SPEAR (Sinusoidal Partial Editing And Resynthesis) version 0.7.1 is a free application for Windows & OS X for audio analysis, editing and synthesis.

The analysis procedure attempts to represent a sound with many individual sinusoidal tracks (partials), each corresponding to a single sinusoidal wave with time varying frequency and amplitude.

Something which closely resembles the original input sound (a resynthesis) can be generated by computing and adding all of the individual time varying sinusoidal waves together. In almost all cases, the resynthesis will not be exactly identical to the original sound (although it is possible to get very close).

Aside from offering a very detailed analysis of the time varying frequency content of a sound, a sinusoidal model offers a great deal of flexibility for editing and manipulation. SPEAR supports flexible selection and immediate manipulation of analysis data, cut and paste, and unlimited undo/redo. Hundreds of simultaneous partials can be synthesized in real-time and documents may contain thousands of individual partials dispersed in time. SPEAR also supports a variety of standard file formats for the import and export of analysis data.

What’s new in this version?

• No expiration date!
• The pencil tool now works! Amplitude is proportional to horizontal velocity: the faster you move to the left or right the higher the amplitude.
• Many small bug fixes and interface improvements for Windows.
• Support for DirectSound and ASIO sound devices on Windows (select in the Preferences window).
• Fade in/out selected partials.
• Improved Windows and Mac installation.

Read more in the ICMC paper “Software for Spectral Analysis, Editing, and Synthesis.” (pdf)