CDP Release 5.0

~ New Systems or Upgrades ~

NEW PROGRAMS

The following programs are new in Release 5.0.

Speech Processing	A whole new set of programs have been written to process speech (vocal sounds) in new ways. These have emerged from Trevor Wishart's work on his fantastic new compositions, Globalalia and Imago. One group makes use of pitch trace files (.frq) which identify pitch, noise and silence. Using this information, selections can be made between retaining pitch (i.e., vowel sounds) or noise (i.e., consonants), and silence can also be identified and retained, or used to replace either pitch or noise. Another pair of programs enable you to create a breakpoint file in which different vowel sounds are assigned to different times. Thus, like any of the CDP breakpoint files, these make instant or gradual changes in the timbre of the sound, thus introducing speech-like characteristics. The programs to look for are: HILITE VOWELS, REPITCH VOWELS, and the following in the REPITCH Group: INSERTSIL, INSERTZEROS, INTERP, NOISETOSIL, and PITCHTOSIL. Rhere is also R_EXTEND in the GRAIN Group. It focuses on the task of picking out iterative material, such as rolled r's, and extending the iteration. Finally, SYLLABLES in the SFEDIT Group helps you to separate out vocal syllables. While you still need to provide a list of cut times, this program assists the process by keeping a bit of overlap with the previous and following syllable, thus achieving a more natural result.
Join & Sequence	Release 5.0 includes important new ways to join (splice) and even sequence sounds. The new splice programs (JOINSEQ and JOINDYN) are in the EXTEND Group, and the new sequence programs (SEQUENCE and SEQUENCE2) are in the SFEDIT Group. All four programs enable you to use several input sounds, and these are assigned numbers starting with 1 in the same order that they are entered. You then also provide a file (containing just these numbers) that gives the order in which they are to be spliced or sequenced, with or without repetitions. JOINSEQ just splices, while in JOINDYN, you can also specify the relative amplitude of each spliced file. SEQUENCE handles one input, and you specify times and a transposition level. Thus the sounds can overlap in the output file produced. SEQUENCE2 handles several inputs, so you specify the order in which they are to appear as well. These 4 programs form a powerful addition to CDP's non-track-based sonic assembly routines, and make it easier to create passages with patterned repeats or are rhythmicised.
Pulsation	Regular pulsation is a frequent requirement in musical passages. Release 5.0 has two new programs that meet this need in original ways. SHUDDER in the MODIFY Group somehow 'shakes' the whole sound, imposing an amplitude envelope with regular tremulations. There are, however, a number of randomisation parameters by which these tremulations can be made more supple and natural. Similar to SHUDDER, but different again, is CYCLIC in the ENVELOPE Group. This will impose a (regular) rising, falling, troughed (falls, then rises) or user-defined envelope shape on the sound. CYCLIC operates directly on binary envelope files (.evl). In the DISTORT Group, PULSED imposes regular pulsations on a sound, but this time operating on pseudo-wavecycles. REPLIM in the DISTORT Group is a variant of DISTORT REPEAT. The difference is that it allows you to set a frequency ceiling below which the repeats are to take place. Several new programs in the EXTEND Group can also be grouped under 'pulsation'. There are: BAKTOBAK (backwards joined to forwards sound), DOUBLETS (divide a sound into segments that repeat and splice them together), FREEZE (extend part of a sound by repeating it, with several parameters to add variation), and REPETITIONS (repeat a source file at specified times).
Spatialisation	SPACEFORM in the MODIFY Group enables you to swing the sound back and forth between the speakers in a stereo field ('sinusoidal distribution'). The speed and the location of the oscillation can be set. FINDPAN determines the precise location of a moving sound at a given point in time. This makes it possible to set a pan position in a mixfile so that another sound comes in at precisely that location. Another new program in this Group, SCALEDPAN, scales pan data to fit the duration of a soundfile different from the one for which it was created.
Generation	COMBINE MAKE2 adds (binary) envelope data (.evl) to the pitch (.frq and formant (.for) already available (MAKE) for the generation of new sounds from an arbitrary selection of sources. SYNTH CLICKS is a utility for making click tracks. Tempo, including acceleration and deceleration between tempos, as well as meters with accentuated notes, can be built into the design, so it is very flexible.
Granulation	Besides R_EXTEND, described in the Speech Processing section above, ASSESS has been added to the GRAIN Group. ASSESS surveys a soundfile and reports the amplitude level ('gate') and window length (in milliseconds) that will result in the most grains – very useful!
Mixfiles	Here, the new facilities provide ways to massage existing Mix Files: ADDTOMIX, ATSTEP, FADERS, MODEL, ONGRID & PAN. However, in addition to these, INBETWEEN2, a variant of INBETWEEN, produces intermediate soundfiles moving sonically from the first to the second, while trying to synchronise the zero-crossings of the two files. Segments of soundfile are lengthened or shortened by this process. It is a great tool with which to produce many new and unusual sounds, while filling in the acoustic (sonic) space between different types of sound.
Batching	New in the HOUSEKEEP Group is BATCHEXPAND. Its role is to facilitate 'ringing the changes' on one or several sounds. It does this by enabling you quickly to set re-processing one or several sounds with different parameter values. Those advanced users who make extensive use of batch files will find this a welcome addition to their toolkit. Please note the existing batching facility in the Sound Loom GUI: creating Instruments. A new grid-based batching facility is work-in-progress for a forthcoming version of Soundshaper.
Sundries	ENVEL TIMEGRID is a very unusual program that is difficult to describe. It partitions a soundfile into a sequence of 'windows' separated by silence, rather like light or images seen through the slats of a picket fence as you move along. A specified number of output soundfiles can be produced, and the size of the opening between the slats, the gridwidth can vary over time. This is one you just have to explore yourself to find out just what it does. There are more new tools in the HOUSEKEEP Group to back up soundfiles (BAKUP), remove clicks (DEGLITCH and ENDCLICKS) and cut sounds at zero amplitude points (GATE). VFILTERS in the FILTER Group is a utility for creating filter bank files for the VARIBANK program.

Last updated: 31 march 2005