Contents
Open / Save
New
[control]+[n]
To reset the currently selected patch to Sound Chip Synth’s default sound
status, press the ‘new’ button.
Play
[p] or [shift]+[p]
To audition a sound without using the on-screen keyboard or MIDI device (thus
avoiding changing the pitch), press the ‘play‘ button.
MIDI Channel
Although Sound Chip Synth has a giant on-screen keyboard for playing the
sounds with, it can also be played by an attached MIDI keyboard. Using Sound
Chip Synth with MIDI opens up all sorts of additional possibilities too, since
most of the synthesis parameters can be changed in real-time using controller
changes (see MIDI implementation chart). This box sets the channel you
would like Sound Chip Synth to respond to.
Portamento
[control]+[p]
Portamento adds a note slide, so that when a key is pressed, rather than
play that pitch immediately, it will glide up or down from the last pitch played.
Portamento can be activated for individual patches in a sound bank.
Octave transpose
One octave is a little bit limiting, but we couldn’t make the on-screen
keyboard any bigger without taking up the whole screen! But Sound Chip Synth
does have octave transpose buttons, which will let you access all six octaves.
These transpose buttons are effective only for the current patch, and so switching
to another in the sound bank will change the on-screen keyboard position.
Options
[alternate]+[o]
The Options dialogue box contains the sample export properties. Here it
is possible to choose the format to save the samples in (AVR, AIFF, or SPL),
the bit-depth (eight or 16-bit), and the sampling frequency. There are five
preset sampling frequencies encompassing the most popularly used rates, and
one user-definable (just in case you need another frequency!). To change the
value of the user-defined sampling rate, click upon the text box with the left
or right mouse button to decrease or increase the frequency. By simultaneously
holding down [shift], [shift]+[control], or [shift]+[control]+[alternate],
the value can be changed in steps of 10, 100, and 1,000 Hertz.
Move Window
Sound Chip Synth’s window can be moved around, despite not having a traditional
GEM ‘mover’ bar. To do this, press and hold on the top right-hand corner of
the window. The mouse should turn into a hand icon, and then you can freely
move it anywhere you like, except off of the screen!
Sound Bank
Numpad [0]...[9]
Up to ten patches can be held in Sound Chip Synth’s memory at once, and
by pressing these buttons you can switch between them. Alternatively, a program
change message (wiht a value between 0 and 9) can be sent via MIDI to change
a patch. When a patch is selected, all of the controls will update to display
the current synthesis parameters.
Sound banks may be loaded from or saved to disk, just like individual Sound
Chip Synth patches. Press [alternate]+[l] to load a sound bank, or choose
‘Load Bank...’ from the File menu. To save a bank, press [alternate]+[s]
or select the option from the File menu.
Sound Chip Synth works just like an old analogue synthesizer, even using the same terminology and visual appearance. And so, if you’ve used one of these before, you’ll be perfectly at home with the software.
Osc
Although Sound Chip Synth is monophonic, each sound can actually comprise up
to three oscillators, for creating fat, detuned pads, or special effects. The
two sub-oscillators are enabled by changing the oscillator mode from ‘single’
to ‘dual’ (oscillator 1 and 2), or ‘chorused’ (all three) using the selection
button.
If none of the sub-oscillators are enabled, then neither the detune or octave
shift controls will have any effect on the sound. The detune dial is used for
fine tuning the two sub-oscillators, whilst octave shifting will transpose them
by ±1 octave, giving your sound a much broader spectral content.
The final control is pulse and this is used to add a sequencer-like effect to
constant tones. By turning up the effect, the sound pulses become shorter, although
the modulation rate is always the same. Using amplitude modulation (see below),
more dynamic results can be achieved. Better yet, use them both together, and
hear what happens!
VCA
By adjusting the volume dials in the VCA section, you can alter the overall
mix of the three oscillators. If the VCA button is enabled in the envelope generator,
these dials will have no effect on the sound, since now all three oscillator
volumes are controlled by the envelope.
Noise
Noise generators are ideal for creating special effects and percussive sounds,
and Sound Chip Synth’s even allows you to adjust the ‘pitch’ of the noise, from
deep, coarse noise at its lowest depth value, to a high burst. The noise generator
can be patched into any or indeed all of the three oscillators, and normally
when this happens, the square wave is disabled for that sound channel. However,
oscillators can be made to play both the square wave and noise generator by
switching on the ‘mix’ button.
Amplitude Modulation (AM)
This modulator is used to fluctuate the patch’s volume over time, and greatly
alter its perceived waveform characteristics. Depth controls the level of the
amplitude modulation (high settings have very interesting side effects on the
FM sound chip!), whilst rate determines the modulation frequency, where greater
values produce lower frequencies, and thus a more pronounced effect. High frequency
AM will tend to make the sound flutter, whereas with low frequencies you can
actually create effects similar to the oscillator pulse. To by-pass the AM,
set the depth control to 0.
Each of the four available shapes have very distinct characteristics: square
waves produce sudden changes, whereas more subtle changes can be attained using
the triangle wave. The sawtooth waveform sits somewhere in the middle of these
two. The last waveform is ‘sample and hold’ and this produces a randomised waveform.
Low Frequency Oscillator (LFO)
Sound Chip Synth’s LFO is exclusively for modulating pitch (since there’s
already a separate modulator for amplitude), and like AM, it has depth, rate
and an identical set of shape controls. Turning up the depth control on the
LFO increases the pitch dynamics, up to a maximum of around one octave. To create
siren effects, set the rate dial to around half way; smaller settings are great
for warbles and buzzes of all kinds. Set the depth control to 0 to by-pass the
LFO.
Envelope Generator (EG)
Rather than have a sound drone on monotonously, both pitch and amplitude
dynamics can be applied to it, using Sound Chip Synth’s four-stage envelope
shaper. The four sliders at the bottom of the section set the envelope’s properties:
attack length, decay length, sustain level, and release rate. Note that the
third slider is not a temporal control, since the sustain period is supposed
to last as long as the sound does, but is used to set the level at which the
sound sits during its sustain. Level controls the envelope depth, and is used
to set the maximum pitch offset or amplitude.
The envelope generator isn’t automatically used, since sometimes you may not
want to use it. Instead, there are two patch buttons: one for pitch and one
for VCA (volume). Switching on either or both of these buttons will enable the
EG, and then you can start to sculpt your sound.
There is one control in the EG section that is always active and that is the
length dial. This sets how long a patch lasts (up to around eight seconds!),
as Sound Chip Synth will never create a sound that plays indeterminably. If
it sounds as if Sound Chip Synth is prematurely cutting-off your patch in mid-flow
(this is particularly apparent when using the EG), then turn up the length dial
a little.
|
Parameter |
MIDI controller (decimal) |
Valid ranges (decimal) |
|
Oscillator select |
30 |
0 - 2 |