Audio Segment Rearrangement for Tempo-Consistent Duration Adjustment
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional sound editing applications alter the tempo of audio pieces when modifying their duration, introducing inconsistencies and artifacts during mixing and switching between audio segments, making it difficult for novice users to adjust audio lengths without affecting the tempo or introducing perceptible errors.
Innovation Solution
An architecture and mechanism for rearranging audio information by decomposing audio pieces into parts with specific functions and durations, allowing for seamless recombination into a finished composition of a predetermined length, using aggregation rules to maintain musical structure and minimize repetition, while avoiding audible artifacts.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Duration of action of moving object
If conventional compression and expansion techniques are used to modify audio duration, then the length of the audio piece is adjusted, but the tempo changes and perceptible artifacts are introduced
Solution Approach 1:
The audio piece is divided into multiple discrete segments that can be independently selected and arranged. This segmentation allows the system to reconstruct audio at different durations by selecting appropriate segment combinations without altering the temporal integrity of individual segments, thereby maintaining tempo consistency while achieving duration modification.
Solution Approach 2:
The system changes the parameter of duration by selecting different combinations of pre-defined segments with specific start and end times, rather than applying compression or expansion transformations. This parameter change approach allows duration adjustment while preserving the original temporal characteristics of each segment.
2Duration of action of moving object
If conventional switching techniques are used to combine audio portions, then the desired time duration is achieved, but perceptible inconsistencies and artifacts occur
Solution Approach 1:
The audio is pre-processed into segments with defined temporal boundaries and characteristics before the final composition is created. This preliminary segmentation ensures that when segments are combined, they can be seamlessly joined without introducing artifacts, as the boundaries are already established to facilitate smooth transitions.
Solution Approach 2:
The system uses multiple copies of the same audio segment with different temporal parameters (start time, end time) to achieve duration variation. By copying segments rather than duplicating and transforming them, the original temporal integrity is preserved, and consistent audio quality is maintained across different duration versions.
3Ease of operation
If novice users attempt to manually adjust audio length, then duration modification is possible, but tempo distortion and artifacts are introduced
Solution Approach 1:
The system automatically handles the complex task of tempo-consistent duration adjustment by providing a user interface that allows novice users to select desired durations without needing to understand the underlying segmentation and arrangement mechanics. The system self-manages the segment selection and combination process, ensuring tempo consistency is maintained while providing ease of operation.
Data Source
AI summary
An audio management application includes a recombiner and aggregation rules to manipulate and recombine segments of a musical piece such that the resulting finished composition includes parts (segments) from the decomposed piece, typically a song, adjustable for length by selectively replicating particular parts and combining with other parts such that the finished composition provides a similar audio experience in the predetermined duration. The architecture defines the parts with part variations of independent length, identified as performing a function of starting, middle, (looping) or ending parts. Each of the parts provides a musical segment that is integratable with other parts in a seamless manner that avoids audible artifacts (e.g. “pops” and “crackles”) common with conventional mechanical switching and mixing. Each of the parts further includes attributes indicative of the manner in which the part may be ordered, whether the part may be replicated or “looped,” and modifiers affecting melody and harmony of the rendered finished composition piece.