Results for tests

Eric Beam has posted a number of free audio test files from a Prism dScope III audio analyzer and a Dolby SDU4 surround decoder.

For everyone that designs, tests, creates, calibrates, or has an odd preference for what they consider “listening enjoyment”, This is for you.

Having calibrated utility & test files is a must for any audio engineer. The corner stone being pink noise. When it comes to generating tones/noise ITB I have found most DAW to be severely lacking in this area. After much frustration with the incorrect Protools signal generator “Pink”. I’ve captured Tones/Noise from a calibrated DScope & Dolby SDU4.

More information: Eric Beam

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 on April 17th, 2008:

# TouchPad Midi – Started from a scavenged Cirque Glidepoint resistive touchpad (PS/2 compatible), 2×8 LCD (in 4 bit mode), two buttons and a serial Arduino board.

TouchPad Midi – the Arduino code is available here

The buttons when pressed allow to set the Continuous Controller number by gliding the finger on the touchpad. Left for CC# linked to X and right for Y. The LCD displays the value sent in MIDI. Some custom characters where coded into the CGRAM in order to have a sort of bar graph. The first line is for X and the second for Y.

# Leon Berry’s Beast In The Basement – This organ was once used to accompany silent movies at the Lake Theater in Crystal Lake Illinois.

# Build a Pocket Theremin on the Cheap – Throw together this pint-sized light-sensitive Theremin for spooky sci-fi sound effects on the cheap.

# visual scratch :: turntablism visualized – Visual Scratch is a visualization system designed and implemented by Jesse Kriss.

# Eroktronix MidiTron – A MIDI to real-world interface designed to simplify the process of creating sensor and robotics based electronic art projects. It is easily user configurable and provides 20 terminals of digital and analog inputs and outputs in any combination.

# Hørselstest – Cool interactive hearing test. A few weeks I did a little test of my own with a frequency sweep on my dad’s cellphone. It’s scary to see what the years (and perhaps loud music) do to your ears. My uncle could only hear the sound almost 5 seconds after me and my wife heard it. Eeks!

# Super Genintari – This 4-in-1 Atari 2600/NES/Genesis/Super NES combo system actually began its life sometime circa early 2002, and at the time it only consisted of a Sega Genesis/32X and Super NES.

# Robot that listens then repeats drum beats made from lego NXT! – The program is written in NBC/NXC using BrickCC. A drum pattern is played by the user then after one second of silence the robot repeats the pattern played.