(sonicArts) cecilia basics and an intro to filter warper

cecilia basics

Cecilia 4 basics gives you an overall rundown of Cecilia preferences and operation. It covers the basics, and is a useful place to return to when you get stymied by the program.

filter warper

If you want to do simple time and pitch changes on an audio file, use the FilterWarper module.

Launch Cecilia4. The editor window opens. Close the editor window, and under the File menu, choose Modules > Time > FilterWarper.

The FilterWarper is designed to produce the smoothest time and pitch shifting of any granular operator in Cecilia. Therefore, you don’t usually want to change any setting beyond the output duration, transposition, window type, and index. Generally, I like to use a Hamming window to produce less granular artifacts, like clicking or other noise.

Remember that the Index controls the playback location in the soundfile. If you want to play through the soundfile from start to finish in the forward direction, leave the index running from lower left corner to upper right corner. If you want to play the soundfile backwards, set the Index function to run from the upper left corner to the lower right corner. You can also set the index to play a portion of the soundfile by starting and/or ending somewhere other than a corner.

If you want to experiment with other parameter settings, start with the number of overlaps. If you bring this value down to 1, you will hear amplitude modulation – a tremolo effect. More overlaps create an amplitude output that more smoothly tracks the original amplitude envelope of the source file. More overlaps also thicken the sound and increase the output amplitude overall. You can adjust the output gain in the output section. Try different values and listen to the result.

Depending on the source input, changing the window size (in samples) may create audible results. Window deviation is a maximum random amount to add or subtract from the specified window size. If you are hearing regular amplitude modulation that you wish to randomize, apply a larger random deviation.