All Windows/Instruments/Wave Shape Instruments/Modify Wave Shape Instruments Menu (Ctrl 196)
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Controls Common to Many Windows
Modify Wave Shape Instruments Menu
These are the purest possible harmonic timbres (Keyboard users - use Alt a second time to get to menu)...
Use this menu to change the instrument for the currently highlighted parts in Show All Parts (Ctrl + 9). Select an instrument from the menu or enter its name into the text box. If you want to use the same instrument for all the parts in the Parts window, switch on the Select for all parts check box
SCROLL DOWN TO THE END OF THIS PAGE for an introduction to harmonic timbres, and explanation of why these instruments are the purest possible harmonic timbres you can make.
Sine Wave etc Drop Menu.
Look here for the usual simple waves - sine, triangle, square and saw tooth.
You will also find a rounded square and rounded saw tooth which soften the sound of those usually rather harsh sounding waves, and a sine triangle, which is between sine and triangle.
More Exotic Drop Menu.
Mathematicians will be familiar with these various curves, such as Bessels, powers, sines of powers, etc.
For everyone else - well they are various shapes of curve that you can describe using mathematics.
If you know these curves already - you may be surprised at some of the ones in the list. E.g. the nth power, which you wouldn't normally think of as useful for making a repeating waveform because its curve just goes up and up and doesn't make a repeating wave like shape at all.
However, you can make anything into a repeating waveform if you transform it in the right way. One way is to use as a quarter wave and make the other parts of the wave by symmetry - this will work with anything. Another way is to use it as a half wave and adjust the slope of the curve (for mathematicians - subtract a linear term) to make the start and end both zero, then can use its reflection as the other half of the wave. Again you can use this approach to turn any of the normal types of mathematical curve into a wave shape (for mathematicians - any curve which is single valued and defined over a suitable range - and usually you'll want it to be continuous).
So that's how it is done, and you can do the same when you make your own instruments using Edit Waveform Instrument (Ctrl + 166)
Time Varying Drop Menu.
This has waves that morph from one shape to another over time. So these are no longer pure harmonic timbres. Though if they morph slowly then they are more or less pure at any moment.
The last few We have lift off and the Hyperspace chickens are made by pushing the time varying parameters to extremes to make exotic sound effects.
Various Drop Menu.
Some instruments that don't fit any of the other menus, gives an idea of some of the other sounds you can get.
Pluck Drop Menu.
The idea here is you start off with a single wave which is quite angular, maybe a triangle wave, or something sharper than that. You can also add some noise to it. Then you let it gradually decay and become more rounded. The effect is like the sound of a plucked string.
So - basically harmonic but with a pluck effect. If you watch it on an oscilloscope you will see it starts with an angular wave shape repeating but it gradually becomes more and more rounded eventually turning into a near sine wave as it fades away.
This is a standard way of simulating plucked sounds. It's called the Karplus Strong algorithm an early approach to "physical modelling synthesis" which is still widely used. The new thing added here is just that you can use any waveform you like as the starting point, and can set it to decay very slowly as well if you want,
To find out more about Karplus Strong and other physical modelling synthesis you can start here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Physical_modelling_synthesis
What is a harmonic timbre and why is it useful to have pure harmonic timbres?
Most musical instruments have near to pure harmonic timbres. So for instance the human voice is a reasonably pure harmonic timbre, so is the sound of a bowed string which is a pure timbre rich in harmonics. Most other instruments are harmonic timbres.
The way to tell - if you analyse the frequency spectrum then you see peaks at the basic pitch of the note, and then more or less exactly at double the frequency, three times its frequency and so on. Some musicians can hear these constituent pitches of a single note just by listening to the sound carefully.
There are exceptions which are inharmonic but still musical - bells and gongs especially. Also the piano which has stretched partials so slightly inharmonic which is part of what gives it the distinctive "piano sound".
Apart from that some instruments such as flute, recorder or ocarina have no harmonics or only one or two of them, ocarina particularly may be close to a sine wave. But most instruments have quite a few harmonics, and the variation in strength of the various harmonics is part of what gives the instrument its characteristic sound. The clarinet particularly is interesting because it has only odd harmonics.
Pure harmonic timbres are good for pure ratio based just intonation harmony - for instance it is easy to hear the distinction between a pure beatless fifth (ratio of frequencies 3/2) or major third (5/4) and the twelve equal tempered versions of these chords. The tempered versions of these chords will beat (with a slow or fast wah wah wah type sound), while the pure ones will be beatless.
Why are these the purest harmonic timbres?
The purest possible harmonic timbres are instrument sounds with all the harmonics exactly in tune with each other. When this happens, then they combine together to make a waveform that repeats exactly (i.e. at the fundamental frequency of the note). An oscilloscope will show the same wave repeating over and over again exactly.
Then the other way around, if you take any wave shape and repeat it exactly over and over again then analyse the frequency spectrum you will find that all its harmonics are exactly in tune with each other.
So pure harmonic timbres are the same thing as exactly repeating wave shapes. If you have one you have the other.
So the idea of this player is to let you design the shape of a single wave then repeat it over and over exactly. It uses mathematical routines to make the waves - so making the instruments can get a bit techy depending on what you want to do. But it comes with many presets instruments to try.
See also
You can design your own wave shape instruments in Edit Waveform Instrument (Ctrl + 166) or just select from one of the menus of example instruments.
For non melodic percussion instruments use Non Melodic Percussion (Ctrl + 21). For melodic instruments use Instruments (Ctrl + 8).
How show this window
Select Wave Shape Player Instruments in the Instr. menu in the main window, or Wave Shapes in the Parts window menu.
Shortcut keys:Ctrl + 196
Special note for blind and partially sighted keyboard users
The Instruments menu actually appears in a new separate window. So, to get to it you need to use the Alt key a second time. You can navigate to this window from theother windows using Ctrl + tab once it is shown, and it stays open until you close it like any other window.
CHOOSE from MENU or type instrument name (editable) (Alt + I)
Type instrument name to select it for highlighted part(s) in Parts window...
You can enter fragmentary names and it doesn't need to be the first word in the instrument name.
Example S or sine for sine wave, Square or sq for rounded square wave or even the likes of elm for Viking helmet.
Many of the names perhaps begin with S or have Sq in them, but this will always choose a unique instrument. It will pick up the one considered to be the "best match" by various criteria - or just the first found if many are equally good matches.
It favours complete words first, then letter sequences that begin words, then letter sequences anywhere in the word. Also favours the first word in the name.
for part (editable) (Alt + A)
This is the part that gets changed when you vary the instrument, volume etc....
You can highlight more than one part in the Parts window, if so this number shows the first highlighted part. If more parts are highlighted, they all get changed when you change the instrument or other settings for the highlighted part.
If you want to change all the parts in one go, highlight them all in the Parts window.
With the standard settings, the highlighted part plays the Seed, Scale and Arpeggio - you can change that from Bs | Arpeggio and Scale play buttons.
Also it's the part for the PC keyboard and mouse - you change that from Options for Seed, Arpeggio and Scale Play buttons (Ctrl + 28)
Select for all parts (check box) (Alt + L)
When this is selected, the instrument gets selected in all the parts.
Select (button) (Alt + S)
When this is selected, the instrument gets selected in all the parts.
Show All Parts (Ctrl + 9)
Set instruments to play for Bounce Metronome parts, volumes for parts etc...
You can set up any part with an instrument, volume, and other parameters here. More parameters are available in the First Highlighted Part - Properties (Ctrl + 176) window.
This part then can be used in many places in Bounce Metronome. It is for most purposes, equivalent to a Midi Out channel in other music programs.
Wave Shape Instruments - Audio Format (Ctrl + 188)
Set the audio settings, volume, device and so on for waveform player - also RENDER TO FILE - save any notes you play on waveform instruments to an audio file
Set Volume High (button)
Set the volume for the waveform player high, suitable for up to 3 note polyphony...
High volume is a level that lets you play up to three notes simultaneously at maximum volume without clipping.
RENDER TO FILE (button)
Renders everything played with the Waveform Instruments to an audio file - this is a CLEAN RECORDING with no noise or artefacts as the waveform is saved directly to the file - it isn't recorded through a soundcard...
The file name used to save to is the same one that you set in Record to file (Ctrl + 11) with the extension: ".waveform_player.wav"
The waveform is saved directly to the disk exactly as calculated.
SELECT FOR INDIVIDUAL BEATS (check box)
Use this to select the instruments separately for individual beats in the rhythm for the selected part...
Another way to do this is to right click on the coloured dots you may see at bottom right of each beat in the main window or Metronome Bouncing Ball (Ctrl + 219) or right click on the dots in 3D Bouncing Balls, Drum stick or Conductor's baton (Ctrl + 224)
How it works "Behind the scenes"
When you use this feature, what it does is to make a custom instrument for the currently highlighted part
called "Multi-Instr. Beats for Part ..."
So - there is one custom multi-instrument voide for each part which gets automatically updated as you change the instruments for beats in the rhythm.
You can see what happens in detail as you select instruments for different beats in the rhythm in Custom Multi Instrument Voices Menu (Ctrl + 37). You can also customise the individual beats further in that window.
Will switch off Select for all parts if that's currently selected
You have to do this for one part at a time - can't e.g. set the second beat to the same instrument simultaneously for all the parts so can't be combined with Select for all parts...
So if you use this option, it will change the highlight in Show All Parts (Ctrl + 9) to just the first highlighted part if several are selected, and will unselect Select all parts in the instrument menus.
SELECT FOR INDIVIDUAL BEATS (editable)
List all the beats you want to select this instrument for
Let single beat play two or more instruments at once (check box)
Normally UNSELECTED. You can select this if you want some of the beats in the measure to play several different instruments simultaneously.
Select for user edited multi-instrument voice (check box)
Use this to change the highlighted instrument in Custom Multi Instrument Voices Menu (Ctrl + 37) or Highlighted Instrument for Custom Multi Instrument Voice (Ctrl + 44)...
Gets switched on automatically when you switch to those windows (click on the window or otherwise activate it) and gets switched off when you switch to Show All Parts (Ctrl + 9)
Custom Multi Instrument Voices Menu (Ctrl + 37)
Use this to change the highlighted instrument in Custom Multi Instrument Voices Menu (Ctrl + 37) or Highlighted Instrument for Custom Multi Instrument Voice (Ctrl + 44)...
Gets switched on automatically when you switch to those windows (click on the window or otherwise activate it) and gets switched off when you switch to Show All Parts (Ctrl + 9)
Set Volume Low (button)
Set the volume for the waveform player low, suitable for up to 25 note polyphony...
Low volume is a level that lets you play up to twenty five notes simultaneously at maximum volume without clipping.
PLAY INSTRUMENTS FOR MENU, or edited text (check box)
Plays each instrument in the menu INSTANTLY when you move the mouse over it or change the highlight with the keyboard - also every time you edit the instrument here or in Show All Parts (Ctrl + 9)...
This lets you hear what the instrument in the menu sounds like before you select it. When you edit the text, this lets you hear your selected instrument as soon as you type its name.
Tip: You can play a menu selection a second time if you move the mouse out of the menu and back again or edit the text (e.g. just add a space at the end). This is especially useful for custom multi-instruments which have different instruments playing on each beat, like some of the examples in the Custom menu (e.g. Bongos).
=How this works for edited instruments
When you edit the text, each instrument is played for a maximum of two seconds - or for as long as you like if you keep the mouse completely still and don't press any keyboard key).
(There is no time limit for instruments highlighted in the menus).
Also while editing the text, plays a new note whenever the instrument changes as a result of your typing.
If the instrument hasn't changed, plays at most twice a second. This reduces number of times it gets played if you type quickly.
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Controls Common to Many Windows
