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Tips
& Tricks
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ASR-X
AIFF 'bug' (and Sound Forge) November
2001 ~ To make a long story short: there is a bug
in the ASR-X operating system that incorrectly
writes the Sample Rate value as 44.082 kHz, instead
of 44.1 kHz, in the header record of an AIF file
created on the ASR-X. The ASR-X always
samples and playbacks at the correct rate of
44.1 kHz - the error is limited to the data written
too and saved in the header record of the AIFF. The
sample itself is 44.1 kHz. This
presents a problem for users of Sonic
Foundry
Sound Forge (Win) when attempting to playback an
ASR-X generated AIFF. Sound Forge will report an
error message along the lines of "the sound card
does not support that sample rate." Sound Forge
believes the sample rate is 44.082 because that's
the data value saved in the header record of the
AIFF. To
work around this problem: Select Process | Resample
within Sound Forge (ALT-P-E), check the box that
says "Set the sample rate only (do not resample)",
and change the sample rate to 44,100. This will
attach the correct sample rate to the .aif, without
altering the .aif in any way. For
more on this subject, read "ASR-X
bug with Sound Forge-saved AIFF
files"
at the ASR-X Knowledge Base.
Now
for the short story made long. Read
on... LCR
asked: Does
anybody know how to turn RAM samples (or samples
from other equipment) from the ASR-X Pro pads into
AIFF/WAV files? To
which bluehairedharlequin, Garth Hjlete, and R.
Cliff Young replied: BHQ: Someone
jump in and correct me if I go astray at any point.
The ASR-X GH: Wrong.
Really wrong. =) Note:
That's just Garth's sense of humor BHQ: operates
in a DOS format and thus everything it samples
through the inputs is saved into an AIFF file. When
you save an All-Session, the X saves an All
Session, All Sequences, and All Sounds file in a
proprietary format. Any samples that were created
become 1-AIF files within the directory that you
save your session. (if you explore your ASR-X saved
session in Windows, separate folders will be
created for your All-Session, All-Seq, etc,
files...your sounds will be in the AIF folder) If
you want to shuttle a sample to a floppy in order
to load it into a computer or other piece of gear,
you can select to save a 1-AIF file as an option
when you hit SAVE. However, one thing you need to
do is select that sample as the chosen instrument
for the track you are currently on (you need to see
the name of your sample as the chosen instrument on
the X's display.) Scroll your instrument bank over
to the *CUSTOM* bank and then select your sample.
Then you can hit save and choose to save your sound
as a 1-AIF by scrolling to the right within the
save options. GH: Yep. Note:
Just to clarify - the ASR-X does use a DOS format,
and it's true the internal file format is AIFF but,
the former does not necessitate the file format
from a technical standpoint. The ASR-X uses a
Motorola processor - which is a more likely reason
why the ASR-X developers chose AIFF as the internal
file format (not too mention compatibility) rather
than a proprietary, Ensoniq format. BHQ: There
are a few important things to remember if you want
to edit your sample in Sound Forge or any other
destructive audio editor. First, the ASR-X (not
sure about the PRO), does not sample at precisely
44.1 kHz. GH: Not
exactly correct. Everything is 44.1 kHz, but a bug
- yes it's a bug - writes the sample rate
incorrectly. BHQ: The
first thing I do when I edit a sound in Sound Forge
is to Resample the sound at 44.1 kHz
(alt-P-E). GH: I
wouldn't "resample" - it's not necessary - but do
what is said above and leave the checkbox on to
just adjust the rate (so you can hear it out of
your sound card). None of this affects the ASR-X -
it doesn't care what is written in the file - it
plays back everything at 44.1 kHz and samples there
as well. BHQ: Do
whatever editing you need to do and then Save As a
.wav file before shuttling it back to the sampler.
If you don't resample, you likely will run into
errors when loading your sample back into the X.
Also, if you have a picky sound card, it may not
play back your sample at the ASR-X's wonky sampling
rate...thus requiring you to resample before you
can edit it. GH: Again,
there's a difference between altering the wave data
to shift to 44.1 and just rewriting the sample rate
field in the file. For example, if the ASR-X
incorrectly writes the sample rate as 72.54K (I've
seen this), resampling-altering will really screw
up your wave data. All you need to do is adjust the
sample rate field - which is in fact the default in
Sound Forge when you do the ALT-P-E
thing). To
add to this - when you take a .aif out and
do-your-voodoo with it, try as hard as possible to
not resize the sample. If you do, and the .aif file
was connected with a .sou file (1-SOUND) or a bank
(ALL-SOUND), it won't be able to be loaded. Another
eternal ASR-X bug; as all ASR-X bugs are
now. Perfunctory
pitch - Ensoniq ASR-X
Tools
allows you to bypass this. BHQ: Just
to clarify then...it is a bug when Sound Forge says
the .aif attributes are at 44.082 instead of 44.1?
It seems like it is more than that cuz the waveform
does change after resampling...and if the waveform
is already 44.1, Sound Forge doesn't do anything
when you resample... RCY: You
don't want to resample - as far as Sound Forge
knows, the ASR-X created .aif file IS at 44.082, so
Sound Forge WILL change the waveform if you
resample. What
you want to do is select Process | Resample, then
check the box that says "Set the sample rate only
(do not resample)" (in Sound Forge 5 at least), and
then change the sample rate to 44,100. This will
attach the correct sample rate to the .aif, without
altering the .aif in any way. The
bug is simply that the ASR-X writes the wrong
sample rate value to its 44.1 kHz .aif files.
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