S o u n d s h a p e r

SOUNDSHAPER is a control interface for CDP.  SOUNDSHAPER-CDP together make an easy-to-use fully featured sound transformation and composition package. Details of how to obtain the CDP software suite are available from the Composers' Desktop Project (CDP).

SOUNDSHAPER STANDARD EDITION (1.8) is the latest freeware version of Soundshaper, for CDP 5.0 or 4.5.  This product is unsupported.
SOUNDSHAPER PRO (2.0) is the latest fully-featured version of Soundshaper. This has all the features of Standard, plus Multipatches and more.

SOUNDSHAPER-CDP
SOUNDSHAPER-CDP is a comprehensive sound processing and transformation package developed in association with CDP - the Composer's Desktop Project. Soundshaper uses the CDP system, developed since the mid-1980's, as its sound processing engine.  In addition to all the usual functions, CDP has many unique and exciting new ways to create, alter and manipulate sounds.  The latest version, CDP 5.0/5.01 has added over 40 new processes and support functions, most of which are accessible from Soundshaper. SOUNDSHAPER itself provides a graphic user interface for CDP, with an emphasis on speed and ease of use.

MAIN PAGE
The Main Page of Soundshaper is a File and Process selector with play facilities, deliberately small for use with an external sound editor.

 
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Soundshaper has no built-in soundfile viewer, but your favourite editor is only a click away. 

The screenshot shows CDP's VIEWSF.

You can easily import sounds processed externally, too.

 

CDP is an efficient non-real-time system developed when computers were slow. All sound-processing output is written to files. Soundshaper now writes these to temporary files in a single folder chosen by the user. Outfiles can be saved permanently after any process. Soundshaper supports a process-chain of up to 10 processes and you can UNDO up to 10 processes too.

MULTIPATCHES (Soundshaper Pro only)
Soundshaper Pro is built round a multi-processing environment, where each process is displayed as a cell in a PATCH GRID:
You can audition, save or view any cell, re-edit its parameters or replace it with a compatible process.

The patch can be saved to file, together with its source soundfile and any datafiles. Setting up patches for common sequences of CDP processes is an efficient way of working with the often low-level functions of the CDP suite (>>MORE).

Currently (v.2.0), patches are limited to Row A and a chain of 10 processes (as in SOUNDSHAPER STANDARD), but this will be expanded in future releases. 

SOUNDFILE TYPES
CDP 5.0 can work with a variety of source sample and bit-rates, such as 24-bit 96KHz.  CDP also supports multi-channel soundfiles (if your soundcard does). There are utilites to combine channels to make m/c soundfiles, extract channels, copy, mix and pan m/c files.

SELECTING FILES
CDP doesn't just work with soundfiles. The other main file types are Frequency Analysis files (for spectral processes), Pitch files (for processing pitch extract from spectral files) and Envelope files (for processing the amplitude envelope of sound). To help you select the correct type for a process, all menus have colour-coded icons.
For quick file selection. there are several colour-coded file-open buttons: 

FILE POOL:

The File Pool enables you to select
from a list of project (sound)files.
You can also add to the list, edit it, 
save and import lists of files.
Recent Files List
Soundshaper maintains a list of recently-used files for quick re-selection via the right mouse-button:

INFILE 2,3,...:
Many CDP processes work with more than one (sound)file. Secondary files are selected on the Main Page, and Soundshaper has several features to help you select these correctly and easily, including the ability to import a list of files, such as from the Pool.

SPARE FILE
For files that cannot be part of a sound-processing chain, but support processing activities (normally textfiles such as mixfiles, datafiles, and information reports), Soundshaper has a secondary "slot" called SPARE FILE. For processes and files which need to use the SPARE FILE, the user is guided automatically by the program. The SPARE FILE can also be used for loading a soundfile, such as for comparison with the currently-processed sound, or (Soundshaper Standard) to save it while you are in the middle of a process-chain.

PLAYING FILES

Soundshaper has a built-in player, which can handle many types of soundfile and also play Spectral files via CDP's PVPLAY program.

SELECTING PROCESSES

MENUS
Processes are selected via the Menus or by Hotkey:
GRIDS
Processes can also be selected from tables:
Soundshaper's menus differ slightly from CDP's classification of processes, reflecting traditional categories of sound alteration.
The main categories are: PARAMETER PAGES
Selecting a process nornally leads to a Parameter Page where you set the appropriate values to run the process.

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If you run a process and are not satisfied with it, you simply click UNDO and click the RESELECT PROCESS button: this returns you to the Parameter Page where parameters are normally as you left them, ready for amendment.

In Soundshaper Pro, any cell can be re-edited by double-clicking on it, and you can replace the process with another compatible one. 

TIME-VARYING PARAMETERS
Many parameter values in CDP can vary over the lifetime of the input (occasionally the output) sound. In the GRAIN example above nearly all parameters can be time-varying (PITCHSHIFT is shown). Time-varying data is stored by CDP in textfiles, which can be quite messy to handle: Soundshaper makes this process easy by saving the files as temporary files, so that you can store source data files as templates (like the above) and time-scale these for use with the current sound. T-V parameters can also be edited visually in the GraphEd visual editor - see Editing Time-Varying Parameters below.

PRESETS
Parameter settings are easily stored and recalled: they can be saved temporarily as snapshots or to file as presets, or written to a text file. Presets are simply sets of parameters and are not tied to any specific sourcefiles. Preset datafiles are now saved automatically along with presets.
Using presets you can select and run a process with as few as 3 clicks/keystrokes.
Soundshaper can also save parameter sets as Snapshots (temporary) or as parameter files.

Here the Texture preset Simple1A is selected
in the drop-down Presets Box. 
A preset description is also shown. 

The Snapshot keypad provides a handy way of capturing and recalling up to 12 sets of parameters from different processes without having to save them to file.

HELP
A brief Hint is given for every process in the Main-page Menus, with links to CDP Help. On each Parameter Page there is a brief Help description for every process-mode and parameter, and there is one-click access to Soundshaper's HTML manual, in which CDP processes are described at two levels, and the very detailed CDP Help.

CDP SOUNDFILE PROCESSES
Most time-domain processes in CDP sound familiar enough, though many are more thoroughly explored than in a typical sound editor.
Here are some examples:

ENVELOPE
In CDP, ENVELOPE is the the actual time-varying level, rather than a simple percentage gain control. Envelope data can be extracted and edited visually or transformed in over 30 different ways, including processes like expand, invert, reverse, timestretch, invert, tremolo and shudder.

WAVECYCLE DISTORTION
The DISTORT suite is distinctive in operating on pseudo-wavecycles found in zero-crossings to produce a wide variety of distortions of the original.

EXTEND and GRAIN
Segmenting and restructuring sounds is a strong feature of CDP.  Processes range from looped segments stepped through the sound, zig-zagging back and forth, and shredding (random segmentation), to full-scale granular segmentation and reconstruction with pitchshift, timestretch, panning etc. and ranges of values for key parameters.

TEXTURE
TEXTURE is based on the algorithmic repetition of sounds. The TEXTURE suite combines random elements and user-defined constraints which can be defined rhythms, motifs, ornaments, pitch-sets or chords.  The output sound may be melodic or densely packed, creating a granular texture.

SEQUENCERS
CDP 5 has various sequencer programs, which are like software samplers, allowing you to realise a sequence of sounds just like a MIDI sequence, using different sound-sources.

CDP SPECTRAL PROCESSES
In the frequency domain, you can do a lot more than manipulate frequencies. Each time-slice has a loudness contour across the frequency spectrum (rather like a graphic equaliser setting).  Many spectral processes transform this "spectral envelope" or other aspects of amplitude: blurring, inverting, exaggerating, stacking, holding, arpeggiating, filtering, freezing, imposing vowel-formants  etc.  In addition there are the more familiar processes such as vocoding (imposing the characteristics of one sound on another), morphing (making one sound change into another) and timestretching (stretching/shrinking the sound without changing pitch).

On the frequency side, two outstanding processes are TUNE, which retunes the spectrum to any desired pitches and GLIDE, which morphs the frequencies of one sound into another over any time-period. PICK allows you to extract a single pitch which may be in the sound and there are processes which stretch/shrink or shift the spectrum to create inharmonic sounds.

CDP PITCH PROCESSES
CDP has an ever-growing suite of programs which transform pitch, extracted from the time-varying spectrum:


Breakpoint display of extracted pitch from three notes (A-G-F) of sung plainchant

Pitch data can be altered in many ways, including smoothing and quantising in the manner of "autotuning" programs:


Extracted pitch of the same chant quantized to "correct" MIDI values
Once processed, the pitch file is combined with a formant file (spectral envelope) to recreate sound.

EDITING TIME-VARYING PARAMETERS
Many processes have time-varying parameters  - clicking EDIT leads to Soundshaper's GraphEd breakpoint editor where you can create or edit suitable time-varying values or import data from another file created earlier:


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Points are created by clicking and moved by mouse-drag or fader, or you can adjust all values as a group. The data is also shown in table form (just as it will be saved) and all table data is fully editable.

GRAPH PRESETS
The GraphEd graph editor has presets for the quick creation of table data, such as this 1/3-8ve MIDI-based Graphic EQ:

DATA EDITOR
You can further transform or generate columns of table data in over 100 different ways, from simple mathematical operations to musical ones such as generating harmonics or tempered scales. Soundshaper has a dedicated DATA EDITOR page, linked to the GraphEd breakpoint editor, so that you can export breakpoint data to the Data Editor, transform it and send it back to the Graph Editor:


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EDIT / MIX
Although Soundshaper does not have a built-in visual editor, you can send the current soundfile to your favourite editor from within the program. CDP's VIEWSF and the freeware program AUDACITY can export markers (time-points for editing, playing etc.) which Soundshaper can pick up via the Marker section's GET button or by Hotkey. You can also Record Markers while a soundfile is playing or stopped at any point.
 

MARKERS
Soundshaper can handle up to 30 markers,
which are mainly used for playing or editing selected portions of a soundfile. You can transform the selection and paste the result non-destructively back into the source file. 
Every kind of editing and mixing is available within Soundshaper-CDP: for example, you can specify cuts and splices down to sample level.  Some editing tasks are more precisely achieved via a non-graphic approach: for example a rapid oscillation between two sounds can be achieved simply by applying a process called Masking to each and mixing the result. In a visual editor, you'd have to align each of the many iterations of the sounds.

MIX PAGE
Soundshaper's Mix Page provides a dedicated  textual environment for selecting and editing Mixfiles - which specify a series of soundfiles to be mixed at particular times, levels and panning. The Mix Page has its own version of the Soundfile Pool, for quick selection of project files.

Mix Page
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INFORMATION
Apart from program HELP, detailed information is readily available on soundfiles and all CDP file types. Conversions can be made between common audio and musical data types such as MIDI-Hz, Semitones-Ratio, dB-Gain.

EXTERNAL PROGRAMS / BATCHFILES
Soundshaper has built-in links to the CDP graphic applications VIEWSF, BREAKEDIT and GRAINMILL. The Favourites section can launch up to 10 external programs, such as sound editors or batch files.

Your nominated favourite viewer-editor is only one mouse-click or key-click away: the current file is automatically sent to this. You can easily process your sound externally, e.g. using VST or DX plugins hosted by your editor, and return the result to Soundshaper for further processing.

Template batch files are also provided for linking to CSOUND and for running CDP multi-command patches.

OTHER FEATURES
STEREO PROCESSING
Some CDP applications (including all spectral ones) are MONO only. Soundshaper has an automatic stereo option for processing stereo files.

AUTO-FFT
Soundshaper now has automatic FFT conversion (between soundfiles and spectral files and back), i.e. if you select a soundfile for a spectral process, it is converted using the current FFT settings.
It is hope to extend this usage in the future to have automatic conversion to other filetypes, such as pitch and envelope files.

HISTORY
Soundshaper's History function keeps a record of the CDP processes run. With minimal editing history files can be used to create batch files for multi-process runs.

SUMMARY OF KEY FEATURES

CDP SYSTEM (5.01):
Category No. of functions, including:
EDIT / MIX  69 Sample-accurate cut/paste, random cuts, masking, multichannel + ambisonic support; mixfile processing; sequencers 
ENVELOPE  38 Extract, reshape, replace, normalise, limit, expand, reverse, timestretch, invert
FILTER  46 Variable, hi-lo, iterated, phasing, bank, trace, suppress, gated, vowels
PITCH / FREQUENCY  20 Transpose, speed, stack, ring, cross-mod, vibrato, stretch/shift/tune spectrum
REVERB / DELAY    6  Reverb, roomverb, fixed, variable, multitap, echo
EXTEND / REORDER  22 Loop, zigzag, drunk, scramble, shred, iterate, 
GRAIN  16 Brassage; granulate, duplicate, envelope, remotif, repitch, shuffle, reverse, reposition, rerhythm, timewarp grains
TEXTURE  14 Repeat events algorithmically to create textures
DISTORT-CYCLES  22 Average, omit, telescope, reverse, shuffle, pitchwarp, fractals, etc.
SPECTRAL EMPHASIZE    5 Accumulate, arpeggiate, exaggerate, focus, pluck
SPECTRAL RESHAPE    4  Average, invert, noise, spread
MORPH / FORMANTS    7 Morph, bridge, glide, vocode, cross-synthesis, get / put formants
SPECTRAL COMBINE    5 Sum, difference, interleave, maximum, mean
SPECTRAL TIME  10 Blur, drunk, shuffle, weave, expand, freeze, hold, timestretch
SPECTRAL UTILS    6 Bare, clean, cut, gain, grab, gate
PITCH PROCESSING  35 Extract pitch; approx, exaggerate, invert, randomise, shift,smooth, quantise, generate, synth, vowels; utils
SYNTH    7 Wave, noise, spectra, silence, chord, click-track
PROCESS DATA 104 Transform/generate/sort data with musical, mathematical and random functions
INFO / UTILITIES   56 File information, data conversions, view/play sound and spectral files

SOUNDSHAPER (STANDARD - 1.8, PRO - 2.0):

Read CDP's description of Soundshaper: new version (.pdf) or old version
Last updated: 23rd May 2008  © Copyright 2008 Ensemble Software