Playing the sound and Entering Control
Data
from a graphic display of the waveform or spectrum of the source.
Trevor Wishart (July 2007)
Introduction
In Sound Loom version 10 the 'Snack' extension to the TK/Tcl
language has been used to allow you to
- View the Waveform and Spectrum of a sound on the workspace.
- Play the Sound from the graphic.
In addition, Sound
Loom facilities have been added to the basic display options to allow you
to
- Zoom, timewise, in or out of the display, down to the sample
level.
- Select a portion to view by creating a viewing box over the graphic
with the mouse, and zoom in to the selected portion.
- Play a selected portion of the sound (indicated by drawing a box
with the mouse).
- Zoom the spectrum, frequencywise to see more details in the lower
portion of the spectrum.
- Enter control data by drawing it over
the graphic display of the waveform or spectrum.
- Superimpose a value scale on the waveform, or spectrum, to assist
in drawing an accurate breakpoint line over them.
- Superimpose a frequency scales on the spectrum, to assist in
drawing an accurate frequency box over it.
If
you currently use Graphic Entry for entering breakpoint data on your
Sound Loom, you should select, instead, Text Entry.
You can do this on
the System State menu on the Workspace, from System
Settings --> Set Breakpoint Edit Style.
Graphic Data Entry
The latest version of the Sound Loom
allows you to enter various types of control data by drawing them with
the mouse over a graphic display of the waveform or spectrum of the source
sound.
You can also play the source, or any part of the source, from
the same display, while you are creating the data.
Marks, boxes or
breakpoints are created by clicking or dragging the mouse, sometimes with the
Control, Shift or Alt Key depressed.
The particular mouse actions required
are described on the graphic display page itself.
The graphics you draw
on the display are scaled appropriately as you zoom in or out of the
display.
This means that you can enter data at any level of detail, down to
the sample level, simply by drawing on the display.
NB: To transfer
the graphical data you have created or edited to a CDP control
file
you must press the Output Data button on the bottom
right of the Graphic display page.
What Types of Data Can I Enter ?
For data entry, there are
several alternative possibilities. The Sound Loom knows which of these
possibilities is appropriate to the particular situation, and activates the
particular style of graphic data entry appropriate to that situation.
The
data entry possibilities are..
- Creating or editing breakpoint files for particular parameters (you
can choose a value range, or select the default).
- by creating a breakpoint line over the waveform or spectral display.
- Creating pairs of time values (e.g. the start and end times of an
edit).
- by drawing a time-box over the waveform or spectral display (you can
also play what is inside the box).
- Creating a list of pairs of time values (e.g. start and end times
of multiple edits, or cleaning areas in the Cleaning Kit).
- by drawing successive boxes over the waveform or spectral display (you
can also play what is inside each box).
- Creating or editing lists of (increasing) times (e.g. edit times to
cut syllables, switching times for Twixt process).
- by creating time marks on the waveform or spectral display.
- Creating lists of time markers (e.g. the time-reversal points in a
Zig Zag control file)
- by creating time marks on the waveform or spectral display.
- Creating a single time-marker (e.g. Grab or Magnify a
spectral window).
- by creating a time mark on the waveform or spectral display.
- Creating or editing time data for special kinds of control data
(e.g. vowel or varibank filters).
- by creating time marks on the waveform or spectral display.
These are
then transferred to the textfile listing where you can add the other data
required.
e.g. if you have activated Midi
Keyboard Entry the varibank filter frequencies can then be entered from
a MIDI keyboard.
- Creating a pair of frequency values (e.g. various spectral
processes with low and high frequency limits).
- by drawing a frequency box over the waveform or spectral display (this
is independent of any time-box, from which you can play a portion of the
sound).
- Creating a single frequency value (e.g. spectral fiter).
- by creating a frequency mark on the waveform or spectral display.
Where are the Graphic Data Entry Buttons ?
Graphic display and
data entry buttons are labelled Sound
View and are (currently) coloured green and will be found
- Among the buttons at the top left of some Parameter Pages
- In most cases these buttons will allow you merely to see and play the
sounds, or graphically selected parts of the sound.
However, where
appropriate the display can be used for entering
- pairs of parameters such as the start and end times of an edit,
or the upper and lower frequency bounds for a spectral process.
- A single parameter (where there is only one parameter) such as
the window-time to Grab or Magnify a spectral window.
- In the text window accessed from the Make File buttons in
some parameter bars on the Parameters page
- These buttons call up a display of the source sound over which you can
graphically create the appropriate data (see above) for the control
file.
- In the text window accessed from the Get File buttons in
some parameter bars on the Parameters page,
followed by selecting
the Edit option, to edit an existing data file.
- These buttons call up a display of the source sound with the original
data displayed graphically on top of the waveform or spectral
display.
The existing data can be graphically manipulated and then
saved to the textfile window as edited data for a new control
file.
- On most of the individual Tool windows of the Cleaning Kit.
- Here they can be used to view the original or cleaned files, and select
(further) areas for cleaning, gating etc.