[Clam-devel] Re: GSoC proposal for CLAM: Real-time synthesizer using SMS models

[Han, Yushen]

Hi,
Thank you for clarifying things and walking me into CLAM, Greg.
Now I get a better idea about the scope of the project.

While estimating the number of hours for my project,
I still expect for suggestions from my potential mentor  for the
following things:

(1) I think I need to choose between SPP and SMS in this situation.
Now I slightly favor SPP because it is very similar to what I am doing
right now.

In the light of that the 2004 paper
"Real-time Spectral Synthesis for Wind Instruments" By Mayor et al.
concluded "Spectral Peak Processing (SPP) achieved better sound quality"
I really want to know if you want me to focus on SMS for GSoC.

(2) It is still a question whether I could use the "original
recording" for SALTO?
If not, I would like use the pitched notes (with 3 velocities)
recorded in anechoic chamber
http://theremin.music.uiowa.edu/MIS.html
as I am using for my current research project.
(Please ask about this if you can, Greg. Thank you in advance!)
I did not try making database on my own, Greg,
but I think allowing the user to integrate their own samples into SDIF
database is a good idea.)

(3) As for the instrument in SALTO, am I supposed to pick up
saxophone? (soprano or alto?)
Or I can choose any woodwind instrument ( I prefer oboe in that case).

I am going to submit my proposal on Friday anyway.
Before that, I really appreciate if you can give clear answer for things above.

Best regards,
Han, Yushen


On Thu, Apr 3, 2008 at 6:06 AM, Greg Kellum <greg.kellum at gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi,
>
>  Well, I personally think it would be great if you reimplemented SALTO
>  with Spectral Peak Processing, but there is of course no code for SPP
>  in CLAM.  So, you would have to implement this yourself, and you would
>  likely have to make some changes to the SDIF code so that you could
>  store information about the location of spectral peaks.  I spoke with
>  Oscar about SPP before starting my own project, and it was something
>  that I would have liked to have done in addition to SMS, but there
>  just wasn't enough time.  If you found time to do this though, it
>  would add something new of general and lasting value to CLAM's
>  codebase...  But you need to be careful about realistically planning
>  your time and setting priorities.  At the end ideally you should have
>  a working saxophone synthesizer that can be controlled via MIDI, and
>  this is going to be a lot of work in and of itself...
>
>  The original saxophone recordings from the SALTO project are still
>  around by the way on CD.  I'm not sure if the MTG would be willing to
>  make these publicly, but you could write Oscar Mayor to ask...  (Or if
>  you'd like, I could ask him for you...)
>
>  With regards to the database format, I don't quite understand what you
>  mean by whether you should aim for implementing a full-sized,
>  pre-caculated database or a light, customizable one.  In the end a
>  database is a database, and what I worked on last summer was just
>  providing some flexibility in the way that the database was created so
>  that one wouldn't need to hard code links to specific files with
>  specific properties.  I did this by creating a metadata file for each
>  SDIF file.  As users might want to replace or refine the sound files
>  being used by your synth, I would advise you to take a similar
>  approach...
>
>  With regards to getting to know CLAM better, there are a number of
>  examples in CLAM's example directory.  Some of them show how to use
>  CLAM as a framework by connecting different CLAM processings, i.e.
>  modules, together using CLAM networks.  Others show how to use CLAM
>  rather as a class library by connecting together processings by
>  passing the outputs of one processing to the inputs of another.  I
>  spent a lot of time last summer just writing examples myself trying to
>  figure out how everything worked...
>
>  I haven't had to time to look at the compilation problems yet, but I
>  will later this evening...
>
>  Best,
>  Greg
>
>
>
>
>
>  On Wed, Apr 2, 2008 at 8:30 AM, Han, Yushen <yushen.han at gmail.com> wrote:
>  > Hi, GSoC mentors.
>  >
>  >  (Hope I am sending email about GSoC to the right place.)
>  >  I have 3 questions about the idea -  Real-time synthesizer using SMS models
>  >
>  >  (1) I was reading Greg Kellum's thesis "Violin Driven Synthesis from
>  >  Spectral Models"
>  >  which described his project for GSoC 2007: continuousExcitationSynthesizer.
>  >  His system emphasizes the customizability of the SDIF database,
>  >  allows users to work with their "potentially insufficient data set" by
>  >  pitch and brightness interpolation.
>  >
>  >  In Salto project for GSoC 2008, I am supposed to build a database for saxophone.
>  >  I can obtain the (anechoic) sampled sound of every single possible
>  >  pitches with 3 velocities,
>  >  I wonder if a full-sized, pre-caculated database or a light,
>  >  customizable one should be the focus in this project.
>  >  Please advise.
>  >
>  >  (2)
>  >  SALTO: A Spectral Domain Saxophone Synthesizer By Hass
>  >  documented the SALTO project updated to 2001.
>  >  Is this paper updated enough for a whole picture of the SALTO project?
>  >  I would like to know more about what we do have in SALTO to choose a
>  >  start point.
>  >
>  >  While Real-time Spectral Synthesis for Wind Instruments By Mayor et al.
>  >  in 2004 concluded that Spectral Peak Processing (SPP) achieved better
>  >  sound quality
>  >  than the implementation by SMS.
>  >  If this is true, should I be stuck at SMS for this real-time synthesis project?
>  >
>  >  (3) Can you please give me some clue about the detail of real-time
>  >  processing in CLAM?
>  >  I use audioQueueService for Mac but was not familiar with CLAM.
>  >  Some reference will be helpful.
>  >
>  >  Your suggestions will be valuable for me to fit the right work in my proposal!
>  >  (Thanks to Greg for sending me his thesis.)
>  >
>  >  Best regards,
>  >  Han, Yushen
>  >
>  >
>  >  ---
>  >
>  >  Salto is a CLAM legacy application to synthesize Saxo.
>  >   This project consist on revamp a very simple Salto like synthesizer.
>  >  It consists on:
>  >     * Building a db of sms samples
>  >     * Building processings to
>  >           o process control signals
>  >           o choose samples
>  >           o interpolate
>  >           o create stream flow
>  >           o etc.
>  >
>