tx16wx user manual v0.9

TX16Wx User Manual

v0.9 ©CWI Technology 2011

TX16Wx ©CWI Technology 2011

Software Sampler

TX16Wx User Manual


Contents 1 About TX16Wx ................................................................................................................................. 4

2 Sound Architecture .......................................................................................................................... 5

2.1 Bank ......................................................................................................................................... 5

2.2 Performance ............................................................................................................................ 5

2.3 Channel slots ........................................................................................................................... 5

2.4 Program ................................................................................................................................... 5

2.5 Group ....................................................................................................................................... 5

2.6 Split .......................................................................................................................................... 5

2.7 Wave ........................................................................................................................................ 5

3 The UI .............................................................................................................................................. 6

3.1 Selectors .................................................................................................................................. 6

3.2 Numerical dials ........................................................................................................................ 7

3.3 Menu selectors ........................................................................................................................ 7

3.4 Popup menus ........................................................................................................................... 7

4 Performance view ........................................................................................................................... 8

4.1 Selecting performance ............................................................................................................ 8

4.1.1 Performance menu .......................................................................................................... 8

4.2 Working with program slots .................................................................................................... 9

4.2.1 Adding and removing slots .............................................................................................. 9

4.2.2 Selecting programs .......................................................................................................... 9

4.2.3 Outputs ............................................................................................................................ 9

4.2.4 Active slot ...................................................................................................................... 10

5 Editing Programs ........................................................................................................................... 10

5.1 Group List .............................................................................................................................. 10

5.1.1 Muting Groups ............................................................................................................... 11

5.2 Keyboard Mapping ................................................................................................................ 11

5.2.1 Splits .............................................................................................................................. 13

5.3 Group Sound Settings ............................................................................................................ 14

5.3.1 Output, Pan, Velocity and Glide .................................................................................... 14

5.3.2 AEG ................................................................................................................................ 15

5.3.3 LFO ................................................................................................................................. 15

5.3.4 Filter ............................................................................................................................... 16

5.3.5 Wave Start ..................................................................................................................... 16

TX16Wx User Manual


5.4 Modulation Mapping ............................................................................................................. 16

5.4.1 Modulation Table .......................................................................................................... 16

5.4.2 Modulation Edit Menu .................................................................................................. 17

5.5 Modulation Envelopes ........................................................................................................... 17

6 Samples ......................................................................................................................................... 18

6.1 Playing samples ..................................................................................................................... 19

6.2 Editing start / end .................................................................................................................. 19

6.3 Editing loops .......................................................................................................................... 19

6.4 Sample Edit Menu ................................................................................................................. 20

6.5 Sampling content ................................................................................................................... 20

7 Setup .............................................................................................................................................. 21

7.1 Places ..................................................................................................................................... 21

7.2 External controllers ............................................................................................................... 21

7.3 Settings .................................................................................................................................. 22

7.4 Outputs .................................................................................................................................. 22

8 Working in your DAW .................................................................................................................... 23

9 File formats .................................................................................................................................... 23

9.1 Bank / Performance / Program ............................................................................................. 23

9.2 Supported sample formats .................................................................................................... 23

9.3 Importing sound data ............................................................................................................ 24

10 Credits and Acknowledgements ................................................................................................ 24

TX16Wx User Manual


1 About TX16Wx The TX16Wx Software Sampler is a simple, yet powerful sampling instrument inspired by various

classic hardware samplers from the 80s and 90s, but mainly the excellent Yamaha TX16W sampler as

used with the Typhoon operating system.

Many software samplers sport a multitude of features aimed mainly at disk-streaming gigabyte sized

preset libraries. The TX16Wx instead aims to bring back some of the joy of working with the classic

hardware instruments, using sampling not for playing back pre-built libraries, but instead creating

your own new sounds in creative way.

Perhaps the biggest reason this software was created though, is that I have yet to find a software

sampler, free or otherwise, with both workstation features, and a clear cut, well-documented file

format that does not lock the user in to a product forever. The TX16Wx file format is simple XML files

and can be translated even by hand in a simple text editor.

TX16Wx User Manual


2 Sound Architecture Sounds in TX16Wx are organized in a hierarchical structure of bank, performances, programs,

groups, splits and waves. These components are normally stored to disk as individual files and loosely

referenced by file name. See the file format section.

2.1 Bank The bank is the complete sampler state, including

settings for External Controllers, outputs and all the

performances, programs and samples.

2.2 Performance A performance is a complete active multitimbral

setup, with assignment of programs to Midi

channels and audio outputs. Performances are the

toplevel items exposed to the containing DAW.

2.3 Channel slots Each channel slot contains a single program and

maps this to a Midi channel and an output.

2.4 Program A program is a complete instrument (or preset). It

contains one or more groups of samples.

2.5 Group A group consists of one or more samples organized

into splits. All splits in a group shares the same

sound settings and modulation mappings. A group

may also override the channel slots output settings

to send individual groups to specific outputs (for

example when building a drum kit).

2.6 Split A split maps a single wave to a range on the

keyboard. It also allows you to choose specific loops

for sustain/release

2.7 Wave A wave is an individual sample loaded from disk. A wave can be shared between any number of

groups splits. A wave also contains such information as root key, tuning and loop points.

Split Spl

it

Split

Bank

Performance

Slot 1

Split Split

Slot 2 Slot ...

Program

Group Group Group

Wave

Group

Split Spl

it

Split Split Spl

it

Split

TX16Wx User Manual


3 The UI

3.1 Selectors Selecting performances and programs can be done by either clicking the up/down arrows next to the

program/performance numbers, clicking and dragging the numbers themselves, or left-clicking the

name of the performance/program to bring up a list of loaded

content.

Selectors also allows you to edit the name of the current item by shift-clicking the name field.

Up/down arrows

Numerical selector - click and drag to modify, double click to type

Selector menu - left click name to bring up

Performance

selector

Program slot

View tabs

Group sound

controls

Group

selector

TX16Wx UI

Midi file drag

button

Performance

selector

TX16Wx User Manual


3.2 Numerical dials Most numerical parameters can be manipulated by either click-dragging the display to slide the

values up/down, or double clicking to enter the value by typing.

3.3 Menu selectors Discreet parameters, such as filter/LFO type, outputs, midi channels etc, are selected by clicking the

display and choosing the value from the popup menu.

3.4 Popup menus Most areas of the "LED" display windows have context-sensitive popup menus available on right-

clicking.

3.5 Drag & drop The performance view, program slots, keyboard mapping editor and the group list all respond to

drap & drop of sound data files.

Increase

Decrease Drag up/down to modify Click dial Double-click to type new value

TX16Wx User Manual


4 Performance view

The performance view gives an overview of the active channel slots and their settings and program

assignments. Here you select, add, delete, load and save performances, programs and whole bank

state.

4.1 Selecting performance The performance selector in the top of the performance view allows you to switch between the

currently loaded performances. By shift-clicking the name field you may edit the name of the current

performance.

4.1.1 Performance menu

By right clicking the performance selector area you bring up the performance edit menu.

Load bank - loads a txbank file, completely replacing the content of the Samplers memory.

All currently loaded items will be discarded.

Save bank / Save bank as - saves the full state of the sampler, along with any loaded sound

data. You may be prompted to provide names for individual files being saved.

Clear bank - empties the sampler memory. All currently loaded items will be discarded.

Load performance - loads a performance along with its associated programs and waves into

the current bank. Note that you can also drag & drop performances (or soundfonts) from

windows explorer onto the performance field to load them.

Save performance / Save performance as - saves the currently active performance to disk

along with the programs and waves used. You may be prompted to provide names for

individual files being saved.

Duplicate performance - creates a shallow copy of the current performance. The new

performance will reference the same programs and samples as the original performance.

Performance view tab

TX16Wx User Manual


New performance - creates a new, empty performance.

Delete performance - deletes the currently active performance. Note that this does not

delete any programs or waves.

4.2 Working with program slots A performance consists of one or more Program slots which map a Program to a midi channel and

output, with settings for volume and pan.

4.2.1 Adding and removing slots

Right-click on the empty area below performance selector and slots to bring up the slot edit menu.

Add channel slot - adds a new slot

Delete all channel slots - removes all active slots

Slots can also be created, deleted and duplicated from the Program edit menu.

4.2.2 Selecting programs

Use the program selector to choose a programs for the active slot. Right-clicking on a slot brings up

the slot program edit menu:

Load Program - brings up a file selector and allows you to browse for existing programs on

disk. Like the performance view, you can drag & drop txprog files form explorer here to load

them.

Save Program / Save Program As - Saves the active program to disk along with any used

waves. You may be prompted to provide names for individual files being saved.

Duplicate Program - creates a shallow copy of the current program. The new program will

reference the same samples as the original program.

New Program - creates a new, empty program.

Delete Program - deletes the currently active program. Note that this does not delete any

waves. See Delete Unused in the Sample editor menu.

Tip: The Load Program file selector has a checkbox to enable/disable "preview" of the programs you

browse. When this mode is active, any program file you click in the selector will be temporarily loaded

into the current program slot and will respond to midi input. This is a great way to quickly preview

how the currently playing song will sound with the new program loaded.

4.2.3 Outputs

The right area of the Program Slot shows the Input / Output Controls: Volume, Pan, Output channel,

Midi channel and solo / mute.

Volume and Pan - Note that these are combined (multiplied) with the individual volume and

pan settings in the programs respective groups.

Program Selector Input/Output Controls

TX16Wx User Manual


Output - assigns the default output channel for sound from the group played on this slot.

However, individual groups may override this setting, i.e. while the program is set to one

output, one or more groups in it may actually play on another output.

Midi channel - the program will respond to incoming midi messages on the assigned channel.

If you select Omni, any midi message will activate the program.

Mute / Solo - turns off output from this/all other slots.

4.2.4 Active slot

When you click a program slot it becomes the Active Slot. This makes the assigned program active for

edit in the Program Edit Tabs.

4.2.5 Quick select mode

If you press any of the main view buttons (perf, keymap, mod etc) and keep it pressed, TX16Wx will

enter quick select mode. While in this mode incoming MIDI note on messages will change the current

selection to match the corresponding program slot and group. If more than one slot/group matches

the incoming note on, selection will cycle every time noteon is pressed. This is a quick way to find a

group in the performance for editing.

5 Editing Programs A Program is edited by adding, deleting and modifying the groups it consists

of. This is done in the Keyboard Mapping, Modulation and Envelope tabs, and

with the Group Sound Controls at the bottom of the interface.

Each editor tab has an extended Active Program Slot in the top, allowing you

to switch between slots or change the selected program without moving

between tabs.

5.1 Group List The upper right area of the UI contains the Group List. Here all groups in the

currently active program are listed. This allows you to quickly select a group

for editing, but also create, delete and import groups.

You can select any number of groups and modify their parameters simultaneously. By right-clicking

on a group (or the empty area) you bring up the Edit Groups Menu:

New Group - adds a new, empty Group

Duplicate Group(s) - duplicates the currently selected group(s).

Copy Group - copies a group from another program.

Create from Wave(s) - loads waves from disk an creates a new group with them. If you load

more than one wave TX16Wx will try to lay them out across the keyboards. This is a quick

way to create multisampled instruments.

Program Selector Input/Output Controls Slot Selector

TX16Wx User Manual


Mute / Unmute - switch mute state for the group under the cursor. See Muting Groups.

Mute others - mute all other groups

Unmute others - unmute all other groups.

Delete -deletes the selected groups.

Delete All - delete all groups in the program.

Tip: If you drag and drop one or more wave files into the group list, new group consisting of these

waves will be created.

5.1.1 Muting Groups

Individual Groups can me Muted. A muted group will not produce any sound and will not be shown in

the Keyboard Mapping editor. This is useful for tuning individual groups in multilayered programs,

and also to reduce cluttering when laying out keyboard maps.

5.2 Keyboard Mapping

The Keyboard Mapping tab gives you a graphical view of the programs group layout and allows easy

and intuitive modification of groups and split attributes.

Groups can be modified by clicking and dragging edges or the whole group to modify low / high key

and velocity, i.e. keyboard range, as well as various numerical controls, from top left to low right:

Program Key Range - sets the keyboard range, low and high key and velocity, for the entire

Program. A Program will only respond to midi messages that are within the programs active

key range.

Group Output - assigns an Individual Output for the group. This setting overrides the

Program Slot output setting.

Program key range Group output Key scale Trigger mode Zoom controls

Group key range Split key Root key Fine tune Key shift Shift tune

Groups

Poly mode

Choke group

TX16Wx User Manual


Root Key marker

Keyboard Scale - sets the transposition scale for the group. This determines how the groups

pitch changes by input Midi key.

o Inv * 4 - inverse key scaling where semitones are multiplied by four in pitch

o Inv * 2 - inverse key scaling where semitones are doubled in pitch

o Inv - inverse key scaling.

o Inv / 2 - inverse key scaling where semitones are halved in pitch

o Inv / 4 - inverse key scaling where semitones are divided by four in pitch

o Fixed - fixed key scaling. All keys are given the same pitch. Use this for drum kits.

o 1/4 - normal key scaling where semitones are divided by four in pitch

o 1/2 - normal key scaling where semitones are halved in pitch

o Normal - default

o * 2 - normal key scaling where semitones are doubled in pitch

o * 4 - normal key scaling where semitones are multiplied by four in pitch

Trigger mode - determines how the group is triggered by Midi note-on messages

o Normal - (default). Group will trigger on Note-On messages and play the full AEG

envelope.

o Oneshot - group triggers on Note-On, but the AEG envelope will transition to Release

stage without any Sustain period, i.e. holding the key will having no effect. Typically

you would use this for drum sounds.

o Release - group is triggered on Note-Off (key release)

Poly Mode - determines the playing mode of the group.

o Poly - (default). Each pressed key triggers a new played voice.

o Mono - Only one voice can play at a single time for the group. Simulates the

behaviour of monophonic instruments.

o Legato - group plays polyphonically, but if a key is triggered while another is held, the

last voice previously triggered will be reused similar to Mono mode.

Zoom - zooms in or out in the mapping editor. You can also use the zoom wheel of you

mouse inside the mapping area to zoom the view.

Group Key Range- sets the keyboard range, low and high key and velocity, for the group.

Determines the bounds where the group will trigger.

Split Key - low key of the currently active Split.

Wave Root Key - displays/edits the Root Key of the assigned

Wave for the active Split. The root key is also displayed on

the reference keyboard. By clicking and dragging this you can

easily change the Wave root key.

NOTE: This modifies the Wave root key, i.e. this will affect all

groups/splits to which the wave is assigned.

Wave Fine Tune - modifies the Wave fine tune.

Group Key Shift - shifts the pitch of the group by semitones.

Group Fine Tune - shifts the pitch of the group by cents.

Choke group – assigns a choke group to the selected group(s).

TX16Wx User Manual


5.2.1 Splits

Each group is divided into one or more Splits. A split assigns a Split Point and a Wave to a part of the

groups keyboard range. The assigned waves share the same group settings and sound parameters

but can have individual Sustain and Release Loops.

You can select a Split by clicking on the part of the Group the split occupies. By clicking and dragging

the Split Key Marker line you can modify the Splits start. Right-click the split area to bring up the Split

Edit Menu:

Add Split - inserts a new Split starting at the key you clicked.

Delete Split - removes the active split

Separate - breaks the group into two at the key clicked.

Delete Group - deletes the selected group

Load Wave - opens up a file selector and lets you browse for a new wave on disk.

NOTE:

The Wave file selector allows you to preview samples in several ways. You can enable Auto

Play, which will play any sample selected in the browser through the main stereo output

automatically. If not enabled, you can select a wave and press the

Play button to listen to the sample one. When browsing from the

Keyboard Mapping view you can also enable Preview which will

temporarily place the selected sample in the currently active Split.

This is a great way to preview how a new sample fits a playing

tune.

Save Wave / Save Wave As - saves the active wave to disk

Sustain Loop - selects the Sustain Loop. This is the loop that will play while a Midi key is held.

Release Loop - selects the Release Loop. This is the loop that will play after the Midi key is

released but the voice still plays the AEG release.

Open in Sample Editor - opens the active splits sample in the sample editor.

<Waves> - lets you choose between currently loaded waves.

You can drag and drop wave files into the keyboard mapping editor to either create a new group, or

into existing splits. If you drop one or more wave into a split, the new waves will be arranged into the

range the previous wave occupied.

Split key marker

TX16Wx User Manual


5.2.2 Slices

If a single selected group contains mapped slices (or if the currently active

sample is sliced), a Midi file for playing the layout parts in order can be

dragged/exported to your DAW by clicking and dragging the Midi drag

button.

Note: If a sliced sample is selected without a mapping group, the exported midi file will use the

default keyboard mapping.

5.2.3 Choke groups

A choke groups is essentially a monophonic relationship between groups, where all groups sharing

choke group will use at most one voice, i.e. cut each other off when played. A typical use for this is

setting up hi-hats, where each sample should cut off any other playing. Choke groups can also be

used with the Poly mode setting to achieve certain effects, such as multi-group monophonic

instruments.

Poly Mode No Choke Group Choke Group

Poly Notes play polyphonically, AEG resets on note-on

Notes play monophonically within choke group, AEG resets on note-on

Mono Notes play monophonically within group. No AEG reset on voice steal.

Notes play monophonically within choke group. No AEG reset on voice steal.

Legato Notes play polyphonically, except when note within group is held while triggering another, in which case behaves like mono.

Notes play polyphonically, except when note within choke group is held while triggering another, in which case behaves like mono.

5.3 Group Sound Settings The lower area of the Sampler interface contains the sound controls for the currently active groups.

Here you modify the sound shaping parameters for a group.

5.3.1 Output, Pan, Velocity and Glide

Volume - sets the Program relative volume.

Pan - set the Program relative pan.

Velocity - sets the velocity sensitivity of the group. This determines how keyboard velocity

affects the played volume of the group.

TX16Wx User Manual


Velocity Offset - sets the lowest velocity at which the group responds. For example if this is

set to 63, the group will never play at a lower volume than a key velocity of 63 would

produce.

5.3.2 AEG

The Amplitude Envelope Generator modifies the volume of the group over time. It is an extended

version of the standard ADSR envelope with some additional parameters.

5.3.3 LFO

Low Frequency Oscillator. Two LFO generators are available per group.

LFO Parameters:

Rate - LFO frequency in Hz, ranging from ~0.01 - 1500Hz

Amplitude - Strength of the generated modualtion pulse

Fade in - Time before the LFO reaches its maximum amplitude. Use this to achieve a "fade-

in" effect in the modulation.

Position - Wave cycle start of the LFO. A setting of 0.5 effectively reverses the phase of the

generated wave.

Type - Generated wave type

o Triangle

o Sinus

o Sawtooth

o Square

o Exponent

Sync

o None - Each group will starts its LFO cycle independently on note-on.

o Group - If any voice is active playing this group, the LFO phase will be synced to this.

o Voice - If any voice is active playing any group in this voice, the LFO phase will be

synced to this. Note that the LFO will be synced to the first group found playing, so

this parameter is best used on all the groups in a program.

o Tempo - the LFO period is synchronized with the host song tempo. When in this

mode, the Rate parameter switches from frequencey to a beat designator. For

example settings the rate to 1/4 will cause the LFO to complete one period per every

quarter note.

Attack Decay1 Decay2 Release

Level1

Sustain

Time

Volume

TX16Wx User Manual


5.3.4 Filter

TX16Wx has a single 24dB resonant filter per group.

Filter Parameters:

Type

o AllPass - Filter off

o Lowpass - frequencies below the cutoff freqency are suppressed.

o Highpass - frequencies above the cutoff freqency are suppressed.

o Bandpass - frequencies below and above the cutoff freqency are suppressed.

Frequency - the cutoff frequency of the filter

Resonance - causes freqencies near the cutoff to become amplified.

Drive - boosts or dampens the signal through the filter.

5.3.5 Wave Start

Offsets the played wave(s) start point in the group. You can modulate this value in the Modulation

Table view. For example, by modulating this with keyboard velocity you can skip a sharp transient in

a wave when playing at low velocities.

5.4 Modulation Mapping Each group can have up to 16 active modulation mappings, from either the sound shaping generators

or external Midi input. The Modulation Mapping View lets you edit and manage these.

5.4.1 Modulation Table

Source - selects the modulation data source

o ENV1 / ENV2 - the Modulation Envelopes.

o LFO1 / LFO2 - Low Frequency Oscilators

o Pitchbend

o Modulation Wheel

o Channel Pressure

o Aftertouch

TX16Wx User Manual


o Key - maps depending on the played Midi key, where C0 represents no, and G10

(highest Midi key) represents full modulation.

o Key/R - like Key, but maps the modulation into the groups Key Range.

o Vel - maps depending on the played Midi velocity, from 0 to 127.

o Vel/R - like Vel, but maps the modulation into the groups Velocity Range.

o External Controller 1 - 16 - Takes the modulation value from system-defined External

Midi Controllers.

Destination - sets the destination parameter for the modulation

o Amp - group volume (+/- 1)

o AEG Attack - the attack parameter of the AEG. (+/- 1)

o AEG Time - the overall speed (time between stages) of the AEG. (+/- 200%)

o ENV1 / ENV2 Amplitude - (+/- 1)

o LFO1 / LFO1 Amplitude - (+/- 1)

o LFO2 / LFO2 Rate - (+/- 1500Hz)

o Filter Frequency - (+/- 20000Hz)

o Filter Resonance - (+/- 1)

o Pitch - (+/- 127 semitones)

o Pan - (+/- 1)

Amount - how much the modulation will affect the destination parameter. This field scale is

dependent on the destination.

Frozen - if set to true, the modulation will only be evaluated once on Note-On. This will

effectively use a snapshot value of the modulation source at the time of note trigger.

Note: Modulation destinations are additive in nature, thus to have the modulation work as expected

you should in some cases set the original parameter to zero and drive it completely with modulation.

Any destination can have any number of sources whose input is summed.

5.4.2 Modulation Edit Menu

Right-click on the Modulation Mapping Table to bring up the edit menu:

Copy from group - copies the modulation table from another group

Copy from preset - copies the modulation table from a previously saved preset

Remove preset - removes a saved preset

Save as new preset - saves the current table as a named preset.

Modulation Presets are a quick way to keep your favorite modulation settings handy.

5.5 Modulation Envelopes TX16Wx has two simple three-stage modulation envelopes per group. These can be used to

modulate other sound shaping aspects of the group.

TX16Wx User Manual


Amp - determines the strength of the modulation output

L0 - start level

T1-3 - envelope times

L1-3 - envelope levels

Click-drag the parameter dials to modify the envelope parameters.

6 Samples The Samples view lets you load, save and manipulate waves as well as sample new content from your

DAWs audio input.

Wave selector - which wave to view / edit

Wave start - sets the start point of the wave. Use this to trim the played range of a wave.

Wave end

Root Key - the root key (pitch) of the sampled wave.

Fine Tune - +/-50ct pitch adjustment

Wave selector

Loop mode

Wave start Wave end Root Fine tune Zoom control

Loop selector

Loop start Loop end Tempo

TX16Wx User Manual


Zoom controls - increase / decrease magnification of the view. You can also use the mouse

scroll wheel inside the sample view area to zoom in/out.

Loop selector - sets the currently displayed / edited loop in the wave. TX16Wx supports an

unlimited number of loops per wave. However, disk formats may impose other restrictions.

Loop start - start point of active loop

Loop end - end point of active loop

Loop mode - type of loop

o None - no loop.

o Forward - when reaching end market, playback of the loop will jump back to the start

marker.

o Backward - when reaching the end marker, the playback will reverse and play until

the start marker is again reached, at which point the playback skips back to the end

marker and continues playback backwards.

o Bidirectional - the loop will switch direction every time it crosses the loop markers,

i.e. when it reaches the end marker, playback reverses and plays until the start

marker is reached. Here the playback returns to normal and continues until the end

marker, at which points the process, yes, loops.

o Slice - The region is not repeated, but rather, if mapped into a split, will cause only

the loop region to play for this particular mapping.

o Pinned Slice - Like a slice, but the slice will be preserved if you use the beat detect or

slice evenly or delete slice commands. Useful for iteratively buildin a sliced loop.

Tempo - when applicable, such as when working with sliced loops, the waves detected

tempo will be presented and can be edited here.

6.1 Playing samples You can play the currently active sample by clicking and holding the left mouse button inside the

sample view area. The active sample will be played at its root pitch from the point you clicked. Use

this to locate appropriate start / end points for the wave or loops.

6.2 Editing start / end You can click-drag the Start / End dials to modify the waves start and end points. By double- clicking

you can also enter these manually. By clicking the Up / Down arrows on

either side of the dials the value is incremented by searching for the closest

next / previous Zero-Crossing point in the Sample Data.

You can also click-drag the Start / End Markers in the sample view to modify this

directly.

6.3 Editing loops Loop points are edited in the same way as

Wave Start / End. As with these, the Up /

Down Arrows of the numerical dials lets you

TX16Wx User Manual


search Zero-Crossing points in the sample data. This is an effective way to find good loop points.

6.4 Sample Edit Menu As other editor views, right-clicking on the Sample Edit View Area will bring up an Edit menu.

Goto - centers the sample viewer on the selected point.

Set - sets the value of the point to the time clicked in the sample viewer

Add Loop - adds a loop to the wave

Delete Loop - deletes the currently active loop

Load Wave - opens up a file browser for loading wave data from disk

Save Wave / Save Wave As - saves the currently active wave to disk

Duplicate Wave - creates a copy of the active wave in memory

Delete Wave - removes the active wave from sampler memory. If the wave is currently

assigned to any groups, these will be modified to be silent

Delete Unused - removes any waves not currently in use in groups

Slices - Create and manage slices

o Beat Detector - Analyses the wave for transients (beats) and adds slices on all that

passes threshold. You may vary the detection threshold to create more or fewer

slices. Any previously created sliced (that are not pinned) will be deleted.

o Slice Into Parts - Slices the wave into even parts as input by user. Any previously

created sliced (that are not pinned) will be deleted.

o Layout Slices - Places the wave and slices into a new group with each slice mapped

to a key. When the created group is selected a midi file representing the slices in

time can be dragged from the midi file source button.

o Delete All Slices - deletes all non-pinned slices from the wave.

Detect Pitch - attempts to determine the root pitch of the sample data

Normalize - maximizes the volume of the sample data

Cross fade loop - cross fades the edge parts of the currently active loop to create a smoother

transition.

Trim - removes any data outside the Start / End Markers

Range to New - creates a new wave in memory from the sample data inside the Start / End

Markers

Undo - allows you to revert the result of Normalize and Trim

6.5 Sampling content TX16Wx can listen to sound input from the VST host and sample this into new Waves. To activate

sampling input, click the Listen button inside the Sample View.

Once activated, the VU-meters should indicate any active sound input. Choose Mono or Stereo

sampling by toggling the Mn / St button to the right of the VU meters.

TX16Wx User Manual


Once satisfied with the input settings, click Sample to start recording data into memory. Once you

have recorded enough data, simply toggle off the Sample button again. You can now edit the

sampled data as any other wave and then save it to disk.

The Listen button can be set to 'Auto', at which sampling will commence automatically when the host

transport is started.

7 Setup The Setup tab contains various settings and options that are either global and/or stored in the bank.

7.1 Places "Places" are file search paths where TX16Wx will look to resolve referenced file names when loading

sound data. Inversely, when saving files, and Use Places is active in the settings tab, the relative file

paths used to reference between

bank, performances, programs

and waves will be written

relatively to these paths.

This definition of search paths

allows you to create a complex

archive of sound files without having absolute paths in the referencing filenames, thus making the

sound data relocateable.

The Places Edit menu allows you to add, delete and edit paths.

7.2 External controllers TX16Wx can have up to 16 external Midi controllers defined. These are stored with the bank data on

disk or in DAW memory, but can also be stored as system defaults. Midi controllers can be selected

either from the list, or, if you for example have a controller area with mapped sliders, you can

enable Midi Learn for the controller slot and move the slider to map it automatically.

Each controller can be given an offset, which then acts as the center point for the controller. Midi

controllers range are normally <0 - 127>, but setting offset to 63, would instead cause the range to

become <-63 - 64>, i.e. bipolar.

TX16Wx User Manual


By right-clicking on the controller table you can either load the system default mappings or save the

current set as defaults.

7.3 Automation Like external controllers, the VST automation parameters can be mapped to be bipolar instead of

unipolar. In bipolar mode, the effective range of the parameter is <-1 – 1> instead of <0 – 1>.

By right-clicking on the controller table you can either load the system default mappings or save the

current set as defaults.

Automation parameter settings are saved with the TX bank or in the DAW fxb data.

7.4 Settings Global options for the sampler.

Save all waves in FXB/project - toggles whether TX16Wx should force storing all actual wave

data when storing the sampler state in the VST host project, or when writing the bank as FXB

(VST plug-in chunk data). Leaving this option set to true makes your project files self-

contained in such that TX16Wx does not have to locate wave files from disk when the project

is reloaded. However, if you have a large sample set in memory this can cause your project

files to become quite large, which causes issues with certain hosts.

Save waves in project dir - if this option is active and the host supplies the project file

location, TX16Wx will store all sample data that must be written as separate files instead of

writing the data into the project file itself. The samples will be written as <project

dir>\TX16Wx\<project name>\<wave name>. When combined with 'Save all waves in

FXB/project' all data will be stored into the project directory.

Use 'Places' when saving files - should paths be written as relative to Places (if possible)

when storing sound data to disk. If set to off, any referenced sound files not present in the

directory saved to (or subdirectory) will be written as absolute paths.

Load new copy of wave/program/performance files - Can be set to yes/no/ask. When

loading sound data already loaded, this determines if a new copy of the data should be

added to the bank. In general it is a bad idea to load duplicate copies of sound data,

especially waves, since saving the data will be ambiguous.

7.5 Outputs TX16Wx normally has 4 pairs of stereo and 8 mono output busses. Here you can turn outputs on/off

for either the current bank or in the defaults.

Note: because many hosts have issues with modifying the number of output busses in an active plug-

in, disabling an output here will not actually remove the output from the perspective of the host. It

just guarantees that no data will be processed to it. If you disable one or more outputs here, you

should remove the output bus in your VST host as well.

TX16Wx User Manual


8 Working in your DAW Normally a DAW / VST host application will ask the active plug-ins to store their session data in the

project file(s) when closing a project. This is how the state of a VST instrument is restored when

resuming a project.

Since TX16Wx is a sampler instrument, its internal state is dependent on waves loaded from disk,

typically many megabytes in size. Storing this whole state into the project can cause problems. Some

hosts cannot handle very large state data chunks. TX16Wx will by default not store wave data that

has not been modified in memory, instead just keeping a reference to the file on disk. While this

greatly reduces the size of stored data in most cases, it will leave your project vulnerable if you for

some reason delete or change those files.

For safety, you should probably store your entire bank state to disk inside your project structure,

with 'copy content' on.

The Save all waves in FXB/project setting controls will cause TX16Wx to store all wave data in the

host project file.

9 Saving sound data

9.1 Banks / Performance / Program When storing sound program data from TX16Wx, you may tick the option Copy Content on/off in the

file selector window opened (Save As). When Copy Content is on, all contained sound data will be

copied into the same directory as you are saving to, and the resulting sound files will reference the

copied material. Inversely, if Copy Content is off, the saved data will reference the original files

(potentially resolved through places).

9.2 Waves TX16Wx stores its sound data as Microsoft Wave files on disk, however if a bank references sound

data that has not been modified, the original wave files will be referenced. Once wave data is

modified in memory however, TX16Wx will store a new version of the sound data in Wav format in a

directory named Samples next to the stored program file.

10 File formats

10.1 Bank / Performance / Program TX16Wx stores its sound definitions in unicode (16-bit) XML data files. The XSD definitions for the

txbank, txperf and txprog file formats are available from the TX16Wx website.

10.2 Supported sample formats WAV - reads and writes PCM and floating point Wav files, including instrument and sampler

definitions.

AIFF - reads PCM and floating point Audio Exchange Format Files.

AIFC - reads ulaw, alaw and Typhoon DWVW Compressed AIFF files.

TX16Wx User Manual


10.3 Importing sound data

10.3.1 Soundfont 2

TX16Wx has limited support for import of Sound Font 2 files. Use the Load Performance file selector

to browse for SF2 files and import. TX16Wx will translate wave data as well as create program

representations of the SF2 bank voices.

Note: If you load a soundfont into memory when working on a project, and " Save all waves in

FXB/project" is not turned on, TX16Wx will attempt to reference the wave data in the soundfont.

Thus the project will be dependent on the imported soundfont bank. To avoid this, save the bank in

TX format before closing the project.

11 Credits and Acknowledgements TX16Wx uses the following third-party software:

VSTGUI - http://vstgui.sourceforge.net/

Libpng - http://www.libpng.org/

Zlib - http://zlib.net/

The GUI was created mainly using the excellent Skinman and Knobman tools by Kuso:

http://www.g200kg.com/

None of the DSP parts in this software would have been possible without the great resources at

http://www.musicdsp.org/

The sound architecture is based on the wonderful Typhoon OS, created by NuEdge Development for

the original TX16W hardware sampler. http://nuedge.net/typhoon2000/

tx16wx user manual v0.9

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