Solaris Sample Pooler - Help

What this Application Does

The Solaris Sample Pooler is a software application that facilitates the use of sample data in the sound programs of the Solaris synthesizer from John Bowen Synth Design.

Why Use this Application

The highly flexible architecture of the Solaris synthesizer enables the generation of sounds from a number of different sound source types, including the playback of sample data. While the Solaris synthesizer's sample playback oscillator greatly extends its sound creation capabilities, the sample data files must be specifically custom formatted.

The Solaris Sample Pooler software application allows you to convert a 16-bit, 44.1 kHz standard .WAV Waveform Audio File Format specification sample file into the specially formatted sample data necessary to be loaded into the Solaris synthesizer from a Compact Flash (CF) memory card.

How to Use this Application

First, read and familiarize yourself thoroughly with the Solaris synthesizer documentation pertaining to the use of sample data and the sample playback oscillator.

Start the Solaris Sample Pooler application on a computer running the Apple OS X operating system.

In the application's multi-column view of your computer's disk storage, navigate through the folder structure to the location with the 16-bit, 44.1 kHz .WAV specification sample file(s) that are to be converted. The application begins with the root of the boot startup disk displayed. You may see some otherwise unfamiliar folder names appear here. This should not be unexpected as these are hidden folders that exist in the root. If your Solaris program data is located on a disk other than the boot startup disk, these may be accessed through the Volumes folder (ordinarily hidden in the Finder application).

While navigating through your computer's disk storage with the application, selecting a folder will display in the next column of the view, a listing of any files in that folder with a .wav file extension (in alphanumerical order). The application will iteratively examine each file with a .wav file extension in the selected folder and generate a listing in the text window of the application that shows the sample attributes of all qualified files. Alternatively, the text window will display a message reading "No sample files compatible with the Solaris synthesizer found in this folder." if there are no qualifying sample files among the files with a .wav file extension in the selected folder.

Note that the Solaris Sample Pooler application requires sample files to be correct .WAV Waveform Audio File Format specification files with 16-bit, 44.1 kHz sample data. Sample files in other specification formats such as .AIFF files, other bit resolutions like 24-bit, and other sampling rates like 48 kHz or 96 kHz, will need to be converted before they can be used successfully with the Solaris Sample Pooler application.

Scroll through the listing of sample attributes shown in the text window to verify that the .WAV sample files in the currently selected folder that you would like to convert for use by the Solaris synthesizer are qualified by the Solaris Sample Pooler application. Select the Extract Sample Pool button to convert these qualified .WAV sample files. The Solaris Sample Pooler application will now create a new folder named SE_samplepool containing the converted sample files (now with .raw file extensions). Stereo .WAV sample files will be split into separate left and right channel files with -L and -R appended to the filename (before the file extension). The newly created folder also includes a descriptive text file with the name of the selected folder and the .txt file extension. This descriptive text file contains the contents of the text window in the Solaris Sample Pooler application.

Connect the Solaris Compact Flash (CF) memory card to your computer. Copy the files from the newly created folder named SE_samplepool to the folder of the Solaris Compact Flash (CF) memory card named Samples. The newly copied descriptive text file in the Samples folder of the Solaris Compact Flash (CF) memory card needs to be renamed to the form SamplePool-###.txt where ### is the next sequentially ascending number greater than any other existing SamplePool descriptive text file in that same Samples folder. If there are no other existing descriptive text files in that Samples folder then rename the newly copied descriptive text file to SamplePool-001.txt. See the Solaris documentation for information about how the SamplePool descriptive text files should be named in sequentially ascending order.

Eject the Solaris Compact Flash (CF) memory card from your computer. Note, do not physically remove the Solaris Compact Flash (CF) memory card from the reader device without first doing Eject with the Apple OS X operating system. The Solaris Compact Flash (CF) memory card with newly converted samples is now ready to be inserted into the Solaris synthesizer and then loaded for use by the Solaris sample playback oscillators. See the Solaris documentation for information about these procedures.

Note, it is also possible to convert just a single .WAV format sample file with the Solaris Sample Pooler application rather than an entire folder of sample files. Selecting a single .WAV format sample file in the Solaris Sample Pooler application (rather than a folder) will cause the text window of the application to display the sample attributes of only the selected sample file. Selecting the Extract Sample Pool button will then convert the selected .WAV sample file (assuming it is qualified) with the resulting converted files in the same (selected) folder rather than a new folder named SE_samplepool. These newly created files will need to be copied to the Solaris Compact Flash (CF) memory card and renamed as previously described above.

Where to Find Support and Updates for this Application

Refer to the Subliminal Effect Web site for issues with the use of the Solaris Sample Pooler software application or to check for any updates. Application notes about advanced level usage and suggestions will also be available here.