Creating your first patch

This section steps you through constructing a simple patch by creating and connecting several blocks and then compiling your design and saving it as a file. The following procedures are covered:

Creating a simple wave form.
Creating frequency and amplitude knobs.
Connecting and disconnecting blocks.
Creating an output block.

Creating a simple wave form

To create a simple wave form as the first element of the patch, follow these steps:

Move the mouse cursor over the synthetic wave block in the block palette.
Press and hold the mouse button and move the cursor into the patch document. Place the rectangle outline in the center of the document and release the mouse button.

A synthetic wave block has been placed in the middle of the document.
Use the pop-up menu to change the block type to Sawtooth (see Figure 1).

Figure 1: Sawtooth wave in the patch document.

Creating frequency and amplitude knobs

To actually hear the wave, you need to attach frequency and amplitude knobs and send it to an output.

Attaching the knobs consists of two steps:

Creating knobs.
Connecting the knobs to other blocks.

Note: If you don't connect a knob directly to a synthetic wave form or a sample, but have intervening blocks, you also need to edit the knob. This is discussed in the section Editing knobs.

Adding knobs to your patch

To create knobs for manipulating a waveform or other elements, follow these steps:

Move the cursor over each of the knob block ports-the small triangles-to the left of the waveform block you just created, and click.

When the cursor is over a block port, the status panel in the bottom-left corner of the patch document indicates what kind of port it is. The status panel should read Frequency for the top block port and Amplitude for the bottom block port.

Select the knob tool and create a knob by dragging the block to the left and above the wave.
Move a second knob to the left and below the wave.

Figure 2: Patch with knobs.

Connecting and disconnecting blocks

You can use the ARIA tool's user interface to connect and disconnect knobs, wave forms, and other elements just as you would connect the elements on a digital synthesizer.

Table 1:  Connecting and disconnecting blocks.
-------------------------------------------------------
To connect      |* Move the cursor onto the block port 
blocks:         |to the right of the topmost knob.     
                |* Hold down the mouse button and drag 
                |the line that appears to the top block
                |port on the left of the wave.         
                |If you connect a knob block, it       
                |changes its name and type in an       
                |appropriate way.                      
-------------------------------------------------------
To disconnect   |* Move the cursor near (but not over) 
blocks:         |the connection, press and hold the    
                |Option key and the mouse button. A    
                |knife cursor appears.                 
                |* Drag the knife cursor across the    
                |connection to cut it.                 
-------------------------------------------------------

Figure 3 shows a patch after knobs have been connected to the frequency and amplitude block ports.

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Figure 3: Knobs with changed characteristics connection.

When you connect a knob to a synthetic waveform or a sample, ARIA automatically sets characteristics depending on the block you've chosen. This includes the type of knob, name of knob, default value, maximum and minimum, and format (integer or fractional value).

You can override the name and default value by clicking and editing, and change the type by using the pop-up.

To change the maximum or minimum, follow these steps:

Select the knob.
From the Patch menu, choose Knob Info or type Command-I.

The knob with its default settings appears.
Change the maximum or minimum as desired.

Creating an output block

Every patch you create with ARIA must have at least one output block at the end. To create an Output block:

Drag an Output block from the block palette to a position to the right of the waveform and rename it if you like.
Connect the Sawtooth generator to the Output block the same way you connected knobs to the waveform.

Figure 4: Complete patch with output block.