Control of Digital Audio Effects
Todor Todoroff · 2004
Control, in the broad meaning of the word, encompasses every possible method available to the user for accessing the various parameters of a digital audio effect. It embraces all traditional computer user interfaces, from command-line instructions typed on a computer keyboard to complex window-based GUIs controlled with the mouse. Control also includes specially designed musical interfaces, mainly MIDI triggering devices mimicking various aspects of traditional instruments and widely commercialized by the music industry: organ-like or piano-like keyboards, drum pads, string and wind instrument controllers, as well as common studio controllers like rotary potentiometers, faders and push-buttons. And if all this does not give enough possibilities, there is a whole range of more or less experimental devices that have been designed to fulfil more specific needs. They include the radio baton, electro magnetic and ultrasound localization systems, power gloves, complete virtual reality environments, video image analysis systems and just about every possible sensor. This chapter deals with the control of effect processors ranging from general control techniques to control based on sound features and gestural interfaces. Contents are: Introduction General Control Issues Mapping issues Assignation Scaling GUI Design and Control Strategies General GUI Issues A Small Case Study Specific real-time Control Issues GUI Mapping Issues GUI Programming Languages Algorithmic Control Abstract Models Physical Models Control Based on Sound Features Feature Extraction Examples of Controlling Digital Audio Effects Gestural Interfaces MIDI Standard Playing by Touching and Holding the Instrument Force-feedback Interfaces Interfaces Worn on the Body Controllers without Physical Contact Conclusion Sound and Music Bibliography