Programs for sound synthesis

    Library A compressed tarfile of sound generation functions.
    Uses the libao-1.1.0 driver for output on Linux, and
    the portaudio lib on OS X
    Tested on Mac OS 10.6.6 and Ubuntu 10.10 and 9.10

    An Introduction: The synthesis algorithms used by Wigout and TrikTraks (or "How does a computer make sound?") (PDF file)

    1. Wigout : link single periods of square waves, each with independent duration and amplitude changes.

      Binaries:
      • for Linux Red Hat 7.3
      • for OS X 10.5 (Intel & PPC)
      • for OS X 10.4 (Intel & PPC)
      • for OS X 10.3 without X libraries
      • for Win2000

      Documentation:
      A Manual for wigout (PDF file)
      A technical paper on Wigout ("The Stone Cast ...") [PDF file]
      A paper given at SEAMUS '98 ("Compositional experiments ...) [PDF file]

    2. TrikTraks : specify independent transformational paths for the duration and amplitude of square wave periods.

      Binaries:
      • for Linux Red Hat 7.3
      • for OS X 10.5 (Intel & PPC)
      • for OS X 10.3
      • for Win2000

      Documentation:
      A Manual for triktraks (PDF file)
      A paper on Wigout and TrikTraks ("Composing with Composed Waveforms ...") [PDF file]

    3. Winker : link single periods of sine waves, each with independent amplitude and frequency changes.

      Binaries:
      • for Linux Red Hat 7.3
      • for OS X 10.5 (Intel & PPC)
      • for OS X 10.3
      • for WinXP [090815]

      Documentation:
      (No Documentation, yet!)

    4. An article: Composing the system "Filter" and the system "Reverberators"

  • Programs for soundfile manipulation. Command-line programs that can read, modify, and write 16-bit PCM AIFF and WAVE files.

    • Binaries:
    • Gzipped tarfile for Linux Red Hat 7.3 [all programs]
    • Gzipped tarfile for OS X 10.3 [all programs]
    • Zipped file for Win2000 [all programs]

    Documentation:
    PDF file of documentation for these utilities.

    1. sfam Apply amplitude modulation/tremolo/ring modulation to a soundfile.
    2. sfamplify Amplify or attenuate a soundfile, or just report its levels.
    3. sfcat Concatenate a sequence of soundfiles, with or without gaps or overlaps.
    4. sfcheck Check (and correct) consistency of soundfile headers and file size.
    5. sfconvert A variety of manipulations of stereo to mono and mono to stereo soundfiles (splits stereo into 2 monos, joins 2 monos into one stereo, etc.)
    6. sfcopy Copy a soundfile into another, changing formats, headers, etc.
    7. sffilters A variety of filters, including 2-tap Butterworth filters.
    8. sfflip Flip the channels of a stereo soundfile (L -> R and R -> L)
    9. sfinfo Show information about a soundfile, including detailed information about AIFF and WAVE headers.
    10. sfkaiser Apply a Kaiser filter to a soundfile.
    11. sfmix Mix together an arbitrary number of mono soundfiles into one stereo soundfile. Each input soundfile is placed in the stereo field from left to right.
    12. sfnoise Create "white" noise, using either a uniform or gaussian random number generator.
    13. sfpitches Create an arbitrary sequence of pitches, using note names, frequencies, or period lengths in samples.
    14. sfplay Play a 16-bit PCM soundfile. (Uses PortAudio 18.1.)
    15. sfpv Phase vocoder. Allows you to change pitch independently of duration. Pitch change is given in cents, duration in seconds. (Based on F. Richard Moore's phase vocoder.)
    16. sframp Ramp the beginning and/or ending of a soundfile.
    17. sfrose Create and display a classic pitch matrix.
    18. sfstereomix Mix N number of stereo soundfiles together.
    19. sfsweep Create a glissando sine tone with user specifiable starting and ending pitches, amplitude level, and duration.
    20. sftesttone Create a tone (sine/saw/triangle/square) of variable amplitude, frequency, duration, and channel count.
    21. sftonerow Create a sequences of enveloped sine tones from a sequence of pitch names or frequencies.
    22. sfwaves Sum N frequencies from the command line, specifying duration, waveform type, etc.
    23. sndfft Apply an fft to a soundfile, save the resulting data as a text file. FFT algorithm written by Dale Carstensen.
    24. sndrms Calculate the Root Mean Square (RMS) level of a soundfile.