OpenSoundEdit instructions

OpenSoundEdit

Getting Started

Running OSE
Preparing your timbral prototypes
Moving around the 3D display
Selecting components to edit
Editing operations
Controlling synthesis

Running OSE

First, make sure you have your CAST_LIB, CAST_BIN and LD_LIBRARYN32_PATH environment variables set by running this handy shell script. Once your environment is set up, simply type osedit to start.

Preparing your timbral prototypes

OSE uses SDIF for reading and writing timbral prototypes.

dotformat2sdif converts "dot-format" track files to SDIF sinusoidal tracks and res2sdif converts text files of "frequency gain bandwidth" values to SDIF resonances. Both of these utilities produce files with the same name as your original plus the new suffix "sdif". When you load a ".sdif" file into OSE, the timbral prototype will automatically be displayed in the appropriate format.

Moving around

Using the mouse:

  • To move forward, backward or sideways, hold down the left button.
  • To pivot (rotate about the vertical axis), hold down the right button and move the mouse left or right.
  • To select a prototype for editing, click on the frame of one of its cut planes (i.e., the big white pipes)
    • Using the provided buttons and menus

  • Choosing a timbral prototype from the palette above the display window will let you "zoom" to its location.
  • The following buttons can be used to jump to common viewpoints:
    Time-> -- Time increases to the right. Frequency increases with distance.
    Freq-> -- Frequency increases to the right. Time decreases with distance.
    Freq<- -- Frequency increases to the left. Time increases with distance.
    Freq vs. Time -- View from above, as if looking at 2D frequency vs. time plot.

    • Selecting components to edit

    Components (i.e., resonances or tracks) can be selected by left-clicking on the top beam of the time plane and dragging the mouse left or right along the frequency range to be selected. The selected frequency range will appear in red on the prototype view and also be indicated on the status bar below the display window. Additionally, the selected components will be listed in a box to the right of the display.

    Editing and Scaling

    Use the sliders to edit different parameters of the timbral prototype. Select an editing behavior for each slider from its palette (on the right).

    For Resonance editors, the available operations are Transpose, TimeEdit and GainEdit, which scale the frequency, bandwidth or gain of the selected components. For Track editors, the operations are TrackGain and TrackTranspose, which scale the amplitude or frequency of the entire track (scaling individual points is not yet supported).

    The sliders can also be used to scale the time, frequency or gain/amplitude axis of a prototype view.

    Controlling Synthesis

    Select "Synthisis:Set Synthesis Server" from the menu and type the name of the machine and IP port on which the synthesizer is running.

    The Play and Play Selection buttons can be used to play a sound or its selected components, respectively. The Scrub button lets you move the sound manually be moving the time plane.

    OSE currently supports both softcast and res for auditioning resonance sounds. Scrubbing is not supported on res.

    OSE does not yet support concurrent synthesis of sinusoidal track files.

    amar@cnmat.berkeley.edu