Specifications
converter 1.5
2000 - 2005 urr Sound Technologies Inc.
47
to continuous controller conversion, and program the channel to generate channel volume messages
for the same midi channel as the trigger note. In this way, the volume and shape of the triggered note
follows the incoming audio signal, and can integrate itself quite musically.
Note that setting the levels of the incoming audio is very important, and has a great affect on the speed
and accuracy of trigger timing and predictability. If the occasional trigger seems late, it most likely is the
result of the audio input levels being too low so that only the very tip of the audio impulse is captured.
Try raising the volume of the audio going into your soundcard.
Since the input audio is never heard once it reaches converter, it is not necessary to avoid clipping the
signal – in fact, it can be useful to overly increase the input level of the audio in certain applications. In
trigger mode, it is usually better to set the signal level so as to avoid constant input overload: the signal
level should be set to ensure the audio peaks rise and fall within the trigger gate thresholds, to avoid
mis-firing.
Obviously, audio sources vary significantly in terms of bandwidth and amplitude, so the key is to
experiment with different source material and try different ways to program the conversion process.
Take advantage of the gates on each audio channel to help separate signal from noise or other
unwanted sounds. You may find that using an external equalizer to further filter out unnecessary
frequency sections of an audio source or boost specific frequency areas will greatly improve the
possibility for signal separation between the low and high pass filter channels.
Keep in mind that trigger mode conversion works best and most reliably with a non-mixed audio source
– for example, a single track consisting of a snare drum rather than a channel from a stereo mixdown
with many layers and instruments. While converter has been designed in such a way that it is possible
to ‘sample’ rhythmic information from complex, layered audio source material, trigger mode was
intended more for applications such as triggering drum samples from a multi-tracked acoustic drum
performance or a live mic’d drumkit than from a dynamically-compressed mixdown.
Note: Even though selectable as a message type, audio, gameport, and mouse input cannot be
converted to system exclusive (sysex), mtc/smpte ¼ frame, or certain undefined system
common/realtime message types.
The following is a diagram of the menu hierarchy of the audio section of the menu system.
root
audio gate settings
audio filter settings
audio parameters
midi conversion settings
lowpass
main/bandpass
midi data settings
data reduction settings
arithmetic processors
main/bp left channel
main/bp right channel
lp/hp channels
highpass
lowpass
main/bandpass
highpass
lowpass
main/bandpass
highpass
lowpass
highpass