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SSSSOOOOXXXX((((1111)))) UUUUNNNNIIIIXXXX SSSSyyyysssstttteeeemmmm VVVV SSSSOOOOXXXX((((1111))))
NNNNAAAAMMMMEEEE
sox - SOund eXchange - universal sound sample translator
SSSSYYYYNNNNOOOOPPPPSSSSIIIISSSS
ssssooooxxxx _i_n_f_i_l_e _o_u_t_f_i_l_e
ssssooooxxxx _i_n_f_i_l_e _o_u_t_f_i_l_e [[[[ _e_f_f_e_c_t [[[[ _e_f_f_e_c_t _o_p_t_i_o_n_s ... ]]]] ]]]]
ssssooooxxxx _i_n_f_i_l_e ----eeee _e_f_f_e_c_t [[[[ _e_f_f_e_c_t _o_p_t_i_o_n_s ... ]]]]
ssssooooxxxx [ _g_e_n_e_r_a_l _o_p_t_i_o_n_s ]]]] [[[[ _f_o_r_m_a_t _o_p_t_i_o_n_s ]]]] _i_f_i_l_e [[[[ _f_o_r_m_a_t
_o_p_t_i_o_n_s ]]]] _o_f_i_l_e [[[[ _e_f_f_e_c_t [ _e_f_f_e_c_t _o_p_t_i_o_n_s ... ]]]] ]]]]
_G_e_n_e_r_a_l _o_p_t_i_o_n_s: [[[[ ----hhhh ]]]] [[[[ ----VVVV ]]]] [[[[ ----vvvv _v_o_l_u_m_e ]]]]
_F_o_r_m_a_t _o_p_t_i_o_n_s: [[[[ ----tttt _f_i_l_e_t_y_p_e ]]]] [[[[ ----rrrr _r_a_t_e ]]]] [[[[ ----ssss////----uuuu////----UUUU////----AAAA ]]]]
[[[[ ----bbbb////----wwww////----llll////----ffff////----dddd////----DDDD ]]]] [[[[ ----cccc _c_h_a_n_n_e_l_s ]]]] [[[[ ----xxxx ]]]]
_E_f_f_e_c_t_s:
ccccooooppppyyyy
rrrraaaatttteeee
aaaavvvvgggg [[[[ -_l |||| -_r ]]]]
rrrreeeessssaaaammmmpppplllleeee
mmmmaaaasssskkkk
ssssttttaaaatttt
eeeecccchhhhoooo _d_e_l_a_y _v_o_l_u_m_e [[[[ _d_e_l_a_y _v_o_l_u_m_e ... ]]]]
vvvviiiibbbbrrrroooo _s_p_e_e_d [[[[ _d_e_p_t_h ]]]]
lllloooowwwwpppp _c_e_n_t_e_r
hhhhiiiigggghhhhpppp _c_e_n_t_e_r
bbbbaaaannnndddd [[[[ -_n ]]]] _c_e_n_t_e_r [[[[ _w_i_d_t_h ]]]]
DDDDEEEESSSSCCCCRRRRIIIIPPPPTTTTIIIIOOOONNNN
_S_o_x translates sound files from one format to another,
possibly doing a sound effect.
OOOOPPPPTTTTIIIIOOOONNNNSSSS
The option syntax is a little grotty, but in essence:
sox file.au file.voc
translates a sound sample in SUN Sparc .AU format into a
SoundBlaster .VOC file, while
sox -v 0.5 file.au -rate 12000 file.voc rate
does the same format translation but also lowers the
amplitude by 1/2 and changes the sampling rate from 8000
hertz to 12000 hertz via the rrrraaaatttteeee _s_o_u_n_d _e_f_f_e_c_t loop.
File type options:
----tttt _f_i_l_e_t_y_p_e
gives the type of the sound sample file.
----rrrr _r_a_t_e Give sample rate in Hertz of file.
----ssss////----uuuu////----UUUU////----AAAA
The sample data is signed linear (2's complement),
unsigned linear, U-law (logarithmic), or A-law
(logarithmic). U-law and A-law are the U.S. and
international standards for logarithmic telephone
sound compression.
Page 1 (printed 8/21/94)
SSSSOOOOXXXX((((1111)))) UUUUNNNNIIIIXXXX SSSSyyyysssstttteeeemmmm VVVV SSSSOOOOXXXX((((1111))))
----bbbb////----wwww////----llll////----ffff////----dddd////----DDDD
The sample data is in bytes, 16-bit words, 32-bit
longwords, 32-bit floats, 64-bit double floats, or
80-bit IEEE floats. Floats and double floats are
in native machine format.
----xxxx The sample data is in XINU format; that is, it
comes from a machine with the opposite word order
than yours and must be swapped according to the
word-size given above. Only 16-bit and 32-bit
integer data may be swapped. Machine-format
floating-point data is not portable. IEEE floats
are a fixed, portable format. ???
----cccc _c_h_a_n_n_e_l_s
The number of sound channels in the data file.
This may be 1, 2, or 4; for mono, stereo, or quad
sound data.
General options:
----eeee after the input file allows you to avoid giving an
output file and just name an effect. This is only
useful with the ssssttttaaaatttt effect.
----vvvv _v_o_l_u_m_e Change amplitude (floating point); less than 1.0
decreases, greater than 1.0 increases. Note: we
perceive volume logarithmically, not linearly.
Note: see the ssssttttaaaatttt effect.
----hhhh Print version number and usage information.
----VVVV Print a description of processing phases. Useful
for figuring out exactly how _s_o_x is mangling your
sound samples.
The input and output files may be standard input and output.
This is specified by '-'. The ----tttt _t_y_p_e option must be given
in this case, else _s_o_x will not know the format of the given
file. The ----tttt,,,, ----rrrr,,,, ----ssss////----uuuu////----UUUU////----AAAA,,,, ----bbbb////----wwww////----llll////----ffff////----dddd////----DDDD and ----xxxx
options refer to the input data when given before the input
file name. After, they refer to the output data.
If you don't give an output file name, _s_o_x will just read
the input file. This is useful for validating structured
file formats; the ssssttttaaaatttt effect may also be used via the ----eeee
option.
FFFFIIIILLLLEEEE TTTTYYYYPPPPEEEESSSS
_S_o_x needs to know the formats of the input and output files.
File formats which have headers are checked, if that header
doesn't seem right, the program exits with an appropriate
Page 2 (printed 8/21/94)
SSSSOOOOXXXX((((1111)))) UUUUNNNNIIIIXXXX SSSSyyyysssstttteeeemmmm VVVV SSSSOOOOXXXX((((1111))))
message. Currently, raw (no header) binary and textual
data, IRCAM Sound Files, Sound Blaster, SPARC .AU
(w/header), Mac HCOM, PC/DOS .SOU, Sndtool, and Sounder,
NeXT .SND, Windows 3.0 RIFF/WAV, Turtle Beach .SMP, CD-R,
and Apple/SGI AIFF and 8SVX formats are supported.
....aaaaiiiiffffffff AIFF files used on Apple IIc/IIgs and SGI. Note:
the AIFF format supports only one SSND chunk. It
does not support multiple sound chunks, or the
8SVX musical instrument description format. AIFF
files are multimedia archives and and can have
multiple audio and picture chunks. You may need a
separate archiver to work with them.
....aaaauuuu SUN Microsystems AU files. There are apparently
many types of .au files; DEC has invented its own
with a different magic number and word order. The
.au handler can read these files but will not
write them. Some .au files have valid AU headers
and some do not. The latter are probably original
SUN u-law 8000 hz samples. These can be dealt
with using the ....uuuullll format (see below).
....hhhhccccoooommmm Macintosh HCOM files. These are (apparently) Mac
FSSD files with some variant of Huffman
compression. The Macintosh has wacky file formats
and this format handler apparently doesn't handle
all the ones it should. Mac users will need your
usual arsenal of file converters to deal with an
HCOM file under Unix or DOS.
....rrrraaaawwww Raw files (no header).
The sample rate, size (byte, word, etc), and style
(signed, unsigned, etc.) of the sample file must
be given. The number of channels defaults to 1.
....uuuubbbb,,,, ....ssssbbbb,,,, ....uuuuwwww,,,, ....sssswwww,,,, ....uuuullll
These are several suffices which serve as a
shorthand for raw files with a given size and
style. Thus, uuuubbbb,,,, ssssbbbb,,,, uuuuwwww,,,, sssswwww,,,, and uuuullll correspond to
"unsigned byte", "signed byte", "unsigned word",
"signed word", and "ulaw" (byte). The sample rate
defaults to 8000 hz if not explicitly set, and the
number of channels (as always) defaults to 1.
There are lots of Sparc samples floating around in
u-law format with no header and fixed at a sample
rate of 8000 hz. (Certain sound management
software cheerfully ignores the headers.)
Similarly, most Mac sound files are in unsigned
byte format with a sample rate of 11025 or 22050
hz.
Page 3 (printed 8/21/94)
SSSSOOOOXXXX((((1111)))) UUUUNNNNIIIIXXXX SSSSyyyysssstttteeeemmmm VVVV SSSSOOOOXXXX((((1111))))
....ssssffff IRCAM Sound Files.
SoundFiles are used by academic music software
such as the CSound package, and the MixView sound
sample editor.
....vvvvoooocccc Sound Blaster VOC files.
VOC files are multi-part and contain silence
parts, looping, and different sample rates for
different chunks. On input, the silence parts are
filled out, loops are rejected, and sample data
with a new sample rate is rejected. Silence with
a different sample rate is generated
appropriately. On output, silence is not
detected, nor are impossible sample rates.
....aaaauuuuttttoooo This is a ``meta-type'': specifying this type for
an input file triggers some code that tries to
guess the real type by looking for magic words in
the header. If the type can't be guessed, the
program exits with an error message. The input
must be a plain file, not a pipe. This type can't
be used for output files.
....ccccddddrrrr CD-R
CD-R files are used in mastering music Compact
Disks. The file format is, as you might expect,
raw stereo raw unsigned samples at 44khz. But,
there's some blocking/padding oddity in the
format, so it needs its own handler.
....ddddaaaatttt Text Data files
These files contain a textual representation of
the sample data. There is one line at the
beginning that contains the sample rate.
Subsequent lines contain two numeric data items:
the time since the beginning of the sample and the
sample value. Values are normalized so that the
maximum and minimum are 1.00 and -1.00. This file
format can be used to create data files for
external programs such as FFT analyzers or graph
routines. SOX can also convert a file in this
format back into one of the other file formats.
....ssssmmmmpppp Turtle Beach SampleVision files.
SMP files are for use with the PC-DOS package
SampleVision by Turtle Beach Softworks. This
package is for communication to several MIDI
samplers. All sample rates are supported by the
package, although not all are supported by the
samplers themselves. Currently loop points are
ignored.
Page 4 (printed 8/21/94)
SSSSOOOOXXXX((((1111)))) UUUUNNNNIIIIXXXX SSSSyyyysssstttteeeemmmm VVVV SSSSOOOOXXXX((((1111))))
....wwwwaaaavvvv Windows 3.0 .WAV RIFF files.
These appear to be very similar to IFF files, but
not the same. They are the native sound file
format of Windows 3.0. (Obviously, Windows 3.0
was of such incredible importance to the computer
industry that it just had to have its own sound
file format.) Normally ....wwwwaaaavvvv files have all
formatting information in their headers, and so do
not need any format options specified for an input
file. If any are, they will overide the file
header, and you will be warned to this effect.
You had better know what you are doing! Output
format options will cause a format conversion, and
the ....wwwwaaaavvvv will written appropriately. Note that it
is possible to write data of a type that cannot be
specified by the ....wwwwaaaavvvv header, and you will be
warned that you a writing a bad file !
....mmmmaaaauuuudddd An Amiga format
An IFF-conform sound file type, registered by MS
MacroSystem Computer GmbH, published along with
the "Toccata" sound-card on the Amiga. Allows
8bit linear, 16bit linear, A-Law, u-law in mono
and stereo.
....vvvvwwwweeee Psion 8-bit alaw
These are 8-bit a-law 8khz sound files used on the
Psion palmtop portable computer.
EEEEFFFFFFFFEEEECCCCTTTTSSSS
Only one effect from the palette may be applied to a sound
sample. To do multiple effects you'll need to run _s_o_x in a
pipeline.
copy Copy the input file to the
output file. This is the
default effect if both files
have the same sampling rate,
or the rates are "close".
rate Translate input sampling rate
to output sampling rate via
linear interpolation to the
Least Common Multiple of the
two sampling rates. This is
the default effect if the two
files have different sampling
rates. This is fast but
noisy: the spectrum of the
original sound will be shifted
upwards and duplicated faintly
when up-translating by a
Page 5 (printed 8/21/94)
SSSSOOOOXXXX((((1111)))) UUUUNNNNIIIIXXXX SSSSyyyysssstttteeeemmmm VVVV SSSSOOOOXXXX((((1111))))
multiple. Lerp-ing is
acceptable for cheap 8-bit
sound hardware, but for CD-
quality sound you should
instead use:
resample [ _r_o_l_l_o_f_f [ _b_e_t_a ] ] Translate input sampling rate
to output sampling rate via
simulated analog filtration.
This method is slow and uses
lots of RAM, but gives much
better results then rrrraaaatttteeee....
mask Add "masking noise" to signal.
This effect deliberately adds
white noise to a sound in
order to mask quantization
effects, created by the
process of playing a sound
digitally. It tends to mask
buzzing voices, for example.
It adds 1/2 bit of noise to
the sound file at the output
bit depth.
avg [ -_l | -_r ] Reduce the number of channels
by averaging the samples, or
duplicate channels to increase
the number of channels. Valid
combinations are 1 - 2, 1 - 4,
2 - 4, 4 - 2, 4 - 1, 2 - 1.
The -_l or -_r option averages
from just left or right
channels/duplicates to just
the left or right channels.
stat Do a statistical check on the
input file, and print results
on the standard error file.
ssssttttaaaatttt may copy the file
untouched from input to
output, if you select an
output file. The "Volume
Adjustment:" field in the
statistics gives you the
argument to the ----vvvv _n_u_m_b_e_r
which will make the sample as
loud as possible.
echo [ _d_e_l_a_y _v_o_l_u_m_e ... ]]]] Add echoing to a sound sample.
Each delay/volume pair gives
the delay in seconds and the
Page 6 (printed 8/21/94)
SSSSOOOOXXXX((((1111)))) UUUUNNNNIIIIXXXX SSSSyyyysssstttteeeemmmm VVVV SSSSOOOOXXXX((((1111))))
volume (relative to 1.0) of
that echo. If the volumes add
up to more than 1.0, the sound
will melt down instead of
fading away.
vibro _s_p_e_e_d [[[[ _d_e_p_t_h ]]]] Add the world-famous Fender
Vibro-Champ sound effect to a
sound sample by using a sine
wave as the volume knob.
SSSSppppeeeeeeeedddd gives the Hertz value of
the wave. This must be under
30. DDDDeeeepppptttthhhh gives the amount
the volume is cut into by the
sine wave, ranging 0.0 to 1.0
and defaulting to 0.5.
lowp _c_e_n_t_e_r Apply a low-pass filter. The
frequency response drops
logarithmically with _c_e_n_t_e_r
frequency in the middle of the
drop. The slope of the filter
is quite gentle.
highp _c_e_n_t_e_r Apply a high-pass filter. The
frequency response drops
logarithmically with _c_e_n_t_e_r
frequency in the middle of the
drop. The slope of the filter
is quite gentle.
band [[[[ -_n ]]]] _c_e_n_t_e_r [[[[ _w_i_d_t_h ]]]] Apply a band-pass filter. The
frequency response drops
logarithmically around the
_c_e_n_t_e_r frequency. The _w_i_d_t_h
gives the slope of the drop.
The frequencies at _c_e_n_t_e_r +
_w_i_d_t_h and _c_e_n_t_e_r - _w_i_d_t_h will
be half of their original
amplitudes. BBBBaaaannnndddd defaults to
a mode oriented to pitched
signals, i.e. voice, singing,
or instrumental music. The -_n
(for noise) option uses the
alternate mode for un-pitched
signals. BBBBaaaannnndddd introduces
noise in the shape of the
filter, i.e. peaking at the
_c_e_n_t_e_r frequency and settling
around it.
cut _l_o_o_p_n_u_m_b_e_r Extract loop #N from a sample.
Page 7 (printed 8/21/94)
SSSSOOOOXXXX((((1111)))) UUUUNNNNIIIIXXXX SSSSyyyysssstttteeeemmmm VVVV SSSSOOOOXXXX((((1111))))
map Display a list of loops in a
sample, and miscellaneous loop
info.
pick Select the left or right
channel of a stereo sample, or
one of four channels in a
quadrophonic sample.
split Turn a mono sample into a
stereo sample by copying the
input channel to the left and
right channels.
_S_o_x enforces certain effects. If the two files have
different sampling rates, the requested effect must be one
of ccccooooppppyyyy,,,, or rrrraaaatttteeee,,,, If the two files have different numbers of
channels, the aaaavvvvgggg effect must be requested.
reverse Reverse the sound sample
completely. Included for
finding Satanic subliminals.
BBBBUUUUGGGGSSSS
The syntax is horrific. It's very tempting to include a
default system that allows an effect name as the program
name and just pipes a sound sample from standard input to
standard output, but the problem of inputting the sample
rates makes this unworkable.
FFFFIIIILLLLEEEESSSS
SSSSEEEEEEEE AAAALLLLSSSSOOOO
NNNNOOOOTTTTIIIICCCCEEEESSSS
The echoplex effect is: Copyright (C) 1989 by Jef
Poskanzer.
Permission to use, copy, modify, and distribute this
software and its documentation for any purpose and without
fee is hereby granted, provided that the above copyright
notice appear in all copies and that both that copyright
notice and this permission notice appear in supporting
documentation. This software is provided "as is" without
express or implied warranty.
Page 8 (printed 8/21/94)
These are the contents of the former NiCE NeXT User Group NeXTSTEP/OpenStep software archive, currently hosted by Netfuture.ch.