This repository is now archived. Please use https://github.com/jamesb93/bend-rust
bend is a small command-line application written in Nim for 'bending' data into audio. There is also an experimental markov-based synthesiser that can help you generate audio based on the results of your conversion process.
bend is fast, small and bare bones and can be compiled to any platform that Nim can compile to. This includes MacOS, Windows, Linux, iOS, Android.
This project stems from my own perverse use of SoX to bend raw data into audio with the command:
sox -r 44100 -b 8 -c 1 -e unsigned-integer input.raw output.wav
I wanted to write a small application that could implement this functionality but without the overhead of having to install SoX, a tool suited to performing a number of other DSP tasks that I didn't need. This was also a fun project to learn more about the structure of WAVE audio as well as experimenting with the Nim language.
Francesco Cameli is a significant contributor, particularly in optimising the code to be fast (from 100ms to less than 5ms!). I'd like to also thank him for his patience and guidance on all things Nim.
First, it is most convenient to have access to the nim compiler as well as nimble. To install both of these you can use choosenim.
Once you have choosenim you can git clone this repo, cd to it and run the following nimble command:
nimble install
This will give you an executable inside the project folder that you can use in place or move to your $PATH.
You can pass a folder or file as the input and the executable will convert all files in the folder recursively or a single file and place it at the output which is a directory or file.
an input file/folder and an output file/folder name. Example:
bend cat.png output.wav
Which could convert the cat.png file to a new wav file output.wav.
or
bend foo bar
Which would convert all the files inside the directory foo recursively into a new folder called bar.
Detailed help can be found by running bend -h or bend convert -h or bend generate -h.
If you have any issues or questions please raise one on the github!