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In this closing part on the AMS files, we'll see how we can draw waveforms and we'll hear some sound examples.
The Covert Operators recently released a small free pack that contains 3 sets of AMS files that will be useful to experiment with. You can download it here.
Drawing Waveforms
If you look hard enough, you can find almost anything on the web. In my search of understanding the principals behind Fourier based synthesis, I came across a neat java applet on the web made by Paul Falstad.
- Click here to load the java applet.
Like I mentioned in the previous part, a AMS file is an emulation of the output of a synth with 96 sine and 96 cosine oscillators. Each oscillator tuned to a different harmonic.
In the java applet, you are able to control the volume of the oscillators with the sliders.
In this applet, you can move the sliders or draw shapes to get new values to input into the AMS files you wish to create. If you multiply the value you get from a slider by 1000, you get the correct value to input in a AMS file.
For example:
0,52142 sin(x) = Sine 1 521.420
-0,31831 sin(2x) = Sine 2 -318.310
Its a tedious task to manually write down all these values from the sliders, but there is a little trick that helped me on OSX.
When you hold your mouse over a slider, so the value is showing, press the apple key + tab to switch to your text editor. The value of the slider will keep on being displayed on the java applet.
The Sound
To quote Steve Martin "Talking about music is like dancing about architecture."
I'll talk a little bit and then show you where to find lots of AMS files to play with.
Since AMS files are simply static looping waveforms, you could expect that they are lifeless waveforms. But they are actually little oscillators in my opinion. You can make a wide variety of different sounding waveforms and single shot sounds by tweaking these AMS files or by layering them up.
Ableton already used these files to make "Simpler components".
Simpler components are presets designed to be used in Simpler/Sampler. The presets contain a combination of both .wav / .aiff and Ableton's AMS files.
If you installed the default Live Packs that came with Live 6, then the Simpler device will have a folder named "Components" which has a subfolder named "Harmonics"
The unspoken intention of that folder, was to show off the potential of these files as building blocks for a sound bank. All the presets in that folder are made with AMS files.
If you play around with these files, you'll find that you can get some interesting results with Simpler. But the real fun starts with Sampler.
Sampler offers you a lot of ways to abuse these files and layer them up. There are even tricks to make one waveform fade into the other to create even more complex and evolving waveforms.
To move on to the actual sound of these files, I advise you to locate the folder named "Initialized Presets" that can be found in ~/Instrument Racks/Espionage/Constructs (Simpler) after you installed the Espionage pack.
You'll see 6 presets for each waveform.
- C1 is BaseNote 36 transposed by + 12 semitones (so that when you play C1, it sounds like C1)
- C2 is BaseNote 48 untransposed (so that when you play C1, it sounds like C1)
- C3 is BaseNote 60 transposed by - 12 semitones (so that when you play C1, it sounds like C1)
- And so on...
You wont hear much of a difference between C1 and C2. But you will hear a huge difference between C1 and C6.
If you have 128 AMS files, one for each note, you have 128 variations of the waveform you created.
Each consecutive file will have slightly different harmonics.
This becomes lots of fun when you add Sampler's FM capabilities to the equation.
Especially if you consider the possibilities of the last "trick" I have to share with you.
Total Modularity
An AMS file will always be looped at a zero crossing. You never have to set up loop points, Live does all the work.
Therefore, you can switch these files around as you please. Hotswap these waveforms with other waveforms to provide new "oscillators" for your patches.
Although this is perhaps the simplest trick I have given, it is the most powerful one.
To really see why, you have to think in "components".
This little feature in Live, allows people to design waveforms from the ground up. But it doesn't have to stop at waveforms. What about the endless list of techniques, tricks and black magic that circulate in the field of sound design?
A lot of techniques can be simple things like a Simpler preset showing how to tweak a sound into a kick. This would simply be a waveform with a snappy pitch envelope and a few macros that are restricted to the parameters needed to make a kick.
Each AMS file you have could be a replacement oscillator for your preset (or technique, as I called it). In the long run, you'll end up with a modular soundbank of some sorts.
I hope these parts on uncovering the AMS file format have been helpful.
Feel free to ask any questions or post suggestions in the comment section below this article.
Although this is the final part of these articles, this wont be the last time you will have heard of AMS files.
The Covert Operators created and abused a few thousands of these Meta Waveforms and you are able to see and hear the result of that in our Live pack named "Constructs"!
Until then,
Take Care!
- The Covert Operators
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