Creative 16-Bit Sound Card, User Manual

Page 1: ...16 Bit Sound Card User Guide On line Version ...

Page 2: ... software for backup purposes No Part of this manual may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic or mechanical including photocopying and recording for any purpose without the written permission of Creative Technology Ltd Copyright 1994 by Creative Technology Ltd All rights reserved Printed in Singapore Version 1 0 September 1994 Sound Blaster and Sound Blaster 16 are t...

Page 3: ...4 Status Bar 1 4 Using the Mouse 1 5 Understanding WaveEditor Menus 1 5 File Menu 1 5 Edit Menu 1 6 View Menu 1 6 Special Menu 1 7 Options Menu 1 7 Window Menu 1 8 Help Menu 1 8 Context Sensitive Menu 1 8 Working With WaveEditor 1 9 Specifying Wave Formats 1 9 Opening Wave Files 1 10 Recording Wave Files 1 11 Saving Wave Files 1 12 Mixing Data of Wave Files 1 14 Adding Special Effects 1 15 Reverse...

Page 4: ...CD QuickCD QuickCD Setting Up QuickCD 2 2 Starting QuickCD 2 4 The QuickCD Window 2 4 The Playlist Button 2 5 Using the Keyboard and Mouse 2 6 Using the Control Menu 2 7 Customizing QuickCD 2 8 Quitting QuickCD 2 8 W W W W Wave OLE ave OLE ave OLE ave OLE ave OLE Starting Wave OLE 3 2 The Wave OLE Menus 3 2 The File Menu 3 2 The Edit Menu 3 3 The Options Menu 3 3 The Help Menu 3 3 Opening a Wave F...

Page 5: ...2 Playing Multimedia Files 5 2 Playing Audio CDs 5 3 Adjusting the Volume and Tone 5 4 Quitting QuickPlayer 5 4 Dos Utilities Dos Utilities Dos Utilities Dos Utilities Dos Utilities PL PL PL PL PLA A A A AY Utility Y Utility Y Utility Y Utility Y Utility Knowing the PLAY Command 6 2 Command Line for Playing Sound Files 6 2 Command Line for Playing Audio CDs 6 3 Using PLAY 6 4 Controlling Playback ...

Page 6: ... 8 2 Using the MIXERSET Command 8 3 Starting the MIXERSET Control Screen 8 4 Knowing the MIXERSET Control Screen 8 4 Volume Slider 8 5 Balance Slider 8 5 Automatic Gain Control Check Box 8 5 Save Button 8 5 Input Box 8 5 Output Box 8 5 Using the Mouse and Keyboard 8 6 Glossar Glossar Glossar Glossar Glossary y y y y ...

Page 7: ...cording and playing wave data and how objects can be inserted into various applications Chapter 4 Mixer Control describes an audio Mixer in Windows that allows you to control sound levels of various audio sources and to select audio sources for recording and muting Chapter 5 QuickPlayer describes a Windows application that plays multimedia files Chapter 6 PLAY Utility presents a DOS utility that p...

Page 8: ...distinguish elements of the text in this guide see Table I 1 Table I 1 Text Conventions Text Element Use bold Command names switches and any text that must be entered exactly as it appears italics Title of a book When presented at the DOS command line it is a placeholder that represents information you must provide This information usually appears in the parameter listing after the command is pres...

Page 9: ...ey names means you must press the keys in sequence For example Press Alt F means press the Alt key and release it and then press the F key and release it Icons In this guide icons are used to highlight areas of text that require your attention see Table I 3 Table I 3 Icons Icon Use Information or instructions that must not be taken lightly and should be noted Cautions or warnings that you must pay...

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Page 11: ...nvironment It also allows you to enhance your wave data with special effects This chapter provides you information on using WaveEditor and all its powerful features It is organized as follows q Starting WaveEditor q Understanding the WaveEditor Interface q Using the Mouse q Understanding the WaveEditor Menus q Working with WaveEditor q Customizing WaveEditor q Using WaveEditor Effectively q Using ...

Page 12: ... WaveEditor window similar to Figure 1 1 appears Figure 1 1 The WaveEditor window Understanding the WaveEditor Interface The WaveEditor interface has three main features They are the Toolbar Edit Window and Status Bar Toolbar The Toolbar comprises several buttons and control boxes for file and wave operations see Figure 1 2 Figure 1 2 The Toolbar ...

Page 13: ...Activates Mixer Activates the CD player This button will appear only if you have a CD ROM drive installed Displays the starting position of the wave data selection You can specify the position by typing a numerical value in the text box or using the scroll arrows to select the starting position Displays the size of the wave data selection You can type the size in the text box or use the scroll arr...

Page 14: ...r easily and quickly For a better view of the data displayed in the Edit Window use the horizontal scroll bar to select the data for viewing and the vertical scroll bar to zoom into or out of the data Figure 1 3 The Edit Window Status Bar The Status Bar displays information related to the wave file in the active Edit Window and each menu command when selected see Figure 1 4 A window has to contain...

Page 15: ... a specific position to the end of the data q Hold down the left mouse button at the specific position and drag the mouse below the horizontal scroll bar Understanding WaveEditor Menus WaveEditor has seven menus File Edit View Special Options Window and Help and a context sensitive menu File Menu The File menu contains the following commands New Creates a new window without any data Open Loads an ...

Page 16: ...the Cut command the data is not copied first Crop To Selection Deletes the entire data except the portion selected Select All Selects the entire wave file in the Edit Window You can also do this by double clicking the mouse anywhere within the Edit Window View Menu The following commands on the View menu allow you to customise the WaveEditor workspace Toolbar Toggles the Toolbar on or off Status B...

Page 17: ...d portion of the wave file Insert Silence Inserts silence into the portion of the wave file selected Force to Silence Silences the portion of the wave file selected For stereo files there are options for silencing either channnel Fade In Fades into the entire or selected portion of the wave file For stereo files there are options for fading either channel Fade Out Fades out the entire or selected ...

Page 18: ...the topic you type or select System Information Displays information about Windows and your system such as CPU and available memory About WaveEditor Opens a window displaying copyright information Context Sensitive Menu The context sensitive menu appears when you click the right mouse button in the Edit Window The commands that appear on the menu depend on the content of the Edit Window The comman...

Page 19: ... Working with WaveEditor WaveEditor has a user friendly interface and working with it is easy This section shows you how to specify the format for wave files and open save and mix wave files Specifying Wave Formats Before recording a wave file you need to ensure the format of the file is specified correctly Wave format refers to the sound channel and sampling rate and size of the file To specify t...

Page 20: ...h sampling rate Opening Wave Files You can open existing wave files using the Open command from the File menu or the drag and drop method To use the Open command 1 Select Open from the File menu The Open Sound File dialog box similar to Figure 1 6 appears Figure 1 6 The Open Sound File dialog box 2 Select the file you to open from the File Name list You may have to specify the directory in which t...

Page 21: ...ally You can also open multiple files using the drag and drop method by holding down Shift and clicking on the files in the File Manager Recording Wave Files WaveEditor allows you to record new wave files or over existing files To record a new file 1 Choose New on the Toolbar 2 Choose Record on the Toolbar The New Recording dialog box similar to Figure 1 7 appears Figure 1 7 The New Recording dial...

Page 22: ...s insufficient storage space for your file free up more disk space or choose another drive before recording the file 4 Choose Start If you have a CD ROM drive installed you can choose the CD Player button to activate the CD player Also you can select the CD Sync check box to synchronise the start of the recording and playback of audio CDs To record over an existing file 1 Activate the file you wan...

Page 23: ... menu 2 Enter the name of the file and the path if prompted 3 Choose OK To save a wave file with a new name or format 1 Select Save As from the File menu The Save Sound File dialog box similar to Figure 1 9 appears Figure 1 9 The Save Sound File dialog box 2 Enter a new name for the file and the path if prompted ...

Page 24: ...o wave files you are actually adding the data of one file to another to create a new file After mixing you can play back the new file to hear the new sound generated To mix the data contents of two wave files 1 Activate the first source file and select the desired portion of the data for mixing 2 Select Copy from the Edit menu The data copied is stored in an internal buffer 3 Activate the second t...

Page 25: ...not mix 8 bit with 16 bit wave data However you can convert both files to either 16 bit or 8 bit sampling size before mixing them Adding Special Effects WaveEditor allows you to enhance your wave files with special effects from the Special menu These effects include Reverse Add Echo Rap Insert Silence Force to Silence Fade In Fade Out and Amplify Volume Reverse This effect reverses the sequence of...

Page 26: ...o file 3 Choose OK Add Echo This effect modifies data in the wave file to give an echo effect You can create a metallic sound effect by continually applying Add Echo to the same wave file until you have achieved the desired result To add echo to a file 1 Select Add Echo from the Special menu The Add Echo dialog box similar to Figure 1 12 appears Figure 1 12 The Add Echo dialog box ...

Page 27: ...the Special menu Insert Silence This effect inserts silence into a selected portion of the wave file To insert silence into a file 1 Select a portion of the wave file The length of the silence depends on the length of the portion selected 2 Select Insert Silence from the Special menu You will see a straight line representing the silence inserted into the portion selected Force to Silence This effe...

Page 28: ... portion is replaced by a straight line Fade In and Fade Out You can create a fading in soft to loud or fading out loud to soft effect for your wave files To use Fade In or vice versa 1 Select Fade In from the Special menu The Fade In dialog box similar to Figure 1 14 appears Figure 1 14 The Fade In dialog box 2 Enter the starting magnitude in the Magnitude text box 3 Select the desired channels f...

Page 29: ... entire or selected portion of the wave file To change the volume of a file 1 Select Amplify Volume from the Special menu The Amplify Volume dialog box similar to Figure 1 15 appears Figure 1 15 The Amplify Volume dialog box 2 Enter the magnitude in the Magnitude text box 3 Select the desired channels 4 Choose OK Customizing WaveEditor WaveEditor allows you to customize the default settings for re...

Page 30: ...e amount of memory needed to run WaveEditor how to manage your files and work with compressed files Memory Requirements WaveEditor requires about 1MB of memory Memory requirement increases when you play back or record wave files as sufficient memory is needed for the buffers It is recommended that you run WaveEditor on at least a 386 based system with 4 MB of RAM and under Windows 3 1 When you ope...

Page 31: ...oes not limit the number of files you can open But the number of files WaveEditor can open at a time depends on how you specify your operating system configuration For more information on how to do that consult your operating environment s documentation Use of DOS SHARE Utility It is recommended you use the DOS SHARE utility to allow proper file sharing and locking This will prevent you from accid...

Page 32: ... for large files you should save your work as an uncompressed wave PCM file first Once you have finished editing save the file with the desired compression format Using CD Sync CD Sync allows you to synchronise the start of the recording and playback of audio CDs This option is only available if you have a CD ROM drive installed in your system If you have mistakenly placed a CD ROM disk in your dr...

Page 33: ...inking and Embedding OLE With this capability you can insert sound into other applications such as Write by linking or embedding them For more information about Object Linking and Embedding refer to the Microsoft Windows manual This chapter is organized as follows q Starting Wave OLE q The Wave OLE Menus q Opening a Wave File q Playing a Wave File q Recording a Wave File q Selecting Recording Char...

Page 34: ... File Edit Options and Help The File Menu The commands on the File menu are New Creates a new wave file Open Opens an existing wave file Save Saves the wave file Save As Saves the wave file with a new name Exit Quits Wave OLE Wave OLE keeps a record of the last four wave files you have opened They are displayed at the end of the pull down menu in the File menu To open one of these files click the ...

Page 35: ...isplays information about the sound data such as the sampling rate and size Mixer Settings Runs the Mixer application For more information refer to the chapter on Windows Mixer Recording Settings Allows the sampling size frequency and mono or stereo mode to be selected for recording Always on Top Toggles Wave OLE as the topmost window The Help Menu The command on the Help menu is Contents Displays...

Page 36: ...le date displayed in the dialog 3 Choose OK Playing a Wave File To play a wave file 1 Open the wave file 2 Choose Play To stop playing the wave file choose Stop You can use the keyboard to perform operations in Waveo LE For instance you can use either Tab or the left and right arrow keys to move to the buttons on the Waveo LE window To choose a button press Spacebar You can also move around the op...

Page 37: ... similar to Figure 3 3 appears Figure 3 3 The Recording dialog box To stop the recording choose Stop Selecting Recording Characteristics To select recording characteristics 1 Select Recording Settings from the Options menu The Recording Settings dialog box similar to Figure 3 4 appears Figure 3 4 The Recording Settings dialog box ...

Page 38: ...quality sampling rate and 44 kHz for CD quality sampling rate q Choose OK Embedding a Wave File When you embed a wave file you load a copy of the wave file in Wave OLE and transfer it to an application such as Write that supports Object Linking and Embedding OLE If you edit the wave file in Wave OLE the wave file in Write will not be affected because you no longer have any connection to the file i...

Page 39: ...bject from the Edit menu The wave file is placed onto the Clipboard 4 Open the Write document where you want to embed the wave file 5 Select Paste Special from the Edit menu in Write The icon representing the embedded wave file appears Linking a Wave File When you link a wave file you are not making a copy of the wave file You are only making a reference to the wave file If you edit the wave file ...

Page 40: ...LE To quit Wave OLE 1 Select Exit from the File menu The Wave OLE dialog box similar to Figure 3 6 appears if the latest changes have not been saved Figure 3 6 The Wave OLE dialog box 2 Choose Yes to save the changes No if you do not want to save the changes or Cancel if you want to continue working in Wave OLE ...

Page 41: ...also select and mix different audio sources during playback and recording This chapter provides you with information on using the Mixer and is organized as follows q Starting the Mixer q The Mixer Control Window q Using the Keyboard and Mouse q Selecting a Recording Source q Saving the Mixer Settings q Quitting the Mixer In this chapter you will encounter mono and stereo sources A stereo source us...

Page 42: ...n your audio card s group window The Mixer Control window similar to Figure 4 1 appears Figure 4 1 The Mixer Control window The Mixer Control Window The Mixer Control window consists of the following q Device Control group box q Master Volume group box q Output group box q Menu Bar ...

Page 43: ... All of the above sources are in stereo except Microphone and PC Speaker Stereo sources have two sliders to control the volume from the left and right channels Mono sources have one slider to control one channel Master Volume Group Box The Master Volume group box contains sliders that control the overall volume of the audio you hear from your external speakers see Figure 4 3 Figure 4 3 The Master ...

Page 44: ...p Box You cannot mute the other Mixer sources For example if you play audio from a MIDI source you will hear the audio if the volume is at an audible level Menu Bar The Menu Bar consists of three drop down menus These menus are q Settings q Options q Help The Settings Menu The Settings menu contains the following commands Recording Displays the Recording Control window Exit Quits the Mixer ...

Page 45: ... run the Mixer The Help Menu The Help menu contains the following command Contents Displays Mixer Control Help menu s contents About Mixer ControlStates copyright and credit information about the Mixer Using the Keyboard and Mouse You can use the mouse or the keyboard to select the options on Mixer Click the option if it is in a check box Move the slider thumb by dragging it or by clicking above o...

Page 46: ...rol dialog box 2 Click the desired check boxes in the Left In and Right In group boxes These group boxes allow you to record selected sources to the left and right channels The audio source you select will be indicated with a red dot To get stereo recording click the check boxes as shown in Figure 4 5 3 If you want to automatically adjust input from the Microphone to a level suitable for recording...

Page 47: ...ore you exit To do so 1 Select Save Setting On Exit from the Options menu Any Mixer settings that you have made will be saved when you exit Windows Quitting the Mixer To quit the Mixer do one of the following q Select Exit from the Settings menu q Double click the Control menu box ...

Page 48: ...are setup that accomodates the type of file you want to play Within QuickPlayer you can start the Mixer to adjust the volume and tone of multimedia files If you have installed a CD ROM drive in your system you can also start QuickCD to play audio CDs This chapter is organized as follows q Starting QuickPlayer q Playing Multimedia Files q Playing Audio CDs q Adjusting the Volume and Tone q Quitting...

Page 49: ...es You can quickly and easily play multimedia files using controls on the QuickPlayer window To play a multimedia file 1 Drop the Drives list box and select the drive that contains the file 2 Drop the List Files of Type list box and select the type of file to play 3 Select the directory path where you stored the file from the Directories list box The available multimedia files for that path appear...

Page 50: ...ection of the multimedia files in the File Name list box replace Step 4 with the following q Press and hold down Ctrl while you select the desired files with your mouse When you play a sequence of multimedia files you can skip a file and go to the next one if you desire To skip a file in sequence 1 Choose Skip Playing Audio CDs If you have installed a CD ROM drive in your system you can play audio...

Page 51: ...les using the Windows Mixer To start the Mixer 1 Choose the Mixer button to display the Mixer Control window For more information refer to the chapter on Mixer Control Quitting QuickPlayer To quit QuickPlayer do one of the following q Choose Quit q Double click the Control menu box ...

Page 52: ...QuickPlayer 5 5 ...

Page 53: ...e VOC MIDI MID and Creative Music CMF files And if you want to play a set of files with the same file extension the utility gives you the flexibility to play them in sequence without requiring you to specify each file individually This chapter provides you with detailed information on using PLAY It is organized as follows q Knowing the PLAY Command q Using PLAY q Controlling Playback 6 ...

Page 54: ...lename without specifying an extension PLAY will search the current directory for that filename If more than one extension for the filename exist the utility will play only one file in the following order of preference WAV VOC MID and CMF q Before you play a Creative Music CMF file you have to load the SBFMDRV COM driver into memory This is done by typing SBFMDRV at the directory where the driver ...

Page 55: ...r setting the MIDI environment is SET MIDI SYNTH x MAP y MODE z SYNTH x x 1 specifies internal synthesizer default x 2 specifies MIDI port MAP y y G specifies General MIDI file format y E specifies Extended MIDI file format default y B specifies Basic MIDI file format MODE z z 0 supports General MIDI default z 1 supports Roland Sound Canvas GS z 2 supports Roland MT32 MODE z only applies to Sound ...

Page 56: ...ce files TEST1 VOC TEST2 VOC and TEST3 VOC in sequence 1 Type PLAY TEST1 VOC TEST2 VOC TEST3 VOC and press Enter If a file specified does not exist in the directory the command will not be executed q To play a voice file TEST1 VOC without displaying the playback information 1 Type PLAY TEST1 VOC Q and press Enter q To play a CD without specifying the starting track 1 Type PLAY CD and press Enter q...

Page 57: ... specified set Spacebar Pauses the playing wave file or and Selects and plays another wave file if more press Enter than one file is specified Voice File Control Hot Keys The following are the hot keys you can use while playing voice files B Stops a repeating section of the voice file and proceeds to the next section C Resumes the paused voice file Esc Stops playing the voice file and exits the pr...

Page 58: ...ied set P Plays the previous MIDI file in a specified set Spacebar Pauses the playing MIDI file Up or Down Arrow Changes the tempo of the MIDI file or Selects and plays another MIDI file if more and press Enter than one file is specified CMF File Control Hot Keys The following are the hot keys you can use while playing CMF files C Resumes playing the paused CMF file Esc Stops the CMF file if one i...

Page 59: ...hot keys you can use while playing audio CDs C Resumes playing the track Esc Stops the track if one is playing and exits the program F Fast forwards the track L Plays the previous track in a specified set N Plays the next track in a specified set P Plays the track R Rewinds the track S Stops the track Spacebar Pauses the playing track X Exits the program ...

Page 60: ...he file type and recording parameters such as sampling rate and recording mode Sound is recorded into a sound file in Microsoft Wave WAV or Creative Voice VOC file format This chapter provides you detailed information on using RECORD It is organized as follows q Knowing the RECORD Command q Using RECORD 7 ...

Page 61: ...he recording source xx MIC CD LINE or FM You can record from more than one source C xx Sets the compression format xx ALAW MULAW or CTADPCM M xx Sets the recording mode xx MONO or STEREO R xx Sets the sample size xx 8 or 16 bits The higher the sampling resolution the better is the recording quality S xx Sets the sampling rate For VOC format xx 5000 to 44100 Hz For WAV format xx 11025 22050 or 4410...

Page 62: ...p when the disk is full q A new file will be created or an existing file will be overwritten for recording Using RECORD The following are some examples of how you can record sound files in DOS q To record from CD into a sound file SONG VOC in VOC format 1 Play your CD in the background 2 Type RECORD SONG VOC A CD and press Enter q To record a sound file without displaying the recording information...

Page 63: ...ity as a command at the DOS prompt or invoke the MIXERSET interface to control the Mixer settings through a full screen window consisting of check boxes and sliders The chapter provides you detailed information on using MIXERSET It is organized as follows q Knowing the MIXERSET Command q Using the MIXERSET Command q Starting the MIXERSET Control Screen q Knowing the MIXERSET Control Screen q Using...

Page 64: ... PRESET settings in the CTMIX CFG file MA n x Sets the MASTER volume and balance of left and right channels VO n x Sets the VOICE volume and balance of left and right channels MI n x Sets the MIDI volume and balance of left and right channels CD n x Sets the CD volume and balance of left and right channels LI n x Sets the LINE in volume and balance of left and right channels MIC n Sets the MICroph...

Page 65: ... Turns Left Input switches IPLSW on or off ss represents one or a combination of CDRz CDLz MDLz MDRz LIRz LILz and MICz where z is on or off IPR ss Turns Right Input switches IPRSW on or off Same as IPL AGC Turns Automatic Gain Control AGC on or off Using the MIXERSET Command The following are some examples on how you can use MIXERSET q To set the PC speaker volume to 200 1 Type MIXERSET SP 200 an...

Page 66: ...RSET and press Enter The MIXERSET Control Screen shown in Figure 8 1 appears Figure 8 1 The MIXERSET Control Screen Knowing the MIXERSET Control Screen The MIXERSET Control Screen consists of the following components q Volume Slider q Balance Slider q Automatic Gain Control Check Box q Save Button q Input Box q Output Box ...

Page 67: ...CTMIX CFG file The new setting will be used the next time you preset the mixer setting with the command MIXERSET P Input Box The Input Box enables you to select the audio sources you want to control as input to the Mixer The audio sources available are MIDI Line and Microphone input and CD audio You can direct these audio sources through the left or and right input channels of your Mixer To get a ...

Page 68: ...e end of the slider to increase or decrease the Volume q To quit MIXERSET click the Control menu box q Press Tab to move from one group to another q Press Shift Tab to move backwards to a previous group q Press the up or down arrow keys to move from one option to another within a group q Press the left or right arrow keys to adjust volume q Press Spacebar or Enter to select or deselect a check box...

Page 69: ... at which disk space is used up But reproduction of sound recorded at a high sampling rate is better than that of a lower sampling rate Channel A path through which sound passes between two devices within a system Multichannel system can transfer independent sound through each channel concurrently Mono recording uses one channel Stereo recording uses two channels See also Balance CMF Filename exte...

Page 70: ...ument Changing an embedded object will not affect the original object See also Linking Object Linking and Embedding Fade In Uniformly increases the volume level of a sound to an audible level Fade Out Uniformly decreases the volume level of a sound until it is not audible anymore Frequency A measure of how often a vibration or oscillation takes place Frequency is measured in hertz Hz Hot Key One o...

Page 71: ...DPCM The ADPCM compression technique by Microsoft MID Extension of files that contain sythesized music in the MIDI format MIDI Musical Instrument Digital Interface It is an international hardware software standard that specifies the cable and hardware interface for several devices instruments and computers to interchange music codes events Mixing To combine sound using several sources to produce a...

Page 72: ...emory Sound File Files containing sound data Sound files are usually stored in four formats with WAV MID VOC and CMF extensions Stereo To record sound using two channels See also Channel VOC Extension for sound data saved in Creative Labs Inc Voice format WAV Extension for sound data saved in Microsoft wave format 16 bit Produces a rich detailed sound that embodies more than 65 000 possible digita...