Specifications
converter 1.5
2000 - 2005 urr Sound Technologies Inc.
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using converter
While the user interface in converter might seem daunting at first, with many pages of menus and
parameters, don’t be intimidated – there has been a lot of planning behind it to ensure each stage is as
intuitive and straight-forward as possible. Most core menu sections have similar (if not identical) layouts,
and their patterns will become very obvious after a brief period using converter. Take advantage of the
shortcuts and hotkeys, as they will make navigation even faster and easier.
in general
Since converter was designed as a real-time processor, the philosophy behind the display and user
interface of converter is that of maximum real
maximum realmaximum real
maximum real-
--
-time visual feedback
time visual feedbacktime visual feedback
time visual feedback. When you first run converter, you
will notice a subdivision in the screen layout. The top 2/3rds of the screen consists of a grey, metallic
midi message display panel, which is broken down into different ‘wedges’. Each wedge groups various
graphical objects used to display specific midi messages, or information on converter’s activity. Below
that, a blue display panel which can be set to display several different pages of system and input
information. At the very bottom of the screen is a strip of text displaying three pieces of information:
•
the current midi channel whose data is displayed in the top section of the screen (when set to
[ALL], all data from all or generated for all midi channels is displayed).
•
The MTC time count (labeled as ‘smpte’, since MTC is a sub-protocol in midi to allow a
mutated form of smpte to be transmitted over midi)
•
The midi clock tempo in beats per minute (bpm), and the current count of the clock either
received over midi or generated by converter itself.
The top grey/metallic portion of the screen provides real-time display of midi data both generated by
converter (from audio and gameport inputs) and received (from a midi input interface). The upper left
corner of this panel indicates midi activity on a particular input source, active channels in the output midi
stream, and a processor buffer meter which roughly indicates system computing load (based on how
heavily the computer is relying on its various processing buffers). Because of the high prioritization of
the conversion and midi output systems, a high processing buffer load doesn’t normally reflect any
additional lag in system response time; however it does give an indication of how hard the computer is
working to provide continuous output in addition to the real-time graphics system. For example, if
converter is operating in audio input mode with all channels active in continuous controller conversion,
the processor buffer will indicate higher buffer usage due to the overall processing load on the system.
The lower display panel can display four different page groups of system and input information,
accessible by pressing function keys [F9] through [F12]. One or two of these ‘view panels’ may not
display any active information depending on the mode in which converter is set to operate (midi or
audio input mode). Each panel can be switched between different view panels by holding down the
[Shift] key and pressing [F9], [F10], [F11] and [F12].
• midi note messages / giant timecode display [F9]
: when set to “note message”, this view panel
displays peak meters for all 128 notes, indicating note on and off messages with their note number
and key velocity, and indicates whether top and bottom display panels reflect processed or
unprocessed input midi data (relevant only in midi input mode). Also provides a simple note number
to note name and octave display. When set to the giant timecode display, the smpte and midi clock
information is displayed in a large format which can be read from across a large room.
• audio input oscilloscopes / spectral display [F10]
: can be set to display waveform plotting
(oscilloscopes) for each of the six audio channels with associated peak meters, or a similar display
replacing the main channel oscilloscopes with spectral displays. Be aware that these display pages
take the most graphics/cpu horsepower to maintain, and the spectral display in particular may use
enough cpu cycles on really slow (486/p90) machines that midi timing may be influenced. For this
reason, it is recommended that on slow machines the spectral display should not be used during
critical processing applications, and instead as a programming / diagnostic aid.