CDP Sound Examples – WAVECYCLE DISTORTION

Grungy wavecycle distortion

SOURCE SOUND

marimba.mp3 (single marimba stroke)

TRANSFORMATIONS

Multiplication of wavecycles
Repetition of wavecycles

DESCRIPTION
~ CDP Functions: DISTORT MULTIPLY and DISTORT REPEAT ~

• The DISTORT functions manipulate 'wavecycles'. These are the unequal lengths of soundfile lying between 'zero crossings', which are where the amplitude crosses the zero line when moving from positive to negative and v.vs.
• It is the 'unequal lengths' characteristic which produces the distortion.
• First, we use DISTORT MULTIPLY to multiply the wavecycles by a transposition ratio of 2 (up an octave).
• The result is the first soundfile exdst1.mp3
.
• Note how its attack is harder and the sound is more echoey.
• Then we use exdst1.mp3 as the input to DISTORT REPEAT, repeating groups of 2 wavecycles 5 times.
• We can hear the repetitions in the multiple attacks and in the wavering quality later on.
• Sequential processing (outputs become inputs) is one of the main ways sound transformations are evolved in the CDP system.

Additional Information

PARAMETER SETTINGS
(Click on image to view fullsize)

KEY POINTS

• Wavecycle multiplication is a transposition process in the time-domain: the output is higher and shorter.
• The (optional) cycles parameter in DISTORT REPEAT determines the number of adjacent wavecycles to repeat as a group before moving on to the next group. If not used, each wavecycle is repeated repeat times.
• Here we repeat adjacent pairs of wavecycles 5 times as we move through the input soundfile.
• The program automatically determines where these (unequal) wavecycles begin and end.
• When skip is 0, the processing begins at the start of the soundfile. It could begin later, for example to retain the original attack transient and concentrate on distorting the 'sustain' part of the sound.
• Repeat and cycles parameters can both vary over time.

SUPPLEMENTARY FILES USED

No additional files are used for these examples.