Can editing audio visually open up new possibilities for sound design?
That’s the promise of a new app, Divide Frame’s Spectral Layers.
Spectral Layers analyzes audio and creates a graphic interface for editing the sound. On the horizontal axis, Spectral Layers represents time. On the vertical axis, it displays the audio spectrum.
Spectral Layers isn’t the first app to explore the idea of ‘Photoshop for audio’. Photosounder is an older app that brings new meaning to ‘photo synthesis‘ – acting as a bridge between the worlds of audio and images.
What makes Spectral Layers interesting, though, is its unique set of tools for working with the audio.
Check out the video demo above for an introduction to the application, its tools and their potential – and let us know if you’re interested in using Photoshop-like tools with audio.
Features:
* Advanced audio editor based on spectrum
* Accurately analyze, extract and transform any audio datas using layers and tools in a fully visual approach.
* Extract and transform voices, instruments, noises or any kind of sound
* Reconstruct, enhance and create new effects and raw materials.
* Analyze
o High-quality 32-bit float spectrum
o Realtime transforms and 3D display
o Surround project support
* Extract and Transform
o Non-destructive layer system
o Additive and substractive layer compositing
o Local tools and filters to transfer and modify spectral datas
Tech Specs:
* Cross-platform Windows/Mac OS X
* Open project format
* SDK for custom file formats, devices, tools and filters
More information on Spectral Layers is available at the developer’s site. Availability and pricing is to be announced.
via Peter Kirn at CDM, who features some interesting comments from the developer; see also the developer’s channel on Vimeo for a video tutorial on Spectral Layers.
