Livecut

From Mdspedia

1 Introduction
2 Mode of Operation
3 Parameters
4 Screenshot
5 FAQ Troobleshooting
6 Audio material
7 External links

Introduction

Livecut is based on BBCut the BreakBeat Cutting library written by Nick Collins for SuperCollider

The BBCut Library began out of work on an algorithm to simulate the automatic cutting of breakbeats in the style of early jungle or drum and bass Nick Collins.

Livecut is only a small subset of what is possible with BBCut, but as it is available as a VST plugin, it is much easier to start experimenting with it.

It is a live beat-slicer but instead of manipulating equal chunks of audio like most beatslicer do, it works on the notion of audio cuts whose length and number of repetition depends on the context and the cutting procedure. cuts are organized in blocks which then form a phrase. see Image below. And each phrase can be ended by a roll or fill.

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Mode of Operation

It can use 3 cutting procedures which are parts of BBCut

CutProc11
this is the original cutting procedures that mimicks early DnB gimmicks rythms and works very well with a classic 4/4 samples like amen break or classic rock drum patterns.

WarpCut
this one as the name suggest, produces fast cut rolls with either equally spaced cuts or geometric progressions, in the style of warp records (think Aphex Twin).

SQPusher
Nick Collins developped this one specifically to simulate the gimmicks of Tom Jenkinson. The main part if composed of alternating quavers/semiquavers while the last measure of a phrase is a roll choosen among the ones transcribed by Nick Collins

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Parameters

parameters are documented this way:

parameter name: [possible values] description

Cutproc: [ CutProc11,WarpCut,SQPusher ] chooses which cutting procedure to use among
subdiv: [6,8,12,16,24,32] chooses the time subdivision (8 = quaver 16=semiquaver ...)
seed: [1:16] changes the random number starting number so that you can get different cut
fade: [0:100] fade-in, fade-out time of Cut enveloppes in millisecond
minamp: [0.0:1.0] minimum amplitude
maxamp: [0.0:1.0] maximum amplitude
minpan: [-1.0:1.0] minimum pan position (-1=left, 1=right)
maxpan: [-1.0:1.0] maximum pan position
minpitch: [-2400:2400] minimum pitch transposition in cents
maxpitch: [-2400:2400] minimum pitch transposition in cents
duty: [0.0:1.0] duty cycle ratio for standard cuts
fillduty: [0.0:1.0] duty cycle ratio for fill cuts

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CutProc11

max phrase: maximum length of a phrase in bars
min phrase: minimum length of a phrase in bars
max rep: maximum number of repetitions
min rep: minimum number of repetitions
stutter: [0.0:1.0] stuttering probability at the end of phrases
area: [0.0:1.0] area of the stutter roll (1=1bar 0.5=1/2bar)

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WarpCut

straight: [0.0:1.0] probability of no rolls
regular: [0.0:1.0] probability of equally spaced rolls
ritard: [0.0:1.0] probability of accelerating or decelerating rolls
speed: [-1.0:1.0] speed of ritarding rolls (0.0= no acceleration)

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SQPusher

activity: [0.0:1.0] controls the probability of semiquavers vs quavers

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BitCrusher

crusher: [on:off] bypass the effect
minbits: [0.0:32.0] minimum number of bits used by the bitcrusher
maxbits: [0.0:32.0] maximum number of bits used by the bitcrusher
minfreq: [sr/100:sr] minimum downsampling frequency used by the bitcrusher in Hertz
minfreq: [sr/100:sr] maximum downsampling frequency used by the bitcrusher in Hertz

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Comb

comb: [on:off] bypass the effect
type: [feedforward:feedback] Comb filter type
feedback: [0.0:1.0] feedback used in the feedback comb mode
mindelay: [0.0:100.0] minimum delay used by the comb filter in milliseconds
maxdelay: [0.0:100.0] maximum delay used by the comb filter in milliseconds

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Screenshot

livecut-0.9.png

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FAQ Troobleshooting

If you experience a problem with livecut,

read this section
read livecut related threads in the smartelectronix forum and on kvraudio
if you're still having troubles create a topic in the smartelectronix forum
once we've found a solution, update this sections of the wiki. so that everyone can benefit from it.

a plugin like livecut needs to know:

the tempo,
the signature,
the position inside the song in beats
the transport-bar state

Livecut won't make sound in any host that doesn't provide them or if you don't hit play. That's not a bug, that's a feature.

It has been tested sucessfully with:

Bidule
Cubase
Minihost
Live
Fruity loops (in Fruity Wrapper check the option "use fixed size buffers" )
audiomulch
MAGIX Samplitude/Sequoia
NI Kore (works well with control surface)
ProTools (V7) **need fxpansion's Vst To Rtas Adaptor V2.0 (you must manually set MIDI clock)
Tracktion2
GarageBand 3.0.2
Logic Pro 7.2.3