beat

This is a simple tool that does one thing: Arrange audio samples into something bigger:

Usage: beat OUTFILE SAMPLERATE BPM BEATS TRACKS BEAT INFILE [BEAT INFILE…]
Example: beat beat.flac 44100 240 8 2 0 kick.flac 2 snare.flac 3 kick.flac 4 kick.flac 6 snare.flac

Parameters

• samplerate: all input files must have the same sample rate
• BPM: beats per minute
• beats: total number of beats
• tracks: to avoid clipping, the samples are multiplied by 1/sqrt(tracks)

The rest of the parameters are pairs of beats and file paths.

Typical usage

I use this in combination with some other tools:

• record samples with audacity
• add effects to samples using sox (e.g. reverb or distortion)
• arrange samples using beat
• keep the parameters for beat in a text file
• orchestrate everything using a Makefile

For bigger projects I may have multiple levels, where samples are first combined into bigger samples, then have effects applied to them, and then get combined into the final song.

This allows me to do audio production in the same way I create software: By manipulating text files. beat acts as something like a linker from that perspective.