel mod. Confirm that it plays correctly in regular 4-channel mode. If so, change to Mix mode in the song options and set your mixing settings to 4 channel mono, no smoothing, 22kHz. Go to the Edit->Transpose menu and bump everything up by 2 octaves.
Now play the track again. If all is well, you should hear it playing back in mono and it shouldn't completely soak up your CPU. Now switch to stereo and try again.
Adding fast ram alone makes a big difference to octamed's mix mode. This is because the software mixing routines aren't held up reading the sample data from chip ram, they can read it straight from fast ram. This, in conjunction with the general speed up of having fast ram makes a huge difference.
Once you get your 030 with fast ram, you should be able to use up to 16 channels at 27kHz. With an 040, I was able to use over 24. I don't think I actually wrote any pure (non midi) module that needed more than that :)
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Karlos is my hero, great posts...
Steady on, feller :lol:
I didn't know you were down with the music stuff so hardcore! I got some midi questions/problems I might bother you about.
Somewhere in the depths of this forum, I believe it's a matter of public record that one of my main interests in the amiga was making music with it. The first apps I got for my new A600 were Protracker and OctaMED. The first peripherals I bought for it were a parallel port sampler (StereoMaster, if anybody remembers that) and a MIDI interface to control my old Yamaha PSS680, my first multitimbral MIDI instrument.
I got my first A1200 10 months after that initial A600 to be able to do more complex musical tasks (gaming was nice but a bit secondary at the time), knowing that it was more expandable.
I got my first hard disk (aside from the general convenience) so I wouldn't have to rely on an increasingly large library of floppy disks for samples, my first ram expansion to make the thing more productive. I got my first accelerator (an 040 no less) so that I could make better use of OctaMED SS at the time. From the moment I got the demo version, I knew it was my "perfect app".
I've used my Amigas for a lot more than that, of course, as you do any computer system. Coding became a major interest too. However, having had most of the other reasons for having a computer usurped by more modern systems, music remains the one computer hobby that has not migrated to the PC. The only thing I use my PC for in that respect is audio capture.
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Awesome, you know, think I understand the synth editor now and made my 1st synth script this past weekend, I'll try and share that, it is a pretty cool and underated feature of OSS.
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Awesome, you know, think I understand the synth editor now and made my 1st synth script this past weekend, I'll try and share that, it is a pretty cool and underated feature of OSS.
If you want to play with realtime synthesis, you must give MusicLineEditor a go.
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@Karlos
Really great tunes. The second two sound very professional and I'm amazed that you got some of those sounds from Amigas.
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@Karlos
Really great tunes. The second two sound very professional and I'm amazed that you got some of those sounds from Amigas.
I was quite pleased with the first one myself. Getting a proper tone generator to sound like a specific old 4-channel mod only without the hard panning and dubious fidelity was no small task :)
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I was quite pleased with the first one myself. Getting a proper tone generator to sound like a specific old 4-channel mod only without the hard panning and dubious fidelity was no small task :)
Trust you to get a perverse pleasure from that! )
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Trust you to get a perverse pleasure from that! )
Actually, it started out as an experiment. 4-channel mod files have a particular feel that is as much of a product of their 4-channel limitation as it is anything to do with Paula's non-linear 8-bit and other sample-specific issues. A good 4 channel mod always seems to give the impression of something more complicated, rapidly switching between instrument sounds on the same channel, use of chord samples and so on. Once you recognise how they are sequenced, you notice these effects in the music.
With a normal musical instrument, you don't have those limitations and end up just building music with layers of sound. I thought it might be interesting to apply the mod style approach and the most obvious way to do that was to try and recreate something. That tune originally started as a MIDI remake on my old FM keyboard after I'd been playing the game for a touch of nostalgia. When I got my current tone gen, I dug out the OctaMED project and reworked it for that.
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Good old youtube. Just found the original music: here (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wdkhNi3RwUY)...
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shit son, you may have made me retry Octamed, as it looks like something akin to what I am doing right now with Fluity Roops.
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Here's my latest work in progress. I intend to add in some of OctaMED's effects and what not in time as I re-learn those things I've forgotten.
Now how would I go about saving this into a 16-Bit wav on my Amiga?
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I can't check it just now (at work) but to render this to a 16-bit track, all you need to do is choose "Disk 16-bit" as your mixer output. After selecting this, increase the mixing frequency to 44100Hz and you might also want to increase the mix buffer to a larger amount (say 4096 or so). You might also want to enable the smoothing option here, but beware it can make your track sound very dull if you are using low fidelity samples to start with. It also takes much longer to render.
Then hit play. A progress window will open as your track is rendered and the various player windows update as usual (only slower if your CPU power is insufficient) so you can see which block/line it is up to.
A note of caution, it will keep rendering indefinitely or until you manually stop it if your song doesn't have a stop instruction at the end somewhere.
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Thankx again Karlos! Your a well spring of information.
Stop Instruction, that's another thing I used to know but forget. What command do I use for that again? :)
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Thankx again Karlos! Your a well spring of information.
Stop Instruction, that's another thing I used to know but forget. What command do I use for that again? :)
I can't remember off the top of my head for sure, but I think it's 0FFE. It's in the online help under player commands anyway.
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Well I managed to get the HELP to load finally, and sadly the STOP SONG command is not in the list. In fact a lot of times it tells me to refer to the owner's manual which I don't nor did I ever have. Other times it tells me that certain files of the HELP system can't be loaded.
As for the 0FFe command, that just makes my Amiga lock up and reboot. Nice trick! :)
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As for the 0FFe command, that just makes my Amiga lock up and reboot. Nice trick! :)
It stopped the song though, didn't it? :lol:
I'll have a look later. I'm sure that was the correct player command though.
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That it did. :)
So is that a bug, or a just a cruel joke the programmer threw in there?
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That it did. :)
So is that a bug, or a just a cruel joke the programmer threw in there?
No, really, FFE is the stop instruction (just confirmed). It should be "right justified" in the column, eg:
--- 00FFE
If I was aware of a bug that would reset it without warning for invoking a command, I'd certainly not tell you to do it, you could lose your work. That'd make me a complete douche :)
Is this a repeatable bug or do you only get it in a particular set of circumstances?
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That's how I typed it in, and yes it manages to crash my A1200 and WinUAE just the same.
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That's how I typed it in, and yes it manages to crash my A1200 and WinUAE just the same.
Does it make any difference what mode you are using? Mix mode v 4 channel mode etc?
It works fine on my A1200 and A1. Haven't installed in UAE yet to try it there.
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@Karlos:
Great diagrams! What'd you use to make them?
Also, where can a guy find this "MIDI In" program? It isn't from Jack Deckard's aminet:mus/midi/MIDITools.lha package is it?
I tried many years ago using Sample-X from Sheun Olatunbosun, and it worked *great*, but was crippled shareware and could not be registered... man there were times I was dying for the author to make that thing freeware, or let me pay for it at least!! Eventually I went down the long, horrifying road of hardware samplers... to think I could've stopped at Sample-X (or "MIDI In"?) and saved myself so much cash, time, and headaches!
ah life
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That's how I typed it in, and yes it manages to crash my A1200 and WinUAE just the same.
I can't reproduce this bug in E-UAE here. I am wondering if your executable is the same as mine.
Mine is exactly 256192 bytes (no embedded version string) and has the following md5 sum (would be handy if you can calculate yours for comparison) : dc33b9c7285bbc7c6dce7ed7f44678d3
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@Karlos:
Great diagrams! What'd you use to make them?
My cameraphone, Gimp and Dia :)
Although, in the end that isn't my A1200T, I couldn't get a decent shot of it, what with the A1 sat on top and everything ;)
Also, where can a guy find this "MIDI In" program? It isn't from Jack Deckard's aminet:mus/midi/MIDITools.lha package is it?
Here: http://aminet.net/package/mus/midi/midiIn32 (http://aminet.net/package/mus/midi/midiIn32)
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http://aminet.net/package/mus/midi/midiIn32 (http://aminet.net/package/mus/midi/midiIn32)
Having just loaded it up again, I realise it doesn't do AHI, rather an upcoming version was supposed to. Nevertheless, it will happily do 48kHz 14-bit calibrated stereo (using the same output engine that AHI's 14-bit paula mode does) on my 040. You need to be using a scan-doubled (dblpal/dblntsc) or RTG display mode for that to work though.
Just fired it up for an action shot:
(http://www.amiga.org/gallery/images/810/large/1_midiin.png)
click for gallery entry
(http://www.amiga.org/gallery/index.php?n=3232)
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That's how I typed it in, and yes it manages to crash my A1200 and WinUAE just the same.
Checked it out under winuae. Looks like a bug in SS. You trigger the bug by selecting a channel mode 5 - 8 channels. 4 channel and 1-64 should be alright. Now select a track >= 5. Winuae crashes. :hammer:
Edit: did some research on my a1200. Same result. Crash....
x303 :D :D :D
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Checked it out under winuae. Looks like a bug in SS. You trigger the bug by selecting a channel mode 5 - 8 channels. 4 channel and 1-64 should be alright. Now select a track >= 5. Winuae crashes. :hammer:
Edit: did some research on my a1200. Same result. Crash....
x303 :D :D :D
Hmmm. I always use channel 0 for that. That's probably why I've never encountered it :)
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Well, in the many years i've used SS, i never encountered this bug before. :afro:
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Well, in the many years i've used SS, i never encountered this bug before. :afro:
Neither have I. Ever since getting OctaMED SS, I've made little to no use of the old 5-8 channel mode. All the old OctaMED modules I had written that did use them got reworked for Mix mode, which is just so much better. Every channel having it's own volume and pan was nice enough, but being able to use stereo samples (best played a centre-panned channel, of course) was just the icing on the cake for me.
Since getting the MU100R, which has AD inputs (that can be assigned to midi channels for volume/pan/effect control etc), I've found I've gone back to using 4 channel mode more frequently, since I tend to use samples less frequently and when I do, the effect processing of the tone gen is more than enough to make up for the limitation of the 4 channel mode.
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You know, all this might have been better off done in the music maker's social group. It's a shame that feature isn't used more. Oh well.
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Here's my latest work in progress. I intend to add in some of OctaMED's effects and what not in time as I re-learn those things I've forgotten.
Now how would I go about saving this into a 16-Bit wav on my Amiga?
Right, I just got around to downloading this and having a peek. You appear to be using the "8-channel" mode. What I suspect you wanted to use was the 1-64channel mixing mode, with 8 channels set in the mixing preferences.
Then you don't have to halve the volume of all your samples (which reduces their resolution by 1 bit) and you can use higher mixing rates.
A second suggestion is that rather than setting the volume of the sample in the sample editor, store every sample at the loudest amplitude possible (without clipping) and set a default volume in the instrument properties instead. The reason for doing this is that when the sample is permanently scaled in volume in the sample editor, you lose precision (whenever you make it quieter at least). The mixing routines take the raw sample value and scale it by the current instument/channel/note volume using a greater resolution than your starting 8-bit sample.
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You know, all this might have been better off done in the music maker's social group. It's a shame that feature isn't used more. Oh well.
Very true. It's a shame that the social group section doesn't really get used, but I suppose there just isn't enough users to make them viable unfortunately.
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@XDelusion
I've uploaded a 10 channel mix-mode octamed track for you to pull to bits, maybe it will help highlight a few tricks for mix mode: here (http://extropia.co.uk/_temp/gasping.med.zip)...
It's basically a quick and dirty recreation of the opening theme to the game "Breathless", which I had just gotten the demo of at the time.
So, it uses 10 channels at a mixing rate of 28149 Hz (on PAL, on NTSC you might find it adjusts it slightly higher). Only 8-bit mono samples are used, so your 030 shouldn't have any problems whatsoever. If memory serves, I wrote it on a lower spec machine than that, or at least something comparable at the time.
The blocks contain 12 tracks but I never bothered using more than 10 channels, they were just handy for temporary places to copy/past sections.
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I can't reproduce this bug in E-UAE here. I am wondering if your executable is the same as mine.
Mine is exactly 256192 bytes (no embedded version string) and has the following md5 sum (would be handy if you can calculate yours for comparison) : dc33b9c7285bbc7c6dce7ed7f44678d3
246,692 bytes for me. Using "Icon Info" from Work Bench. I'm not quite sure how to do the md5 sum thing.
I put everything in 64 CH Mixing Mode, set it to 8 Channels under Mixing Settings, and now the command no longer crashes my Amiga, though my samples are all screwed up, play wrong, or don't play at all, but I will re-read everything you posted before as I believe you explained why this is and how to fix it.
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One final point to note. When you enable Mix mode, the note range for sample playback is increased by 2 octaves in the low register. That is to say, the pitch you'd get from C-3 in 4 channel mode is now 2 octaves lower. To get the same pitch, you need to use note C-5.
You'll encounter this problem if you load an old 4 channel mod and enable mix mode and try to play it. To correct it, you need to use the Edit -> Transpose option which opens the transpose window. You'd need to globally increase all notes by 2 octaves.
And here in lies the answer. Everything is starting to make more sense now, though I'm having issues still.
The tempo is all messed up when I put things into 64Ch Mode, which is easy to fix, though I did want to point it out.
As for this Transpose option. It looks like I have to select the Sample I want, then click source and then destination, then octave up twice in order to make it work. Sadly this seems to work for some samples, others still sound like crap.
None the less I'm on the right track and will have another stab at 16-bit samples here in a bit.
Oh, and why is it that OctaMED SS does not use standard BPM mesures, but instead has that strange tempo interface with the 3 lines? How would I ever sync this up to somthing that is running at say 200BPM, and how would I know the diff between 4 channel mode's timing and that of 64 Mix Mode?
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The tempo is all messed up when I put things into 64Ch Mode, which is easy to fix, though I did want to point it out.
The problem is that you are starting with something in legacy 5-8 channel mode. This was always very restrictive and required the use of SPD, rather than BPM and even the SPD settings worked differently than 4 channel mode if I recall correctly.
Basically, do not ever use the old 5-8 channel mode other than to replay old mods written for it. It has absolutely no benefits and tons of limitations. It isn't even faster than mix mode for 8-channels.
If you are going to create a mod with more than 4 channels, start it out in mix mode immediately. You'll find it far easier to get started. The only thing to remember is that your notes need to be played 2 octaves higher than in 4 channel mode (unless you used Ext samples in 4 channel mode) to achieve the same pitch.
Oh, and why is it that OctaMED SS does not use standard BPM mesures, but instead has that strange tempo interface with the 3 lines? How would I ever sync this up to somthing that is running at say 200BPM, and how would I know the diff between 4 channel mode's timing and that of 64 Mix Mode?
It can use BPM, you get to choose whether or not to use BMP or the old SPD method. The latter is a throwback. If you use 4 channel or 1-64 chan mixing mode, you can use BMP no problem. As with the old 8 channel mode, it's a throwback. Always start new projects with BPM as the tempo control.
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Here is what I'm talking about.
See in Open Mod Plug Tracker (for Windows), you merely set your BPM, and that's that.
On the Amiga side you got BPM, but you also have TPL and LPB amongst other things.
I understand how to get it into BPM mode, but then I often times need to change TPL, and when I do that, it sometimes makes BPM about useless in that moving the BPM level has no effect accept within the 1-12 range, etc.
All I want to do is set the BPM to 200BPM to match the timing of the other programs I'm using.
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Tempo, in OctaMED works like this.
Assuming you are in BPM mode (which you should be), the main tempo slider sets the number of beats per minute. So in your case, you'd set that to 200.
The next parameter, LPB controls how many editor lines there are to one beat. The default, from the old mod tradition, would normally be 4, meaning you get a new beat every 4 lines. If you wanted to have 1/8th of a beat resolution, you would set this to 8, for instance and space all your beats apart by 8 lines as they scroll up twice as fast as before. If you did set LPB to 8, then your default 64-line block now only represents 4 bars rather than 8.
If you were doing triplet timed music, you would set LPB to some appropriate multiple of 3 (depending on the level of precision you wanted), instead.
The last parameter, TPL is "ticks per line". This value controls the rate of the various player effects but also affects the tempo (the ticks it is referring to are, I guess, the most fundamental timing unit in octamed). The above stated value in BPM is only correct when TPL is at it's default value of 6. The player command 0090x can change this value, which you can put to good effect. For example, if you change it on each quarter beat such that you alternate it between 7 and 5 (or 8 and 4 for a more extreme effect), you get that syncopated "groove" effect that is handy for certain genres. Since the average of 7 and 5 is 6, overall the tempo remains correct.
Hope all this makes sense.
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Important note: None of the above works in legacy 5-8 channel mode, which has it's own very esoteric tempo controls. I cannot stress it enough, do not use the old 5-8 channel mode!
Here is what I'm talking about.
See in Open Mod Plug Tracker (for Windows), you merely set your BPM, and that's that.
On the Amiga side you got BPM, but you also have TPL and LPB amongst other things.
I understand how to get it into BPM mode, but then I often times need to change TPL, and when I do that, it sometimes makes BPM about useless in that moving the BPM level has no effect accept within the 1-12 range, etc.
All I want to do is set the BPM to 200BPM to match the timing of the other programs I'm using.
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Slight correction to the above. In BPM mode, the default value for LPB is 8, not 4, meaning you do get 8 lines for every beat by default. At some time in the distant past I must have changed my soundstudio.config file to alter that (it's just a text file) to be 4 on my system.
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Slight correction to the above. In BPM mode, the default value for LPB is 8, not 4, meaning you do get 8 lines for every beat by default. At some time in the distant past I must have changed my soundstudio.config file to alter that (it's just a text file) to be 4 on my system.
LPB should be set to 4. I also have this set to that value. Works more like a drumcomputer that way.
And don't forget the maestrix http://aminet.net/util/libs/TheMaestrix.lha (http://aminet.net/util/libs/TheMaestrix.lha). This program allows you to use AHI with SS.
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I should make a few corrections to my post above :)
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Done :)
LPB should be set to 4. I also have this set to that value. Works more like a drumcomputer that way.
Well, in the online help, it does say the default is 8 (at least when using BPM). However, 4 lines per block is pretty traditional.
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Hi! Thanks a lot for the information! This threat solved a lot of Octamed mysteries for me. :D
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LPB should be set to 4. I also have this set to that value. Works more like a drumcomputer that way.
And don't forget the maestrix http://aminet.net/util/libs/TheMaestrix.lha (http://aminet.net/util/libs/TheMaestrix.lha). This program allows you to use AHI with SS.
What!? Does this really work?
Based on Richard Korber's work, The Maestrix emulates the functionality of his
Maestix MaestroPro API library, but instead works through AHI. Now any tools
you have which can play using the maestix.library can now be directed through
AHI. As an example of the possibilites, SoundStudio can use this library, so
now you can use SoundStudio to play multi-track 16-bit modules through AHI!
Yes, now all you AmigaOS4 users can play with SoundStudio once again, and
catch up from where you left off without the need to wait for an OS4 native
version. It also works with standard 4 tracker modules as well, so you don't
have to worry about not having CIA timers, Paula hardware, or how SoundStudio
doesn't directly support AHI. Now it can!
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@The Goose
The Maestrix does indeed work. I've used it with OctaMED SS on my A1 and also in UAE. It requires that you use mix mode for playback and choose the Maestro as the output device.
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Karlos just pointed me to this old thread. Wonderful resource, thanks.
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Karlos just pointed me to this old thread. Wonderful resource, thanks.
Cheers :)
I'll have to get back into it. Not had a lot of time latel :(
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Thx for reviving this thread. Great info. I never head of Maestrix. This should have been a news item!
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Since we are reviving this thread, some handy tips (posting from lunchtime at work, so no pics):
When editing/processing 8-bit samples in the sample editor:
1) Convert the sample directly to 16-bit format via the instrument type window.
2) Switch to mix mode, if not already using it, so that you can replay the sample whilst it is 16-bits.
3) Remove any DC bias via the DC offset adjust tool and tell it to calculate the bias for you.
4) If the sample was originally a fairly low sample rate to start off with, use the octave down shift to change the sample rate. Each time you do this, you double the rate. If you want to preserve the aliased sound, do it without any smoothing enabled.
You now have a 16-bit representation of your original sample at a higher rate. Any effects processing you do on it, such as filtering, fading or brightening will be performed at much greater precision. Once you are done, save the 16-bit version off somewhere, in case you need it again.
5) Use the octave up shift to convert the sound back to the original rate (if you wish to do so, you might be happy at the rate it is).
6) Convert back to 8-bit (unless you want to keep it 16-bit and use mix mode).
In my experience this always produces significantly better results than editing sounds in 8-bit mode.
Synthsounds as samples:
The synthsound editor works in mix mode. So, you can create some very complex arrangement of synthsound layering over several channels to produce a fat, rich sound. You might choose to construct a block playing the same sound over a few octaves.
Now, switch to mix mode (if not already) and choose Disk 16-bit. You now have that sound as a 16-bit sample for using without the associated CPU load later.
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Incidentally, did anybody ever try OMSS with the NallePuh utility back in the day? I seem to recall it intercepted Paula audio somehow...
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I'm using The Maestrix with SS on my Amigaone/OS4., It works pretty well. There are a couple of things that will crash the hell out of SS on OS4 that you have to watch out for though.
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I'm using The Maestrix with SS on my Amigaone/OS4., It works pretty well. There are a couple of things that will crash the hell out of SS on OS4 that you have to watch out for though.
Probably worth making a note of them. I didn't come across anything so far, but I've hardly scratched the surface of OMSS on OS4 compared to OMSS on OS3.x...
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Since we are reviving this thread, some handy tips (posting from lunchtime at work, so no pics):
When editing/processing 8-bit samples in the sample editor:
1) Convert the sample directly to 16-bit format via the instrument type window.
2) Switch to mix mode, if not already using it, so that you can replay the sample whilst it is 16-bits.
3) Remove any DC bias via the DC offset adjust tool and tell it to calculate the bias for you.
4) If the sample was originally a fairly low sample rate to start off with, use the octave down shift to change the sample rate. Each time you do this, you double the rate. If you want to preserve the aliased sound, do it without any smoothing enabled.
You now have a 16-bit representation of your original sample at a higher rate. Any effects processing you do on it, such as filtering, fading or brightening will be performed at much greater precision. Once you are done, save the 16-bit version off somewhere, in case you need it again.
5) Use the octave up shift to convert the sound back to the original rate (if you wish to do so, you might be happy at the rate it is).
6) Convert back to 8-bit (unless you want to keep it 16-bit and use mix mode).
In my experience this always produces significantly better results than editing sounds in 8-bit mode.
Synthsounds as samples:
The synthsound editor works in mix mode. So, you can create some very complex arrangement of synthsound layering over several channels to produce a fat, rich sound. You might choose to construct a block playing the same sound over a few octaves.
Now, switch to mix mode (if not already) and choose Disk 16-bit. You now have that sound as a 16-bit sample for using without the associated CPU load later.
Great tips Karlos!
Just thought I would quote them and give thanks to bump the tips back to the top of the thread and front page. This kind of stuff is very helpful to people like me that have little to no experience with editing samples, or original works.
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I'll fire it up this weekend and post back on that. There are a couple of things that cause a total system lock every time. It's a pretty vanilla OS 4 install so I think it's related to SS.
Probably worth making a note of them. I didn't come across anything so far, but I've hardly scratched the surface of OMSS on OS4 compared to OMSS on OS3.x...
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I'm always amazed at the lengths people will go to when it comes to continuing to use a music creation system that works for them or that they love. Many guys are still using atari st's with cubase. (I know a few who still swear by it for rock solid midi sequencing)
You guys still using oss. Me? I was originally a protracker guy then moved to being a fasttracker II guy (to get 16 bit and 32 channels I had to switch to pc at that time) I have a collection of older pcs and sb16 soundcards just so I'll always be able to use ft2. Works in dosbox now with xp/vista, but its just not the same. I run it on windows 98 on older pcs which also run audio editors that will work with older windows.
I've used oss but not so much. This thread makes me want to try it out more...
Steven
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I'll fire it up this weekend and post back on that. There are a couple of things that cause a total system lock every time. It's a pretty vanilla OS 4 install so I think it's related to SS.
Great, I'll see if I can reproduce them. I should be updating to update 3 sometime over the weekend and we can see if it has any effect.
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I use Logic for almost everything these days but I go back to SS from time to time because it's just a whole other style of making a tune. Everything is more handmade in a tracker which makes for better creativity sometimes.
I'm always amazed at the lengths people will go to when it comes to continuing to use a music creation system that works for them or that they love. Many guys are still using atari st's with cubase. (I know a few who still swear by it for rock solid midi sequencing)
You guys still using oss. Me? I was originally a protracker guy then moved to being a fasttracker II guy (to get 16 bit and 32 channels I had to switch to pc at that time) I have a collection of older pcs and sb16 soundcards just so I'll always be able to use ft2. Works in dosbox now with xp/vista, but its just not the same. I run it on windows 98 on older pcs which also run audio editors that will work with older windows.
I've used oss but not so much. This thread makes me want to try it out more...
Steven
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I'm always amazed at the lengths people will go to when it comes to continuing to use a music creation system that works for them or that they love. Many guys are still using atari st's with cubase. (I know a few who still swear by it for rock solid midi sequencing)
I'm a hobbyist musician. Investing in something more professional isn't really required.
Having said that, I've used "modern" packages before and whilst they are probably the bees knees for professional musicians, I found them a bit tiresome to use. There's something about the raw simplicity of the tracker that appeals to my developer side I guess.
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Maybe its just years of use, but I will always prefer tracker to piano roll...
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I'm a hobbyist musician. Investing in something more professional isn't really required.
Having said that, I've used "modern" packages before and whilst they are probably the bees knees for professional musicians, I found them a bit tiresome to use. There's something about the raw simplicity of the tracker that appeals to my developer side I guess.
If this were facebook I'd say LIKE! ;)
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If this were facebook I'd say LIKE! ;)
LOL, and I would like comment "Hell yeah, WTF is cubase ? WTF is Logic?
If we were on FB and ****..
:lol:
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Another tip, for production.
You've spent a while creating your 32 channel module and want to render it to disk so that you can convert it for your .
Unless you are using RTG or a high scan rate native resolution, the chances are you've had the mixer running at 27-28kHz ish and without smoothing enabled because even on a fast UAE, that many channels running with smoothing is going to be a pain.
What I always found was that I'd tend to play bright sounds, like high hats and cymbals at notes that had replay rates close to the mixing rate simply because they sounded best at that rate. For example, the "A-5" note for an untransposed sample in mix mode is quite close. This reduced distortion and made the realtime playback nicer to listen to. On a more technical note, it probably causes the sample-rate conversion aliasing frequencies to be closer to the fundamental.
However, you don't want to render your track at 27.x kHz, you want to render it at 44.1kHz or 48kHz, with smoothing for mastering. What you will then discover is that your track sounds kinda dull, like everything has gone through a low pass filter and your shiny high hats have lost their lustre. Soft pads, bass and stuff will sound fine however.
The reason for all this is that at 44kHz, your 27kHz A-5 note is interpolated by the smoothing algorithm. It's also not a rational fraction of the output rate, so the highest frequency changes in the original note just can't be reproduced.
There is a trick to all this. If you can use a mixing rate close to 44kHz when composing, then try to do that. However, if your are using a slower CPU this really might not be an option.
A better trick is to get some high quality 44kHz samples as your "master set" for things like cymbals or other bright sounds. Then create a lower sample rate version (you can use the sample editor to resample them to close to whatever realtime mixing frequency you use) and do your composition. You'll have to set the instrument properties transpose on them so you can keep the original F-6 (about 44kHz) note in your track, but it will replay your resampled sound at around A-5.
Once you are happy, reload the 44kHz version of the sample and remove the instrument properties transpose. When you render your track to disk now, these bright sounds should remain much brighter.
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Sorry to revive an ancient thread, but im in need of some Octamed SS 1.03c wisdom!
A couple of my issues so far:
1) "Pick note under cursor as programmable key 0 - 9" dosent seem to work. The manual says the shortcut is Shift-Ctrl-0-9, but I havent been able to get it working. Things works fine if I open up the pop-up box, but that kinda interrupts my workflow. Am I missing something? Also, is it possible to select a range, and use a keyboard shortcut to put that range into a programmable key?
2) Can I PLEASE make it so I can pick a range on the tracker editor using ONLY the keyboard? I notcied a keymap etc section, but Im not too sure how it works. Again, it kinda interrupts my workflow having to switch over to the mouse!
Overall loving this program! Just overwhelmed with all the options and new stuff, coming from v4
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A bit of progress on #2
As per the manual,
RN_SETRANGE STARTTRACK/N,STARTLINE/N,ENDTRACK/N,ENDLINE/N,TRACK/K/N,
LINE/K/N,CURRBLOCK/S,CURRTRACK/S: Sets range. Can specify
absolute values, or range a given line/track, or range current trk/blk.
Commands like "Ctrl-B" selects the current track as the range. The octamed command is "rn_setrange currtrack"
A custom command with "rn_setrange line 1" will select line 1 as the range.
I just need the command that sets a range in relation to the current cursor position on the track editor, like holding down LMB accomplishes. But I want to hold down a key, and move the cursor keys, selecting a range as I move around the cursor.
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Is there a keyboard command to "highlight" or make the Tracker Editor window active?
Im opening up other windows and making changes, but then I realize I cant move forward with making the track b/c I havent mouse clicked on the tracker editor to make the window active. kinda annoying! Any work around?
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Is there a keyboard command to "highlight" or make the Tracker Editor window active?
Just replying to say I've liked your last 3 posts here because I'm delighted someone is still actively using OctaMED.
Unfortunately I never got it working properly on either my AmigOne or my PegasOS, and I gave away my A1200s so I haven't used OctaMED in over a decade and have forgotten all but the vaguest recollection of my old workflow.
Hopefully someone else can help and best of luck to you.