The sample/wave editor of your dreams

[Amygdala]

Hi guys,

 

I am developing a wave editor application. So far, I only got the basics down, but the project is coming along fine. It is reasonably fast, easy to use and extremely minimal to look at. Pure efficiency all around.

 

The list of features is growing, but I only have my own thoughts on what would be cool. So, if you have any suggestions about whatever you can think of, post it here, and if I like it, I will put it in. I will try to have a sort of beta-release out in a month or so - mac only. A PC-version will follow shortly thereafter.

 

So - what would be cool in a wave editor...?

 

- A

[NEMO.BOFH]

Beat gridding/Detecting for perfect loop editing.

[Amygdala]

Beat gridding/Detecting for perfect loop editing.

Yeah, I thought of that too. It is pretty neat. I could also use beat detection for other stuff as well, so I may do that... Thanks!

 

- A

[supergroover]

drag and drop option for fx that you want to use? in a chain? I would love to see an ability to easily mangle your samples to something totally different.

[Malevol3nt]

I'm not sure I've seen this feature before, but it might prove useful:

 

Select multiple parts of the clip (say from timeline 0:20 to 0:45 and from 2:30 to 2:50) and put them in a loop. So the wave editor starts playing at 0:20, and when it reaches 0:45 it continues to 2:30. When it reaches 2:50 it goes back to 0:20. I've no idea, maybe this has been allread implemented in some commercial software allready (wavelab..? Theres no such option in Sound forge as far as I know).

 

Ability to slowdown or speedup the playback in realtime?

 

Out of curiousity what are u using to develope the software? Delphi, C++? Good luck btw.

[Amygdala]

drag and drop option for fx that you want to use? in a chain? I would love to see an ability to easily mangle your samples to something totally different.

Aaah yes - that sounds good! I am planning to add VST/AU support, so when I do, I can make it possible to chain these - and possibly even save the chains, so that they can be applied to other samples...

Thanks!

 

- A

[Amygdala]

I'm not sure I've seen this feature before, but it might prove useful:

 

Select multiple parts of the clip (say from timeline 0:20 to 0:45 and from 2:30 to 2:50) and put them in a loop. So the wave editor starts playing at 0:20, and when it reaches 0:45 it continues to 2:30. When it reaches 2:50 it goes back to 0:20. I've no idea, maybe this has been allread implemented in some commercial software allready (wavelab..? Theres no such option in Sound forge as far as I know).

 

Ability to slowdown or speedup the playback in realtime?

 

Out of curiousity what are u using to develope the software? Delphi, C++? Good luck btw.

Right, that could be useful! Maybe even combined with the beat detection feature... I think I should be able to handle that. I haven't seen it anywhere either.

 

The ability to slow down and speedup is sort of already done. I don't have the best timestretch algorhithm there is, but it mangles the sound wonderfully, when stretching a lot

 

I code in C++, and try to keep it as platform independent as possible. So far I only use some Apple-specific code for the timestretching, and some native types, that can be easily replaced.

 

- A

[Malevol3nt]

Right, that could be useful! Maybe even combined with the beat detection feature... I think I should be able to handle that. I haven't seen it anywhere either.

 

The ability to slow down and speedup is sort of already done. I don't have the best timestretch algorhithm there is, but it mangles the sound wonderfully, when stretching a lot

 

I code in C++, and try to keep it as platform independent as possible. So far I only use some Apple-specific code for the timestretching, and some native types, that can be easily replaced.

 

- A

Nice nice.. Looking forward for the alpha release. If you need debugging or bug reports that is.

[Amygdala]

Awesome! Here are some stuff that I miss, working in Logic.

Thanks - I'll reply to them each:

 

>Pitch bending of sample with node-editing (like in Sound Forge)

Done and done!! This feature is exactly why I started the project to begin with! It's a tedious bother to use soundforge, since I switched to mac years back...

 

>Possibility to pitch bend without keeping the original tempo, a pure pitch bend of the sample - and keeping tempo (advanced timestretching algorithm preferably a choice of choosing several different algos)

Both are already possible... My timestretching algo is not so great yet though.

 

>Fade in out with exponential curves and linear with easy access

Yes... But how to determine the "exponentiallity"? I try to avoid popups.

 

>Reverse function with easy access

Done

 

>Gapper/Snipper effect (just steal it from Sound Forge)

Hmmm... Yees. The version of Soundforge I used did not have that, so I will need to explore a little. I think this feature makes most sense in a realtime setting, and I already did a MIDI plugin that does this - with a nice ADSR envelope and two different ways of panning.

 

>Resampling possibilities

Got it.

 

>Inverse stereo channels possibilities

Obviously - added to the list

 

>AU support

Yes, I am thinking about that. I will come eventually, when I think of a clever way of hosting the UIs. Floating windows are not my beef.

 

>Smooth batchfile conversion of files to different formats

I already considered having a pool of open files, instead of just one. Maybe that way some batch processing can be done.

 

>and most of all, an integration in Logic - right-click a sample (or several) and they open in the editor. Once edited and when closing the wave-editor, Logic should reload the samples. This is of course next to impossible to do, as one would have to change the Logic code itself I believe. But hey, one can always dream right?

That would be so very sweet!! Right now the editor is quite lean, and can share audio resources, but logic acts funny when a file is changed behind its back. Maybe the Logic team will be open to a feature like this, just like it can open the audio device ontrol panel.

 

>Greets from sunny Cape Town

Greets from rainy Denmark - thanks! Great tunes btw

 

- A

[Darkarbiter]

Key detection? Thats a bit hard... and maybe not the best idea though, leave to specialist programs probly.

 

Able to view the file/waveform in how often beats occur?

[Amygdala]

Key detection? Thats a bit hard... and maybe not the best idea though, leave to specialist programs probly.

 

Able to view the file/waveform in how often beats occur?

Yeah key detection is probably too much. But I can determine the fundamental frequencies pretty easily. Maybe even chords for simple sounds - but I don't wanna do functional harmonic analysis to determine keys... That's for my ears to do

 

I do a timeline based on seconds, samples and beats for a particualr tempo (setable or detected) - if that is what you mean...?

 

- A

[Darkarbiter]

Well I mean default view would be the actual waveform (when zoomed out thickness changes with volume ofc)... but you have a view where zoomed in you see the individual (detected) beats and when zoomed out the thicker parts have more beats?