CV Notes - tool to somehow help coding notes

[newcoleco]

CV Notes v0.2.1 (date : 2009-02-26)

 

WIN32 : cvnotes021_win32.zip

JAR : cvnotes021_jar.zip

SRC : cvnotes021_src.zip (written with Jabaco, http://www.jabaco.org )

 

DESCRIPTION :

It's not a music composer utility, it's something you can use to quickly get codes for notes or simple sound effect without frequency swept.

 

FOR YOUR PROJECT? :

Because it's based on Coleco BIOS sound format, this tool can be used for any project that uses the Coleco BIOS sound routines, that include Hi-Tech C projects using LIB4K and the new kit under SDCC I'm trying to do since Feb-2009.

 

INTERFACE (GUI) :

I think the GUI is intuitive enough to be publish already, but the program is not done yet. It's a first attempt and works almost perfectly already... so I decided to share it with you. Adjust the sliders and click on one of the buttons to hear the resulting note or effect. And if you think it sounds just fine for your project, copy the codes from the text box at the bottom.

 

LANGUAGE :

This tool is written in Java, with a VisualBASIC syntax, based on a devkit called Jabaco.

 

ARCHIVE :

You can use the JAR file ( to be run under a Java Virtual-Machine ) or the EXE file ( an executable for Windows only ).

 

COMMENT :

Tell me first if you can run this application on your computer.

Edited February 26, 2009 by newcoleco

[youki]

Hi Daniel!

 

C'est Genial!

 

It works well on my machine. No problem.

 

It would be really great if you can add on option that if active , each time you press a note button it add data just after existing one.

and add a "replay all" button.

 

It will be a very usefull simple music composer with that function!.

 

That's exactly the kind of tool i need!.

 

Again thanks so much!

[Pixelboy]

I downloaded it, and I'll have a look at it real soon for sure!

 

Thanks Daniel!

[newcoleco]

***

NOTE TO ALL THE USERS OF THIS TOOL (for version 0.2.0)

***

 

The resulting encoding note is somehow optimized, but an expert can make the notes encoding smaller and find tricks to play two notes by using the frequency swept encoding. Also, the muted part, the silence encoding, is not the purpose of this tool, so you will need a few extra work to compose a music with this tool only.

 

It works well on my machine. No problem.

 

It would be really great if you can add on option that if active , each time you press a note button it add data just after existing one.

and add a "replay all" button.

 

It will be a very usefull simple music composer with that function!.

 

That's exactly the kind of tool i need!.

I'm glad that it works for you. For the suggestion of a sequencer, or simple music composer, I will not work on this aspect at this moment. But, you can use the source code to try making one by yourself and share the result to the other coleco homebrewers.

I downloaded it, and I'll have a look at it real soon for sure!

Meanwhile, I did a new version, more complete with the missing two other tone channels and the missing unsupported extreme long notes with a too short sustain period.

I know that you wanted to make a music composer tool, so if this source code can help you, go ahead.

[newcoleco]

Bug find in version 0.2.0 (fixed in version 0.2.1) : Wrong note encoding (too short resulting note) when the 1st volume is low, 2nd volume is high, sustain is low and duration is high. It's a problem of logic somewhere, when juggling with the values to make them Coleco format friendly. Error of logic, now corrected.

Edited February 26, 2009 by newcoleco

[+5-11under]

Hi Daniel,

 

This looks like a good tool, especially with the bass and white noise, because that is more difficult to imagine in my head.

 

I've been playing with the 021 version, and comparing to your documentation for C Programming (specifically Marcel's Sound Data Format section). I haven't tried it in a program yet, but I found some things I don't understand:

 

- How to get beyond the "3F" delay range for longer notes, without stringing up several "3F"s.

- The "5X" code

- The difference between the "40" code and the "42" code.

 

Bottom line is, do you have more documentation on Marcel's sound format than is in your programming guide?

 

Any chance of getting the frequency sweep added? That aspect is even more difficult to "visualize".

 

Thanks,

5-11under

[newcoleco]

Hello 5-11under,

 

This tool is not based on Marcel de Kogel sound format... specially because his format is not appropriate for encoding BASS notes. I'm not saying that you can't use the result for a project using Marcel's sound format, but you will certainly have difficulties to do so.

 

This tool is strickly based on the Coleco BIOS sound format.

 

- How to get beyond the "3F" delay range for longer notes, without stringing up several "3F"s.

In Coleco sound format, each note code can be as long as 256 ( duration = 00 ). Only a silence code can't be longer than 1F, and only 1E for channel 3. But, an expert of Coleco sound format will use sometimes a muted note instead of multiple silence note codes.

 

For the Marcel's sound format, simply use many times 3F to complete the silence you need.

 

- The "5X" code

In Coleco sound format, 50 is TONE#1 END, 58 is TONE#1 REPEAT. That's it.

In Marcel's sound format, 5X means nothing at all.

 

- The difference between the "40" code and the "42" code.

In Coleco sound format, 40 is TONE#1 simple note followed by 3 bytes with volume freq and duration codes in them, 42 is TONE#1 volume swept note followed by 5 bytes where there extra bytes are telling how change the volume during this note.

 

In Marcel's sound format (which again is not the encoding using with this tool) 4X is the code for a frequency swept effect to apply to the following notes.

 

Bottom line is, do you have more documentation on Marcel's sound format than is in your programming guide?

Sorry, there is no more Marcel's sound format information except those from my documentation. I did this document based on my discussions with Marcel de Kogel himself and with deduction based on my understanding of the source code of his sound routines.

 

Any chance of getting the frequency sweep added? That aspect is even more difficult to "visualize".

My intention first here is to encode quickly a note, or at least make a suggestion, just by doing a click instead of looking back to the documentation where one page is telling you about how to encode the sounds and the other page telling you which code to use for this or this frequency.

 

I don't know how to add frequency swept possibility without denaturated the notes. How clicking on, for example, C3 will still means playing C3 if we apply a frequency swept on it, and a frequency swept to which other frequency? Maybe a frequency swept from a previous note can be done, I don't know.

 

Also, the source code of this tool is complexe enough... adding a frequency swept may be too complexe at the moment.

[+5-11under]

Hi Daniel,

 

It looks like I'll be using the Coleco format. It looks more intuitive and powerful.

 

I see you've posted some information: http://www.atariage.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=138776

 

And this, which looks to require some massaging and editing of the data before being able to be used: http://www.geocities.com/newcoleco/soundbank/os7_en.html

Youki, you might be able to use this, with a bit of work, to sequence the sounds.

 

Thanks,

5-11under

[newcoleco]

And this, which looks to require some massaging and editing of the data before being able to be used: http://www.geocities.com/newcoleco/soundbank/os7_en.html

ah yes, my os7 sound bank... and it's what I'm using inside this simple tool. Jabaco can handle JAR files and this sound bank applet is a JAR file; I'm just using the classes I need to play generated sound tables instead of using the interface that load and play sound files. Jabaco is also great to make interface and make them run like I was programming in VB6 again. So, this devkit is the best of two worlds for me.