[LAD] [ANN] ALPHA: jiss - Jack Interactice Sequencing Software

gene heskett gheskett at wdtv.com
Mon Nov 14 05:10:40 UTC 2011


On Sunday, November 13, 2011 11:11:06 PM Florian Paul Schmidt did opine:

> On 11/14/2011 05:01 AM, gene heskett wrote:
> > On Sunday, November 13, 2011 10:46:57 PM Florian Paul Schmidt did
> > opine:
> > 
> > Played with the pclos default .ogg player.
> > 
> >> http://shirkhan.dyndns.org/~tapas/stella.ogg
> > 
> > Nice clean sounding synth, but as an old BC engineer, it sounds like
> > there is a DBX-165 compressor that is badly adjusted in the output
> > path.  The whole thing is breathing about 30db  with the kicker drum,
> > and gain recovery is about half the drum period.  If you wanted that
> > effect, you got it in spades, but to these ears the compression is
> > way overdone and I think you will find it generates ear fatigue in
> > the average listener quickly.
> > 
> > I don't enjoy raining on anybodies parade that obviously has a lot of
> > work in creating a creative tool like this is intended to be, so
> > please take this as constructively as possible.
> 
> Yeah, the compressor is added 'cause I happen to like that 30db
> breathing sound ;D The wicked.lua jiss-script itself only sends the midi
> notes out (in my case to jass which then goes through jack-rack with
> reverb and compressor)
> 
> It's maybe not the best example to demonstrate jiss, cause it might put
> many listeners off (especially with the clipping, too ;D). I'll upload a
> cleaner rendition sometime tomorrow..
> 
> Thanks for the comment..
 
I almost didn't send that, but the sound reminded me of the sound I 
inherited when I became the CE at WDTV-5, back in '84, here in West 
Virginia.  That put me off so much I told the GM I hadn't heard so much 
heavy breathing since shortly after lights out last night, when I asked for 
permission to replace a brand new piece of gear with something I knew would 
do the job and be essentially transparent to the listeners, an old CBS Labs 
AudiMax, followed by, on the other end of the studio-transmitter microwave 
path, an equally ancient CBS Labs FM Volumax.  They worked, but it was 
extremely rare and took a trained ear, to detect that they were working.

As a C.E.T., I had fun keeping them running, first replacing all the small 
electrolytics used for coupling capacitors with paper/mylar, which put a 
stop to the twice annual rebuild by shotgunning all the caps, then 
eventually the gain controlling tetrode nuvistor vacuum tube faded away 
(they are made of pure unobtainium now) and I had to adapt a dual gate 
Mosfet transistor to handle that.  But those 2 processors made it to about 
50 years old by the time we switched to all digital in mid 2008.

Now I'm going to wander off topic, sort of.

Frankly, broadcasters sorely need such a characteristic device in the 
digital path right now, and if some enterprising coder were to write that 
code to interface with the usual EIA digital audio format, and build it 
into a black box with the usual connectors on it, he/she would find 
themselves busier than that famous cat on the equally famous tin roof until 
they had filled up the market, which is, here in the states, 1500 to 2000  
tv stations.  Multiply that by the number of channels the digital 
broadcaster is using today, which for us is 4, and you'll have to hire help 
building them for 2 or 3 years.

I don't know if there is all that much info out on the net on how the 
Audimax worked, but surely any patents have long since expired.  In the 
maintenance manual there was a rather complex test method to determine if 
it was working correctly, but its only controls were input and output gain 
T-pads so one could establish the correct internal levels for optimum 
operation.

The Volumax is much easier to explain as it was designed to prevent HF over 
modulation only, caused by the 17db of pre-emphasis the 75 microsecond 
boost caused, allowing full mid-range levels, but rolling off the high end 
to prevent the HF stuff from exceeding the allowed occupied bandwidth, 
+-75khz for FM's and +-25khz for tv.  Its gain control response was sub 
millisecond, both ways.  But in digital, no such control is needed, but we 
surely, sorely need the equ of the Audimax.

In fact, that is one of the reasons I have remained subscribed to this 
list.  If somebody does this, I will be in the GM's office asking for a 
P.O. for 4 of them tomorrow morning.  So please somebody do it before I 
fall over.  Now 77 YO & diabetic, retired (insert laugh track here, they 
never really let you) for 9 years, I still appear to have that sort of 
clout on the 2nd floor.

Thanks Flo.

[...]

Cheers, Gene
-- 
"There are four boxes to be used in defense of liberty:
 soap, ballot, jury, and ammo. Please use in that order."
-Ed Howdershelt (Author)
My web page: <http://coyoteden.dyndns-free.com:85/gene>
Everyone has a purpose in life.  Perhaps yours is watching television.
- David Letterman



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