View source for Mulshine:320C

==Music 320C: Software Projects in Music/Audio Signal Processing==

===My Ever-Evolving 320C Project Spec===

===Week 1===

In week 1, I thought a lot about what I wanted to make for this course. I was enrolled [http://graphics.stanford.edu/courses/cs448z/ CS 448Z: Physically-Based Animation and Sound] with Doug James and imagined that I might make a JUCE Plugin that visualized a few interesting physical models of sound and graphics. This felt like a great idea, but I soon learned that my physics and diff eq skills were a bit lacking. My lack of physics fundamentals and already packed quarter schedule compelled me to drop 448Z (sorry Professor James!) and redouble my efforts on 320C. 


I still desired to make a JUCE plugin that combined audio and visuals. I tend to web-based audiovisual interactive media that straddles the line between passive listening and active gaming, (see [https://www.mikemulshine.com/hairdresser Hairdresser] and [https://www.mikemulshine.com/mp5/mp5 MP5]). I also focus a lot of on making my vocals sound good (read, hopefully decent) when I write/produce songs (see [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nn0tbg-zSNo Sunny Day] or [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NV5llrGhd6o Hairdresser], among other tunes). Because of my interest in vocal production, I developed a custom Vocal EQ and some a few spectral delay vocal effects in Python for my final project in 320B last quarter. Combining all of these efforts and aesthetic leanings, I decided it would be fun to make an "all-in-one" vocal effects plugin with a highly abstract, aesthetically poignant, graphical UI for 320C this quarter . In this plugin, the user will navigate and modify a virtual 2D or combined 2D/3D world to apply effects to their vocals (or I suppose other instruments, too). The dream is that changing colors, shapes, and interesting interactions define the changing state of the FX chain. Traditional numbers, sliders, dials, and meters are not part of this world. I could imagine the contour of a horizon roughly representing the shape of an EQ, the amount and rate of bubbles floating through a sky corresponding to the sound of a variable delay with feedback, colors shifting formants, and more. 

===Week 2===

I got reacquainted with the JUCE plugin development toolchain: updated JUCE, downloaded the new Projucer, built some plugins in XCode, reminded myself how to debug plugins in my DAW via XCode, and more. 


I was recently interested in developing a de-esser plugin. I did some research on how de-essers work. [https://music.tutsplus.com/articles/how-to-create-a-de-esser-from-scratch-in-logic-or-any-daw-for-that-matter--audio-3793 This article] laid out how a de-esser might function in a very intuitive way, explaining the algorithm in terms of traditional plugins and fx chains. This is the algorithm they outline:
# '''Apply parametric EQ (peak filter)''' to input signal with frequency between '''5-8 kHz''' and a '''very high Q (like 100+)'''. This will produce a signal that peaks really aggressively on sibilant "s" sounds, since "s" frequency content is packed in to the 5-8kHz range. 
# '''Compressor original input signal with sibilant filtered signal as sidechain input.''' Because the sidechain input peaks aggressively on "s" sounds, the compressor will compress the original input only during those "s" sounds. The envelope of the compressor needs to be really quick to cut out "s" sounds as soon as they happen, and before they are perceptible. In experiments, I had to set the compressor's attack to approximately 0.15ms and release to 15-20ms to get smooth but effective compression. 


I'm not trying to build a whole plugin UI completely from scratch at this stage. Looking around for code to work from, I was lucky enough to find an [https://github.com/p-hlp/CTAGDRC open source dynamic range compressor JUCE plugin] by Creative Technologies. I ported a state-variable filter implementation (based on STK) from a previous project ([https://github.com/spiricom/LEAF/ LEAF] into this plugin and was able to get the de-esser algorithm above to work, along with a couple extra knobs and buttons in the UI. 


This side project in to de-essing will be useful in developing a collection of vocal FX for my 320C final project plugin.

===Week 3===