LSDj Wave Cruncher
A command-line tool by Ada, alias DOTCNT (GitHub iLambda/lsdj-wave-cruncher), that reduces a single-note sample to sixteen 4-bit wave frames — a .snt wavetable — so that the lsdj wave synth plays the timbre at any pitch: "it turns the wave synth itself into a rudimentary sampler". The original needs node and Python; defense-mechanism compiled stand-alone binaries (GitHub urbster1) and started the lsdjsynths library of ready-made .snt files (GitHub psgcabal/lsdjsynths). Patching into a save is done with liblsdj's lsdj-wavetable-import (sources: s-intense-tech-05-wave-cruncher-instrument-library, s-intense-tech-08-dotcnts-wave-cruncher). It is also the automated answer to the request that closes the 2013 ghost-channel thread — "i wonder if there's a tool that can autogenerate these waves and spit out an lsdsng" (source: s-chipmusic-lsdj-ghost-channel): render a two-note chord, crunch it, import it.
Cheat sheet#
crunch SAMPLE.WAV NOTE|FREQUENCY|auto --flags — e.g. crunch epiano.wav A4, crunch epiano.wav 440, crunch epiano.wav auto (detection takes 30–60 s and can fail on complex waveforms).
| flag | effect |
|---|---|
| (none) | the first 16 wave cycles |
--linear | one cycle from each of 16 equal slices of the whole sample |
--exp | more frames from the attack, fewer from the decay |
--normalize | maximise the level before crunching (recommended) |
--channel=0 / --channel=1 | left or right channel of a stereo file |
--output=name.snt | name the result (e.g. bell-exp.snt) |
--analyze | only report the detected frequency; no output |
Input: a .wav of one tonal note; sounds rich in overtones (bells, FM electric pianos, steel drums) work, noisy ones (snares, whistles) do not. In LSDj set the WAVE instrument to PLAY ONCE, LENGTH 3, SPEED 3 as a start and adjust per tempo and per crunch (source: s-intense-tech-08-dotcnts-wave-cruncher).
Related#
wavetable-programming · lsdj · liblsdj · chip-samples · defense-mechanism
Sources#
s-intense-tech-05-wave-cruncher-instrument-library · s-intense-tech-08-dotcnts-wave-cruncher · s-chipmusic-lsdj-ghost-channel