Composers Desktop Project Forum

Hi,

I don't know if there was already a thread about it, but I wanted to ask... Is "SPECFNU" presented only as CMD command, or it's also in SoundShaper as well (I looked in Formants submenu, but didn't find such)? Same question for "STRANGE" functions.

Why I am asking about those, it's that I was trying to see which functions in CDP can do frequency shifting effects, and I've seen those mentioned above in documentation.

One thing I liked in the recently released SoundThread GUI, you can open up a "search" and start inputting names of programs. Is it also possible in other GUIs? Just curious.

By the way, "process table" button in SoundShaper works for me in all menus except "data" (just mentioning in case you've missed this).

Thanks, and have a nice day!

Hi,
Yes, the search function in SoundThread (typing in name) is very clever - I haven't a clue how this is done, so I'm afraid it's not in Soundshaper.
* * * * *
Frequency Shift is called Strange Shift in CDP, documented under Spectral. (https://www.composersdesktop.com/docs/html/cstrange.htm#SHIFT)

It's in the Soundshaper Menu: Spectral > Pitch/Frequency > Shift > Shift Frequencies, grouped with the related functions from Specfnu (so Spectral > Pitch/Frequency > Shift > Shift / replace with formants) i.e. specfnu modes 13, 14 and 19. (https://www.composersdesktop.com/docs/html/cspecfnu.htm#FREQSHIFT etc., see mode list on left)

All these functions can unfortunately produce unwanted artefacts (depending on the source and settings). This seems especially true of Specfnu (which was probably geared towards speech). I understand that the wavelet transform is cleaner than PVOC in this respect, but that is not available in CDP.

* * * * *
Process Table:
Thanks for reporting the missing Process Table for 'Data' - I'll fix the link in the next version. I personally never use these tables and wonder if they're used at all. Any thoughts on this from users would be welcome.

Robert     

Hello,

Thank you for reply, I've managed to found the process of "Shift" now, and thanks for mentioning that it has additional functions.

At first I've tried just the "shift frequences" process and it was easy to use, however when I switched to "shift/respace with formants" and tried to do a preview after small adjustments, I've got this error:

INFO: Extracting pitch contour.
ERROR: CANNOT ACHIEVE TASK:
ERROR: No valid pitch found.
ERROR: INVALID DATA
ERROR: Can't open file ~X_0.ana to read data.

I need to say that I've replaced the executable file for SoundShaper, so it's version 6.3 again. Did I miss some steps perhaps? Of course, I've did "analyse" conversion before doing "Shift" process.

Hi,
These are CDP error messages. The "shift/respace with formants" (CDP: specfnu modes 13,14 and 19) clearly have some pitch-extraction built in (I didn't know this), so as to be able to shift formants, and CDP is saying it can't find a valid pitch with your particular sound. I tried previews with a speech sound and a violin sound and these 'errors' didn't appear; the processing worked fine.

No need to do an explicit PVOC conversion in Soundshaper - it does it for you behind the scenes. The only exception I would recommend is: if saving a patch that has a spectral file at the end of the process chain, then follow this with a PVOC SYNTH before saving.
   

Hello!

It seems you are right. I've now tried with a different audio souce (laughing voice), and was able to proceed.
The problem I've mentioned above still happens when using bell sound from one of tutorials, though.

Perhaps it should be added to documentation that these processes rely on determination of pitch.

Thank you for details, and thank you for additional information.

Best wishes,
Vasilakis