175 lines
6.2 KiB
Markdown
175 lines
6.2 KiB
Markdown
# Samplebrain
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A custom sample mashing app designed by Aphex Twin.
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Samplebrain chops samples up into a 'brain' of interconnected small
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sections called blocks which are connected into a network by
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similarity. It processes a target sample, chopping it up into blocks
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in the same way, and tries to match each block with one in its brain
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to play in realtime.
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This allows you to interpret a sound with a different one. As we
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worked on it (during 2015 and 2016) we gradually added more and more
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tweakable parameters until it became slightly out of control.
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Quick start:
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1. Load a bunch of short wav files into the brain
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2. Click (re)generate brain
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3. Load a short loop sample into the target
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4. Click (re)generate blocks
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5. Press play
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6. Tweak brain
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The default block size (3000) is really high to prevent CPU glitches -
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500 to 1000 is a better range. Larger wav files like whole tracks can
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be used, but take a long time to process, after which they can be
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saved as "brain" files and instantly reloaded.
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_Historical note_: Samplebrain is a method of sound synthesis called
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"concatenative sound synthesis" (CSS), which was developed in speech synthesis
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research in the 1990s: the computer is made to speak by concatenating
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phonetic "units" together extracted from a database of recorded speech.
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This was adapted for musical purposes in the early 2000s, with many
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researchers calling it by different names:
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- A. Zils and F. Pachet, “Musical mosaicing,” in Proc. COST G-6 Conf. Digital Audio Effects, (Limerick, Ireland), 2001.
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- A. Lazier and P. Cook, “Mosievius: Feature driven interactive audio mosaicing,” in Proc. COST G-6 Conf. Digital Audio Effects, (Queen Mary, University of London), 2003.
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- D. Schwarz, "Data-Driven Concatenative Sound Synthesis." PhD thesis, l’Université Paris 6 – Pierre et Marie Curie, 2004.
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- [sCrAmBlEd?HaCkZ!](https://www.wired.com/2006/04/the-man-behind-scrambled-hackz/) by Sven König in 2006.
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For an overview of early computer music research in this area, see D. Schwarz, "Concatenative sound synthesis: The early years", J. New Music Research, vol. 35, no. 1, 2006. [https://doi.org/10.1080/09298210600696857](https://doi.org/10.1080/09298210600696857)
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See also the work of Canadian composer John Oswald in the 1980s, who _manually_ explored such approaches
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in his [plunderphonics](http://www.plunderphonics.com) work
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# [Demo brain session](https://static.thentrythis.org/samplebrain/demo.samplebrain)
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Load this file using "load session" not "load brain" (sessions contain
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both the target and brain samples). The original samples used to
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create the demo session [can be found here for
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testing](https://static.thentrythis.org/samplebrain/samples/).
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# [Manual](docs/manual.md)
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Full description of all the parameters and a bit of the thinking
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behind it.
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# Download
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As this is experimental non-commercial software (only originally
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written to run on a couple of computers!) you will have to bear with
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us as we gradually stabilise things based on your feedback. There
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might currently be problems running it on 64bit Windows.
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* **Windows**: [samplebrain_0.18.1_win.zip](https://static.thentrythis.org/samplebrain/samplebrain_0.18.1_win.zip)
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* **Mac (intel/m1)**: [samplebrain_0.18.1_macintel.zip](https://static.thentrythis.org/samplebrain/samplebrain_0.18.1_macintel.app.zip)
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Thank you to [Nik Gaffney](http://fo.am) for help with the Apple builds
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Mac note: As this software is not on the apple store, to run the
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binary you need to tell your mac it's ok: Go to System Preferences >
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Security & Privacy > General. At the bottom of the window, select
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"Allow apps to be downloaded from Anywhere".
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**Linux install (Ubuntu)**
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$ sudo add-apt-repository ppa:thentrythis/samplebrain
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$ sudo apt update
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$ sudo apt install samplebrain
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If you'd like the right font, optionally:
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$ sudo apt install ttf-mscorefonts-installer
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# Old/broken/spurious binaries
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* **Windows* *: [samplebrain_0.18_win.zip](https://static.thentrythis.org/samplebrain/samplebrain_0.18_win.zip)
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* **Mac (intel)**: [samplebrain_0.18_macintel.zip](https://static.thentrythis.org/samplebrain/samplebrain_0.18_macintel.zip)
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* **Mac (m1)**: [samplebrain_0.18_m1_v2.dmg](https://static.thentrythis.org/samplebrain/samplebrain_0.18_m1_v2.dmg)
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# Building from source
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## Linux (Ubuntu)
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Install libraries for the sample engine (use brew on mac, MinGW on win):
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$ sudo apt install libsndfile1-dev portaudio19-dev liblo-dev libfftw3-dev
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Install dependencies for the interface:
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$ sudo apt install build-essential qtcreator qt5-default
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Build & run it:
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$ mkdir build
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$ cd build
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$ qmake ..
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$ make
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$ sudo make install
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$ samplebrain
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## Mac
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Install libraries for sample engine:
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$ brew install fftw portaudio liblo libsndfile
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Install dependencies for the interface:
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$ brew install qt
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$ brew link qt
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Build & run it:
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$ mkdir build
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$ cd build
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$ qmake ..
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$ make
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`samplebrain.app` should then be in the app folder for you to run.
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# Mac build additions
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To make a mac app bundle:
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Run `macdeployqt` which copies all dependencies inside the app.
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$ cd build
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$ macdeployqt
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If the icon is not visible, you might need to copy desktop/samplebrain.icns (the icon) to the Resources directory in the app bundle.
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$ cp ../desktop/samplebrain.icns samplebrain.app/Contents/Resources
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Then edit Info.plist to add samplebrain.icns to CFBundleIconFile. Key `CFBundleIconFile` should match:
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<key>CFBundleIconFile</key>
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<string>samplebrain.icns</string>
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You might also need to resign the app bundle after making any changes
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$ codesign --force --deep --sign - samplebrain.app
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## What's here
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1. brain:
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* samplebrain engine code
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2. app:
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* code to build the Qt GUI app
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3. gui:
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* qt designer project files
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4. desktop:
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* various icon files etc
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4. cooking:
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* some sketches and ideas
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* proof of concept written in python
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* brief initial (abandoned) attempt at clojure version
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MFCC algo courtesy of the Aquila library by Zbigniew Siciarz MIT/X11
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licence 2007-2014 (see brain/src/aquila/LICENCE)
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This program is free software licenced under GNU General Public
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License version 2 (see LICENCE).
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Written by [Dave Griffiths at Then Try This](http://thentrythis.org).
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