Awave, Troubleshooting and Frequently Asked Questions,       (c) FMJ-Software
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Last udated: 960421

Contents:
  1) General questions
  2) Problems under Windows 3.1
  3) Auditioning troubles
     a) General
     b) UltraSound
     c) SB AWE32
     d) Maui/Tropez

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1) General questions:

  Q  I can't save in .XYZ format even though Awave claim to support it!
  A  Not all formats can store  _all_  types of data.  Ex:  only very  few
     formats support saving whole bank files while most formats (supported
     by Awave) supports saving single waveforms. What type of data you are
     trying to save is determined by what kind of 'node' or 'item'  in the
     tree view list you have selected.  See 'File Formats'  in the program
     help file  and look  at  the export formats  list for info about what
     formats support what data types.

  Q  I try to load, audition or play this really huge file, but it takes a
     very,  very long time or the program just exits with an out-of-memory
     message...
  A  Awave is currently limited to working  only with files it can fit into
     memory. To play huge files you may need a huge amount of physical RAM.
     This is especially true for large MPEG audio files  (BTW, the MPEG de-
     compressor is not  very optimized at all so don't even expect a 1/10th
     of the speed of real time decompressors, e.g. XingSound).

  Q  The AudioPlayer doesn't work. It sounds really strange, or things even
     locks up when I try to play certain, but not all, waveforms.
  A  Try dechecking the 'Device can handle arbitrary playback rates' box in
     the  Options->Program->AudioPlayer property tab  (this can be necessay
     because a few buggy audio drivers report that they can do things which
     in fact, they can not).

  Q  Why dont you make a DOS/OS2/Linux/Unix/Machintosh/Amiga/Atari version?
  A  Because I don't have the time or the motivation.
     If there's enough people interrested interest  (read  "I'd register if 
     only you'd do an"), I might be persuaded to do a command line version,
     stripped of the user interface and all editing functions...

  Q  Is there a batch convert function?
  A  No but you can open multiple files (do an Open File followed by one or
     more Insert File)  and  then  save all items by using the  Save All As
     function of the File menu.  This will  save all instruments  (and also
     create instruments  for all waveforms not contained in any instrument)
     or, it will save all waveforms,  depending on the capabilities of  the
     output format you choose.  The items  will be  saved as files with the
     name you choose,the last two characters in the filename beeing used as
     an incrementing index. Ex, Myfile00.Wav, Myfile01.Wav, ...

  Q  When saving stereo data to  a format that  only support mono waveforms 
     or when doing an SDS transfer,  how do I specify which  channel of the 
     stero data should be used?
  A  In theese situation Awave  always automatically merges the channels by 
     an 'arithmetic average' algorithm.  However,  you can use the waveform 
     item->Properties->Editor->Process wizard to specifically convert the
     data to mono before you save it; there you can choose between 'average
     of channels', 'left channel only' or 'right channel only' algorithms.
	 
  Q  My synth doesn't suppor bidirectional looping,  what  can  I  do about
     wavforms that uses it?
  A  Try:'wavform item->Properties->Editor->Process->Convert bidir into fwd 
     loop', it should do the trick.
	 
  Q  How do I unistall Awave and remove all the file type associations?
  A  Run awave, then Options->Program->Uninstall. Or, under Windows 95, you 
     can use the Windows 95 Control Panel's Install/Uninstall feature.
  
  Q  Where is all the audio processing functions listed in the help file for
     the Audio precessing wizard? I only see a few of them!
  A  Some of them are only applicable to  some sorts of data  (like 'convert 
     mono to stereo' is only meaningfull for mono data) while  other is only
     implemented for some data types (like remove silence only works on mono
     data) and finally, many of the functions requires you to select a range
     in the waveform first. To do that,in the wavform properties editor tab,
     press down a  mousebutton  over the waveform,  drag with  the mouse and
     release the button. To unselect all, just click on the waveform again.
	 
  Q  I can't move the position bar in the AudioPlayer!
  A  True, the |<| and |>| buttons are not working.  But you can 'drag'  the 
     bar  (press down mouse button on the [] and move the mouse) booth  when
     playing and when its stopped.

  Q  For some synthesizers formats,  Awave can only read 'disk images',  why
     can't it read the disks directly?
  A  Because they are not in FAT compatible format and thus are not readable
     by the OS.  This  means that it  would  require  some  serious lowlevel
     reprogramming of the floppy disk controller in order to read them.While
     this is possible  under DOS and  perhaps under Win3.1,  it is far  more
     difficult under Win95, not to speak of  under Win  NT, requiring (three
     different) custom ring 0 device drivers (for the three resp. OS's).This
     is not a project I care to embark upon... There are  Shareware/Freeware
     DOS programs for the resp. synthesizers  that you can use to  make disk
     images instead.

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2) Problems under Windows 3.1:

  Q  Program complains about not being able to load COMCTL32.DLL when I try
     to start it.
  A  Read the  requirements  section again. You must  have a Win32 platform
     that supports the common controls introduced in Windows 95.
     This may either be Windows 95,Windows NT v3.51 or later or Windows 3.1
     with the Win32s etxensions v1.3 or later installed. If you use Windows
     3.1,look in the WIN32S.INI file in the ...\WINDOWS\SYSTEM directory to
     determine what version of Win32s you have.If you need an update get it
     from Microsoft, or, you can dowload it from my WWW-page.

  Q  When I select the 'AudioPlayer', the 'Clipboard', or the 'MidiSDSDump'
     virtual export format(s) in the Save dialog, it complains about
     'invalid filename' under Windows 3.1 + Win32s.
  A  That's right, it is an invalid name under the old 8.3 FAT.
     Instead use the equivalent Item menu commands.

  Q  This automatic file association stuff doesn't seem to work.
  A  No. It is disabled under Win32s because it was designed for Windows 95
     and under 3.1 it really clutters up things and doesn't work that well;
     so you'd probably not want it after all.  You can  manually  associate
     files in the File Manager if you want to.
	 
  Q  It just hangs when I try to start Awave?
  A  It seems like Win32s isn't compatible with a few systems (say 1%).  
     If this is the case for you, then no other Win32s programs are working
	 either.
	 
  Q  Why does X happen when I try to do Y?
  A  Don't know, the Win32s libraries seem to be  quite buggy on some systems
     (I guess they are not a  very high priority at Microsoft :-))so they may 
	 be playing tricks on you.
	 
  Q  Now I don't dare to install Win32s on my system!
  A  Take it easy, when you only run W31 programs Win32s will lie dormant and 
     not affect your system whatsoever.  It is first  when you  start a 32bit 
	 program that Win32s gets loaded into memory.
	 
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3) Auditioning troubles:

a) General

  Q  The virtual keyboards key layout  is not well suited for my non-querty
     keyboard (e.g. german keyb. may have X and Y swapped). What can I do?
  A  You  can edit  the key  assignment for  the virtual  keyboard with the 
     registry editor (regedit.exe) that comes with Windows 95. 
     Open "this_computer->HKEY_CURRENT_USER->Software->FMJ-Software->Awave"
     and edit  the mtVKeys string.  It's just a string of (normally 29, but 
     maximum 36)  characters holding  the ascii key  to  assign  to a note,
     begginning with C3 for the first character, then in increasing order.

b) UltraSound

  Q  Auditioning doesn't work on my GUS PnP!
  A  The PnP is not supported at the moment. You can put it in  GUS classic
     emulation mode and use the GUS classic windows drivers,  but that will
	 also lose you all benefits of the PnP.

c) SB AWE32

  Q  Program complains about not being able to load AWEMAN32.DLL when I try
     to use auditioning on the SB AWE32 (or comapatible).
  A  You must have this .DLL installed in your  WINDOWS  or  WINDOWS\SYSTEM
     directory.You must also have the very latest drivers that supports the
     new .SF2 file format.

  Q  Where can I find theese .SF2 compatible drivers for the AWE32.
  A  At the time this was written they were  only available in beta version
     from: "ftp://www.creaf.com/pub/creative/files/beta"
	 
  Q  After running Awave and using auditioning for the AWE32,I have trouble 
     running a few 16bit programs that uses  the AWE32  specifically  (like
     Eesbekay or Preditor). Why?
  A  This is a bug in the current 'beta' AWE32 drivers which hopefully will
     be corrected in the release drivers.  It causes problems between 32bit 
     programs using AWEMAN32.DLL and some 16bit programs using AWEMAN.DLL.

  Q  When  auditioning waveform  items,  I can only hear anything  within a 
     certain keyrange.
  A  It seems  like the  EMU8000  synthesizer use  by the  AWE32  can  only
     interpolate within a certain range so if the note  is too far off from
	 the Root key, then nothing will sound.

d) Maui/Tropez

  Q  Program complains about not being able to load  WFGATE.DLL  when I try
     to use auditioning on the Maui/Tropez.
  A  You must have this .DLL installed in your  WINDOWS  or  WINDOWS\SYSTEM
     directory.  It is available  from Turtle Beach  and  it comes  (and is
     automatically installed)  with the latest  versions of their WavePatch
     and Wave SE softwares.

  Q  Program crashes when auditioning is enabled with the Maui/Tropez.
  A  You must get a newer  version of the  WFGATE.DLL.  It should  be dated
     95-08-18 or later (earlier versions are incompatible with Windows 95).
     At the  time of  this writing,  it is only available  as a  patch from
     Turtle Beach but it should be included  with later  versions of  their
     softwares.  I can email you a copy if you can't find it anywhere else.

  Q  When  having auditioning enabled, why does it take such a long time to
     start up?
  A  Not my fault. It's the same thing as when starting TB's WavePatch.
  
  Q  When I use the 'Upload bank' command on my Tropez or Rio, I get a 'bank
     not saved for the Tropez/Rio' message from the 'gatekeeper'. Why?
  A  Awave sets 'Maui'as synth name in the WFB  files but  that is  the only 
     thing that would differ from a Tropez or a Rio bank.  Just click  ok to 
	 load it anyway.

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