Waveform morphing...

[Martin Czech]

> Hi all!
> 
> I'm doing some testing on morphing with my computer... The idea is to
> morph between two simple (64 or 128 bytes or similar) waveforms. I know
> this has been discussed before so I though someone would know a bit
> about it. I'm looking for samples or some simple software just to hear
> what it sounds like and if it is worth the work, before I dive into the
> programming bit.
> If things go the way I want, I plan to make two detuned morphing
> oscillators and very limited polyphony... MIDI controlled... That is of
> course just what I want, probably not what I'm able to do :)
> 
> It would also be interesting to hear about similar projects or just any
> ideas whatsoever...
> 
> Johan
> 
Hi Johan,

what do you mean by "morphing"? If you mean simple adding of two waves
with mutual dependency, interpolation ( s(t)=k*a(t)+(1-k)*b(t)) , well
you can do this with almost any rom wave synth (rompler) that offers 2
or more patches,layers etc per voice.  Just select different waves for
the patches of one voice and then program the envelope such that you
hear first the first patch, then both and finally the second one. Ok,
this is very simple morphing, but it works as such.  Most experiments
of this kind that I did where not that much exiting...  But sometimes
they are, thought. If you're more in analog, well you could as well
take two vco and use a single pot to mix them, just to get the impression.


Or do you mean a method like , well, let's see ah, initial spectrum has
three formants, and final has only one , but at another location, so
I morph between the spectra by slowly shifting one formant to the
final position and fade out the superfluous two. 
Well, that's interesting, but also complicated....

However,this sounds like a lot of work.  If you do this all digital,
you'll end up with multirate and interpolation (well, you want to play
the waves at different pitches) and a hybrid solution requires a quite
high frequency for variable memory read out that must be exact enough
to match your scale (hf-vco, or pll vco).

(By the way:  Does anybody know how the very first Doepfer sampler
worked ?  I guess it used a 3340 vco, either with a smaller timing cap
then recommended or with a pll to get the sampling frequency.  I know
somebody who asked me if I would by/take his Doepfer sampler.  You
know, together with C64, this awfull floppy drive etc.  Should I?)

Anyway, I don't want to underestimate your skills, but this sounds
like a major hardware project. 

Maybe (there's the heretic! get him !) it'd be a better way to:

1. get a used sampler, e.g. old AKAI, and learn how to dump waves into
that via midi. I know somebody who must have the spec. You could write
a little program to implement whatever you mean by morphing, and you
could add more functionality afterwards.  Of course, this means: no
realtime, sit and wait...

2. get an old microwave (no oven), there are a lot of "fashion people"
who sell their MW to get an MWXT (I see adds every month in the German
Keyboards mag).  This machine can do real time "morphing", and it is
relativeley easy to download your own waves into. Even I could manage,
beeing a computer idiot ;->.

3. I'm not so shure about a Wavestation A/D, but you should (please
check) be able to interpolate and download your own waves, too.

Sometimes it is more fun to chain quite different waves together, even
with silence. This gives rythm loops, as well as strange moving, blobbing
sounds. The interpolation is done in your ears and brain, when
played fast enough.

Just my $0.02 

m.c.