TX16Wx User Manual

TX16Wx
Software Sampler

CWI Technology 2011

v0.9

Page 1

CWI Technology 2011

TX16Wx User Manual

Contents
1 2 About TX16Wx ................................................................................................................................. 4 Sound Architecture.......................................................................................................................... 5 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 3 Bank ......................................................................................................................................... 5 Performance ............................................................................................................................ 5 Channel slots ........................................................................................................................... 5 Program ................................................................................................................................... 5 Group ....................................................................................................................................... 5 Split .......................................................................................................................................... 5 Wave ........................................................................................................................................ 5

The UI .............................................................................................................................................. 6 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 Selectors .................................................................................................................................. 6 Numerical dials ........................................................................................................................ 7 Menu selectors ........................................................................................................................ 7 Popup menus........................................................................................................................... 7

Performance view ........................................................................................................................... 8 4.1 Selecting performance ............................................................................................................ 8 Performance menu .......................................................................................................... 8

4.1.1 4.2

Working with program slots .................................................................................................... 9 Adding and removing slots .............................................................................................. 9 Selecting programs .......................................................................................................... 9 Outputs ............................................................................................................................ 9 Active slot ...................................................................................................................... 10

4.2.1 4.2.2 4.2.3 4.2.4 5

Editing Programs ........................................................................................................................... 10 5.1 Group List .............................................................................................................................. 10 Muting Groups............................................................................................................... 11

5.1.1 5.2

Keyboard Mapping ................................................................................................................ 11 Splits .............................................................................................................................. 13

5.2.1 5.3

Group Sound Settings ............................................................................................................ 14 Output, Pan, Velocity and Glide .................................................................................... 14 AEG ................................................................................................................................ 15 LFO ................................................................................................................................. 15 Filter............................................................................................................................... 16 Wave Start ..................................................................................................................... 16

5.3.1 5.3.2 5.3.3 5.3.4 5.3.5

v0.9

Page 2

CWI Technology 2011

TX16Wx User Manual 5.4 Modulation Mapping ............................................................................................................. 16 Modulation Table .......................................................................................................... 16 Modulation Edit Menu .................................................................................................. 17

5.4.1 5.4.2 5.5 6

Modulation Envelopes........................................................................................................... 17

Samples ......................................................................................................................................... 18 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 6.5 Playing samples ..................................................................................................................... 19 Editing start / end .................................................................................................................. 19 Editing loops .......................................................................................................................... 19 Sample Edit Menu ................................................................................................................. 20 Sampling content................................................................................................................... 20

Setup.............................................................................................................................................. 21 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4 Places ..................................................................................................................................... 21 External controllers ............................................................................................................... 21 Settings .................................................................................................................................. 22 Outputs .................................................................................................................................. 22

8 9

Working in your DAW .................................................................................................................... 23 File formats.................................................................................................................................... 23 9.1 9.2 9.3 Bank / Performance / Program ............................................................................................. 23 Supported sample formats .................................................................................................... 23 Importing sound data ............................................................................................................ 24 Credits and Acknowledgements ................................................................................................ 24

10

v0.9

Page 3

CWI Technology 2011

TX16Wx User Manual

1 About TX16Wx
The TX16Wx Software Sampler is a simple, yet powerful sampling instrument inspired by various classic hardware samplers from the 80s and 90s, but mainly the excellent Yamaha TX16W sampler as used with the Typhoon operating system. Many software samplers sport a multitude of features aimed mainly at disk-streaming gigabyte sized preset libraries. The TX16Wx instead aims to bring back some of the joy of working with the classic hardware instruments, using sampling not for playing back pre-built libraries, but instead creating your own new sounds in creative way. Perhaps the biggest reason this software was created though, is that I have yet to find a software sampler, free or otherwise, with both workstation features, and a clear cut, well-documented file format that does not lock the user in to a product forever. The TX16Wx file format is simple XML files and can be translated even by hand in a simple text editor.

v0.9

Page 4

CWI Technology 2011

TX16Wx User Manual

2 Sound Architecture
Sounds in TX16Wx are organized in a hierarchical structure of bank, performances, programs, groups, splits and waves. These components are normally stored to disk as individual files and loosely referenced by file name. See the file format section.

2.1 Bank
The bank is the complete sampler state, including settings for External Controllers, outputs and all the performances, programs and samples.

Bank
Performance

2.2 Performance
A performance is a complete active multitimbral setup, with assignment of programs to Midi channels and audio outputs. Performances are the toplevel items exposed to the containing DAW.

Slot 1

Slot 2

Slot ...

2.3 Channel slots

Each channel slot contains a single program and maps this to a Midi channel and an output.

Program
Group Group Group

2.4 Program
A program is a complete instrument (or preset). It contains one or more groups of samples.

2.5 Group
A group consists of one or more samples organized into splits. All splits in a group shares the same sound settings and modulation mappings. A group may also override the channel slots output settings to send individual groups to specific outputs (for example when building a drum kit).

Split

Split

Split

Spl it

Split

2.6 Split
A split maps a single wave to a range on the keyboard. It also allows you to choose specific loops for sustain/release

Wave

2.7 Wave
A wave is an individual sample loaded from disk. A wave can be shared between any number of groups splits. A wave also contains such information as root key, tuning and loop points. Group

Split

Spl it

Split

v0.9

Page 5

CWI Technology 2011

TX16Wx User Manual

3 The UI
Performance selector

Program slot

Group selector

View tabs

Performance selector

Midi file drag button

Group sound controls

TX16Wx UI

3.1 Selectors
Selecting performances and programs can be done by either clicking the up/down arrows next to the program/performance numbers, clicking and dragging the numbers themselves, or left-clicking the name of the performance/program to bring up a list of loaded content.
Up/down arrows

Selector menu - left click name to bring up Numerical selector - click and drag to modify, double click to type

Selectors also allows you to edit the name of the current item by shift-clicking the name field.

v0.9

Page 6

CWI Technology 2011

TX16Wx User Manual

3.2 Numerical dials

Most numerical parameters can be manipulated by either click-dragging the display to slide the values up/down, or double clicking to enter the value by typing.
Increase Decrease Click dial Drag up/down to modify Double-click to type new value

3.3 Menu selectors

Discreet parameters, such as filter/LFO type, outputs, midi channels etc, are selected by clicking the display and choosing the value from the popup menu.

3.4 Popup menus

Most areas of the "LED" display windows have context-sensitive popup menus available on rightclicking.

3.5 Drag & drop

The performance view, program slots, keyboard mapping editor and the group list all respond to drap & drop of sound data files.

v0.9

Page 7

CWI Technology 2011

TX16Wx User Manual

4 Performance view

Performance view tab

The performance view gives an overview of the active channel slots and their settings and program assignments. Here you select, add, delete, load and save performances, programs and whole bank state.

4.1 Selecting performance

The performance selector in the top of the performance view allows you to switch between the currently loaded performances. By shift-clicking the name field you may edit the name of the current performance. 4.1.1 Performance menu By right clicking the performance selector area you bring up the performance edit menu. Load bank - loads a txbank file, completely replacing the content of the Samplers memory. All currently loaded items will be discarded. Save bank / Save bank as - saves the full state of the sampler, along with any loaded sound data. You may be prompted to provide names for individual files being saved. Clear bank - empties the sampler memory. All currently loaded items will be discarded. Load performance - loads a performance along with its associated programs and waves into the current bank. Note that you can also drag & drop performances (or soundfonts) from windows explorer onto the performance field to load them. Save performance / Save performance as - saves the currently active performance to disk along with the programs and waves used. You may be prompted to provide names for individual files being saved. Duplicate performance - creates a shallow copy of the current performance. The new performance will reference the same programs and samples as the original performance.

v0.9

Page 8

CWI Technology 2011

TX16Wx User Manual New performance - creates a new, empty performance. Delete performance - deletes the currently active performance. Note that this does not delete any programs or waves.

4.2 Working with program slots

A performance consists of one or more Program slots which map a Program to a midi channel and output, with settings for volume and pan.

Program Selector

Input/Output Controls

4.2.1 Adding and removing slots Right-click on the empty area below performance selector and slots to bring up the slot edit menu. Add channel slot - adds a new slot Delete all channel slots - removes all active slots

Slots can also be created, deleted and duplicated from the Program edit menu. 4.2.2 Selecting programs Use the program selector to choose a programs for the active slot. Right-clicking on a slot brings up the slot program edit menu: Load Program - brings up a file selector and allows you to browse for existing programs on disk. Like the performance view, you can drag & drop txprog files form explorer here to load them. Save Program / Save Program As - Saves the active program to disk along with any used waves. You may be prompted to provide names for individual files being saved. Duplicate Program - creates a shallow copy of the current program. The new program will reference the same samples as the original program. New Program - creates a new, empty program. Delete Program - deletes the currently active program. Note that this does not delete any waves. See Delete Unused in the Sample editor menu.

Tip: The Load Program file selector has a checkbox to enable/disable "preview" of the programs you browse. When this mode is active, any program file you click in the selector will be temporarily loaded into the current program slot and will respond to midi input. This is a great way to quickly preview how the currently playing song will sound with the new program loaded. 4.2.3 Outputs The right area of the Program Slot shows the Input / Output Controls: Volume, Pan, Output channel, Midi channel and solo / mute. Volume and Pan - Note that these are combined (multiplied) with the individual volume and pan settings in the programs respective groups.

v0.9

Page 9

CWI Technology 2011

TX16Wx User Manual Output - assigns the default output channel for sound from the group played on this slot. However, individual groups may override this setting, i.e. while the program is set to one output, one or more groups in it may actually play on another output. Midi channel - the program will respond to incoming midi messages on the assigned channel. If you select Omni, any midi message will activate the program. Mute / Solo - turns off output from this/all other slots.

4.2.4 Active slot When you click a program slot it becomes the Active Slot. This makes the assigned program active for edit in the Program Edit Tabs. 4.2.5 Quick select mode If you press any of the main view buttons (perf, keymap, mod etc) and keep it pressed, TX16Wx will enter quick select mode. While in this mode incoming MIDI note on messages will change the current selection to match the corresponding program slot and group. If more than one slot/group matches the incoming note on, selection will cycle every time noteon is pressed. This is a quick way to find a group in the performance for editing.

5 Editing Programs
A Program is edited by adding, deleting and modifying the groups it consists of. This is done in the Keyboard Mapping, Modulation and Envelope tabs, and with the Group Sound Controls at the bottom of the interface. Each editor tab has an extended Active Program Slot in the top, allowing you to switch between slots or change the selected program without moving between tabs.

Slot Selector

Program Selector

Input/Output Controls

5.1 Group List

The upper right area of the UI contains the Group List. Here all groups in the currently active program are listed. This allows you to quickly select a group for editing, but also create, delete and import groups. You can select any number of groups and modify their parameters simultaneously. By right-clicking on a group (or the empty area) you bring up the Edit Groups Menu: New Group - adds a new, empty Group Duplicate Group(s) - duplicates the currently selected group(s). Copy Group - copies a group from another program. Create from Wave(s) - loads waves from disk an creates a new group with them. If you load more than one wave TX16Wx will try to lay them out across the keyboards. This is a quick way to create multisampled instruments.

v0.9

Page 10

CWI Technology 2011

TX16Wx User Manual Mute / Unmute - switch mute state for the group under the cursor. See Muting Groups. Mute others - mute all other groups Unmute others - unmute all other groups. Delete -deletes the selected groups. Delete All - delete all groups in the program.

Tip: If you drag and drop one or more wave files into the group list, new group consisting of these waves will be created. 5.1.1 Muting Groups Individual Groups can me Muted. A muted group will not produce any sound and will not be shown in the Keyboard Mapping editor. This is useful for tuning individual groups in multilayered programs, and also to reduce cluttering when laying out keyboard maps.

5.2 Keyboard Mapping

Program key range Group output Key scale Trigger mode Poly mode Zoom controls

Group key range Groups

Split key

Root key

Fine tune

Key shift

Shift tune

Choke group

The Keyboard Mapping tab gives you a graphical view of the programs group layout and allows easy and intuitive modification of groups and split attributes. Groups can be modified by clicking and dragging edges or the whole group to modify low / high key and velocity, i.e. keyboard range, as well as various numerical controls, from top left to low right: Program Key Range - sets the keyboard range, low and high key and velocity, for the entire Program. A Program will only respond to midi messages that are within the programs active key range. Group Output - assigns an Individual Output for the group. This setting overrides the Program Slot output setting.

v0.9

Page 11

CWI Technology 2011

TX16Wx User Manual Keyboard Scale - sets the transposition scale for the group. This determines how the groups pitch changes by input Midi key. o Inv * 4 - inverse key scaling where semitones are multiplied by four in pitch o Inv * 2 - inverse key scaling where semitones are doubled in pitch o Inv - inverse key scaling. o Inv / 2 - inverse key scaling where semitones are halved in pitch o Inv / 4 - inverse key scaling where semitones are divided by four in pitch o Fixed - fixed key scaling. All keys are given the same pitch. Use this for drum kits. o 1/4 - normal key scaling where semitones are divided by four in pitch o 1/2 - normal key scaling where semitones are halved in pitch o Normal - default o * 2 - normal key scaling where semitones are doubled in pitch o * 4 - normal key scaling where semitones are multiplied by four in pitch Trigger mode - determines how the group is triggered by Midi note-on messages o Normal - (default). Group will trigger on Note-On messages and play the full AEG envelope. o Oneshot - group triggers on Note-On, but the AEG envelope will transition to Release stage without any Sustain period, i.e. holding the key will having no effect. Typically you would use this for drum sounds. o Release - group is triggered on Note-Off (key release) Poly Mode - determines the playing mode of the group. o Poly - (default). Each pressed key triggers a new played voice. o Mono - Only one voice can play at a single time for the group. Simulates the behaviour of monophonic instruments. o Legato - group plays polyphonically, but if a key is triggered while another is held, the last voice previously triggered will be reused similar to Mono mode. Zoom - zooms in or out in the mapping editor. You can also use the zoom wheel of you mouse inside the mapping area to zoom the view. Group Key Range- sets the keyboard range, low and high key and velocity, for the group. Determines the bounds where the group will trigger. Split Key - low key of the currently active Split. Wave Root Key - displays/edits the Root Key of the assigned Wave for the active Split. The root key is also displayed on the reference keyboard. By clicking and dragging this you can easily change the Wave root key. NOTE: This modifies the Wave root key, i.e. this will affect all groups/splits to which the wave is assigned.
Root Key marker

Wave Fine Tune - modifies the Wave fine tune. Group Key Shift - shifts the pitch of the group by semitones. Group Fine Tune - shifts the pitch of the group by cents. Choke group assigns a choke group to the selected group(s).

v0.9

Page 12

CWI Technology 2011

TX16Wx User Manual 5.2.1 Splits Each group is divided into one or more Splits. A split assigns a Split Point and a Wave to a part of the groups keyboard range. The assigned waves share the same group settings and sound parameters but can have individual Sustain and Release Loops.

Split key marker

You can select a Split by clicking on the part of the Group the split occupies. By clicking and dragging the Split Key Marker line you can modify the Splits start. Right-click the split area to bring up the Split Edit Menu: Add Split - inserts a new Split starting at the key you clicked. Delete Split - removes the active split Separate - breaks the group into two at the key clicked. Delete Group - deletes the selected group Load Wave - opens up a file selector and lets you browse for a new wave on disk. NOTE: The Wave file selector allows you to preview samples in several ways. You can enable Auto Play, which will play any sample selected in the browser through the main stereo output automatically. If not enabled, you can select a wave and press the Play button to listen to the sample one. When browsing from the Keyboard Mapping view you can also enable Preview which will temporarily place the selected sample in the currently active Split. This is a great way to preview how a new sample fits a playing tune. Save Wave / Save Wave As - saves the active wave to disk Sustain Loop - selects the Sustain Loop. This is the loop that will play while a Midi key is held. Release Loop - selects the Release Loop. This is the loop that will play after the Midi key is released but the voice still plays the AEG release. Open in Sample Editor - opens the active splits sample in the sample editor. <Waves> - lets you choose between currently loaded waves.

You can drag and drop wave files into the keyboard mapping editor to either create a new group, or into existing splits. If you drop one or more wave into a split, the new waves will be arranged into the range the previous wave occupied.

v0.9

Page 13

CWI Technology 2011

TX16Wx User Manual 5.2.2 Slices If a single selected group contains mapped slices (or if the currently active sample is sliced), a Midi file for playing the layout parts in order can be dragged/exported to your DAW by clicking and dragging the Midi drag button. Note: If a sliced sample is selected without a mapping group, the exported midi file will use the default keyboard mapping. 5.2.3 Choke groups A choke groups is essentially a monophonic relationship between groups, where all groups sharing choke group will use at most one voice, i.e. cut each other off when played. A typical use for this is setting up hi-hats, where each sample should cut off any other playing. Choke groups can also be used with the Poly mode setting to achieve certain effects, such as multi-group monophonic instruments. Poly Mode Poly Mono Legato No Choke Group Notes play polyphonically, AEG resets on note-on Notes play monophonically within group. No AEG reset on voice steal. Notes play polyphonically, except when note within group is held while triggering another, in which case behaves like mono. Choke Group Notes play monophonically within choke group, AEG resets on note-on Notes play monophonically within choke group. No AEG reset on voice steal. Notes play polyphonically, except when note within choke group is held while triggering another, in which case behaves like mono.

5.3 Group Sound Settings

The lower area of the Sampler interface contains the sound controls for the currently active groups. Here you modify the sound shaping parameters for a group.

5.3.1

Output, Pan, Velocity and Glide Volume - sets the Program relative volume. Pan - set the Program relative pan. Velocity - sets the velocity sensitivity of the group. This determines how keyboard velocity affects the played volume of the group.

v0.9

Page 14

CWI Technology 2011

TX16Wx User Manual Velocity Offset - sets the lowest velocity at which the group responds. For example if this is set to 63, the group will never play at a lower volume than a key velocity of 63 would produce.

5.3.2 AEG The Amplitude Envelope Generator modifies the volume of the group over time. It is an extended version of the standard ADSR envelope with some additional parameters.
Volume

Level1 Sustain

Time Attack Decay1 Decay2 Release

5.3.3 LFO Low Frequency Oscillator. Two LFO generators are available per group. LFO Parameters: Rate - LFO frequency in Hz, ranging from ~0.01 - 1500Hz Amplitude - Strength of the generated modualtion pulse Fade in - Time before the LFO reaches its maximum amplitude. Use this to achieve a "fadein" effect in the modulation. Position - Wave cycle start of the LFO. A setting of 0.5 effectively reverses the phase of the generated wave. Type - Generated wave type o Triangle o Sinus o Sawtooth o Square o Exponent Sync o None - Each group will starts its LFO cycle independently on note-on. o Group - If any voice is active playing this group, the LFO phase will be synced to this. o Voice - If any voice is active playing any group in this voice, the LFO phase will be synced to this. Note that the LFO will be synced to the first group found playing, so this parameter is best used on all the groups in a program. o Tempo - the LFO period is synchronized with the host song tempo. When in this mode, the Rate parameter switches from frequencey to a beat designator. For example settings the rate to 1/4 will cause the LFO to complete one period per every quarter note. Page 15 CWI Technology 2011

v0.9

TX16Wx User Manual 5.3.4 Filter TX16Wx has a single 24dB resonant filter per group. Filter Parameters: Type o AllPass - Filter off o Lowpass - frequencies below the cutoff freqency are suppressed. o Highpass - frequencies above the cutoff freqency are suppressed. o Bandpass - frequencies below and above the cutoff freqency are suppressed. Frequency - the cutoff frequency of the filter Resonance - causes freqencies near the cutoff to become amplified. Drive - boosts or dampens the signal through the filter.

5.3.5 Wave Start Offsets the played wave(s) start point in the group. You can modulate this value in the Modulation Table view. For example, by modulating this with keyboard velocity you can skip a sharp transient in a wave when playing at low velocities.

5.4 Modulation Mapping

Each group can have up to 16 active modulation mappings, from either the sound shaping generators or external Midi input. The Modulation Mapping View lets you edit and manage these. 5.4.1 Modulation Table

Source - selects the modulation data source o ENV1 / ENV2 - the Modulation Envelopes. o LFO1 / LFO2 - Low Frequency Oscilators o Pitchbend o Modulation Wheel o Channel Pressure o Aftertouch

v0.9

Page 16

CWI Technology 2011

TX16Wx User Manual Key - maps depending on the played Midi key, where C0 represents no, and G10 (highest Midi key) represents full modulation. o Key/R - like Key, but maps the modulation into the groups Key Range. o Vel - maps depending on the played Midi velocity, from 0 to 127. o Vel/R - like Vel, but maps the modulation into the groups Velocity Range. o External Controller 1 - 16 - Takes the modulation value from system-defined External Midi Controllers. Destination - sets the destination parameter for the modulation o Amp - group volume (+/- 1) o AEG Attack - the attack parameter of the AEG. (+/- 1) o AEG Time - the overall speed (time between stages) of the AEG. (+/- 200%) o ENV1 / ENV2 Amplitude - (+/- 1) o LFO1 / LFO1 Amplitude - (+/- 1) o LFO2 / LFO2 Rate - (+/- 1500Hz) o Filter Frequency - (+/- 20000Hz) o Filter Resonance - (+/- 1) o Pitch - (+/- 127 semitones) o Pan - (+/- 1) Amount - how much the modulation will affect the destination parameter. This field scale is dependent on the destination. Frozen - if set to true, the modulation will only be evaluated once on Note-On. This will effectively use a snapshot value of the modulation source at the time of note trigger. o

Note: Modulation destinations are additive in nature, thus to have the modulation work as expected you should in some cases set the original parameter to zero and drive it completely with modulation. Any destination can have any number of sources whose input is summed. 5.4.2 Modulation Edit Menu Right-click on the Modulation Mapping Table to bring up the edit menu: Copy from group - copies the modulation table from another group Copy from preset - copies the modulation table from a previously saved preset Remove preset - removes a saved preset Save as new preset - saves the current table as a named preset.

Modulation Presets are a quick way to keep your favorite modulation settings handy.

5.5 Modulation Envelopes

TX16Wx has two simple three-stage modulation envelopes per group. These can be used to modulate other sound shaping aspects of the group.

v0.9

Page 17

CWI Technology 2011

TX16Wx User Manual

Amp - determines the strength of the modulation output L0 - start level T1-3 - envelope times L1-3 - envelope levels

Click-drag the parameter dials to modify the envelope parameters.

6 Samples
The Samples view lets you load, save and manipulate waves as well as sample new content from your DAWs audio input.
Wave selector Wave start Wave end Root Fine tune Zoom control

Loop start Loop selector

Loop end

Loop mode

Tempo

Wave selector - which wave to view / edit Wave start - sets the start point of the wave. Use this to trim the played range of a wave. Wave end Root Key - the root key (pitch) of the sampled wave. Fine Tune - +/-50ct pitch adjustment

v0.9

Page 18

CWI Technology 2011

TX16Wx User Manual Zoom controls - increase / decrease magnification of the view. You can also use the mouse scroll wheel inside the sample view area to zoom in/out. Loop selector - sets the currently displayed / edited loop in the wave. TX16Wx supports an unlimited number of loops per wave. However, disk formats may impose other restrictions. Loop start - start point of active loop Loop end - end point of active loop Loop mode - type of loop o None - no loop. o Forward - when reaching end market, playback of the loop will jump back to the start marker. o Backward - when reaching the end marker, the playback will reverse and play until the start marker is again reached, at which point the playback skips back to the end marker and continues playback backwards. o Bidirectional - the loop will switch direction every time it crosses the loop markers, i.e. when it reaches the end marker, playback reverses and plays until the start marker is reached. Here the playback returns to normal and continues until the end marker, at which points the process, yes, loops. o Slice - The region is not repeated, but rather, if mapped into a split, will cause only the loop region to play for this particular mapping. o Pinned Slice - Like a slice, but the slice will be preserved if you use the beat detect or slice evenly or delete slice commands. Useful for iteratively buildin a sliced loop. Tempo - when applicable, such as when working with sliced loops, the waves detected tempo will be presented and can be edited here.

6.1 Playing samples

You can play the currently active sample by clicking and holding the left mouse button inside the sample view area. The active sample will be played at its root pitch from the point you clicked. Use this to locate appropriate start / end points for the wave or loops.

6.2 Editing start / end

You can click-drag the Start / End dials to modify the waves start and end points. By double- clicking you can also enter these manually. By clicking the Up / Down arrows on either side of the dials the value is incremented by searching for the closest next / previous Zero-Crossing point in the Sample Data.

You can also click-drag the Start / End Markers in the sample view to modify this directly.

6.3 Editing loops

Loop points are edited in the same way as Wave Start / End. As with these, the Up / Down Arrows of the numerical dials lets you

v0.9

Page 19

CWI Technology 2011

TX16Wx User Manual search Zero-Crossing points in the sample data. This is an effective way to find good loop points.

6.4 Sample Edit Menu

As other editor views, right-clicking on the Sample Edit View Area will bring up an Edit menu. Goto - centers the sample viewer on the selected point. Set - sets the value of the point to the time clicked in the sample viewer Add Loop - adds a loop to the wave Delete Loop - deletes the currently active loop Load Wave - opens up a file browser for loading wave data from disk Save Wave / Save Wave As - saves the currently active wave to disk Duplicate Wave - creates a copy of the active wave in memory Delete Wave - removes the active wave from sampler memory. If the wave is currently assigned to any groups, these will be modified to be silent Delete Unused - removes any waves not currently in use in groups Slices - Create and manage slices o Beat Detector - Analyses the wave for transients (beats) and adds slices on all that passes threshold. You may vary the detection threshold to create more or fewer slices. Any previously created sliced (that are not pinned) will be deleted. o Slice Into Parts - Slices the wave into even parts as input by user. Any previously created sliced (that are not pinned) will be deleted. o Layout Slices - Places the wave and slices into a new group with each slice mapped to a key. When the created group is selected a midi file representing the slices in time can be dragged from the midi file source button. o Delete All Slices - deletes all non-pinned slices from the wave. Detect Pitch - attempts to determine the root pitch of the sample data Normalize - maximizes the volume of the sample data Cross fade loop - cross fades the edge parts of the currently active loop to create a smoother transition. Trim - removes any data outside the Start / End Markers Range to New - creates a new wave in memory from the sample data inside the Start / End Markers Undo - allows you to revert the result of Normalize and Trim

6.5 Sampling content

TX16Wx can listen to sound input from the VST host and sample this into new Waves. To activate sampling input, click the Listen button inside the Sample View.

Once activated, the VU-meters should indicate any active sound input. Choose Mono or Stereo sampling by toggling the Mn / St button to the right of the VU meters.

v0.9

Page 20

CWI Technology 2011

TX16Wx User Manual Once satisfied with the input settings, click Sample to start recording data into memory. Once you have recorded enough data, simply toggle off the Sample button again. You can now edit the sampled data as any other wave and then save it to disk. The Listen button can be set to 'Auto', at which sampling will commence automatically when the host transport is started.

7 Setup
The Setup tab contains various settings and options that are either global and/or stored in the bank.

7.1 Places
"Places" are file search paths where TX16Wx will look to resolve referenced file names when loading sound data. Inversely, when saving files, and Use Places is active in the settings tab, the relative file paths used to reference between bank, performances, programs and waves will be written relatively to these paths. This definition of search paths allows you to create a complex archive of sound files without having absolute paths in the referencing filenames, thus making the sound data relocateable. The Places Edit menu allows you to add, delete and edit paths.

7.2 External controllers

TX16Wx can have up to 16 external Midi controllers defined. These are stored with the bank data on disk or in DAW memory, but can also be stored as system defaults. Midi controllers can be selected either from the list, or, if you for example have a controller area with mapped sliders, you can enable Midi Learn for the controller slot and move the slider to map it automatically.

Each controller can be given an offset, which then acts as the center point for the controller. Midi controllers range are normally <0 - 127>, but setting offset to 63, would instead cause the range to become <-63 - 64>, i.e. bipolar.

v0.9

Page 21

CWI Technology 2011

TX16Wx User Manual By right-clicking on the controller table you can either load the system default mappings or save the current set as defaults.

7.3 Automation
Like external controllers, the VST automation parameters can be mapped to be bipolar instead of unipolar. In bipolar mode, the effective range of the parameter is <-1 1> instead of <0 1>. By right-clicking on the controller table you can either load the system default mappings or save the current set as defaults. Automation parameter settings are saved with the TX bank or in the DAW fxb data.

7.4 Settings
Global options for the sampler. Save all waves in FXB/project - toggles whether TX16Wx should force storing all actual wave data when storing the sampler state in the VST host project, or when writing the bank as FXB (VST plug-in chunk data). Leaving this option set to true makes your project files selfcontained in such that TX16Wx does not have to locate wave files from disk when the project is reloaded. However, if you have a large sample set in memory this can cause your project files to become quite large, which causes issues with certain hosts. Save waves in project dir - if this option is active and the host supplies the project file location, TX16Wx will store all sample data that must be written as separate files instead of writing the data into the project file itself. The samples will be written as <project dir>\TX16Wx\<project name>\<wave name>. When combined with 'Save all waves in FXB/project' all data will be stored into the project directory. Use 'Places' when saving files - should paths be written as relative to Places (if possible) when storing sound data to disk. If set to off, any referenced sound files not present in the directory saved to (or subdirectory) will be written as absolute paths. Load new copy of wave/program/performance files - Can be set to yes/no/ask. When loading sound data already loaded, this determines if a new copy of the data should be added to the bank. In general it is a bad idea to load duplicate copies of sound data, especially waves, since saving the data will be ambiguous.

7.5 Outputs
TX16Wx normally has 4 pairs of stereo and 8 mono output busses. Here you can turn outputs on/off for either the current bank or in the defaults. Note: because many hosts have issues with modifying the number of output busses in an active plugin, disabling an output here will not actually remove the output from the perspective of the host. It just guarantees that no data will be processed to it. If you disable one or more outputs here, you should remove the output bus in your VST host as well.

v0.9

Page 22

CWI Technology 2011

TX16Wx User Manual

8 Working in your DAW

Normally a DAW / VST host application will ask the active plug-ins to store their session data in the project file(s) when closing a project. This is how the state of a VST instrument is restored when resuming a project. Since TX16Wx is a sampler instrument, its internal state is dependent on waves loaded from disk, typically many megabytes in size. Storing this whole state into the project can cause problems. Some hosts cannot handle very large state data chunks. TX16Wx will by default not store wave data that has not been modified in memory, instead just keeping a reference to the file on disk. While this greatly reduces the size of stored data in most cases, it will leave your project vulnerable if you for some reason delete or change those files. For safety, you should probably store your entire bank state to disk inside your project structure, with 'copy content' on. The Save all waves in FXB/project setting controls will cause TX16Wx to store all wave data in the host project file.

9 Saving sound data

9.1 Banks / Performance / Program
When storing sound program data from TX16Wx, you may tick the option Copy Content on/off in the file selector window opened (Save As). When Copy Content is on, all contained sound data will be copied into the same directory as you are saving to, and the resulting sound files will reference the copied material. Inversely, if Copy Content is off, the saved data will reference the original files (potentially resolved through places).

9.2 Waves
TX16Wx stores its sound data as Microsoft Wave files on disk, however if a bank references sound data that has not been modified, the original wave files will be referenced. Once wave data is modified in memory however, TX16Wx will store a new version of the sound data in Wav format in a directory named Samples next to the stored program file.

10 File formats
10.1 Bank / Performance / Program
TX16Wx stores its sound definitions in unicode (16-bit) XML data files. The XSD definitions for the txbank, txperf and txprog file formats are available from the TX16Wx website.

10.2 Supported sample formats

WAV - reads and writes PCM and floating point Wav files, including instrument and sampler definitions. AIFF - reads PCM and floating point Audio Exchange Format Files. AIFC - reads ulaw, alaw and Typhoon DWVW Compressed AIFF files.

v0.9

Page 23

CWI Technology 2011

TX16Wx User Manual

10.3 Importing sound data

10.3.1 Soundfont 2 TX16Wx has limited support for import of Sound Font 2 files. Use the Load Performance file selector to browse for SF2 files and import. TX16Wx will translate wave data as well as create program representations of the SF2 bank voices. Note: If you load a soundfont into memory when working on a project, and " Save all waves in FXB/project" is not turned on, TX16Wx will attempt to reference the wave data in the soundfont. Thus the project will be dependent on the imported soundfont bank. To avoid this, save the bank in TX format before closing the project.

11 Credits and Acknowledgements

TX16Wx uses the following third-party software: VSTGUI - http://vstgui.sourceforge.net/ Libpng - http://www.libpng.org/ Zlib - http://zlib.net/

The GUI was created mainly using the excellent Skinman and Knobman tools by Kuso: http://www.g200kg.com/ None of the DSP parts in this software would have been possible without the great resources at http://www.musicdsp.org/ The sound architecture is based on the wonderful Typhoon OS, created by NuEdge Development for the original TX16W hardware sampler. http://nuedge.net/typhoon2000/

v0.9

Page 24

CWI Technology 2011