GENERATORS

Direct Wave - Sample Tab

The Sample Tab contains Sample Start, Looping options and Input/Recording controls, so Direct Wave, unlike so many others, actually 'samples'.

Sample Window Mouse-Control

Apart from the horizontal and vertical zoom buttons, as shown in the image above, several actions are available through mouse movement, as described below.

• Zoom - left-click on the sample scroll/path bar (below the sample window) and drag up/down.
• Scroll - left-click the scroll/path bar and move left/right.
• Select region - left-click inside the sample window and drag to select the desired region.

Sample

• Start - Moving the knob changes the sample start position (red marker). To gain finer control, zoom the waveform as described above.

Loop

Looping samples is the process of setting a region in the sample that will be repeated. Although termed Loop Start and Loop End DW allows you to move the End point in front of the Start (useful when automating points), so they are really just 'Loop point A and B'.

• Loop Start - One end of the looped region (black marker). The loop start can be moved to become the loop end.
• Loop End - The other end of the looped region (black marker). The loop end can be moved to become the loop start.
• Loop Type - There are several looping schemes available.
• • Disabled - No looping. Loop start/end markers will not be visible.
  • Forward - The sample is repeated jumping back to the Loop Start once.
  • One Shot- The sample play from start to end regardless of note duration (useful for percussion samples).
  • Sustained - The looped region will play while a key is held. The region beyond the Loop End will play on key release. Remember that you need to increase the ADSR - Release value (Zone Tab) for this to work.
  • Bounce - The sample loops backward and forward.

Note: Looping instrument samples is an art. It is very easy to make loops that click, warble, pop or just sound plain awful (nothing is not broken). Clicks are caused by the sample amplitude at the loop start and end points differing (try to select zero-crossing points and the same phases of the waveform, that is moving in the same direction). Another source of loop disasters are slow changes in timbre, phase or frequency content. Normally these happen slowly and naturally and add motion to the sound, however when a loop jumps back to a distant point, the abrupt change sounds like a glitch. In these cases the 'Bounce' loop can be a solution. In conclusion, there is a reason why professional sample libraries are expensive, someone (or team) had to sit down and craft hundreds/thousands of loops, often involving serious post-processing (layering, cross-fading etc). If we haven’t scared you off by now, experiment with the loop types and start/end positions and remember some sounds just don't loop smoothly...on second thoughts perhaps we should only allow trained professionals access to these controls?

Tip: Use 'Set Optimal Loop' command from sample editor popup menu (right-click on sample editor wave display) to assist in finding good loop points. This jumps the loop-start/end markers between zero-crossings. Don't forget to zoom the wave-display if you need finer control.

Input / Sampling

To record you must load DW into a mixer channel FX slot. DW only records sound from the mixer track and FX slot where it is loaded. This means any FX in slots preceding DW will be heard (and recorded) while those after it will be heard (but not recorded).

• Monitor - Allows you to hear the mixer track that DW is loaded into. Unless this is selected you will not hear anything on the track.
• 440 Hz - This is a 440 Hz test-tone (Note A4) to aid in tuning of melodic samples.
• Record - When selected the mixer track (and FX slot position) DW is loaded into will be recorded into Direct Wave. The recording will start when audio input is received.

Wave Viewer Context Menu (Right-Click)

Right-click on the sample view window. If the selected command acts on sample data, only the selected region will be affected. To select sample data, left-click and drag on the region you desire to process or edit

• Zoom In / Zoom Out / Full - Zoom in by 200% / Zoom out by 50% / Show whole waveform respectively.
• Cut / Copy / Paste / Trim - Standard editing functions on the selected waveform. Cut - removes selected sample data, Copy - copies selected sample data, Paste - pastes sample data at the point where the cursor is located (left-click to place the cursor in the sample), Trim - removes the sample data outside the selected region. To select a portion of the displayed wave, Left-click and drag , the selected section will invert contrast.
• Set Sample Start - Sets the sample start to the point selected in the Wave viewer. To select a point, Left-Click the display.
• Set Loop Start / Set Loop End / Set Loop - Sets the selected point to according to the menu option. To select a point, Left-Click the display. Note: The loop start/end points will not be visible if the loop-type is set to 'none'.
• Set Optimal Loop - Forces the loop start/end points to skip to the next zero-crossing. This is the point where the waveform passes through the zero amplitude point. This can help to minimize loop-clicking.
• Fade In / Fade Out - Ramps the volume of the selected sample data up and down respectively.
• Normalize - Amplifies the selected section so that the maximum amplitude of the sample is 0 dB.
• Reverse - Reverses the selected section.
• Save Wave / Save Wave As - Save Wave overwrites the source sample with the current edit. Save Wave As allows you to change the name and replaces the wave in the Program with the new name.