Neil Hopcroft

Whats your favorite test tone generation algorithm?

I’m looking for a noise that can be programmatically generated, is fairly pleasant to listen to and is obvious if it isn’t correctly sequenced or if there are dropouts between buffers. This afternoons crude ‘top three bits of address in buffer’ algorithm generates a horrible jagged saw wave.

I don’t want to spend weeks coding it but also I want to use it for weeks of testing the digital part of an audio system, which means its got to be OK to listen to for that long. My current best hope is a sine wave of settable frequency allowing at least some expression to the tests. But maybe you can think of something better?

Creature discomforts

Terminus – concrete stalker

Passengers are reminded that a smile is a friendship gesture, not a sign of weakness (cf Twisted mangled metal, generously drizzled with engine oil and Felt tips, pump bags and UPVC conservatories, a living hell)

Abandoned laboratory of studying a human brain

Wind dam

Modern ruins

Fall of the Dammed lamp

Sweet toast of mine (pirates)

John Peel Torrents

Is the cow damaged in any way during descent?

Accordion Hero

(I am now, you will be pleased to hear, on a new machine, so I have screen real-estate again)

At last, someone answers the question of what you would get if Abba were German but wanted to be Russian (for most hilarity check out the videos in comments too)

Nokia Audiobooks (anyone got an AMRWB decoder for desktop?)

A song for^wfrom the road

USB Microscope

We had spray cheese…now spray pancakes

Password cracking using graphics card (I know this isn’t exactly news, but it is a demonstration that it is practical to do general purpose compute intensive operations on widely available co-processors)

To somewhere safer where the feeling stays – Mercedes museum architect aims for style over function.

VAXen reborn, as folding keyboard

The Osaka Police Purchased 800 of these lights for use on special patrol cars that cruise through school zones.

What looks like a rusty old shipping container from the outside turns into a posh “living space” at the touch of a button

Pickled pets (not for the squeamish)

Big Head Hello Kitty Fan

“SMILE! JESUS LOVES YOU!” BOOMERANGS

One of my action points from todays meeting was to find some music to replace those clips we currently use for testing.

“Keep the death metal song, but the rest can go…please”

Last time anyone let me do that my contribution was hirezs “Sack of Hammers (remix)”, which was never quite understood by anyone I worked with, but they used it for testing anyway. Indeed, it was quite an interesting piece for testing because of its range of unusual sounds, nice and challenging for a phone speaker.

The danger with the cutups I’m getting into right now (Negativland, Cassette Boy, etc) is that there is so much in the way of level shifts and poor cuts that we can’t tell which is the music and which is the software.

So, I suppose I’m soliciting for suggestions for appropriate pieces of music for testing audio software. Any ideas folks?

I know, its my own fault. I shouldn’t have bought sweets called ‘Skum Bananer‘, should I?

Well, admit it, you would’ve bought them too? Wouldn’t you?