Inconsistencies in Processes and Documentation

[loganmcbroom]

I'm creating lua mappings for every process and in doing so I am occasionally seeing inconsistencies in processes and the documentation found here http://www.ensemble-software.co.uk/CDPDocs/html/ccdpndex.htm. I'll record anything I notice that seems noteworthy here for others to reference or correct.

Documentation errors:

    Housekeep Gate
    This process has 5 modes, the documentation doesn't list this as a modal process.

    Sndinfo Diff
    This is listed twice in the documentation.

    PSOW grab
    Density and spectrans are flipped by order.

    Distort Pulsed
    Missing the env parameter.

    Shifter
    Both modes missing the dur parameter.

Process errors:

    Gate Gate 2
    When cutting out enough sound this process is causing extreme pitch changes over time.

    Modify Shudder
    There is some kind of file name handling error in here that is cutting out a bunch of the output file name.
    Also, "outfilename â€" note that a '0' will replace the last character of your given outfile name"
    This isn't an error but it is ridiculous.

    Synth Spectra
    When running this, both the files mentioned are created... but the file with 1 appended is immediately deleted? It's
    always something. The doc is missing some parameter, range starting at 16k.

    Iterline
    I always receive out of memory errors.

    Madrid
    I get "[CDP] ERROR: INVALID DATA
    ERROR: Cannot open output file C:\Users\Logan\Desktop\Altar\Altar1470210899998\0_altar" for all inputs I've tried.
    It always strips the extension.
    This is probably fixed but I can't find it again.
   
    ptobrk
    No matter what I enter after ptobrk it always does nothing more than tell me how to use ptobrk.

Gripes:
    Housekeep Copy 2
    Would be nice to be able to specify the path this outputs to.

    Processes outputting multiple files have vastly different output naming schemes.

[simonk]

Wow, seriously wacky file names indeed!

>E:\Sound\Workspace\Altarr_35951641_0.wav1.lua1466
                                                                    ^^^
Spaces in filename here?
Personally I found it easier to keep naming really short, my bad typing/tryping usually

[loganmcbroom]

Removing the period from the folder name fixed this issue (I'll update the main). I don't think I have spaces in anything path-wise. I imagine the first period encountered is used for positioning internally.

This could have caused the other file naming issue as well, I'll test it in a bit.

[Robert Fraser]

Hi Logan,
Thanks for your many observations - very helpful!
You're quite right about multi-output processes; the inconsistencies in output-naming can be a pain. I've found it helps to precede the command line with COPYSFX: you can set the copy name so that the multi-output process will give a more consistent naming. See for instance the HOUSEKEEP EXTRACT example below.

First of all, thanks for your points about the documentation for:
Housekeep Extract 1, Modify Radical 3, Modify Radical 7, Topantail2, Sfedit Join, Shrink, Combine Cross, Distort Pulsed.
You're quite correct and I'll get these changed.

HOUSEKEEP COPY / COPYSFX
CDP output is normally to the current directory, if an alternative directory is not specified in the path.
For example:
  copysfx E:\SNDS\TMP\AE\count.wav copycnt.wav
puts the copy in the current directory, but
  copysfx E:\SNDS\TMP\AE\count.wav E:\SNDS\TMP\AE\copycnt.wav
puts the copy in the source directory.

Housekeep Copy 2 is no different:
  housekeep copy 2 E:\SNDS\TMP\AE\count.wav 3
outputs count_001.wav, count_002.wav, and count_003.wav to the current directory.

HOUSEKEEP EXTRACT 1 (Gate Extract)
The documentation is wrong/out of date. The last character of the infile is replaced by a series of output numbers, e.g. count.wav outputs coun0.wav, coun1.wav etc.  A workaround is to include a COPYSFX, e.g.:
copysfx count.wav count_X.wav
housekeep extract 1  count_X.wav -t0.2    [outputs count_0.wav, count_1.wav etc.]
erase count_X.wav

HOUSEKEEP EXTRACT 6 (Gated onsets)
>I cannot get this process to open the output file.
It just writes a text file, e.g.:
  housekeep extract 6  mysound.wav onsets.txt 0.035 0 0 0 1 0.05 0
Documentation seems correct.

HOUSEKEEP RESPEC 3
>The documentation lists a flag "-t" which the process does not recognize.
Tried -t and it crashed the program. Will need to consult with Richard D. about this.

DSHIFT
>This process is listed in the documentation
It's listed correctly as just dshift. Dshift.exe should be in your _cdprogs folder.

MODIFY SHUDDER
I'm getting inconsistent results too. Will investigate further and alter docs as necessary.

REVERB (Multi-Channel Toolkit)
>Flags coming before parameters
In Richard D's programs, the flags come before the parameters. Just the way it is, but there are only about twenty programs.

SFEDIT RANDCHUNKS
As in my solution for HOUSEKEEP EXTRACT 1:
  copysfx copycnt.wav copycnt_X.wav
  sfedit randchunks  copycnt_X.wav 2 1 -m3
This will output copycnt_0.wav and copycnt_1.wav.

SHRINK
>This is listed in Extend and in Sfedit, seems like it should only be in one of them?
Agreed. It shouldn't be in sfedit and the name is wrong there, too.

ISOLATE Mode 3
I think this mode may need further investigation. In a test, it produced two files, one the same as the original, the other silent!

SNDINFO DIFF
>This is listed twice in the documentation.
?? You may be right, but I can only find it under SNDINFO DIFF.

SUBMIX INBETWEEN2
I have the following in my notes:
inbetween: mono or stereo inputs but both files must be same
inbetween2: mono only
The documentation currently has nothing about the channel requirements. Will look into this.

SYNTH SPECTRA
I can't get this to work these days: always get MEMORY ERROR. Will investigate further.

SPECGRIDS
Definitely .ana output. It's a standalone (specgrids specgrids), not part of specnu, though documented there alongside Specnu Slice.

CERACU
>I always get "Cannot open output file"
Infile must be mono. Despite the weird name, it produces polyrhythms: the "cyclecnts" data file gives x against y against z etc. Try, for example, 3 against 4:
  ceracu ceracu any.wav anyacu.wav cyc.txt 0.5 2 10 0 0
where cyc.txt is:
3 
4

ITERLINE
>The documentation and the exe help are missing 6 parameters
I don't think so. The params are:
  infile outfile transposition-data out_duration delay rand_delay pitch_shift amp_cut gain [-sseed]
However, the exe help (and hence the documentation) gives flags for optional parameters, which I think are wrong. Will investigate further and correct docs. If you treat all params as compulsory (with no flags), except for seed, it works.

MADRID, SHIFTER, TEXTURE DECORATED, PTOBRK
Can't reproduce the problems, sorry.
PTOBRK. This works OK:
  ptobrk withzeros asnd.frq asnd.pch 20

Can't comment for now on:
gate gate 2, abfpan, extend scramble 2, modify (modify what?), madrid, shifter, texture decorated, ptobrk

Robert F.

[loganmcbroom]

Whew, this is a lot to go through so I may do it a bit at a time. A lot of these were fixed by 7.1, rather than note them all I'll just delete them from the OP.

Edit: I am finished running back through and organizing/removing things.

Housekeep Copy 2
I'm leaving this one in the OP as for the most part multi out processes let you supply a base filename which lets my front end place them where appropriate. Because this processes does not have that option I can't use it.

Richard D's programs
I figured as much, I've so far gone the route of "Guess I don't need any of those that badly" though.

SNDINFO DIFF
The info for this is identically listed twice on the same page. If you scroll through the page you'll see what I mean.

Modify
I have no idea what this was but looking through all of the modify processes I see nothing missing.

SUBMIX INBETWEEN2
This was likely before I knew that error message generally means wrong number of channels.

ITERLINE
Well that makes it less mysterious. They may be listed as flags but they behave in every other way as parameters. I think it would be appropriate to notate them as such in the doc.
Inputs aside I still can't get this to work, only receiving this error:
ERROR: MEMORY ERROR
ERROR: INSUFFICIENT MEMORY to create sound buffers.

Madrid
This isn't listed in the a-z index and I can't find it again... So far all invalid data errors are gone for me as of 7.1 so it is likely fixed.

Shifter
This works now but the doc should mention it requires mono files

Isolate
this is working fine for me. Got silent second file on first try but doing some parameter adjustments got it working as written.

[loganmcbroom]

Out of the remaining errors ptobrk is the only one really bugging me since it's used for a lot of other things. Is this process working for other people?