/************************************************************************/ /* */ /* Wavemaker 2.0 */ /* */ /* by */ /* */ /* Leslie Sanford */ /* */ /************************************************************************/ Contents 1. Introduction 2. Loading and running the program Atari ST and PaCifiST Resource File Initialization Main Screen 3. Creating and sending waveforms Selecting Waveforms Setting up your synth Choosing scale Auditioning sounds 4. Waveform Types Preset Waveforms Saw Pulse Triangle Pluck E. Guitar Brass Leiter Waves FM Spectra Wave Draw 5. Displaying your waveforms 6. Mixing waveforms 7. Special Thanks 1. Introduction Wavemaker is a program for creating harmonic spectra for the Kawai K5 and K5000 synths. Half the battle in creating sounds for additive synthesis is setting the amplitudes of a large number of harmonics. This program is designed to make that job easier. Wavemaker will not create patches for you, but gives you a good starting point for creating you own by providing the basic waveform to work with. Once you've sent a waveform to your synth, you will still have to set the envelopes, filters, etc. to finalize the sound. This program is freeware. The only stipilation I have for distributing it is that all of the files remain together and that they are not altered in any way. 2. Loading and running the program Atari ST and PaCifiST In order to run Wavemaker with the Atari you have to have an Atari ST or STe with an high resolution monochrome monitor. I haven't tested the program with a Falcon, but in theory it should run on it as well. To use the program with a PC, you will need to use a disk image along with the Atari emulator called PaCifiST. To transmit the data from the PC to your synth, the PaCifiST configuration file must be changed to enable MIDI. Resource File Once you have loaded the program, it will begin by loading the resource file. This file is called WAVEMAKR.RSC. Make sure it is in the same directory as the program file. You don't have to worry about this if you are using a disk image with PaCifiST because both files will already be together on the image file. Initialization After loading the resource file, the program will begin initializing data. This takes about 15 seconds. When this is finished, the main screen will appear. Main Screen The main screen is divided into four parts. The first part is the menu at the top of the screen. This is where you choose all of the various options in the Wavemaker program. The menu is a drop down kind just like what you would use in Windows. Below are three boxes. The largest one contains a table where the amplitudes of the 64 harmonics will be displayed. To the right is a smaller box where the waveforms are graphed. Below is an even smaller box that displays the names of the waveforms and let's you know when the program is calculating. 3. Creating and sending waveforms Selecting Waveforms Creating waveforms is painless with Wavemaker. All you have to do is select a waveform from the WaveType option in the menu. Some waveforms like the saw will be calculated immediately. Others will require you to enter values. This can be something simple like entering how bright you want the pluck wave to be, or much more complex like entering all of the values into Leiter's equation. Setting up your synth Once a waveform is created, the program will ask you if you want to send the data to your synth. Unfortunately, I don't own an K5000 only an K5, so I can only give you details on how to transmit data to the K5. However, most of this should apply to the K5000 as well. To begin with make sure that the system exclusive receive is turned on. Also make sure that the synth will receive data on the same channel as the program is sending. The default MIDI channel for Wavemaker is 1. You can set this to any of the 16 channels you wish. Wavemaker has no idea what patch the data is being sent to, so you will have to set up your synth to receive the waveform in the patch you want. With the K5 you must set the synth to its Single Mode. I assume this is also true for the K5000. You can force the program to transmit data anytime after a waveform has been created by pressing t or T on the keyboard. Wavemaker lets you determine which source the wave will be sent to. Just click on either K5000 or K5 from the menu. The K5000 also can receive data to either its Loud or Soft setting. Choosing scale Wavemaker defaults to calculating and sending data to the K5000. To change this to the K5, choose scale from the menu and click on K5. This must be done after a waveform is created. You can also choose the linear scale if you want to see the amplitudes of the harmonic on that scale. Auditioning sounds Once a waveform has been sent, you can audition it by selecting MIDI from the menu. Click on Play MIDI notes. In the small status box, you will be asked to press a number between 1 and 6. After you press a number, a note will be played from your synth. This note will last for two seconds. The note will be a C and its octave will depend on which number you choose. When you are finished, hit return. 4. Waveform Types Preset Waveforms There are several preset waveforms to choose from. These are saw, pulse, triangle, pluck, e. guitar, and brass. Saw The Saw waveform is very straight forward to use. You just choose it from the menu and the program will calculate it for you. Pulse With the Pulse waveform, the pulse width must be entered. This can be set from 1 to 99%. Triangle Like the Saw, the Triangle wave doesn't have any parameters that need to be set. It's calculated immediately after being chosen from the menu. Pluck The Pluck waveform simulates the spectrum of a plucked string. You can set the position where the string is plucked. This waveform also has a bightness control. This increases the amplitudes of the higher frequencies. E. Guitar The E. Guitar wave simulates the spectrum of an electric guitar. For this waveform, not only the pluck position is entered, but also the pickup position as well. Brass The Brass waveform simulates brass instruments, of course. Just like the Pluck wave, you have the ability to make the sound brighter with the brightness control. Leiter Waves All of the above preset waveforms were created using a single equation. The Leiter Waves module allows you to directly enter variables into that equation. When you choose this module from the menu, a dialog box will appear showing the full formula. On the left side you will be able to type in different values for all of the variables. You also have the choice of how you want the waveform to be displayed. This can be as sine, absolute sine, cosine, and absolute cosine. After you've entered the data, the program will calculate the waveform. If you have chosen to display the results as a waveform beforehand, the wave will be drawn according to the choice you made. You can find out more aalysis and FM equations, Leiter for his ingenius equation that started me off on this project to begin with and the Excel file that "Leiter Waves" is based on, Kenji for providing and excellent plateform for sharing my work as well as helping me become initiated in to the C language, Yala for the help with Bessel functions and the DX7 conversion formula, Ian for the help with understanding how to include feedback in my FM equations, and Guy for helping with converting my files from HiSoft C to Laser C. Thanks Everyone! Leslie Sanford oreo@eaze.net 12/14/1998