AWE & SB Live! Tips

AWE & SB Live! Tips

Under Construction

1. The Art of SoundFont - A step-by-step guide by Jess-Skov Nielson

2. Changing SoundFont parameters in reatime MIDI.

SoundFont parameters like LFO depth, filter cutoff, and other specific parameters (detailed below) can be changed in real time through MIDI NRPN (Non Registered Parameter Number) CC (Continuous Controller) messages

To control the AWE’s NRPN parameters, the following sequence of controller events must be entered :

CC # Parameter Description

99 127 NRPN MSB, which is always set to 127.

98 NRPN LSB # The # of the effect you wish to apply the CC to, as listed below

6 Data MSB # (See ¹equations)

38 Data LSB # (See ²equations)

^{1Data MSB # = (Actual Value + 8192) / 128
^{2Data LSB # = (Actual Value + 8192) % 128}}

(Actual Value = desired increment in a specified range given below) In most instances CC 6 can be ignored.

For example, if you wanted to control the filter cutoff using NRPN CC messages, you would enter the following CC events into your sequencer (the majority of sequencers support CC event editing) :

CC 99, Value=127 (always 127)

CC 98, Value=21 (21 represents FILTER CUTOFF)

CC 38, Value=(0-127) (127 = open filter … 0 = closed filter)

The following chart details the NRPN parameters available for CC changes. These LSB values shown below would be entered under CC 98 (which above has been set to 21). Right, onto the chart of available parameters :

AWE NRPN Chart

NRPN LSB 0 (Delay before LFO1 starts)

Realtime : No

Range : [0, 5900]

Unit : 4 milliseconds

Delay from 0 to 22 seconds.

NRPN LSB 1 (LFO1 Frequency)

Realtime : Yes

Range : [0, 127]

Unit : 0.084Hz

LFO1 frequency from 0Hz to 10.72 Hz.

NRPN LSB 2 (Delay before LFO2 starts)

Realtime : No

Range : [0, 5900]

Unit : 4 milliseconds

Delay from 0 to 22 seconds.

NRPN LSB 3 (LFO2 Frequency)

Realtime : Yes

Range : [0, 127]

Unit : 0.084Hz

LFO2 frequency from 0Hz to 10.72 Hz.

NRPN LSB 4 (Envelope 1 delay time)

Realtime : No

Range : [0, 5900]

Unit : 4 milliseconds

Envelope 1 Delay from 0 to 22 seconds.

NRPN LSB 5 (Envelope 1 attack time)

Realtime : No

Range : [0, 5940]

Unit : Milliseconds

Envelope 1 attack time from 0 to 5.9 seconds.

NRPN LSB 6 (Envelope 1 hold time)

Realtime : No

Range : [0, 8191]

Unit : Milliseconds

Envelope 1 hold time from 0 to 8 seconds.

NRPN LSB 7 (Envelope 1 decay time)

Realtime : No

Range : [0, 5940]

Unit : 4 Milliseconds

Envelope 1 decay time from 0.023 to 23.7 seconds.

NRPN LSB 8 (Envelope 1 sustain level)

Realtime : No

Range : [0, 127]

Unit : 0.75dB

Envelope 1 sustain level from full level down to off (0.75dB step).

NRPN LSB 9 (Envelope 1 release time)

Realtime : No

Range : [0, 5940]

Unit : 4 milliseconds

Envelope 1 release time from 0.023 to 23.7 seconds.

NRPN LSB 10 (Envelope 2 delay time)

Realtime : No

Range : [0, 5900]

Unit : 4 milliseconds

Envelope 2 Delay from 0 to 22 seconds.

NRPN LSB 11 (Envelope 2 attack time)

Realtime : No

Range : [0, 5940]

Unit : Milliseconds

Envelope 2 attack time from 0 to 5.9 seconds.

NRPN LSB 12 (Envelope 2 hold time)

Realtime : No

Range : [0, 8191]

Unit : Millisecond

Envelope 2 hold time from 0 to 8 seconds.

NRPN LSB 13 (Envelope 2 decay time)

Realtime : No

Range : [0, 5940]

Unit : 4 milliseconds

Envelope 2 decay time from 0.023 to 23.7 seconds.

NRPN LSB 14 (Envelope 2 sustain level)

Realtime : No

Range : [0, 127]

Unit : 0.75dB

Envelope 2 sustain level from full level down to off.

NRPN LSB 15 (Envelope 2 release time)

Realtime : No

Range : [0, 5940]

Unit : 4 milliseconds

Envelope 2 release time from 0.023 to 23.7 seconds.

NRPN LSB 16 (Initial Pitch)

Realtime : Yes

Range : [-8192, 8191]

Unit : cents

Pitch tuning between -8192 and 8191 cents.

NRPN LSB 17 (LFO1 to Pitch)

Realtime : Yes

Range : [-127, 127]

Unit : 9.375 cents

If data value is greater than 0, this will cause a positive(from 0 to maximum) 1 octave shift at LFO peak. On the other hand, if data value is smaller than 0, this will cause a negative (from 0 to minimum) 1 octave shift at LFO peak.

NRPN LSB 18 (LFO2 to Pitch)

Realtime : Yes

Description :

Range : [-127, 127]

Unit : 9.375 cents

NRPN LSB 19 (Envelope 1 to Pitch)

Realtime : No

Range : [-127, 127]

Unit : 9.375 cents

If data value is greater than 0, this will cause a positive (from 0 to maximum) 1 octave shift at envelope peak. On the other hand, if data value is smaller than 0, this will cause a negative (from 0 to minimum) 1 octave shift at envelope peak.

NRPN LSB 20 (LFO1 to Volume)

Realtime : Yes

Range : [0, 127]

Unit : 0.1875 dB

Data values smaller than 64 causes a positive phase (from 0 to maximum) volume modulation via LFO1 with magnitude of 12 dB at LFO peak. On the other hand, data values greater than or equal to 64 causes a negative phase (from 0 to minimum) volume modulation via LFO1 with magnitude of 12 dB at LFO peak.

NRPN LSB 21 (Initial Filter Cutoff)

Realtime : Yes

Range : [0, 127]

Unit : 62Hz

Filter cutoff from 100Hz to 8000Hz

NRPN LSB 22 (Initial Filter Resonance Coefficient)

Realtime : No

Range : [0, 127]

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(Hz)Low Q(dB)High Fc(kHz)High Q(dB)DC 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

NRPN LSB 23 (LFO1 to Filter Cutoff)

Realtime : Yes

Description :

Range : [-64, 63]

Unit : 56.25 cents

Data values smaller than 64 causes a positive phase (from 0 to maximum) filter modulation via LFO1 with magnitude of 3 octaves at LFO peak. On the other hand, data values greater than or equal to 64 causes a negative phase (from 0 to minimum) filter modulation via LFO1 with magnitude of 3 octaves at LFO peak.

NRPN LSB 24 (Envelope 1 to Filter Cutoff)

Realtime : No

Description :

Range : [-127, 127]

Unit : 56.25 cents

Data values greater than 0 cause a positive phase (from 0 to maximum) filter modulation via Envelope 1 with magnitude of 6 octaves at envelope peak. On the other hand, values smaller than 0 cause a negative phase (from 0 to minimum) filter modulation via Envelope 1 with magnitude of 6 octaves at envelope peak.

NRPN LSB 25 (Chorus Effects Send)

Realtime : No

Range : [0, 255]

Chorus send, with 0 being the driest (no chorus effects processing), and 255 being the wettest (full chorus effect processing).

NRPN LSB 26 (Reverb Effects Send)

Realtime : No

Range : [0, 255]

Reverb send, with 0 being the driest (no reverb effects processing), and 255 being the wettest (full reverb effect processing).