Typhoon FAQ, Part 3: Software and Samples Resources

Last updated May 13, 2001
The Typhoon FAQ is divided into three parts. The other parts are:

Table of Contents, Part 3


About the FAQ

This document is exclusively about the operating system Typhoon running on the Yamaha TX16W sampler. For all other information about the TX16W sampler (including the Yamaha operating system, TX16W technical details, the mailing list, the archive, tricks & tips and more), check out the TX16W WWW page at http://www.t0.or.at/~mpakesch/tx16w/. Here are links to some other files of interest: Disclaimer: All the information in this document is unofficial and potentially wrong and out of date. However, I think most of it is rather accurate and up to date. If you find anything wrong, please send mail to Pierre Gander (pierregander@hotmail.com) about it!

This FAQ was compiled by Pierre Gander (pierregander@hotmail.com), from the TX16W mailing list and from my own experience (I've owned Typhoon since December 1993). Thanks to everyone on the list for their contributions. Some parts of this FAQ was simply copied from the TX16W FAQ created by Mark Lakata (lakata@nsdssp.lbl.gov). Also thanks to Magnus Lidström (cucumber@stacken.kth.se) for details about Typhoon.

Suggestions, corrections or comments to this FAQ are very welcome.

The latest version of this FAQ can be found at http://www.pierregander.com/typhoon/.


Are there sounds available in Typhoon format? Where?

Yes. The only place known is the Typhoon part of the TX16W mailing list FTP archive at ftp://ftp.t0.or.at/pub/sound/tx16w/samples.typhoon/. Muki Pakesch (mpakesch@t0.or.at) is the maintainer of the archive.

(Note: the old archives rydnet-gw.lysator.liu.se and ftp.informatik.uni-freiburg.de are obsolete.)

You can also load samples in AIFF format directly into Typhoon. AIFF-samples are available at many places on the Internet.

You can also use the old Yamaha waves, but the Setups, Performances and Voices have to be remade in Typhoon (which is quick and easy) or be converted using some of the software converters available (see the section Software.)

The archive has been put onto CD ROM by Steven Selick (smselick@styx.ios.com). Here's what he said in two mails to the people of the TX16W mailing list:

Subject: Now taking CD Orders!
Date: Sun, 7 Jan 1996 02:27:34 -0500 (EST)

Hi All!

I'm ready to start taking orders for the TX-16w CD-Rom discs! I do not
plan to make money on this project. I am charging $15 US for the disc
including shipping & handling within the local US. I make no guarantee
that the disc will work, but I have seen it read on a PC (NT, and
Win95), an Atari ST (Extendos and Toshiba drive), Unix, and VMS
machines. The disc I am making is an ISO-9660 standard disc based on
the archive as of a few days ago. It will include a tar file of the
original archive with long filenames, etc.

Please mail a check made out to me (Steve Selick) for $15 US (let's
say, $20 for outside the continental US should cover it - please send
an international money order) and include your return address in the
letter. There is no need to e-mail me - just send snail-mail. I will
cash your check approximately 3 days after I mail the disc to you to
allow for shipping time.

Send to:

Steven Selick
515 Mount Prospect Ave #12C
North Newark, NJ 07104
U.S.A

I look forward to hearing from you!
-Steve


Subject: Cd's and money orders
Date: Tue, 9 Jan 1996 07:21:20 -0500 (EST)

Hi!

Just wanted to let you international people know that it is fine with
me to have you send me US cash if you like. Just realize that I can't
be held responsable for it not making it here. No reason this should
cost any more than it absolutely has to. Also, I will send up to 3
discs for the same shipping charge, so international people can pay
$20 for one, $35 for 2, $50 for 3 instead of $20, $40, $60. Hope that
helps some people out!
-Steve
P.S. Please leave a note in there telling me what you are paying for,
and be sure to include the return address!

Are there any tools available that converts to/from Typhoon format waves?

Note: Converting into Typhoon format is easy. Just convert the wave to AIFF format and load right into Typhoon (remember to make sure it ends in .A01). It is of course also possible to convert waves into Yamaha format and load them.

Typh2Yam

Typh2Yam converts Typhoon waves sample files into Yamaha OS sample files. Directory at FTP site: ftp://ftp.t0.or.at/pub/sound/tx16w/util/src/typ2yam/. C-code: typ2yam.c (note: you will need a C compiler to compile this program.)

Date: Wed, 2 Oct 1996 17:45:10 +0200
From: mpakesch@t0.or.at (muki pakesch)
. . .
i've test-compiled it on a sgi (R4400)
it works as promised  :-)
Date: Fri, 21 Feb 1997 02:02:21 +0100
From: muki pakesch (mpakesch@t0.or.at)
Subject: typ2yam for BE
. . .
well, i've successfully compiled
typ2yam (the typhoon to yamaha sample converter) and
krz2tx (the kurweil sample stealer)
for.....hold your breath  ;-).....the Be OS!  :-)

so for anybody of you having a BeBox or a PowerMac with BeOS
point your browser to:


ftp://ftp.t0.or.at/pub/sound/tx16w/util/be/typ2yam.tar.gz

and


ftp://ftp.t0.or.at/pub/sound/tx16w/util/be/krz2tx.tar.gz

just ungnuzip, untar the files, put 'em in the /bin directory
and you're ready to go  :-)

for typ2yam i also included a small bash-script
which will batch-convert all typhoon samples in the given directory

i've also tried to port sox, sdx2tx and vortex.c
but unfortunately to no avail yet...

cheers,
muki

Vortex

Vortex converts Yamaha OS setups to Typhoon setups. C-code: ftp://ftp.t0.or.at/pub/sound/tx16w/util/src/vortex.c (note: you will need a C compiler to compile this program.)

Typhmake

Converts Yamaha OS setups to Typhoon setups (MSDOS, IBM PC): ftp://ftp.t0.or.at/pub/sound/tx16w/util/ibmpc/typhmake.zip There is a quick and dirty program to convert old yamaha setups into Typhoon voice files. Only the waves and keysplits are converted- none of the other voice parameters are copied.

BASIC IBM version contains

The C "machine-independent" source code is called vortex. It is based on the BASIC version above. This is a good practical "guide" to the Typhoon and Yamaha file structures.

WinVortex

Date: Thu, 19 Mar 1998 11:24:15 +0000
From: Brahim HAMADICHAREF (brahim@rome.cis.plym.ac.uk)
Subject: Re: WinVortex (Win95/NT) Beta Testers required

Hi all !

A new version of WinVortex is available (same place)

Now WinVortex will tell you when it can not read Yamaha
setup/perf/voice/Timbre/Wave Yamaha or write typhoon
setup/perf/voice.

Future version will include destination path (so that
will save on floppy ...) and description.readme will
become
- wave.readme
- setup.readme
I will add some checkbox for that ...

I tried it with Fanta and it seems ok.

Test feedback appreciated.

--

Brahim [brahim@cis.plym.ac.uk]
http://www.cis.plym.ac.uk/cis/brahim/

TX16WConverter

Date: Thu, 30 Apr 1998 20:50:06 +0100
From: Brahim HAMADICHAREF (brahim@rome.cis.plym.ac.uk)
Subject: TX16WConverter (Win95/NT) Beta Testers required

Hi all !

TX16WConverter is a convertion tool under Win95/NT for all the
PC / TX16W users. TX16WConverter is free. A nice postcard with
a collection stamp would be appreciated :-) ...

From 30/04/98 TX16WConverter can load
- TX16W Yamaha Wave (no loop)
- TX16W Typhoon Wave
- PC WAV file (8-16bits)
- Atari AVR files (8-16bits, signed/unsigned)
- Sun/Next SND-AU files (16 only)

and it can save to
- TX16W Yamaha wave (no loop)
- PC WAV file (16 always)
- Atari AVR files (16 always)

and it can play WAV files

TX16WConverter can be found under

http://www.cis.plym.ac.uk/cis/brahim/tx16w/download/

///////////////////////////////////////////////////////
// TODO

- Load/Save AIFF files
- Sampling rate conversion
- Stereo-Mono mangement
- Internet access (download from TX16W Ftp archive)
- Dump through MIDI port
- batch conversion
- Search and catalogue functions to see what files you have
  on your disks.

Feedback would be appreciated, any suggestions and bug report should
be directly send to me.

TX16WConverter has only been tested under NT. Please try it under
Win95 (it's a Win32 build so it should not be any problems).

I hope TX16WConverter will make your life easier.
Happy convertion !

--

Brahim email: brahim@cis.plym.ac.uk
http://www.cis.plym.ac.uk/cis/brahim/

AWAVE

Date: Mon, 26 Jun 1995 11:01:12 -0500 (CDT)
From: "Ewan A. Macpherson" (MACPHERSON@Waisman.Wisc.Edu)
Subject: Sample extractor program (Windows)

I thought TX-folk might be interested in the sample extractor program available
at http://www.nada.kth.se/~f93-maj/fmjsoft.html.  It will read samples from
many formats and extract them from EPS disk image files, Kurzweil files etc.
It only saves in a few formats, but one is AIFF, so Typhoon users may find this
useful.  I played with it a little over the weekend and it converted a Yamaha
wave to .WAV without problems (although I did have to change the filename to
.TXW - format is tied to file extension). . . .
Also, available in the TX16W archive as ftp://ftp.t0.or.at/pub/sound/tx16w/util/ibmpc/awave301.zip

SOX

Sox can convert Typhoon samples to Yamaha OS format. ftp://ftp.t0.or.at/pub/sound/tx16w/util/ibmpc/sox.exe (MSDOS, PC)

SndConv

SndConv is a general purpose sample file format converter and sound editor for the MacOS with a graphical loop editor and some editing effects, by Theo Vosse (vosse@RULS41.FSW.LEIDENUNIV.NL).

SndConv imports: TX16W Yamaha *.wxx, TX16W Typhoon *.c01, aiff, wav, snd resource, SampleVision, 8SVX, VOC, AU, MOD, RAW signed/unsigned. It exports: TX16W Yamaha *.wxx, aiff, wav, snd resource, SampleVision, 8SVX, VOC, AU, MOD, RAW signed/unsigned.

SndConv is the only dedicated tx16w file converter for the MacOS.

Available at:
ftp://ftp.t0.or.at/pub/sound/tx16w/util/mac/SndConv.sit.bin
ftp://ftp.t0.or.at/pub/sound/tx16w/util/mac/SndConv.sit.hqx



Last updated May 13, 2001 by
Pierre Gander (pierregander@hotmail.com)