Audio File Formats Demystified

Audio File Formats I
Demystified
BY NORMAN
WEINBERG
know what we need. It's an ADA (an ­
oth er damn acronym)! It seems like
the technology geeks who are reengi­
neering our world know how to program
and speak in code. The goal of rhis guide is
to help you find your way through the maze
of the most common file formats used in
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digital music making.
FEBRUARY2006
DRUM!
115
FILEFORMATS
UNCOMPRESSED
AUDIO FORMATS
Wh en au d io is d ig itized , it is
rransform ed fro m analog soun d
pr essure levels to nu m bers. Your
com p u rer , s t e re o syste m , or
porr able mu sic pl ayer ne ed s to
u nderstan d the n umber s a n d
even tu ally turn all the littl e ze­
ros and ones back into sign als
th at your ears can hear and yo u r
b rain ca n und er stand. Th is is
w her e th e wo rl d of a u dio file
fo rmars come s int o play.
Audi o files are b roke n down
into two di fferent gro u ps - un
co m p ressed (loss less) and co m ­
p ressed (lo ssy) . U nco m p ressed
t hro ug h o rhe r co m p u te r p ro ­
cess in g . Fi les th at have bee n
co m p resse d w it h lossy co decs
wi ll o nly be de gr aded furth er if
they are sub j ec t to ad d it io n al
comp u te r mo d ificat io ns. Co m ­
p ressed for ma rs are used w hen
t he high est-quali ty aud io is no t
necessary o r whe n sto rage spa ce
and tr an sfer ti me are imp orr anr
cons ideratio ns. W e'll first take a
loo k ar the tw O mo sr co m mo n
lossless aud io form at s.
AIFF (Audio Interchange
File
Format). The se flies w ill o fte n
use the .aif extens io n. Thi s is a
non comp ressed for m at th at is
Without audio
compression, it wouldn't be
possible to get all those
, songs on your iPod
Format. O ne o f rhe ad va nta ges
o f thi s f o rmar is th e l a r ge
amo u nt of non audi o d at a tha t
can be sto red alo ng with th e au­
d io inf o rm ation . AfFF files o f­
ten co n tai n inf orm ari on such as
n ame, aut h o r, co py r igh r, a n d
com ments .
WAV(Waveform Audio Format).
Th e commo n exte ns io n for this
rype of file is .wav. T h is is a file
fo rm ar de signed to stor e aud io
data on PC s, yet mos r Mac soft­
war e wi ll also ope n WAY fil es.
While rh is form at is a c lo se
co usin to AI FF, ir makes som e use
of rhe spe cial feat u res ava ilable
with Int el CPU ma ch ines. WAY
files can hold aud io thar has bee n
com p ressed , bur th ey are rnosr of­
t en us ed to h ou s e non c om­
pressed aud io. Du e [Q the lim ita­
tio ns of rhe fo rmat, WAY files
can't be larger th an 2G B.
M4A
COMPRESSED AUDIO
FORMATS
file fo rma ts are used when m ax­
im um audio qu al ity is d esired .
While an alog puri sts will argue
that digit izin g any signal resu lts
in a loss in q ua lity, lossless aud io
files try th eir best to keep all the
dig it ized dara in its full form . In
ge neral term s, yo u' ll wa nt to use
lossless fo rmats wh en th e aud io
ma y be furth er ed ired or passe d
Beca use un compr essed a ud io
produ ces larg e files, th e po p u­
lariry of w or k ing wi th co m ­
pr essed file fo rm ars has grow n .
C D -q ua liry sou n d (44 .1kH z ,
used to sto re audi o files p rim ar­ 16-bir stereo) eats ap proxi m ate­
ily on Ap p le co m p u te rs. H ow­ ly 10MB p e r minut e . Th at
mak e s a 1O- minute u n c o m­
ever, m ost PC so ftw are can read
p ressed aud io file abo ut 100MB
AI FF files wirho ur a p ro bl em .
The A I F F for m ar wa s d evel ­ in size. So me audio co m press ion
op ed by Apple (so m e fol ks be­ schemes can redu ce file size by a
factor of ten or m o re. W ithout
lieve t hat t he acro ny m sta nds
for Ap ple Inte rc ha ng e Fi le Fo r­ aud io co m p ressio n, it wo u ld n't
ma t) and was based on the Elec­ be po ssible to ge t all th ose so ngs
o n your iPod!
rr oni c Arrs In rer ch an g e Fil e
AUDIO FILE FORMATS
-
-.
--
-
--
-- - - -
Uncompre s se d
Co mpre s s e d Lossless
Compre s s e d Los s y
AIFF
ALAe
APE
CAF
FLAC
AAC
ASF
ATRAC
CAF
m4a
m4a
OGG
WMA
MP3
WMA
NOTE: So me formal s, like m4a and WM A, can house bot h lossless and lossy compre ssed files.
116 DRUM!
I
All co m p ressio n form at s use
a co d ec of so me SOrt . An aud io
co dec is a pro cess o r a sofrwa re
p ro gram that comp resses (co-)
an d th e n d ecomp ress es (-de c)
an aud io signa l based o n a n um­
be r of ru les and ass u mp t io ns
abo u t how we pe rceive m usic.
Co m p ressed aud io is fu rth er d i­
vid ed into cod ees that are lossy
a n d th o se r h a t a r e lo ssles s.
W irh lo ssle ss a ud io co m p res ­
sio n fo rmats, th e size o f rhe file
is reduc ed bur rhe quali ty o f th e
mu sic rem ain s rh e sa me . In the­
o ry, th e deco m p ressed sig na l is
exactly the same as the o riginal
signa l. W h ile lossy compr essio n
form ars can of fer a hug e red uc­
tion in th e file size, yo u can ex­
pec r on ly abo u t a 50 -percent re­
ducti on whe n u sing lo ssless
co decs .
AAC (Advanced Audio Coding).
T h is is a co m p ressed and lossy file
format th ar was develop ed [Q be
an imp rovement over M P3 and
d esign ed for aud io srrea m ing.
So m e of the feature s rh ar mak e
MC more rob usr than M P3 are
the ab ility [Q sam p le freq uenc ies
from 8 Hz up to 96 kHz , the use
of up to 48 ch annels, and high er
codi ng efficienc ies for statio nary
and tr an sient signals. The M C
file form at was first publi shed in
1997 but carne inro the popul ar
con sciousne ss when Apple co m ­
pure r's iPod began using this file
for mal in 2003 .
ASF (Advanced Streaming For ­
mat ; la te r changed to Advanced
Systems Format). Th is file fo r­
mat is p aten ted in th e US by
Mi croso ft and is used by W in­
dow s Media fo r both audio and
v ideo . ASF fi les a re m ore lik e
co nt ain er s t h at can h old d a ra
comp ressed by a num ber of di f­
ferent co de cs. WMA (W indow s
M edi a Audio) and WMV (W in-
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FORMATS
Beca use un compr essed a ud io
produ ces larg e files, th e popu­
lariry of w o r k ing wi th co m ~_~
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an imp rovement over M P3 and
d esign ed for aud io s t rea m ing.
So m e of the featu res rh ar mak e
MC more rob usr than MP3 are
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By KAREN STACKPOLE
A Natural Tom
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The usual tendency
when miking toms is to
place a directional
mike about two inches
from the drum, which
picks up a prodigious
amount of attack and
results in an artificial
low-end boost from
proximityeffect (which
is not necessarily an
enhancement of the
drum's actual tone). In
the pursuit of
capturing a more
"mature" bottom end
and a fuller, natu ral
sound from the toms,
fellow engineer
George Borden
shared with me one of
his favorite recording
techniques.
By placing
sensitive condenser
mikes between six to
ten inches from the
toms, you allow the
sound of the drum to
develop before it
reaches the mikes.
The downside is that
the mikes willalso pick
up all sorts of bleed .
To control unwanted
sounds, use close
mikes (rim-mounted
versions are most
practical) on the toms
ows
rin­
Send clip-on
mike and
distant
condenser
mike to
separate
channels.
distance), over the rim,
and angled toward the
heads . Insert gates on
the distant mike
channels . The gate will
open to allow the
sound to pass when it
reaches a certain
threshold determined
by the attack and then
willclose when the
level dips below a
certain point
determined by the
release setting .
( FIG. B)
During
mixdown, insert
a gate on the
condenser
track.
ALAC (Apple Lossless Audio
Co de c) . Thi s format is a lso
ca lled Apple Lossless En cod er ,
o r AL E for sho rr. Simil ar to ASF
files, ALAC files serv e as a con ­
tainer ro hou se files that ha ve the
extension m4 a. This form at was
first introduc ed in a QuickTim e
up grade in 2004 and imple­
mented into Apple's iTunes 4. 5.
Send direct out of
clip-on mike track to side
chain input on gate to trigger
gate opening.
Sony as a file fo rma t for th eir
M inid isc record e rs.Two mo re re­
cent versio ns, AT RAC3- LP2 and
ATRAC 3- LP4 , enab le th e lon g
pl ay m od es feat ure d o n m an y
c u rr e n r M i n id isc re cor de rs .
Th e se t w o for ma ts in cr e as e
record ing tim e up to 324 min ­
ut es on an 80- mi nute M inid isc.
CAF (Core Audio Format) . Thi s
is the newest addi tion ro th e au­
di o for m at fam ily a nd is su p­
porr ed nati vely in the Mac intos h
ope ra ring syst em . Apple
claim s that this file fo rm at can
record as m an y as a th ou sand
channel s of audio fo r as lon g as a
as x
lata
dif-
( FIG. A)
to trigger the opening
of gates inserted on
the more distant
mikes. You'llget the
benefit of lightning­
fast response and
control while
capturing the sound of
the toms from a more
natural standpo int.
Place medium - to
large-diaphragm
cardioid or
hypercardio id
condensers such as
AKG's C3000 or
C414 B-ULS, Shure 's
KSM32, Audio­
Technica's 4030, or a
similar mike, six to ten
inches above the toms
(listen to the sound to
determine the best
d ows Me d ia V ideo) are the two
most co m mo n file rypes held in ­
sid e a n AS F file.
ATRAC (Adaptive Transform
Acoustic Coding). This algo­
rithm was developed in 1991 by
files can be read by a numb er o f
different pro gr am s o n all major
computer plat form s.
The problem one
faces in this situation
(FIG. A) is having the
gate open too late
and close too early.
The solution is to
create a physical
"look ahead" function
on the gate by simply
using clip-on tom
mikes - for example ,
Sennheiser 's e604,
Shure 's Beta98, or
Audix's micro -D - and
feeding the output of
those mike channels
to the side chain/key
input of the gates on
the distant mikes (FIG.
B). The sound hits the
close mikes earlier, so
the gate opening is
instantaneous. Adjust
the release control to
set a natural­
sounding decay time.
Borden comments
that "the beauty of the
sound is when the
stick leaves the head
.. . Let it ring!"
th ou sand years (now that 's going
to be a big file'). Like its cou sin s,
it ca n serve as a co nta ine r that
ca n hou se both co m p ressed and
un compr essed files.
FLAC (Free Lossless
Audio
Codec) . Th e "free" part of thi s
file form at 's nam e mean s th at
the FLA C pro cess is not co vered
by an y patenr. Like othe r loss­
less com p ression for mats , FLA C
ca n red uce a n aud io file by 30 ro
50 percenr. FLAC files are be­
co m ing more popular as a way
to arch ive CD collections and as
a way to transfer high-qualit y
audio over the Inrerner. FLAC
m4a (MPEG-4 Audio Standard).
This is the file ext ension of an
audio file that u ses M PEG-4
Advanced Audio Codin g. Ap p le
made this format famou s by us­
ing it for their iTun es so ftw are .
Most software that will re ad
MPEG-4 files will support the
m4a formar.
MP3 (Moving Picture Experts
Group-l Audio Layer 3). With­
out a doubt, this is currentl y the
most popul ar audio co m pres ­
sio n format on th e p lan er. Th e
MP 3 audi o compre ssion forma t
was fir st d evelo ped as early as
198 7 a n d finali zed in 19 92 .
Th e fir st commer cial sof tw are
to u se th e M P3 formar w a s
W in p lay3 in 19 9 5 . Since th at
time , M P3 files sta rte d ap pea r­
ing o n th e Int ern et , a nd as th ey
say, "the rest is hi st or y." Tod ay,
the number o f ap plicatio ns th at
can read or w rite M P3 files is
enormou s. It is t he ub iqu ito us
standa rd for shar ing aud io files
over the Internet , and for good
reason. It's fast , it's free (for th e
user), and it ca n d rastical ly re­
duce the size of a n a ud io fi le
without totally desrro yin g t he
quality. Like other lossy co m­
pression schemes, it do es thi s by
removing portions of th e aud io
image that the algorithm det er­
min es c an 't eas ily be he a rd .
MP 3 fil es can perf orm their
compr ession m agic ar a nu mb er
of di fferent b ir rates rh ar can ad ­
JUSt th e tr ad e- o ff bet w een file
size a n d au d io qu alit y. Co m­
mo n bit rares range between 32
and 32 0 k ilo b irs per seco n d
(K b ps), with 12 8 Kbps and i 92
K b ps b ein g th e m o st p opul ar
co m p ro m ise . Fo r m o st c iv il­
ians , a n MP 3 file at 128 Kbp s
w ill so un d JUSt fin e . If yo u're
pl annin g o n listen in g to mu sic
files in a m ovin g car, 128 Kbps
m ig h t sa tisfy yo u r ea r. Bu t for
mos t mus ician s who are famil­
iar w ith th e sonic fing erp rint of
hi gh -qu ali ry inst ru m ent s, a 192
Kbp s fo rmat o r hi gh er is often
necessary.
{Cont. Page II 8 }
FEBRUARY2006
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The downside is that
the mikes willalso pick
up all sorts of bleed .
To control unwanted
sounds, use close
Send direct out of
clip-on mike track to side
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the release control to
set a natural­
sounding decay time.
Borden comments
that "the beauty of the
sound is when the
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117
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quality. Like other lossy co m ­
pression schemes, it do es thi s by
removing portions of th e aud io
image that the algorithm det er­
I
FILEFORMATS
-=
-=1m:
~
AU
MAS
VST
OirectX
OSSI
LAOSPA
RTAS TOM
NOTE: Some plu q-in hos ts are able 10
ope n files in many diff erent formals.
OGG (OffVorbis) . Vorbis is an au­
dio codec tha t is often placed in­
side an OGG con taine r. Togeth­
er, they use the .ogg file extension.
T his form at has b een gaini n g
popularity with those that sup­
po n open sou rce so ftware, and
it's been showing up o n several
web sites aro und the world.
WMA (Windows Med ia Audio).
WMA files are co mpres sed files
th at are p layed using M icrosof t's
Wi ndow s Media P layer. Or igi­
nally, th e forma t was develop ed
to be a competitor to MP3; it's
n o w a competito r to Apple 's
M C fo rm at. The n ewest ve r­
sion of WMA is 9. J and con­
tain s codecs fo r m u ltic h a nnel
su r ro u n d so und and lo ssl ess
suppor t. W MA files are mo st of­
ten containe d inside an ASF file.
The re are a nu mber o f ot her
lossy and lossless file fo rma ts,
and it seems t hat ne w o nes are
being develo pe d at a su rpr ising
pace. Some, like Mo n key's Au­
dio 's APE format , are o nly su p­
po rt ed on t he P C p la tform .
O ther s, like Rea lP layds Re­
alAud io Loss less forma t, are de ­
sig n ed to be read by a sing le
ho st pro gram (alt h oug h ot he r
so ftware may be ab le to im po rt
th e files).
MIDI FORMAT
MIDI is itself ac tua lly anothe r
acrony m an d stands for Mu sical
Instru m ent D igi ta l Interfa ce .
M IDI is a co mm u n icat io n pro­
tocol rather th an a file rype , but
files co ntain ing MIDI in forrna ­
no n are commo n.
SMF (Standard MIDI File). T he
SMF specificat io n was d evel­
ope d by the M IDI Manufac tur­
ers Associate (MMA ) as a way to
sto re the in for mation co nta ined
in a MI DI pe rform ance. Whi le
so frware seq uence rs use prop ri­
et ary file form ats to handle their
own files inte rna lly, JUSt abo ut
a n y M I DI sof twa re p ro gr am
wi ll let th e user expo n to t he
S MF fil e t yp e . O nce saved,
these files ca n be ope ned o r im­
po rted into m ost m usic so ftware
p rogra m s . Us ing Sta nda rd
MI DI Files, it's poss ible to sha re
a M IDI perfo rm ance berween a
seq uenc ing p rogr am and a no ta­
tion program . It 's also pos sible
to use the SM F format to trans­
fer informa tio n berween di ffer­
en t co m p u ter platf o rms . SMF
files are a co m mo n way for com­
posers to sha re the ir co m posi­
tion s an d tra nscript ions of pe r­
forma nces o n th e Web .
The re are t h ree d if ferent
M ID I file formats. Type- J files
are the mo st com mon , as they
ca n con tai n an unl im ited nu m­
be r of tracks and aJI t he neces­
sary in fo rmati o n to repr od uce
an en t ire m ultitr ack MIDI song
pe rforman ce. Typ e-O fi les are
m uch less com mon, as they con ­
tain all th e MID I mes sages in­
side a sin gle tra ck. Type-2 MIDI
files are even mo re rare. If you
want to send M ID I files over rhe
Int ernet or collabo rate with oth­
er mu sicians by tra d ing M IDI
files, yo u' ll wa nt to use th e Type
J SM F forma t for the mos t m u­
sicaJ flexibiliry.
PLUG·IN FORMATS
A plug-in is an add itional com ­
purer progr am t hat ru ns inside
an o ther pro gra m , o ften ca lled
th e " host" p rogram . Pl ug-in s
give a pro gram ad d it ional fea­
tu res or expa n d t he softwa re's
funct ionality If you've used im­
age-edit ing programs, yo u may
be fam iliar with plug -ins that aJ­
rer the source image in some way.
For examp le, you mig ht run an
image throug h a plug-i n t hat is
GE'rl1NG A GREAT SOUND
By STROTHER BULLINS
Using EO
Following proper tuning and
microphone selection,
equalization (detailed tone
co ntrol via the adjustment of
particular frequency ranges)
offers drummers an effect ive
way to provide the best drum
and cymbal sounds to a
recorded medium or a live
audience. A standard three ­
band , fully-parametri c EO is a
superior tool for sculpting the
best individual drum sounds; it
allows low-, mid-, and high­
range frequen cies to be
targe ted for ± adjustment plus
the added bene fit of variable
bandwidth (the range of
frequencies to be affected ,
often referred to as "0" ).
As a general rule, the
equalization proce ss should
begin with all sett ings flat,
which means no frequency is
boosted or cut. For more
natural sounds, use subtract ive
equalization : Instead of finding
a sound source's most
pleasing or integral frequencies
and boosti ng them , find the
least pleasing frequen cies
lIS
DRUM!
I
equalization (detailed 'tone
co ntrol via the adjustment of
particu lar frequency range s)
offers drummers an effect ive
way to provide the best drum
between the 5 to 7kHz area .
Snare fatness resides around
240Hz ; nearby mid-frequencies
can also be added for more
body, but beware of "tubby"
results . Likewise, reduc ing mid­
frequencies often uncovers
extra crispness within the signal.
present and take
them away.
Here, we willexamine EO
adjustments to try on various
components of a stand ard
drum kit. The inexpens ive
($129 .95 MSRP) PreSonus
E03B willact as a visual
reference (FIG. c).
BASS DRUM
For more powerful fullness and
body, boost around 60 to 80Hz .
To alter papery flap, adjustments
can be made ± from 300 to
800Hz . Generally, a slight cut of
low-mids from 400 to 600Hz
provides better overall tone . To
add or adjust beater attack , find
the click within the range of 2.5
to 6kHz and tweak as needed .
To reduce leakage from
cymbals, remove high
frequenc ies above 5kHz.
SNARE DRUM
Iftuned and miked correctly,
snare drums gene rallyneed little
EO adjustment. However, for a
bit more brightness, add
TOMS
For increased impact on both
rack and floor toms, boost at
5kHz. Likea snare's fatness
and attack , a rack tom's
fullness and snap are usually
in the ballpark of 240Hz and
5kHz, respectively, varying on
the size of the drum. Floor
tom fullness is closer to 80 to
120Hz. Zero in and adjust to
taste . As with the bass drum,
remove frequencies over 5kHz
to reduce cymbal bleed.
CYMBALS/HI-HAT
The c1angy gong sound of
cymbals and hi-hats is usually
around 200Hz . To adjust
cymbal shimmer - adding to it
is the most common EO
adjustment - work in the area
of 7.5kHz to 12kHz for optimal
results . To reduce low-end
rumble, cut all frequencies
below 75Hz.
www .drummagaz ine .com
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results . Likewise, reducing mid­
frequenc ies often uncovers
extra crispness within the signal.
TOMS
For increased impact on both
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Plug-ins can
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designed to make a photo graph loo k
like a watercolo r paintin g or an old ­
time sepia tint ph otograph .
Audi o plu g-in s can b e sy n rhs ,
sampl ers, signa l p to cessors, or oth er
to ol s that help you work with o r
pto cess di gital aud io. For exam ple,
plug -ins suc h as DFH Su pe rior ,
Batt ery, or Absynr h are so und gen­
erato rs th at wo rk with in seq ue nc ing
pr o gram s . Nativ e Instrument s'
Konrakr 2 is a popu lar soft sam pler
plu g-in that o pe ra res in a simi lar
manner. O ther plug-ins, like iZo­
top e 's Tr ash or Ca me l Audi o 's
C amelS pace , ser ve to m odify t he
audi o from the ho st pr o gram or
even from other plu g-in s.
When workin g w ith plu g- ins ,
th e host program pro vides a manner
in wh ic h dat a is p assed ba ck an d
I
Plug-ins can I
be synths,
samplers, signal
processors,or
other tools
forth betw een th e ho sr p rogram to
the plug-in . Th e term API stands for
Ap p lica tio n Pr o grammin g Int er ­
face, an d it's th e set of rul es th at one
piece of software uses to com m un i­
cate wirh ano rher piec e of so ftwa re.
Below are som e o f th e rnost co m­
mon plu g-in formats .
AU (Audio Units). T h is plug-in for­
ma r was develop ed by App le Co m­
purer to add fun ct ionali ty to so ftware
running on thei r machin es. It's a sys­
tem -level plu g-in char is part of Ap ­
ple's Cor e Audio system in System X.
DirectX. The Dir ectX format (origi­
nally called Gam e SD K) was designed
to handl e game programmin g on Mi­
crosoft Wind ows machin es. Tod ay,
there are several DirectX -compa tible
mu sic software app lications and quire
a few developers that offer their plug­
ins in th is forma t. T he most cur rent
version is now DirectX 9.0c.
(0551 Soft Synth Instru ­
ment). This is the plu g-in arch itec­
ture for virt ual in strum ent s run­
0551
[Cont. Page 120 1
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FILEFORMATS
ni n g the Linux ope rating sys­
tem . C lose ly r el ated
to
LA DS PA , th e D S SI lab el is
used prim arily for instrum en ts,
wh ile LAD SPA is used most of­
te n for o the r so u nd-p rocess ing
ap p licatio ns .
lADSPA (Linux Audio Develop­
er 's Simple
Plug-In
API).
LADSP A pl ug-in s are designed
ro ru n in ho st p rogram s un d er
th e Linu x o pe rating system. Fi­
nalized in 20 00, rhe for mat has
q u ite a few plu g-in develo p ers.
W it n th e p opularit y of Lin ux
ex pa n d ing ev e ry year, yo u 're
sure ro see mo re plu g-in s bu ilt
for Linux in the fuw re.
MAS (MOTU Audio System).
M AS is a p ropriet ar y form at of
t he c o m pa ny M a r k Of T h e
Uni corn (co m mo n ly kno wn as
M OTU). MAS plu g-in s in ­
cl u d e virr ual ins t ru m ent s a n d
aud io effects.
RTAS (Real Time Audio Suite).
RTAS is a p lug-in fo rm at th at is
used in th e Pro Tools e nviron­
men r. W nil e de sig ned for Pro
Too ls, o ther host a pp licat io ns,
li ke Digi tal Perf orm er 4. 5 o r
hi gher, are a b le ro use RTA S
pl ug-in s.
TOM (Time -Division Multiplex­
ing) . O rigina lly in vent ed fo r th e
I
I
VST (Virtual Studio Technolo­
gy) . The VST fo rm at was devel­
ope d b y S te in b erg for u se in
th e ir Cub ase soft w a re . Tod ay,
VST p lug -i ns (a nd th ere a te
I
hund red s o f rhern ) can be used
in nea rly every audi o pro gram
on borh th e PC and Mac plat­
for m s. VST can be viewed as th e
d e fa er o s ta n da rd for a u dio
p lu g-ins. VS T plu g-in s can ei­
th er be sof t instrum ent s, such as
sy n rhs or sa m p le rs, or effec ts
su ch as rever bs, co m pressor s ,
di s ro rrion b o xes , a n d o r h e r
m e th od s of p ro cessi n g a ud io .
In strumen ts are oft en given th e
V STi ac ro nym ro d istingui sh
th em selves from effect plu g-in s.
If you're involved with
creating electronic music,
at some point you're sure
to use sample libraries
teleph on e in du st ry, this is t he
way th at Pro To ol s co m m u n i­
cates with o ther extern al input
and o u tp ut so u rces. It is also the
fi le fo r mat us ed fo r plu g -i n s
chat can use Pro To ols as th e
host p rog ra m.
120
MAS
DRUM!
I
I
Th e VS T 2 fo rma l , rel ea sed
arou nd 1999 , ad ded m or e flexi­
bili ry ro the o rig inal fo rm ar.
If yo u r host so ftwa re a nd a
p art icular pl ug-in a ren't co m ­
patibl e, all is not losr . T he re ar e
a few co m pa n ies th at are mak ­
in g ada p ters or "w ra ppe rs" so
that plug-i n s wrirr en in on e
fo rm a t ca n b e u sed in a h o st
th at uses a not he r. Th e fxp a n­
sion fo lks m a ke popul ar pr o ­
g ra m s th at a llows VST plu g-in s
ro b e u sed in ho st p ro gr am s
th at rea d RTAS , AU , a nd Re­
wir e ap p lication s.
If yo u're in ceresred in learn­
ing m or e abou t plu g-in s, check
OUl kv raud io.co rn . It is the # I
web site fo r all au d io plu g-in s ­
instrum ent s, effects, and hos ts.
SAMPLE FORMATS
If you 're at a ll invo lved with cre­
atin g electro nic musi c, at som e
point yo u're sure ro use sampl e
libr a ries. It 's a facl t ha t sam ple rs
(h ardware an d softw are) all read
and pl ay di gi tal aud io files, bu t
how these files are in co rp or ated
inro t he sam pler and how the
sam p ler saves its files ro a sro r­
age med ium can be very d iffer­
enr. For instan ce, if you 've got a
g rea t drurnki r in the N N- XT
sa m p le r in sid e Prop ell e rh ead 's
Rea son , you wo n' t be a b le ro
ope n tha t fil e dire c tl y into
Ca kewa lk's Project 5. M an u fac­
tur er s h ave rec ently re alized
that it's ro their ad vanrage ro of­
fer a produ ct th at is ca pa b le o f
readin g a variety of file for m ats.
Tod ay, yo u can find soft sa m ­
pl ers th at claim to be "u n ive r­
sal" in t h e ir a b ili ty to re ad a
large n umber of p roprie tary for­
m at s a nd " interp re t" t he m so
that they can be playe d by th e
host sa m p le r. N ative l n srr u­
m enr s' Ko nrak r 2, for exa mp le,
will nativel y read and in terp ret
at least 20 diff erent file fo rma ts .
It's possibl e ro pur ch ase o r
do w nl oad a ud io file s in .wa v
a n d .a if fo rma ts th at ca n b e
us ed t o con st ruct b anks o f
soun d s fro m sc ra t c h in an y
sam p le r for m ar. H o we ve r, if
you d o n 't wan t ro d o a ll th e
work y o u rs e lf, yo u can bu y
packages th at have eve ry t h ing
read y ro go . JUSt co py th e ban k
ro yo u r nard d r ive an d then
op en it in you r h a rd w a re or
so ftwa re s am pl er. T he mo s t
popul ar sampl e forma ts a re for
Acid , Aka i, E-m u , EXS24 , Gi­
gas t u dio, H A Li on, Ko n ra k r,
Ku rz w e i l , R e a son, Ro la n d,
RM X , Sa m pleCel l, a nd So u nd­
Fo n r.
On e parti cul ar rype of file is
so un iq ue th at it de serves specia l
arrenri o n . REX files (mo st o fte n
loop s) are creat ed by Prop eller­
he ad 's ReCycle So ftware. Th e
o rigina l ve rsio n o f ReC ycle ex­
porr ed REX files so rhat the y
co u ld be used inside th eir Rea­
son softwa re packag e. An upd at­
ed version, ReC ycle 2. 0 creates
RX2 forma t files tha t use a co m­
pr essio n codec to red uce the size
of th e file. REX files have been
sliced inr o a nu mb er o f d ifferenr
p arrs th a t ca n th en b e p lay ed
back sl ice-by-sl ice . U sin g thi s
tech n ique, it's possib le ro time ­
alt er loops and alte r th e o rder of
the var io us sli ces of file. REX
file s have be com e so popu la r
t ha t m a n y so ftwa re p ro gr a m s
now read them natively.
CONVERSION
SOFTWARE
W ith so ma ny di fferent sampl er
for ma ts, yo u mi ght thin k that
sh a ring sa m p les betwe en rna­
c hines or so frwa re wo u ld be im ­
pos si b le . Bu t JUSl as th er e a re
progra ms that w ill co nvert o ne
aud io for mat inr o anot her , there
are so frware p rogram s design ed
ro con verr one sam p ler fo rmat
in ro an o th er, Two th at th is au­
tho r h as use d a nd ca n reco m ­
m end ate C D Xtrac t by Bern ard
C h avonne t and Tra ns la to r by
C h ic ke n Sys te ms. Both pro ­
gra ms have a pr et ry wide m atrix
of sour ce file form at s ro d estin a­
tion file for mars. •
www.clrummagaz ine .com
1I1 ::>~lUI)ICIIl ,)
TOM (Time -Division Multiplex­
ing) . O rigina lly in vent ed fo r th e
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