TI'llIl5 nia HackerThe Independent Ensontq Mt'rnge User’.s' Newsletter

FILTERS MHDE FUN

By Clark Salisbury

Before we jump into this month's column, I think itwould not be totally inappropriate for me toreminisce a tad - what with it being a new year andall.

The Mirage is now nearly a year old. The firstMirage that we got in at our store came complete withsound disk number one, period. No sustain pedals, nosequencer expander, nothing. Just a disk with piano,slap bass, flutes, a couple of drums, and some sillyguitar 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 - andgrowinglt dozens of sound disks - and it looks likeit's only the beginning for digital sampling. Lestwe forget where we've been, does anyone remember theoriginal Emulator? H cool $10,000 for a sampler witha four octave, non—touch-sensitive keyboard whichwould hold a maximum of two samples at any giventime. It had no envelope generators, no dynamicfiltering, almost no waveform manipulation, and ofcourse no MIDI. why, you couldn't even re-tune thesamples by more than a few cents either way. find,still, it somehow managed to amaze us. Today thereis talk of developing a part of the MIDIspecification to allow for the dumping of sampledwaveform data in a standard way so that you couldtake your Mirage samples and dump them into aSequential Prophet 2000, or any other samplingdevice. This is particularly exciting news. 0ncethe programmers and techno-weenies get hold of this,watch out! I don't think I exaggerate when I saythat we are witnessing a revolution in the way soundsand music are being created and performed.

Hnyway, this month I'd like to talk a bit more aboutfilters and envelope generators and such, thosefriendly processors that help make sampling such goodfun.

in Issue #& of the Hacker, I briefly touched on thefunction of the Mirage filters, but, as many of youmay have realized, there's quite a bit more to itthan I could squeeze into that particular article.To briefly recap, the filters in the Mirage are 2edB-per—octave resonant low-pass filters. what amouthful. what this actually means is that theMirage filters will attenuate (turn down} frequenciesabove their cutoff point at, say, the frequencies at20 kHz [one octave higher) will be some 2eaa quieter.This, of course, is useful for eliminating unwantednoise and aliasing present in the original sample.

also, the filters are known as resonant Filtersbecause the frequencies at the filter cutoff pointcan actually be amplified. This can be used toemhasize upper harmonics present in the waveform,and is often perceived as quackiness, or the all toofamiliar "wah-wah" sound that has come to beidentified particularly with analog synthesizers.

There are other uses for the filters as well. Thesound of many acoustic instruments has a tendency tobecome darker over time as the upper harmonics decay.Percussive instruments, such as guitar, piano, andmarimba are good examples of this. H looped sound,however, remains at the same level of brightnessindefinitely, and even if a more or less naturaldecay in volume is obtained through the use ofenvelope generators and voltage-controlled ordigitally—controlled amplifiers, things can soundsomewhat unnatural if the overall brightness of asound remains constant. This is one place wheredynamic filtering can be of great usefulness. Byprogressively filtering the sound across time, agradual (or not so gradual} change in the sound frombright to dark can be affected. find it works bothways. The filter can be used to make a sound getbrighter over time. 0r you can use rather unnaturalenvelope generator settings to get bizarre,cyclic-sounding changes in brightness, as with upperand lower Program number fi from the stringsfcellossample. So how do I control all these nutty kinds ofchanges, you ask? Easy. Just check out UncleClark's step—by—step guide to "Filter wizardry,"coming right up.

Let's think of the filter as a “brightnessattenuator." It can be used to filter out higherfrequency components in the waveform, while lettingthe lower frequencies pass through — hence the name"low—pass" filter. Note, however, that the filtercannot add upper harmonics or brightness to awaveform that does not already contain them; it canonly work to attenuate what's already there. Intheory, then, it is probably best tn pre—emphasizethe upper frequencies in any sounds you may wish tosample. Not to worry if your sample turns out a biton the bright side ~ it can always be filtered downto normal brightness later on. Hnd this type offiltering can have the extra benefit of filtering outunwanted noise and hiss from the wavesample. Thepoint in the frequency spectrum at which the filterbegins attenuating is called the cutoff point, and itcan be controlled in a numer of ways in the Mirage.

The most obvious filter cutoff point controller isthe Manual Filter Cutoff control, Parameter 35.Increasing and decreasing the value of this controlhas the effect of raising and lowering the filter

ISSUE HUNGER B

cutoff point in semitone increments, and will beperceived as brightening and darkening the sound. [Iknow I said that the filter could not add brightness,but we first started with a sample that was overlybright, didn't we? If you want to know what I meanby overly bright, load the piano sample from thetrusty old 0isk 1 and set Parameter SS to a value ofSS or so. See what I mean?) The next, and lessobvious, filter controller to be aware of isMavesample Relative Filter Cutoff (T0). This issimilar to the Manual Filter Cutoff control, but iteffects the filter cutoff point only for thewavesample selected using Parameter ES, MavesampleSelect. This control's raison d'etre is to give youa way to balance the brightness of multiplewavesamples by being able to set filter cutoff pointsindependently for each of them. Nifty, huh? Thethird, and last, filter controller to worry aboutwhen setting the base cutoff point of the filter isKeyboard Tracking, Parameter 3B. The idea here isthat if you were to set a filter cutoff point thatsounded appropriate on the low notes of the keyboard,you may experience problems with the high notes notsounding bright enough, because the higher harmonicspresent in the upper notes would be overly attenuatedby the filter. Keyboard tracking can rectify thisproblem by actually using the keyboard to control thecutoff point of the filter. In other words, thehigher you play on the keyboard, the higher thekeyboard tracking will set the cutoff point of thefilter. Parameter 38 controls the amount of thiseffect. To check this one out, simply load a soundinto the Mirage and vary the value of Parameter 30while listening to notes played first on the extremelower end of the keyboard, then on the extreme upperend.

So far all the controls that we've talked about areused to set the base cutoff frequency, the point atwhich the filter cutoff is set when there is nomodulation input. (I know, I know - keyboardtracking is a type of modulation. But for mypurposes here, it's easier to group it with this setof controllers.) There are a number of other ways tocontrol the filter cutoff point, as you may alreadyhave guessed, you sly devils, you.

The first of these is the envelope generator. wetalked about these a couple of months ago, but I'dlike to go into a little mere depth here. There are5 parameters to deal with in the Mirage envelopegenerator (not counting the velocity sensingparameters). They are Attack (H0), Peak (#1), 0ecay(H2), Sustain (#3), and Release (ea). Attack (H0)controls how long it takes for the filter cutoff toreach its highest level, with Peak (e1) determiningjust how high the filter cutoff will go. In otherwords, if you want a sound to go from dark to brightat a fairly slow rate, you would set the attackparameter to some fairly high value. If you wantedthe sound to eventually end up being pretty bright,you would set the peak parameter fairly high. attackcontrols how long it takes to raise the filter cutoffpoint (get brighter), while peak determines how high(bright) the filter cutoff will actually end upgoing. We must remember, however, that the filtercan 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 tomaximum, or if the cumulative effect of two or morecontrollers pushes the filter cutoff up to themaximum, any other controllers you may be using canhave no audible effect. The filter simply hasnowhere to go.

Next is the 0ecey Control (#2), and it works inconjunction with the Sustain Control (#3). The decaycontrol determines how long it will take for thefilter to go from the maximum value (set by the Peakcontrol) down to the value set by the sustaincontrol. 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 valueof 0, (even if you continue to hold down the Miragekeys), effectively filtering out all frequencies.The effect is that the sound will continue to darkenuntil it darkens itself right out of existence. If,on the other hand, you do not want the filter cutoffpoint to end up at 0, simly set the sustain controlto a value higher than 0. This will have the effectof holding the filter "open" while the keys are beingheld, and the sound will sustain at this level ofbrightness until they are released. Last is therelease control, and it affects the length of time ittakes for the filter to finally decay to 0 once thekey or keys have been released. Note that all thefilter controllers discussed here, with the exceptionof the release control, are active only while thekeys are depressed. Ha soon as you release the keys,the envelope generator immediately goes into therelease position of its cycle, and all other controlinput to the filter is ignored.

But wait, there's more! Each component of the filterenvelope has a velocity sensing (US) counterpart.Httack US (£5) can be used to increase or decreaseattack time according to how hard (alright — howfast) you play the keyboard. The effect is that ifyou play a key slowly, you can obtain a longer attacktime than if the key is struck more quickly, allowingyou to control, by touch, the length of time it takesfor notes to swell. Peak U5 (H6) causes the filtercutoff point to go higher the harder the keys arestruck, giving you touch control over brightness.Decay Kyb (H?) is a bit different. In many acousticinstruments the decay time for high notes is shorterthan for low notes . Decay Kyb causes the decay timeto be affected by keyboard position; higher notesdecay more quickly than low ones. The intensity ofthis effect is controlled by Parameter ea, SustainUS. The harder you hit keys, the higher the filtercutoff point will be set, and your sound will sustainat a brighter timbre. Finally, we have Release US(es). This one's kind of fun. with Release vs, theMirage actually pays attention to how quickly yourelease the keys, and sets the release timeaccordingly. If you let go quickly, you get a shortrelease, and the note decays quickly. If you let gomore 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 thefilter controllers is cumulative: they are addedtogether to form the actual filter cutoff point.with the exception of release and release US, thesecontrollers are active while one or more keys are

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being depressed. Manual Filter Cutoff, wavesampleFilter Cutoff, and Keyboard are added together toform the base filter cutoff, (you can think of it asthe basic brightness setting for your sample), withthe effects from the envelope generators being addedto this. And remember, if it doesn't make sense atfirst, mess with it till it does. Thanks for tuningin.

SAMPLE SAMPLES i SAMPLE TRICKSIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII

By Erick Hailstone

Recently, I attended a Mirage clinic and among otherthings heard many new samples. Some of these werethe clinician's own as well as those he has picked upin his travels and some from local samplers. Theseevents are going on all over the country so many ofthese sounds will show up in your area if theyhaven't already. It will be impossible to critiquethese by disk because they may show up in anyconceivable combination.

Plucked violin (that Italian word I can't spell) — Inthe lower range you might not guess what it is but itis 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 andvowel combination imaginable. Some of it's pure,some processed with filters, delays, phase shifters,etc. This is one of the hippest things I've hearddone with sampling; new, yet familiar organic soundswith lots of rich texture.

1S Multisamples — This one actually uses two samplesper program. The mod wheel is set up to allow you tomove from one wavesample to another or any mix inbetween.

Analog brass - This one's mostly standard brasspatches from all your favorite synths.

Hanna Barbara — Cartoon sound effects from theoriginators of the Flintstones, Smurfs, and otherassorted 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 fewvariations. There are several other organ samplesaround but this one stands out.

French horn - Not the best fidelity. -I hope Ensoniqdoes one of these soon as I get a lot of requests forit.

Martin guitar — This is an acoustic steel string withthe fidelity not as good as Ensoniq's nylon stringbut useable.

Performance - Funk bass on the lower octaves, guitar

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Clark Salisbury is Product Sgecialist with PortlandMusic Co. in Dregon, and is also a partner in TheMidi Connection, a Portland—based consulting firm.He has been actively involved in the comgosition,performing, and recording of electronic music forover 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 kindof thing that really shows off the versatility of theMirage. with this sample you can create funkgrooves, the Mirage becoming a rhythm section all byitself.

Phone - Rings on any pitch.

Berlin - This sample was lifted off a recording ofthe pop group "Berlin" — a huge sound, combiningvocal textures and synthesizers.

Keep on the lookout for these samples. There arealways more on the way and I'll try to keep youadvised on the commercial ones as well as those thatseem to be floating around the country.

Now for something a little different:

Here are some fairly simple tricks you can do withthe Mirage.

TRICK f1:My first thought when hearing the Fender Rhodes (Disk5, Bank 3) was that it was very good, very useful,but why waste the other programs switching tochorusing — especially since there is a noticeablepop when doing se? Also, if you have a way ofturning the chorus effect onfoff within a singleprogram, you free some up for other variations. Eventhough most of the time you hear a Rhodes withchorusing these days, a dry Rhodes is still real nicefor certain things. Start by loading Disk #5 UILSample 3. Set it for UZL Program A. The followingparameter changes are for both lower and upper.

Parameter 33 (0.0. Detune) - set for DBParameter 32 (LFO Depth) ~ set at D1Parameter 35 (0.0. Balance US) — set at 0

These few changes will allow you to turn thechorusing effect on and off with the mod wheel. Asyou rotate the wheel forward, chorusing will kick inat about 1X3 rotation. At 1X2 it is full strength.From there forward it dies away. You do give upvibrato control on the mod wheel. This is notsomething I would use on a Rhodes, but there are lotsof alternatives. If you set 32 to 0, when you usethe mod wheel you will get chorusing and vibrato.Another variation is to set the chorusing so that itis controlled by the velocity of the keyboard.First, perform the changes above, then change 3A to0. Set 35 anywhere from DE on. This valuedetermines how hard or soft your touch will have tobe to bring in the chorus effect. 12 — 1S seemedright for me. So there are several choices and thesecan be different for each half of the keyboard —3

chorus controlled by the wheel on the upper and byvelocity on the lower; the reverse and vibrato tossedin anywhere and anyway you choose. I'm sure you'llsettle on a few combinations for most everydayplaying, but having variations is nice for unusualapplications.

This effect is useful on all the samples on this diskas well as most others. It's great on the Hammondorgan sample and if you rock the mod wheel back andforth slightly from center, you get it to sound evenmore like a Leslie. Try rocking slow and fast.

TRICK #20n Disk #1, Bank §2, there is a slap bass. The wayit is setup you have electric bass from key 1 — 1?and a slapped sound from 1B - 2B. Here are a coupleof alternatives you might try.

Set Parameter 26 (wavesample Select) to 01Raise Parameter 72 (Topkey) to 29Select 2? (Initial wavesample) and listen to 1 — 3

You now have 3 quick variations. If you turnParameter 2B (Mix Mode) off, you'll have three morevariations.

Just to be safe, reload this sample. Set 2E to D1.Change 72 to 29. This gives a more uniform sound upand down the lower sample. Experimnt with 3e and 35for some more variations. If you set 35 at 0, themod wheel will control the mix of the twowavesamples.

THICK #3Load Disk #2, Lower Sample 1, Proram 1. SetParameter 5& (Amplitude Release) to 15. Byshortening the release time you have a more usefulpatch. fou can play in a more staccato mannercontrolling the release with your touch. Now, turnParameter 2B (Mix Mode) on, set 32 to 01, set 35 to0. Again, we are using the Mix Mode to give you morevariety. This should give you a pure mallot typesound and you'll still have the swelling sound comingin. Rock the mod wheel all the way forward andyou'll get more of an electric piano — morefundamental and less upper harmonics. If you put thewheel right in the middle, you'll get a mix of bothwith chorusing. If you do these same sort of thingswith L2, you can mix (mod wheel) from organ toelectric piano and have both in the middle.

Try these ideas' with other samples and programs.with some they are very effective. Hope you findthese hints effective.

Erick Hailstone studied cgggosition and arranging atthe Universit of Nevada and at Berklee Colle e ofMusic. He has been involved with synthesizers andrelated technology for the gast seven years.Primarily a guitarist, his orientation has been inggrforming and recording with these devices.

RND( Jfl)MIRAOE—NET

The following people or organizations have agreed tohelp with questions:

Sam lin — Mark Myer, (215) 323-1205. Eastern timezone (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 betwen10am 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 theprocess involved in shuffling your sounds around fromdisk to disk - good news: Steve Coscia of Ensoniq hasstarted on "Part II" of his earlier article on soundmoving which should cover just that.

it -If if

Even as we write this, Ensoniq is busy at a tradeshow in Anaheim announcing two major new products: a5-octave, velocity-sensitive, digital (but notsampler) synth and a full-size, ?S~note, weightedaction electronic piano. Projected prices of eachare about $1300. Me should have more information onthese two new products in our next issue.

BQCK ISSUESBack issues are available for $2 each. Some hackissues are no longer available in their original printedform and a photocopy will be substituted.

CHQNSE 0F PDDRESSPlease let us know at least four weeks in advance toavoid missing any issues. The Post Office will notreliably forward this type of mail. We need to knowboth your old and your new address.

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SOME REAL 5N‘1PLE IDEASW

Duane L. KingSometimes I get frustrated with my Mirage because I reallywanttemalte Q smnples for it. l haven't had my troublemaking bad samples. It's only when I try to rndte high-qualityones 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'vebeen looking for the answer to this question for some time-ever since I mode my first sample. All of my problems andfrustrations with sampling can be traced back to one or moreof these problem wees: 1! poor sampling environment. 2}aliasing of high frequencies. and 3) inadequate or missingequipment. It terns out that the key to good samples is theequipment that is between the srnple and the Hirage. Delftgive up because you dent have money to shell out formicrophones. recording and signal processing equipment!There's a world of low-budget solutions out there. Forst:-ters. did you Itnow you don't have to buy pre-formatteddiskettes anymore‘? Ensoniq released their disk forrrnttingprogram ($19951. Iregularly formatand use the sane typeof diskettes in my Mirage that I use in my Apple Hacintosh.These single sided. single density 3 132' Sony diskettes costme between $2.00 and $3.00 each depending on where I buythem. ‘lliliat this means is if I buy Ensoniq's disk formattermd three unfermatted diskettes at $3.00 each. t'm alreadysaving money! (The pre—formatted diskettes were selling forabout $13.95.} But don‘t think that every thing is rosy justyet. The Ensoniq formatting progin works perfectly exceptfor one little thing. They forgot to explain to you the factthat the diskettes you format with this progin shouldn't beput in the rlirage until you have turned it on using a FACTURYFiRi‘lATTED DlSl'~'.ET|'E. lfyou turn your Hirage on with one ofyour own formatted diskettes in it. your keyboa-d won‘tmdte a sound. It only wants to format diskettes. This is asmall inconvenience though. Just remember to use one of yotrelm 11% difita elm you tire on Yer "ironsaid then you can switch to yetr home-grown samples on yotr , tgg_ diskettes. we have to havediskettes to store fltl‘ samples on aid this is the cheapest wayI've found to get usable diskettes.

tilomahouttheequipmentthatstmdsbetweenyourprospective sanple and the Mirage. when I bought myMirage. 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 nottnigu-e. But did you rndte your first ‘live’ sample using theright channel of e pair of stereo headphones for amicrophone? t did, and it mdtes an incredibly lousy slnplel Istill dent own a mic. Even if I did. my voice still wouldn'tmake good samples. I don't have a trained singing voice. idon't even knew myone with a trained singing voice. But I doown a pretty good stereo cassette deck. So instead ofsinging. l use pre-recorded material as the basis of most of

my samples. This eliminates the need for microphones andbasically gtwmtees that the sumling environment will heclean. You can plug your cassette deck directly into yourMirage. but you wont have my gain control that way. If youhove a quiet stereo amplifier. use one of the speaker outputsto 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 levelinput). but you may want to use the mic level setting. I hookthel1irageuptooneoftheBspaakero4Jtp-utsonthahacltofmy amp. l‘1y speakers use the A outputs. If you don't havespare spedter outputs you will have to unplug one of yourspeakers when you are sampling. Then I select mono L+RoutputonmyampandA+Bspealoers. The mono setting is notmmdatory mid may not be desirable for samples of ‘stereoenhanced'matm'ial. |usetheA-I-B sattingso | Inheringthematerial the Mirage is going to sample. The main adymtageofgoingtlroughyotrsteree systemisthe tone controls.Don't cringe! Host good stereo systems have gwhicequalizers of some type (either built-in or add-on). You cmusetheeoualizertecutorhoostcertainfrequoncybandstoget a good sample. How what re we going to slrqole‘? Ho.not records. Host pre-recorded materials I"B protected withe copyright. If you use sanples of copyrigited material inproductions that rndte money. contact the owner of theCt$l‘yT"i§'lt BEFE you publish. Usualiy you cm get the rijitsto use the materials at NO COST! Be sire to explain jgmtjggenactlywhichsm1g.andhowmuchai-ldwliatpal-tefityou are using. If you modify the sanple sufficiently then it|JB1IDIfl85‘fULf]JF@IBFl.]FI'ld*fDtl|Jf'0b*fil‘ffiJl11l1B0dpermission to make money with it. D0 HOT smnple lyricsunless you want to pay for the right to use them! It's also agood idea to stay clear of recognizable melody lines. ‘whatdoes this leave us to sample for free‘? New material ismpearing all the time. Have you seen I<.erg's new SUD-2000sampling digital delay‘? Not interested? That's just becauseyou don't know about M__‘[AEE! Kerg packages a cassettetape with the SDD-2000. This tape contains I6? sounds on itthat you can sample into the Mirage! The tape is notcopyright protected! If the local Korg dealer won't sell youjust the tone. contact someone who owns a SUD-2000 andoffertetradesorneofyoursrrgulesforacopyoftha two. Ifound the percussion sounds and the voice sotnds to be themost interesting. There are four or five different voicesamples and fifteen or more percussion sounds. The tape alsocontains acoustic and electric drums. various bass samples.guitars. pianos. brass. etc. All) THAT'S HUT ALL! You alsoget barking dogs. lnooing cows. breaking glass. alarms.gunfire. etc. This is a REAL BARGAIN! Bet one! Another goodsource of samples is nattre records. Don't infill I've gottensome awesome samples from a recording of the songs of

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Iiultliback whales! Try looping sl‘uort sections of a naturalsound. The results you get caru be surprising! If you aremining non-cenumercial samples. try out some of the vs-ionsaouludeffectrecordsinyourfavnritarecerdstore.

‘lliluatduouttlue aling problem‘? lulihen you slruple gongs orother sounds with a lot of high frequencies you willoyerwlueImtI1esl'rq:lirugrataoftI'ue Mirage. 'w‘eu'ueed to raisethe sampling rate of the Mirage to handle really ‘crisp’ or'sl1I‘p'suoua1ds.Do|1'tgeoutI1dbu'ytl'ua$50.iZl'iTIirqput5I'l'lillll'l'fl filter. If you have a reel-to-reel with multiplespeeds.auIualspeedcassettedeu:k, or eturntuiule with aspeed adjustment you can live without the fancy filter andstill get better slnples than you can make otherwise. I havea dual speed cassette deck. For difficult sanples I recordthau'nal.33r'4ipa. 'wluen|'mreadytostau-ttheactualsulnpling session. I play the smuple into the Mirage at 1 ‘NB.This lowers the SITIIII by one octave. If the originalrecordedsouudcontairuedfreouuencyconupenentsupto20lfil-Ia.thenpleybackat l.l'2speedreu:IucestI'uatto ill Kl-Ia. This iswell with in the range of e plain vauilla Mirage. After you getagoodslnupleusepararrueter [B7ltoraisel.Iuesound up oneoctave. My turrutdule has a speed adjustment that allows meto slow the turntdula down by 33. Yours may allow you toslow it down even mere. Reducing the speed by I58 raisesyou.rafl'ective sI'ra:ulingba'udwidtI1by435 Hz. That may beeruoluduifyouuuuseyeurequalizerteredureevuvthingduoyel5Ki-la. (Pony equalizers have a I5 Ki-Ia slider!) Yes. this isreally a low-rent approach to the aliasing problem. But if itworks. noone will know! Remember. all people will her isthe 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 mininglong loops that don't click. pop. or waver. That's because sofl-Il'nvefouIudeu1lyoruewaytorruduelorugloepsthatworkproperly. You must lave access to Tl-IE SCIIIJ LAB software!ldiuhl. sayyeuhadto buyit! Justuseit. Trythis. Putadifficult-to—loop slrple on I diskette. put it in you pocket.Iudstrollintoyo\rEnsonit|dealer's showroom. AskforademoeftheSou.Iudtdusel'l.wa"e. lelhentlue selesrnuu is readyteloadasurupletosluowyouluoweasyitistonudtelouugloops. lmd him your diskette. if he hesitates. tell him tluatthe 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 auusergumuueraco-opeu-atiyewithetluer Mirage owners sudpurchase the softwre as a g~oqu.

Shre your sarrples with other people (like rn.e...l. But beforeyoudo.Ttl£YtI.IiSAl"PLES! You almosthavetobuyaguitar tuner [$15.00) if you want all your samples {factoryandhome-g'owu'uJtobe tuuruedtluesanue. Load the factorypimp sound and check the tuning of it. New tune all yourotluersmq:uIestotl1efactorypiuno.IfycuudotI'uisyouwillbeabetterpersonfou"it.Besuretoclueckthesau1uplesonSoundDisk ""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 forrnattaddiskettes.

2. You can use Sony single-sided. single density 3 H2"(microlleppyl diskettes in the Mirage for $2.00 to $3.00each.

3. Use your stereo system components wlan you makesamples.

4. Don't use samples of copyridut protected materials tomite money.

5. Bet Ililhfisluipped with the lterg SUB-2000. It has16? smnples on it.

6. Recordthematerialyouaregoingtesmnpleat a fast tapespeed md sample it at a lower tqoe mused. Thiseffectively doubles the sample rate of the Mirage.

7. lfyou.uu:lo|1'thavearruu.ulti-speedtqaerecou-deu".usathepitch control on your turntable to slow the material downbefore scnpling it.

B. Plau to borrow the Sound Ldu software or form a group"mud purchase it.

9. Getaguuita-tuuuorauudtuaueallyoursauuplestetluesaunepitch.

Duane Hing :i.s_ _an engineer currently working for SCISystems, Inc. in Huntsville, H1. Duane has grcgram—ing cxgcriencc in scucral languages and is grsscntlyygrEing_og_adding_ccggptgr control to his synthesizercollection. This article was hacked on his Mac.

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

\ MIFIFIGEDISK

HTTEMirage owners no longer need to buy expensive pre-lormatted disks. Let your Mirage format inexpensiveas-." blank diskettes for your sound and sequencestorage. This program will quickly pay icur itself. In-cluded is a back-up utility allowing you to copy anyMirage operating system from one disk to another.Send $39.95 for the THITDH DISK UTILITY.

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Page 6

DHTH 1 DISK HEUIEUSIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII

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 frequencyresponse, 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 lacksquality. Spacing a bit awkward. (Kick drum in themiddle of the keyboard?!)Sound 3 (Conga, timbale, clap, scratch, Hfricanpercussion) - Lacking quality again. Hfricanpercussion is just a continuation of the congawavesample. The scratch sound is repeated on otherdisks.THUMBS: DDUN

Uol. 2 - Strings and Uoice SoundsSound 1 {Solo violin, stacked strings) - Good, usefulsounds. The stacked strings have a good attack andthickness.Sound 2 {Synth strings, voice 1) — Like the old dayswith the synth strings. Remember all the poly synthswith the strings setting? {To me it sounded nothinglike strings — but I liked the sound.) The Uoicesound I love. Tomita-like breathy choir [bass-tenorrange).Sound 3 (Solo cello, voice 2) - Solo cello is a soloviolin spaced so it has an extra octave on thebottom. Uoice 2 has an extra octave on the top foralto range.THUMBS: UP. Data 1's best effort. Still room forimprovement.

Uol. 3 - Funk and Electronic Dance 1Sound 1 {Slap and pull bass, laser) — They shouldhave sampled the bass one octave down. Perfectexample of not multi-sampling and ruining a goodidea. Bass is good for only one octave. I don'tknow what the laser is good for unless you want toaccompany your own video game. Four octaves of onewavesample.Sound 2 [DK—? bass, rap, Star Mars) — Uery good DH—?sound. Dnly an octave and a half though. Zap is theshooting sound in the movie "Star Mars." Star Marsis the sound the Uookie makes. Good sounds if GeorgeLucas decides to call you up to do "Star Mars StrikesBack the Jedi - Part IU."Sound 3 (Scratch 1, clap, scratch 2, Star Mars 2,laser 2, zap 2) - Scratch and claps are repeats ofDisk 1. Star Uars, laser, & rap are repeats ofSounds 1 and 2.THUMBS: DDUN. Good slap bass and DK—T bass, but notworth getting unless George Lucas actually does callyou.

Uol. H - Piano Br an 1Sound 1 Tflock organi — Great {Deep Purple) Hammondsound. Lower sound is crunchy, dirty, grinding —classic Hermnond. The upper wavesample is too cleanand the last octave sounds nothing like a Hammond.

It should have been multi—sampled. The upper halfruined a great lower half sound.Sound 2 (Uox combo, pipe organ) — If you like voxcombo, you've got it. The pipe organ is a flutevoice register. Nice sound.Sound 3 {Electric piano} — If you miss those dayswhen you couldn't afford a great electric piano andhad to buy a Soundman Sears Special, this one's forou.

THUMBS: UP DH DDMN. See "Dvera11 Summary" at end.

Hal. 5 - Digital Synth 1Sound 1 {Funky bass, space bass) - Sounds like apreset 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 likefamaha CSSD brass {a little on the harmonica side).Sound S (Fat bass, sound track strings) — Synthesizerbass 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) - Moquality to it. The big brass is misleading - itsounds like a tuba and uses the whole upper half.Big brass to me is a whole horn section playing atthe same time. Listen to the Ensoniq disk.Sound 2 (Trombone, trumpet 1, trumpet 2, french horn2) - Flat.Sound 3 (Clarinet, french horn 3) — The clarinet is ajoke. It's not even in the same octave range [in thecellar) as a real clarinet.THUMBS: DUNN. This disk will make you cringe. Itsounds like one dull wavesample varied in differentoctaves.

Dverall Summary

ND effort or imagination in their samples. They lackin quality. Most sounds are flat [un—ED'd), notmulti-sampled [you get a good sound and than go upthe keyboard and start grimacing as the sound getsworse). Repeated sounds are very frustrating.

Their biggest downfalls are ND PHDBRHM UHHIHTIDNS, NDSEUUENEES, and vary few sounds use the ModulationWheel. These all tend to push the reviews down.

Uol. 2 and Uol. S seem to be the best disks. There'sstill room for improvement. They don't compare toEnsoniq's disks.

Sorry if this seems harsh. I'd like to hear fromanyone whose views differ. I still plan to beopenminded to Data 1's future disks ~ hopefully,they'll take my criticisms constructively.

Gordon D. B. Gebert played with David Johanson in1QBD, and in 1SB1-B2 was on tour with Mystigue. Heis an active studio musician and the creative centerthe G-fi group. He has folders full of originalmaterial ready to be turned into dividends for thestockholders of some farsighted record company.

Page T

CLQSS I F I EDSUSER 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 Mirageowners: Am interested in exchanging samples Etechnique. 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, ILSD12S. (312) B3&-3??B.

Hollywood Mirage Dwners User's Group. Hints andtechniques. Sound trading and demos. Meetings heldat Classic Sound Recording Studios. For info, callPatti (213) SB&—?S22.

Interested in contacting other Mira e owners in theDDetroit area. Joe Noeff, 1SSS3 Fairway, Livonia, MIAB1SA.

SAMPLES

Sound Parties for Mirage owners in LA area. Forinfo, 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 theBBERHEIM. Jay Quinlan, 213 15th Place, ManhattanBeach, CA BDEEB.

NANTED: A good sample of a DH-? electric piano withplenty of "metallic-bell" attack content! Alsowanted: a solo french horn sample. Mark Nyar, 1121Middle Ave., Elyria, DH AADSS.

SAMPLING? - Use S.D.S. If you own a sampling deviceor are into sampling in any form, you need S.D.S.S.D.S. cassettes contain dozens of sounds for ygg tosample. All sounds are professionally recorded onpro equipment than dubbed to high-quality chromecassettes. Best of all you can sample direct fromcassette deck to sampler, repeat the sound exactlyagain A again, a no additional instruments-devices-people are required. Mix outputs from two tapesplaying different segments for totally new anddifferent 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: Interestedin exchanging sounds? Call or write: Chris Dtt, EB?1Sy Rd., Niagara Falls, NY 1A3DA. (715) 73l—3?52.

I am interested in exchanging sounds by mail. I havea good size collection of user—created sounds. I am

also using an Apple II+ with Passport interface andsoftware (in case you would like to swap sequences orprograms). If you are interested, please send a listof your soundsfprograms to: Paul Mattioli, 11DS 2ndst.. #335, Encinitas, ca ezora. I will forward alist of my sounds and programs.

SERUICES

Don't have MASDS? Don't want to hassle witharranging your sounds to give you all the patches youneed for a whole song or set? I can custom designyour disks for your specific needs - a must for liveperformance. P. Nacker, A221 N Dunlap #250, Phoenix,AZ BEUZT.

EQUIPMENT

Mirage for sale (am getting rack-mount unit). UISUALEDITING SYSTEM for sale, along with AdvancedSampler's Package. Requires Apple II+ or IIE. Uiewand alter the waveform directly on the Apple screen.Makes loop selection fun instead of a burden. A mustfor quality looping and waveform clean-up. CallArthur Cronos at (A15) SSB—????.

ANNUUNCEMENTS

Anyone having a C—SAfC-12B, modem, Passportinterface, and the new Sonic Editor from SDNICACCESS, and who wants to upload and download soundsto your disk drive, call Tom at (BB3) 3SS—159?.

Nould you void your warranty for 512k of RAM at aprojected cost of $3DD-SADD (US)? Ne are developinga memory expansion for the Mirage that would allowfor instant (one-button keystroke) access to A upperand A lower patches. It would be a hacker's kitwhich would involve installing a circuit board (easy)and attaching S or S wires to the existing Miragecircuit board (relatively easy for someone with HSlevel electronics knowledge or any service or repairtechnician). However, before we get involved in thesetup for manufacturing we would like to get someidea 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 considersuch letters as reservations for the final product ifit is viable. Please write to: MIRAGE UPGRADES, ZDDAFernwood 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 forexchanging or selling your sampled sounds on Mirage-readable disks. Additional words, or ads for otherproducts or services, are 1S cents per word. (Unlessrenewed, 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 limitationsof the Mirage data entry system. Not only is workingwith one parameter at a time awkward, it's easy tolose track of which wavesample number, upper or lowerprogram number, and parameter number that you'remanipulating. There is a simple reason for theinstrument having a one-parameter entry system -cost. A major expense in manufacturing any sort ofelectronic equipment is the labor needed to installand connect panel controls. If you can afford anApple IIeXinter—facefUisual Editing System (HES) orMacintoshfinter-facefSound Lab package, you can alterthe various sound parameters with the computerkeyboard, paddles, or mouse. However, I'm notconvinced that these techniques are the final word inMirage programming.

Computers are attractive for programming parametersbecause they can display much more information at agiven 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. Nomore wiping out a wavesample because you thought youwere working on another one! Note that I am notreferring to another HES, just a computer utility forprogramming purposes. This utility can use MIDIbecause the MASDS MIDI implementation provides accessto programs, wavesamples, and parameters. Therefore,instead of creating a system based upon requiring theuser to purchase yet another incompatible interfacefor his or her computer, the user can rely on theirpresent MIDI card.

The data entry problem has not been circumvented justyet. The status displays are much improved, butbetter input techniques are possible. Instead of theupfdown buttons on the Mirage, the utility could usekeys on the computer keyboard. That really isn'tmuch different, though. Nhat about a joystick?Joysticks were not designed to deal with numericaldata input and can be quite cumbersome. Perhaps thebest data entry system would be a rotary or slidepotentiometer. The UES uses game paddles, but theywere designed for other purposes and are notsufficient for this application.

How about a special peripheral that plugs into ajoystick port and consists of one rotary pot of thetype found on many types of‘ audio equipment? Nithindicator marks, the peripheral gives both visual andtactile feedback in addition to what is displayed onthe computer screen. That way the user doen't haveto look up at the computer screen every time aparameter is altered. It would be nice to haveupfdown buttons as well for vernier control of wideerange parameters and for onfoff functions. Thisspecial peripheral consists of an inexpensivepotentiometer, two switches, a cord, and a joystick

plug. The whole item could be packaged with theprogramming software, increasing the price a littlebut increasing data entry ease a great deal.

The issues of data entry ergonomics and statusdisplays have been addressed, but the system is stillhindered by working with one parameter at a time.This is where the "page" system as used by somesynthesizers can be applied. Assume that thespecialized peripheral bundled with the software hasfive eats of potentiometers and switches instead ofthe original set of one. Now, instead of calling upa specific parameter on the computer keyboard, theuser calls up a specific page of related parameters.Imagine using an amplitude envelope page thatconsists of parameters SD through SA: attack, peak,decay, sustain, and release. Nith your data entryperipheral sitting in your lap, you can adjust thosefive parameters interactively until you get theenvelope just right. Having parameters that interacton the same page could save a lot of programmingtime!

By applying the page system further, I came up withan idea for a stand—alone peripheral that doesn't usea computer. Nhat if the data entry board could beplugged into the Mirage external computer port? Inaddition to the five sets of potentiometers andswitches, the peripheral would need LEDs for each setto display which parameter was assigned to thatparticular set. It would be desirable to have LEDsfor each set to display the numerical parameter valuein addition to the position indication of the knob.LEDs for page number, upperflower program number, andcurrent wavesample would be desirable as well.Because this peripheral would be in the programmer'shand, the LEDs need not be the large type as in theMirage panel display. Perhaps the use of smallerLEDs would reduce the power requirements to the pointthat it could be supplied by the external computerport. Df course, software is needed to drive thisperipheral. Maybe a special version of the operatingsystem would need to be loaded into the Mirage muchlike MASDS is loaded. If possible, an easier methodwould be for the peripheral to have a chip thatcontains the programming for its functions. The realexpense in this item would be the software: thepotentiometers, switches, case, cable, and connectorwould cost only several dollars. I believe that aproduct like this could list for as low as $1DD,depending upon software costs.

Getting back to the computer viewpoint, consider themain reason for the UES or Sound Lab. Nhy do we wishto view waveforms? To locate loop points, of course.Instead of using a display system, the programmingsoftware could include an automatic loop pointlocator that matches value and even slope of thewaveform. To reduce the burden on the computer, theuser would specify a strict range of pages to beexamined for the loop points. A program with acombination of page programming and computer-assisted loop point setting (even if it didn'tdisplay the waveform directly) would be a powerfultool.

Page 9

There remains the ever—present problem of thecomputer for which to develop this programmingutilityfperipheral package. The Apple Ile withPassport interface is considered a standard by some,hut the product would reach more users if it wascompatible with more computers and interfaces. Dneobvious choice is the Commodore BA - it's inexpensiveand there is a Passport interface (and many others)for it. However, the SA is limited in memorycompared to other systems. Another possibility is todevelop the programming software for the Commodore12B in its 125k mode. Most SA users could keep theirpresent interfaces and peripherals and upgrade by thepurchase of just the actual computer. The 12B in12Bk mode is roughly equivalent to a IIe, but withbetter graphics and a faster microprocessor. Dnelast computer to consider is the new Atari ST. Ithas a built~in MIDI interface, and the completepackage of computer, disk drive, and monochromemonitor is $BDD.

I hope that I've brought some good ideas to lighthere and welcome suggestions and discussion. Perhapssome user out there who is more of a programmer couldaddress some of the questions put forth. I amespecially intrigued by the thought of a stand—alonepage peripheral that plugs into the Mirage. It couldmake many of us more effective, faster soundprogrammers.

Nalter Daniel may have studied Aeronautics andAstronautics at MIT: but he did minor in music (ahumanities concentration . He is resentl a

graduate student and hockey_goalie at Georgia Tech.Dne of these days he is going to finish ~ really — anindegendent recording.

MlFIAGE* OWNERSExpand your voice library with

new sound diskettes from

@é]‘Tfl 1|V0L. IIinlrns and Fsraussion I-ovlifilIncludes conventions! and electronicdrum sounds, plus digita! ravsrbsnare and toms. Percussion soundsInclude conga. timbala. Alrican par-cussion and mars. I25.-DD

VOL. llString and ‘Folios lotinti IIncludes a variety oi solo and stackedstring and voice sounds IIESJEIII

VOL. IllFunk and Electric llama IIncludes slap and puil pass. flit? bass.scratch. zap. iaz-or and mush more.

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VOL. WHAND. UIIGAH IIncludes electric piano. vox combo.pips organ and roux organ. Si"S.IiIJ

\i'OL. VDigital 8|-nlti IInclude-s sound track strings. Iunkybass. space bass. and hriuristicsynth sounds. assoc

VOL. VIHorn Sounds!Includes big brass. trumpet. Ironi-oone. bari sax. French horn andclarinet. S25.IJIJ

Send check or money order to:@é]T¢f.i 1]

129 Squire Drive, Melbourne. Florida 32935{3D5)254~65U9

2nd day air shipping included in price. Foreign orders add$5.00. C.-D.D. orders add $5.00 {U.S.A. only). Send $5.0-D fordemo cassette. Contact DATA 1 tor an updated list ofSflllfld EIISHS. ' Mirage is s trademark of Ensoniq Corporation.

THE INTERFACEDear Hacker,

Each issue of the newsletter gets better and better.I would like to see more detailed and informedcoverage of MIDI - and not merely MIDI in general,but MIDI and the Mirage, including, perhaps, thepublication of user—written programs.

I was particularly pleased to see an article byEnsoniq Midwest District Sales Manager Tom Darlingand hope that you can encourage other Ensoniqemloyees to put pen to paper in the form oftutorials such as his. I would be particularlyinterested in hearing directly from the individualEnsoniq employees responsible for the factory disks.[Ed. — so would I]. How did they get their soundsand their loops down - the inside story. Forexample, how did they get such a smooth acousticpiano tone across the entire Mirage keyboard? Is ita real harp on disk #1D or some syntheticfsampledhybrid? How were the demo sequences produced — withthe Mirage sequencer or with something comparable toPassport's MIDI B+; who played andfor realized thesesequences?

Still further, I would be interested in knowingwhich, if any, of these sounds were actualy created(ie, sampled, trimmed, looped, etc,) on the Mirageitself. My suspicion is that none of them were, orat the most, very few. Rather, I believe that sounddisks #1 - #1D were "made" on a larger system - onewith sophisticated signal processing software — withsoftware capable of spectral analysis, energytracings, full visual editing, auto looping,algorithmic splicing, etc., and then downloaded tothe Mirage to merely set the "performance"parameters.

Along these same lines, I am surprised by the factthat the Ensoniq sound disks are not accompanied with"patch" sheets which fully document their settings.The only three patch sheets which the companypublishes are those which accompany the MASDS disk inthe very end of the Advanced Samp1er's Guide. Dosuch patch sheets exist? Dbviously, one could takethe next month off and transcribe them by hand.However, it sure would be preferable for the sheetscontaining all the settings for sound disks §1 — §1Dto be made available for publication in the Hacker.

Page 1D

I must say I am skeptical about getting any printoutsfrom Ensoniq, though. I am doubtful, in particular,because of the fact that there is not a singleprinting feature included in the Mirage visualEditor. Nhat this indicates to me is that, even inthe most advanced software that the company makesavailable, Ensoniq sees no need for the user gettinga hardcopy of his work. I see this too, not only asa serious omission in the visual Editor, but also asthe reflection of a serious misunderstanding abouthow an individual - both novice and expert - proceedsto learn a new system. They must have assumed thatall we "professional" musicians care about is gettinga good sounding oboe from the store and "playing"with it — rather than understanding what makes thisspecific sampledfsynthetic hybrid with this specificset of parameter values, a fairly convincing pseudo-oboe in a wide range of musical contexts. I wouldlike to think that they are wrong and that the depthof the questions which continue to appear in theHacker, and the quality of the newsletter itself, forthat matter, are some indication to them.

As regards the problem of getting printouts from thevisual Editor, I have added lines to the code, but tono avail. My system is fairly standard: Apple IIe,Epson MXBD printer, PKASD EP 12-BDf1DD printerinterface (Revision S 1BB2), and the Passport MIDIinterface Card Type I. Perhaps, you, or one of yourreaders (perhaps John D. Senior, himself) haveexperienced similar frustration and come up with asolution which could be passed along to similarlyaggravated owners of the visual Editor.

Dn another note, my local dealer told me a few thingswhich I would like confirmed and elaborated upon ifpossible: (1), that Ensoniq is marketing its ownDisk Formatter: (2), that the 19BS Mirage will be 12dB quieter: and (3), that there will be aninexpensive 12 dB mod for the older units as well.Nhat exactly is the mod, how will it work, and whichnoise (ie, aliasing, quantizing, radio, outputpreamp, etc.) will it he removing?

This whole issue brings to mind another question:Nhat is the actual signal-to—noise ratio of theMirage? For that matter, what are the true specs ofthe instrument - compared to the Emulator II let'ssay? Here's why I ask. The machine is noisy — whyelse the 12—dB mod? Tet on page S3 in the ASG we aretold 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 dBquieter than the signal, making it virtuallyinaudible." Do these two figures sound ascontradictory to you as they do to me? Perhaps inHai1stone's A-track studio, S2 dB signal~to—noiseratio is "inaudible:" it was certainly inaudible inthe combination bus stationfmusic store where Ibought my Mirage. However, it is far from "virtuallyinaudible" when I record direct to my SDNT PCM F1,or, for that matter, when I record on my portablecassette deck! Nhat's the story?

Sure, the Ensoniq disks are very quiet, (much betterthan S2 dB signal-to—noise on them no doubt) butthis, I suspect, is, as I stated above, due to thefact that they were "made" elsewhere, not on the

Mirage, as ours generally are. And another thing, Idon't quite understand how the "S-bit floating—pointsystem" in the Mirage can have a higher dynamic rangethan a 15-bit PCM F1.

In regard to the instrument's specs, another seemingcontradiction has to do with the "fixed" setting ofthe output filter. Dn page SD of the ASG we are toldthat there is a 1S-kHz limit on the output. Bn page2D that the max filter frequency (71) is 1E kHz.Nhich is it? It also occurs to me, particularly as Iwas 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 outputfrequency, why bother sampling at a rate any fasterthan 32 kHz? Before I buy I will wait for you toclear up this apparent contradiction.

Another thing I am curious about is the specificupgrades which have taken place in the variousversions of the operating system. In the Hacker youhave mentioned a few things here and there. Thereare also some tips in the ASG. However, would it bepossible to put together, in one article say, anoverview on the changes which have taken place andwhy? If one can assume that these operating systemrevisions are updates, it might prove useful to knowwhat exactly is being improved and what exactly isbeing changed.

Df all the letters to appear in the Hacker so far, Iwas most impressed by Dick Lord's in Issue §A. Nhatis Ensoniq's response to his request for an upgradeto the operating system which would allow thespecifications of arbitrary tuning systems? He hasmy vote! Also, have they looked into enhancing theirmix mode feature (as he suggested) to allow for themixing of envelopes and other parameters as well aswavesample pairs? A further extension of the mixmode feature which would interest me greatly, wouldallow the user to mix, either via the mod wheel orkey velocity, any number of wavesamples - not justtwo. This would provide the opportunity for a widerange of "remarkably subtle" to "stunningly bold"timbre modulations. Nhat does Ensoniq think aboutimplementing such a feature? Is it possible?

Nhat about portamento, the speed controlled by mixwheel or key velocity? Nhat about an arpeggiator? Ibelieve the Emu II has both these features. DoesEnsoniq plan on incorporating either or both of thesetwo "standard" synthesizer functions in near futureoperating systems? If not, what's the reason?

I look forward to receiving the future issues of thenewsletter and, in particular, your and Ensoniq'sresponse to the questions, suggestions, and issueswhich I have raised in this letter.

Anxiously,

Dr. Richard Boulanger1B?? Deer StreetSomerset, Massachusetts D2?2?

[Ed. - As you probably already noticed, yourquestions regarding the Ensoniq formatter and the

Page 11

various improvements to the Mirage were covered inthe last issue. Readers may be interested in knowingthat we've arranged to have Dr. Boulanger conduct anphone interview with Ensoniq's sample wizard(s). Neshould be able to share the results of this in afuture issue. Regarding the noise specs for theMirage — check out Ensoniq's response to the letterfrom R. D. villwock elsewhere in this issue.Meanwhile, Ensoniq's response to some of your otherpoints follows.]

[Ensoniq's response — The correct spec for themaximum setting of the output filter should be 15kHz. The 15 kHz is a misprint. The spec for thedynamic range is determined by the B bits of sampleinformation and the S bits of volume information.Together these give 15 bits worth of outputinformation, or approximately SS,DDD possible levels— 12D dB. The upgrade is to reduce the noise in theoutput circuitry. The S/N of the amplifier circuits(referenced to the output of the DXA converter) isnow about TD dB. Nhat the Input Sampling Filter buysyou is a much sharper ro1l—off at the highfrequencies - approximately 1DD dB per octave. Thisallows you to capture more of the highs in the sourcewhile still eliminating the frequencies that wouldgenerate aliasing noise.)

Dear Sir,

I have learned more from your informative letter thanfrom the information provided in the in the advancedoner's manual. I think an article on graftingsounds together like Ensoniq did on disk #9 would bevery useful for everyone to know.

I think the Mirage is a great device, I only wish itwere constructed better. I had a key that wouldn'ttrigger any sound properly until I got a disk with alater operating system on it. I am now starting tohave a problem with the volume control. There isn'ta decent service center in Illinois so all I can sois keep my fingers crossed and hope that an evenlater operating system will get the bugs out of mymachine.

Thank you.

Richard F. BirdPD Box 593A?Chicago, IL SDSSB

(Ed. ~ next issue we should have an updated list ofservice centers.)

Dear Mr. T. Hacker,

Just got issue number S — first one I've seen and I'mdelighted. You know they should include aninstruction course with every purchase but this isstill more help than I expected to find.

Two quick beginner questions:

1) Some things in issue #5 suggest that voicequality (in the Mirage library) may be due to adefective disk. Does that mean that the click

Page

points (audible loop points) and noise heard aroundsome of the sounds, making them barely bearable(piano, human voices, flutes and others), may, infact, not have to be endured?

2) Is the setting of the Input Sampling Filteranother matter of painstaking trial and error, or canyou offer a guide to approaching it? It'd seem thatit couldn't just be set to the frequency of thesample (or a bit above) because of overtones. But,obviously, it's not meant to be left open or itwouldn't be there. I presume it's a trade—offbetween sound quality and noise level. Nhen wouldyou leave it open?

If you know of any other New Yorkers that are intocommunicating about Mirages, I'd appreciate theirnames and numbers (and as you pointed out — not haveto bother you with questions).

Thanks a lot,

Mark FriedmanA2D E 1Dth St., #ARENew York, NY TDDDB

[Ed. - SDME of the click points and noise may becaused by a bad disk. In other cases, like thestrings, that's the way it is. The best thing to dois to get a listen on another copy of the same sound.Regarding the filter: Ensoniq recommends (as a ruleof thumb in the ASE) that the filter be set to onequarter the sample rate, and the sample rate be setto as high as possible and still leave enough sampletime (ifsample rate) to capture the whole sound. Dfcourse, when you start juggling memory allocation andgetting good loop points, etc., you may have todeviate from this. Then it is just trial and errorand subjective judgement on high~frequency contentversus noise.)

Dear Mr. Hailstone,

I have enjoyed your articles in the Transoniq Hacker.In issue #5 you indicated that you were playing theMirage from a Roland guitar synthesizer. I use aRoland GH—?D? guitar and GR—?DD synthesizer to drivemy rack-mount Mirage. I agree that the results aretruly amazing. However, I am having trouble figuringout how to get some of the version 3 operating systemupdates to work with the Roland. Nhile MIDI FunctionEnable (BA) works, I can't see any advantages inusing it. Changing sounds from the Mirage keypad isa lot easier and faster.

Have you had any success getting LFD Modulator Source(TB), Mix Modulator Source (TS), After TouchModulation Depth (BB), or, most importantly, LocalDnffiff (3D) to work? I tried various combinations ofMirage Controller Numbers D-B with the GR»?DD StringSelector Switches and the Roland foot pedals andguitar 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 notsound notes from the guitar so that the GR—?DD can beplayed along with the sequence?

Since the rack unit unit does not have a foot pedalcontrol, any ideas on starting and stopping thesequencer from the Roland?

Have you been able to get any of the Rolandcontrollers (foot pedals, guitar switches) to affectMirage operations?

Dther than using a volume Pedal, any ideas on cuttingthe Mirage onfoff during live performance?

Is there a way to simulate the Mirage Mod Nheel fromthe Roland?

Thanks in advance for any help you can give me.

Ron LemosNest Covina, CA

(Erick Hailstone - Although in the past I have usedthe GR-?DD with a Mirage, I don't actually own oneand have not had an opportunity to connect the twowith the latest software. Concerning your point onthe MIDI Function Enable (BA), you are right - thekeypad is easier, but if you're several feet away,this remote function is certainly e good choice tohave. The GR-?DD does not send aftertouchinformation and modulation is only on or off (novariable intensity). This may be the source of someof your mismatches. The Local DnfDff is a featurethat makes sense if you want to disable the keyboardon the keyboard Mirage. The function is duplicatedin the rack-mount because it uses the same disks andtherefore the same operating system(s). I don't knowof any way to start or stop the Mirage sequencer fromthe GR-TDD. As far as cutting the Mirage onfoffduring live performances, you could: simply changeMIDI channels, or use a MIDI foot switch (J. L Cooperfor one) which just shorts out the MIDI cable, or usea foot switch to short out the audio output of theMirage, or just use an AXB box to switch its outputto "nowhere." Hope this helps some.]

Dear Editors:

Nhen I bought my Mirage I also purchased a PassportMIDI interface for my Apple IIe, and the MIDIKB Plussupporting software. My dealer didn't stock theseitems, so I bought them sight unseen. They wereshipped to my dealer who, being BD miles away, thanshipped them to me. Nhen the software arrived Iencountered Passport's inexplicable backup policy:the disk is copy—protected. You are entitled to abackup disk but you don't get it until you returnyour warranty registration card. And guess what? Mydisk wouldn't boot. I needed this system for a job Iwas working on. Frantic calls to Passport broughtlittle help. They'd never heard of such a thinghappening, but if I were to return my disk they'dexamine it and send me a working version. I calledmy dealer, He called Passport and finally got themto 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 usedHIS card to get me a working copy of a disk I'dalready paid plenty for.

The second disk arrived and guess what? It didn'tboot either. More calls to Passport who now said,"Dh yes, that's how a disk behaves when it'sdamaged." -- seems like they HAD heard of such athing before. More hassles led to a third diskarriving which, glory be. actually worked. I usedthe software very skittishly until many, many weekslater my backup disk arrived. It, too, worked. TheMIDIZB Plus system seems to perform as advertised, nocomplaints. But there are lessons in this story forcomputerists, novice or pro:

A) Never buy anything without seeing it (the actualunit you're buying) in operation first.

B) Run, don't walk, to your nearest micro club andget some hacker to figure out how to back up yoursoftware. This is not piracy but protection of yourinvestment. '

C) Don't count on the manufacturer for help,understanding, or even an apology.

Sincerely yours,

Jim HockenhullI.Plane AssociatesPullman, NA

[Ed. — Sheeeshi]

Dear Hacker,

First, I want to congratulate you on becoming anindispensable part of Mirage ownership. You providethe necessary information regarding software updatesand applications that Ensoniq would be hard-pressedto deliver on a monthly basis.

I would like your advice on two applications of theMirage concerning the triggering of a sample:

1) I own a LinnDrum which unfortunately doesn't haveMIDI capability. I would like to be able to triggera wavesample (i.e. snaredrum) from the Mirage byprogramming the performance in the Linn and taking atrigger out to the Mirage. I believe it is possibleto program the actual sample performance in theMirage sequencer, and use the Linn as an externalclock source. If I did this, what clock pulse doesthe Mirage want to see? The Linn has a clock rateselectable in degrees of 2A, AB, and B5. If I startup the Linn, will the Mirage start in sync? It isquite frustrating to be able to sample at such a highdegree, and not be able to access that sample thisway for mixdowns!

2) Say I purchase a MIDI drum machine, and use itssync code to control both my Linn and the Mirage.Nould it be possible to trigger a wavesample viaMIDI? Nould I be able to control which of thesixteen wavesample s in memory was triggered? Iwould appreciate step-by—step procedures in setting

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this Up!I could purchase the Horg SDDEDDD sampling/delay, orthe Akai, and accomplish this via their triggerinputs, but it seems senseless to purchase anothersampler that isn't nearly as good as the Mirage!

Again, thanks for all the useful information.

Sincerely, 'Peter BlissNew York, NY

[Clark's response — In answer to question one, itshould be possible to sync the Mirage sequencer tothe LinnDrum sync output. Theoretically, the clockrate of the Linn shouldn't matter, as the Mirage iscapable of analyzing the clock rate at its input andsetting itself accordingly. The Mirage should startplayback when you hit "play" on the Linn (you mayhave to first hit "play" on the Mirage) and the twoshould be in sync providing the Mirage part wasoriginally recorded in time with the Linn, and syncedto the Linn. I doubt that this is what you want,though — it would be just as easy to play the Miragepart "live" during a tape over-dub. Nhat you want, Ithink, is a device that will allow a particularsample from the Mirage to be triggered from the slaveoutput of the Linn. The only one I know of (whichdoesn't mean that there aren't others) is the RolandDctapad system. This is a set of B drum pads in abox. Nhen a pad is struck, a MIDI signal is sent toyour slave device (in this case, the Mirage) and anote is fired accordingly. There are controls on theDctapads to allow you to select which note of theMirage corresponds to each pad of the Dctapad set.Also included are six quarter—inch inputs on the backof the system, into which you could plug six outputsfrom the Linn. These will allow you to select whichMirage sounds are triggered by which Linn sounds, andwill also track dynamics. The system lists for about$555.

Dne other possibility might be to use something likeJ.L.Cooper's Cv to MIDI box. This is a small boxwith inputs for control voltage and gate signals(such as are found on many analog synthesizers) and aMIDI output. You would need to convert the snareoutput of your Linn to a gate—type signal — a squarewave which rises from zero to something like 1Dvolts, probably . This shouldn't be too difficult todo - consult your local technician. Applying thesnare—controlled gate signal to the input ofJ.L.Cooper's device should cause a note of the Mirageto fire. The next step is to control which notefires. This is achieved by applying a voltage to theinput of the Cooper box, in the range of D to Svolts. D volts should correspond to the lowest noteon the Mirage, and 5 volts to the highest. Notesin—between can be selected by varying the inputvoltage: 1 volt should get you the "C" one octaveabove 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 mightbe ideal for this type of control. Used ones cangenerally 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 viaMIDI. Se aware, however, that you won't have a heckof a lot of control over which wavesample, unless youre—arrange _which wavesamples correspond to whichMirage keys. The drum machine sends a signal overMIDI with each drum sound usually corresponding toone key on the Mirage. However, be aware that notall MIDI drum machines will sync your Linn. In anycase, remember the first commandment fortechno-consumers: Try Before You Buy!

Dear Sirs,

I'd like to hear about any Mirage User Groups nearYugoslavia (Italy, Austria, or Nest Germany). Also,are there any official Ensoniq representatives nearhere?

Also, maybe you can help to clear up this problem:I've heard about some sort of warranty reply card. Idid not get anything of the sort with my Mirage. Mydealer "knows nothing" about that (my Mirage wasbought in Munich).

Best wishes in 'BS.

Sincerely,

Andrija PusicJozef Stefan InstituteEA, Jamova 3SS1DDD LjubljanaYugoslavia

[Ed. — Hopefully, some of our European readers willcontact you regarding the user group. Ne haveseveral readers in the area (although you're the onlyone in Yugoslavia), but we haven't heard of any usergroups yet. Ensoniq response to your warranty cardproblem and question concerning representativesfollows.]

[Ensoniq's response — Bur European distribution ishandled fairly independently » but, there SHDULD be awarranty card. Please contact Ensoniq Europe, SS AvEDE STALINGRAD, BIDDD, BRUSSELLS, BELGIUM.]

Dear Sirs,

As an extremely excited new Mirage owner, I aminsatiably hungry for every piece of information onthis machine I can get. Nhile our local dealer issupportive there aren't many units in our area yet.I'm working in a vacuum.

The potential of this instrument is astounding. Bothmusically and technologically it seems to inspirecreativity.

Do you know of anyone working on an outboard RAM—diskfor sound storage. How about a vES for the Amiga?It could be outstanding. Maybe a 2D—Meg hard diskinterface? Ne could go on forever.

Page 1A

How about sounds? The factory sounds are great - butI want more. My sampled sounds are ok but notperfect yet. I'm waiting for the UE5 - Applesoftware to arrive. Maybe that'll help. (I've gotthe Input Filter.)

Dur group down here would love to build the HHM-disk.Got any names of tech people at Ensoniq forinformation? The pin out in your Issue #3 is notenough. Does Ensoniq openly support soft andhardware developers? Is there a developmentflicensepackage available? Any info would be appreciated.

I'll be anxiously awaiting your reply.

Until then,

Burton whiskerHigh Point, North Carolina

[Ed. - So far, all we've heard about the various"wish" items you mentioned are rumors - nothingconcrete yet. The arrival of your HES will probablymake a dramatic difference in your sampled sounds.Ensoniq's generally been pretty good aboutsecond-party type developers. You should alsocontact the people who have offered technical supportin our "Mirage Net." There's also an announcementfrom a Canadian group elsewhere in this issueregarding memory expansion for the Mirage - check itout. Ensoniq's response follows.]

[Ensoniq's response - Dur technical staff doesn'thave much time to devote to helping outsidedevelopers - we're pretty busy on our ownimprovements and developments! But, we'll be happyto supply technical data and schematics on the Mirageto those who sign our standard non-disclosureagreement.]

Dear Hackers,

I'm really amazed to see how popular a "wish list"item an expanded sequencer has become for many ofyour readers. Dbviously, any significant increase inthe sequencer capacity would involve acorrespondingly significant increase in memory size,and if Ensoniq eventually does make such a majorchange, wouldn't "you all" rather see that extramemory for something important to sampling?

The marketplace abounds with low to moderately pricedsequencers for MIDI data, but, the same certainlycannot be said about multi-samplers. Instead ofadding "bells and whistles" to the Mirage, wouldn'tyou like to have 12-bit sampling resolution and 2U to3D seconds of full bandwidth sampling time? Howabout 1E polyphonic voices and full BB-note responsewhen driven from a HRH-1UUD or a Kl-BB?

Isn't anyone out there interested in an improvedsignal-to-noise ratio? The quantization noise alone{for an B-bit, linear system like the Mirage] can beno lower than one part [1f2 LSB} in 25¢ of themaximum recorded level. Therefore, the best possiblesignal-to-noise ratio, SIN, is no more than a verymarginal HE dB. Every added bit could theoretically

improve the SIN by another E dB and this makes awell-designed 12-bit system inherently capable ofproviding a ?2 dB SIM. Still not exactly EopactDisk quality, BUT, a lot closer!

Now, I realize that Ensoniq SHTS they use a "floatingpoint" encoding system, but to derive any benefitfrom such a technique, each stored sample point wouldhave to include its own unique EXPDNEMT as well asthe B-bit NHNTISSH that's being stored. Hs far as Ican see, the only "exponent" part of the Mirage'salleged floating point encoding scheme is ostensiblyprovided by the various volume control mechanisms.To imply that this somehow magically improves the SINis somewhat akin to saying that the performance ofany low-S/N audio system can be improved if you canraise and lower the playback volume!

Admittedly. the Fact that the wavesample volumeenvelope essentially multiplies the stored mantissaof each sample point by a potentially different value(assuming the envelope contour isn't just an organgate], DUES provide some semblance of a "floatingpoint" behavior. But to imply that the Mirage isanything at all like a 15-bit resolution system ispure fantasy! Besides, any improvement resultingfrom envelope dynamics will enhance a 12-bit systemby the same mechanism. Unless some undisclosed,"secret" form of companding is utilized, it seems tome that the Mirage is simply an B-bit system withless than &B dB SIN.

Bf course I realize that increasing the sampleresolution from B to 12 bits involves more than justincreasing memory size, however, 12-bit HID and DIRconverters are no longer prohibitively expensive, andmemory is getting almost "dirt cheap." Note that thenew Prophet 2UUD uses 12-bit sample encoding HND hasa 255k wavesample memory. It's not clear to me yetwhether this is supposed to be 255k bytes or 255k,12-bit words, but in either case it means both moreresolution HNU longer sampling time than the12Bk-byte Mirage.

Eome on Ensoniq, the Mirage was a fantasticbreakthrough and still is an amazing product, butwhat are you going to do for an encore? May Isuggest:

1} 15 seconds {or more} of 12-bit wavesample storageat full audio playback bandwidth.

2) 1E [or more) polyphonic voices and full BB-noteresponse for the Hack Wount unit {I don't think youneed to make one with a keyboard).

3) The ability to have 32 (or more} samples spreadacross the keyboard.

t) 5D or more super high-quality factory sounds ofthings that are the toughest to do - good, oldfashioned acoustic instruments.

5] H price tag [still] under $2DDD.

That's MY "wish list" and an admirable challenge for

Page 15

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Rates for Authors: 4 centsfword upon acceptance.

Transoniq Hacker, 504? SW 26th Dr., Portland, DR D7201.{sue} 245-nae.

an innovative company.

H. D. UillwockGlendora, CH

[Ed. - Glad to hear some challenging "wishs" andcomments. I think Ensoniq's feelings toward thesequencer pretty much agree with yours. Una of theirpeople has mentioned to us that it was really justintended as sort of a "scratch-pad" kind of tool, andwasn't meant to be a major feature. Uf course, asyou mentioned, memory is getting cheaper, and ifthere's a strong demand for this sort of thing - whynot both (larger sampling and sequencer memories]? Afew general observations — I think everyone willagree that more bits will always convey moreinformation (Law of The Universe fllfi]. The "problem"in any high—tech field these days is that by the timeyou're done with the design there's HLMHYE better andcheaper sub-parts available than what you startedwith. ?ou're just about always "obsolete" in somesense by the time you ship your first unit. Ht somepoint, marketing will generally yell at Engineering"ETDP HLREHDY — we have to get something out the dooror we all die!" So you ship and, if you're a companythat's going to be around for awhile, Engineeringstarts working on "the way we should have done it inthe first place." [If only we knew!) I think we'llall know better what type of company Ensoniq's going

BULK HATEU.5. FDSTAGE

PHDPDHTLAHD, DHPEHMIT ND. Q13

IJITTED MATERIALTIME VALUE

Transoniq Hacker is the independent user's newsletter forthe Ensoniq Mirage. Transoniq Hacker is not affiliated inany way with Ensoniq Corp. Ensoniq and Mirage s.reregistered trademarks of the Ensoniq Corp. Opinionsexpressed are those of the authors and do not necessarilyreflect 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 commentsfollow.]

[Ensoniq's response - he don't deny that 12 bits willbe better than B (and that 15 will be better than12}. No argument. Uur diddling with the volume ismore of the nature of comressing the signal - thisdoes improve SIN ratios and is not the same as"raising and lowering a volume control." To betterclarify the Nirage's noise specs: the 52 dB in theHEB is a misprint. (Sorry about that.) The actuallimit on sampling noise is £8 db (as you mentioned}.The remainder of the system has a SIN ratio ofapproximately TU dB {after the recent 12 dB mod} -referenced to the signal from the DfH.]