Results for audio

Korg has released version 2.1 of AudioGate, an audio format conversion application for Windows and Mac.

AudioGate has been the ideal partner for the KORG MR series of DSD recorders, allowing you to record in the ultra-high-resolution DSD format and then down- convert to the most suitable format for your needs. It was created to bring out the unlimited potential of a DSD master, and has become an indispensible DSD recording tool used by studios worldwide.

Now, everyone can experience the advantages of DSD audio with the new version of AudioGate, which can operate as a free standalone application. Go ahead — download a favorite song in DSD format, and enjoy ultimate audio quality and flexibility with AudioGate on nearly any computer.

AudioGate v2.1 can be freely downloaded and used by anyone, but either a KORG MR series product or a valid Twitter account is required in order to activate the software.

More information: Korg / AudioGate

CSR Labs has released vstPlayer, a free media player plug-in for Windows.

Audio File Player VST – A handy VST plugin that is able to play a variety of audio formats. I use it every day with Bidule.

vstPlayer features

• Supports multiple audio formats (WAV/AIFF/BWF/FLAC/OGG supported, MP3/AAC/M4A are under active development).
• Full featured playlist.
• Play/pause.

vstPlayer is available to download as a freeware VST plug-in for Windows.

More information: CSR Labs / vstPlayer

Some interesting things I found recently:

# Dual SP0256 Vocal Synth

Eric Archer on his new dual SP0256 vocal synth:

The Dual SP0256 vocal synthesizer is the descendant of an earlier circuit of mine, Analog Controlled Speech Synthesizer. I crammed in all the features I’d want from a singing robot. It was a good challenge because it inspired some analytical thinking about the relationship between speech and singing.

The features of this circuit are:

• 2 trigger inputs to step through pitch and vocal sequences independently
• speech data stored cartridge-style on EPROM
• 2-oscillator richness using dual SP0256-AL2 speech chips with crossfade mixer
• optimized low-pass filtering for less strident tone
• SP0256 crystal oscillators replaced with VCOs for pitch control
• each chip has an independent / linkable 4-step analog step sequencer for pitch
• lower step sequencer has switchable clock divider (divide/2 to divide/16)
• glide and LFO functions
• speech rate (slur) control
• built-in realtime programmable sequencers for pitch and speech trigger
• IR Sync input for wireless infrared tempo matching

# Shruti-1: DIY Digital Synth with Vintage Filter, as Dev Turns from Palm to Hardware

Peter Kirn writes:

For all the hype around mobile music creation, here’s a story with an ending in the opposite direction. Independent developer Olivier Gillet is the reason a lot of people see handheld gadgets as potential music making devices; he’s the creator of the brilliant Bhajis Loops for Palm. But, as if to prove that hardware can be a digital platform, too, his latest creation, while it will fit in your palm, isn’t for a device like the overcrowded iPhone.

# Sonic Wire Sculptor 2010

Sonic Wire Sculptor is based on a musical instrument by Amit Pitaru which has been shown in museums and galleries world wide. A great effort has been placed in reworking the app to take advantage of the the iPhone's unique audio and input capabilities. The Sonic Wire Sculptor turns your 3D drawing into sound. It introduces a simple yet deep connection between visual and audio composition.

Some interesting things I found recently:

# Tone Garden | Stephanie McCarty – Interactive toy project for Core Design Studio IV. Designed in collaboration with Andrew Siu.

Interactive Musical Device that produces tones and loops. Sound can be manipulated by physically moving and controlling certain elements of the device. IR sensors detect the distances of propeller blades triggering a corresponding tone to emit from the device.

# Paris Smaragdis Audio Demos – User-assisted audio selection

Paris Smaragdis writes:

Audio editors are pretty lousy, you can’t use a graphical interface to do anything useful when editing sound mixtures.

In this demo we present an audio-driven interface which allows a user to vocalize the sound they want to select and an automatic process matches that input to the most appropriate sound. Once the selection is done then we can manipulate sounds independently and then throw them back in the mix. This ties in a lot of work on audio separation shown in a later section.

Check the audio demos on the page, pretty brilliant stuff!

# Beat Feet, a pair of wireless shoes and hat that allow a solo performer to orchestrate audio loops in real time using dynamic, unexpected sounds.

Arturo Vidich writes:

This is the demo video we made for Beat Feet. I wish we had good video from the ITP Winter Show because after dancing in those shoes for 9+ hours I finally understood how to use them. www.beat-feet.net

Some interesting things I found recently:

# Phillips SAA-1099 Sample Pack (Copyright-free and License-free)

A new pack of samples by Sebastian Tomczak:

I have made a copyright-free and license-free sample pack of the Phillips SAA-1099 sound generator chip. It is a very straightforward sample pack, consisting of 96 pitched samples and 16 noise samples, across a range of frequencies. These samples have been recorded from hardware. The audio output stage of the sound chip has not been filtered.

Sebastian has also announced a music contest:

It's time to get your chipmusic on! This is your chance to win a SEGA Master System MIDI Interface. Be the coolest musician in your town with this brand new tool that lets you control the sound chip in your SEGA Master System with MIDI data.

More information: SEGA Music Competition: Win A SEGA Master System MIDI Interface!

# Jim Reekes, The Man Behind Mac Sound

From Create Digital Music:

The legend of the early sounds of the Mac remains, apparently, an alluring one. Here, Jim Reekes talks to a Dutch documentary crew (though in English) about his thought process in designing sounds for the Mac, including the famous Mac startup sound.

# New Block Construction

Livid Instruments improves its Block:

Improving on a design and sharing the results with our users is always at the top of our list at Livid. The Block controller has been a great success and we have just made some minor design changes to make it even better. Originally milled from a solid block of wood, the square body with thin bottom has had its challenges, mostly warping and cupping. We have experienced a bit higher reject rate for bodies at the shop before they were built then we would like. Thus, the up and coming stash of rejected bodies in the Livid Graveyard that were never meant to be!

# Waveformless: 5 Ways of Emulating Vintage Samplers

Tom Shear on how to emulate vintage samplers:

When sampling technology finally became accessible to mere mortals and not just uber-rich Fairlight and Synclavier enthusiasts, the race was on to increase fidelity and leave behind the limitations of those first 8-bit samplers. Bit depth and sampling rates increased and memory capacity expanded until the average sampled sound was indistinguishable from the same sound recorded on a CD.

But sure enough, after many years of enjoying the pristine sound quality of the new sampling technology, musicians began to explore and exploit the limitations of the old school samplers. Suddenly the grain of low bit-rate samples and the metallic grit of aliasing is very much in style. So how can you emulate the sonic artifacts of some of the long forgotten vintage samplers? I'm glad you asked…

# Intello – Better Demo of first version (YouTube)

This is the plugin I am currently working on. It's called "Intello". Basically it's a glitch producing plugin and in this first short demo I'm showing you one of the 5 planned glitching modes. The plugin will be controllable by an iPhone application from a listening audience. So the listeners can interact with a performer.

More information: www.zettt.de

The Smalls has launched Street Sounds, a new site created in association with Scion to capture location-based sounds that together reflect our surroundings and define our lives.

Street Sounds is a collaborative and interactive Web site where lovers of art, sound and humanity can document their lives through snippets of sound that are posted on a 3-D map. Filmmakers, musicians and other artists can then search for sounds by keyword and location to use when creating new collaborative works of their own.

Streets Sounds allows users to listen in on everything from such rousing moments as a campus protest in Berkley or subway performers in New York, to funny and intimate vignettes, such as one’s laughter, a patron ordering a beer, or the rain. For contributors and listeners alike, the experience can be enchanting and addictive.

“With The Smalls Street Sounds, we aim to create the largest online collaboration of free, user-generated sounds that will encourage people to listen to the sounds of America and stimulate creative expression,” said Anna Grund, Founder, The Smalls. “Most of our lives are made up of multi-sensory experiences. The Sound Map provides people with the opportunity to focus on one – sound – to present and explore their world, and most importantly to let their imagination wander.”

Every month, the biggest contributors of sounds can win a free iPod.

More information: The Smalls Street Sounds