Description

SFX Gen has been written to allow the generation of simple sound effects using a simualted set of synthesiser components. Whilst there are many such things geared towards music generation I needed something simpler for sound effects generation.

And while it may not be perfect, you can get an impressively perfect sounding Space Invaders Saucer sound effect out of it!

Designing the circuit

SFXGen works on the idea of having a circuit of simple components, for instance a component to generate a certain frequency of waveform and another to write this waveform out to disk as a WAV file.

The central black canvas is where this circuit is drawn. To add a component right click on the background and select the component you wish to add. Once down you should have a graphic representing the component you've just added. They all look the same, but have different titles and different inputs on the left-hand side and outputs on the right-hand side depending on the component selected.

Once you have more than one component you can start wiring them together to make your circuit. To do this hover over one of the inputs or outputs and the pointer should change into a pointing finger.

Click and drag and a wire will be drawn from the selected input/output. Keeping the mouse button down drag the wire to another input (if you originally selected an output) or another output (if you originally selected an input). Releasing the mouse button over the other end will wire the two components together.

To change inputs/outputs already wired together simply drag a new wire out and the original will be replaced.

To delete a wire start dragging a new wire and release the end of it over the background. If you start dragging and realise you don't want to change the connection at all, simply release the wire over any bit of the circuit (not another input/output obviously!) and the original wire will be left where it was.

To delete a component from the curcuit entirely, right click over the component and select Delete from the pop-up menu.

Some components also have additional items of configuration that can be set by selecting the Configure item from the pop-up menu. Selecting Help will display a short bit of help on the component.

Running the circuit simulation

Once you've designed your circuit you can run it by selecting the Run option from the Simulation menu. To control the length of the sound created use the Milliseconds field below the circuit canvas.

The File Menu

The File menu can be used to do the usual - loading and saving the circuit, starting afresh or quitting.