Building Sound Analysis and Synthesis Systems with pyatsyn

Building Sound Analysis and Synthesis Systems with pyatsyn

Are you interested in working with sound analysis and synthesis systems? Look no further than pyatsyn! In this article, we will explore pyatsyn, a Python implementation of the Analysis-Transformation-Synthesis (ATS) spectral modeling system. Whether you’re a software engineer, musician, or researcher, pyatsyn offers a powerful set of tools for analyzing, transforming, and synthesizing sounds.

What is pyatsyn?

pyatsyn is a versatile spectral modeling system that allows you to perform analysis, transformation, and synthesis of recorded sounds. The system utilizes a sinusoidal plus critical-band noise decomposition, enabling you to analyze sounds, transform their spectrum using various algorithms, and resynthesize them in both real-time and out of time.

Installing pyatsyn

To get started with pyatsyn, you’ll need Python 3.6+ installed on your machine. While the project has been developed and tested on Python 3.9.15 using an M1 Mac running macOS 13.0.1, it should work on other platforms as well. Additionally, you will need to have LIBSNDFILE installed. If you’re using a Mac with Homebrew, you can install it with the command $ brew install libsndfile. For Debian users, the command is $ apt-get install libsndfile-dev.

Once you have the necessary dependencies, you can install pyatsyn using the PyPi repository:

$ pip install pyatsyn

Command-line Utilities

pyatsyn includes several command-line utilities that provide useful functionality out of the box. Here are a few examples:

• $ pyatsyn-atsa --help: Displays the help documentation for the atsa utility.
• $ pyatsyn-info --help: Shows information about a .ats file.
• $ pyatsyn-synth --help: Generates synthesized sound using a .ats file.

These utilities make it easy to generate ats files with residuals, print information about existing ats files, and synthesize sounds using sine-generator banks and band-limited noise synthesis.

Getting Started with pyatsyn as a Developer

If you want to contribute to pyatsyn or explore the source code, you can clone the repository from GitHub:

$ git clone https://github.com/boxofbox/pyatsyn

We recommend running pyatsyn in a virtual environment from within the project base directory. After cloning the repository, set up a virtual environment and install the required Python libraries:

$ cd pyatsyn
$ python -m venv .venv
$ source .venv/bin/activate
$ pip install numpy
$ pip install soundfile

If you want to generate the documentation, you will also need to install Sphinx and Sphinx RTD theme:

$ pip install sphinx
$ pip install sphinx_rtd_theme

To run pyatsyn as a package in development mode, navigate to the outermost pyatsyn directory, which contains the pyproject.toml file, and run the following command:

$ pip install -e .

By following these steps, you will have the development environment set up and be ready to contribute or explore the pyatsyn codebase.

Conclusion

In this article, we have explored pyatsyn, a powerful spectral modeling system for sound analysis and synthesis. We discussed the installation process, command-line utilities, and provided instructions for setting up the development environment. Whether you’re a software engineer, musician, or researcher, pyatsyn offers a comprehensive set of tools for working with sound. Start experimenting with pyatsyn today and unlock the potential for innovative sound analysis and synthesis systems.

If you have any questions or want to learn more, please feel free to ask.