MBWAVE WAVE MENU EN
4. WAVE MENU
4.1 Waves, tones and samples
Before a description is given of all wave menu options the general concept of the wave principle is explained here. MoonBlaster knows three different types related to the PCM/wave channels: samples, tones and waves
A sample is a small piece of digitised sound as known on as well MSX (Turbo-R, PSG sampler) as on other computers (Amigo, Apple and PC). The only restriction MoonBlaster has is that the sample format should be 8 or16 bit PCM data. This is also known as ‘raw’ samples.
But the OPL4 has the capability to add some effects to these samples. These effects can be set by adding some extra information to the sample. A sample with this extra information (header) is (in MoonBlaster) called a tone.
However, the disadvantage of a sample remains that this will sound best when it is played at approx. the same frequency as its sample frequency. To create an instrument that does sound well in a wide frequency range, several samples are desired. A Wave as MoonBlaster supports is a collection of tones with some extra information like the start note of a tone. Common formats like this Wave is also known as a patch on other computers, but to avoid confusion with patches that remove program bugs we chose the name Wave.
Note that the drums are also input as a wave now. So they are handled the same as an instrument. The type of drum sound will depend on the note that is played. These drum waves can be made by yourself of course, but one wave is already available that contains all ROM and GM drum sounds. The tone order here is similar to the GM drums. Some extra sounds are added at the end of the wave. See Appendix B for an overview.
The explanation above may be a bit short, but after reading this chapter and some practice, everything should be clear. All these settings are done in the wave menu. Press <F3> to go to the wave menu.