Has anybody experimented with software like SuperCollider, Csound, or Pure Data? I want to synthesize my own ambient loops and other environmental sounds without even having to rely on open-source AI models like AudioCraft. Those are great, but I want more precise control over everything, and high-quality sample-by-sample synthesis, which avoids copyright/licensing issues or unnatural artifacts present in AI-generated 3-D/binaural/spatial loops altogether. Using CC0 sounds is great because you don't have to worry about attribution/credit stuff, but even then, you can't copyright the original sounds. Recording your own sounds is the best option if you have high-quality recording equipment, but then you have to actually hear the audio that you want to record and spend enough time in the environment as the microphone captures it, eliminate all environmental noise and microphone hiss, speech, including VoiceOver speech, and get an uninterrupted recording. So I've never been to a rainforest but I want to synthesize binaural rainforest sounds. I've never recorded an airplane engine in 3-D but why not just synthesize it on my computer? I'm also interested in physical modeling, and other more user-friendly options, if any. Mobile apps would also be great.
Comments
Have you tried SUrge XT?
I don't know that it does samples, assuming you want to manipulate audio samples. But it is an accessible synthesizer and if you haven't tackled basic synth stuff yet, it's a good place to start. It can also do sequences which you'd probably need for something like a rain forest.
I mention this because if you specifically want to manipulate sampled audio, a lot of the synth stuff carries over, e.g. filters, resonance, and so on. Surge does all of that, it's just based on waveforms, rather than imported audio samples as the base of the sound.
They are developing a sampler, Shortcircuit XT, and IIRC they are doing, or planning, accessibility work on it. But it doesn't seem super developed yet, lots of placeholders for docs and such on the site. You can apparently do it with just synths though, here's a guy with a video, but I don't think he mentions what synths he's using, maybe visually he does, I'll try to remember to get my wife to take a look and see.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EhK-LHm6_b0
Surge XT
Isn't that a music-focused thing? A VST instrument to be more precise. I know it can be used as a standalone app, but what I want to do is generate whole soundscapes and other stuff. Specifically, 3-D/binaural/spatial audio.
Re: Synths.
In the rain forest example I posted, he used two synths, Phase Plant and Serum. Also a midi sequencer. The synths generated the sounds, and he used the sequencer to create the track. Surge XT would be the first part, or a possible first part anyway.
I can see two ways to do this, and I'm not sure which one you want.
1. Like the forest example, you use one or more synths to design your sounds, and then use a DAW or whatever to make your track(s).
2. You use pre-existing sounds, e.g. a wav file of an airplane or whatever, and use a DAW or what have you to make your track.
Which one do you want to do? If it's the first one, which is what I thought you were getting at since I think all of the things you mentioned are synthesizers, I mention Surge XT because, if you don't know how synthesizers work, it's a good place to start learning, there are some decent general synth lessons on Youtube, I can point you at a few.
IF you want to basically use samples instead, the second one, Surge XT still might help to learn some processing stuff, e.g. what filters do, but it doesn't do samples, I don't think. I haven't done anything with samples much, so you're probably on your own there, unless somebody else responds.
As another example, here's a guy telling you a bit about how to make bird sounds with a synth. Surge XT can do FM synthesis, I haven't tried recreating it though.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bri8fnMUfaQ