I had some questions about time stretching if anyone is interested.
In the past Ardour used the main time stretch library available in Linux called Rubberband. Recently the time stretch library called StaffPad was released as open source and has since been added to Ardour 9
1.) Did StaffPad replace Rubberband completely?
(I doubt this because this would be an issue with saved user sessions that already used Rubberband)
(Although I have read that WSOLA was used before but was replaced entirely by Rubberband so maybe this is true?)
2.) If both Rubberband and StaffPad are both available, I was wondering how would a user be able to choose which library to use?
When using Stretch Mode a dialog opens up but it only gives generically labeled properties that that algorithm will use for the time stretch process, shown in the “Contents” drop down.
Does anyone know if there is a way to specifically choose between the 2 libraries mentioned?
@x42 / any other developers/users interested
Thank you for response, but I was hoping for a little more detail if possible.
1.)
Okay, so both are still available
2.)
Before StaffPAD library was added, this dialog showed descriptive explanations of each option.
After StaffPAD library was added, this dialog shows descriptive explanations of each option.
Mushy Smooth Balanced multitimbral mixture
…
How would user know which Time Stretch library is being used?
Rubberband vs StaffPAD
This may be viewed as it does not matter, but still might be nice to have an idea which is being used.
Maybe this info could get added to manual if it is not already included?
(Also see New Suggestion below)
3.) New Question - "Any" Option?
I did not see anything in the manual about the “Any” option.
Can anyone explain what the “Any” option means?
4.) New Suggestion - Option to choose Time Stretch Library
Because I imagine Rubberband and StaffPad produce different results
Might be nice to offer a radio button in this dialog, that allows user to choose between Rubberband and StaffPad.
Then each of those drop down descriptive names would apply specifically to the selected Time Stretch library (Rubberband or StaffPad). This way user can experiment with the results, as some libraries/settings may produce better results depending on the source they are being applied to.
If this update is agreed with, I imagine old coding could be used to provide the previous Rubberband settings that once were used before StaffPad library was added in version 9.x
I think the descriptions presented to the user in the UI are reasonable as is. But, it’s also reasonable to expect the manual to give more detail. I made a pull request on the manual github for consideration.
