Antares Infinity user manual
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1 Chapter 1: Getting Started magine being able to take a raw sample, and then, with just a few mouse clicks, create a loop so perfect that you can’t tell when it started or where it repeats. Imagine doing that with sounds that are impossible to loop smoothly using your current sample editor, like string orchestra, choirs, fat analog synths, chorused guitar, and so on. Infinity lets you do that, quickly and easily. Infinity is a powerful DSP which uses unique DSP technologies to auto- mate and improve the looping process (the part of sample editing that takes the most time and skill). Some of Infinity’s special features are: REAL TIME LOOP ADJUST Infinity makes fine tuning the loop easy by letting you move the loop points anywhere in the sound file during real time playback. SYNTHESIS LOOPER The Synthesis Looper tool calculates the energy at each fundamental and harmonic frequency and allows you to specify the width of the sidelobes the resulting looped sound will have. In this way, you could take the lumpy sound of a highly out-of-tune ensemble and change it to the smoother sound of a higher quality ensemble, making the variations in the loop repetition less noticeable. SPR LOOPER This tool automatically randomizes the spectral components of the sound inside the loop points to create a virtually seamless result in sounds that have irregular waveforms like string orchestra, chorus, analog synths, cymbal rolls, and so on. Stereo samples retain their ambience and dimen- sionality. The SPR Looper is protected by US patent law. ROTATED SUMS LOOPER This looping tool uses a convolutional approach to randomizing irregulari- ties inside the loop points. Like the SPR Looper, it is excellent for use with all sounds that have irregular (non-periodic) waveforms. I
2 FREEZE LOOPER The Freeze Looper creates perfect loops in sounds like winds, brass, bells, and other sounds that have a pure harmonic series. It’s also good for “freezing” the timbre of decaying strings like piano or guitar. CROSSFADE LOOPER WITH SMART AUTO-SCAN This is an enhanced crossfade tool with an intelligent loop point scanner. It uses a sophisticated DSP algorithm to find the right loop point automati- cally. FULLY ADJUSTABLE EDIT BLENDING This editing feature allows the taper and length of the blend crossfades used during edit operations to be adjusted to suit the sound you are working on. COMPLETE SAMPLE EDITING ENVIRONMENT The Infinity environment provides all the basic tools necessary to create professional quality samples easily and quickly. Infinity is robust. It lets beginners get results which are superior to profes- sionals using other programs. For professionals, Infinity provides a level of quality, speed, and ease of use inapproachable by any other sample editor. HOW TO USE THIS MANUAL Infinity has a transparent user interface, has excellent Balloon Help and is extraordinarily easy to use. However, the operation of the DSP Looping Tools and some functions of the user interface will not be immediately obvious because they do things which have never been done before. We recommend that you read the following sections of the manual to take full advantage of the quality and speed that Infinity makes possible. The Infinity Environment on page 7 Viewing the Soundfile on page 16 Editing the Soundfile on page 21 Saving the Soundfile on page 34 Customizing Your Environment on page 36 Chapter 4: Infinity Looping Tools on page 39
3 THE CONTENTS OF THE MANUAL Chapter 1: Getting Started This chapter explains everything about starting Infinity and communicating with Antares Audio Technologies. Chapter 2: Introducing Infinity This chapter explains the scope of Infinity’s functions and how it solves current problems in the electronic music studio. Basic concepts in sample editing and file management are also covered. The user interface is ex- plained with emphasis on the anatomy of the Palette, and the Soundfile Window. Chapter 3: The Basics of Infinity Infinity Basics explains how to perform all the basic functions in manipulat- ing and editing a soundfile. The topics covered are: basic commands and editing functions, changing the display resolution, viewing, listening to, editing and saving the soundfile, and customizing the Infinity environment. Chapter 4: Infinity Looping Tools This chapter contains detailed instructions on how to use the looping tools. We recommend this chapter as must-reading for everyone. Appendix A: Keyboard Equivalent Commands This appendix contains a list of all the keyboard equivalent commands and shortcuts that can be used with Infinity.
4 Chapter 2: Introducing Infinity amplers and sample players have become the most popular electronic musical instruments because of the realism and fidelity made possible by digital recording techniques. This realism comes at the price of ever increas- ing memory requirements needed to produce the sustained tone of natural instruments. Since samplers have finite memories, rudimentary looping techniques have been used to create the illusion of sustained tones, but often with less than satisfactory results. THE PROBLEM WITH LOOPING An ideal loop sounds like a uniform sustained tone. An imperfect loop is detectable because one hears repetitive changes in the tone. Using stan- dard looping techniques, it is possible to create an ideal loop only under special conditions. These conditions are: 1. The waveform being played must be perfectly uniform during the duration of the loop (which may be thousands of cycles long), and 2. The loop must start and end at the same point in the period of the waveform. This means that a perfect loop can only be created by using a sustained periodic waveform. But this type of sound is only a small subset of the sounds used in music making. Sustained sounds come in two varieties: PERIODIC SOUNDS Sounds recorded monophonically which have stable tone, loudness, and pitch. Examples are solo wind and brass instruments, organ, and so on. NON-PERIODIC SOUNDS Some examples of non-periodic waveforms are instrumental ensembles like string sections, brass sections, choirs, chorused guitar and keyboard sounds and many waveforms from the older analog synthesizers. Sounds that change tone as they decay like piano, harp, timpani, bells, cymbal rolls, etc. are also non-periodic. S PERIODIC WAVEFORM: DIGIWAVE NON-PERIODIC WAVEFORM: VIOLIN SECTION
5 Clearly, most of the sustained sounds that are used for music making are non-periodic. It is impossible to make an ideal loop of a non-periodic sound. The simple fact that the sound changes with time will cause the repetitive nature of the loop to show up. The problem becomes even more difficult when considering the stereo case. If there are even slight changes to the shape of the two waveforms then it becomes impossible to find loop points where the waveforms precisely match. (A stereo loop cannot have a separate loop point for the left and right channel because doing so would not preserve the stereo relationship between the channels in the reproduced output.) The illustra- tion below shows a segment of a stereo recording of a violin section playing a single pitch. Note that the two waveforms don’t even resemble each other. CROSSFADE LOOPS One common compromise for looping non-periodic sounds is to blend the sound leading up to the loop end point with sound around the loop start point. This is called a crossfade. This tends to make the transition from loop end to loop start less abrupt. No technique will ever loop a non-periodic sound without leaving irregu- larities somewhere in the loop. The problem with a crossfade loop is all of the different frequencies in the sound make a transition from one phase to another during the crossfade. This causes different combinations of con- structive and destructive interference. Because this happens for all frequen- cies at the same point in the loop, a noticeable bump is produced by the crossfade loop. The illustration below shows the process of creating a crossfade loop. The waveform segment labeled “attack” is the part of the sound that is heard before the loop begins. The line labeled “A” is the loop start point. The line labeled “B” is the loop end point. Used with skill and patience, crossfade looping techniques can result in marginally usable loops in some non-periodic sounds. The level of quality that results is currently considered acceptable, but is, in fact, mediocre compared to what can be achieved by Infinity’s unique DSP tools. VIOLIN SECTION: LEFT CHANNEL VIOLIN SECTION: RIGHT CHANNEL
6 LOOP START AND END POINTS ARE PLACED AT THE BEST SOUNDING POSITIONS IN THE SOUNDFIELD. DATA NEAR THE LOOP END POINT IS TAPERED (FADED) OUT. A SECTION OF DATA JUST BEFORE THE LOOP START POINT IS COPIED AND TAPERED (FADED IN) TO CREATE THE TRANSITION DATA SEGMENT. THE TRANSITION DATA IS ADDED TO THE LOOP END DATA TO CREATE A SMOOTHER RETURN TO THE LOOP START. AT TACKLOOP TAPER FUNCTION TAPERED DATA TRANSITION FUNCTION TRANSITION DATA REPOSITIONED TRANSITION TIME IN MILLISECONDS 010203040 A506070 B
77 THE COSTS OF CURRENT METHODS The time and effort required to make a good set of looped samples is more than most musicians are willing to invest. With complex sounds like pianos, string sections, chorused synths, and so on, it is extraordinarily difficult to make good crossfade loops. Lumpy loops have necessarily become accept- able. The third party sound design business is booming. License to use pre- looped sounds which are often of less than satisfactory quality costs hundreds of dollars. While this saves time and effort, even the best com- mercial samples have audible loops. THE INFINITY ENVIRONMENT Even experienced sound designers are advised to read this section carefully. It contains basic information on the display and manipulation of digital sound that is essential to using Infinity. THE SOUNDFILE WINDOW The soundfile window is a visual representation of the soundfile on the desktop. Much of the work you do on the soundfile will be done inside the soundfile window. The soundfile window has several components whose functions are listed below. TITLE BAR ZOOM BOX CLOSE BOX OVERVIEW VIEW INDICATOR VERTICAL ANNOTATION TRACK DIVIDER MAINVIEW PLAYBACK POSITION POINTER HORIZONTAL ANNOTATION MIDI NOTE NUMBER LOOP POINT GROW BOX
8 TITLE BAR The Title Bar contains the name of the soundfile, the close box, the zoom box, and either “No Backup” or “Backup Created” written next to the title of the soundfile. Infinity will create a backup file when the soundfile is first opened pro- vided the corresponding Preferences dialog item is enabled. When “Backup Created” is displayed in the title bar, the Revert to Backup command can be used in the File Menu. See “Create Backup Files” on page 36. CLOSE BOX Clicking on the close box will close the soundfile window. ZOOM BOX Clicking on the zoom box will increase the size of the window to the maximum allowed by the size of your video monitor. Clicking it again will return the window to its original size. OVERVIEW The Overview displays the whole soundfile, the insertion point, loop points, and the Playback Position Pointer. The Overview allows you to navigate around the soundfile easily. In a stereo soundfile, the left track is displayed above the right track. Data can be chosen for display in the Mainview by using the view indicator described below. Data can also be selected in the Overview by placing it in the Selection Mode using the Palette. See “Using Selection Mode in the Overview” on page 23 for details of how this is done. VIEW INDICATOR The view indicator is a dotted rectangular box which shows the borders of the region of the soundfile which is currently displayed in the Mainview. Any change in the Mainview is reflected by a change in the view indicator. The region displayed in the Mainview can be changed by redrawing the view indicator. The details are discussed in “Using Zoom Mode in the Overview” on page 17. PLAYBACK POSITION POINTER The Playback Position Pointer appears in both the Overview and the Mainview. It is a non-blinking vertical line with terminals at each end that moves across the screen as the soundfile plays. It shows where playback is occurring so that you can correlate the sound and the graphic display of the soundfile.
9 VERTICAL ANNOTATION The Vertical Annotation allows you to measure the amplitude of the waveform in the Mainview. The units displayed are either percent of full scale or decimal sample values. The units for the Vertical Annotation are chosen in the Preferences dialog. The Vertical Annotation and the soundfile data can be moved up or down by using the vertical scroll bar when the scale is expanded. MAINVIEW The Mainview always displays the part of the soundfile shown in the view indicator in the Overview. When a file is opened, the Mainview initially displays the whole soundfile. The amount of data displayed in the Mainview can be changed by redrawing the view indicator in the Overview, or by using the Display Scale Icon on the Palette. The Mainview can also be placed in the Zoom Mode. See “Using Zoom Mode in the Mainview” on page 18. The data in the Mainview can be scrolled using several methods. See “Scrolling the Data File” on page 16. TRACK DIVIDER AND ZERO CROSSING The tracks in both the Overview and the Mainview can be separated by a track divider line. There can also be a dotted zero crossing line in each channel. These choices are made in the Preferences Dialog. THE HORIZONTAL ANNOTATION The Horizontal Annotation is located below the Mainview and runs the full width of the window. It allows you to measure time in the soundfile. The units for the Horizontal Annotation are selected in the Preferences dialog. There are three display formats: Samples, Time, and SMPTE formats. LOOP POINTS The Loop Points show the region of data in the soundfile that will be looped when the soundfile is played. The Loop Points can be moved by dragging them horizontally. They can also be dragged during sound playback. Loop Points can be created by selecting the Create Loop Points menu item in the Edit menu or by clicking on the Loop Points Icon on the Palette. The Loop Points can be deleted by clicking on the Loop Points Icon or by selecting the Delete Loop Points item in the Edit Menu. GROW BOX Dragging the grow box allows you to resize the window.
10 THE PALETTE The Palette is always present on the desktop. It contains information and tools for editing the soundfile data. It is divided into three sections; Mode Icons Status Display Action Icons MODE ICONS STATUS DISPLAY ACTION ICONS The area in the middle of the Palette is the Status Display. It is used for verbal messages and as a cursor tracking display. The icons above the Status Display are the Mode Icons. The icons below the Status Display are the Action Icons. Icons which cannot be selected are grayed out. The Palette can be dragged anywhere on the desktop by pressing on the grey bar at the top of the Palette and dragging it to the desired location. Pressing on the Palette in an area where there are no icons will reveal the keyboard equivalent commands for the icons. MODE ICONS When Infinity starts, the Mainview is in Selection Mode and the Overview is in Zoom Mode. The mode of a display determines what work can be done on the data in that display. See “Using Zoom Mode in the Mainview” on page 18 and “Using Selection Mode in the Overview” on page 23 for instructions on changing the mode of a display. The mode icons are: Selection Mode Icon: Selection Mode allows data to be selected in the display. See “Specifying Where to Change Sound Data” on page 21. Zoom Mode Icon: Zoom Mode allows specification of a region to be displayed in the Mainview. See “Specifying Where to Change Sound Data” on page 17.