8-bit Software (c) Duncan Webster April 1992 
    Issue 19 (c) Duncan Webster 3rd April 1992 
     
    SOUND SAMPLING ARTICLE 
    (Chris Richardson) 
     
    I have been using the latest Micro User sound sampler on my Master for 
    a couple of months now.  For absolutely ages I had been trying to 
    obtain a sound sampler, Diluk Dias of TYB fame told me one time that 
    there was a plan for one in an old Micro User.  I spent ages trying to 
    track this article down, I sent a cry of help through these columns, 
    no reply. I rang the Micro User, they only have back issues for the 
    last few months they reckoned.   
     
    I rang absolutely everywhere.  Watford electronics were extremely 
    helpful, one bloke there spent ages sorting through old mags, but it 
    was all to no avail.  Finally in total desparation I Rang Mike Cook at 
    the Micro User.  He was really helpful.  As I was explaining to him 
    what I was after he laughed.  First of all the mag I had been looking 
    for was the wrong one, but secondly, he had apparently literally just 
    finished writing the article that was going to be published in the 
    Micro User concerning the new sampler.  He sent me copies of the 
    origional sample circuit diagram and the new one as well.  I examined 
    these diagrams and made a large number of phone calls to electronics 
    shops around where I live.  There was only one bloke who seemed to be 
    anything like ready to help so I popped down to see him.  
     
    After much scratching of heads and great deliberations we decided 
    that, as I am not at all experienced in electronics, with the outlay 
    involved and the extreme likelyhood of expensive foul ups, it was 
    probably a more sound (sorry) option to go for the ready made sampler 
    offer.  When the bloke in the shop looked at the circuit diagrams, he 
    reckoned that the origional sampler may be better than the new one, I 
    am not qualified to comment on that, but I think that the latest 
    sampler was built with compatability in mind.  So I waited for the 
    article to come out in the Micro User.  Off went the cheque in the 
    post, back came a little package in the post.  
     
    I mounted the board in a small plastic box.  There are 2 small jack 
    plug sockets for mike and CD input, the CD input cuts out the mike. 
    There is a DIN socket for connecting the supplied lead to the user 
    port of my Master (out came Duncan's modem).  There is a variable 
    resistor on the board so that sensitivity can be turned up or down, so 
    I put a hole in the box above it to enable a screwdriver to be 
    inserted to alter it.  The power is taken from the user port.  The 
    software that came with it did the job.  It came as a series of 
    programs enabling you to take a sample and play it back, see the 
    waveform and an echo chamber.  To take a sample, you just press a key, 
    the screen fills with garbage to give you an idea of when memory is 
    full.   
     
    To save a sample to disc for later use takes some time as the data 
    taken in is converted, the saved file is actually half the length of 
    the origional sample taken.  I wrote a program of my own which 
    incorporated most of the ideas in the software plus a couple of extras 
    which for instance allowed me to use the whole of my Master's memory. 
    In fact the program ended up doing all I wanted and being quite short 
    (&5E3 after running to be precise).  The program allows you to input 
    and play back a Master full of sample, or a specified buffer length. 
    It also allows you to save an unconverted file to disc so that the 
    long conversion process can be carried out later, thus allowing you to 
    continue sampling without long breaks.  
     
    The echo chamber plays back the sample immediately and is useful for  
    fine tuning all the knobs, bits of wire, speakers, videos, radios,  
    tape recorders and children that inevitably get strewn around the  
    computer before finally committing the sample to memory and then disc. 
    The quality is not startling, in fact some times it can be hopeless, 
    but with a good origional at the right volume you can get acceptable 
    results.  I use my programs Mix-Ed and Runbld to finish the job off. 
     
    If any members out there are interested in samples, but don't want to 
    get involved in the sample taking itself I have sent Duncan Webster 
    4.5 discs of numerous wonders, he may, if you ask him nicely, send 
    them on to you.  If there is any interest shown, I may be spurred on 
    to experiment further. Oh! I almost forgot, you can get about 5 
    seconds of sample into a Model B.  But as the file is converted to 
    save to disc it decreases in size, this means that you can join files 
    together and play back 10 seconds.  To play longer samples means that 
    you have to stop occasionally to load in from disc.  A Master will 
    sample about 15 seconds, again this increases to 30 seconds for 
    playback if you are prepared to join files together.  You can of 
    course play back at a slower rate, and repeat sections several times 
    to increase playback time.