SoundDroid: A New System for Electronic Post-Production of Sound

Sound Droid is a system with sophisticated sound editing capabilities, which provides eight channels of mixing in its minimal configuration. Sounds are stored on magnetic disk, and can be played back at any time and in any sequence. The fluidity of “soft” cuts encourages creative experimentation, and all sound manipulations are automatically memorized. Being all-digital, Sound Droid eliminates distortion and generation loss in audio processing while providing a significant increase in productivity. Sound Droid incorporates a large variety of special processing – including reverberation, pitch-changing, and Doppler shift. In addition, custom signal-processing software modules can be provided to suit the particular needs of the user. A sophisticated data-base management system facilitates tracking the flow of sound through a production. Sound Droid is based on the audio signal processor, a programmable digital signal processor. A modular architecture makes it possible to adjust the system configuration to suit the needs of the user. Later developments will be based on the same signal-processing hardware, changing only the software and user interface. For example, systems could be provided with additional sliders in a mixing system, multiple operator consoles for a large-scale post-production, and even a keyboard for sound synthesis.

Print ISSN

0036-1682

Published

1986-05

Content type

Original Research

DOI

10.5594/J17730