#  | ### The Instrument Editor

### Surfing the Waves

Now let's look at all the different parts of Jaytrax in detail. We'll start with the instrument editor. You get there from the main window (The song editor) by pressing the Inst-Edit button. To create a new instrument you can press the 'New Instr' Button. It creates a new instrument and selects it. If you're not happy with it press the 'Delete Instr' button, but remember that you can't delete the last instrument, you always need at least one. If you delete an instrument which is used in your song somewhere you will be warned. With the 'Save Instr' button you can save your instrument on harddisk. The 'Load Instr' loads a previously saved instrument in a new slot (Thus: it doesn't overwrite the current instrument you're working on). The graphic display on the right side of the screen displays any of the 16 available waves. You can browse through these waves by clicking the '-' or the '+' button right of the text 'Waveform' underneath the display. You can also click on the box with the current waveform nr in it to directly type a waveform number. All buttons on the instrument edit screen work similarly in this respect. Note that the display also switches to another waveform when you select any option somewhere involving the choice of a waveform. The display will then show the waveform you have selected. Under the waveform display you see a grid of numerous buttons. All these buttons interact with the currently displayed waveform in one way or the other. First of all, just above the array of buttons there's a little dropdown box labeled 'Presets'. Under it are, as the name cleverly suggests, some standard waveform presets tugged away. If you select one, the currently selected waveform is replaced by the selected preset. Gliding form the left to the right we see a button called 'Downsample'. This function stretches the left part of the waveform to the complete size. This typically results in the waveform sounding an octave lower (since in effect we doubled the wavelength). Next to it we find the 'Upsample' button which does the exact opposite, it squashes the waveform into half it's size and copies it right next to it. This has the effect of doubling the octave (since the wavelength is halved). 'Flip X' flips the wave around it's imaginairy vertical axis and 'Flip-Y' around it's horizontal axis. 'Scroll Left' scrolls the wave to the left where the bits which scroll of on the left are added on the right. 'Scroll Right' does the same but in the opposite direction. 'Louder' enlarges the amplitude of the waveform by a few percent. If the wave is too large the result is clipped by the upper- and bottom border. 'Softer' decreases the amplitude of the waveform. 'Scroll Up' scrolls the wave up (With the bits falling off on the top added to the bottom) and 'Scroll Down' does the exact same but in the opposite direction. 'Smooth' removes all the hard jaggy edges of the waveform. This results in a waveform which not only looks smoother but sounds more smooth as well. 'Noise' adds random distortions to the wave giving it a more rough edge. 'Copy' copies the wave into a temporary buffer and 'Paste' copies it back into the selected waveform. Last but not least we have a 'Load' button which loads any previously saved waves from Harddisk. The 'Save' button saves the waveform data to harddisk.

### Volume and Frequency Control

Please note that while you're creating an instrument you can hear it by typing the keys on the keyboard. The keys on the keyboard map to the keys of a piano. The Q-key is the equivalent of the C-note and the I-key is the C-note too but one octave higher. The same goes for the Z-key upto and untill the '<'-key. Function keys F1-F8 select at which octave the keyboard is mapped. If you have a MIDI device attached you can use that too of course! The dropdown box on the top of the window let's you select one of the instruments you have created or loaded. With the 'Rename' button next to it you can rename the current selected instrument. Note that this is not the name with which you save it to disk but it is the name with which it is known in the program. The Timbre section let's you set which waveform is ultimately heared. You can have 5 waveforms added up, distorted and manipulated but eventually the end result should be in one wave only. The wave you will hear is the wave you select in the 'waveform' box and this is the waveform which will be send to the mixer. The used wavelength can be altered right underneath in the 'wavelength' box. A standard waveform is 256 samples big. If you select a smaller wavelength you can raise the octave by a factor 2 to 5. Underneath are a couple of parameters which influence the volume of the instrument. First of all there's the 'Master Volume' which decides how loud the perceived volume will be in contrast to the other instruments. The master volume ranges from 0 (silence) to 255 (full volume). The reason why a lot of parameters range from non-expected values like 0-255 instead of the more understandable 0-100% is that we've choosen not to transform any of the internally used values. Projecting the full range of 256 distinct values to 100 values would be a loss of granularity and would result in strange rounding errors. Next under the master volume is the 'AM wave' selection box. Here you select the wave which will decide the course of the volume through time. If you select 0 the volume won't be modulated and it will only sound at the specified master volume. The 'AM spd' selects how fast the volume wave will be traversed. The 'AM-looppoint' specifies where, if the end of the wave is reached, at which position it will pick up again. If you for instance specify 0 as AM looppoint the volume modulation will repeat if the end of the wave was reached. If you specify 255 the wave will continue looping on the end and sustain the last value from the wave. The 'Pan wave' selects which waveform controls the stereo-panning over time. The 'Pan spd' controls with what speed and the 'Pan looppoint' is similar to the AM looppoint. Then next section has to do with the control over the frequency of the instrument. The 'Finetune' tunes the sound ever so slightly. This option is usefull to tune the instrument in respect to other sounds or in respect to external equipment. 'FM wave' selects which waveform will modulate the frequency. If you select 0 you disable this option. The 'FM spd' and the 'FM looppoint' work similar like their AM counterparts. The 'FM delay' selects after how much time the frequency modulation will commence. For some effects this is usefull like when you want want for instance to incorporate a little vibrato effect on your instrument but you want to let it start after some time. Last but not least underneath we have the arpeggio section. With the main 'Arpeggio' selector you can select which arpeggio you attach to the sound. An arpeggio is a rapid succesion of notes. The notes are specified as relative values to the played base note. In the example as seen in the figure we see the values 0, 3, 7 and 12. Given that you played a C-7 note, because of the arpeggio data you will hear the notes C-7, D#7, G-7 and C-8 in rapid succesion. Other note values can be edited in the available 16 arpeggio-slots. Please note that the arpeggio data's are NOT saved per instrument since they are shared by all instruments, hence the arpeggio data is saved when you save the song. Instead of using waveforms you can also use Samples. Samples are basically the same thing as waveforms with the difference that they can be substantially larger. Samples are usefull if you want to use sounds which can't be synthesized by Jaytrax. Examples of these sounds are drums/percussions/speech etc etc… Note that if you use samples, you can't use the special effects on them. The special effects are especially designed for the small waveforms and not for bulkdata like samples. The AM/ FM and Pan modulation does work however. To import a sample go to the sample editor. If a sample is currently attached to an instrument it's name will be visible in the namefield just above the 'Delete Sample' button. This button removes the sample from memory and re-enables the waveform output. This can also be done from the sample editor.

###

Attaching the Special-FX

Playing a static waveform doesn't give much depth to the sound so in Jaytrax you can dynamically change the waveform over time. Each instrument can have 4 of these effects simultaneously. Choosing which one of those four you will be altering can be done with the 'Effect nr' selector. Typically all the effects consist of 1 or more input waves and an output wave. A wavemixing effect for instance would consist of 2 input waves which will be mixed into 1 output wave. A noise generator effect would only require a destination wave. The input wave is called the source wave and the outputwave is called the dest wave(short for destination wave). Selecting which wave(s) are source and which one is the destination can be done in the 'Source Wave 1', 'Source Wave 2' and 'Dest Wave' selection boxes. After setting the in- and output waves you can select which kind of effect should be performed on the input wave(s) by selecting one from the 'Effect Type' dropdown list. For precise descriptions of every available effects read the next chapter. The effect selector is also the 'on-off'-switch of the effects. If there is no effect selected there is no wave manipulation performed, but if you select an effect it will be executed every time you play the instrument. Note that some of the effects are more processor-time draining than others, to get insight in these figures look at the 'processor overhead' meter in the Song editor. Some of the effects have configurable parameters. If an effect doesn't have them the parameters are named 'Not Used' and they are disabled, if an effect does have parameters they are named appropiately and enabled. If you would for instance select 'Filter' for effect the 2 parameters are called 'Center Freq.' And 'BandWidth'. The first parameter sets the center frequency of the digital filter and the BandWidth selects how many frequencies will be passed through around that frequency. The 2 'O' buttons just before the parameters are a selection switch deciding which one of the parameters will be oscillated. If the 'O' button is pressed that parameter will be oscillated if an oscillation wave is selected. The wave which oscillates this parameter can be selected in the 'Oscillation Wave' selection box. The speed of the oscillation can be set in the 'Oscillation Spd' box. The 'Effect Speed' box sets the speed of the effect if this is applicable for the selected effect. Last but not least there is the 'Reset effect on noteplay' switch which decides if the internal effect variables should be reset if a new note is played or if the effect should be independend and continuous. Same goes for the 'Reset wave on noteplay' switch which is located under the waveform display. For every wave you can set this switch. If it is set, the contents of the wave are reset everytime a note is played. This is usefull if the effects have changed the waveforms and need to be re-initialized to their initial form so the sound is always the same. Beware of setting this switch on waves which don't need re-initting since it can cause annoying clicks. To give an example: If you have an effect which mixes wave 3 and 2 to wave 1 and that's the wave you are hearing, you typically don't want to re-init waveform 1 everytime you play a note since it is generated anyway by mixing wave 2 & 3. Please note that while you are creating instruments and you want to reset the sound you can press the spacebar. This will re-initialize all the sound channels from Jaytrax and mute everything. This way you are sure to hear exactly the sound you are creating.

### The Effect-List

Which effect does what and which of the parameters are interesting? Following is a short list of the available effects and a brief description of what they do.

Effect name: | A desciption of what the effect does.
NONE | This effect does nothing and is used to disable the effects.
NEGATE | This effect flips the dest waveform one sample at a time. The 'Effect Speed' selects with with speed. This effect can be used to emulate a blockwave with a dynamically changing pulsewidth. This effect has no parameters. The 2 source waves and the oscillation waves are not used.
SWEEP | Sweep is an effect which transforms the destination wave by adding a sloped wave to it. This effect sounds like the waveform is being teared all over the frequency spectrum. The speed with which the transformation takes place is set with the 'Effect Speed'. There are no parameters and the source and oscillator waves have no effect.
AVERAGER | The averager-effect averages the wave and by doing so makes the sound more smooth. This effect is usefull to emulate the damping of a string of a guitar for instance. The highest frequencys damp the quickest, the lowest the slowest. 'Source Wave 1' is the wave which will be dampened into 'Dest Wave'. The 'Effect Speed' selects how fast the dampening will be done. Speeds greater than 12 don't have any effect anymore since it would cost too much processor time. There are no parameters and the oscillation wave has no effect.
WAVEMIX | The wavemix effect mixes the 'Source Wave 1' and the 'Source Wave 2' into the 'Dest Wave'. After mixing the waves the second source wave is offset a bit so the mixing of the wave is dynamic. The speed with which this offset changes can be set in the 'Effect Speed'. There are no parameters to be set and the oscillation wave has no effect.
FILTER | This effect is the digital equivalent of a bandpass filter. A filter filters out unwanted frequencies out of a sound. A bandpass filter only passes through a window of frequencies. The filter has 2 parameters: The center frequency and the bandwidth. The center frequency is the middle of the window and the bandwidth is the width of the window. The oscillation wave can oscillate both the frequency and the bandwidth. 'Source Wave 1' is the wave to be filtered and the result will be put in 'Dest Wave'. The 'Effect Speed' has no effect.
FILTWHISTLE | The filtwhistle effect is a variation of the previous filter effect. The filter formula has been adapted a bit so that the filter has become unstable and can also resonate some frequencys. This sound can be wanted in modern dance songs giving sounds a rough edge. See for a description the filter effect.
MORPH | The morph effect gradually changes 'Source Wave 1' into 'Source Wave 2'. The result of this morph is placed into 'Dest Wave'. The 'Morph Amount' parameter specifies how far the morphing process is in progress. This value can be oscillated using the 'Oscillation Wave' to make an automatic morph. The 'Effect Speed' doesn't do anything but if the 'Morph Amount' parameter is oscillated the 'Oscillation Spd' will specify the speed of the morph.
DYNAMORPH | The Dynamorph is a variation on the previous morph effect. Again the 'Source Wave 1' and 'Source Wave 2' can be morphed into one another but this time they do it over the length of the wave. The left of the 'Dest Wave' could resemble the first wave and the right resemble the second. The placing of where in the destination wave 'Source Wave 1' starts is set in the parameter: 'Morph Offset'. Again this value can be oscillated with the 'Oscillation Wave'.
DISTORTION | The distortion effect amplifies a waveform to such an extent that it wouldn't fit in the waveform diaply anymore. Everything which doesn't fit anymore, reflects and this way remains in the display. The amount of the amplification can be set in the 'Dist. Value' parameter. This parameter can be oscillated via the 'Oscillation Wave'. The 'Effect Speed' has no effect on the effect.
SCROLL LEFT | The scroll left effect moves the waveform to the left and every bit which falls of on the left side is added on the right. This effect has no audible effect but it can be usefull if the wavelength is smaller than the full 256. If this is the case it can give a constantly changing sound. The source and oscillation waves are not used and the 'Effect Speed' has no effect.
UPSAMPLE | The upsample effect doubles the wave every time a time interval elapses, resulting in a doubled frequency (or one octave higher). The time interval is defined with the 'Time Interval' parameter. If the parameter is set to 0 the effect is constant. The effect upsamples the 'Source Wave 1' into the 'Dest Wave'. The 'Effect Speed' has no effect here. The 'Oscillation Wave' could be used to oscillate the 'Time Interval' parameter.
CLIPPER | The clipper effect is reminiscent of the distortion effect. The waveform is amplified to such an extent that it wouldn't fit in the waveform display anymore. Everything which doesn't fit anymore is clipped to the upper and lower boundarys. The amount of the amplification can be set in the 'Dist. Value' parameter. This parameter can be oscillated via the 'Oscillation Wave'. The 'Effect Speed' has no effect on the effect.
LOWPASS | This effect is the digital equivalent of a lowpass filter. A filter filters out unwanted frequencies out of a sound. A lowpass filter only passes through frequencies lower than the cut-off frequency. The filter has 2 parameters: The 'Cut-Off Freq' and 'Resonance'. The cut-off frequency is the frequency which is the highest frequency which will be passed through. The resonance is a special parameter which specifies the amount of resonance given to the frequencys passing around the cut-off frequency. The low-pass filter is often used in housemusic to make synthetic bass sounds. The oscillation wave can oscillate both the cut-off frequency and the resonance. 'Source Wave 1' is the wave to be filtered and the result will be put in 'Dest Wave'. The 'Effect Speed' has no effect.
HIGHPASS | This effect is the digital equivalent of a highpass filter. A filter filters out unwanted frequencies out of a sound. A highpass filter only passes through frequencies higher frequency than the cut-off frequency. The filter has 2 parameters: The 'Cut-Off Freq' and 'Resonance'. The cut-off frequency is the frequency which is the lowest which will be passed through. The resonance is a special parameter which specifies the amount of resonance given to the frequencys passing around the cut-off frequency. The oscillation wave can oscillate both the cut-off frequency and the resonance. 'Source Wave 1' is the wave to be filtered and the result will be put in 'Dest Wave'. The 'Effect Speed' has no effect.
BANDPASS | This effect is the digital equivalent of a bandpass filter. A filter filters out unwanted frequencies out of a sound. The bandpass filter only passes through frequencies between two frequencies. The difference between this bandpassfilter and the effect called 'filter' which is also a bandpass filter is that here the width of the filter is fixed but you can specify the resonance as like the previous 2 filters. The filter has 2 parameters: The 'Center Freq' and 'Resonance'. The center frequency is the frequency around which frequencies are passed through. The resonance is a special parameter which specifies the amount of resonance given to the frequencys passing around the center frequency. The oscillation wave can oscillate both the cut-off frequency and the resonance. 'Source Wave 1' is the wave to be filtered and the result will be put in 'Dest Wave'. The 'Effect Speed' has no effect.
METALNOISE | The metal noise effect generates a noise wave at the 'Dest Wave'. This sound resembles white noise when played at low frequencies and has a metallic ring to it at higher frequencies. There are no additional parameters. The source and oscillation waves also have no effect nor does the 'Effect Speed'.
SQUASH | The Squash effect can squash and stretch an waveform in the horizontal direction resulting in a change in frequencie. Since the wave 'loops', the resulting sound won't smoothly change in frequency but has audible side-effects which can be wanted. The amount of stretching can be set with the 2 parameters. The 'Fine Squash' parameter can finely tune the amount of the squash-effect. The 'Coarse Squash' parameter tunes the squash amount too but more intense. The 'Oscillation Wave' can oscillate either parameter with the speed set in the 'Oscillation Spd'. The 'Effect Speed' has no effect.

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