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This section gives further information on certain aspects of Soundshaper operation.
CONTENTS
SHORT NAMES
TIMES FILE PROCESSES
OUTFILE BASED T-V
TIMED PROCESSES
CDP CONSOLE
ACCESSIBILITY
SOUNDSHAPER SHORT NAMES
Most CDP functions are grouped together under a single program .exe and consequently have extended names consisting of <program> <function>, for example extend iterate.
As these can be too long to fit into a cell, Soundshaper uses single-word Short Names throughout the program, but also displays the CDP name on the Main and Parameter Pages, in the Information Panel at the bottom of the page. Clicking on this leads to CDP documentation. Short Names are used to name the process in a cell and are displayed on the Parameter Page.
Short Names are also used for the Process Subfolder in your USER FOLDER, for example c:cdpr7\Txt\Vibrato. Do not re-name any of these folders or Soundshaper will not function properly (and in fact will re-generate them). The Short Names are defined in the textfile Shortnames.txt, which should not be altered in any way.
TIMES FILE PROCESSES
Several CDP processes use a standard TIMES FILE consisting of pairs of FROM TO times. Others, marked * below, use a single list of times.
Users selecting one of these processes are offered the chance to save the current Markers to a Times File, in the appropriate format. It may be necessary to choose CANCEL first in order to set up Markers. The Play-position slider below the soundfile display can be used to position the play cursor; clicking the Play pt. button then adds that time to the list.
You can also save Markers to either format yourself: for a list of times, use Markers | Save Markers As and perhaps save it to something like times.txt. For the FROM TO format, use Markers | Save Markers To Times file; this is saved by default to [User-Folder]\Timesfile.txt. See also Times File for further details.
Times Files are used in the following processes:
SHORTNAME
CDP NAME
FUNCTION
Multicut
sfedit cutmany
Muiltiple cuts (extract segments)
Zerocuts
sfedit zcuts
Multiple cuts at nearest zero-crossings (extract segments)
Discards
sfedit excises
Multiple excises (discard segments)
Masks
sfedit masks
Mask portions of soundfile with silence
PchInsil
repitch insertsil
Insert segments of silence within a pitchfile
PchUnpitch
repitch insertzeros
Insert upitched segments within pitchfile
Repetitions *
extend repetitions
Repeat source at given times
Packet *
sfedit packet
Isolate or generate a sound packet
(textfile of times is optional)
Silences *
manysil
Insert many silences into a soundfile
(notional silence of 0.1" is added, for further editing)
Switch *
sfedit twixt
Switch between soundfiles using given times
Syllables *
sfedit syllables
Extract syllables using given times* The timesfile used by default in these cases is Times.txt.
OUTFILE BASED TIME-VARIATION
In several CDP processes, Time-Varying parameters are based not on the Infile length, but on the length of the OUTFILE. Scaling is based initially on the default Outfile Duration, usually 10", but if that is changed, any scaled parameters are also altered (when accessed by the user).
The following processes have T-V parameters based on Outfile Length:
SHORTNAME
CDP NAME
FUNCTION
TEXTURE (all)
texture (all)
All Texture processes
Drunk
extend drunk
Drunken walk (time-domain)
Iterline / Iterlinef
iterline/ Iterlinef
Iterate following a transposition line
Sinedata
modify scaledpan
Generate an LFO datafile
Wave
synth wave
Synthesise basic waveforms
Noise
synth noise
Synthesise white noiseNote that other processes, not listed, may require an Outfile Duration, but do not have Time-varying parameters.
TIMED PROCESSES
Many processes have parameters, such as START or FROM, that refer to a time in the Infile. Many have START and END pairs of times. Soundshaper's CUT+PASTE mechanism for processing part of the file is not applied in these cases, as they already have built-in times, selected from the whole file.
Instead, if Option 3 (Loops/Markers to Params) has been set, then selecting PROCESS: At Loops or At Markers sends the current Loops or Left/Right Marker times to the Parameter Page for the parameters concerned. You can of course adjust these times manually.
The following processes can take advantage of this facility (P = Parameter):
EDIT/MIX:
SOUNDFILES:Cut, ZCut, Excise: P1+P3
Packet (single), Insert, Paste, Insil, MchMixTwo: P1
Replace: P1+P3
MixBalance, CrossFade: P2+P3
MergeTwo: P4+5SPECTRAL & PITCH:BaktoBak, Loop, Curtail, Swell, Attack, Shudder, GrnRoll: P1
Zigzag, MchZig, Drunk, ExpDecay, Accel: P1+P2
Hover: P1+P3
Pulsed: P2
Scrub, GrnExtend: P4+P5
Freezedelay: P7+P8
PSSustain, PSLocate, PSGrab, PSCut: P1
PSSustain2: P1+P2
R-Repeat: P3
R-Speed: P3+P4INFO:SpecClean, SpecGrab, Expand: P1
SpecCut, Bridge, Morph, PchCut, PchFix: P1+P2
MorphPeaks, MorphTune, SpecDrunk: P2+P3
Morph also P3+P4
Glide: P2+P3SpecPrint, Time-SampCt, FindPan: P1
FindPeak: P2
Maxsamp2, ZCross, PrtSnd, RMSInfo: P1+P2
PAplay, PVPlay: P2+P3
CDP CONSOLE
It can be useful to be able to access CDP functions in a Console Window otherwise known as a Command-line Environment or the Windows Command Prompt (formerly a DOS-Prompt). You might only want to check on Parameter ranges, or operate one of the few CDP processes not supported by Soundshaper. Or you might want to run a batch script of a sequence of processes, or incorporating some conditional branching.
The simplest way to do this is to construct a simple Batch File CDP.bat that sets up the Console with the right paths to CDP programs. It is helpful to put this in the TEMP. OUTFILES folder, alongside a copy of the Command program CMD.exe. (On 32-bit systems, you should find CMD.exe in the Windows\Win32 folder.)
There are two reasons for this: 1) CMD.exe opens with its resident folder as the current directory. If CDP.bat is not in the same folder, you will have to change directories (and/or drives) to find it. 2) if CMD.exe and CDP.bat are in the TEMP. OUTFILES folder, CDP will be able to output any OUTFILES to this folder, without these names having to be pre-fixed by a path (e.g. out.wav instead of C:\cdpr7\console\out.wav, or whatever).
Here is a simple CDP.bat file the purpose:
echo off PATH C:\cdpr7\_cdp\_cdprogs SET CDP_SOUND_EXT=wav cls echo *********************** COMPOSERS DESKTOP PROJECT **********************In the PATH statement, put the full path (i.e. folder) of your CDP programs folder: the default folder is given above, but yours may be different. if you put CMD.bat somewhere else, you may need to preface the PATH statement with lines to switch to the TEMP. OUTFILES folder (or wherever your sounds are):
echo off E:\ cd \tmp PATH C:\cdpr7\_cdp\_cdprogs SET CDP_SOUND_EXT=wav cls echo *********************** COMPOSERS DESKTOP PROJECT **********************E:\ would change the drive to drive E (if that's needed). Within that drive, cd \tmp would change directory to \tmp.
Copy the batch-file text into a text editor such as Notepad and save it as CDP.bat. To run the file, open CMD.exe and type CDP. Once you have done this, you have full access to CDP commands. Type the command name (only) to get a Usage Statement (e.g. extend iterate).
ACCESSIBILITY
Soundshaper offers a comprehensive set of menu commands which aim to match all the key visual controls. In addition there is a large range of keyboard shortcuts, listed in the supplied file \DOCS\Shortcuts.txt. Most on-screen messages are copied to the clipboard and relayed to a separate speech window, so that a speech reader can render them. To activate the speech window, see Help | ACCESSIBILITY | Show Speech Window (or Shift+Ctrl+W)
For the Patchgrid, an extensive range of keyboard controls and shortcuts are available, as well as a comprehensive set of menu items in the Patch and File | PATCHES menus.
In particular, Patch | KEYBOARD CONTROLS leads to a sub-menu with memorable shortcuts for Patchgrid columns (Ctrl+1, Ctrl+2, etc.) and rows (Shift+Ctrl+1, Shift+Ctrl+2, etc), as well as a shortcut to focus control onto the patchgrid (Shift+Ctrl+G), to apply these controls. The currently highlighted cell can be spoken (See Help | ACCESSIBILITY or Shift+Ctrl+\).
On the Parameter PAge likewise, there are keyboard shortcuts for Modes (Ctrl+F1, Ctrl+F2, etc.), Parameters (Ctrl+1 to Ctrl+0, then Shift+Ctrl+1 to Shift+Ctrl+0, finally Alt+Ctrl+1 to Alt+Ctrl+8), Checkbox options (Alt+Ctrl+F1, Alt+Ctrl+F2, etc.) and Snapshots (Alt+1, Alt+2, etc.) and more. When a parameter has focus (through clicking or a keyboard shortcut), the arrow keys operate the parameter slider, as described in Setting Parameter Values
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