AudioMulch grew out of musician Ross Bencina's performance practice in the mid-1990s. At this 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 was able to create OverSYTE, a real-time performance granulator. OverSYTE was used by Bencina to process sound in his real-time 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 sounds sources at once.
AudioMulch 2.0 was released June 5, 2009. According to the website, this version is available for both Windows and Macintosh computers.
Version 2.1
Version 2.1 was released August 4, 2010. Version 2.1 supports custom time signatures, Audio Unit plugin support on Mac OS X, dynamic processing contraptions, and an alternate light grey color scheme.
Features
AudioMulch 1.0 features
An interactive user-interface with three main panes:
a pane containing control panels for each contraption
an automation time line 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, filter 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 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, future versions should bring new sound mangling, filtering and resonating contraptions, an overhauled undo system, 3rd party host integration and performance modulation, as well as further enhancements to existing sound and keyboard controls.
