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SOUNDSHAPER: CDP REFERENCE

MAKE - Make spectral file from formant and pitch files


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SUMMARY
MAKE combines a formant (spectral envelope) file (.for) with a pitch data file (.frq) to make a spectral file (.ana).
Both files must have been derived from the same PVOC settings.

The program GETPITCH extracts time-varying pitch information (
if appropriate) from a spectral analysis and the PITCH suite offers a number of ways to process this information. In addition, pitch-breakpoint files can be manipulated manually in the Graph Editor and converted to binary pitch files (.frq) or synthesized by PCHGEN.  By creating an spectral file, MAKE provides a route back to sound.
 
PARAMETERS
None: the process is run directly once the two input files have been chosen.

 
NOTES
The success of this process depends on the presence in the formant file of the harmonics implied by the pitch file's pitch: the amplitude of these harmonics in the formant file, at the time of the pitch in the pitchfile, will determine the extent to which the pitch is heard in the combined file.

It cannot be over-emphasized that if the formant file does not contain sufficient amplitude in the frequency regions of the pitches (and/or their harmonics) specified in the pitch file, then those pitches will not be heard. Indeed, the original pitch(es) of the formant file could still emerge if it shares enough partials with the repitched ones in the pitch file.

Some care is therefore needed to ensure that the formant file has a wide enough spread of partials for the pitches in the .frq file, and this can  be done by first treating the original sound (from which the formant file is extracted): by spectral transposition (TRANSPOSE), by mixing a number of transpositions, by using a noise-like file, etc.  

© Ensemble Software and Composers Desktop Project 2014