Subject: [linux-audio-user] Re: giga files and large soundfonts
From: Christian Frisson (theremin_AT_free.fr)
Date: Wed Jun 30 2004 - 19:50:40 EEST
Heyall,
Once again, I see there's always somebody to urge you to reveal your plots ,-)
Good, I'm now compelled to spawn something!
I've got two months left to achieve our goal: building a free gig library from
scratch using the University of Iowa Musical Instrument Samples.
Hopefully, I got a copy of GigaStudio 24 bundled with my soundcard, so I won't
have to wait for LS-Edit!
I had already started a thread on a french forum, AudioFanzine, entitled
"Création d'instruments multisamplés: FAQ / Howto / Wiki / Exemple (MIS)":
http://fr.audiofanzine.com/apprendre/mailing_forums/index,idtopic,62701.html
KvR and Northern Sounds will follow...
Let me put it into a nutshell... some consistent links:
1) Some clues about the differents formats...
- Instrument Editor Tutorial (2,563 Mo) @ Tascam:
http://www.tascamgiga.com/software_downloads/giga-edit-help.chm
- GigaStudio / Sampler @ Chicken Sys:
http://chickensys.com/support/software/translator/giga/
- SoundFonts @ Chicken Sys:
http://chickensys.com/support/software/translator/soundfont/
Let's have a ride definitely with the Giga file format, unless consistent
statements are issued in favor of SoundFonts...
2) Sound On Sound Magazine articles:
- EXS24 WORKSHOP Multisampling With EXS24...:
http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/Aug02/articles/exs24.asp
- ORCHESTRAL MANOEUVRES Creating Orchestral Music With Sampled Instruments:
http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/mar99/articles/orchestra.htm
- PERFECT PIANO LOOPS:
http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/1994_articles/jul94/pianoloops.html
- FONTASTIC VOYAGE Creating Personalised AWE32/64 Soundfonts:
http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/1997_articles/jun97/soundfonts.html
3) Some useful tools:
- GigOGG & GigFLAC, for file-sharing:
http://www.amberfisharts.com/gigogg/
- The "To-Be-Wined" FREE version of Chicken Systems Translator!
http://www.chickensys.com/downloads/translator_free.php
4) A partially-working download accelerator alike, thanks to compressed files:
http://peroxide.cobaltgroup.com/~jmccaig/
(bearing in mind misc instruments have been updated or released on the
"official" site: Bass Clarinet, Bb Trumpet, Tuba & Viola!)
The remaining facts:
1) Batch sample slicing for note per sample unity.
Except for GigaEdit, I'd like to use mostly opensource software tools: Audacity
for edition, Octave / Scilab for "scientific slicing"...
I intend to use Octave or Scilab to cut the notes perfectly (once true silences
are met: a term on the matrix of zero amplitude) with one single command (just
by launching the m-file). I can remember that Matlab has a caveat with 16-bit
"wavwriting": the unity amplitude cannot be written due to 2^16 multiples
unadequation therefore a warning is prompted... I don't really know if it has to
be considered as an offence...
2) Looping or time-stretching?
To my ears, looping sometimes adds another kind of uninvited LFO, while
time-stretching may seem unatural... Any Time-Streching challenging opensource
piece of software?
3) Amplitude and frequency normalization...
Any opensource Antares AutoTune-like clone known over there? Or "on the road
again" with scientific software?
4) The more the merrier?
Should we benefit from using the most available sampled notes for precision or
less for RAM/ROM/CPU-ease? 44100 Hz seems to be a bit short for pitchshifting...
5) Space, the final frontier!
I've set up a free 100 MB account with PhpExplore installed (a simple php ftp
client with multiple users managment) that will unfortunately be useful only for
beta-testing... This account could be used as an alternate mirror, hosting
GigOgg compressed files for low-bandwidth connected people or testing purpose,
only if regular uncompressed (or GigFLACed) files can be accessed somewhere else.
Should I look forward to seeking help from The University of IOWA, LinuxSampler
or P2P forces?
Cheers,
Christian
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b28 : Wed Jun 30 2004 - 19:43:14 EEST