rob t

I am working on interactive installation using MSP and Jitter and we are trying to generate a cross fade between two separate audio files, the cross fading will be effected by midi sensor input. I have had success in the past with video files using the crossfade in Jitter but I have been unable to duplicate a similar effect with audio.

The desired effect is as the video fades from one to another the audio accompanying the video will cross fade with it in sync.

If anyone has any feedback on how I might begin or if there is a patch or tutorial that would be helpful I would appreciate it.

I am working on interactive installation using MSP and Jitter and we are trying to generate a cross fade between two separate audio files, the cross fading will be effected by midi sensor input.  I have had success in the past with video files using the crossfade in Jitter but I have been unable to duplicate a similar effect with audio.

cross-fade-in-msp

There are a lot of ways to do this depending on your aptitute, patience, background, etc. Arguably, the easiest way is to use tap.crossfade~ from Tap.Tools (URL should be in the signature).

This will give you a few attributes to control the shape, performance, etc. and is easy to drop in and apply to MSP signals. As an external rather than a patch-based solution it is very efficient.

There are a lot of ways to do this depending on your aptitute, patience, background, etc.  Arguably, the easiest way is to use tap.crossfade~ from Tap.Tools (URL should be in the signature).  

This will give you a few attributes to control the shape, performance, etc. and is easy to drop in and apply to MSP signals.  As an external rather than a patch-based solution it is very efficient.


Quote: Timothy Place wrote on Tue, 17 February 2009 14:44

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>Arguably, the easiest way is to use tap.crossfade~ from Tap.Tools 

Arguably being the key word in this sentence. Check out the [!- ] object. Here's a patch that illustrates its use for cross fading.

Quote: Timothy Place wrote on Tue, 17 February 2009 14:44
----------------------------------------------------
>Arguably, the easiest way is to use tap.crossfade~ from Tap.Tools 
----------------------------------------------------

Agreed. And like with any advice on the list, I would collect all of the responses and then try them:

* does the one which is faster also sound better? (bonus!)

________________________________________________________

Agreed.  And like with any advice on the list, I would collect all of the responses and then try them: 

* which is faster? 
* which sounds better?
* does the one which is faster also sound better? (bonus!)
* etc.

________________________________________________________
Timothy Place
Cycling '74 | Electrotap

Tap.Tools for Max: http://shop.electrotap.com/taptools

On Feb 17, 2009, at 11:02 AM, Rob Trumbour wrote:

> If anyone has any feedback on how I might begin or if there is a 

> patch or tutorial that would be helpful I would appreciate it.

At one point I wanted to find a good xfader to replace a placeholder 

one that I slapped together. Several years later, I'm still using the 

placeholder. It's designed to hook up to a pair of gain~ faders:

> If anyone has any feedback on how I might begin or if there is a  
> patch or tutorial that would be helpful I would appreciate it.

At one point I wanted to find a good xfader to replace a placeholder  
one that I slapped together. Several years later, I'm still using the  
placeholder. It's designed to hook up to a pair of gain~ faders:

Chris Muir
cbm@well.com	
http://www.xfade.com

Here's the abstraction I often use for crossfading. Input is 0-127. Enjoy.

Another option is to use the panning engine inside the pan2 example.

I recommend that you read MSP tutorial 22 on panning. Crossfades are 

really the same as panning, only difference being that you fade 

between two input signals instead of two output signals (left and 

So, the patch posted by Kyle will be a linear crossfade, and might 

cause a - 3db dip in perceived intensity during the crossfade, while 

tap.crossfade~ will also offer equal intensity crossfade. And you'll 

easily be able to wrap your own crossfade patch from the tutorial and 

use that. But as of Max5 and the most recent version of tap.tools 

tap.crossfade~ takes an argument to set how many channels the sources 

have, which is kind of nice. And, tap.tools use 64 bit floats 

When you have the crossfade working, spend a few hours watching a 

movie or two, and look at how audio crossfades actually are synced to 

images. You will see that audio often crossfades from one cut to the 

next prior to or after the image switch or crossfade rather than in 

sync. This often gives a more continuous flow to the narrative of 

On Feb 17, 2009, at 8:02 PM, Rob Trumbour wrote:

> I am working on interactive installation using MSP and Jitter and we 

> are trying to generate a cross fade between two separate audio 

> files, the cross fading will be effected by midi sensor input. I 

> have had success in the past with video files using the crossfade in 

> Jitter but I have been unable to duplicate a similar effect with 

> The desired effect is as the video fades from one to another the 

> audio accompanying the video will cross fade with it in sync.

I recommend that you read MSP tutorial 22 on panning. Crossfades are  
really the same as panning, only difference being that you fade  
between two input signals instead of two output signals (left and  
right speaker).

So, the patch posted by Kyle will be a linear crossfade, and might  
cause a - 3db dip in perceived intensity during the crossfade, while  
tap.crossfade~ will also offer equal intensity crossfade. And you'll  
easily be able to wrap your own crossfade patch from the tutorial and  
use that. But as of Max5 and the most recent version of tap.tools  
tap.crossfade~ takes an argument to set how many channels the sources  
have, which is kind of nice. And, tap.tools use 64 bit floats  
internally.

When you have the crossfade working, spend a few hours watching a  
movie or two, and look at how audio crossfades actually are synced to  
images. You will see that audio often crossfades from one cut to the  
next prior to or after the image switch or crossfade rather than in  
sync. This often gives a more continuous flow to the narrative of  
audio and image.

>
> I am working on interactive installation using MSP and Jitter and we  
> are trying to generate a cross fade between two separate audio  
> files, the cross fading will be effected by midi sensor input.  I  
> have had success in the past with video files using the crossfade in  
> Jitter but I have been unable to duplicate a similar effect with  
> audio.
>
> The desired effect is as the video fades from one to another the  
> audio accompanying the video will cross fade with it in sync.
>
> If anyone has any feedback on how I might begin or if there is a  
> patch or tutorial that would be helpful I would appreciate it.
>
> thank you
>


By the way, there was also an example in the reverb-example.pat in the Max 4 distribution. There was a cross-fade between wet & dry signals. This section of the patch disappeared in the Max 5 distribution. But as Trond said, it's the same logic as panning.

By the way, there was also an example in the reverb-example.pat in the Max 4 distribution. There was a cross-fade between wet & dry signals. This section of the patch disappeared in the Max 5 distribution. But as Trond said, it's the same logic as panning.
J-F.


Thanks Holland Hopson, yours is working for me in max6.

It is really easy to do that on your own ... Crossfading with equal power can be done with the help of a sine/cosine function.

For fading 2 signals you need a float input source reaching from 0 to 1. multiply this input with Pi/2 (we just need half a wave) and the result of the multiplication is used to drive a sine and cosine function. And that result can be use to control the gain of both signal, where one signal gain is controlled by the sine function and the other by our cosine function. At the end you just need to add both signals to one ... Your crossfade is ready ..

cross fade in MSP