FMJ-Software Awave Studio v11.6

FMJ-Software has updated Awave Studio to version 10.5. This update to the instrument editor and format converter adds support for Ensoniq EPS 16+ and ASR-10 CDs, Yamaha Tyros 3 drum-kits, Cakewalk SFZ v2, Westacott WinRanX, and Korg M3 files.

Changes:

• Added an "I/O->Read Ensoniq CD" command to read files from Ensoniq EPS 16+ and Ensoniq ASR-10 CD-ROM's.

• Added support for writing Yamaha Tyros 3 drum-kits (.UVD).

• Added limited support for reading Cakewalk SFZ format version 2 (.SFZ). NB; version 2 EG's and LFO's are not converted (version 1 EG's and LFO's are).

• Added support for reading and writing Westacott WinRanX Instrument Files (.WRF).

• Added support for reading & writing Korg M3 samples (.KSF), keymaps (.KMP) and scripts files (.KSC).

• Accumulated bug fixes.

Awave Studio is a multi-purpose audio tool that reads a veritable host of audio carrying file formats from different platforms, synthesizers, trackers, mobile phones... you name it. It can be used in a variety of ways: as an audio file format converter, as an audio editor, an audio and MIDI player, and, last but not least, as a wavetable synthesizer instrument editor & format converter. Think of it as the swiss army knife for anyone working in digital audio or with synthesizers.

Feature overview:

• Do conversions from the about 260 audio related file formats that it can read into any of the 125 or so audio file formats that it can write. See the complete list.

• Do quality conversion between the instruments formats most common PC synthesizer sound cards. Some examples: SB AWE32, SB Live!, all Vortex II-based cards, TB Pinnacle, TB Maui, AVM Apex, Gravis UltraSound, UltraSound PnP.

• Convert MIDI (and similar) song data between several formats. Or package MIDI songs together with custom instruments in a single file. e.g. you can convert MOD-tracker modules into MIDI-format accompanied by custom instruments. Or you why not convert melodies between different mobile phone ring signal formats?.

• Convert your MIDI songs (with or without custom instruments) into audio clips using the Awave Software Synthesizer.

• Read and write instrument formats for many commercial synthesizers, hardware modules, as well as many popular software synths. Including formats from Ensoniq, Akai, Korg, Kurzweil, Roland, Yamaha, Native Instruments, Creamware and many more.

• Send or receive waveforms to professional synthesizers using standard SDS transfers over MIDI or really fast SMDI transfers over SCSI.

    

• The program also allows you read several disk format that can normally not be accessed by Windows, including formats used by AKAI S-1000 CD's, AKAI S-3000 CD's, Roland S-5xx and S-7xx series CD's and floppy disks, Kurzweil "native" format CD's, and normal Audio CD's. See the complete list.

• Convert FM-synthesis (phase modulation synthesis) instruments into wavetable synthesis (sampling synthesis) instruments – with conversion support for all major Yamaha DX-series SysEx formats as well as PC Adlib file formats and MA-chip mobile phone ring-tone formats.

• A 'Batch Conversion Wizard' makes converting large numbers of audio files extremely simple. And with optional effects processing.

• The 'Audio Processing Wizard' makes it very easy to accomplish many common editing tasks like resampling, fading, cutting and pasting, merging and combining waveforms, normalizing, time stretching, pitch scaling, smoothing, recombining, searching and replacing text and much, much more. 'DirectShow audio effect filters' (a.k.a. DirectX plug-ins) are also supported opening up whole world of 3rd party effect processing modules. And it lets you these things on multiple items simultaneously as easily as on a single one. A nice example is the 'cross-fade loop' function. Using this, you no longer have to search in vain for that elusive optimal loop point. Just select a likely portion of the waveform and cross-fade it and voilá - you have a good sounding loop.

• Up to 32-bit floating point wavesample data precision is fully supported. And lower precision source data is automatically up-converted to higher precision whenever you do any audio processing or editing that would otherwise introduce quantization errors – thus the highest audio fidelity is always assured.

• Several studio quality resampling algorithms available, including one that provides > 24-bit signal to noise ratio.

• The 'Instrument Processing Wizard', help you in many ways to avoid having to manually do repetitive editing tasks on multiple instruments. The 'MIDI Processing Wizard' gives you tools for doing things like transposing notes or changing the tick rate.

• It is a fully featured DLS level 1, DLS level 2 and SoundFont 2.x wavetable instrument editor. You can also use it as an editor for a lot of other instrument formats. You can customize the editing user interface for your particular soundcard by using the 'parameter set' feature. Predefined sets for common synthesizer soundcards are available.

• Easy to use and understand two 'panes' layout - a hierarchical instrument 'tree' to the left, and waveforms to the right.

• Graphical editors available for instrument parameters. e.g. the loop editor let's you easily find the best loops.

• Play MIDI files using the 'MIDI Player', including support for custom instruments.

• Audition your instruments directly. Use the PC keyboard or an external MIDI keyboard to play. Or use the 'Audio Player' (with real-time oscilloscope or frequency analyzer display) to play back audio files - it's even integrated into the Windows shell so that you can play files with a click of the right mouse button.

• Record new waveforms using the Waveform Recording Wizard.

    

  Version 11.6

  Added support for writing NI Kontakt instruments (.NKI), banks (.NKB) and multis (.NKM). This should be compatible with Kontakt v3 and up (the full version, not the free player). Also improved the articulation parameter conversion when reading said formats.
  Added support for reading and writing NI Kontakt 'Monolithic' files, i.e. with embedded samples (unencrypted only, pre-v4.2.2, .NKI/.NKB./.NKM).
  Added support for reading NI Kontakt Compressed waves (.NCW).
  Added compatibility with NI Reaktor file format versions 5, 6 and 7 (.MAP).
  Improved articulation parameter conversion for Yamaha Tyros-series (.UVN/.UVD/.TVN/.TVD).
  Improved conversion of SoundFont v1 (.SBK) and added support for reading ROM waves from the SB Live-driver file "1mgm.sf2" (when reading .SBK or .SF2 files referencing ROM waveforms).
  Added a "Save in sub-directories" option to the "Save all in multiple files" function.
  All envelope segments now have "Vel to time" and "Key to time" scaling parameters, i.e. no longer just "Vel to Attack" and "Key to Decay". Supported to various degrees by SoundFont 2.1, Akai S-series, Kurzweil K-series, Yamaha Motif-series, Yamaha Tyros-series.
  Envelopes now have a "No Release" option (a.k.a. no note-off, a.k.a. one-shot mode). For formats that don't support this, it translates into max release time.
  Added "Mod wheel to Volume" and "Master Volume" parameters (the latter will be summed into region volumes for formats that don't support it).
  The region "Waveform parameter override" block has been split into three independent sub-sections: "Override tuning/volume", "Override loop" and "Wave Start/End offset".
  The "Remove silent sections" function in the Audio processing wizard now has an option to "Delete waveform if it is all silence".
  Added an option to adjust the mix volume of the "Awave Synthesizer". It is now louder than before by default, but you can lower it if you experience clipping (or raise it even more if you want to make it even louder, at the expense of risking clipping).
  Refreshed the texts and layouts of the articulation parameter tabs.
  The program and the installer executables are now digitally signed for improved security.
  A number of bug fixes and stability improvements.
   

    

  Version 11.5
  The "Awave Synthesizer" has been completely rewritten and now features:
  Much lower CPU usage when auditioning instruments.
  Much lower latency.
  Much faster MIDI to waveform conversions.
  It replaces the "Microsoft Synthesizer" for playing MIDI files.
  WASAPI is now used for all audio playback (replacing the older DirectSound interface). Low latency shared mode is available if your driver supports it.*
  (* If you are using the "Realtek High Definition Audio" driver (typical for motherboard integrated audio), then switching to Microsoft's generic "High Definition Audio Device" driver will allow you to go from 10 ms down to 2.7 ms).
  Working with large collections is now much faster.
  The various item property dialogs (waveforms, regions, layers et c) now directly apply any changes that you make - as you make them - so that you can immediately audition your changes. As the "Apply" button is no longer needed, it has been removed. In case you want to revert your changes, you still have the "Cancel" button.
  The virtual keyboard (i.e. playing notes with your computer keyboard) has been improved:
  You can now edit the key mapping under Preferences->Auditioning.
  It is now split into upper- and lower-octave sections, allowing for a few overlapping keys (for convenience when playing).
  It should now handle "OEM keys", i.e. the keys between 0PLM and Enter. These will vary depending on the keyboard layout, so you may need to configure it - by default it is set up for US/UK layouts.
  When auditioning things, the status bar now shows the state of pressed keys and a handful of basic controllers.
  In the Preferences dialog, a single "Audio settings" tab replaces the previous "Audio playback" and "Auditioning" tabs.
  The articulation property tabs have been restructured so that:
  Articulation "enable" is now found on the "General" tab of the item. The earlier "Articulation" tab has been removed.
  The panning and effect send settings have moved to a "Mix" tab, where they are joined by the EQ settings.
  The terms V-EG, M-EG, M-LFO, P-LFO (Volume, Modulation and Pitch) are now used instead of EG1/EG2/LFO1/LFO2.
  The previous six-stage "DAHDSR" envelope model has been extended to a more advanced "AADDSR" model. Still six stages, but with three additional level parameters. The previous Delay-Attack part is now Attack1-Attack1Level-Attack2. Hold-Decay is now Decay1-Decay1Level-Decay2. The modulation envelope is now bi-directional and sports two additional parameters: Attack2Level and ReleaseLevel (these are locked at 1 and 0 for volume envelopes). The program will convert this to whatever type of envelope that a file format supports. If you work only with file formats that doesn't support this (e.g. SF2 or DLS) and don't want to see the extra parameters when editing envelopes, then you can disable "EGs: Six-stages + levels + bid (AADDSR)" under "Parameter set" in the program options.
  All "Key to x" parameters now centers on key 60 (i.e. middle-C) and are expressed as change "per octave" (rather than the less intuitive center on key 0 and change "per 128 keys" as were the case in previous versions). Similarly, "Velocity to x" parameters now centers on velocity 64 (rather than velocity 0). (The sole exception is "velocity to volume", which is a special case in that it instead fixates the peak volume point.)
  Added "M-LFO to Pan" and "M-EG to Pan" parameters.
  Added "Key Velocity to M-EG to Pitch" and "Key Velocity to M-EG to Cutoff" parameters.
  Instrument properties now have a new "Effects" tab where you will find find two assignable "Channel FX" slots. These are the receivers of the effect sends set in the articulation tabs (by default Reverb and Chorus). A handful of effects are available to choose from (Chorus, Reverb, Delay, Tremolo, Compressor, Distortion, Phaser), with adjustable parameters for each. This has limited support in file formats as of yet, but may be expanded upon in the future (tbd).
  Added support for reading and writing Cwitec TX16Wx sampler banks and programs (.TXBANK, .TXPROG).
  Much improved conversion from Roland D-50 sound banks SysEx (.SYX) and added support for reading D-50 VST sound banks (.BIN). Also added support for reading Roland D-50 PCM ROM dumps (which makes the whole thing somewhat more useful). The latter can be either a single combined 512KB file, or one file per chip of 256KB (or even 512KB if the data was accidentally duplicated...).
  Melody machine compressed SoundFonts (.SFARK) can now be read directly, without the need of an external DLL. This now works in the 64-bit app too.
  Improved the precision of the "Auto tune" function.
  The column header in the MIDI track dialog is now clickable (for sorting).
  The "Load/Save Art" buttons have been replaced with "Copy/Paste Art".
  If you right click on an envelope you now get a menu with the options "Copy/Paste envelope".
  Various bug-fixes and minor improvements.