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General Category => General Discussion - Introductions => Topic started by: mr_lou on 17:19, 17 January 13

Title: Audio: How to make that harmonica sound?
Post by: mr_lou on 17:19, 17 January 13
The CPC can only produce a square synth, where as the C64 offers sawtooth and sine and triangle synth as well as the square synth.

But in the game Star Quake on the CPC, the tune is playing a harmonica sound. How are they doing that? I'm guessing it's a simple trick of using two channels?
Title: Re: Audio: How to make that harmonica sound?
Post by: robcfg on 18:15, 17 January 13
Can't you use the envelopes to create a sawtooth-like waveform?
Title: Re: Audio: How to make that harmonica sound?
Post by: steve on 18:17, 17 January 13
Maybe they are doing 4 bit DAC.
Title: Re: Audio: How to make that harmonica sound?
Post by: mr_lou on 18:26, 17 January 13
Quote from: robcfg on 18:15, 17 January 13
Can't you use the envelopes to create a sawtooth-like waveform?

Yes, many musicians do that, including myself. It's easy when using programs such as STaRKoS. But it's not "real" as such, if you know what I mean.
But yes, the AY chip can "emulate" a sawtooth. We already know how that's done. But I don't get how they're producing that harmonica sound in the Star Quake theme tune.

Quote from: steve on 18:17, 17 January 13
Maybe they are doing 4 bit DAC.

I have no idea what that is.
Title: Re: Audio: How to make that harmonica sound?
Post by: McKlain on 18:33, 17 January 13
I just loaded the game out of curiosity on JavaCPC, wich allows you to disable any audio channel that you want and also has vu-meters for the sound levels.

What they do is to play the melody on the left channel, and then one octave higher on the center channel. The trick is that they play with the volume levels; the attack, release an sustain are different on both channels.  It's a clever trick, an instrument created using 2 channels.
Title: Re: Audio: How to make that harmonica sound?
Post by: mr_lou on 19:05, 17 January 13
That is clever.

I thought it might be something like that. I wonder what other instruments could be produced using 2 or 3 channels....
Title: Re: Audio: How to make that harmonica sound?
Post by: TFM on 22:48, 19 January 13
Well, as long as you watch enough Italo Western movies, you will be able to create some real amazing instruments :laugh:
Title: Sv: Audio: How to make that harmonica sound?
Post by: mr_lou on 22:53, 19 January 13
Like?
Title: Re: Audio: How to make that harmonica sound?
Post by: TFM on 23:39, 20 January 13
Once upon a time a Revolution
Mercenario
The good, the bad and the Kangaroo ugly
A fistfull of Dollars
For some Dollars more
Silence
El Dorado or Rio Bravo
The Wild bunch (made in USA, but like a very well Spaghetti Western)
All the Cuchillo movies...
and...
featuring... Once upon a time in the West! (Best western for harmonica music). 8)

There are 30 well done more, but I'm a bit in a hurry here at work ;)
Title: Re: Audio: How to make that harmonica sound?
Post by: Gryzor on 15:18, 21 January 13
Ouch. Having really liked some other of BubbleBus' tunes I was expecting something nice, but my hearing is gone after loading this. Still, thanks for bringing it to our attention :)

Title: Re: Audio: How to make that harmonica sound?
Post by: McKlain on 15:25, 21 January 13
Once Upon A Time In The West - Man With A Harmonica (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m6BQKFs3-VM#)
Title: Re: Audio: How to make that harmonica sound?
Post by: TFM on 19:09, 21 January 13
Where's the LIKE button ?? ?? ?? (using IE8 on this computer here).
Title: Re: Audio: How to make that harmonica sound?
Post by: McKlain on 19:15, 21 January 13
It's gone! GONE!  :o
Title: Re: Audio: How to make that harmonica sound?
Post by: mr_lou on 19:34, 21 January 13
If someone can reproduce that on a CPC, it would be awesome.  :)
Title: Re: Audio: How to make that harmonica sound?
Post by: TFM on 20:24, 21 January 13
The Like-button? Well, I can give it a try :P
Title: Re: Audio: How to make that harmonica sound?
Post by: ralferoo on 22:40, 21 January 13
Quote from: McKlain on 19:15, 21 January 13
It's gone! GONE!  :o
Heh, I don't have it any more either. I was looking for it earlier when I was reading another thread and thinking maybe I'd done something stupid like logging out...
Title: Re: Audio: How to make that harmonica sound?
Post by: Bryce on 22:53, 21 January 13
Gryzor!   :D

Bryce.
Title: Re: Audio: How to make that harmonica sound?
Post by: Gryzor on 11:58, 22 January 13
Seriously guys, you can't discuss it in the proper forum? :p 
Title: Re: Audio: How to make that harmonica sound?
Post by: Bryce on 13:36, 22 January 13
Quote from: Gryzor on 11:58, 22 January 13
Seriously guys, you can't discuss it in the proper forum? :p

I was going to give you a Like for that, but.... :D

Bryce.
Title: Re: Audio: How to make that harmonica sound?
Post by: McKlain on 14:40, 22 January 13
Now I can't express my feelings without quoting someone else's message and poluting the thread with useless messages  :-[


But who cares about my feelings anyway  :'(
Title: Re: Audio: How to make that harmonica sound?
Post by: db6128 on 15:44, 22 January 13
If you insist upon removing it, which I don't agree with, you could at least be thorough and remove the now-pointless Liked statistics from profiles and from below people's avatars.

I don't see a problem with discussing it here, since it was not announced anywhere else for us to comment on, even after the fact!
Title: Re: Audio: How to make that harmonica sound?
Post by: Bryce on 16:44, 22 January 13
Relax, it's a temporary flaw in the system. It's being looked into and the Like button will be back with us soon.

Please try and avoid posting things that people might like until the situation has been rectified, so that the lack of a button will less noticable :D

Bryce.
Title: Re: Audio: How to make that harmonica sound?
Post by: Gryzor on 17:09, 22 January 13
db6128, are you serious, mate?

First, who told you I removed it? Don't go rushing into conclusions and being aggressive and insulting.
Second, so you mean that anything and everything that hasn't been "announced anywhere else" will be discussed off-topic in any random thread? Like you can't open a new thread to comment on?
Title: Re: Audio: How to make that harmonica sound?
Post by: db6128 on 17:16, 22 January 13
Quote from: Gryzor on 17:09, 22 January 13First, who told you I removed it? Don't go rushing into conclusions and being aggressive and insulting.
Fine, so I should have considered that it may have been accidental. You'll excuse me if I didn't because I don't know how that could happen. Blame it on a lack of knowledge about forum software. I apologise, in any case.

But I think you are significantly overreacting if you perceive anything here as "aggressive and insulting", rather than a simple misunderstanding and a rushed conclusion on my part. Was my post a bit stupid? Yes. Is there a reason for you be acting so offended? Not really.

Anyway, sorry. Is a major lack of sleep a good excuse for bad manners? Probably not.  ???
Title: Re: Audio: How to make that harmonica sound?
Post by: Gryzor on 17:26, 22 January 13
Well, apart from being ill I've had a really bad day today, so you can imagine that when someone assumes things and tells me I'm doing a half-arsed job yes, I get a bit riled up. But I think that even if I was having the best day of my life (hey! look! I found a Chase HQ II cart in the garbage!) I'd still find your comment aggressive and insulting, because you immediately jumped the gun (aggressive) and told me I'm not doing a thorough job (insulting).

In any case, let's drop it, okay. Things will get fixed as soon as I feel confident I can mess with the forum's code without f*cking everything up, my attention span has some severe shortcomings right now (hey, look! I found a Chase HQ II cart in the garbage!)
Title: Re: Audio: How to make that harmonica sound?
Post by: db6128 on 17:29, 22 January 13
Yeah, I'm an idiot and a bit of an asshole. The truth had to come out sooner or later! If it wasn't already abundantly clear.

Keep up the good work. This forum has some of the most usable software and enhancements on any I've seen, although I won't claim to be somehow who visits particularly many.
Title: Re: Audio: How to make that harmonica sound?
Post by: Gryzor on 17:38, 22 January 13
No need to get to the opposite extreme :D And something one says or does (same goes for me) doesn't necessarily characterizes them. As I said, no harm done, will try to fix it. Right now I'm dealing with the site's performance issues (hey, hasn't anyone noticed?)
Title: Sv: Audio: How to make that harmonica sound?
Post by: mr_lou on 18:04, 22 January 13
Get a room, and leave my thread alone. :-)
As I said, I wonder what other instruments can be created using 2 or even 3 channels.
Afaik, a piano sound is made by a hammer hitting 3 strings. Can we create a piano-like sound then by using 3 channels?
Title: Re: Audio: How to make that harmonica sound?
Post by: Grim on 19:16, 22 January 13
Quote from: CheyenneYeah, go on. Play, Harmonica. Play, so you can't bullshit.
:)

When using more than one channel to create a sound on the CPC, you must keep in mind that it won't sound the same when played in mono (internal speaker, some people still use that thing!) or stereo (3.5mm jack).
Title: Re: Audio: How to make that harmonica sound?
Post by: McKlain on 19:17, 22 January 13
That's why you need to use adjacent channels, so that the effect sounds more or less the same in stereo.
Title: Re: Audio: How to make that harmonica sound?
Post by: Grim on 19:40, 22 January 13
Yep, but in mono you can use up to 3 channels (they are all mixed together equally), in stereo (on the CPC) you can use only two (center + [either left or right]). A sound designed for mono using 3 channels won't sound the same when played in stereo. (the difference varies from more or less the same to ear cancer, from personal experience with sample-based sounds, not the usual square wave modulation tho)
Title: Re: Sv: Audio: How to make that harmonica sound?
Post by: Bryce on 20:43, 22 January 13
Quote from: mr_lou on 18:04, 22 January 13
Get a room, and leave my thread alone. :-)
As I said, I wonder what other instruments can be created using 2 or even 3 channels.
Afaik, a piano sound is made by a hammer hitting 3 strings. Can we create a piano-like sound then by using 3 channels?

A Harmonica makes it's sound by vibrating a small piece of tin. But exactly what the sound looks like should be easy to find out. Either by playing a Harmonica into a suitable recording device / soundcard / oscilloscope and looking at the frequencies it produces or you may even find some samples on the web that you could analyse with Audacity or whatever.

Bryce. 
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