Script to convert wave files to Fathom's wavetable format

[BlitBit]

Hi all,

attached you can find a script that converts wav files to the wavetable format of the Fathom synthesizer. The wav files that are used as input have to meet the following conditions:

• The file contains wav data and its extension is "wav".
• The file is mono and is in 16 or 32 bit PCM format. So files in IEEE float format will not work!
• If the file contains several cycles, i.e. if it is a "true" wavetable, then the number of samples must be a multiple of 2048 or the number given with the -l argument (see below).

If the files that you want to convert are in another format please use an audio editor, e.g. ocenaudio or Audacity, to first convert them to the aforementioned format before using them with the script.

The script takes the following arguments:

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  -f, --file: Converts a single file.
  -d, --dir: Recursively convert all files in the given directory.
  -g, --targetdir: Put all converted files into the given target directory. If
                   this parameter is not given and you convert a whole
                   directory then all files will be put next to the original
                   files.
  -l, --length: The number of samples in one cycle that's assumed for wave table files.

The following arguments can be used to set the meta data:

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  -c, --category: Use the given category for all converted files
  -a, --author: Use the given author for all converted files
  -m, --comment: Use the given comment for all converted files
  -r, --rating: Use the given rating (in [0, 10]) for all converted files
  -t, --type: Use the given type for all converted files

Examples
All examples given here assume that your system knows how to execute Python scripts, i.e. that the Python interpreter is in your path. If this is not the case you might have to prepend the commands with the full path to your Python interpreter, e.g.:

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C:\Path\To\Interpreter\python.exe FathomWTCreator.py -f Input.wav

Convert a single wavetable file. Because the -l parameter is not used one cycle is assumed to be 2048 samples long.

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FathomWTCreator.py -f Input.wav

Convert a wavetable file that contains cycles of length 1024 (example for some long arguments):

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FathomWTCreator.py --file=Input.wav --length=1024

Convert everything in directory "source" and write the converted files into the directory "converted":

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FathomWTCreator.py -d source -g converted

Convert everything in directory "source" and write the converted files next to the original files:

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FathomWTCreator.py -d source

Example usage for the meta data:

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FathomWTCreator.py -f "Input.wav" -c "A category" -a "Joe Doe" -m "A comment" -r 10

I hope some people find this script useful. Enjoy!

Kind regards,

BlitBit

Edit: Fixed some typos which mixed up the "-l" and "-t" parameter. Thanks to toonertik for making me aware of them!

[toonertik]

That looks interesting... and thanks for sharing your work.
A few questions..
I have an old computer with Python 2.7, I think.. so question is.. what version is needed for the script?

In the intro you say quote>> "If the file contains several cycles, i.e. if it is a "true" wavetable, then the number of samples must be a multiple of 2048 or the number given with the -t argument (see below)"
In one of the code examples you have this quote" FathomWTCreator.py --file=Input.wav --length=1024" does this mean that this parameter overrides the default or am I missing something?
Finally, can you elaborate on the -t, --type argument please.

Thanks

[BlitBit]

That looks interesting... and thanks for sharing your work.
A few questions..
I have an old computer with Python 2.7, I think.. so question is.. what version is needed for the script?

Yes, the script also works with Python 2.7. I have just tested it under Linux.

In the intro you say quote>> "If the file contains several cycles, i.e. if it is a "true" wavetable, then the number of samples must be a multiple of 2048 or the number given with the -t argument (see below)"
In one of the code examples you have this quote" FathomWTCreator.py --file=Input.wav --length=1024" does this mean that this parameter overrides the default or am I missing something?

Sorry, that was a typo that I have just fixed in the original post. It is meant to say "-l". The "-l" parameter overrides the default value of 2048 samples. It would for example be needed if you concatenated several of the AKWF waveforms in an audio editor. Each AKWF waveform consists of 600 samples so in this case you would use "-l 600".

Finally, can you elaborate on the -t, --type argument please.

The "-t" argument is a rather technical one, that's why I left it out. It influences the filenames that are created for the output files. For the conversion of the AKWF waveforms into Fathom's "Wave" format I have used the argument "-t Wave" which resulted in filenames like "AKWF 0001._._._.0.Wave.xml". If I hadn't used that parameter the result would have been "AKWF 0001._._._.0.Wave Table.xml" instead. See also the following comment towards the end of the script:

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# Comment this in if you only convert files with single waveforms and want to write a wave file

If you comment this line in (and comment the line with "writeWaveTableToXMLFile" out) then you also have to use the "-t Wave" option. I guess that's something that could definitively improved with the script.

[toonertik]

Thanks for reply... yes, on reflection I thought it might have been a typo...
Long time ago I used to do COBOL... damm keyboard and typos.. was never my fault or fat fingers..
I have quiet a few hand rolled single_cycles made over a number of years and of varying sample sizes..
When I get some time I will dig out old computer with python and run a few instances of the script with both my samples and the excellent AKWF's...
BTW, at the moment some of my hand rolled samples are of varying sample length that I used to use in the Emulator VSTi...
Converting them to "standard" sample Sngle_cycls is a PTIA... I have to resample with processing in either wavosaurus or SoundForge with a crude formula and get close.. then jiggle the rersampling to get say 2048 samples then resample without processing back to 44.1 (the standard I use).. just curious if you have a better method or script that does this?

[BlitBit]

Thanks for reply... yes, on reflection I thought it might have been a typo...
Long time ago I used to do COBOL... damm keyboard and typos.. was never my fault or fat fingers..

Even with the much improved development tools of today I guess some things will never change.

I have quiet a few hand rolled single_cycles made over a number of years and of varying sample sizes..
When I get some time I will dig out old computer with python and run a few instances of the script with both my samples and the excellent AKWF's...
BTW, at the moment some of my hand rolled samples are of varying sample length that I used to use in the Emulator VSTi...
Converting them to "standard" sample Sngle_cycls is a PTIA... I have to resample with processing in either wavosaurus or SoundForge with a crude formula and get close.. then jiggle the rersampling to get say 2048 samples then resample without processing back to 44.1 (the standard I use).. just curious if you have a better method or script that does this?

With regards to Fathom there is no need to resample the waves because it can deal with wavetables that contain samples of varying sizes all by itself. I have tested this by copying the data of a wave with 600 samples next to a wave with 2048 samples and could load the resulting wavetable into Fathom.

Perhaps I will extend the script with a mode where it creates a wavetable from all the waves found in a folder. It would work roughly as follows:

1. Put all the waves that should go into the wavetable into a folder. The waves can be of different sizes.
2. Name the waves so that they are sorted in the order in which they should appear in the wavetable.
3. Run the script run in the alternative mode.
4. Copy the resulting wavetable to the Fathom folder.

With regards to general resampling: this can be done with a small script that uses scipy.signal.resample at the cost of introducing additional dependencies.

[toonertik]

Thanks... I'll have a look at that soon.
I have just started a small project sampling some percussion instruments I have with another member, with a view to him creating SFZs, which is gonna take a few weeks.