Salvastress utility for Mac

While Cupertino users sleep more soundly, every now and then, the presence of some essential software, often dedicated to a single task, can be a significant help rather than more resource-intensive counterparts with greater functionality. As we did for Windows XP systems, here's a brief overview of "stress-savers" for your Mac.

If the Windows world is full of interesting programs, the Mac side is not lacking either. For Apple fans we could say that the beginning cannot be better than presenting Audio unit manager (Fig 1). This program, freely downloadable from the Granted Software page (www.grantedsw.com) will allow you to decide which plugins to load for a specific program, thus saving time and resources for your work.

Furthermore, you will be able to resolve any conflicts between certain plugins and certain software without having to remove the problematic product. From the same site, you can also download other handy programs such as Midi Clock (Fig 2), a simple and effective MIDI clock source for synchronizing applications or any device connected to your Mac via MIDI. Notably, this program was successfully used at NAMM 2003 to synchronize two copies of Reason running on two separate laptops without missing a beat. From SNoize (www.snoize.com )we can stock up on MIDI monitors (Fig 3), which allows us to view the traffic between two Midi ports and to apply filters on the messages (as well as MidiOX for Windows) quickly and transparently. From the same developer, we can also download SysEx Librarian (Fig 4) to perform standard backup/restore/update operations on synthesizers in our studio that use this protocol. It goes without saying that this application seems to be becoming a sort of "de facto standard" on every Mac used for audio production. Personally, it was very useful when testing many sounds on a Dave Smith Evolver Desktop, as well as for updating the operating systems of other desktop synthesizers such as the Roland JP-8080 or Access Virus. The source code for these two programs is also available, so you can (with the necessary technical knowledge) add improvements.

Rogue Amoeba

Rogue Amoeba (www.rogueamoeba.com) is another prolific software developer and here is a real godsend for our Macs. Let's start with the superb audio hijack (Fig 5), the perfect tool for recording audio from any application that produces any sound. Skype conversations, game sounds, and anything else can be captured in real time and saved to your disk. Recordings can also be scheduled to start automatically, like a video recorder, and thanks to AppleScript support, new features can be added. For only $16, I'd say it's a bargain. If, however, you need special features such as preparing advanced podcasts, post-processing via VST/AU/LADSPA plugins, or instantly recording from online streams, then take a look at the version Pro Audio Hijack. The list of features of this product, which costs just over $30, is immense. The site has a "Freebies" section for programs released for free. Worthy of mention is Sound Source (Fig 6), a simple utility that lets you choose with a click which interface to use for audio input, which for output, and which for system sounds. We can finally say goodbye to annoying system warnings blasting at tens of dB during our mixing work.

In the "routing" field we have discovered two applications as simple as they are wonderful. From the renowned Cycling '74 (www.cycling74.com), producer of Max / MSP, we can get our hands on Soundflower (Fig 7) is a powerful system extension that allows you to redirect audio streams between two applications simply by selecting the virtual audio interface that the program creates. The operating logic is very similar to that previously described for Midi Yoke but, in this case, applied to audio signals rather than Midi messages.

Staying in the Midi field, Pete Yandell offers MIDI Patch Bay (Fig 8) which, very simply, allows you to route MIDI signals through applications and interfaces. The software can be downloaded freely from the website www.pete.yandell.com/software
For those who do not have a midi controller, we recommend MidiKeys (www.manyetas.com/creed/midikeys.html), which allows you to use your Mac keyboard as a virtual MIDI controller. The keys from “z” to “,” are used for an entire octave, as are “q” to “i,” and so on, for a total of 8 octaves that can be managed with an offset of +/- 4 octaves. To use it, simply launch the application and then select it as a MIDI Input in your favorite software.

For GarageBand users we point out midiO produced by RetroWare (www.mysite.verizon.net/retroware), a very interesting AU plugin that allows you to add midi out to this application, so you can drive external synthesizers.

Mac and more

This short paragraph is dedicated to those developers who not only “give us” their creations but, not content with that, make them multiplatform.
It shines above all Audacity (www.audacity.sf.net), perhaps the most famous open source multitrack sound editor around. Very lightweight and intuitive (Fig 9), allows us to make our recordings in real time, apply effects and use VST and LADSPA plugins. Unfortunately, the aforementioned plugins can only be used for post-processing and it doesn't seem possible to apply them in real time, as inserts for example. Exporting to high-quality formats (WAV and AIFF) is excellent, as is exporting to compressed formats (Ogg Vorbis and MP3 via LameMP3 encoder). Although Audacity offers multitrack recording, unfortunately it is far from the usability of products designed explicitly for this purpose. It certainly isn't as powerful as Apple Logic or Cubase, but this little gem created by the community for the community is destined to shine for a long time and its name is engraved in the annals of indispensable software for every audiophile, from home to professional.

As far as audio analysis is concerned, here are two excellent programs with astonishing potential. Prat (Fig 10), like Audacity, is also open source. This means we have access to both the source code and binaries that can be run on a wide variety of operating systems. Developed by Paul Boersma and David Weenink of the University of Phonetic Sciences in Amsterdam, this program is a kind of war machine for phonetic synthesis, analysis, and audio manipulation. Describing it as a simple spectrum analyzer would be somewhat reductive, as the entire magazine wouldn't be enough to describe all the features of this powerful program. Among the analysis tools, in addition to spectral analysis, we find tonal analysis, which allows us to identify the "pitch" of the audio material; formant analysis, which allows us to visualize the peaks that determine the formants; intensity analysis, excitation patterns, and a whole range of other tools that find their strength in vocal analysis. I highly recommend you visit http://www.praat.org to discover in detail the immense range of features that this program has to offer you.

Alternatively there is wave surfer (www.speech.kth.se/wavesurfer/index.html , another great open source software for sound visualization and manipulation. Like Prat, also wave surfer          (Fig 11) is very useful for vocal analysis, but unlike the software developed by the two researchers from the Dutch university, we found it easier to use. Once we open the audio file we want to analyze, a window with predefined settings appears. For example, we can choose "Waveform" for an enlarged view of the waveform, or "Speech Analysis" to view the audio spectrum with formant highlighting. This software has been very useful to me personally during some studies on the subtle differences between various analog filters, as well as in analyzing acoustic sounds to derive their frequency response, which is essential when tackling the demanding world of physical modeling synthesis.