#6Sample Editing with Audiomaster IV:-

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This is a regular feature which is for people who were interested

in last months `Which sampler' article. This month is just an introduction

to audiomaster, but the next couple of issues will be more advanced.

Audiomaster is a fairly old program, but by no means is it arse.

You don't actually NEED a sampler to use Audiomaster, 

but if you do have a sample, then you will be able to use Audiomaster to 

the full, it is only when sampling your own effects, instruments or voices

that you realise just how powerful and invaluable tool this piece of

software is.

A brilliant feature, not found in many other packages is the Time

stretching ability, which means if you have a sample ready and  #5More>>>
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you want the pitch raised a bit, then instead of just speeding the 

sample up and making it shorter, Audiomaster attempts, and does well 

might I add, to keep the sample the same length without shorting and

ruining it.

I had a short loop on one of my mods and I wanted it speeded up,

but through Med and Protracker it just went out of sync with the beat

and was useless, then came Audiomaster IV to the rescue and my

problem was solved!

Audiomaster is much more than that though, true it can change the

pitch of samples, but it can also do a whole host of other things

and it does them extremely well, another good thing is the fact audiomaster

is one of few programs that hardly ever crash, which is bluddy #5More>>>
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good.

Some features contained within Audiomaster are:

Ability to play samples backwards
Real time echo
Real time flange
Sequences up to 999 loops!
Digital filter
Fade volume on samples
Offers a choice of sampler configs
Loads of neat editing features
Plus much, much more!



Anyone following our Protracker tutorial will find Audiomaster useful

for editing their samples perfectly before loading them in to 

Protracker. The idea when creating mods is to:                  #5More>>>

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A- sample your sounds with the package provided with the sampler

B- Load it into Audiomaster and edit it, maybe make a loop

@4C- import the sample into Protracker or med.
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You could always just use the sample option on audiomaster, therefore

you don't need A (see above).


In the next few issues, we'll include some samples on disk 2 

(maybe issue 6) and we will include a tutorial which helps you get

that sample just right and we will then import your sample to 

Protracker. This would be great for people who are following the Protracker
 
tutorial who will have mastered Protracker by then. So watch this space.

Anyway, back to Issue 4.                                        #5More>>>

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Audiomaster also has RamScan. This means that it can scan a certain

area of memory (i.e Chip or fast ) and pull out any samples which

may be floating about in memory.

Most of the time though, you will get a horrible noise which

is just a mish mash of program data, but if you're lucky you'll get some
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samples to rip.

 You will have to use the range option to pick the exact

part of the waveform you want to cut out and use.

All of this will be explained in the next couple of issues of A.F.

For now I'll just give you a few terms that you will no doubt come

across, or have already come across.                            #5More>>>

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Waveform: This is just the actual sample data which Audiomaster shows
          on the main window. The funny lines going up and down all the
          time.
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Loops:    This is when a sample repeats itself over and over again.     
          (kinda like MSC's comments)
          To make a loop you must tell the computer exactly where
          the beginning of the sample is and also the end of the sample.
          This is much easier than it sounds and involves the user
          dragging a bar over to the start of the sample and then dragging
          another bar (on the right) over to the end of the sample.
          The Amiga will then LOOP the sample. 

Sequence: One long sample which is cut up into various parts by using
          a series of loops. Easy to do, but very awkward to perfect.

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S.P.S:    Samples per second. Obviously the number of samples
          that are taken every second. Woooww.


See you next month when we show you the wonders of Audiomaster IV in depth.