SMSPD, LIBSMS and a real-time SMS instruments

Eakin, Richard Thomas; Serra, Xavier

SMSPD, LIBSMS and a real-time SMS instruments

Citation

Eakin RT, Serra X. SMSPD, LIBSMS and a real-time SMS instruments. In: Proceedings of the 12th International Conference on Digital Audio Effects (DAFx-09); 2009 Sep 1-4; Como, Italy. p. 387-94.

Abstract

We present a real-time implementation of SMS synthesis in Pure Data. This instrument focuses on interaction with the ability to continuously synthesize any frame position within an SMS sound representation, in any order, thereby freeing time from other parameters such as frequency or spectral shape. The instrument can be controlled expressively with a Wacom Tablet that offers both coupled and absolute controls with good precision. A prototype graphical interface in python is presented that helps to interact with the SMS data through visualization. In this system, any sound sample with interesting spectral features turns into a playable instrument. The processing functionality originates in the SMS C code written almost 20 years ago, now re-factored into the open source library, libsms, also wrapped into a python module. A set of externals for Pure Data, called smspd, was made using this library to facilitate on-the-fly analysis, flexible modifications, and interactive synthesis. We discuss new transformations are introduced based on the possibilities of this system and ideas for higher-level, feature based transformations that benefit from the interactivity of this system.

Description

Comunicació presentada a la 12th International Conference on Digital Audio Effects (DAFx-09), celebrada els dies 1 a 4 de setembre de 2009 a Como, Itàlia.