Open Source projects
ZynAddSubFX
ZynAddSubFX is an open source real-time synthesizer which produces high quality instruments. It is distributed in the most known GNU/Linux distributions and there exists a community around it. I started this project in 2002 and since few years ago other developers started to contribute.
It has many features and it produces high quality sound, comparable to the expensive hardware. It is real-time, polyphonic and multi-timbral synthesizer powered by its three sound generation engines. The instruments are processed with multiple audio effects, like reverberation, echo, flanger, phaser. Due the "randomness" settings the instrument produced has "natural" quality. It is the first synthesizer which uses the PADsynth sound synthesis algorithm.
It was released initially under the "GNU GPL version 2 (only)" and later the license has been changed to "GNU GPL version 2 or any later version".
In 2005 it was presented at the international Linux Audio Conference at ZKM, Karlsruhe, Germany.
It was also presented in 2015 (and later) at another editions of the Linux Audio Conference: A Musician's View: Exploring common features of Yoshimi and ZynAddSubFX (by Will Godfrey).
Screenshot:
Availability:
Forks and other software based on it or which use portions of it:
Other links related to ZynAddSubFX:
Official forum of ZynAddSubFX
Computer Music Journal, 27:4, pp. 27–42, Winter 2003 (MIT press) - Computer Music and the Linux Operating System: A Report from the Front (Dave Phillips)
Linux Pro Magazine, March 2008 - Connecting a MIDI keyboard to your Linux system: Making Music
LinuxVilag, July 2003 - Szintetizátorok Linuxon
LinuxJournal, May 2003 - The Linux Softsynth Roundup
Patches, Instruments for ZynAddSubFX
Rosegarden Manual - Working with ZynAddSubFX
RedHat Magazine - Professional audio with Fedora Core 6
Video tutorials on YouTube
On video sharing sites (like Youtube, Vimeo) there are other thousands videos related to it
The popular audio sharing site Soundcloud contains hundreds audio tracks related to ZynAddSubFX
Paul's Extreme Sound Stretch
(a.k.a. Paulstretch)
Paulstretch is a time-stretching of audio designed for extreme stretching. While the most time-stretching methods produces artifacts on extreme (like 10x) stretches, Paulstretch produces high quality sound even at 1000x stretches. The algorithm implemented in Paulstretch is invented by me and it is described in the Algorithms page.
The main use of this program is to transform any sound into an ambient/relaxing music. It is widely known and appreciated by musicians, sound designers and enthusiasts.
Screenshot:
Availability:
Paulstretch home page
Python implementation
Mac OSX port of Paulstretch
Repositories of many Linux distributions, like Ubuntu
Articles, videos and other links about Paulstretch:
Washington Post on 31 December 2011 (on-line and in print) - "A 44-minute disc that takes 4 months to play. It’s time stretching"
G4TV - Attack of the show - episode: "Paul's Extreme Sound Stretch: Play with Sound! Review"
National Public Radio - "How It Works: The Art Of Time-Stretching Bieber"
Eric Withacre's blog - "Virtual Choir 2.0 Slowed to 61 Minutes"
Paulstretch was used in the Dredd 3D (IMDB) movie soundtrack by Paul Leonard-Morgan.
It was also used in the soundtrack of the movie Oblivion (IMDB)
Another film which it's used (for the soundtrack) is Ex Machina (IMDB, RollingStone )
It's used in the soundtrack of the "Mr Robot" show
Computer Music (Autumn 2010) - "Get your stretch on" (in print)
Frieze Magazine - Issue 135 Music (in print and on-line)
Warren Burt journal - "More of a stretch"
Used in a song by Röyksopp & Robyn - "Monument"
Gawker - "How to Make Justin Bieber Sound Incredible: Slow Him Down 800 Percent"
Guardian - "How to make Rebecca Black sound halfway listenable"
Wired - Music Week: Create Other-Worldly Sounds from Your Music Collection and Monday Jam: Hear a Hip-Hop Beat Made With 14-Year-Old Software and a Justin Bieber Sample
Microscopic's blog - "PaulStretch: An Interview with Paul Nasca"
Zirconmusic - "Paul's Extreme Sound Stretch (Justin Bieber 800% Slowdown Software) Sound Design Tutorial w/ zircon"
WNYC - "Spinning on Air / Beatlestretch"
ClevverTV - "Justin Bieber's "U Smile" Slowed Down To 800%"
Lifehacker - "How to Create Your Own Slowed-Down Ambient Epics"
Alicious - "Stretch music tracks: awesome euphoric music with PaulStretch"
Know Your Meme - "800% Slower / Time Stretch"
thousands of videos on Youtube and other video sharing sites related to Paulstretch (search for "paulstretch", "Paul's extreme sound stretch", "800% slower", "10x slower", etc..)
huge amount of audio tracks related to it on Soundcloud
LDR Tonemapping
Inspired by a well known pseudo HDR technique for Photoshop, I designed a better method for making "fake HDR" effect. It converts a single image to a image where the local contrast is enhanced and in many cases the picture looks better than the original.
Example images:
Availability:
LDR Tonemapping homepage
The effect was integrated into digiKam, as "Local contrast" effect. An article about it is "Improve Photos with digiKam’s Local Contrast Tool"
HyperMammut
Few years ago I had an idea to convert an sound to image and vice-versa. The idea is to analyse the sound as a single block and synthesize the image based on the frequencies found in the sound. This process is reversible and makes possible to add image effects (like rotation, blurring) to audio or sound effects (like echo, reverberation) to images.
Screenshot:
Availability:
I implemented this idea in the C++ program HyperMammut .
The program was rewritten from scratch in Python .
Contributions to existing open source projects
contributed to Audacity with several audio effects: Bass Boost, Phaser, Wah-wah and Paulstretch
contributed to GNU Xaos with a small interface improvement
implemented the LDR tonemapping algorithm for GREYC's Magic Image Converter