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wave file convolution

I am using n-Track to piece together electronic music compositions with much success, and I am always on the search for good wave file manipulating software. I cannot find any software out there compatible with Windows XP that will perform wave file convolution or cross synthesis (nothing that doesn’t require a lot of $$$). Anybody out there know of any shareware or freeware programs that can convolve and convolve well.

Phryg

Are you refering to the use of impuleses (like the convolution in Adobe Audition, for example)? I know that SIR is technically a convolution software. All it does is combine an impule with the original sound. Now, it is most often used for reverb, but it will work with any wav impulse, I’m sure. I know a lot of people use SIR to alter the sound of things to make them sound like other instruments, etc. SIR is a free vst plugin, and you should be able to find it easily. Now, if you are wanting to CREATE impulses, now that is another story. Voxengo has a Virtual Impulse Modeler that you can download for free that will create various “spaces”. You can use this to create unique environments that will do odd things to sound, if you want to experiment with that. I don’t really know what you are wanting to do specifically, so I can’t be of much more help. Perhaps you could check noisevault and see if there is something more helpful there. Post on the forum and see if that helps. :-/

fish

I am looking for software that will essentially combine or interlace two wave files together, taking the frequencies of one file and passing it through the other. I don’t know if you are familiar with the Mac program Soundhack or not. But that is what I want but for windows.

Phryg

Not being an expert on electronic music and sound synthesis, I probably won’t be of too much help. But it sounds to me like what you want is a “vocoder” like this one from Analogx:
http://www.analogx.com/contents/download/audio/vocoder.htm
The interface and features are lacking compared to many plugins and such, but play around with it a little. A common practice is to have it replace the vowels of spoken words with the sound of an instrument, while retaining the consonants and gaps to keep the original speech intact.

Wow I just realized another thread on here also mentions vocoders, and I swear I didn’t see that post first! Freaky…

What you described… <!–QuoteBegin>

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software that will essentially combine or interlace two wave files together, taking the frequencies of one file and passing it through the other


… sounds like a ring modulator. There are apparently some ring modulators done in VST, according to a google search for “ring mudulator VST” - some freebies listed here

I don’t know if this is more what you were after, but you can get seriously jiggy with sound using Crusher-X, or at least spend a rainy afternoon playing with it. The registered version is $$$ but the demo is still very cool.

To me it sounds like SIR. Unfortunatly I don’t know the mentioned Mac program. This is what the documentation says what it does:

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ï Time stretching or pitch shifting with the phase vocoder or varispeed.
ï Spatialize with the binaural filter.
ï Cross-synthesis between two soundfiles with soundfile convolution, ring modulation or spectral mutation.
ï Noise reduction, spectral expansion or compression with the spectral dynamics processor.
ï Separate transient and steady-state components with the spectral extractor.
ï Use your own spectral algorithm with spectral analysis/resynthesis and the spectral assistant example code.
ï Save sonograms of your soundfile in QuickTimeô movies or convert QuickTimeô movies into sound by sonographic analysis.


Seems like he must be more specific for us to know what he really wants.

El

SIR is a convolver that uses filter kernels derived from impulse files. (Say that three times fast!) Convolution is a specific mathmatical algorithm involving array math that allows a wide range of signal processes to be described mathmatically using a “kernel” which is essentially an array of numbers. For example, with the proper kernel you can process the signal from a solenoid to see when the relay flips by watching for the second derivitive to go negative. Or you can do EQ, reverb, a wide range of things.

I don’t know how flexible SIR is, but I bet you could use any given filter kernel with it and do an amazing variety of kinds of processing – but only if you know how to come up with the filter kernel, which I don’t think is the case here.

The phrase “software that will essentially combine or interlace two wave files together, taking the frequencies of one file and passing it through the other” could mean a number of things, and vocoder definitely springs to mind. A vocoder samples the frequency spectrum of one sound (usually voice from a mike) and applies a filter with that frequency spectrum on another (usually a guitar or synth sound). It’s the electronic equivalent of a “talk box” like Peter Frampton used on “Do You Feel Like We Do”.

Ring modulation is when you take the output of one oscillator and use that to feed the frequency input of another oscillator. When this technique becomes the whole basis for a synth, it’s called “Frequency Modulation” or “FM” synthesis (DX7). But it existed way back on the minimoog as one of the possible effects. While it seems to apply, I think it doesn’t quite, because the signal is used to modulate an oscillator’s frequency input, not another signal.

OK, lots of dogma, most of it maybe even correct, but not much help in answering the question!

Cross-synthesis between two soundfiles with soundfile convolution, ring modulation or spectral mutation

Well, evidently the term "ring modulation" is now used in a wider sense and can be applied to a signal rather than merely an oscillator. Presumably the control signal modulates the "play rate" of the subject signal.

Thanks for the help everyone. I downloaded vocorder and tried it out. It does essentially what I need. I regret that it only works with mono files, but I’m sure I can get some use out of it. I found another program that’s pretty cool called Caotica2 that performs some quasi cross synthesis of wav files. It’s a beta very much in development, but one can certainly generate some really freaky sounds with it.

Phryg