Amiga Computing - Commodore Is Awesome

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preview in Amiga Computing's July issue, Tune Builder basically offers a totally unique approach to musical production on the Amiga. In the past, producing music to accompany either video or a multimedia production was both expensive and time consuming, and more often than not both, Fortunately with its arrival, custom-built. pro-quality CD sound, is within the reach of quite literally anyone. And there's no need for any musical equipment, talent or studio facilities. As any vodeographer will tell you, quality pre-recorded Music is expensive, and even when you've got the basic working material you're still looking at a big investment in time, money and effort to edit and incorporate the music into your production. Even then you're by no means guaranteed that the end results will fit perfectly into the overall production - crescendos in the wrong place. quiet sections where you want a bit of excitement, the list goes on. Fortunately, Tune Builder puts all these • problems to the sword by providing a fully interactive customising process that allows the user to create music of precise length, tailored throughout in the style of your choice. Whether you need a change of mood or a dramatic crescendo, the exact slice of music you need can be slotted exactly in the right spot and repeated as often as necessary. The question is. how can a combination 30 MU SI C or those who missed our initial The ba55 line Aside from the ease of use, time saving and all the other point bonuses for Tune Builder, the overriding must for any library is the overall quality of the music. All too often, libraries consist of innumerable synthesiser specials with the Inevitable 'chicken in a basket' overtones that make for more of a novelty item than a serious production tool. In Tune Builders' case there is a slight cheesy feel on the odd track, but in general the collection is truly excellent with vocals and guitars blended with believable brass and Impressive percussion. Better still, all the major sampling formats, options and rates are supported across Amiga, PC and Mac and others. There's even a direct support of the Toccata card. In short. Tune Builder is nothing short of essential for anyone Involved in serious video or general multimedia. It will literally save hundreds of hours of hard graft while improving your overall production quality. If you can afford it, and can envisage a return on your investment, you can't really afford to be without it. Amiga Computing OCTOBER 1995 Qualitg of a musical illiterate, some software, and TB's accompanying CD's create pro-quality music that normally would keep a prcifessional musician busy for hours if not days. The simple answer is that although you have control over the construction, the tunes Themselves and all the hard graft that went into them has been done on your behalf by a team of professional musicians. Obviously, the process of transforming a musically inept computer jock into an instant impresario all hinges on the skill of those lovely people who put TB's Arpeggio CD collection together. During what must have been a nightmare production process, the musos behind the music built multiple edit points directly into each tune, which were then picked up by the accompanying software A s a Drag a nd drop simplicity a midst incre dible sound a nd production qua lity flhiH and match On initial boot-up, the first port of call is the Library section where you audition and select from the 344 assorted tunes spread over the 12 accompanying CDs. Needless to say, some form of fiftering, not to mention auditioning, is essential, but fortunately both areas are something TB is particularly adept at. Initially, the library presents you with the complete list and you're free to scan the collection and read the notes appended to each track - regardless of whether the CD is actually in the drive. If you find something you like the sound of, either during a browse or a dedicated search, it can be tagged and will then always appear in the search window regardless of subsequent search parameters. If time is of the essence, or perhaps you already have a firm idea of what you're after, the obvious step is to consequence, the software can lake a slice out of this digital loaf and cut, copy and paste it back in anywhere you need it. As any muso will tell you, simply taking a random slice out of a song and slapping d down elsewhere is a recipe for disaster. Unless you're either very gifted or extremely lucky the timing, the key. and overall continuity will be shot to bits. LARGE AND SMALL During testing I dissected and totally reorganised entire tunes, shrank them to a tenth of their original size and expanded others from 30 second originals into minutes. Every lime the end results were perfect, no clicks, no pops, no agonising key changes or obvious continuity faults well perhaps one or two.,, As you may already be aware, one Just a bout e ve ry sa mple forma t ima gina ble from a .bit mono to full 1 6 -bit CD ste re o forego browsing and go straight into a search. As you've probably gathered courtesy of the screen shots, filtering the 344 tunes is particularly well implemented. The first step is to select a style or even multiple styles. If this doesn't trim down the selection sufficiently you can narrow the selection further by searching by word, defining preferred tempos and/or a range of beats per minute. Even track length, using greater, less or exact parameters is an option. DELIVERIES During a complex search a click on the button will usually deliver three or four tunes, The next step is to audition your selection and to do it you'll need to fire up your CD-ROM drive. As you select each track the software provides a brief overview in the form of an editable note, the ID of the track, and the CD on which it's stored, If you then select the CD Player preview from the pull-down, a tape deck control pops-up ready to assist the
F t and Dayte - Paul flotin audition5HIP fluittity - arguablq the greatot admire 17 ROO =5k In 1tea15 111111Ler . _...ativ h Neal Drill I g1.1AlitAltildli i •- -- =--- — _. IVO 1 _, .. _ t ilbrI _e -e• m o E7 . l , Dig e t 1 oh Igo t".* • ElTal _.1 • -ma* • !ta t p I•t t i . t , i F : .• •N. • I Wn O , EMIT j m.._)___I• • I 1— • _P.E1 • Pl . .. • i'i • • I _n _ _ 1 . L--- 4 _1 U _r l _•••••••••• _ q — ----- a., ,., i tm l r J m cf1 Imma•tia , A1 m • 14••• l mI I L LII•• t•a• , . 7 l e•Imi o l l 5 . L . 1 • o . l Th. l , uitimate • „ • . z • in pick a nd mix. With 3 4 4 • • . tures , l . to . choose from the re 's no cha nce , _ bi1 • if running , - - . , d 1 1 out of ide a s e 2, 0 • - . • . • minute * . 1 • of . . stereo CD quality audio trans- l • • lates • . binto I roughly 14Mb of storage space. , • . d As w , a result_ r actually producing 30 minutes - r • o • , i c4CD l quality sound internally would bring e • • • even m V Wthe best equipped Amiga to its ! w I . knees. I p e . Consequently, TB offers a unique , • i . approach • to production by importing the ! I original • 1 16-bit data for the selected tune, • : and • from this it creates a more manage- 1 • able • ; 8-bit dummy. And its this 8-bit clone I which S TB uses for preview during production. I l l As you'll discover later. you do have the N I process on either searches or during browsing. Alternatively, if you simply double-click on the selected track the CD drive will automatically locate it and Start playback direct from the CD. Obviously there's a chance that not all your selections will be on the same CD. Fortunately, if you double-click on a track that isn't on the current CD you'll be prompted to insert the correct volume. And as an added safeguard, each track which is on the current CD will be highlighted with a star in the selection window Assuming you've found one or more tracks you're particularly keen on, you simply tag them and click on the project button. At this point you'll be asked what you want to import — either the currently highlighted file or your complete selection, That done, the software sets about importing the 16-bit data and generating its 8-bit doppleganger. Assuming you've imported all the tunes you require, simply select one and click on the all important Tune Builder button, • A D PI _ _ _ • 1 1 1 7 4 Track 21 03:11 I N al iIiiiJ MINI NI NI I •••••••••• e• • 04 11••• I I , i it I . • • .1- ,••••• We Holm ,i mi r.-..=r.... Mt ; 1 I 2_01114_21 j4 . • = j 1.1.1 Imam.? I j , J p r a t . : . . t 1 W 1 , l a w n % I W O W t U R N , 1 * r,,r -- ..: 11,, ,,Fil ...,. .. , , 4 i l : Make your se le ctions a nd import. But be a r in mind you could ne e d 6 0 Afb of disk spa ce for the nosogsa ty lb a nd 8 -bit da ta Opportunity to audition the available tunes in 16-bit prior to editing, so you should have a good idea of the overall quality beforehand. For the purists. 8-bit may seem like a worrying compromise, but in reality the done is more than adequate for basic edit decisions. Once your designer tune Is complete, the software reverts to the imported 16-bit data and compiles your master tune in the , format 1 and sound quality of your choice. 1 • Clg• EJ e t a • y r'D-Rom drive Hard fi r s 03U d ecelerator Audio E The bottom MP Product: Tune Builder Supplier: AirWorks Media Price: $999 none broadcast T Price: $18,999 Wand broadcast rights Tel: 001 403 424 9922 (Canada) Ease of use 10 BImplementation Value for money Overall 10 7 9 :I tn roi interactlue ru5tomising oe orOrn55 e that d110116 the rU5P1 i to create lli MU5it OF OFP(i5P od length, tailored throughout n e in the 5tI ar LIDOr G5 thote o u i l d r Amiga Computing OCTOBER 1995 MUSIC Legato ley Once inside the editor you're presented with a waveform of the entire tune segmented into numerous individual edits, and it's these seamless cuts that are the key to the whole process. Although the principle is inspired, the actual production process is embarrassingly simple. To audition the tune simply click on the Play Original button, and if you're perfectly happy with things as they are you can export the tune in the rate and Pile format of your choice. The next option is to interact a little more by specifying a user-defined length for the tune you require — either larger or smaller than the original. If you add the length you need and click on generate, TB automatically interpolates the existing track to produce a custombuilt tune that will fit your time parameter — usually to within one second. If you don't like this initial mix you can click again and TB will produce a new variant. You can repeat the process as often as you like and then toggle between the variations with the adjacent arrow keys. If this still doesn't quench you thirst for interaction, there's Still lots of scope. The next option is to use a combination of shift and mouse clicks to select individual sections — more than once if necessary. The selection is then played in sequence to generate a completely custom-built tune. If you like it, again a simple clicking on the Export will generate a new master_ INTERACTIVITY The final and. without doubt, the most flexible method is to opt for a full-blown edit session by getting interactive with the Assembler Bar directly below the waveform. To use it you simply dick on a section you like, drag it across and drop it on the bar. To create an entire tune you just keeping clicking, dragging and dropping until you have exactly the arrangement and length you need, To audition your creation you can click on the Play New button or shift and drag over the section you want to hear. As you select a new block from the waveform, its counterparts in the Assembler window light up. So it's easy to construct repeats or verse/chorus sections. You're also free to drop blocks inbetween existing selections and delete others. In short, complete drag and drop control. II you need to fade the volume, a click on the join between any two blocks evokes the Dynamic Adjustment Requester which allows you to add space for voice-overs or fade out tunes that perhaps slightly overrun the require run-time.
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