Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
91 beta) ===================================-+
Programming & design by Siegfried Kullmann
Factory sounds in bank C by Ole Jeppesen & Siegfried Kullmann
Bank D contains sounds by Ensoniq taken from the SQ80.
(C)opyright 2006-2008
Mail: sigi.kullmann@googlemail.com
Thanks to
Rainer Buchty
for SQ80 resources & disassembled OS code
Homepage: http://www.buchty.net
Cubase and VST are trademarks of
Steinberg Media Technologies GmbH.
Ensoniq, ESQ1 and SQ80 are trademarks of
ENSONIQ Corp.
Installation
What is SQ8L?
Version history
Synthesis
The user interface
Known problems
Things to come...
waveforms.
- Voice restart should work correctly now.
- LOOP voice stealing mode removed. The former HQ mode is now
called SOFT.
- New LFO implementation with much more accurate frequency and
delay and the following new features (see paragraph D.2.):
- Humanization (randomize LFO frequency).
ON = emulate SQ80/ESQ1 (no humanization for frequencies<7
or while fading)
1x = humanize always
2x, 4x, 8x, 16x = humanize more
- All waveforms of OSC1-3 can be used for LFOs (except the
drum kits)
- Frequency modulation (FREQMOD).
- Adjustable phase offset (PHS) (in addition to trigger phase).
- Twin mode (PHS parameter, indicated by "T" in the value):
Two phase-shifted waves are subtracted from each other.
- 4 Playback modes (PLAY):
FWD = forward
REV = reversed (=backwards)
1XF = one-shot forward
1XR = one-shot reversed
- Smoothing (SMTH, applied before amplitude modulation).
- Different modes for amplitude/frequency modulators (AM, FM):
UNI = unipolar (source is clipped below zero, used to
correctly emulate the AM of SQ80/ESQ1 LFOs)
BIP = bipolar (was incorrectly used for AM until this version)
PHS = modulate LFO phase offset instead
SMT = modulate LFO smoothing instead
- Modes for LFO delay:
EMU = emulate SQ80/ESQ1
SMTH = smoother fading
- Frequency range extended from 0..63 to 0..127
- New envelope features (see paragraph D.3.):
- Start level (L0) instead of fixed to zero.
- CYC parameter for each envelope (=play full cycle without
sustain).
- Smoothing filter (SMTH).
- Parameter MODE-T1V switches between:
T1 = Velocity modulates attack time (T1) by amount in T1V
SMT = Velocity modulates smoothness (SMTH) by amount in T1V
- Different output shapers (SHAPE):
OFF = no shaping
EXP..EXP4 = exponential shaping
TAN..TAN3 = hyperbolic tangent shaping
- New emulation features (see also paragraph D.1.):
- Smoothing of DCA1-3 volumes:
EMU = emulate SQ80/ESQ1
FAST = less accurate but without latency
- Smoothing of DCA4 volume:
EMU = emulate SQ80/ESQ1 (soft attack)
HARD = hard attack
- MUFFLE:
OFF = crisp sound
ON = attenuate high frequencies to sound more like
the SQ80/ESQ1
- DC offset blocking filter (DC-BLOCK):
sound banks:
B = user banks
SQ8L factory bank
original SQ80 factory bank
- GUI changes:
- Bigger GUI with buttons to select parameter pages
(see paragraph E.3.).
- Most display pages can now be scrolled/toggled to show
additional parameters (see paragraph E.2.)
- Fixed bug with window scaling causing wrong placement of
GUI controls (has not been tested).
- Fixed problems with "jumping mouse" (I hope so).
- The knobs and buttons should no longer steal the keyboard
focus (has not been tested).
- Several emulation parameters can be overriden by settings
in the options menu.
- Added modulation source usage window (temporary, see paragraph
E.4.).
--- 0.90 beta --------------------------------------------------
- GUI changes:
- New design, keyboard removed.
- New sound compare function in the WRITE dialog.
- Parameters on the LCD and knobs can now both be used in
the same way (double clicking, mouse dragging).
- The sound selection popup menu can now also be opened by
right-clicking the sound program name.
- Saturation (SAT) parameter moved from emulation page to DCA4.
- Faster popup menus (noticable on slow computers).
- New file format for sound libraries (!).
- Soundbanks:
- Bank A (write proteced) contains the factory sounds
- Bank b is the user bank
- SQ8L settings and sound library now global (correctly shared
among SQ8L instances).
- Waverom integerated into DLL (folder "\data" no longer used).
--- ...zZZZzz... -------------------------------------------------- 0.84 alpha -------------------------------------------------! Note on this release:
This version sounds different from earlier versions, so
when using this in an older mix, you may have to do some
adjustments. Sorry for any inconveniences!
-
--- D.1. Emulation parameters ------------------------------------The emulation page (EMU) contains the following parameters
which are NOT global, but stored with each sound:
- BEND = pitch bend range (semitones)
- MODE selects which notes are affected by pitch bend.
Possible values are:
ALL = all notes
HELD = only held (sustained) notes
NEW = only the newest note
NEWH = only the newest held note
HELD2, NEW2, NEWH2 = like above, but if the affected
note changes, the old one "forgets" the pitch bend
and returns to normal pitch.
- AMBUG switches the emulation of a bug in the SQ80 on
and off. Sounds using AM=ON together with one-shot
waveforms are affected.
- VSTEAL selects the voice stealing mode.
Possible values are:
HARD = stolen voices are immediately stopped resulting
in audible clicks.
SOFT = fade out voices softly. In the worst case this
can take as much CPU time as 16 voices playing.
The VSTEAL parameter can be globally overridden (for
all SQ8L instances) with the "Voice stealing mode..."
setting in the options menu.
--- E.1. LCD*, knobs and parameters -----------------------------The GUI (graphical user interface) has been designed to recreate
the look-and-feel of the SQ80. The LCD always displays one page
which allows accessing some of the sound parameters. The pages
can be selected with the according buttons or via a popup menu which
opens on right-clicking almost anywhere on the GUI window.
Each page contains up to 10 sound parameters which can be edited
with the corresponding knobs.
Parameter values can be changed by clicking the knobs or the
parameter values itself on the LCD with the left mouse button,
holding it and moving the mouse up and down. Moving the mouse
left or right away from the position you clicked will make the
mouse more sensitive.
Double-clicking a parameter on the LCD or a knob opens a popup
menu with all possible values or, in case of a binary value,
toggles between the two possible values (in most cases ON/OFF).
When moving the mouse cursor over a parameter or knob, a short
description is displayed at the bottom of the window.
* In fact, the SQ80's display is not an LCD but a VFD. To avoid
confusion, I will call it LCD anyway.
--- E.2. Scrollable pages ---------------------------------------Basically, the scrollable pages are groups of individual sub-pages.
They are used to show additional parameters that would not fit on one
page (e.g. the LFO pages) or to group pages for quicker access
(e.g. the Mode/Emulation pages). If the current page can be scrolled
at least one of the arrows on the right hand side of the display will
be lit. You can scroll the sub-pages by clicking on those arrows, or
you can cycle through them by right-clicking on the display (this can
be disabled with the setting "Right click on display -> scroll page"
in the OPTIONS menu).
--- E.3. Page buttons -------------------------------------------The parameter pages can also be accessed by clicking on the
corresponding buttons. If the currently selected page is scrollable
clicking on its button will cycle through tha page's sub-pages.
--- E.4. The modulation source usage window ---------------------This window can be opened from the INFO menu or the page popup menu.
It's still just temporary and NOT interactive, but quite helpful.
All used modulation sources are listed (on the left) with all
modulated parameters (on the right after "->").
--- E.5. The "jumping mouse" ------------------------------------By default the mouse cursor jumps back to the previous position
after closing popup menus or turning knobs.
This may feel a bit strange at first but allows faster editing
with less mouse movements.
It can be disabled in the OPTIONS menu ("Mouse position is
restored after...") for popup menus and knobs separately.
--- E.6. The sound library --------------------------------------In the latest version an SQ8L library contains 256 user sounds
organized in two banks "A" and "B". In addition there are two
write protected factory banks "C" and "D". Bank "C" contains
128 SQ8L factory sounds. Bank "D" contains the 40 factory sounds
of the orginal SQ80 in the slots 000 to 039.
In the FILE menu, the Load/Save/Init Library commands refer to
the user sounds in banks "A" and "B". Thus, a SQ8L library now
contains 256 sounds.
The Load/Save/Init Bank commands in the FILE menu refer to the
currently selected sound bank. Note, that you can't load anything
into the factory banks "C" and "D", nor can you initialize them.
The user library is shared among all running SQ8L instances
(in the same VST host instance).
The user sounds in the current library are backed up when
the last SQ8L instance is closed and restored when the first is
reopened. The file used for this is named "SQ8L_backup.dat" and
is in fact an ordinary SQ8L library.
Note: SQ8L versions 0.90b or higher use a new library file format.
Files from older versions are automatically imported, but
exporting in the old format is not supported.
--- E.7. Selecting & writing sounds to the library --------------Above the LCD you'll find a panel containing a text box with the
name of the sound program currently in the edit buffer.
Clicking on the arrow buttons* loads the next/previous sound
from the current sound bank.
Double-clicking or right-clicking it opens a menu which lets you
select one of the sounds currently in the library.
The bank can be selected by clicking the "BANK" button or in the
sound selection popup menu.
Caution: An unsaved sound in the edit buffer
will be lost when switching the bank!
Left-click on the sound name box to edit it. Press "Enter" or
click elsewhere on the synth to end editing.
Click on the "WRITE" button to save the edited sound to the
library. In the dialog that will open you can select the slot
in the library to overwrite. If "COMPARE" is checked you can
play the selected sound stored in the library.
The "INIT" button initializes the sound in the edit buffer.
* Hint: The behaviour of the arrow buttons can be changed by
editing "swapProgUpDn=0" in the file "SQ8L\SQ8L.ini".
Possible values are:
"swapProgUpDn=0" : up button=next sound, down=previous
"swapProgUpDn=1" : up button=previous sound, down=next
--- E.8. Panic --------------------------------------------------The button "PANIC" resets the synth engine and stops all playing
voices. Click this if anything goes wrong (hanging notes etc.).
--- E.9. Exchanging sounds with the real synths -----------------The buttons "SEND" and "REQ" (request) are used to exchange sound
programs with a real SQ80/ESQ1. The first time you click on one of
these after opening the GUI you are prompted to select the MIDI
input or output port to which your SQ80/ESQ1 is connected. You can
also use the corresponding entries in the "FILE" menu which
always allow you to select the MIDI ports. The SQ80/ESQ1 must
be set to the MIDI channel "1" for this to work.
Caution: When exporting sounds for use with the ESQ1 be sure not
to make any settings the SQ80 does support but the ESQ1
doesn't!
--- E.10. The (computer) keyboard capturing ---------------------While editing the sound name (the edit box is focused), all
keystrokes are stolen from the host and other plugins, so that
even keys are available which normally are hot keys of the host.
However, the mechanism for detecting when to free the keyboard
again may be fragile. Therefore, the behaviour can be
changed by editing the file "SQ8L\SQ8L.ini" and setting
"keyCaptMode" to any of the following values:
"=0" : Free keyboard when losing input focus or when a
standard dialog or menu is opened.
"=1" : Like "0", but also free keyboard when any window is
opened (default).
"=-1" : No keyboard capturing!
Changes in the SQ8L.ini take effect only after reloading the
plugin.