Reader Mail & Rumor Report-July 8, 2006

In this week's reader mail & rumor report-a look at Babya Logic 2's step sequencers and we note the release of Babya Logic 1.4.1, Emagic Synth Pack 1, bTime & Guitar Amp 2. A preview of Babya Logic 2's manual and Babya software on Darwine, Babya EVS1.

A look at step sequencing:
With the upcoming Babya Logic Express 2-you will be able to use mproved composition tools such as Babya Effects Rack (easy access to all synths) and bAudio Express for live recording (great for recording different sound effects you create in UltraSynth).


In Babya Logic Pro, users will have the ability to access a easy to use step sequencer-the same one as included with Babya UltraSynth.

You can also utilize Babya Sculpture-a component type sequencer and a piano-roll style step sequencer. These step sequencers will be included in Babya Logic Pro, and will not be available in Babya Logic Express.

Babya Sculpture & UltraSynth can be downloaded on its own, so anyone can give it a go.
Download Sculpture:
Winsite:http://www.winsite.com/bin/Info?26000000038071
Softpedia:http://www.softpedia.com/get/Multimedia/Audio/Other-AUDIO-Tools/Babya-Sculpture.shtml

Download UltraSynth:
Winsite-http://mirrors.winsite.com/bin/Info?26000000037455
Softpedia:http://www.softpedia.com/get/Multimedia/Audio/Other-AUDIO-Tools/Babya-UltraSynth.shtml

With Babya Step Sequencer & UltraSynth, you have a collection of sample sequences to use.

Babya Step Sequencer is based on UltraSynth’s melody sequencer, in that it saves sequences the Babya “pxo” file format.

Babya Step Sequencer is very similar to UltraSynth’s sequencer: There is a piano bar along the left edge, with MIDI notes to the right.

If you are familiar with the step sequencers in popular music production software-eg. Apple Logic's Matrix Editor or the track editor in Apple's consumer audio software-Garageband, you can use Babya Step Sequencer just as easily. Even the Ultrabeat-which comes with Apple Logic Pro has step sequencer. These are all examples of different kinds of step sequencers-although different, you'll find some similarities between them .

As an example, I have a screenshot of Logic Express 7.2's Matrix editor on a Mac mini Core solo and a screenshot showing Babya Step Sequencer/Babya UltraSynth Sequencer on Windows XP.

Apple Logic Express 7.2's Matrix editor, showing a exported Babya Logic MIDI file being edited:http://img301.imageshack.us/my.php?image=stepsequencer4ka.jpg
Babya Step Sequencer/Babya UltraSynth Sequencer- http://img207.imageshack.us/my.php?image=usynthseq2uw.jpg

Babya Step Sequencer is very similar in functionality, in that the sequencers represent MIDI data as bars, which can be edited in a multitude of ways.



Babya Logic Express & Babya Logic Pro 2 will both be available as free downloads, later this month.

I'll post a tutorial video, showing how you can use Babya Step Sequencer, next week.

Babya Logic 1.4.1:
Babya Logic 1.4.1 featuring Babya Wavettes, was released late last month.

Babya Logic Updater will update the installed version of
Logic from version 1.0, version 1.1, version 1.2 or version 1.3 to version 1.4.1 (build 180)


New in version 1.4.1:
* Babya Wavettes- Do your Babya Tone Generator tones from last year need a major tune up? Well, now go overboard with Babya Wavettes' series of expressions for sound (mathematical that is) and the varied presets set the score. Adjustable sound settings add even more wildness-you'll never seen that outdoor anywhere.

New in version 1.4:
*Minor Babya Logic file save/open changes
*Babya iGrab-a easy to way to grab iPod music, without having to manually do it. This utility will let you rip either a single song, or the entire music collection of the iPod. This utility will not hurt your iPod in anyway, nor modify its database files or music.


New in version 1.3:
*Revised menu structure in Babya Logic
*Added Babya Spectrum Analyzer
*Added Babya WaveBurner
*Added Babya Logic Oscilator

Also installed with the version 1.1, 1.2, 1.3 and 1.4 updates are:
*Babya RingShifter
*Babya Sculpture
*Babya Logic Mixer
*Babya Exciter

Download:
Babya Logic 1.4.1:
http://www.winsite.com/bin/Info?27500000037305
Babya Logic Pro 1.4.1:
http://www.winsite.com/bin/Info?27500000037306

Babya bTime:

Babya bTime-a stylish countdown timer has been released.

Babya bTime is a countdown timer widget for iCal users.

Download:
http://www.winsite.com/bin/Info?27500000037338

Emagic Synth Pack 1:
Emagic Synth Pack 1 is a subset of software synthesizers & related tools from Babya Logic 2.

Synths:
Maestro-Tempo, Reverse,BPM, PhazePitch, Phasor
Audio Tools-Custom Looper, bAudio,ASIO suite (multiple output, device lister, duplex record),Full Duplex recorder .DSP & Audio Effects.
Others-bSine

You can record directly from Babya Logic or any synths with bAudio Express's live Wave record.

Download:

http://www.winsite.com/bin/Info?27500000037260

Reference Manual:
The Babya Logic reference manual has been updated again, with Mac setup information and a chapter devoted to the new step sequencer in Logic Pro 2-that'll be out either in mid-July or August:
http://stashbox.org/uploads/1152280427/Babya%20Logic%20%20Reference.pdf


EVS1:
Babya EVS1 is a new synth from Emagic (part of Babya). EVS1 will be available next month for both PPC & Intel Macs only.

EVS1 is the first Emagic branded synth from Babya's Emagic division.

Babya EVS1 i is intended to combine speech with music to produce the classic Vocoder sound used by many artists including Kraftwerk and ELO.


The On-screen Parameters

Modulator File
The path to a sound file that contains the modulator waveform. This would usually contain
a voice. Selectable with the Browse button.

Carrier File
The path to a sound file that contains the carrirer waveform. This would usually contain music.
Selectable with the Browse button.

Output File
The path to a sound file that contains the output waveform. This file will be created if it does not
already exist.

Window Length
The number of samples which will be analysed at a time.

Window Overlap
The number of samples that the windows will be overlapped as a percentage of the window
length.

Band Count
The number of frequency bands that the carrier will be modulated with.

Output Volume
The volume that the output will be scaled by.

Normalise
Whether to normalise the output with respect to the carrier.

Explanation.

This channel vocoder works by analyzing the frequencies in the
modulator, splitting them into bands, finding the magnitude of each
band, and then amplifying the corresponding bands of the carrier by
that magnitude.

The modulator should simply be speech. It works best of you speak
very clearly and more slowly than usual.

The carrier should be some kind of frequency rich waveform. White
noise works well. Periodic white noise (i.e. a very short sample of
white noise) gives a "robot-like" sound. Another one that sounds good
is a synthesized string chord. This waveform will automatically be
looped. You can get interesting results by having the waveform change
over time.

Since what you pronounce changes over time, it would be pointless to
analyze the entire modulator waveform and excite those frequencies in
the carrier at once. Instead, the program splits the modulator into
"windows", which it processes one-at-a-time. The window-length
specifies how many samples are in each window. You will want at least
a few windows for every syllable. If this number is too large, the
output will be not be very understandable. If it is too small, you
will have other problems. Around 1/15th of a second (or the sampling
rate of the sound file divided by 15) tends to sound good, but
experiment to find the right value. To give you an example, anywhere
from 512 to 2048 is okay for a modulator with a sampling rate of 44.1
khz. If you half the sampling rate, you should half the
window-length, etc. The window-length must be a power of two due to
the technique that us used to analyze the frequencies.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with the term "power of two," it
means a number that can be created by multiplying some number of two's
together. For example, the following numbers are the powers of two up
to 4096:

2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128, 256, 512, 1024, 2048, 4096

You get the next power of two by doubling the previous one.

Since the sound is processed in discrete windows, the output can
change very abruptly where it goes from one chunk to the next. This
is audible as a click. To remedy this, the program can have the
windows overlap and cross-fade between them. The window-overlap
specifies how many samples of overlap there are between windows.
1/8th of the window-length tends to be a good starting point, but
in many cases, one half of the window-length gives the best results.
This may not exceed half of the window-length.

In order to excite the frequencies in the carrier, the frequencies of
the modulator are split into bands. The larger your band-count, the
more the output will sound like the modulator. This number should
evenly divide the chunk-length for the best results. Somewhere
between 8 and 64 usually sounds best. The band-count may not exceed
half of the window-length.

If you find that the output is clipped (distorted) or is too quiet,
you can specify a value for the volume. Anything less than one will
reduce the volume, and anything greater than one will increase it.

While the defaults for the parameters generally produce decent
results, the best results will be achieved by changing their values.
The best way figure out all the numbers and what the best waveforms
are is to experiment. Have fun!
:

Babya Logic running in Mac OS X:
Babya Logic now can be used with Darwine on Intel Macs-and just as fast as it would be under Windows.

Babya Guitar Amp 2.1:
Babya Guitar Amp Pro 2.1 has been released with interface & bug fixes.
Download:
http://www.winsite.com/bin/Info?27500000037397

Babya Guitar Amp Pro 2 has just been released:
Babya today announced Guitar Amp Pro 2 featuring Babya's new AutoChord technology.

Guitar Amp Pro 2 is a amproved version of Babya's guitar control and tuning software with the following new Features in Guitar Amp Pro 2
-Babya's new AutoChord technology:
Babya AutoChord uses a metronome to precisely match your chords with a easy to use note table, editor & tuner included as well.

Babya's A.A. Fussy said, "Babya AutoChord is a easy way to learn the guitar and try some of Guitar Amp Pro's features at the same time. It's a amazing addition and I'm sure users will like it a lot."

Babya's product manager for digital media, Alvin Novick commented, AutoChord is the perfect way to identify chords when creating a custom tune-you'll be a pro in no time."

Pricing & Availbility:
Guitar Amp Pro 2 is now available for both Mac (with Darwine or Apple Boot Camp) and Windows at:

Download:
http://www.winsite.com/bin/Info?27500000037397

That's it for this week's reader mail & rumor report