Scribble Synth
Licence and limited warranty
Scriibble Synth may be freely distributed on FTP and Web sites, cover CD-ROMs and disks, so long as all the files pertaining to the program remain unaltered and present in the archive, and no charge is made for the software. Although Scribble Synth has been thoroughly tested, neither its author, or Electronic Cow will be held accountable for any loss, consequential or otherwise, incurred during the use and/or misuse of the software. This program is freeware. Consequently, there is limited technical support (via the Cow-net Web site at www.cow-net.co.uk), no upgrades, and no promise of new versions is implied.

Contents

Controls
Frequency slices
 keys [1]...[5] to switch, [control]+[1]...[5] to activate/deactivate
Scribbles comprise up to five time points or drawing areas, and the buttons to the right of the drawing area labelled 1 to 5 allow you toggle the display to view or edit each in turn. Each of these 'slices' represent a user-definable point in the sound's time scale where it is possible to define the sound's spectral characteristics. The LEDs next to the slice buttons denote its activity, and can be clicked upon to change the state: only sequential slices can be used (1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 for example, but not 1, 2, and 5), and switching on or off certain slices will in turn activate or de-activate subsequent slices.

Slice lengths
Next to each slice button is a text field that displays the length of time in samples that this slice lasts for. The 'actual time' in seconds will vary according to the frequency set in the options menu (for example, 32,780 samples is one second @33KHz). To change the slice length, press the left and right buttons to decrement and increment respectively. By holding down the [shift] key, changes in value jump by 10, [contro]+[shift] causes jumps of 100, and [alternate] + [control] + [shift] causes jumps of 1,000. Values can also be edited by clicking and holding the mouse above the required digits on text field itself (pressing the [shift] key will reverse the number cycle from 9 to 0).

Disk Load/Save
[control]+[o] to open, and [control]+[s] to save
Scribbles can be loaded from and saved to disk using the two disk buttons. All of the sound parameters, global options, and Custom Frequency Maps are stored in the Scribble file.

Calculate sound
[control]+[c]
Once you've set all the synthesis parameters, you must press the calculate button to allow Scribble to generate a sound. The greater its length, and the more frequency slices used per time slice, then the longer generation times will be (ranging from a few seconds to a minute or so...). Press the [escape] key to abort the process.

Erase scribble
[control]+[e]
To delete any existing spectrum plots, press the eraser button. To completely clear all spectrum plots and return to the default values, choose New from the file menu (or press [contro]+[n]).

Open Pencil tool
[control]+[d]
Sounds are created in Scribble Synth by 'drawing' a spectrum envelope in the drawing area (the large empty box in the main window). To start scribbling, press the pencil button (this changes the mouse into a cross-hair), and when you've finished, click the mouse outside the drawing area. Drawing a scribble is easy: press and hold the mouse button, and move the mouse, either frenetically or carefully, around the drawing area.
You need not draw a contiguous line (indeed there may be occasions whereseveral smaller, broken lines are desirable for the type of sound required), or worry about making a mess, since Scribble Synth will tidy up your drawing as you go along. Once you've finished a drawing, and clicked outside of the drawing area, Scribble Synth will interpret your scribble into a spectrum plot, with a varying number of bands (depending on the slice count set in the options menu).

MIDI sample dump
[control]+[m]
Once you've generated a sound, you may like to send it via MIDI to your sampler. Scribble Synth support both MIDI sample dump standard protocol samplers, and the Akai S900/950). Before sending a sample, make sure you set the MIDI channel and sample location to send the sound too (and of course, the sampler type!). Scribble Synth does not require feedback from your sampler, so you only need one MIDI cable connecting the Atari's MIDI Out to the sampler's MIDI in. You can abort the sample dump at any time by pressing the [escape] key.

Play sound
[p] or [shift]+[p]
This button plays your newly generated sample. On the Falcon, 16-bit stereo audio is supported, at any frequency between 8 and 50KHz; the STE and TT have 8-bit mono playback, at the set DMA sound playback frequencies. The STFM will playback at any frequency (although those over 16KHz are software interpolated).

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Sound frequency controls
Frequency Range
These two editable text boxes define the range of frequencies that are present in the Scribble sound. The maximum range is from 20Hz to 10KHz, with a minimum bandwidth of 10Hz. The low frequency setting in essence defines the sound's fundamental (since there are no frequencies present in a sound lower than its fundamental); the upper frequency defines the highest sub-harmonic possible. Values in either field can be changed by pressing the increment/decrement buttons; using the same [shift]/[control]/[alternate] key combinations as the time slice length editing, the value can be changed in larger steps.

Custom Frequency Map (CFM)
 [control]+[f]
Usually, when Scribble Synth generates its spectrum plots it divides the high-low frequency range into a number of equal bandwidths (depending on the number of frequency slices set in the options menu). For example, five slices within the range of 100 to 140Hz, would be 100, 110, 120, 130, and 140Hz. For geater flexibility (and musicality), Scribble Synth will also allow you to use a Custom Frequency Map (or CFM). These are a set of user-defined frequency bands, which are a certain number of Hertz from the fundamental (as defined by the low frequency range setting). If the CFM button is on, then the maps are used.
To edit a map, press the CFM button. A dialogue box will appear, with two text fields, load and save buttons, and OK and Cancel buttons (in the form of cross and tick symbols).
(Although CFMs are saved as part of the Scribble file, it is also possible to store them independently; this way you can set-up a favourite map, and use it all the time, if you like.) Firstly, choose the frequency band number in the top box, and then edit its frequency offset (in Hz, from the fundamental) in the box below. Editing controls are the same here as they are with all the other edit text fields. Once you've decided upon a frequency for that band, choose another band and repeat the process until you've done enough (remember, you might not actually use all twenty available bands anyway!). Press the tick button to use the CFM instead of linear distribution.

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[Alternate]+[o]
Auto-optimise
With this option checked, samples generated by Scribble Synth are automatically re-processed for optimum volume. This may or may not be desired (it doesn't take any length of time to do), hence the option.

Number of slices
This setting determines how many frequency bands there are per slice, and can be set between 5 and 20. The greater number of slices, then more complex the layered sound becomes (but it will take longer to generate).

Sample Export choices
Scribble Synth's sounds can be saved as a variety of sample types for use in other software (such as tracker programs, direct-to-disk recorders, sample editors, and so on); Eight and sixteen-bit depths are supported, as are AVR, AIFF and SPL formats (the latter is raw data with no header). The range of sampling frequencies not only affect the exported sample, but also the sound generated itself. A number of preset rates exist that should fulfill must people's needs; however, there is a user definable sample rate, for those awkward so-and-sos...

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There are so many parameter combinations within Scribble Synth that the outcome is infinitely variable. But the process of creating a sound is, fortunately, somewhat more formalised: Firstly, choose the number of frequency bandwidths per slice and the sampling frequency in the options menu. Set the lower and upper frequency ranges, or set the lower range, and then set-up the CFM.
Next, choose slice one, by pressing the one button. Then press the draw button, and 'scribble' a frequency envelope in the drawing area. When you've finished, click outside the drawing area, and a frequency plot will be drawn. If you decide that the plot is wrong then press the erase button, or simply press the pencil button and try it again. Repeat this step for as many slices as you think you might need for the sound, making sure that the slice you're using has been activated (check the corresponding LED is on).
You must also define the length for each slice. These control the length of each stage in the amplitude envelope, Unless the last active slice's time is zero, the end amplitude will always be zero (fading from the last slice's amplitude values over the defined length), thus the time of the last slice is effectively the sustain period. Finally, press calculate.

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