AudioMulch

Origins

AudioMulch was developed by musician Ross Bencina based on his performance practice in the mid-1990s. At that time, live computer-based sound processing systems were often expensive and restricted to use within research institutions. By 1995, however, the processing capabilities of the personal computer were sufficient that Bencina could create OverSYTE, a real-time performance granulator. Bencina used OverSYTE to process sound in his live performances with vocalists and instrumental musicians. AudioMulch grew out of the limitations of OverSYTE, which could process only one sound at a time. In contrast, AudioMulch can process multiple sound sources at once.

Development

AudioMulch 1.0 was developed for Microsoft Windows in the C++ programming language, using the Borland C++ Builder development environment. Development began in 1997 and the first release—beta version 0.7b1—was made available for download in March 1998. Version 1.0 was released in February 2006 after 36 beta releases.

Version 2.0

AudioMulch 2.0 was released on 5 June 2009. According to the website, this version is available for both Windows and Macintosh computers.

Version 2.1

Version 2.1 was released on 4 August 2010. Version 2.1 supports custom time signatures, Audio Unit plugin support on Mac OS X, dynamic processing contraptions, and an alternate light gray color scheme.

AudioMulch 1.0 features

• An interactive user-interface with three main panes:

1. a patcher for routing audio between contraptions,
2. a pane containing control panels for each contraption,
3. an automation timeline supporting automation of contraption parameters.

• Support for real-time sound-processing and performance.
• 24 channels of real-time input/output.
• Multi-channel recording and playback of multiple sound files.
• Contraptions including signal generators, effects, filters and mixers.
• Input sound can be taken from sound files or real-time audio input.
• Output is heard in real-time and can be simultaneously recorded to a sound file.
• Any processing parameter in AudioMulch can be controlled by MIDI. This includes the use of external hardware such as knob boxes, gaming controllers, virtual reality gloves, and custom control devices.

AudioMulch 2.0 features

• A new Patcher with advanced drag-and-drop patching and MIDI routing.
• MIDI and automation control for Clock transport (tempo, stop, start) and Metasurface interpolation.
• Enhanced Drums contraption with 8 channels and a new pattern editor supporting arbitrary length high-resolution patterns.
• Expanded multichannel audio I/O capability to support up to 256 channels in each direction and improved compatibility with consumer multichannel audio interfaces using DirectSound and Windows Multimedia drivers.

Future

As outlined in AudioMulch's road map, planned features for future updates include new sound mangling, filtering, and resonating contraptions, an overhauled undo system, third-party host integration, and performance modulation. Further enhancements to existing sound and keyboard controls are also planned.^{[citation needed]}

As of April 2024, no 64-bit compatible version of AudioMulch has been released, despite anecdotes documented on the application's website forums from encounters with Ross Bencina that indicate AudioMulch remains under development. The website remains fully active, and the application has garnered a sizeable global user base.