Composers Desktop Project Forum

The CDP documention has been revised and a provisional version can be accessed online at:
www.ensemble-software.net/CDPDocs/html/cdphome.htm
or you can start here:
www.ensemble-software.net/CDPDocs/index.html

Most of the original text has been retained, but the structure and links have hopefully been improved.

You can download the docs as a zip (for PC - 66MB). First, rename your existing docs folder (\cdpr7\docs) to e.g. \docsold (to avoid a garbled mixture of old and new docs). Then extract the zip to your CDP base folder (\cdpr7). The link is:
www.ensemble-software.net/CDPDocs/CDPDocsNew.zip

The aim will be to keep the latest set of docs online and make it possible for users to update individual pages as required. A list of recent updates is available at www.ensemble-software.net/CDPDocs/!Updates.txt and future updated files will be accessible from www.ensemble-software.net/links.html .

The new docs have not yet been added to the CDP distribution, so now is a good time to email me your suggestions (rob[at]ensemble-software.net). As there is now one set of docs for both PC and Mac, Mac users in particular can help by pointing out anything that is not correct for that platform. 

Improving the documentation is a continuous process and the next steps will be to create printable .pdf versions of the reference sections, as well as make more playable examples available online.

Robert, Documentation Co-ordinator. 

I am pleased to announce the release of Soundshaper 4.4 as a free download!

Much of the Soundshaper code has been re-written, including the batchfile scripts used to run CDP processes. Almost 100% of these now accept multi-channel as well as mono/stereo input and incorporate the automatic conversion of CDP file types wherever possible. Many more processes now support different parameter sets per channel.

For those not familiar with the program, Soundshaper is built around a multi-process patch grid, supporting up to 16 different processing streams. Soundshaper uses temporary files, so that it is not necessary to save files at every stage, only those you want to keep.  New in version 4.4 is not having to save source files with a patch, so that the patch saves a complete history of a processing sequence in a compact form. Patches are fully editable and can be run with different sources. The text History function has also been updated to record parameter values more clearly.

Also new in 4.4 is bulk processing, implemented as a copy-row variant. A few mouse clicks load a list of sources to the patch grid and apply them to a process or row of processes. Another new feature is a composite process called Premix: a sound is given a prefixed delay, level and pan, ready for CDP mix processes that don't use a mix file. The dedicated Mix page has also been overhauled, again with aim of making mixing easier.

Soundshaper Pro and Lite have been withdrawn. The new Soundshaper is technically still a Beta-test version, and bug reports would be welcome. E-mail support is still available for registered Pro users (only) and the registration mechanism has been retained to enable possible installation on a new computer. New registrations are not possible, however; this situation might change if CDP is willing to adopt paid support. Existing registered users can also try out the forthcoming Patch To Cell facility, due for general release in the next version.

Full details and downloads are available at www.ensemble-software.net. A more detailed description of Soundshaper can be read here:
www.ensemble-software.net/downloads/About_Soundshaper.pdf

Since Soundshaper 4.3 and Lite 2.41 were released for CDP7, there have been a number of important bugfixes, listed in KnownIssues.txt (available on my website):

Users are urged to download the latest build from:
www.ensemble-software.net/dloads.html (see PATCHES section).
Most people need only replace Soundshaper.exe.

There is also a possible problem with listaudevs (list audio-devices), which was reportedly hanging and preventing access to Soundshaper settings. Listaudevs has recently been re-built (see Richard Dobson's post) and this may fix the problem, but if not, a workaround would be simply to rename this program until a more permanent solution has been implemented. Soundshaper will then read the devices from Paplay instead.

Robert