## Fscape Tutorial

> Note: this isn't a full blown tutorial, just a collection of hints. There is a video introduction now at vimeo.com/26509124 which probably gets you started much smoother. It also shows you how to leverage the Eisenkraut sound file editor as a useful companion application.

Once you've started FScape, the main window will open which gives you access to a menu bar. Originally FScape was meant as an add-on for SoundHack, specifically as a processor of the STFT files created from SoundHacks "Spectral Analysis". The 'F' stood for "Frequency Domain" or "Fourier Space". The original kernel is now contained in the "Spectral Patcher" module and is accompanied by many other algorithms in the fourier domain as well as in in the time domain.

In a nutshell, FScape is a collection of sound-file-processing algorithms, each of which can be invoked from the "New Module" menu. Each module usually consists of one or more input file widgets and one or more output file widgets as well as a set a module specific parameters. For example, the Fourier Translation module - which will calculate the discrete Fourier transform of a sound file - allows you to select the transform direction (forward or backward), whether you want to use complex or real input and output, whether the file size should be truncated or expanded to a suitable length (a sample frame number which equals a power of two); further, what gain should be applied to the result. Once you've made your settings, you click on the Render button in the window's bottom right corner, and the module will start rendering until either it is finished (progress bar turns green), or an error occurs (progress bar turns red and a dialog appears). You can also stop the process by clicking the "X" button next to the progress bar.

Generally, when you prefer to normalize sounds ('normalized' gain setting), data is first written to temporary file and finally written out to the target file; most modules indicate the normalizing process by colouring the progress bar yellow. This is a hint for you that portions of the final sound file might be already available for preview (the sound file's length information is updated regularly, so you can use the Change Gain module to make a preliminary copy of the file being rendered at the moment).

The modules have a short online help accessible from the window's help menu. The file menu allows you to load and save the current parameters of a module. You do not load and save sound files from the file menu. Saving parameter files is a good practice because it means that you can look up how a specific rendered file came into being.

When launching FScape for the first time, consider opening the preferences pane to see if things are o.k. for your computer. The temp folder field should usually left to the initial value or left empty in which case FScape will write temporary files to the default location (`/tmp` on unix based systems) or set it to your preferred folder. Note that when processing large files in a series of steps, the temp folder may grow quite seriously. Temp files will be destroyed when processing is stopped or the application is quit.

Numeric parameters are adjusted using a so-called parameter-field widget which consists of a dial knob and a text-field. Press the mouse and "dial" clockwise or anti-clockwise to adjust parameters without the keyboard. There's a strange patent-pending acceleration mechanism in the dial wheel, you'll find out soon. Alt+click will reset the parameter usually to zero. The unit of the parameter is labelled right to the text-field. Sometimes the unit is switchable, for example in the Resample module, the target rate can be expressed as

- 'Hz' : absolute sampling rate
- '+/- semi' : rate expressed in semitones relative to the original rate. Semitones are defined in the equal tempered scale for twelve semitones per octave. Decimals are used to express resampling in cents.
- '+/- percent' : rate expressed as a percent offset to the original rate. E.g. if the source file has 44.1 kHz, choosing +25% will lower pitch by 3.9 semitones or if you choose to up-sample your material (deselect 'Keep old rate') create a file with 55125 Hz sampling rate.
- '+/- Hz' : rate offset in Hertz relative to the original rate.

Relative units require a reference value which in this example is the source file's rate. Therefore, switching the unit will only transform the values correctly if you have set the input file before. Sometimes you'll see a special unit 'beats' which used to be a user-definable resolution on Mac OS 9. This is by default set to 120 BPM but the corresponding preference pane will reappear in one of the next versions, being useful to adjust offsets and length on a sample level resolution. Note that you have to confirm each text-field change by hitting return.

Files are specified using so-called path-field widgets. These consists of a text-field with the path to the file. On the right there's a small magnifier icon. Clicking on this icon will bring up a file chooser. Dragging files from the Finder (OS X) or desktop onto this icon will replace the path. Output file names are usually derived from input file names. When you change the output file name, FScape tries to find out if this is a variant of the input file name. The algorithm is very simple and if it cannot deduce a rule for your output name, changing the input file will not alter the output file automatically any longer. To turn back to auto-mode, clear the text-field and hit return. So beware to not overwrite your files. FScape will not warn you if you are going to overwrite a file. However, a blueish colour in output file widgets indicates that a file denoted by that name already exists. Note that you have to confirm each text-field change by hitting return.

FScape cannot playback sound files by itself, you will need to open the sound files in another application such as the QuickTime player, VLC etc. You can press the mouse over the output file's path button (the magnifier shaped icon) and drag the mouse onto the player application's icon in the Finder's dock to open that file quickly.

Below the path-field widgets there is often a file info field (for input files) or a file format selection pane (for output files). Recognized input sound files can be AIFF, .snd/.au, IRCAM and WAVE. Sample formats 8, 16, 24, 32 bit int and 32 and 64 bit float are recognized. Note that WAVE 8 bit is buggy but I guess you won't want to use it. AIFF and WAVE are the recommended formats, with Wave64 being needed when your file becomes larger than 2 or 4 GB. Note that FScape is working with 32bit floating point format internally, therefore it is not possible to write 64bit floating point (which would be merely redundant), also 8bit output is not supported. FScape can handle any number of channels, however some modules are designed to work with a specific number of channels.