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Messages - Robert Fraser

#1
PC Installation / Re: cdp exe
September 27, 2025, 10:09:50 PM
Quote from: dwheelersf on September 24, 2025, 10:43:22 PMdoes this leave sound thread out of the picture
No of course not! For Soundthread, you need the CDP download so you have the CDP program set.
#2
PC Installation / Re: cdp exe
September 24, 2025, 10:50:25 AM
CDP PC INSTALLATION
The PC downloads no longer have an installer exe (since 29th August), as there is really no need for one.

There are two versions of the PC download: CDP8_001_PC.zip and CDP8_001Lite_PC.zip. (The Lite version just omits the offline CDP documentation, which is available online.)

Each zip contains a folder "CDPR8" and some supporting docs. Unzip and place the CDPR8 folder in a location of your choice (but not one that has spaces in the path, e.g. NOT in "Program Files"). You can rename CDPR8 if you wish. That's all.

CDPR8 contains two UIs - Soundloom and Soundshaper. (Soundthread is not included yet, as it's in active development.) The CDP programs are housed in CDPR8\_cdp\_cdprogs. Soundloom expects to find them there; Soundshaper looks there initially, but its settings can support a different location. Soundthread also needs to know where they are. Any use of the command-line processor would also need this path. 
#3
Thanks for pointing out this discrepancy. I can confirm that the upper limit for PVOC points (the -c flag) is indeed 16380. Non-powers-of-two are not precluded, although pow-2 sizes are always the most efficient and fast. We'll look into the possibility of raising the upper limit, at least to 16384 or maybe 32768. In the meantime the online documentation will be corrected. (Offline generally lags behind, as it means changing the distributed packages.) 
#4
PC Installation / Anti-virus checks
August 30, 2025, 10:34:29 AM
Following reports of potential viruses in the PC distribution, the whole CDP program set has been put through an online checker (Jotti.org) which sends files to 13 virus scanners, including all the well-known ones. Only three files caused any problems, with just two scanners: two of those are not user-level programs (just used internally by Soundloom) and the third is a long-standing and unaltered utility. 

We are sure these were false positives; however, we've substituted slightly earlier builds that passed the scanners' tests. So we can say with confidence that all the contents of the _cdprogs folder and all other supplied exes have been passed by 13 virus checkers and have not been found to contain viruses. We will continue to ensure that any further code revisions are similarly virus-checked. However, all software and files are supplied "as is", so users should always satisfy themselves about the integrity of the download.

There were also concerns about the use of an installer exe. For PC, CDP now supplies a plain zip file containing the folder CDPR8, which you simply place in any desired location (with no spaces in the path, so not in "Program Files", for example) and can rename as you wish.  For MAC, the installation has always been via a disk image file (dmg) and this is continuing. 
#5
Announce / Some bugfixes
August 22, 2025, 11:31:58 AM
There are a few small updates to the CDP program set, fixing bugs in the following programs:
• filter: fix for 'fixed' filterbank
• fractal: the correct program)
• spec: fix to "grab" (extract single window) when writing pvx format outfile
• fastconv: change "fconv" to "fastconv" to fix it
• tv (Tabula Vigilans): v 1.5g with working MIDI input. (Mac version still on 1.5f)
• SoundLoom: on MAC, various GUI issues

PC users can download an update file here:
https://www.ensemble-software.net/downloads/cdp8-2025-win32.zip
or here:  https://www.rwdobson.com/cdp8-2025-win32.zip
Unzip the file and copy the replacement programs into your _cdprogs folder (except for SoundLoom, which is placed outside the folder, but within _cdp.)

MAC versions are also available: https://www.rwdobson.com/CDPMac-U1-2025.zip (7.5MB)

We will soon be adding updates to the CDP downloads page, so that small changes like these can be accessed easily.




 
#6
PC Installation / Re: Detected: PUA:Win32/Vigua.A
August 16, 2025, 03:16:25 PM
I've just checked both installers (Full and Lite) through my virus checker (Trend Micro) and it found no problems. However, users who are worried about this aspect can download a simple zip file containing the required folder CDPR8 (which you simply copy anywhere or rename as you like).

As mentioned in my last post above the zips (which are the latest updated versions) can be accessed here:
  www.soundshaper.net/dloads.html#CDPZIP
or its mirror site: www.ensemble-software.net/dloads.html#CDPZIP

Just be careful not to have any spaces in the path - so don't put CDPR8 in Program Files, for example.
#7
General Board / Re: Fractal processes?
August 13, 2025, 10:53:19 AM
Trevor Wishart has confirmed that the program fractal.exe should be the one documented as part of Release 8, with the two modes fractal wave and fractal spectrum - not the one currently distributed with CDP (usage: fractal fractal).

You can download the correct program here: https://www.ensemble-software.net/downloads/fractal.zip
Unzip, then copy fractal.exe to your _cdprogs folder, replacing the current file. If you want to retain the current fractal program, you'll have to rename it first, e.g. to "fractalX.exe". Note that Soundshaper supports the correct program (fractal wave / fractal spectrum), not the other one (fractal fractal).

The PC distribution files will be amended later today; we'll need to clarify which version is in the MAC distribution and amend that as necessary.


 
#8
General Board / Re: Fractal processes?
August 12, 2025, 08:09:48 PM
The answer here is an unusual one. When the final compilation for CDP8 was made on 15th March 2023, a different (earlier?) version of fractal was used from the one we'd already tested and documented. (It would not have been easy to spot this out of more than 250 programs!) The result is that fractal wave and fractal spectrum, as used in Soundshaper, are not recognised by the released version (fractal fractal), which does something completely different. (You can test this easily on the command line: change directory to _cdprogs and type 'fractal'.)

I can make the January '23 version available, but it would be better first to confirm that it is indeed the intended program (i.e. fractal wave / fractal spectrum). I'll take this up with my CDP colleagues and see if we can resolve the anomaly.

As for the the original distort fractal, as noted above this is actually still accessible in Soundshaper under the XTRA | Legacy menu. I think I consigned it there because it didn't seem to transform the sound much at all. 


 
#9
General Board / Re: Fractal processes?
August 12, 2025, 05:11:10 PM
Thanks for this - I'll look into it.
#10
General Board / Re: Sound Playback
June 30, 2025, 08:33:01 PM
The merits or otherwise of various soundfile formats is not something I can usefully comment on, other than to say more bits are more accurate (give a wider dynamic range). I'll pass this question to Richard Dobson, who may have a thought or two on the matter.
#11
I agree with you, but this is a matter for CDP, not Soundshaper, which uses the CDP program copysfx when loading source files for internal use. copysfx supports a lot of formats (look it up), but not mp3 or flac. Having said that, the BASS audio library I use does support both mp3 and flac, so it might be possible in a future release to use that to convert to some other internal format that CDP could use.

#12
General Board / Re: Sound Playback
June 25, 2025, 07:46:56 PM
Quote from: Lunatico on June 19, 2025, 09:51:01 AMI want to assign it [sound output] to my Traktor Audio 10 card.

I've investigated this and found the bug, but have no immediate fix. When reading the settings file on startup, the program compares the listed playback device with a Windows list of available devices; if there's no match it uses the default (WaveMapper). The reason there's no match is something to do with CDP device numbers not matching Windows ones. However, there's more to this than changing a device number, because I tried to force one, but didn't get any change. I need to look more closely at how these devices are assigned for playing. When I've found this, the rest should be fixable. For now, the workaround is probably to change the sound output in Windows settings to the card you want to use, and the WaveMapper will use that.   

Thanks for raising this issue.
#13
General Board / Re: Sound Playback
June 25, 2025, 03:30:51 PM
1) Soundcard: I can confirm your finding. The settings page does always seem to display "WaveMapper", even when the settings file has been saved (and presumably loaded) with a specific choice. I'll need to check the code on this and post another reply. It's worth noting that "WaveMapper" chooses Windows' default sound output - whatever you've set that to.

2) 16 versus 32-bit is not really what it seems. The distinction is really between 16/24-bit Integers and 32-bit Floats, which CDP handles slightly differently. In general CDP's output format matches the input, so 24-bit integer files will be handled by the '16' setting OK (I've just tested this to confirm). It should be easy enough to change the choices, but that could lead to a bit of confusion if a '24' setting appeared to preclude 16-bit files, which it doesn't. I'll consider changing the choice to 'Int' versus 'Float', which will be clearer.

Another option would be to convert all input internally to 32-bit floats, which would be better in many ways. Files could then be saved to 24-bit integers if the user wishes. 
#14
General Board / Re: Equal intervals 2
June 17, 2025, 08:26:27 AM
See the new post WET-DRY in CDP for my answer.  In Soundshaper, there is already a new BALANCE option (which needs no parameters) - this raises or lowers the maximum level of the process output to match that of the input. I'm planning to have more "add-on" facilities and I've been working on how to do this within the program. MIX BALANCE (for wet-Dry) is top of this list and MORPH is another possibility. 
#15
General Board / WET-DRY in CDP
June 17, 2025, 08:22:14 AM
'Lunatico' in thread "Equal intervals 2" asks if there is a Wet-Dry regulator in CDP. I'm starting a new topic as this is an important question to raise and of general interest, especially for those new to CDP.

Some CDP processes do have a parameter for the amount of the effect (CROSS, for example), but most do not. You have to add your own WET-DRY control - which is SUBMIX BALANCE (Soundshaper menu: EditMix > MIX > MixBalance). 

For example, the process PHASOR with a semitone shift of 1 will probably give quite a pronounced effect. To lessen this, add Mix Balance, with the source as the second input (File 2). (In Soundshaper, click on the source cell to select this.) Within Mix Balance, Balance is the Wet-Dry parameter: a value of zero is fully 'dry' (0% File 2 - Source) and 1 is fully 'wet' (100% File 1 - Phasor). 

In Soundshaper the patchgrid shows the process chain: Source - Phasor - MixBalance. In a longer chain, it might still be relevant to choose the original source as Input 2, rather than the previous process.  Also in Soundshaper, you you can select a spectral file for either Input 1 or 2, provided the Option Auto-FFT is checked (as it should be by default). It would be useful to have a wet-dry control built in to many processes as an optional parameter and I'm working on ways of doing this within Soundshaper.