Release Note: May 95 ****************************** AudioCalc¿ ***************************** Version 1.05 Professional Audio Calculator for Atari ST, TT and Falcon Computers ½1993-95 Hinton Instruments ***************************************************************************** [All manufacturers' Trade Marks are acknowledged] This DEMONSTRATION VERSION is Public Domain and may be freely distributed PROVIDED that the program and this file are kept together and that neither are edited in any way. AudioCalc will run on any ST series computer with monochrome Hi-Res monitor or TT or Falcon030 with either a mono-ST, SVGA or multisync monitor. It will also run on Mega ST(e)s with graphics cards and/or larger/colour monitors and/or virtual screens. ST: Mono Hi-Res, (+ OverScan ST), (+ Bigscreen) STE: Mono Hi-Res, (+ Bigscreen) TT: Mono & Colour Hi-Res, OverScan TT Falcon: Mono ST, 2/4/16/256 Colour Falcon, (+ ScreenBlaster), (+ BlowUp) AudioCalc 1.05 will now run on any Macintosh from the IIx onwards (68030 or 68040) under MagiCMac under System 7.5.1. A native Macintosh version is under development. The demonstration version will only run as a PROGRAM with only two calculators enabled, but the full version will also run as a Desktop Accessory. AudioCalc takes only the necessary memory to perform its function and does not use any ports, so apart from low or medium resolution screens there are no restrictions across the Atari range of computers. In high resolution colour modes "3D" features are provided, but otherwise the functionality is identical. NVDI is highly recommended for all applications (period). If you don't have NVDI your screen drawing is slower than it need be. Version 2.5 is available for all machines from System Solutions at œ49-95 (in the UK). On starting AudioCalc, a small window will appear with four controls: Closer - standard gadget button - quits program (so does Control-Q) Mover Bar - park the window at a convenient screen position Info - Information button (also Control-I) Calculate - Pop Up Menu activator There are five Calculators available by selecting from the Pop Up Menu covering different fields of professional audio engineering: SOUND - Propagation delay, distance and fundamental frequency (open pipe / closed pipe / standing wave) of sound in free air v. temperature. Stereo imaging delay. Doppler frequency shifts v. relative speed. PA applications: Delay line settings for multiple speaker systems. Studio applications: realistic special effects for video & film. TAPE - Varispeed, play time, tape length, pitch change and harmonise ratios. Graphic display of tuning error. Studio applications: all time variant re-tuning & editing. Also useful for tapeless recording. MUSIC - Tempo, multiple note times, time signature, bar length, time and offset v. time, timecode or feet/frames. Time addition & subtraction in mixed formats. Studio applications: all musical timing, delays & echoes and time fitting & adjustment to tape, video or film. ANALOG - Decibel conversions for peak to peak and rms levels v. waveform, operating level and impedance. dBu, dBV or dBm. Tape flux reference calculations in nWb/mý. Studio applications: tape machine lineup. Workshop applications: measurement and headroom in lines, power amplifier and transformer systems. DIGITAL - Storage size and snr v. Sample rate, format, word size and time. Studio & Workshop applications: media capacity, audio & bit clock bandwidth. Each Calculator takes the form of a mini-spreadsheet in a "Flying" Dialog Box which may be repositioned by dragging its dog-eared corner Mover (hold CNTRL + SHIFT for transparency). If sufficient entries are provided the remaining values are filled in by clicking on the Calculate button or typing Return or Enter. This works for all valid combinations. === The SOUND Calculator === The Sound Calculator is straightforward and is really four associated calculators having the speed of sound in air at a given temperature in common. The Temperature must be specified for all of these calculations. If too many or too few entries are made a warning will be given. The top section performs delay and stereo delay calculations and is also connected with the Resonance section in the middle. Entering any one of either Distance, Delay, Fundamental or Overtone will obtain the other three and if Angle and "Ears" are also specified the Stereo Delay is also filled in. The latter is NOT a reversible calculation and is a non-editable display. Pressing HELP will display a diagram showing the relationship of these quantities. The Distance input may be any number in the range .0001 metres to 99999 metres which will probably cater for most situations. If Distance is the result of the calculation it will be shown as four significant digits with a scientific multiplier ( k, m, æ, etc.). The same principle applies to the other entries. Although simple, this calculator will be indispensible for setting up and adjusting delay settings for multiple array public address system, especially large open air venues which are set up in hot days, but used by the main act after dark when the temperature has dropped significantly. For larger distances (room size and greater) the stereo delay will be small in comparision to the (mean) distance delay and a stereo imaging effect may be achieved using one delay of this value. For close proximity imaging (e.g. an insect buzzing around your head) two delays are required: the distance delay plus AND minus half the stereo delay. Resonance is calculated as the half wavelength frequency and the Overtone series may be selected with the radio buttons for Odd Harmonics (closed pipe) or Odd & Even Harmonics (open pipe / standing waves). The square numbered radio buttons select that OVERTONE number giving the harmonic number 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13 for Odd or 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 for Odd & Even. The lower half performs Doppler frequency shift calculations. Any pair will give the other two, again Temperature must be specified. The Velocity of the moving object is relative to the observer and instantaneous. A sound source moving directly at and beyond an observer will have a constant pitch rise as it approaches and a constant pitch fall as it recedes. A sound source that passes at a distance will alter in a curve as the relative velocity changes, at the closest point the relative velocity will be zero. Complex motion paths and accelerations are beyond the scope of this calculator, but realistic sound effects may be achieved by breaking a movement into a series of "snapshot" approximations. The other calculators are more complex, especially the Music Calculator, but the general principle is always that if enough information is provided as many related quantities as possible are computed and filled in. Each calculation uses exactly the numbers seen to a high precision and the results are rounded on display to the form that they would normally be used in. If units are changed there may be a rounding error so don't keep toggling radio buttons as this may not be exactly reversible. Most entries may be cleared/reset by clicking on the Clear button or typing ClrHome or Alt+C, but useful defaults will remain. Clear only removes the results of the last calculation, leaving the input entries, on the first use after a calculation. Pressing Clear again will remove all fields. Every individual entry may still be cleared with Esc in the normal way. If there is a small "Lock" button next to an entry it will be protected from bulk clearing when the Lock is selected. The Calculator is closed by clicking on the Exit button or typing Alt+X, numeric values are not lost and will still be present when next opened. Normal GEM conventions are obeyed: Esc, Backspace, Delete and the Cursor keys all operate in the normal way, but there are also enhancements to improve use: Clicking within a numeric entry positions the cursor exactly, rather than just at the end. Shift + Cursor Left/Right moves to either end of the editable field. GEM Clipboard Cut and Paste commands are implemented: ^X, ^C, ^V (& ^Y). Buttons with an underlined character have a keyboard shortcut. Hold the Alternate key and type the shown character to get the same result as clicking on that button with the mouse. Most numeric entries are free format, the decimal point is not in a fixed place (only one is allowed) so the following are all valid in a 5 digit field: 0____, .0001, 99999, 0.5__, 38.77, etc. If the variable is signed a minus sign or optional plus sign is accepted as the first character. Each entry will only accept legal characters so it is not possible to enter meaningless combinations. Entering time and bar position values use an often misunderstood feature of GEM: the separator symbols (those that remain after clearing) may be used to advance to the next section. (Filenames, Times and Dates usually work like this in most programs.) E.g. a cleared time entry may look like: __:__:__.____ for hh:mm:ss and milliseconds To type in a new entry of 5.6 seconds you might type: 0 0 0 0 0 5 6 giving: 00:00:05.6__ but it is faster to type: : : 0 5 . 6 (ignore the spaces shown for clarity) and the display will show: : :05.6___ or even: . Backspace 5 6 giving: : : 5.6___ (note the subtle difference) N.B. for Time entries the place of each digit is significant, for foot'frames or bar/beat/clock/click it is not. e.g. 1:1 :1_.____ is taken as 1 hour, 10 minutes, 10 seconds 1 :01:01.____ is taken as 10 hours, 1 minute, 1 second Spaces may also be entered into a time to move to the right. As soon as a time is used it will be redisplayed in full so that there is no doubt about its interpretation. Experiment to get the feel of it. If you start editing a number with Backspace and Delete the digits to the right of the cursor will shift along. Sometimes it is easier to type ESC first to clear the entry. Again experiment to see how it works. If a number is mistyped or corrupted an Alert box will warn of the nature of the error. The Alerts are also "Flying" and so may be moved or made transparent to inspect entries underneath them. Bars are notated as either Bars/Beats/Steps or Bars/Beats/Quantisation/Steps and all numbers normally start at one so that 1/1/1 or 1/1/1/1 is exactly the start of a song. Steps are a selectable fine resolution defined in pulses per quarter note and selected from the mini popup menu titled Beat Format. The optional Quantisation is a coarse resolution between Beats and Steps and will be familiar to Creator/Notator users. Quantisation and a further user definable resolution are set by selecting B/B/Q... on the popup menu which will invoke a dialog box for full customisation. The B/B/Q/S box also has settings for counting from zero for matching those sequencers that display steps in this fashion. Warnings are given if you attempt the impossible, a quantisation level cannot be coarser than half the time signature beat. AudioCalc conforms to the correct operation for Atari GEM Applications and Accessories as may be demonstrated by running from the standard Desktop. If you have customised your colour palette the dialog boxes may appear garish or unreadable. AudioCalc assumes the standard GEM palette and uses Black, White, Light Grey, Dark Grey, Yellow and Red. Use the XCONTROL Colour CPX to adjust to taste. AudioCalc has been developed to provide the most useful day to day utilities commonly required in an audio engineering environment. Features that would be of limited use or would increase the memory requirements have been avoided. AudioCalc is intended to be used in conjunction with a sequencer, audio editing or multi-media application. Further entries or calculators may be provided as future upgrades, so useful suggestions will be considered. --------------------------- ADVERTISEMENT ---------------------------- Hinton Instruments also manufacture a range of professional quality devices for MIDI Distribution and Automation Control. Full customisation is available. MIDIX¿ - Large MIDI Routing Matrices with MIDI Recall¿ 10 x 10 up to 140 x 140. MIDIY¿ - Triple Input MIDI Merger. Dual Two Input MIDI Merger. MIDIZ¿ - Dual Long Haul Converter 1km range with optical isolation over normal XLR cabling. MIDIC¿ - MIDI Data Processor and RS232 Interface. MIDIP¿ - 32 Channel Control Voltage Converter VCA+¿ - Balanced I/O amplifier for level, panning and surround sound automation. For further details please call and discuss your requirements.