Computer Audio Software

Computer Audio: Musical Applications of Digital Signal Processing
Music 147 / ICS 180 / ECE 198

University of California, Irvine
Winter Quarter 2002

UCI Labs for Computer Audio Research

The Arts Media Center in the Claire Trevor School of the Arts has several Macintosh Power PCs available with Max/MSP for audio synthesis and processing; ProTools FREE for audio editing, mixing, and processing; Cubase for audio mixing and processing; software for MP3 encoding and playing; etc. The lab is open to members of this class. The lab hours are:

The Music Department's "Accompaniment Lab" in the Room 194C of the AITR Building (the same building as the Arts Media Center) has two Macintosh G4s available with Max/MSP for programming audio syntheisis and processing; ProTools FREE for audio editing, mixing, and processing; Cubase for audio mixing and processing; sonicWORX Artist Basic for audio processing; iTunes for MP3 encoding and playing; and Code Warrior for C programming. Members of this class can check out a key to the lab during business hours of the Music Department (Monday - Friday, 9:00 am - 5:00 pm).

The NACS Macintosh Lab (Lab A) on the first floor of the Engineering Gateway Building has five Macintosh G4 computers set up with Max/MSP for programming audio syntheisis and processing; ProTools FREE for audio editing, mixing, and processing; iTunes for MP3 encoding and playing; and BladeEnc for MP3 encoding. The five computers with this software are along the back wall of the lab--the five computers that ate not connected to special video hardware. The lab is open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. However, classes are taught in the lab Monday - Thursday, 9:00 am - 6:00 pm, so the lab is not available for drop-in use during those hours.

The Engineering Department's Instructional Computing Facility in Room 3151 of the Engineering Gateway Building has Windows software necessary for audio work, including Pd for programming audio synthesis and processing; Audacity for audio editing, mixing, and processing; Lame for MP3 encoding; and Visual Studio 6.0 for C progamming. The lab is open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. You may need to obtain an access card to get into the room when it is not staffed. See the lab website for information on obtaining an access card.

Note: By default, PD runs in Realtime mode and sucks up almost all the CPU. It has a higher priority in realtime than even the taskmanager, so it's nearly impossible to kill. The solution is to run the program with normal priority by using the "start /normal " command in the NT shell. So, as long as you start it from the icon made by the lab manager, it should be fine. If you start it from the command line, it will work in realtime mode. The problem arises if you try to quit the program by using the File > Quit command in the Tk interface. The way to stop it in this case is to press Ctrl+C in the command prompt from which you started PD. However, if you start Pd with the icon made by the lab manager, the File >Quit method will work fine. Under Start > Programs you'll see ECE 198 - Computer Audio, and in there will be Pd, as well as the Audacity sound editing application and the Lame MP3 encoding application. If you have further questions about how to start and quit Pd successfully in this lab, please ask the lab manager Donald Saltarelli at djs@uci.edu.

For research projects that require special audio or music capabilities, the Realtime Experimental Audio Laboratory (REALab) in Room 216 of the Music and Media Building is available for use, by arrangement with the professor.

Audio Synthesis Programming Languages

Max/MSP for Macintosh
Computer music programming environment

Pd for Windows, Linux, or Irix
Computer music programming environment; freeware

jMax for Linux
Computer music programming environment

Csound for Macintosh
Computer music programming environment; freeware

Csound for Windows or Linux
Computer music programming environment; freeware

Csound Manuals
Reference documentation for Csound

Audio Editors

ProTools Free for Macintosh and Windows
Professional-level audio editor/mixer; freeware

sonicWORX Artist Basic for Macintosh
Audio editor/processor; shareware

CoolEdit 2000 1.1 for Windows
Audio editor/mixer

MixMagic 0.1.6 for Linux
Audio mixer; freeware

ecawave v0.1.0r1 for Linux
Audio editor; freeware

MP3 Encoders

iTunes for Macintosh
Full-featured CD-ripper, CD-burner, MP3 player/encoder, and audio file converter

BladeEnc 1.3 for Macintosh
Simple and effective MP3 encoder

BladeEnc 0.91 for Linux
Simple and effective MP3 encoder

BladeEnc 0.91 for Windows
Simple and effective MP3 encoder

BladeBatch 2.99c for Windows

MP3 Players

iTunes for Macintosh
Full-featured CD-ripper, CD-burner, MP3 player/encoder, and audio file converter

QuickTime for Macintosh and Windows
All-purpose media player

WinAmp for Windows

FreeAmp 2.1 rc5 for Linux

This page was last modified on January 2, 2002.
Christopher Dobrian
dobrian@uci.edu