Subject: Re: [linux-audio-dev] Reverse-engineering files
From: Paul Winkler (slinkp23_AT_yahoo.com)
Date: Thu Nov 30 2000 - 22:50:06 EET
Jay Ts wrote:
> My intention here is not to complain, but to point out that in the
> future, I'm expecting synths and other music electronics to be increasingly
> computer-enabled.
Me too. I'm surprised at the current state of samplers on the market.
AFAIK *every* sampler currently sold takes only SIMM memory, which is
hard to find except used, and it's overpriced.
Likewise I'm amazed how many samplers come with floppy drives
considering that internal Zip drives now retail for what, $100 or
less?
Some samplers are starting to use flash cards instead, which gives you
more storage but less portability (at least right now).
> In the meantime, we're dealing with the intermediate, not-quite-there-yet
> products, and that's just life on the leading edge, as far as I can figure it.
Yes, and compromising based on your budget. I looked at every sampler
on the market and the SU seemed like the best deal for under $1000 for
working with loops.
(Not counting the under-$400 Zoom SampleTrak which was tempting but
has a more limited interface.)
> > And I don't suppose anyone has the time or inclination to help me
> > figure out the last bits of the file format?
>
> I'm way too busy and don't have one of the units, but maybe I can
> waste some of your time with suggestions... ;)
>
> > There's about 10 bytes of the header that I have no idea what they do,
>
> Interesting. If they are checksumming, you could be SOL if you can't
> figure out how the sum is computed.
Yerps, I hope not.
> >From what you wrote here, I'm not sure what kind of working functionality
> you have.
I can read samples from the SU, though I need to do some more testing
to make sure I'm getting it exactly right.
I can write samples that the SU can read about half the time. The
other half of the time it just gives an error. And when it works, the
sample takes up all available memory until I use the SU's "trim"
function, after which it takes up the expected amount of memory. So
maybe one of the mystery parts of the header tells the SU how much
memory to allocate.
> If you have the ability to use some kind of software to
> create floppies that the unit can read, starting from your own sounds,
> then try creating incredibly simple "sounds", like a single sample.
> Then use different values of that sample, and see how the file changes.
> Then go on to a 2-sample square wave, or something like that.
>
> But of course you probably tried that already, right?
No, but you're right that this is probably what I should do next.
--
................. paul winkler ..................
slinkP arts: music, sound, illustration, design, etc.
web page: http://www.slinkp.com
A member of ARMS: http://www.reacharms.com
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