The Sound Design Toolkit (SDT) is an open-source (GPLv3) framework for ecologically founded sound synthesis and design. Think of it as a virtual Foley-box! It can simulate various acoustic phenomena arising from solid interactions (e.g. collision, rubbing, rolling, scraping), liquids (e.g. dripping, streaming water), gasses (e.g. explosions, blowing wind), and machines (e.g. combustion engines, electric motors). The library consists of physically informed sound synthesis models, audio processing algorithms and analysis routines.
The SDT is mainly aimed at research and education in Sonic Interaction Design (SID), but it's been successfully used in musical contexts as well.
The SDT sound synthesis algorithms have been implemented according to three main points:
- auditory perceptual relevance;
- cartoonification, i.e. simplification and exaggeration of the underlying physics in order to increase both computational efficiency and perceptual clarity;
- parametric temporal control, which ensures appropriate, natural and expressive articulations of sonic processes.
The core library (framework and API) is implemented in the C language, making it suitable for developing interactive media such as games, audio and VR applications.
API documentation can be found online here.
In addition, the SDT algorithms are made available as ready-to-go externals and patches for Cycling '74 Max and Pure Data (Pd).
An official package for Max is available through Max' own package manager (Mac OS Intel and Windows), which offers an advanced front-end GUI, as well as examples with presets and tutorials.
In addition, a Pd library (Mac OS Intel, Windows and Linux) including patches and precompiled externals, as well as the SDT shared core library / Apple framework are provided as release assets at: https://github.com/SkAT-VG/SDT/releases
The Sound Design Toolkit (SDT) can be downloaded from here.