Ensoniq Corporation Transoniq Hacker Archive Issue #008 Th 008

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TI'llIl5

nia

Hacker

The

Independent

Ensontq

Mt'rnge

User’.s'

Newsletter

FILTERS

MHDE

FUN

By

Clark

Salisbury

Before

we

jump

into

this

month's

column,

I

think

it

would

not

be

totally

inappropriate

for

me

to

reminisce

a

tad

-

what

with

it

being

a

new

year

and

all.

The

Mirage

is

now

nearly

a

year

old.

The

first

Mirage

that

we

got

in

at

our

store

came

complete

with

sound

disk

number

one,

period.

No

sustain

pedals,

no

sequencer

expander,

nothing.

Just

a

disk

with

piano,

slap

bass,

flutes,

a

couple

of

drums,

and

some

silly

guitar

sounds.

In

a

little

less

than

a

year,

though,

the

situation

has

changed

a

bit.

Now

there's

MHS05,

Input

Sampling

Filters,

UES's

(at

least

three

-

and

growinglt

dozens

of

sound

disks

-

and

it

looks

like

it's

only

the

beginning

for

digital

sampling.

Lest

we

forget

where

we've

been,

does

anyone

remember

the

original

Emulator?

H

cool

$10,000

for

a

sampler

with

a

four

octave,

non—touch-sensitive

keyboard

which

would

hold

a

maximum

of

two

samples

at

any

given

time.

It

had no

envelope

generators,

no

dynamic

filtering,

almost

no

waveform

manipulation,

and

of

course

no

MIDI.

why,

you

couldn't

even

re-tune

the

samples

by

more

than

a

few

cents

either

way.

find,

still,

it

somehow

managed

to

amaze

us.

Today

there

is

talk

of

developing

a

part

of

the

MIDI

specification

to

allow

for

the

dumping

of

sampled

waveform

data

in

a

standard

way

so

that

you

could

take

your

Mirage

samples

and

dump

them

into

a

Sequential

Prophet

2000,

or

any

other

sampling

device.

This

is

particularly

exciting

news.

0nce

the

programmers

and

techno-weenies

get

hold

of

this,

watch

out!

I

don't

think

I

exaggerate

when

I

say

that

we

are

witnessing

a

revolution

in

the

way

sounds

and

music

are

being

created

and

performed.

Hnyway,

this

month

I'd

like

to

talk

a

bit

more

about

filters

and

envelope

generators

and

such,

those

friendly

processors

that

help

make

sampling

such

good

fun.

in

Issue

#&

of

the

Hacker,

I

briefly

touched

on

the

function

of

the

Mirage

filters,

but,

as

many

of

you

may

have

realized,

there's

quite

a

bit

more

to

it

than

I

could

squeeze

into

that

particular

article.

To

briefly

recap,

the

filters

in

the

Mirage

are

2e

dB-per—octave

resonant

low-pass

filters.

what

a

mouthful.

what

this

actually

means

is

that

the

Mirage

filters

will

attenuate

(turn

down}

frequencies

above

their

cutoff

point

at,

say,

the

frequencies

at

20

kHz

[one

octave

higher)

will

be

some

2eaa

quieter.

This,

of

course,

is

useful

for

eliminating

unwanted

noise

and

aliasing

present

in

the

original

sample.

also,

the

filters

are

known

as

resonant

Filters

because

the

frequencies

at

the

filter

cutoff

point

can

actually

be

amplified.

This

can

be

used

to

emhasize

upper

harmonics

present

in

the

waveform,

and

is

often

perceived

as

quackiness,

or

the

all

too

familiar

"wah-wah"

sound

that

has

come

to

be

identified

particularly

with

analog

synthesizers.

There

are

other

uses

for

the

filters

as

well.

The

sound

of

many

acoustic

instruments

has

a

tendency

to

become

darker

over

time

as

the

upper

harmonics

decay.

Percussive

instruments,

such

as

guitar,

piano,

and

marimba

are

good

examples

of

this.

H

looped

sound,

however,

remains

at

the

same

level

of

brightness

indefinitely,

and

even

if

a

more

or

less

natural

decay

in

volume

is

obtained

through

the

use

of

envelope

generators

and

voltage-controlled

or

digitally—controlled

amplifiers,

things

can

sound

somewhat

unnatural

if

the

overall

brightness

of

a

sound

remains

constant.

This

is

one

place

where

dynamic

filtering

can

be

of

great

usefulness.

By

progressively

filtering

the

sound

across

time,

a

gradual

(or

not

so

gradual}

change

in

the

sound

from

bright

to

dark

can

be

affected.

find

it

works

both

ways.

The

filter

can

be

used

to

make

a

sound

get

brighter

over

time.

0r

you

can use

rather

unnatural

envelope

generator

settings

to

get

bizarre,

cyclic-sounding

changes

in

brightness,

as

with

upper

and

lower

Program

number

fi

from

the

stringsfcellos

sample.

So

how

do

I

control

all

these

nutty

kinds

of

changes,

you

ask?

Easy.

Just

check

out

Uncle

Clark's

step—by—step

guide

to

"Filter

wizardry,"

coming

right

up.

Let's

think

of

the

filter

as

a

“brightness

attenuator."

It

can

be

used

to

filter

out

higher

frequency

components

in

the

waveform,

while

letting

the

lower

frequencies

pass

through

—

hence

the

name

"low—pass"

filter.

Note,

however,

that

the

filter

cannot

add

upper

harmonics

or

brightness

to

a

waveform

that

does

not

already

contain

them;

it

can

only

work

to

attenuate

what's

already

there.

In

theory,

then,

it

is

probably

best

tn

pre—emphasize

the

upper

frequencies

in

any

sounds

you

may

wish

to

sample.

Not

to

worry

if

your

sample

turns

out

a

bit

on

the

bright

side

~

it

can

always

be

filtered

down

to

normal

brightness

later

on.

Hnd

this

type

of

filtering

can

have

the

extra

benefit

of

filtering

out

unwanted

noise

and

hiss

from

the

wavesample.

The

point

in

the

frequency

spectrum

at

which

the

filter

begins

attenuating

is

called

the

cutoff

point,

and

it

can

be

controlled

in

a

numer

of

ways

in

the

Mirage.

The

most

obvious

filter

cutoff

point

controller

is

the

Manual

Filter

Cutoff

control,

Parameter

35.

Increasing

and

decreasing

the

value

of

this

control

has

the

effect

of

raising

and

lowering

the

filter

ISSUE

HUNGER

B

cutoff

point

in

semitone

increments,

and

will

be

perceived

as

brightening

and

darkening

the

sound.

[I

know

I

said

that

the

filter

could

not

add

brightness,

but

we

first

started

with

a

sample

that

was

overly

bright,

didn't

we?

If

you

want

to

know

what

I

mean

by

overly

bright,

load

the

piano

sample

from

the

trusty

old

0isk

1

and

set

Parameter

SS

to

a

value

of

SS

or

so.

See

what

I

mean?)

The

next,

and

less

obvious,

filter

controller

to

be

aware

of

is

Mavesample

Relative

Filter

Cutoff

(T0).

This

is

similar

to

the

Manual

Filter

Cutoff

control,

but

it

effects

the

filter

cutoff

point

only

for

the

wavesample

selected

using

Parameter

ES,

Mavesample

Select.

This

control's

raison

d'etre

is

to

give

you

a

way

to

balance

the

brightness

of

multiple

wavesamples

by

being

able

to

set

filter

cutoff

points

independently

for

each

of

them.

Nifty,

huh?

The

third,

and

last,

filter

controller

to

worry

about

when

setting

the

base

cutoff

point

of

the

filter

is

Keyboard

Tracking,

Parameter

3B.

The

idea

here

is

that

if

you

were

to

set

a

filter

cutoff

point

that

sounded

appropriate

on

the

low

notes

of

the

keyboard,

you

may

experience

problems

with

the

high

notes

not

sounding

bright

enough,

because

the

higher

harmonics

present

in

the

upper

notes

would

be

overly

attenuated

by

the

filter.

Keyboard

tracking

can

rectify

this

problem

by

actually

using

the

keyboard

to

control

the

cutoff

point

of

the

filter.

In

other

words,

the

higher

you

play

on

the

keyboard,

the

higher

the

keyboard

tracking

will

set

the

cutoff

point

of

the

filter.

Parameter

38

controls

the

amount

of

this

effect.

To

check

this

one

out,

simply

load

a

sound

into

the

Mirage

and

vary

the

value

of

Parameter

30

while

listening

to

notes

played

first

on

the

extreme

lower

end

of

the

keyboard, then

on

the

extreme

upper

end.

So

far

all

the

controls

that

we've

talked

about

are

used

to

set

the

base

cutoff

frequency,

the

point

at

which

the

filter

cutoff

is

set

when

there

is

no

modulation

input.

(I

know,

I

know

-

keyboard

tracking

is

a

type

of

modulation.

But

for

my

purposes

here,

it's

easier

to

group

it

with

this

set

of

controllers.)

There

are

a

number

of

other

ways

to

control

the

filter

cutoff

point,

as

you

may

already

have

guessed,

you

sly

devils,

you.

The

first

of

these

is

the

envelope

generator.

we

talked

about

these

a

couple

of

months

ago,

but

I'd

like

to

go

into

a

little

mere

depth

here.

There

are

5

parameters

to

deal

with

in

the

Mirage

envelope

generator

(not

counting

the

velocity

sensing

parameters).

They

are

Attack

(H0),

Peak

(#1),

0ecay

(H2),

Sustain

(#3),

and

Release

(ea).

Attack

(H0)

controls

how

long

it

takes

for

the

filter

cutoff

to

reach

its

highest

level,

with

Peak

(e1)

determining

just

how

high

the

filter

cutoff

will

go.

In

other

words,

if

you

want

a

sound

to

go

from

dark

to

bright

at

a

fairly

slow

rate,

you

would

set

the

attack

parameter

to

some

fairly

high

value.

If

you

wanted

the

sound

to

eventually

end

up

being

pretty

bright,

you

would

set

the

peak

parameter

fairly

high.

attack

controls

how

long

it

takes

to

raise

the

filter

cutoff

point

(get

brighter),

while

peak

determines

how

high

(bright)

the

filter

cutoff

will

actually

end

up

going.

We

must

remember,

however,

that

the

filter

can

not

add

brightness

to

a

sound,

only

attenuate

it.

So

if

you

have

some

other

controller,

such

as

Manual

Cutoff

(30)

or

Helative

Filter

Frequency

(?0)

set

to

maximum,

or

if

the

cumulative

effect

of

two

or

more

controllers

pushes

the

filter

cutoff

up

to

the

maximum,

any

other

controllers

you

may

be

using

can

have

no

audible

effect.

The

filter

simply

has

nowhere

to

go.

Next

is

the

0ecey

Control

(#2),

and

it

works

in

conjunction

with

the

Sustain

Control

(#3).

The

decay

control

determines

how

long

it

will

take

for

the

filter

to

go

from

the

maximum

value

(set

by

the

Peak

control)

down

to

the

value

set

by

the

sustain

control.

Thus,

if

the

sustain

control

is

set

to

0,

(and

no

other

controllers

are

affecting

the

filter),

the

filter

cutoff

ppint

will

eventually

reach

a

value

of

0,

(even

if

you

continue

to

hold

down

the

Mirage

keys),

effectively

filtering

out

all

frequencies.

The

effect

is

that

the

sound

will

continue

to

darken

until

it

darkens

itself

right

out

of

existence.

If,

on

the

other

hand,

you

do

not

want

the

filter

cutoff

point

to

end

up

at

0,

simly

set

the

sustain

control

to

a

value

higher

than

0.

This

will

have

the

effect

of

holding

the

filter

"open"

while

the

keys

are

being

held,

and

the

sound

will

sustain

at

this

level

of

brightness

until

they

are

released.

Last

is

the

release

control,

and

it

affects

the

length

of

time

it

takes

for

the

filter

to

finally

decay

to

0

once

the

key

or

keys

have

been

released.

Note

that

all

the

filter

controllers

discussed

here,

with

the

exception

of

the

release

control,

are

active

only

while

the

keys

are

depressed.

Ha

soon

as

you

release

the

keys,

the

envelope

generator

immediately

goes

into

the

release

position

of

its

cycle,

and

all

other

control

input

to

the

filter

is

ignored.

But

wait,

there's

more!

Each

component

of

the

filter

envelope

has

a

velocity

sensing

(US)

counterpart.

Httack

US

(£5)

can

be

used

to

increase

or

decrease

attack

time

according

to

how

hard

(alright

—

how

fast)

you

play

the

keyboard.

The

effect

is

that

if

you

play

a

key

slowly,

you can

obtain

a

longer

attack

time

than

if

the

key

is

struck

more

quickly,

allowing

you

to

control,

by

touch,

the

length

of

time

it

takes

for

notes

to

swell.

Peak

U5

(H6)

causes

the

filter

cutoff

point

to

go

higher

the

harder

the

keys

are

struck,

giving

you

touch

control

over

brightness.

Decay

Kyb

(H?)

is

a

bit

different.

In

many

acoustic

instruments

the

decay

time

for

high

notes

is

shorter

than

for

low

notes

.

Decay

Kyb

causes

the

decay

time

to

be

affected

by

keyboard

position;

higher

notes

decay

more

quickly

than

low

ones.

The

intensity

of

this

effect

is

controlled

by

Parameter

ea,

Sustain

US.

The

harder

you

hit

keys,

the

higher

the

filter

cutoff

point

will

be

set,

and

your

sound

will

sustain

at

a

brighter

timbre.

Finally,

we

have

Release

US

(es).

This

one's

kind

of

fun.

with

Release

vs,

the

Mirage

actually

pays

attention

to

how

quickly

you

release

the

keys,

and

sets

the

release

time

accordingly.

If

you

let

go

quickly,

you

get

a

short

release,

and

the

note

decays

quickly.

If

you

let

go

more

slowly,

the

note

will

take

longer

to

decay.

This

can

be

a

great

effect

on

string

samples.

It

should

be

emphasized

that

the

effect

of

all

the

filter

controllers

is

cumulative:

they

are

added

together

to

form

the

actual

filter

cutoff

point.

with

the

exception

of

release

and

release

US,

these

controllers

are

active

while

one

or

more

keys

are

Page

Z

being

depressed.

Manual

Filter

Cutoff,

wavesample

Filter

Cutoff,

and

Keyboard

are

added

together

to

form

the

base

filter

cutoff,

(you

can

think

of

it

as

the

basic

brightness

setting

for

your

sample),

with

the

effects

from

the

envelope

generators

being

added

to

this.

And

remember,

if

it

doesn't

make

sense

at

first,

mess

with

it

till

it

does.

Thanks

for

tuning

in.

SAMPLE

SAMPLES

i

SAMPLE

TRICKS

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII

By

Erick

Hailstone

Recently,

I

attended

a

Mirage

clinic

and

among

other

things

heard

many

new

samples.

Some

of

these

were

the

clinician's

own

as

well

as

those

he

has

picked

up

in

his

travels

and

some

from

local

samplers.

These

events

are

going

on

all

over

the

country

so

many

of

these

sounds

will

show

up

in

your

area

if

they

haven't

already.

It

will

be

impossible

to

critique

these

by

disk

because

they

may

show

up

in

any

conceivable

combination.

Plucked

violin

(that

Italian

word

I

can't

spell)

—

In

the

lower

range

you

might

not

guess

what

it

is

but

it

is

useable

on

it's

own

merit

as

well.

Jungle

sounds

-

Multi-sampled

bees,

flies,

monkeys,

birds,

and

lions.

vocal

sounds

-

This

sample

contains

any

consonant

and

vowel

combination

imaginable.

Some

of

it's

pure,

some

processed

with

filters,

delays,

phase

shifters,

etc.

This

is

one

of

the

hippest

things

I've

heard

done

with

sampling;

new,

yet

familiar

organic

sounds

with

lots

of

rich

texture.

1S

Multisamples

—

This

one

actually

uses

two

samples

per

program.

The

mod

wheel

is

set

up

to

allow

you

to

move

from

one

wavesample

to

another

or

any

mix

in

between.

Analog

brass

-

This

one's

mostly

standard

brass

patches

from

all

your

favorite

synths.

Hanna

Barbara

—

Cartoon

sound

effects

from

the

originators

of

the

Flintstones,

Smurfs,

and

other

assorted

favorites.

Three

Stooges

P

Actually,

it's

only

one

of

them

-

Curly.

Every

phrase

they

could

fit

in

they

did.

Hoop!

Full

organ

-

0ne

big

bad

pipe

organ

with

a

few

variations.

There

are

several

other

organ

samples

around

but

this

one

stands

out.

French

horn

-

Not

the

best

fidelity.

-I

hope

Ensoniq

does

one

of

these

soon

as

I

get

a

lot

of

requests

for

it.

Martin

guitar

—

This

is

an

acoustic

steel

string

with

the

fidelity

not

as

good

as

Ensoniq's

nylon

string

but

useable.

Performance

-

Funk

bass

on

the

lower

octaves,

guitar

Page

Clark

Salisbury

is

Product

Sgecialist

with

Portland

Music

Co.

in

Dregon,

and

is

also

a

partner

in

The

Midi

Connection,

a

Portland—based

consulting

firm.

He

has

been

actively

involved

in

the

comgosition,

performing,

and

recording

of

electronic

music

for

over

five

years,

and

is

currently

involved

in

groduc-

ing

and

marketing

his

own

gog-oriented

comgositions.

playing

REE

Bth

chords,

and

drums.

This

is

the

kind

of

thing

that

really

shows

off

the

versatility

of

the

Mirage.

with

this

sample

you can

create

funk

grooves,

the

Mirage

becoming

a

rhythm

section

all

by

itself.

Phone

-

Rings

on

any

pitch.

Berlin

-

This

sample

was

lifted

off

a

recording

of

the

pop

group

"Berlin"

—

a

huge

sound,

combining

vocal

textures

and

synthesizers.

Keep

on

the

lookout

for

these

samples.

There

are

always

more

on

the

way

and

I'll

try

to

keep

you

advised

on

the

commercial

ones

as

well

as

those

that

seem

to

be

floating

around

the

country.

Now

for

something

a

little

different:

Here

are

some

fairly

simple

tricks

you

can

do

with

the

Mirage.

TRICK

f1:

My

first

thought

when

hearing

the

Fender

Rhodes

(Disk

5,

Bank

3)

was

that

it

was

very

good,

very

useful,

but

why

waste

the

other

programs

switching

to

chorusing

—

especially

since

there

is

a

noticeable

pop

when

doing

se?

Also,

if

you

have

a

way

of

turning

the

chorus

effect

onfoff

within

a

single

program,

you

free

some

up

for

other

variations.

Even

though

most

of

the

time

you

hear

a

Rhodes

with

chorusing

these

days,

a

dry

Rhodes

is

still

real

nice

for

certain

things.

Start

by

loading

Disk

#5

UIL

Sample

3.

Set

it

for

UZL

Program

A.

The

following

parameter

changes

are

for

both

lower

and

upper.

Parameter

33

(0.0.

Detune)

-

set

for

DB

Parameter

32

(LFO

Depth)

~

set

at

D1

Parameter

35

(0.0.

Balance

US)

—

set

at

0

These

few

changes

will

allow

you

to

turn

the

chorusing

effect

on and

off

with

the

mod

wheel.

As

you

rotate

the

wheel

forward,

chorusing

will

kick

in

at

about

1X3

rotation.

At

1X2

it

is

full

strength.

From

there

forward

it

dies

away.

You

do

give

up

vibrato

control

on

the

mod

wheel.

This

is

not

something

I

would

use

on

a

Rhodes,

but

there

are

lots

of

alternatives.

If

you

set

32

to

0,

when

you

use

the

mod

wheel

you

will

get

chorusing

and

vibrato.

Another

variation

is

to

set

the

chorusing

so

that

it

is

controlled

by

the

velocity

of

the

keyboard.

First,

perform

the

changes

above,

then

change

3A

to

0.

Set

35

anywhere

from

DE

on.

This

value

determines

how

hard

or

soft

your

touch

will

have

to

be

to

bring

in

the

chorus

effect.

12

—

1S

seemed

right

for

me.

So

there

are

several

choices

and

these

can

be

different

for

each

half

of

the

keyboard

—

3

chorus

controlled

by

the

wheel

on

the

upper

and

by

velocity

on

the

lower;

the

reverse

and

vibrato

tossed

in

anywhere

and

anyway

you

choose.

I'm

sure

you'll

settle

on

a

few

combinations

for

most

everyday

playing,

but

having

variations

is

nice

for

unusual

applications.

This

effect

is

useful

on

all

the

samples

on

this

disk

as

well

as

most

others.

It's

great

on

the

Hammond

organ

sample

and

if

you

rock

the

mod

wheel

back

and

forth

slightly

from

center,

you

get

it

to

sound

even

more

like

a

Leslie.

Try

rocking

slow

and

fast.

TRICK

#2

0n

Disk

#1,

Bank

§2,

there

is

a

slap

bass.

The

way

it

is

setup

you

have

electric

bass

from

key

1

—

1?

and

a

slapped

sound

from

1B

-

2B.

Here

are

a

couple

of

alternatives

you

might

try.

Set

Parameter

26

(wavesample

Select)

to

01

Raise

Parameter

72

(Topkey)

to

29

Select

2?

(Initial

wavesample)

and

listen

to

1

—

3

You

now

have

3

quick

variations.

If

you

turn

Parameter

2B

(Mix

Mode)

off,

you'll

have

three

more

variations.

Just

to

be

safe,

reload

this

sample.

Set

2E

to

D1.

Change

72

to

29.

This

gives

a

more

uniform

sound

up

and

down

the

lower

sample.

Experimnt

with

3e

and

35

for

some

more

variations.

If

you

set

35

at

0,

the

mod

wheel

will

control

the

mix

of

the

two

wavesamples.

THICK

#3

Load

Disk

#2,

Lower

Sample

1,

Proram

1.

Set

Parameter

5&

(Amplitude

Release)

to

15.

By

shortening

the

release

time

you

have

a

more

useful

patch.

fou

can

play

in

a

more

staccato

manner

controlling

the

release

with

your

touch.

Now,

turn

Parameter

2B

(Mix

Mode)

on,

set

32

to

01,

set

35

to

0.

Again,

we

are

using

the

Mix

Mode

to

give

you

more

variety.

This

should

give

you

a

pure

mallot

type

sound

and

you'll

still

have

the

swelling

sound

coming

in.

Rock

the

mod

wheel

all

the

way

forward

and

you'll

get

more

of

an

electric

piano

—

more

fundamental

and

less

upper

harmonics.

If

you

put

the

wheel

right

in

the

middle,

you'll

get

a

mix

of

both

with

chorusing.

If

you

do

these

same

sort

of

things

with

L2,

you

can

mix

(mod

wheel)

from

organ

to

electric

piano

and

have

both

in

the

middle.

Try

these

ideas'

with

other

samples

and

programs.

with

some

they

are

very

effective.

Hope

you

find

these

hints

effective.

Erick

Hailstone

studied

cgggosition

and

arranging

at

the

Universit

of

Nevada

and

at

Berklee

Colle

e

of

Music.

He

has

been

involved

with

synthesizers

and

related

technology

for

the

gast

seven

years.

Primarily

a

guitarist,

his

orientation

has

been

in

ggrforming

and

recording

with

these

devices.

RND(

Jfl)

MIRAOE—NET

The

following

people

or

organizations

have

agreed

to

help

with

questions:

Sam

lin

—

Mark

Myer,

(215)

323-1205.

Eastern

time

zone

(DH).

Calls

between

Spm

and

11pm.

Sounds

—

Martin

Smith,

Lavitae

Contrar

Studios.

Pacific

time

zone

(Uancouver,

BC).

Business

hours.

(sue)

255-1a25.

MIDI

&

Seguencing

—

Leslie

Fradkin

or

Elizabeth

Rose,

MIOI4MAI

Studios.

Eastern

time

(NT).

Calls

betwen

10am

and

Spm.

(212)

S20-SSS1.

MIDI

E

Se

uencin

-

Markus

McDowell.

Any

ol'

time.

(B95)

997-9932

(Calif.)

Mirage

hardware

i

firmware

-

Scott

0.

Millingham.

Eastern

time

(er).

Days.

(715)

er?-aces.

Mira

e 0

erati

S

stem

—

Mark

Cecys.

Eastern

time

(NY).

Days.

(?1Ei

??3—fi0B5.

If

you're

interested

in

being

listed

on

the

Net,

please

give

us

a

call.

(503)

2&5-t?B3.

-1-

i

I-

To

those

of

you

who

want

further

elaboration

on

the

process

involved

in

shuffling

your

sounds

around

from

disk

to

disk

-

good

news:

Steve

Coscia

of

Ensoniq

has

started

on

"Part

II"

of

his

earlier

article

on

sound

moving

which

should

cover

just

that.

it

-If

if

Even

as

we

write

this,

Ensoniq

is

busy

at

a

trade

show

in

Anaheim

announcing

two

major

new

products:

a

5-octave,

velocity-sensitive,

digital

(but

not

sampler)

synth

and

a

full-size,

?S~note,

weighted

action

electronic

piano.

Projected

prices

of

each

are

about

$1300.

Me

should

have

more

information

on

these

two

new

products

in

our

next

issue.

BQCK

ISSUES

Back

issues

are

available

for

$2

each.

Some

hack

issues

are

no

longer

available

in

their

original

printed

form

and

a

photocopy

will

be

substituted.

CHQNSE

0F

PDDRESS

Please

let

us

know

at

least

four

weeks

in

advance

to

avoid

missing

any

issues.

The

Post

Office

will

not

reliably

forward

this

type

of

mail.

We

need

to

know

both

your

old

and

your

new

address.

Page

e

SOME

REAL

5N‘1PLE

IDEAS

W

Duane

L.

King

Sometimes

I

get

frustrated

with

my

Mirage

because

I

really

wanttemalte

Q

smnples

for

it.

l

haven't

had

my

trouble

making

bad

samples.

It's

only

when

I

try

to

rndte

high-quality

ones

that

I

have

problems.

How.

we

all

know

it

can

be

done.

we've

played

the

factory

disks.

So

how

do

we

do

it‘?

I've

been

looking

for

the

answer

to

this

question

for

some

time-

ever

since

I

mode

my

first

sample.

All

of

my

problems

and

frustrations

with

sampling

can

be

traced

back

to

one

or

more

of

these

problem

wees:

1!

poor

sampling

environment.

2}

aliasing

of

high

frequencies.

and

3)

inadequate

or

missing

equipment.

It

terns

out

that

the

key

to

good

samples

is

the

equipment

that

is

between

the

srnple

and

the

Hirage.

Delft

give

up

because

you

dent

have

money

to

shell

out

for

microphones.

recording

and

signal

processing

equipment!

There's

a

world

of

low-budget

solutions

out

there.

For

st:-ters.

did

you

Itnow

you

don't

have

to

buy

pre-formatted

diskettes

anymore‘?

Ensoniq

released

their

disk

forrrntting

program

($19951.

Iregularly

formatand

use

the

sane

type

of

diskettes

in

my

Mirage

that

I

use

in

my

Apple

Hacintosh.

These

single

sided.

single

density

3

132'

Sony

diskettes

cost

me

between

$2.00

and

$3.00

each

depending

on

where

I

buy

them.

‘lliliat

this

means

is

if

I

buy

Ensoniq's

disk

formatter

md

three

unfermatted

diskettes

at

$3.00

each.

t'm

already

saving

money!

(The

pre—formatted

diskettes

were

selling

for

about

$13.95.}

But

don‘t

think

that

every

thing

is

rosy

just

yet.

The

Ensoniq

formatting

progin

works

perfectly

except

for

one

little

thing.

They

forgot

to

explain

to

you

the

fact

that

the

diskettes

you

format

with

this

progin

shouldn't

be

put

in

the

rlirage

until

you

have

turned

it

on

using

a

FACTURY

FiRi‘lATTED

DlSl'~'.ET|'E.

lfyou

turn

your

Hirage

on

with

one

of

your

own

formatted

diskettes

in

it.

your

keyboa-d

won‘t

mdte

a

sound.

It

only

wants

to

format

diskettes.

This

is

a

small

inconvenience

though.

Just

remember

to

use

one

of

yotr

elm

11%

difita

elm

you

tire

on

Yer

"irons

aid

then

you

can

switch

to

yetr

home-grown

samples

on

yotr

,

tgg_

diskettes.

we

have

to

have

diskettes

to

store

fltl‘

samples

on

aid

this

is

the

cheapest

way

I've

found

to

get

usable

diskettes.

tilomahouttheequipmentthatstmdsbetweenyour

prospective

sanple

and

the

Mirage.

when

I

bought

my

Mirage.

the

first

thing

I

had

to

do

was

sample

my

own

voice.

I'll

bet

you

didn't

think

of

doing

that

did

you‘?

'El.lt..

so

I'm

not

tnigu-e.

But

did

you

rndte

your

first

‘live’

sample

using

the

right

channel

of

e

pair

of

stereo

headphones

for

a

microphone?

t

did,

and

it

mdtes

an

incredibly

lousy

slnplel

I

still

dent

own

a

mic.

Even

if

I

did.

my

voice

still

wouldn't

make

good

samples.

I

don't

have

a

trained

singing

voice.

i

don't

even

knew

myone

with

a

trained

singing

voice.

But

I

do

own

a

pretty

good

stereo

cassette

deck.

So

instead

of

singing.

l

use

pre-recorded

material

as

the

basis

of

most

of

my

samples.

This

eliminates

the

need

for

microphones

and

basically

gtwmtees

that

the

sumling

environment

will

he

clean.

You

can

plug

your

cassette

deck

directly

into

your

Mirage.

but

you

wont

have

my

gain

control

that

way.

If

you

hove

a

quiet

stereo

amplifier.

use

one

of

the

speaker

outputs

to

drive

the

input

on

the

Mirage.

but

Q

EH71!

garefui

with

the

Qm!1

Experiment

with

the

setting

oi‘

prmneter

I751.

I

normally

leave

it

set

to

{Ii

(line

level

input).

but

you

may

want

to

use

the

mic

level

setting.

I

hook

thel1irageuptooneoftheBspaakero4Jtp-utsonthahacltof

my

amp.

l‘1y

speakers

use

the

A

outputs.

If

you

don't

have

spare

spedter

outputs

you

will

have

to

unplug

one

of

your

speakers

when

you

are

sampling.

Then

I

select

mono

L+R

outputonmyampandA+Bspealoers.

The

mono

setting

is

not

mmdatory

mid

may

not

be

desirable

for

samples

of

‘stereo

enhanced'matm'ial.

|usetheA-I-B

sattingso

|

Inheringthe

material

the

Mirage

is

going

to

sample.

The

main

adymtage

ofgoingtlroughyotrsteree

systemisthe

tone

controls.

Don't

cringe!

Host

good

stereo

systems

have

gwhic

equalizers

of

some

type

(either

built-in

or

add-on).

You

cm

usetheeoualizertecutorhoostcertainfrequoncybandsto

get

a

good

sample.

How

what

re

we

going

to

slrqole‘?

Ho.

not

records.

Host

pre-recorded

materials

I"B

protected

with

e

copyright.

If

you

use

sanples

of

copyrigited

material

in

productions

that

rndte

money.

contact

the

owner

of

the

Ct$l‘yT"i§'lt

BEFE

you

publish.

Usualiy

you

cm

get the

rijits

to

use

the

materials

at

NO

COST!

Be

sire

to

explain

jg

mtjggenactlywhichsm1g.andhowmuchai-ldwliatpal-tefit

you

are

using.

If

you

modify

the

sanple

sufficiently

then

it

|JB1IDIfl85‘fULf]JF@IBFl.]FI'ld*fDtl|Jf'0b*fil‘ffiJl11l1B0d

permission

to

make

money

with

it.

D0

HOT

smnple

lyrics

unless

you

want

to

pay

for

the

right

to

use

them!

It's

also

a

good

idea

to

stay

clear

of

recognizable

melody

lines.

‘what

does

this

leave

us

to

sample

for

free‘?

New

material

is

mpearing

all

the

time.

Have

you

seen

I<.erg's

new

SUD-2000

sampling

digital

delay‘?

Not

interested?

That's

just

because

you

don't

know

about

M__‘[AEE!

Kerg

packages

a

cassette

tape

with

the

SDD-2000.

This

tape

contains

I6?

sounds

on

it

that

you

can

sample

into

the

Mirage!

The

tape

is

not

copyright

protected!

If

the

local

Korg

dealer

won't

sell

you

just

the

tone.

contact

someone

who

owns

a

SUD-2000

and

offertetradesorneofyoursrrgulesforacopyoftha

two.

I

found

the

percussion

sounds

and

the

voice

sotnds

to

be

the

most

interesting.

There

are

four

or

five

different

voice

samples

and

fifteen

or

more

percussion

sounds.

The

tape

also

contains

acoustic

and

electric

drums.

various

bass

samples.

guitars.

pianos.

brass.

etc.

All)

THAT'S

HUT

ALL!

You

also

get

barking

dogs.

lnooing

cows.

breaking

glass.

alarms.

gunfire.

etc.

This

is

a

REAL

BARGAIN!

Bet

one!

Another

good

source

of

samples

is

nattre

records.

Don't

infill

I've

gotten

some

awesome

samples

from

a

recording

of

the

songs

of

Page

5

Iiultliback

whales!

Try

looping

sl‘uort

sections

of

a

natural

sound.

The

results

you

get

caru

be

surprising!

If

you

are

mining

non-cenumercial

samples.

try

out

some

of

the

vs-ions

aouludeffectrecordsinyourfavnritarecerdstore.

‘lliluatduouttlue

aling

problem‘?

lulihen

you

slruple

gongs

or

other

sounds

with

a

lot

of

high

frequencies

you

will

oyerwlueImtI1esl'rq:lirugrataoftI'ue

Mirage.

'w‘eu'ueed

to

raise

the

sampling

rate

of

the

Mirage

to

handle

really

‘crisp’

or

'sl1I‘p'suoua1ds.Do|1'tgeoutI1dbu'ytl'ua$50.iZl'iTIirqput

5I'l'lillll'l'fl

filter.

If

you

have

a

reel-to-reel

with

multiple

speeds.auIualspeedcassettedeu:k,

or

eturntuiule

with

a

speed

adjustment

you

can

live

without

the

fancy

filter

and

still

get

better

slnples

than

you

can

make

otherwise.

I

have

a

dual

speed

cassette

deck.

For

difficult

sanples

I

record

thau'nal.33r'4ipa.

'wluen|'mreadytostau-ttheactual

sulnpling

session.

I

play

the

smuple

into

the

Mirage

at

1

‘NB.

This

lowers

the

SITIIII

by

one

octave.

If

the

original

recordedsouudcontairuedfreouuencyconupenentsupto20lfil-Ia.

thenpleybackat

l.l'2speedreu:IucestI'uatto

ill

Kl-Ia.

This

is

well

with

in

the

range

of

e

plain

vauilla

Mirage.

After

you

get

agoodslnupleusepararrueter

[B7ltoraisel.Iuesound

up

one

octave.

My

turrutdule

has

a

speed

adjustment

that

allows

me

to

slow

the

turntdula

down

by

33.

Yours

may

allow

you

to

slow

it

down

even

mere.

Reducing

the

speed

by

I58

raises

you.rafl'ective

sI'ra:ulingba'udwidtI1by435

Hz.

That

may

be

eruoluduifyouuuuseyeurequalizerteredureevuvthingduoye

l5Ki-la.

(Pony

equalizers

have

a

I5

Ki-Ia

slider!)

Yes.

this

is

really

a

low-rent

approach

to

the

aliasing

problem.

But

if

it

works.

noone

will

know!

Remember.

all

people

will

her

is

the

final

product.

They

won't

have

any

idea

how

you

did

it.

and

they

probdtuly

dent

cu-e!

I

haven't

mentioned

my

solutiouus

to

the

problem

of

mining

long

loops

that

don't

click.

pop.

or

waver.

That's

because

so

fl-Il'nvefouIudeu1lyoruewaytorruduelorugloepsthatwork

properly.

You

must

lave

access

to

Tl-IE

SCIIIJ

LAB

software!

ldiuhl.

sayyeuhadto

buyit!

Justuseit.

Trythis.

Puta

difficult-to—loop

slrple

on

I

diskette.

put

it

in

you pocket.

Iudstrollintoyo\rEnsonit|dealer's

showroom.

Askfora

demoeftheSou.Iudtdusel'l.wa"e.

lelhentlue

selesrnuu

is

ready

teloadasurupletosluowyouluoweasyitistonudtelouug

loops.

lmd

him

your

diskette.

if

he

hesitates.

tell

him

tluat

the

simple

on

your

diskette

is

impossible

to

loop.

what

self-

respecting

salesman

would

turn

down

a

challenge

like

this‘?

Dent

like

this

idea‘?

Afraid

it

will

only

work

once?

Form

a

uusergumuueraco-opeu-atiyewithetluer

Mirage

owners

sud

purchase

the

softwre

as

a

g~oqu.

Shre

your

sarrples

with

other

people

(like

rn.e...l.

But

before

youdo.Ttl£YtI.IiSAl"PLES!

You

almosthavetobuya

guitar

tuner

[$15.00)

if

you

want

all

your

samples

{factory

andhome-g'owu'uJtobe

tuuruedtluesanue.

Load

the

factory

pimp

sound

and

check

the

tuning

of

it.

New

tune

all

your

otluersmq:uIestotl1efactorypiuno.IfycuudotI'uisyouwillbe

abetterpersonfou"it.Besuretoclueckthesau1uplesonSound

Disk

""2.0becaumetl1eyI'enotalltunedtIuesaune!

Here

is

a

summary

oftha

major

tips

and

ideas

in

this

article:

1.

Don't

buy

pro-formatted

diskettes.

buy

the

Ensoniq

disk

formatting

progin

and

rnalue

your

own

forrnattad

diskettes.

2.

You

can

use

Sony

single-sided.

single

density

3

H2"

(microlleppyl

diskettes

in

the

Mirage

for

$2.00

to

$3.00

each.

3.

Use

your

stereo

system

components

wlan

you

make

samples.

4.

Don't

use

samples

of

copyridut

protected

materials

to

mite

money.

5.

Bet

Ililhfisluipped

with

the

lterg

SUB-2000.

It

has

16?

smnples

on

it.

6.

Recordthematerialyouaregoingtesmnpleat

a

fast

tape

speed

md

sample

it

at

a

lower

tqoe

mused.

This

effectively

doubles

the

sample

rate

of

the

Mirage.

7.

lfyou.uu:lo|1'thavearruu.ulti-speedtqaerecou-deu".usathe

pitch

control

on

your

turntable

to

slow

the

material

down

before

scnpling

it.

B.

Plau

to

borrow

the

Sound

Ldu

software

or

form

a

group"

mud

purchase

it.

9.

Getaguuita-tuuuorauudtuaueallyoursauuplestetluesaune

pitch.

Duane

Hing

:i.s_

_an

engineer

currently

working

for

SCI

Systems,

Inc.

in

Huntsville,

H1.

Duane

has

grcgram—

ing

cxgcriencc

in

scucral

languages

and

is

grsscntly

ygrEing_og_adding_ccggptgr

control

to

his

synthesizer

collection.

This

article

was

hacked

on

his

Mac.

V§".J'§"§'.I§'I'§".§'.I'§'§"I§'.§§'4f.§'I.I'.§'§"a“

\

MIFIFIGE

DISK

HTTE

Mirage

owners

no

longer

need

to

buy

expensive

pre-

lormatted

disks.

Let

your

Mirage

format

inexpensive

as-."

blank

diskettes

for

your

sound

and

sequence

storage.

This

program

will

quickly

pay

icur

itself.

In-

cluded

is

a

back-up

utility

allowing

you

to

copy

any

Mirage

operating

system

from

one

disk

to

another.

Send

$39.95

for

the

THITDH

DISK

UTILITY.

JIEIHIHIHIHIHIHIHIHIEIEIIIEIHIEIHIHIHIEIEIHIHIHIHIF

JIHIEIF

N

I

1IHIHIHIHIEIEIEIEIEIHIEI5IEIEIHIHIHIEIEIHIHIHIHIHIEIEIHIEIEIHIEIF

Triton

Corp.

i855

Whilzehavarufload

5uil:a-

III

l.1rancllsIarucl,N.Y.

1407

HY

res.

add

Tl’:

“fl

tax.

Foreign

orders

add

$5.00

Mirage

is

a

trademark

of

Ensoniq

Gcrp.

u”’”'””fi'”””””!

Page

6

DHTH

1

DISK

HEUIEUS

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII

By

Gordon

G.

E.

Herbert

Uol.

1

—

Drums

and

Percussion

Sounds

§gggg_1_TBass

drum,

closed

hi-hat,

acoustic

snare,

open

hi-hat,

acoustic

toms)

—

weak,

flat

frequency

response,

3

octaves

of

tom

toms

[no

upper

multi-

sampling,

waste

of

space).

§gggg_§

[Heverb

acoustic

snare,

reverb

acoustic

toms,

bass

drum,

electronic

bass

drum,

electronic

toms,

electronic

snare)

—

H

little

better,

but

still

lacks

quality.

Spacing

a

bit

awkward.

(Kick

drum

in

the

middle

of

the

keyboard?!)

Sound

3

(Conga,

timbale,

clap,

scratch,

Hfrican

percussion)

-

Lacking

quality

again.

Hfrican

percussion

is

just

a

continuation

of

the

conga

wavesample.

The

scratch

sound

is

repeated

on

other

disks.

THUMBS:

DDUN

Uol.

2

-

Strings

and

Uoice

Sounds

Sound

1

{Solo

violin,

stacked

strings)

-

Good,

useful

sounds.

The

stacked

strings

have

a

good

attack

and

thickness.

Sound

2

{Synth

strings,

voice

1)

—

Like

the

old

days

with

the

synth

strings.

Remember

all

the

poly

synths

with

the

strings

setting?

{To

me

it

sounded

nothing

like

strings

—

but

I

liked

the

sound.)

The

Uoice

sound

I

love.

Tomita-like

breathy

choir

[bass-tenor

range).

Sound

3

(Solo

cello,

voice

2)

-

Solo

cello

is

a

solo

violin

spaced

so

it

has

an

extra

octave

on

the

bottom.

Uoice

2

has

an

extra

octave

on

the

top

for

alto

range.

THUMBS:

UP.

Data

1's

best

effort.

Still

room

for

improvement.

Uol.

3

-

Funk

and

Electronic

Dance

1

Sound

1

{Slap

and

pull

bass,

laser)

—

They

should

have

sampled

the

bass

one

octave

down.

Perfect

example

of

not

multi-sampling

and

ruining

a

good

idea.

Bass

is

good

for

only

one

octave.

I

don't

know

what

the

laser

is

good

for

unless

you

want

to

accompany

your

own

video

game.

Four

octaves

of

one

wavesample.

Sound

2

[DK—?

bass,

rap,

Star

Mars)

—

Uery

good

DH—?

sound.

Dnly

an

octave

and

a

half

though.

Zap

is

the

shooting

sound

in

the

movie

"Star

Mars."

Star

Mars

is

the

sound

the

Uookie

makes.

Good

sounds

if

George

Lucas

decides

to

call

you

up

to

do

"Star

Mars

Strikes

Back

the

Jedi

-

Part

IU."

Sound

3

(Scratch

1,

clap,

scratch

2,

Star

Mars

2,

laser

2,

zap

2)

-

Scratch

and

claps

are

repeats

of

Disk

1.

Star

Uars,

laser,

&

rap

are

repeats

of

Sounds

1

and

2.

THUMBS:

DDUN.

Good

slap

bass

and

DK—T

bass,

but

not

worth

getting

unless

George

Lucas

actually

does

call

you.

Uol.

H

-

Piano

Br

an

1

Sound

1

Tflock

organi

—

Great

{Deep

Purple)

Hammond

sound.

Lower

sound

is

crunchy,

dirty,

grinding

—

classic

Hermnond.

The

upper

wavesample

is

too

clean

and

the

last

octave

sounds

nothing

like

a

Hammond.

It

should

have

been

multi—sampled.

The

upper

half

ruined

a

great

lower

half

sound.

Sound

2

(Uox

combo,

pipe

organ)

—

If

you

like

vox

combo,

you've

got

it.

The

pipe

organ

is

a

flute

voice

register.

Nice

sound.

Sound

3

{Electric

piano}

—

If

you

miss

those

days

when

you

couldn't

afford

a

great

electric

piano

and

had

to

buy

a

Soundman

Sears

Special,

this

one's

for

ou.

THUMBS:

UP

DH

DDMN.

See

"Dvera11

Summary"

at

end.

Hal.

5

-

Digital

Synth

1

Sound

1

{Funky

bass,

space

bass)

-

Sounds

like

a

preset

synth

with

"Funky

Bass"

labeled

on

the

switch.

Space

bass

has

a

heavy

sound.

Sound

2

(Dmni,

synth

brass)

—

Dmni

is

slow—attack,

poly—synth

"string"

sound.

Synth

brass

sounds

like

famaha

CSSD

brass

{a

little

on

the

harmonica

side).

Sound

S

(Fat

bass,

sound

track

strings)

—

Synthesizer

bass

with

straight

filter.

what

the

name

says

it

is.

The

sound

track

strings

have

a

strange

ambiance.

Good

sound.

THUMBS:

UP.

Still

room

for

improvement.

Uol.

B

-

Horns

Sounds

§gggg__1_{French

horn,

bari

sax,

big

brass)

-

Mo

quality

to

it.

The

big

brass

is

misleading

-

it

sounds

like

a

tuba

and

uses

the

whole

upper

half.

Big

brass

to

me

is

a

whole

horn

section

playing

at

the

same

time.

Listen

to

the

Ensoniq

disk.

Sound

2

(Trombone,

trumpet

1,

trumpet

2,

french

horn

2)

-

Flat.

Sound

3

(Clarinet,

french

horn

3)

—

The

clarinet

is

a

joke.

It's

not

even

in

the

same

octave

range

[in

the

cellar)

as

a

real

clarinet.

THUMBS:

DUNN.

This

disk

will

make

you

cringe.

It

sounds

like

one

dull

wavesample

varied

in

different

octaves.

Dverall

Summary

ND

effort

or

imagination

in

their

samples.

They

lack

in

quality.

Most

sounds

are

flat

[un—ED'd),

not

multi-sampled

[you

get

a

good

sound

and

than

go up

the

keyboard

and

start

grimacing

as

the

sound

gets

worse).

Repeated

sounds

are

very

frustrating.

Their

biggest

downfalls

are

ND

PHDBRHM

UHHIHTIDNS,

ND

SEUUENEES,

and

vary

few

sounds use

the

Modulation

Wheel.

These

all

tend

to

push

the

reviews

down.

Uol.

2

and

Uol.

S

seem

to

be

the

best

disks.

There's

still

room

for

improvement.

They

don't

compare

to

Ensoniq's

disks.

Sorry

if

this

seems

harsh.

I'd

like

to

hear

from

anyone

whose

views

differ.

I

still

plan

to

be

openminded

to

Data

1's

future

disks

~

hopefully,

they'll

take

my

criticisms

constructively.

Gordon

D.

B.

Gebert

played

with

David

Johanson

in

1QBD,

and

in

1SB1-B2

was

on

tour

with

Mystigue.

He

is

an

active

studio

musician

and

the

creative

center

the

G-fi

group.

He

has

folders

full

of

original

material

ready

to

be

turned

into

dividends

for

the

stockholders

of

some

farsighted

record

company.

Page

T

CLQSS

I

F

I

EDS

USER

GRUUPS

Nould

like

to

start

users

group

in

Seattle

area.

Call

Loren

at

(EDS)

B?B-BDBT,

or

leave

a

message

at

(2DS]

S?S—D9D.

Cleveland,

Dhio

(including

Lorain

county)

area

Mirage

owners:

Am

interested

in

exchanging

samples

E

technique.

Please

give

a

call

—

Mark:

(215)

323-

1205.

M.U.S.E.

-

Mirage

User

Group

for

Elmhurst,

IL

area.

Meetings

soon

to

begin

using

the

UES

to

loop

sounds.

Please

contact

J.

N.

Adams,

2SH

Cayuga,

Elmhurst,

IL

SD12S.

(312)

B3&-3??B.

Hollywood

Mirage

Dwners

User's

Group.

Hints

and

techniques.

Sound

trading

and

demos.

Meetings

held

at

Classic

Sound

Recording

Studios.

For

info,

call

Patti

(213)

SB&—?S22.

Interested

in

contacting

other

Mira

e

owners

in

the

D

Detroit

area.

Joe

Noeff,

1SSS3

Fairway,

Livonia,

MI

AB1SA.

SAMPLES

Sound

Parties

for

Mirage

owners

in

LA

area.

For

info,

call

or

write

Jon

St.

James,

Formula

1

Music,

a:1

South

Palm

st..

Suite

n,

La

Habra,

ca

aaa31.

(213)

BB1-2?1D.

NANTED:

A

quality

sample

of

Sound

22

from

the

BBERHEIM.

Jay

Quinlan,

213

15th

Place,

Manhattan

Beach,

CA

BDEEB.

NANTED:

A

good

sample

of

a

DH-?

electric

piano

with

plenty

of

"metallic-bell"

attack

content!

Also

wanted:

a

solo

french

horn

sample.

Mark

Nyar,

1121

Middle

Ave.,

Elyria,

DH

AADSS.

SAMPLING?

-

Use

S.D.S.

If

you

own

a

sampling

device

or

are

into

sampling

in

any

form,

you

need

S.D.S.

S.D.S.

cassettes

contain

dozens

of

sounds

for

ygg

to

sample.

All

sounds

are

professionally

recorded

on

pro

equipment

than

dubbed

to

high-quality

chrome

cassettes.

Best

of

all

you can

sample

direct

from

cassette

deck

to

sampler,

repeat

the

sound

exactly

again

A

again,

a

no

additional

instruments-devices-

people

are

required.

Mix

outputs

from

two

tapes

playing

different

segments

for

totally

new

and

different

sounds.

Easy

cueing,

great

fidelity,

they're

GHEATII

Dnly

$?.QS

each

including

postage.

Texas

residents

add

33

cents

tax.

DHDER

TDDAY

FRDN:

S.D.S.

CASSETTES,

Rt

2

Box

SS2,

Roanoke,

TI

T5262.

Checks

payable

to:

LAKE

SBUND.

Buffalo

and

Niagara

Falls

Mirage

owners:

Interested

in

exchanging

sounds?

Call

or

write:

Chris

Dtt,

EB?1

Sy

Rd.,

Niagara

Falls,

NY

1A3DA.

(715)

73l—3?52.

I

am

interested

in

exchanging

sounds

by

mail.

I

have

a

good

size

collection

of

user—created

sounds.

I

am

also

using

an

Apple

II+

with

Passport

interface

and

software

(in

case

you

would

like

to

swap

sequences

or

programs).

If

you

are

interested,

please

send

a

list

of

your

soundsfprograms

to:

Paul

Mattioli,

11DS

2nd

st..

#335,

Encinitas,

ca

ezora.

I

will

forward

a

list

of

my

sounds

and

programs.

SERUICES

Don't

have

MASDS?

Don't

want

to

hassle

with

arranging

your

sounds

to

give

you

all

the

patches

you

need

for

a

whole

song

or

set?

I

can

custom

design

your

disks

for

your

specific

needs

-

a

must

for

live

performance.

P.

Nacker,

A221

N

Dunlap

#250,

Phoenix,

AZ

BEUZT.

EQUIPMENT

Mirage

for

sale

(am

getting

rack-mount

unit).

UISUAL

EDITING

SYSTEM

for

sale,

along

with

Advanced

Sampler's

Package.

Requires

Apple

II+

or

IIE.

Uiew

and

alter

the

waveform

directly

on

the

Apple

screen.

Makes

loop

selection

fun

instead

of

a

burden.

A

must

for

quality

looping

and

waveform

clean-up.

Call

Arthur

Cronos

at

(A15)

SSB—????.

ANNUUNCEMENTS

Anyone

having

a

C—SAfC-12B,

modem,

Passport

interface,

and

the

new

Sonic

Editor

from

SDNIC

ACCESS,

and

who

wants

to

upload

and

download

sounds

to

your

disk

drive,

call

Tom

at

(BB3)

3SS—159?.

Nould

you

void

your

warranty

for

512k

of

RAM

at

a

projected

cost

of

$3DD-SADD

(US)?

Ne

are

developing

a

memory

expansion

for

the

Mirage

that

would

allow

for

instant

(one-button

keystroke)

access

to

A

upper

and

A

lower

patches.

It

would

be

a

hacker's

kit

which

would

involve

installing

a

circuit

board

(easy)

and

attaching

S

or

S

wires

to

the

existing

Mirage

circuit

board

(relatively

easy

for

someone

with

HS

level

electronics

knowledge

or

any

service

or

repair

technician).

However,

before

we

get

involved

in

the

setup

for

manufacturing

we

would

like

to

get

some

idea

for

the

level

of

interest

for

such

a

product.

Please

write

to

us

offering

encouragement,

ideas,

wish

list.

If

you

wish,

we

will

attempt

to

consider

such

letters

as

reservations

for

the

final

product

if

it

is

viable.

Please

write

to:

MIRAGE

UPGRADES,

ZDDA

Fernwood

Rd.,

Uictoria,

BC,

Canada

UBT

2YS.

Thanks!

[Ed.

-

Me

first!

Me

firstl]

FREE

CLASSIFIEDS!

Nell,

—

within

limits.

Ne're

offering

free

classi-

fied

advertising

(up

to

SD

words)

to

all

readers

for

exchanging

or

selling

your

sampled

sounds

on

Mirage-

readable

disks.

Additional

words,

or

ads

for

other

products

or

services,

are

1S

cents

per

word.

(Unless

renewed,

freebie

ads

are

removed

after

S

issues.)

Page

B

CDMPUTER

PRDGRAMMING

DF

MIRAGE

PARAMETERS

SDME

PRDPDSALS

By

Nalter

Daniel

I

think

that

we've

all

run

up

against

the

limitations

of

the

Mirage

data

entry

system.

Not

only

is

working

with

one

parameter

at

a

time

awkward,

it's

easy

to

lose

track

of

which

wavesample

number,

upper

or

lower

program

number,

and

parameter

number

that

you're

manipulating.

There

is

a

simple

reason

for

the

instrument

having

a

one-parameter

entry

system

-

cost.

A

major

expense

in

manufacturing

any

sort

of

electronic

equipment

is

the

labor

needed

to

install

and

connect

panel

controls.

If

you

can

afford

an

Apple

IIeXinter—facefUisual

Editing

System

(HES)

or

Macintoshfinter-facefSound

Lab

package,

you can

alter

the

various

sound

parameters

with

the

computer

keyboard,

paddles,

or

mouse.

However,

I'm

not

convinced

that

these

techniques

are

the

final

word

in

Mirage

programming.

Computers

are

attractive

for

programming

parameters

because

they

can

display

much

more

information

at

a

given

time

than

can

the

Mirage

2-digit

LED.

Specifically,

the

computer

can

display

upperflower,

program

number,

wavesample

number,

parameter

number,

parameter

name,

and

parameter

value

all

at

once.

No

more

wiping

out

a

wavesample

because

you

thought

you

were

working

on

another

one!

Note

that

I

am

not

referring

to

another

HES,

just

a

computer

utility

for

programming

purposes.

This

utility

can use

MIDI

because

the

MASDS

MIDI

implementation

provides

access

to

programs,

wavesamples,

and

parameters.

Therefore,

instead

of

creating

a

system

based

upon

requiring

the

user

to

purchase

yet

another

incompatible

interface

for

his

or

her

computer,

the

user

can

rely

on

their

present

MIDI

card.

The

data

entry

problem

has

not

been

circumvented

just

yet.

The

status

displays

are

much

improved,

but

better

input

techniques

are

possible.

Instead

of

the

upfdown

buttons

on

the

Mirage,

the

utility

could

use

keys

on

the

computer

keyboard.

That

really

isn't

much

different,

though.

Nhat

about

a

joystick?

Joysticks

were

not

designed

to

deal

with

numerical

data

input

and

can

be

quite

cumbersome.

Perhaps

the

best

data

entry

system

would

be

a

rotary

or

slide

potentiometer.

The

UES

uses

game

paddles,

but

they

were

designed

for

other

purposes

and

are

not

sufficient

for

this

application.

How

about

a

special

peripheral

that

plugs

into

a

joystick

port

and

consists

of

one

rotary

pot

of

the

type

found

on

many

types

of‘

audio

equipment?

Nith

indicator

marks,

the

peripheral

gives

both

visual

and

tactile

feedback

in

addition

to

what

is

displayed

on

the

computer

screen.

That

way

the

user

doen't

have

to

look

up

at

the

computer

screen

every

time

a

parameter

is

altered.

It

would

be

nice

to

have

upfdown

buttons

as

well

for

vernier

control

of

widee

range

parameters

and

for

onfoff

functions.

This

special

peripheral

consists

of

an

inexpensive

potentiometer,

two

switches,

a

cord,

and

a

joystick

plug.

The

whole

item

could

be

packaged

with

the

programming

software,

increasing

the

price

a

little

but

increasing

data

entry

ease

a

great

deal.

The

issues

of

data

entry

ergonomics

and

status

displays

have

been

addressed,

but the

system

is

still

hindered

by

working

with

one

parameter

at

a

time.

This

is

where

the

"page"

system

as

used

by

some

synthesizers

can

be

applied.

Assume

that

the

specialized

peripheral

bundled

with

the

software

has

five

eats

of

potentiometers

and

switches

instead

of

the

original

set

of

one.

Now,

instead

of

calling

up

a

specific

parameter

on

the

computer

keyboard,

the

user

calls

up

a

specific

page

of

related

parameters.

Imagine

using

an

amplitude

envelope

page

that

consists

of

parameters

SD

through

SA:

attack,

peak,

decay,

sustain,

and

release.

Nith

your

data

entry

peripheral

sitting

in

your

lap,

you can

adjust

those

five

parameters

interactively

until

you

get

the

envelope

just

right.

Having

parameters

that

interact

on

the

same

page

could

save

a

lot

of

programming

time!

By

applying

the

page

system

further,

I

came

up

with

an

idea

for

a

stand—alone

peripheral

that

doesn't

use

a

computer.

Nhat

if

the

data

entry

board

could

be

plugged

into

the

Mirage

external

computer

port?

In

addition

to

the

five

sets

of

potentiometers

and

switches,

the

peripheral

would

need

LEDs

for

each

set

to

display

which

parameter

was

assigned

to

that

particular

set.

It

would

be

desirable

to

have

LEDs

for

each

set

to

display

the

numerical

parameter

value

in

addition

to

the

position

indication

of

the

knob.

LEDs

for

page

number,

upperflower

program

number,

and

current

wavesample

would

be

desirable

as

well.

Because

this

peripheral

would

be

in

the

programmer's

hand,

the

LEDs

need

not

be

the

large

type

as

in

the

Mirage

panel

display.

Perhaps

the

use

of

smaller

LEDs

would

reduce

the

power

requirements

to

the

point

that

it

could

be

supplied

by

the

external

computer

port.

Df

course,

software

is

needed

to

drive

this

peripheral.

Maybe

a

special

version

of

the

operating

system

would

need

to

be

loaded

into

the

Mirage

much

like

MASDS

is

loaded.

If

possible,

an

easier

method

would

be

for

the

peripheral

to

have

a

chip

that

contains

the

programming

for

its

functions.

The

real

expense

in this

item

would

be

the

software:

the

potentiometers,

switches,

case,

cable,

and

connector

would

cost only

several

dollars.

I

believe

that

a

product

like

this

could

list

for

as

low

as

$1DD,

depending

upon

software

costs.

Getting

back

to

the

computer

viewpoint,

consider

the

main

reason

for

the

UES

or

Sound

Lab.

Nhy

do

we

wish

to

view

waveforms?

To

locate

loop

points,

of

course.

Instead

of

using

a

display

system,

the

programming

software

could

include

an

automatic

loop

point

locator

that

matches

value

and

even

slope

of

the

waveform.

To

reduce

the

burden

on

the

computer,

the

user

would

specify

a

strict

range

of

pages

to

be

examined

for

the

loop

points.

A

program

with

a

combination

of

page

programming

and

computer-

assisted

loop

point

setting

(even

if it

didn't

display

the

waveform

directly)

would

be

a

powerful

tool.

Page

9

There

remains

the

ever—present

problem

of

the

computer

for

which

to

develop

this

programming

utilityfperipheral

package.

The

Apple

Ile

with

Passport

interface

is

considered

a

standard

by

some,

hut the

product

would

reach

more

users

if

it

was

compatible

with

more

computers

and

interfaces.

Dne

obvious

choice

is

the

Commodore

BA

-

it's

inexpensive

and

there

is

a

Passport

interface

(and

many

others)

for

it.

However,

the

SA

is

limited

in

memory

compared

to

other

systems.

Another

possibility

is

to

develop

the

programming

software

for

the

Commodore

12B

in

its

125k

mode.

Most

SA

users

could

keep

their

present

interfaces

and

peripherals

and

upgrade

by

the

purchase

of

just

the

actual

computer.

The

12B

in

12Bk

mode

is

roughly

equivalent

to

a

IIe,

but

with

better

graphics

and

a

faster

microprocessor.

Dne

last

computer

to

consider

is

the

new

Atari

ST.

It

has

a

built~in

MIDI

interface,

and

the

complete

package

of

computer,

disk

drive,

and

monochrome

monitor

is

$BDD.

I

hope

that

I've

brought

some

good

ideas

to

light

here

and

welcome

suggestions

and

discussion.

Perhaps

some

user

out

there

who

is

more

of

a

programmer

could

address

some

of

the

questions

put

forth.

I

am

especially

intrigued

by

the

thought

of

a

stand—alone

page

peripheral

that

plugs

into

the

Mirage.

It

could

make

many

of

us

more

effective,

faster

sound

programmers.

Nalter

Daniel

may

have

studied

Aeronautics

and

Astronautics

at

MIT:

but

he

did

minor

in

music

(a

humanities

concentration

.

He

is

resentl

a

graduate

student

and

hockey_goalie

at

Georgia

Tech.

Dne

of

these

days

he

is

going

to

finish

~

really

—

an

indegendent

recording.

MlFIAGE*

OWNERS

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@é]‘Tfl

1|

V0

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Contact

DATA

1

tor

an

updated

list

of

Sflllfld

EIISHS.

'

Mirage

is

s

trademark

of

Ensoniq

Corporation.

THE

INTERFACE

Dear

Hacker,

Each

issue

of

the

newsletter

gets

better

and

better.

I

would

like

to

see

more

detailed

and

informed

coverage

of

MIDI

-

and

not

merely

MIDI

in

general,

but

MIDI

and

the

Mirage,

including,

perhaps,

the

publication

of

user—written

programs.

I

was

particularly

pleased

to

see

an

article

by

Ensoniq

Midwest

District

Sales

Manager

Tom

Darling

and

hope

that

you

can

encourage

other

Ensoniq

emloyees

to

put

pen

to

paper

in

the

form

of

tutorials

such

as

his.

I

would

be

particularly

interested

in

hearing

directly

from

the

individual

Ensoniq

employees

responsible

for

the

factory

disks.

[Ed.

—

so

would

I].

How

did

they

get

their

sounds

and

their

loops

down

-

the

inside

story.

For

example,

how

did

they

get

such

a

smooth

acoustic

piano

tone

across

the

entire

Mirage

keyboard?

Is

it

a

real

harp

on

disk

#1D

or

some

syntheticfsampled

hybrid?

How

were

the

demo

sequences

produced

—

with

the

Mirage

sequencer

or

with

something

comparable

to

Passport's

MIDI

B+;

who

played

andfor

realized

these

sequences?

Still

further,

I

would

be

interested

in

knowing

which,

if

any,

of

these

sounds

were

actualy

created

(ie,

sampled,

trimmed,

looped,

etc,)

on

the

Mirage

itself.

My

suspicion

is

that

none

of

them

were,

or

at

the

most,

very

few.

Rather,

I

believe

that

sound

disks

#1

-

#1D

were

"made"

on

a

larger

system

-

one

with

sophisticated

signal

processing

software

—

with

software

capable

of

spectral

analysis,

energy

tracings,

full

visual

editing,

auto

looping,

algorithmic

splicing,

etc.,

and

then

downloaded

to

the

Mirage

to

merely

set

the

"performance"

parameters.

Along

these

same

lines,

I

am

surprised

by

the

fact

that

the

Ensoniq

sound

disks

are

not

accompanied

with

"patch"

sheets

which

fully

document

their

settings.

The

only

three

patch

sheets

which

the

company

publishes

are

those

which

accompany

the

MASDS

disk

in

the

very

end

of

the

Advanced

Samp1er's

Guide.

Do

such

patch

sheets

exist?

Dbviously,

one

could

take

the

next

month

off

and

transcribe

them

by

hand.

However,

it

sure

would

be

preferable

for

the

sheets

containing

all

the

settings

for

sound

disks

§1

—

§1D

to

be

made

available

for

publication

in

the

Hacker.

Page

1D

I

must

say

I

am

skeptical

about

getting

any

printouts

from

Ensoniq,

though.

I

am

doubtful,

in

particular,

because

of

the

fact

that

there

is

not

a

single

printing

feature

included

in

the

Mirage

visual

Editor.

Nhat

this

indicates

to

me

is

that,

even

in

the

most

advanced

software

that

the

company

makes

available,

Ensoniq

sees

no

need

for

the

user

getting

a

hardcopy

of

his

work.

I

see

this

too,

not

only

as

a

serious

omission

in

the

visual

Editor,

but

also

as

the

reflection

of

a

serious

misunderstanding

about

how

an

individual

-

both

novice

and

expert

-

proceeds

to

learn

a

new

system.

They

must

have

assumed

that

all

we

"professional"

musicians

care

about

is

getting

a

good

sounding

oboe

from

the

store

and

"playing"

with

it

—

rather

than

understanding

what

makes

this

specific

sampledfsynthetic

hybrid

with

this

specific

set

of

parameter

values,

a

fairly

convincing

pseudo-

oboe

in

a

wide

range

of

musical

contexts.

I

would

like

to

think

that

they

are

wrong

and

that

the

depth

of

the

questions

which

continue

to

appear

in

the

Hacker,

and

the

quality

of

the

newsletter

itself,

for

that

matter,

are

some

indication

to

them.

As

regards

the

problem

of

getting

printouts

from

the

visual

Editor,

I

have

added

lines

to

the

code,

but

to

no

avail.

My

system

is

fairly

standard:

Apple

IIe,

Epson

MXBD

printer,

PKASD

EP

12-BDf1DD

printer

interface

(Revision

S

1BB2),

and

the

Passport

MIDI

interface

Card

Type

I.

Perhaps,

you,

or

one

of

your

readers

(perhaps

John

D.

Senior,

himself)

have

experienced

similar

frustration

and

come

up

with

a

solution

which

could

be

passed

along

to

similarly

aggravated

owners

of

the

visual

Editor.

Dn

another

note,

my

local

dealer

told

me

a

few

things

which

I

would

like

confirmed

and

elaborated

upon

if

possible:

(1),

that

Ensoniq

is

marketing

its

own

Disk

Formatter:

(2),

that

the

19BS

Mirage

will

be

12

dB

quieter:

and

(3),

that

there

will

be an

inexpensive

12

dB

mod

for

the

older

units

as

well.

Nhat

exactly

is

the

mod,

how

will

it

work,

and

which

noise

(ie,

aliasing,

quantizing,

radio,

output

preamp,

etc.)

will

it

he

removing?

This

whole

issue

brings

to

mind

another

question:

Nhat

is

the

actual

signal-to—noise

ratio

of

the

Mirage?

For

that

matter,

what

are

the

true

specs

of

the

instrument

-

compared

to

the

Emulator

II

let's

say?

Here's

why

I

ask.

The

machine

is

noisy

—

why

else

the

12—dB

mod?

Tet

on page

S3

in

the

ASG

we

are

told

that

the

Mirage

has

a

"12D

dB

dynamic

rangei"

and

on

page

SA

that

"in

normal,

full-level

recording,

quantizing

noise

is

also

present,

but

it

is

S2 dB

quieter

than

the

signal,

making

it

virtually

inaudible."

Do

these

two

figures

sound

as

contradictory

to

you

as

they

do

to

me?

Perhaps

in

Hai1stone's

A-track

studio,

S2 dB

signal~to—noise

ratio

is

"inaudible:"

it

was

certainly

inaudible

in

the

combination

bus

stationfmusic

store

where

I

bought

my

Mirage.

However,

it

is

far

from

"virtually

inaudible"

when

I

record

direct

to

my

SDNT

PCM

F1,

or,

for

that

matter,

when

I

record

on

my

portable

cassette

deck!

Nhat's

the

story?

Sure,

the

Ensoniq

disks

are

very

quiet,

(much

better

than

S2 dB

signal-to—noise

on

them

no

doubt)

but

this,

I

suspect,

is,

as

I

stated

above,

due

to

the

fact

that

they

were

"made"

elsewhere,

not

on

the

Mirage,

as

ours

generally

are.

And

another

thing,

I

don't

quite

understand

how

the

"S-bit

floating—point

system"

in

the

Mirage

can

have

a

higher

dynamic

range

than

a

15-bit

PCM

F1.

In

regard

to

the

instrument's

specs,

another

seeming

contradiction

has

to

do

with

the

"fixed"

setting

of

the

output

filter.

Dn

page

SD

of

the

ASG

we

are

told

that

there

is

a

1S-kHz

limit

on

the

output.

Bn

page

2D

that

the

max

filter

frequency

(71)

is

1E

kHz.

Nhich

is

it?

It

also

occurs

to

me,

particularly

as

I

was

just

about

to

purchase

an

Input

Sampling

Filter,

(which

would

increase

the

sampling

rate

to

SD

kHz),

that

if

1S

kHz

(or

15

kHz)

is

the

"fixed"

peak

output

frequency,

why

bother

sampling

at

a

rate

any

faster

than

32

kHz?

Before

I

buy

I

will

wait

for

you

to

clear

up

this

apparent

contradiction.

Another

thing

I

am

curious

about

is

the

specific

upgrades

which

have

taken

place

in

the

various

versions

of

the

operating

system.

In

the

Hacker

you

have

mentioned

a

few

things

here

and

there.

There

are

also

some

tips

in

the

ASG.

However,

would

it

be

possible

to

put

together,

in

one

article

say,

an

overview

on

the

changes

which

have

taken

place

and

why?

If

one

can

assume

that

these

operating

system

revisions

are

updates,

it

might

prove

useful

to

know

what

exactly

is

being

improved

and

what

exactly

is

being

changed.

Df

all

the

letters

to

appear

in

the

Hacker

so

far,

I

was

most

impressed

by

Dick

Lord's

in

Issue

§A.

Nhat

is

Ensoniq's

response

to

his

request

for

an

upgrade

to

the

operating

system

which

would

allow

the

specifications

of

arbitrary

tuning

systems?

He

has

my

vote!

Also,

have

they

looked

into

enhancing

their

mix

mode

feature

(as

he

suggested)

to

allow

for

the

mixing

of

envelopes

and

other

parameters

as

well

as

wavesample

pairs?

A

further

extension

of

the

mix

mode

feature

which

would

interest

me

greatly,

would

allow

the

user

to

mix,

either

via

the

mod

wheel

or

key

velocity,

any

number

of

wavesamples

-

not

just

two.

This

would

provide

the

opportunity

for

a

wide

range

of

"remarkably

subtle"

to

"stunningly

bold"

timbre

modulations.

Nhat

does

Ensoniq

think

about

implementing

such

a

feature?

Is

it

possible?

Nhat

about

portamento,

the

speed

controlled

by

mix

wheel

or

key

velocity?

Nhat

about

an

arpeggiator?

I

believe

the

Emu

II

has

both

these

features.

Does

Ensoniq

plan

on

incorporating

either

or

both

of

these

two

"standard"

synthesizer

functions

in

near

future

operating

systems?

If

not,

what's

the

reason?

I

look

forward

to

receiving

the

future

issues

of

the

newsletter

and,

in

particular,

your

and

Ensoniq's

response

to

the

questions,

suggestions,

and

issues

which

I

have

raised

in

this

letter.

Anxiously,

Dr.

Richard

Boulanger

1B??

Deer

Street

Somerset,

Massachusetts

D2?2?

[Ed.

-

As

you

probably

already

noticed,

your

questions

regarding

the

Ensoniq

formatter

and

the

Page

11

various

improvements

to

the

Mirage

were

covered

in

the

last

issue.

Readers

may

be

interested

in

knowing

that

we've

arranged

to

have

Dr.

Boulanger

conduct

an

phone

interview

with

Ensoniq's

sample

wizard(s).

Ne

should

be

able

to

share

the

results

of

this in

a

future

issue.

Regarding

the

noise

specs

for

the

Mirage

—

check

out

Ensoniq's

response

to

the

letter

from

R. D.

villwock

elsewhere

in

this

issue.

Meanwhile,

Ensoniq's

response

to

some

of

your

other

points

follows.]

[Ensoniq's

response

—

The

correct

spec

for

the

maximum

setting

of

the

output

filter

should

be 15

kHz.

The

15

kHz

is

a

misprint.

The

spec

for

the

dynamic

range

is

determined

by

the

B

bits

of

sample

information

and

the

S

bits

of

volume

information.

Together

these

give

15

bits

worth

of

output

information,

or

approximately

SS,DDD

possible

levels

—

12D

dB.

The

upgrade

is

to

reduce

the

noise

in

the

output

circuitry.

The

S/N

of

the

amplifier

circuits

(referenced

to

the

output

of

the

DXA

converter)

is

now

about

TD

dB.

Nhat

the

Input

Sampling

Filter

buys

you

is

a

much

sharper

ro1l—off

at

the

high

frequencies

-

approximately

1DD

dB

per

octave.

This

allows

you

to

capture

more

of

the

highs

in

the

source

while

still

eliminating

the

frequencies

that

would

generate

aliasing

noise.)

Dear

Sir,

I

have

learned

more

from

your

informative

letter

than

from

the

information

provided

in

the

in

the

advanced

oner's

manual.

I

think

an

article

on

grafting

sounds

together

like

Ensoniq

did

on

disk

#9

would

be

very

useful

for

everyone

to

know.

I

think

the

Mirage

is

a

great

device,

I

only

wish

it

were

constructed

better.

I

had

a

key

that

wouldn't

trigger

any

sound

properly

until

I

got

a

disk

with

a

later

operating

system

on

it.

I

am

now

starting

to

have

a

problem

with

the

volume

control.

There

isn't

a

decent

service

center

in

Illinois

so

all

I

can

so

is

keep

my

fingers

crossed

and

hope

that

an

even

later

operating

system

will

get

the

bugs

out

of

my

machine.

Thank

you.

Richard

F.

Bird

PD

Box

593A?

Chicago,

IL

SDSSB

(Ed.

~

next

issue

we

should

have

an

updated

list

of

service

centers.)

Dear

Mr.

T.

Hacker,

Just

got

issue

number

S

—

first

one

I've

seen

and

I'm

delighted.

You

know

they

should

include

an

instruction

course

with

every

purchase

but

this

is

still

more

help

than

I

expected

to

find.

Two

quick

beginner

questions:

1)

Some

things

in

issue

#5

suggest

that

voice

quality

(in

the

Mirage

library)

may

be

due

to

a

defective

disk.

Does

that

mean

that

the

click

Page

points

(audible

loop

points)

and

noise

heard

around

some

of

the

sounds,

making

them

barely

bearable

(piano,

human

voices,

flutes

and

others),

may,

in

fact,

not

have

to

be

endured?

2)

Is

the

setting

of

the

Input

Sampling

Filter

another

matter

of

painstaking

trial

and

error,

or

can

you

offer

a

guide

to

approaching

it?

It'd

seem

that

it

couldn't

just

be

set

to

the

frequency

of

the

sample

(or

a

bit

above)

because

of

overtones.

But,

obviously,

it's

not

meant

to

be

left

open

or

it

wouldn't

be

there.

I

presume

it's

a

trade—off

between

sound

quality

and

noise

level.

Nhen

would

you

leave

it

open?

If

you

know

of

any

other

New

Yorkers

that

are

into

communicating

about

Mirages,

I'd

appreciate

their

names

and

numbers

(and

as

you

pointed

out

—

not

have

to

bother

you

with

questions).

Thanks

a

lot,

Mark

Friedman

A2D

E

1Dth

St.,

#ARE

New

York,

NY

TDDDB

[Ed.

-

SDME

of

the

click

points

and

noise

may

be

caused

by

a

bad

disk.

In

other

cases,

like

the

strings,

that's

the

way

it

is.

The

best

thing

to

do

is

to

get

a

listen

on

another

copy

of

the

same

sound.

Regarding

the

filter:

Ensoniq

recommends

(as

a

rule

of

thumb

in

the

ASE)

that

the

filter

be

set

to

one

quarter

the

sample

rate,

and

the

sample

rate

be

set

to

as

high

as

possible

and

still

leave

enough

sample

time

(ifsample

rate)

to

capture

the

whole

sound.

Df

course,

when

you

start

juggling

memory

allocation

and

getting

good

loop

points,

etc.,

you

may

have

to

deviate

from

this.

Then

it

is

just

trial

and

error

and

subjective

judgement

on

high~frequency

content

versus

noise.)

Dear

Mr.

Hailstone,

I

have

enjoyed

your

articles

in

the

Transoniq

Hacker.

In

issue

#5

you

indicated

that

you

were

playing

the

Mirage

from

a

Roland

guitar

synthesizer.

I

use

a

Roland

GH—?D?

guitar

and

GR—?DD

synthesizer

to

drive

my

rack-mount

Mirage.

I

agree

that

the

results

are

truly

amazing.

However,

I

am

having

trouble

figuring

out

how

to

get

some

of

the

version

3

operating

system

updates

to

work

with

the

Roland.

Nhile

MIDI

Function

Enable

(BA)

works,

I

can't

see

any

advantages

in

using

it.

Changing

sounds

from

the

Mirage

keypad

is

a

lot

easier

and

faster.

Have

you

had

any

success

getting

LFD

Modulator

Source

(TB),

Mix

Modulator

Source

(TS),

After

Touch

Modulation

Depth

(BB),

or,

most

importantly,

Local

Dnffiff

(3D)

to

work?

I

tried

various

combinations

of

Mirage

Controller

Numbers

D-B

with

the

GR»?DD

String

Selector

Switches

and

the

Roland

foot

pedals

and

guitar

controllers,

but

nothing

seemed

to

work.

Dther

questions

include

the

following:

How

is

Local

DNXDFF

(JD)

supposed

to

work?

12

Is

there

a

way

to

have

the

sequencer

play

but not

sound

notes

from

the

guitar

so

that

the

GR—?DD

can

be

played

along

with

the

sequence?

Since

the

rack

unit

unit

does

not

have

a

foot

pedal

control,

any

ideas

on

starting

and

stopping

the

sequencer

from

the

Roland?

Have

you

been

able

to

get

any

of

the

Roland

controllers

(foot

pedals,

guitar

switches)

to

affect

Mirage

operations?

Dther

than

using

a

volume

Pedal,

any

ideas

on

cutting

the

Mirage

onfoff

during

live

performance?

Is

there

a

way

to

simulate

the

Mirage

Mod

Nheel

from

the

Roland?

Thanks

in

advance

for

any

help

you can

give

me.

Ron

Lemos

Nest

Covina,

CA

(Erick

Hailstone

-

Although

in

the

past

I

have used

the

GR-?DD

with

a

Mirage,

I

don't

actually

own

one

and

have

not

had an

opportunity

to

connect

the

two

with

the

latest

software.

Concerning

your

point

on

the

MIDI

Function

Enable

(BA),

you

are

right

-

the

keypad

is

easier,

but

if

you're

several

feet

away,

this

remote

function

is

certainly

e

good

choice

to

have.

The

GR-?DD

does

not

send

aftertouch

information

and

modulation

is

only

on

or

off

(no

variable

intensity).

This

may

be

the

source

of

some

of

your

mismatches.

The

Local

DnfDff

is

a

feature

that

makes

sense

if

you

want

to

disable

the

keyboard

on

the

keyboard

Mirage.

The

function

is

duplicated

in

the

rack-mount

because

it

uses

the

same

disks

and

therefore

the

same

operating

system(s).

I

don't

know

of

any

way

to

start

or

stop

the

Mirage

sequencer

from

the

GR-TDD.

As

far

as

cutting

the

Mirage

onfoff

during

live

performances,

you

could:

simply

change

MIDI

channels,

or

use

a

MIDI

foot

switch

(J.

L

Cooper

for

one)

which

just

shorts

out the

MIDI

cable,

or

use

a

foot

switch

to

short

out

the

audio

output

of

the

Mirage,

or

just

use

an

AXB

box

to

switch

its

output

to

"nowhere."

Hope

this

helps

some.]

Dear

Editors:

Nhen

I

bought

my

Mirage

I

also

purchased

a

Passport

MIDI

interface

for

my

Apple

IIe,

and

the

MIDIKB

Plus

supporting

software.

My

dealer

didn't

stock

these

items,

so

I

bought

them

sight

unseen.

They

were

shipped

to

my

dealer

who,

being

BD

miles

away,

than

shipped

them

to

me.

Nhen

the

software

arrived

I

encountered

Passport's

inexplicable

backup

policy:

the

disk

is

copy—protected.

You

are

entitled

to

a

backup

disk

but

you

don't

get

it

until

you

return

your

warranty

registration

card.

And

guess what?

My

disk

wouldn't

boot.

I

needed

this

system

for

a

job

I

was

working

on.

Frantic

calls

to

Passport

brought

little

help.

They'd

never

heard

of

such

a

thing

happening,

but

if

I

were

to

return

my

disk

they'd

examine

it

and

send

me

a

working

version.

I

called

my

dealer,

He

called

Passport

and

finally

got

them

to

agree

to

send

me

a

disk

right

away

if

I

would

give

them

my

charge

card

number.

I

don't

carry

plastic,

so

that

was

of

little

help.

At

last,

my

dealer

used

HIS

card

to

get

me

a

working

copy

of

a

disk

I'd

already

paid

plenty

for.

The

second

disk

arrived

and

guess

what?

It

didn't

boot

either.

More

calls

to

Passport

who now

said,

"Dh

yes,

that's

how

a

disk

behaves

when

it's

damaged."

--

seems

like

they

HAD

heard

of

such

a

thing

before.

More

hassles

led

to

a

third

disk

arriving

which,

glory

be.

actually

worked.

I

used

the

software

very

skittishly

until

many,

many

weeks

later

my

backup

disk

arrived.

It,

too,

worked.

The

MIDIZB

Plus

system

seems

to

perform

as

advertised,

no

complaints.

But

there

are

lessons

in

this

story

for

computerists,

novice

or

pro:

A)

Never

buy

anything

without

seeing

it

(the

actual

unit

you're

buying)

in

operation

first.

B)

Run,

don't

walk,

to

your

nearest

micro

club

and

get

some

hacker

to

figure

out

how

to

back

up

your

software.

This

is

not

piracy

but

protection

of

your

investment.

'

C)

Don't

count

on

the

manufacturer

for

help,

understanding,

or

even

an

apology.

Sincerely

yours,

Jim

Hockenhull

I.Plane

Associates

Pullman,

NA

[Ed.

—

Sheeeshi]

Dear

Hacker,

First,

I

want

to

congratulate

you

on

becoming

an

indispensable

part

of

Mirage

ownership.

You

provide

the

necessary

information

regarding

software

updates

and

applications

that

Ensoniq

would

be

hard-pressed

to

deliver

on

a

monthly

basis.

I

would

like

your

advice

on

two

applications

of

the

Mirage

concerning

the

triggering

of

a

sample:

1)

I

own

a

LinnDrum

which

unfortunately

doesn't

have

MIDI

capability.

I

would

like

to

be

able

to

trigger

a

wavesample

(i.e.

snaredrum)

from

the

Mirage

by

programming

the

performance

in

the

Linn

and

taking

a

trigger

out

to

the

Mirage.

I

believe

it

is

possible

to

program

the

actual

sample

performance

in

the

Mirage

sequencer,

and

use

the

Linn

as

an

external

clock

source.

If

I

did

this,

what

clock

pulse

does

the

Mirage

want

to

see?

The

Linn

has

a

clock

rate

selectable

in

degrees

of

2A,

AB,

and

B5.

If

I

start

up

the

Linn,

will

the

Mirage

start

in

sync?

It

is

quite

frustrating

to

be

able

to

sample

at

such

a

high

degree,

and

not

be

able

to

access

that

sample

this

way

for

mixdowns!

2)

Say

I

purchase

a

MIDI

drum

machine,

and

use

its

sync

code

to

control

both

my

Linn

and

the

Mirage.

Nould

it

be

possible

to

trigger

a

wavesample

via

MIDI?

Nould

I

be

able

to

control

which

of

the

sixteen

wavesample

s

in

memory

was

triggered?

I

would

appreciate

step-by—step

procedures

in

setting

Page

13

this

Up!

I

could

purchase

the

Horg

SDDEDDD

sampling/delay,

or

the

Akai,

and

accomplish

this

via

their

trigger

inputs,

but

it

seems

senseless

to

purchase

another

sampler

that

isn't

nearly

as

good

as

the

Mirage!

Again,

thanks

for

all

the

useful

information.

Sincerely,

'

Peter

Bliss

New

York,

NY

[Clark's

response

—

In

answer

to

question

one,

it

should

be

possible

to

sync

the

Mirage

sequencer

to

the

LinnDrum

sync

output.

Theoretically,

the

clock

rate

of

the

Linn

shouldn't

matter,

as

the

Mirage

is

capable

of

analyzing

the

clock

rate

at

its

input

and

setting

itself

accordingly.

The

Mirage

should

start

playback

when

you

hit

"play"

on

the

Linn

(you

may

have

to

first

hit

"play"

on

the

Mirage)

and

the

two

should

be

in

sync

providing

the

Mirage

part

was

originally

recorded

in

time

with

the

Linn,

and

synced

to

the

Linn.

I

doubt

that

this

is

what

you

want,

though

—

it

would

be

just

as

easy

to

play

the

Mirage

part

"live"

during

a

tape

over-dub.

Nhat

you

want,

I

think,

is

a

device

that

will

allow

a

particular

sample

from

the

Mirage

to

be

triggered

from

the

slave

output

of

the

Linn.

The

only

one

I

know

of

(which

doesn't

mean

that

there

aren't

others)

is

the

Roland

Dctapad

system.

This

is

a

set

of

B

drum

pads

in

a

box.

Nhen

a

pad

is

struck,

a

MIDI

signal

is

sent

to

your

slave

device

(in

this

case,

the

Mirage)

and

a

note

is

fired

accordingly.

There

are

controls

on

the

Dctapads

to

allow

you

to

select

which

note

of

the

Mirage

corresponds

to

each

pad

of

the

Dctapad

set.

Also

included

are

six

quarter—inch

inputs

on

the

back

of

the

system,

into

which

you

could

plug

six

outputs

from

the

Linn.

These

will

allow

you

to

select

which

Mirage

sounds

are

triggered

by

which

Linn

sounds,

and

will

also

track

dynamics.

The

system

lists

for

about

$555.

Dne

other

possibility

might

be

to

use

something

like

J.L.Cooper's

Cv

to

MIDI

box.

This

is

a

small

box

with

inputs

for

control

voltage

and

gate

signals

(such

as

are

found

on

many

analog

synthesizers)

and

a

MIDI

output.

You

would

need

to

convert

the

snare

output

of

your

Linn

to

a

gate—type

signal

—

a

square

wave

which

rises

from

zero

to

something

like

1D

volts,

probably

.

This

shouldn't

be

too

difficult

to

do

-

consult

your

local

technician.

Applying

the

snare—controlled

gate

signal

to

the

input

of

J.L.Cooper's

device

should

cause

a

note

of

the

Mirage

to

fire.

The

next step

is

to

control

which

note

fires.

This

is

achieved

by

applying

a

voltage

to

the

input

of

the

Cooper

box,

in

the

range

of

D

to

S

volts.

D

volts

should

correspond

to

the

lowest

note

on

the

Mirage,

and

5

volts

to

the

highest.

Notes

in—between

can

be

selected

by

varying

the

input

voltage:

1

volt

should

get

you

the

"C"

one

octave

above

the

lowest

"C":

1X12

volt

should

get

you

the

"C#"

above

the

lowest

"C",

and

so

on.

A

small,

monophonic

analog

synthesizer

with

CU

out

jacks

might

be

ideal

for

this

type

of

control.

Used

ones

can

generally

be

picked

up

dirt

cheap

these

days.

As

far

as

your

second

question

goes,

the

answer

is

yes,

you

can

trigger

a

wavesample

in

the

Mirage

via

MIDI.

Se

aware,

however,

that

you

won't

have

a

heck

of

a

lot

of

control

over

which

wavesample,

unless

you

re—arrange

_which

wavesamples

correspond

to

which

Mirage

keys.

The

drum

machine

sends

a

signal

over

MIDI

with

each

drum

sound

usually

corresponding

to

one

key

on

the

Mirage.

However,

be

aware

that

not

all

MIDI

drum

machines

will

sync

your

Linn.

In

any

case,

remember

the

first

commandment

for

techno-consumers:

Try

Before

You

Buy!

Dear

Sirs,

I'd

like

to

hear

about

any

Mirage

User

Groups

near

Yugoslavia

(Italy,

Austria,

or

Nest

Germany).

Also,

are

there

any

official

Ensoniq

representatives

near

here?

Also,

maybe

you

can

help

to

clear

up

this

problem:

I've

heard

about

some

sort

of

warranty

reply

card.

I

did

not get

anything

of

the

sort

with

my

Mirage.

My

dealer

"knows

nothing"

about

that

(my

Mirage

was

bought

in

Munich).

Best

wishes

in

'BS.

Sincerely,

Andrija

Pusic

Jozef

Stefan

Institute

EA,

Jamova

3S

S1DDD

Ljubljana

Yugoslavia

[Ed.

—

Hopefully,

some

of

our

European

readers

will

contact

you

regarding

the

user

group.

Ne

have

several

readers

in

the

area

(although

you're

the

only

one

in

Yugoslavia),

but

we

haven't

heard

of

any

user

groups

yet.

Ensoniq

response

to

your

warranty

card

problem

and

question

concerning

representatives

follows.]

[Ensoniq's

response

—

Bur

European

distribution

is

handled

fairly

independently

»

but,

there

SHDULD

be

a

warranty

card.

Please

contact

Ensoniq

Europe,

SS

AvE

DE

STALINGRAD,

BIDDD,

BRUSSELLS,

BELGIUM.]

Dear

Sirs,

As

an

extremely

excited

new

Mirage

owner,

I

am

insatiably

hungry

for

every

piece

of

information

on

this

machine

I

can

get.

Nhile

our

local

dealer

is

supportive

there

aren't

many

units

in

our

area

yet.

I'm

working

in

a

vacuum.

The

potential

of

this

instrument

is

astounding.

Both

musically

and

technologically

it

seems

to

inspire

creativity.

Do

you

know

of

anyone

working

on an

outboard

RAM—disk

for

sound

storage.

How

about

a

vES

for

the

Amiga?

It

could

be

outstanding.

Maybe

a

2D—Meg

hard

disk

interface?

Ne

could

go

on

forever.

Page

1A

How

about

sounds?

The

factory

sounds

are

great

-

but

I

want

more.

My

sampled

sounds

are

ok

but

not

perfect

yet.

I'm

waiting

for

the

UE5

-

Apple

software

to

arrive.

Maybe

that'll

help.

(I've

got

the

Input

Filter.)

Dur

group

down

here

would

love

to

build

the

HHM-disk.

Got any

names

of

tech

people

at

Ensoniq

for

information?

The

pin

out

in

your

Issue

#3

is

not

enough.

Does

Ensoniq

openly

support

soft

and

hardware

developers?

Is

there

a

developmentflicense

package

available?

Any

info

would

be

appreciated.

I'll

be

anxiously

awaiting

your

reply.

Until

then,

Burton

whisker

High

Point,

North

Carolina

[Ed.

-

So

far,

all

we've

heard

about

the

various

"wish"

items

you

mentioned

are

rumors

-

nothing

concrete

yet.

The

arrival

of

your

HES

will

probably

make

a

dramatic

difference

in

your

sampled

sounds.

Ensoniq's

generally

been

pretty

good

about

second-party

type

developers.

You

should

also

contact

the

people

who

have

offered

technical

support

in

our

"Mirage

Net."

There's

also

an

announcement

from

a

Canadian

group

elsewhere

in

this

issue

regarding

memory

expansion

for

the

Mirage

-

check

it

out.

Ensoniq's

response

follows.]

[Ensoniq's

response

-

Dur

technical

staff

doesn't

have

much

time

to

devote

to

helping outside

developers

-

we're

pretty

busy

on

our

own

improvements

and

developments!

But,

we'll

be

happy

to

supply

technical

data

and

schematics

on

the

Mirage

to

those

who

sign

our

standard

non-disclosure

agreement.]

Dear

Hackers,

I'm

really

amazed

to

see

how

popular

a

"wish

list"

item

an

expanded

sequencer

has

become

for

many

of

your

readers.

Dbviously,

any

significant

increase

in

the

sequencer

capacity

would

involve

a

correspondingly

significant

increase

in

memory

size,

and

if

Ensoniq

eventually

does

make

such

a

major

change,

wouldn't

"you

all"

rather

see

that

extra

memory

for

something

important

to

sampling?

The

marketplace

abounds

with

low

to

moderately

priced

sequencers

for

MIDI

data,

but,

the

same

certainly

cannot

be

said

about

multi-samplers.

Instead

of

adding

"bells

and

whistles"

to

the

Mirage,

wouldn't

you

like

to

have

12-bit

sampling

resolution

and

2U

to

3D

seconds

of

full

bandwidth

sampling

time?

How

about

1E

polyphonic

voices

and

full

BB-note

response

when

driven

from

a

HRH-1UUD

or

a

Kl-BB?

Isn't

anyone

out

there

interested

in

an

improved

signal-to-noise

ratio?

The

quantization

noise

alone

{for

an

B-bit,

linear

system

like

the

Mirage]

can

be

no

lower

than

one

part

[1f2

LSB}

in

25¢

of

the

maximum

recorded

level.

Therefore,

the

best

possible

signal-to-noise

ratio,

SIN,

is

no

more

than

a

very

marginal

HE

dB.

Every

added

bit

could

theoretically

improve

the

SIN

by

another

E

dB

and

this

makes

a

well-designed

12-bit

system

inherently

capable

of

providing

a

?2

dB

SIM.

Still

not

exactly

Eopact

Disk

quality,

BUT,

a

lot

closer!

Now,

I

realize

that

Ensoniq

SHTS

they

use

a

"floating

point"

encoding

system,

but

to

derive

any

benefit

from

such

a

technique,

each

stored

sample

point

would

have

to

include

its

own

unique

EXPDNEMT

as

well

as

the

B-bit

NHNTISSH

that's

being

stored.

Hs

far

as

I

can

see,

the

only

"exponent"

part

of

the

Mirage's

alleged

floating

point

encoding

scheme

is

ostensibly

provided

by

the

various

volume

control

mechanisms.

To

imply

that

this

somehow

magically

improves

the

SIN

is

somewhat

akin

to

saying

that

the

performance

of

any

low-S/N

audio

system

can

be

improved

if

you can

raise

and

lower

the

playback

volume!

Admittedly.

the

Fact

that

the

wavesample

volume

envelope

essentially

multiplies

the

stored

mantissa

of

each

sample

point

by

a

potentially

different

value

(assuming

the

envelope

contour

isn't

just

an

organ

gate],

DUES

provide

some

semblance

of

a

"floating

point"

behavior.

But

to

imply

that

the

Mirage

is

anything

at

all

like

a

15-bit

resolution

system

is

pure

fantasy!

Besides,

any

improvement

resulting

from

envelope

dynamics

will

enhance

a

12-bit

system

by

the

same

mechanism.

Unless

some

undisclosed,

"secret"

form

of

companding

is

utilized,

it

seems

to

me

that

the

Mirage

is

simply

an

B-bit

system

with

less

than

&B

dB

SIN.

Bf

course

I

realize

that

increasing

the

sample

resolution

from

B

to

12

bits

involves

more

than

just

increasing

memory

size,

however,

12-bit

HID

and

DIR

converters

are

no

longer

prohibitively

expensive,

and

memory

is

getting

almost

"dirt

cheap."

Note

that

the

new

Prophet

2UUD

uses

12-bit

sample

encoding

HND

has

a

255k

wavesample

memory.

It's

not

clear

to

me

yet

whether

this

is

supposed

to

be

255k

bytes

or

255k,

12-bit

words,

but

in

either

case

it

means

both

more

resolution

HNU

longer

sampling

time

than

the

12Bk-byte

Mirage.

Eome

on

Ensoniq,

the

Mirage

was

a

fantastic

breakthrough

and

still

is

an

amazing

product,

but

what

are

you

going

to

do

for

an

encore?

May

I

suggest:

1}

15

seconds

{or

more}

of

12-bit

wavesample

storage

at

full

audio

playback

bandwidth.

2)

1E

[or

more)

polyphonic

voices

and

full

BB-note

response

for

the

Hack

Wount

unit

{I

don't

think

you

need

to

make

one

with

a

keyboard).

3)

The

ability

to

have

32

(or

more}

samples

spread

across

the

keyboard.

t)

5D

or

more

super

high-quality

factory

sounds

of

things

that

are

the

toughest

to

do

-

good,

old

fashioned

acoustic

instruments.

5]

H

price

tag

[still]

under

$2DDD.

That's

MY

"wish

list"

and

an

admirable

challenge

for

Page

15

rrunsnnia

HIIIIIEI‘

5114?

E-W

26th

Drive,

Portland.

DH

BT20!

{SD31

245-HEB

Editor:

Eric

Geislinger

Associate

Editor:

Jane

Talisman

Technical

Adviser:

Clark

Salisbury

Subscription

(U.S.

Funds}:

315/12

issues,

Dyerseas:

$25.

Advertising

Rates:

Please

send

for

rate

card.

Rates

for

Authors:

4

centsfword

upon

acceptance.

Transoniq

Hacker,

504?

SW

26th

Dr.,

Portland,

DR

D7201.

{sue}

245-nae.

an

innovative

company.

H. D.

Uillwock

Glendora,

CH

[Ed.

-

Glad

to

hear

some

challenging

"wishs"

and

comments.

I

think

Ensoniq's

feelings

toward

the

sequencer

pretty

much

agree

with

yours.

Una

of

their

people

has

mentioned

to

us

that

it

was

really

just

intended

as

sort

of

a

"scratch-pad"

kind

of

tool,

and

wasn't

meant

to

be

a

major

feature.

Uf

course,

as

you

mentioned,

memory

is

getting

cheaper,

and

if

there's

a

strong

demand

for

this

sort

of

thing

-

why

not

both

(larger

sampling

and

sequencer

memories]?

A

few

general

observations

—

I

think

everyone

will

agree

that

more

bits

will

always

convey

more

information

(Law

of

The

Universe

fllfi].

The

"problem"

in

any

high—tech

field

these

days

is

that

by

the

time

you're

done

with

the

design

there's

HLMHYE

better

and

cheaper

sub-parts

available

than

what

you

started

with.

?ou're

just

about

always

"obsolete"

in

some

sense

by

the

time

you

ship

your

first

unit.

Ht

some

point,

marketing

will

generally

yell

at

Engineering

"ETDP

HLREHDY

—

we

have

to

get

something

out

the

door

or

we

all

die!"

So

you

ship

and,

if

you're

a

company

that's

going

to

be

around

for

awhile,

Engineering

starts

working

on

"the

way

we

should

have

done

it

in

the

first

place."

[If

only

we

knew!)

I

think

we'll

all

know

better

what

type

of

company

Ensoniq's

going

BULK

HATE

U.5.

FDSTAGE

PHD

PDHTLAHD,

DH

PEHMIT

ND.

Q13

IJITTED

MATERIAL

TIME

VALUE

Transoniq

Hacker

is

the

independent

user's

newsletter

for

the

Ensoniq

Mirage.

Transoniq

Hacker

is

not

affiliated

in

any

way

with

Ensoniq

Corp.

Ensoniq

and

Mirage

s.re

registered

trademarks

of

the

Ensoniq

Corp.

Opinions

expressed

are

those

of

the

authors

and

do

not

necessarily

reflect

those

of

the

publisher

or

Ensoniq

Corp.

Copyright

1935,

Transoniq

Hacker.

Printed

in

the

United

States.

to

be

after

we

see

what

they

do

for

an

encore.

Ensoniq's

response

to

your

floating

point

comments

follow.]

[Ensoniq's

response

-

he

don't

deny

that

12

bits

will

be

better

than

B

(and

that

15

will

be

better

than

12}.

No

argument.

Uur

diddling

with

the

volume

is

more

of

the

nature

of

comressing

the

signal

-

this

does

improve

SIN

ratios

and

is

not the

same

as

"raising

and

lowering

a

volume

control."

To

better

clarify

the

Nirage's

noise

specs:

the

52

dB

in

the

HEB

is

a

misprint.

(Sorry

about

that.)

The

actual

limit

on

sampling

noise

is

£8

db

(as

you

mentioned}.

The

remainder

of

the

system

has

a

SIN

ratio

of

approximately

TU

dB

{after

the

recent

12

dB

mod}

-

referenced

to

the

signal

from

the

DfH.]