This is a frequently asked questions file for the Creative Wave Blaster II daughter-board. This document summarizes many frequently asked questions and answers about the Wave Blaster II. If you have a question, please check this file before calling Creative Technical Support, as you may find the answer contained in this document.
Like the original Wave Blaster, the Wave Blaster II is a MIDI device designed to fit as a daughter-board onto Sound Blaster 16 and AWE32 sound cards. The Wave Blaster II contains actual recordings of sampled sounds to enhance the quality of MIDI playback. The Wave Blaster II supports General MIDI, GS and Sound Canvas MT32 emulation.
The Wave Blaster II takes advantage of the EMU8000 Advanced WaveEffects chip found on Creative's premium AWE32 sound cards. The EMU8000 combines realistic instrument sounds with special effects such as chorus, reverb, tremolo, and vibrato. These capabilities enhance MIDI playback to a level usually limited to professional MIDI equipment costing thousands of dollars.
The Wave Blaster II is not an upgrade option for Sound Blaster 16 Value Edition or AWE32 Value Edition.
The Wave Blaster II is a General MIDI device capable of supporting 16 MIDI channels, with 15 being melodic, and one channel (MIDI channel 10) being percussive. When used in conjunction with the Sound Blaster 16's FM synthesizer, a total of 32 MIDI channels are possible. On an AWE32 card, a total of 48 MIDI channels are possible, using the Wave Blaster II, the FM synthesizer, and the AWE MIDI synth.
The Wave Blaster II uses a sampling technology entirely different from that of the original Wave Blaster. The Wave Blaster II contains different samples, and has different effects. However, because both the Wave Blaster and the Wave Blaster II are MIDI devices, both daughter-boards will work with the same types of MIDI sequencers. Software designed to play music using the original Wave Blaster should also work with the Wave Blaster II. Software designed specifically to manipulate the samples on the original Wave Blaster (via sysex messages) will probably not work with the Wave Blaster II.
You can use both the Wave Blaster II sounds AND the OPL-3 FM sounds together in Cakewalk. The Wave Blaster II attaches to the SB16's daughter-board connector, which is on the MIDI Out port. Because both the MIDI port and OPL-3 appear under Microsoft Windows as two separate MIDI devices, you can play both devices simultaneously. The following is a step-by-step guide:
Method 1
Now the sound will play back according to what you have set in the MIDI Mapper.
Method 2
You can repeat steps 6 and 7 on other Cakewalk tracks to assign the output port as desired.
The Sound Blaster 16/AWE32 sees the Wave Blaster II as an external MIDI device. Any MIDI sequencer designed to use the MIDI interface of the Sound Blaster or an MPU-401 card should be able to use the Wave Blaster II without any additional drivers.
The Wave Blaster II contains 2 megabytes of sampled instruments which can be tailored to suit a user's needs. Unlike the Sound Blaster AWE32, the Wave Blaster II does not contain RAM for uploading user-created instrument samples.
"Bank#" refers to the bank number used to access the GS Variation Tones in a MIDI file, using Continuous Controller 0 (zero). Continuous Controller 0 is MIDI bank change.
The Wave Blaster II offers Sound Canvas compatibility by including the user bank instruments found on the Sound Canvas. User bank instruments are simply instruments of a similar class or variation. For example, General Sound instrument number 25 is the Nylon String Guitar, and its variation is the Ukulele.
A user bank tone is just like any other General MIDI instrument. Take for example the Ukulele variation tone. Lets assume you are editing a MIDI file under Cakewalk Apprentice, and you've created a track that uses Nylon String Guitar. When you play the track back, you decide that the Nylon String Guitar does not quite cut it, so you decide to give Ukulele a try. To do this, you would insert a MIDI bank change of value 8 (the user bank for Ukulele) in that track, followed immediately by a patch change of 25 (Nylon String Guitar) to select the user bank tone. Below is an example taken from Cakewalk's Event List:
Kind Values __________________________ CTRL 0 8 Patch 25
You have just set the MIDI channel on which the Nylon String Guitar instrument was playing to the user bank instrument "Ukulele."
Note that the user bank instruments are available only in the "GS" mode of the Wave Blaster II. You can switch to "GS" mode via the Windows Wave Blaster II Control Panel applet, or WB2MODE.EXE in DOS.
A drum kit is a collection of percussive instruments (snare drum, bass drum, hi-hats, etc.) laid across the entire MIDI keyboard. Under General MIDI, channel 10 is reserved for percussion instruments. General MIDI defines only one drum kit, which is the Standard Kit. Under the "GM" synth mode of the Wave Blaster II, channel 10 automatically uses the "Standard Kit." MIDI music would be boring if everybody used the same drum kit in every MIDI song.
Under the "GS" synth mode of the Wave Blaster II you can use 10 (including the Standard Drum Kit) different drum kits on MIDI Channel 10. These drum kits are:
Name Prog. # Description Standard/Jazz 1/33 Standard General MIDI drum kit. Jazz is similar to the Standard drum kit. Room 9 Similar to that of the Standard kit except that it has more room ambiance. Power 17 Again similar to that of the Standard kit, but with more power kick and snare drums. Electronic 25 Electronic drum kit. Most of the percussion instruments in this drum kit are reminiscence of old analogue and digital rhythm machines (such as the Roland TR-707 and TR-909 rhythm machine). TR-808 26 Electronic drum kit, reminiscence of the Roland TR-808 rhythm machine. Brush 41 Similar to the Standard kit except that brushes have been added. This kit is mostly used for Jazz MIDI pieces. Orchestra 49 An immense collection of concert drums and timpani. SFX 57 A collection of Sound Effects. CM-64/32L 128 Same as the MT32 drum kit. This drum kit contains standard percussion at the lower range of the keyboard, and sound effects at the higher range of the keyboard.
GS Drum kits are very easy to access. Each drum kit is essentially an instrument, and you select a drum kit by selecting an instrument--just as you would select a melodic instrument. For example, if you want to select the TR-808, all you have to do is to perform a patch change to 25 on MIDI channel 10. After the patch change, all percussion sounds will be played back through the TR-808 drum kit.
Note that the user bank instruments are available only in the "GS" mode of the Wave Blaster II. You can switch to "GS" mode via the Windows Wave Blaster II Control Panel applet, or WB2MODE.EXE in DOS.
The Wave Blaster II supports Channel Aftertouch. Keyboard Aftertouch, however, is not currently supported.
Yes, the Wave Blaster II is designed to fit on any SB16 or SB AWE32 with a Wave Blaster connector.
(Please note that the Value Edition series cards do not contain a Wave Blaster connector.)
The Wave Blaster connector was included on the SB AWE32 to provide users an alternative to the AWE32's wave-sample synthesis method. By incorporating a Wave Blaster II onto the SB AWE32, the total polyphony of this combination will be increased to 64, the total number of MIDI channels expanded to 32, and you will have access to a secondary palette of sampled sounds.
Reverb and chorus effects add warmth and movement to music. There are eight reverb and eight chorus presets available on the Wave Blaster II.
The Wave Blaster II comes with an editing tool to allow modification of the onboard samples to suit the user's tastes. The Wave Blaster II Control Panel saves the edits in the form of sysex files that may be loaded into the Wave Blaster II Control Panel, or incorporated into a MIDI file using a sequencer that supports sysex commands.
With the Wave Blaster II Control Panel you can add chorus and reverb effects to each instrument, and program the instrument's envelopes and LFOs to your liking. Refer to the Introduction to the EMU8000 Chip section for information on envelopes and LFOs.
The effect engine on the Wave Blaster II is dedicated to produce reverb, chorus and QSound effects, and is not intended to be programmable. You can, however, select different reverb or chorus variations using sysex. Refer to What are the different reverb and chorus variations available on the Wave Blaster II? in section A for more information.
The EMU8000 has its roots in E-mu's Proteus sample playback modules and their renowned Emulator sampler. The EMU8000 has 32 individual oscillators, each playing back at 44.1 kHz. By incorporating sophisticated sample interpolation algorithms and digital filtering, the EMU8000 is capable of producing high fidelity sample playback.
The EMU8000 has an extensive modulation capability using two sine- wave LFOs (Low Frequency Oscillators) and two multi-stage envelope generators.
What exactly does modulation mean? To modulate is to dynamically change a parameter of an audio signal, whether it be the volume (amplitude modulation, or tremolo), pitch (frequency modulation, or vibrato) or filter cutoff frequency (filter modulation, or wah- wah). To modulate something requires a modulation source, and a modulation destination. In the EMU8000, the modulation sources are the LFOs and the envelope generators, and the modulation destination can be the pitch, the volume or the filter cutoff frequency.
The EMU8000's LFOs and envelope generators provide a complex modulation environment. Each sound producing element of the EMU8000 consists of a resonant low-pass filter, and two LFOs in which one modulates the pitch (LFO2), and the other modulates pitch, filter cutoff and volume simultaneously (LFO1). There are two envelope generators: Envelope 1 contours both pitch and filter cutoff simultaneously, and envelope 2 contours volume. The output stage consists of an effects engine that mixes the dry signals with the Reverb/chorus level signals to produce the final mix.
What are the EMU8000 sound elements?
Each of the sound elements in an EMU8000 consists of the following:
A six-stage envelope makes up the volume envelope of the EMU8000. The six stages are delay, attack, hold, decay, sustain and release. The stages can be described as follows:
Use of these six parameters can yield a very realistic reproduction of the volume envelope characteristics of many musical instruments.
RPN is short for "Registered Parameter Number." Registered Parameter Numbers are used to represent sound or performance parameters. MIDI 1.0 specified three RPNs: RPN 0 for Pitch Bend Sensitivity, RPN 1 for Coarse Tune and RPN 2 for Fine Tune. The Wave Blaster II implements only RPN 0, Pitch Bend Sensitivity.
Before going into how to set pitch bend sensitivity, let's go into how pitch bending is used in MIDI. Pitch Bending is normally used to make the pitch of a sustained note slide higher or lower. The default pitch bend sensitivity of the Wave Blaster II is +/- 2 semitones, which means you can go higher or lower than the current note by two semitones when using the pitch bend wheel. To create a more dramatic pitch bending effect, simply change the pitch bend sensitivity to a higher value. Below is an example of how to change the pitch-bend sensitivity:
The instrument's sound parameters can be changed via sysex commands or NRPNs. Sysex Commands are system-exclusive commands that affect an instrument regardless of the channel on which it is being played. NRPNs (non-registered parameter numbers) are MIDI controllers that affect a particular MIDI channel regardless of the instrument being played.
Sysex commands can be created with the Wave Blaster II Control Panel, or manually, using the model below:
F0 18 40 00 02 bk pr pa VM VL F7
where
bk = Bank number pr = Preset number pa = Patch parameter number (see Section F) VM = Value MSB VL = Value LSB
Wave Blaster II patch edits are entered as 14-bit, two's- complement values. Below is a quick conversion formula for patch edit MSB and LSB.
Patch Edit Value MSB IntegerDivide( Desired Value / 128 ) % 128 Note that -x % y = y - (x % y) i.e. -12 % 10 = 10 - (12 % 10) = 10 - 2 = 8 Patch Edit Value LSB: Desired Value % 128
Note that "%" is the remainder in a division problem. For example, 600 % 128 is the same as the remainder when 600 is divided by 128.
Use the key below to determine if your calculations are correct:
Desired MSB LSB -8192 64 0 -129 126 127 -64 127 64 -1 127 127 0 0 0 63 0 63 129 1 1 8191 63 127
Resetting Parameters to the default is accomplished with the following sysex command.
F0 18 40 00 02 bk pr pa F7
Where
bk = Bank number pr = Preset number pa = Patch parameter number, in hex (see Section F)
Note that each of the parameters (bk, pr, pa) is optional and should only be added if you want that parameter to be reset. Sending the command without any of the optional parameters resets all presets on all banks.
Before going into the use of NRPNs, let's go into the nature of the Wave Blaster II's NRPNs. Absolute NRPNs take the data specified in data MSB and LSB values as absolute values, i.e., value of 80 literally means the parameter shall receive the absolute value of 80. Relative NRPNs take the data specified in data MSB and LSB as relative values, i.e., value of 80 means an offset of 80 units from the current preset value. Relative NRPNs do not add onto absolute NRPNs. Unlike the Wave Blaster II sysex commands, the NRPNs are 14 bit one's-complement values to allow CC6 to control the entire range at course resolution.
Wave Blaster II NRPNs are executed using the following series of controller events:
Controller Parameter Description 99 125 or 126 126 - Absolute NRPN 125 - Relative NRPN 98 Command LSB Command LSB Number (See Section F) 38 Data LSB See Formulae Below 6 Data MSB See Formulae Below
Resend CC99 and CC98 to change to another parameter.
Below are the formulae to determine the values for the data MSB and LSB:
Unipolar NRPNs
Unipolar NRPNs are only expressed in positive numbers. The value range for unipolar Data MSB and LSB is from 0 to 16383. The whole range of the data space is mapped to the real world ranges specified in the Parameter Chart in Section F, with the stated resolution. To find the data MSB and LSB, choose a value between 0 and 16383, and use it in the following formulae:
MSB: IntegerDivide( value / 128 ) LSB: value % 128
Bipolar NRPNs
Bipolar NRPNs are expressed in either a positive or negative value. The unit range for bipolar NRPNs is -8191 to 8191. To find the data MSB and LSB for a bipolar NRPN, choose a value between -8191 and 8191, and use it in the following formulae:
MSB: IntegerDivide( value / 128 )+ 64 LSB: value % 128
You can select the reverb and chorus variations via sysex commands, as shown below:
Reverb sysex string:
F0 18 40 00 04 00 rr F7
Where rr indicates the reverb variations (from 00 to 07).
Chorus sysex string:
F0 18 40 00 04 01 cc F7
Where cc indicates the chorus variations (from 00 to 07).
Q-Sound sysex string:
F0 18 40 00 04 02 F7
Note that Q-Sound effects cannot be used simultaneously with Chorus/Reverb effects.
The definitive guide to MIDI would be "MIDI 1.0 Detailed Specification", published and distributed exclusively by :
The International MIDI AssociationOther MIDI related publications are :
Music Through MIDI
Patch Parameter 0 (Delay before LFO1 starts) NRPN LSB # : 0 Realtime : No Sysex Byte : 00 h Sysex Range : [0, 8191] Sysex Unit : 1 millisecond Delay from 0 to 23.71 seconds. Patch Parameter 1 (LFO1 Frequency) NRPN LSB # : 1 Realtime : Yes Sysex Byte : 01 Sysex Range : [0, 127] Sysex Unit : 84 mHz LFO1 frequency from 0Hz to 10.72 Hz. Patch Parameter 2 (Delay before LFO2 starts) NRPN LSB # : 2 Realtime : No Sysex Byte : 02 Sysex Range : [0, 8191] Sysex Unit : 1 millisecond Delay from 0 to 23.71 seconds. Patch Parameter 3 (LFO2 Frequency) NRPN LSB # : 3 Realtime : Yes Sysex Byte : 03 Sysex Range : [0, 127] Sysex Unit : 84 mHz LFO2 frequency from 0Hz to 10.72 Hz. Patch Parameter 4 (Envelope 1 delay time) NRPN LSB # : 4 Realtime : No Sysex Byte : 04 Sysex Range : [0, 8191] Sysex Unit : 1 millisecond Envelope 1 Delay from 0 to 23.71 seconds. Patch Parameter 5 (Envelope 1 attack time) NRPN LSB # : 5 Realtime : Yes Sysex Byte : 05 Sysex Range : [0, 5939] Sysex Unit : 1 Millisecond Envelope 1 attack time from .006 to 11.88 seconds. Patch Parameter 6 (Envelope 1 hold time) NRPN LSB # : 6 Realtime : Yes Sysex Byte: : 06 Sysex Range : [0, 8191] Sysex Unit : 1 Millisecond Envelope 1 hold time from 0 to 11.7 seconds. Patch Parameter 7 (Envelope 1 decay time) NRPN LSB # : 7 Realtime : Yes Sysex Byte : 07 Sysex Range : [0, 7919] Sysex Unit : 1 Millisecond Envelope 1 decay time from 0.023 to 23.7 seconds. Patch Parameter 8 (Envelope 1 sustain level) NRPN LSB # : 8 Realtime : Yes Sysex Byte : 08 Sysex Range : [0, 96] Sysex Unit : 1dB Envelope 1 sustain level from full level down to off (0.75 dB step). Patch Parameter 9 (Envelope 1 release time) NRPN LSB # : 9 Realtime : No Sysex Byte : 09 Sysex Range : [0, 7919] Sysex Unit : 1 millisecond Envelope 1 release time from .024 to 47.55 seconds. Patch Parameter 10 (Envelope 2 delay time) NRPN LSB # : 10 Realtime : Yes Sysex Byte : 0A Sysex Range : [0, 8191] Sysex Unit : 1 millisecond Envelope 2 Delay from 0 to 23.71 seconds. Patch Parameter 11 (Envelope 2 attack time) NRPN LSB # : 11 Realtime : Yes Sysex Byte : 0B Sysex Range : [0, 5939] Sysex Unit : 1 Millisecond Envelope 2 attack time from .006 to 11.8 seconds. Patch Parameter 12 (Envelope 2 hold time) NRPN LSB # : 12 Realtime : Yes Sysex Byte : 0C Sysex Range : [0, 8191] Sysex Unit : 1 Millisecond Envelope 2 hold time from 0 to 11.7 seconds. Patch Parameter 13 (Envelope 2 decay time) NRPN LSB # : 13 Realtime : Yes Sysex Byte : 0D Sysex Range : [0, 7919] Sysex Unit : 1 millisecond Envelope 2 decay time from 0.024 to 47.55 seconds. Patch Parameter 14 (Envelope 2 sustain level) NRPN LSB # : 14 Realtime : Yes Sysex Byte : 0E Sysex Range : [0, 96] Sysex Unit : 1dB Envelope 2 sustain level from full level down to off. Patch Parameter 15 (Envelope 2 release time) NRPN LSB # : 15 Realtime : No Sysex Byte : 0F Sysex Range : [0, 7919] Sysex Unit : 1 millisecond Envelope 2 release time from 0.024 to 47.55 seconds. Patch Parameter 16 (Initial Pitch) NRPN LSB # : 16 Realtime : Yes Sysex Byte : 10 Sysex Range : [-8192, 8191] Sysex Unit : cents Pitch tuning between -8192 and 8191 cents, relative to the original pitch. Patch Parameter 17 (LFO1 to Pitch) NRPN LSB # : 17 Realtime : Yes Sysex Byte : 11 Sysex Range : [-128, 127] Sysex Unit : 9.375 cents A data value greater than 0 causes a positive (from 0 to maximum) 1 octave shift at LFO peak. A data value smaller than 0 causes a negative (from 0 to minimum) 1 octave shift at LFO peak. Patch Parameter 18 (LFO2 to Pitch) NRPN LSB # : 18 Realtime : Yes Sysex Byte : 12 Sysex Range : [-128, 127] Sysex Unit : 9.375 cents A data value greater than 0 causes a positive (from 0 to maximum) 1 octave shift at LFO peak. A data value smaller than 0 causes a negative (from 0 to minimum) 1 octave shift at LFO peak. Patch Parameter 19 (Envelope 1 to Pitch) NRPN LSB # : 19 Realtime : Yes Sysex Byte : 13 Sysex Range : [-128, 127] Sysex Unit : 9.375 cents A data value greater than 0 causes a positive (from 0 to maximum) 1 octave shift at envelope peak. A data value smaller than 0 causes a negative (from 0 to minimum) 1 octave shift at envelope peak. Patch Parameter 20 (LFO1 to Volume) NRPN LSB # : 20 Realtime : Yes Sysex Byte : 14 Sysex Range : [-64, 63] Sysex Unit : 0.1875 dB A data value smaller than 64 causes a positive phase (from 0 to maximum) volume modulation with magnitude of 12 dB at LFO peak. A data value greater than or equal to 64 causes a negative phase (from 0 to minimum) volume modulation with magnitude of 12 dB at LFO peak. Patch Parameter 21 (Initial Filter Cutoff) NRPN LSB # : 21 Realtime : Yes Sysex Byte : 15 Sysex Range : [0, 127] Sysex Unit : 59.76563 cents Filter cutoff from 100Hz to 8000Hz. Patch Parameter 22 (Initial Filter Resonance [Filter Q]) NRPN LSB # : 22 Realtime : Yes Sysex Byte : 16 Sysex Range : [0, 120] Sysex Unit : .171875 dB The EMU8000 has a built in resonance coefficient table comprising 16 entries. Values 0-7 will select the first (0) entry, values 8- 15 selects the second (1) entry and so on. Coeff Low Fc Low Q High Fc High Q DC (Hz) (dB) (kHz) (dB) Attenuation (dB) 0 92 5 Flat Flat -0.0 1 93 6 8.5 0.5 -0.5 2 94 8 8.3 1 -1.2 3 95 10 8.2 2 -1.8 4 96 11 8.1 3 -2.5 5 97 13 8.0 4 -3.3 6 98 14 7.9 5 -4.1 7 99 16 7.8 6 -5.5 8 100 17 7.7 7 -6.0 9 100 19 7.5 9 -6.6 10 100 20 7.4 10 -7.2 11 100 22 7.3 11 -7.9 12 100 23 7.2 13 -8.5 13 100 25 7.1 15 -9.3 14 100 26 7.1 16 -10.1 15 100 28 7.0 18 -11.0 Patch Parameter 23 (LFO1 to Filter Cutoff) NRPN LSB # : 23 Realtime : Yes Sysex Byte : 17 Sysex Range : [-64, 63] Sysex Unit : 56.25 cents A data value smaller than 0 causes a positive phase (from 0 to maximum) filter modulation with magnitude of 3 octaves at LFO peak. A data value greater than or equal to 0 causes a negative phase (from 0 to minimum) filter modulation with magnitude of 3 octaves at LFO peak. Patch Parameter 24 (Envelope 1 to Filter Cutoff) NRPN LSB # : 24 Realtime : Yes Sysex Byte : 18 Sysex Range : [-64, 63] Sysex Unit : 56.25 cents A data value greater than 0 causes a positive phase (from 0 to maximum) filter modulation with magnitude of 6 octaves at envelope peak. A data value smaller than 0 causes a negative phase (from 0 to minimum) filter modulation with magnitude of 6 octaves at envelope peak. Patch Parameter 25 (Chorus Effects Send) NRPN LSB # : 25 Realtime : Yes Sysex Byte : 19 Sysex Range : [0, 255] Sysex Unit : .375 dB Chorus send, with 0 being the driest (no chorus) and 255 being the wettest (full chorus). Patch Parameter 26 (Reverb Effects Send) NRPN LSB # : 26 Realtime : Yes Sysex Byte : 1A Sysex Range : [0, 255] Sysex Unit : .375 dB Reverb send, with 0 being the driest (no reverb), and 255 being the wettest (full reverb). Patch Parameter 27 (Pan) NRPN LSB # : N/A Realtime : N/A Sysex Byte : 1B Sysex Range : [0, 127] Sysex Unit : .375 dB 0 = Full Left 127 = Full Right To pan via MIDI controllers, use MIDI Controller 10 instead of NRPNs.
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