REplay PLAYer

generative sound file shredder
© 2000-2013 by Karlheinz Essl

vs. 4.0 NEW
released: 7 May 2013

The other program I’ve found useful, for detailed manipulation of a single sample, is REplay PLAYer, which is described as a ‘generative sound file shredder’. REplay PLAYer is a program ‘based on the paradigms of granular synthesis. The program de-constructs a given sound file and re-composes it by using realtime composition algorithms [and] can be used as a tool to generate an infinite and every-changing sonic stream from a single sound file for artistical, compositional or mere recreational purposes. It can also be regarded as a computer based instrument for live performances, as an interactive sound installation or a generator for ambient music.’

It costs a bit to buy it, but I’ve found it very useful in the past. I haven’t used this feature up to now, but it is MIDI controllable, and can be used with VST plugins.

It’s well worth reading more about Essl. His main preoccupation is one that I’ve become interested in recent years: ’music that is created at the moment of its sounding (“realtime composition”)’. Improvisation, looping and manipulation of sound and music samples are all part of the same field, and chance can play a significant role. (Andy Murkin)

Music Electronics - January 2013

About...

REplay PLAYer is a computer program based on the paradigms of granular synthesis. The program de-constructs a given sound file and re-composes it by using realtime composition algorithms - a field of research that has been investigated by Karlheinz Essl since the mid 1980ies. With this project, the author is following once again his vision of a music "that is composed, as if from itself (auto-poetic), at the moment of its sounding."

REplay PLAYer can be used as a tool to generate an infinite and every-changing sonic stream from a single sound file for artistical, compositional or mere recreational purposes. It can also be regarded as a computer based instrument for live performances, as an interactive sound installation or a generator for ambient music.

REplay PLAYer 4.0
user interface

What's new in version 4.0?

optimized audio engine
improved user interface
now works with VST and AU plugins

Shareware registration

Please register this software in order to supports its further development. Note that you can neither save the output to disk nor take advantage of VST plugins and the extended control features unless you have purchased a registration code (US $ 25.00).

System Requirements

Apple Macintosh computer
Mac OS X: 10.4 or higher
Quicktime

What the REplay PLAYer does

The REplay PLAYer stores an entire sound file in the computer's RAM from which it cuts out particles of varying length from different positions of the file. The length of the particles is determined by the "granularity" parameter which can be changed with the horizontal slider below the white square field. Then the program will overlap these particles according to the density parameter which can also be changed by the vertical slider on the right side of this aforementioned field. The position on the sound file from which the grains are taken is determined by a separate algorithm which various modes you can control in manyfold ways. Furthermore, those grains can also be transposed either by transposition algorithms or manually. As a registered user, you can also store your creations directly to disk, you can access the advanced control features and use the built-in effects and VST plugins. Furthermore, you can control many of the system parameters by MIDI.

MIDI control

With a MIDI controller attached to your computer, you can use it to control many of the REplay PLAYer system parameters. By this, you can literally turn this program into an instrument! Please take care that the MIDI controller sends on controller number 7.
Here is a list of the available MIDI controls:

chn #1: granularity
chn #2: density
chn #3: glissando
chn #4: mininum pitch
chn #5: maximum pitch
chn #6: crossfade between original and shreddered sound
chn #7: volume range
chn #8: mix into VST 1
chn #9: mix into VST 2
chn #10: mix into VST 1
chn #11: EQ lo
chn #12: EQ mid
chn #13: EQ hi
chn #14: panning
chn #15: spread

The Theory Behind

The concept of music that is created at the moment of its sounding ("realtime composition") and the vision of a composition that is not provided in form of fixed notation has been haunting Karlheinz Essl since the mid 1980ies. Departing from theoretical concepts that have been formulated by Karlheinz Stockhausen and Gottfried Michael Koenig in the late 1950ies, he started to dig into the field of algorithmic music where he and Gerhard Eckel started to develop a software library for musical composition in realtime - the so-called Realtime Composition Library for MAX. The first fruit of this labour was a piece called Lexikon-Sonate (1992 ff.) - a realtime composition for computer-controlled piano that replaced a pianist by a computer which composes and performes this never-ending piece in realtime. In the course of this project a theory of structure generatores emerged.

Articles

REplay PLAYer
Susanna Niedermayr talking with Karlheinz Essl on occassion of the premier of the REplay PLAYer performance at the ORF Kunstradio
Ö1, 25 Feb 2001

Download

REplay PLAYer 4.0 (for Mac OS X - 10.6 or higher)

released 7 May 2013: ZIP archive (7.0 MB)

REplay PLAYer 3.2 (for Mac OS X - 10.4) - Universal Binary
released 23 Aug 2007: ZIP archive (5.2 MB)

REplay PLAYer 3.1 (for Mac OS X - 10.3 or higher) - PPC
released 4 Sep 2005: ZIP archive (1.6 MB)

More music software by Karlheinz Essl

fLOW is an audio computer program running on Apple Macintosh machines. It generates an ever-changing and never repeating soundscape in real time that fills the space with flooding sounds that resemble - metaphorically - the timbres of water, fire, earth, and air. This ambient sound scape generator adjusts itself through various parameters and controllers that are represented in real time on your screen.

And even more...

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Updated: 7 May 2013