Homebrew Physically Modeled Clarinet, Release 0.01a February 4, 1996 This is the first alpha of the HBPM clarinet synth for Macintosh. It is designed for performance with a MIDI wind controller such as a Yamaha WX7 or WX11 or one of the AKAI EWI or EVI series. This is a genuine waveguide synth, also known as a physically modeled synth. However, it's not a very good one. It's not terribly expressive, and its intonation is a little flat. The point is to find out what Macs can run this software, and what kinds of compatibility problems crop up. It runs fine on my Quadra 800; what else will it run on? I designed this synth to be very responsive. It responds to MIDI messages in only 10 milliseconds. In order to be that responsive, it uses a lot of CPU power. The Homebrew ScalePlayer says it's using 85% of the CPU on my Quadra. I'm thinking that in the future I should make the response time adjustable. If I increase response time to 20 milliseconds, it only uses about 75% of the CPU. But then the clarinet doesn't feel right, to me. This is probably an area for experimentation. To use this synth, you need: A MIDI controller, preferably a wind controller. A Macintosh, 68040-based with a floating point unit (FPU). A Power Macintosh won't work with this release. A 68030 or slower machine probably won't be able to play in real time. Macintosh System 7 or later. Sound Manager 3.1, if your Macintosh supports 44 KHz or 16 bit sound output. Opcode's Open Music System, version 2.0. You can download OMS from Opcode. http://www.opcode.com/ An OMS-supported MIDI interface. What's here? Homebrew OMS Driver This file is the actual software synth. It is an OMS driver, so it can be accessed from any OMS-aware application. Homebrew Thru Application This is a very simple application that allows you to route MIDI through from any OMS device to any other OMS device. You can use this if you don't have any other OMS applications. Homebrew ScalePlayer This is a test program. It plays a C-major scale, and it prints various interesting facts about its environment. It does not require OMS to run. READ ME You're reading me. How do you install it? 0. Double click Homebrew ScalePlayer. If you hear a clarinet playing a scale, that's great. The clarinet will run out of wind; that's also great. (-: If ScalePlayer crashes, it may be because your Macintosh doesn't have an FPU. Or it may be that you aren't running System 7. 1. Get OMS 2.0 and install it. Configure your studio. 2. Copy the Homebrew OMS Driver to the OMS Folder inside your System Folder. 3. Launch OMS Setup. Select "MIDI Cards & Interfaces..." from the Studio menu. This should add a new device to your studio called "Homebrew Soft Synth". Save your studio and quit OMS Setup. 4. Make sure your wind controller is transmitting on MIDI channel 1. The synth only receives on channel 1. Yamaha WX11 always transmits on channel 1. I don't know about the WX7 or the AKAIs. 5. Launch "Homebrew Thru Application". A small window will appear, with two pop-up menus. In the upper pop-up, select your wind controller. In the lower pop-up, select "Homebrew Soft Synth". 6. Play. Just like a real woodwind, you have to use a firm attack, or you'll just get breath noise. 7. Try other OMS applications. I don't know how well it'll work. The HBPM synth uses a tremendous amount of the CPU. Why doesn't it work? If Homebrew ScalePlayer crashes -- perhaps your Mac doesn't have an FPU, or you're not running System 7. Or you've found a bug. If it sounds like cardboard on bicycle spokes, not a clarinet -- then you don't have enough CPU power. Don't despair. First, try turning off everything unnecessary. If you have System 7.5, use the "Extensions Manager" control panel (written by my buddy, Ricardo Batista) to turn off everything EXCEPT: Open Music System Sound Manager Restart your Macintosh and try again. If that works, then you can gradually turn extensions on until it stops working. If you find an extension that makes the soft synth stop working, please let me know. Also, if your Mac supports 44KHz audio, try removing the Sound Manager and restarting. That will make the synth use a 22 KHz sample rate instead of 44 KHz. Of course, you lose sound quality. If ScalePlayer won't use your high quality audio -- Install Sound Manager 3.1. Without 3.1, the soft synth uses 22 KHz 8 bit audio. With 3.1, it uses the highest quality your hardware supports. Please, please give me feedback. Does it work? What doesn't work? Also, don't hesitate to send email if you have questions. Thanks. K kbob@sgi.com