Mercurial > hg > sonic-annotator
diff README.md @ 309:12eadc54e874
Start rejigging README
| author | Chris Cannam |
|---|---|
| date | Tue, 11 Jul 2017 18:00:08 +0100 |
| parents | README@c1862b8712ca |
| children | 99d361aa7ad7 |
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--- /dev/null Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 1970 +0000 +++ b/README.md Tue Jul 11 18:00:08 2017 +0100 @@ -0,0 +1,380 @@ + +Sonic Annotator +=============== + +Sonic Annotator is a utility program for batch feature extraction from +audio files. It runs Vamp audio analysis plugins on audio files, and +can write the result features in a selection of formats. + +For more information, see + + http://vamp-plugins.org/sonic-annotator + +More documentation follows further down this README file, after the +credits. + + +### Credits + +Sonic Annotator was developed at the Centre for Digital Music, +Queen Mary, University of London. + + http://c4dm.eecs.qmul.ac.uk/ + +The main program is by Mark Levy, Chris Cannam, and Chris Sutton. +Sonic Annotator incorporates library code from the Sonic Visualiser +application by Chris Cannam. Code copyright 2005-2007 Chris Cannam, +copyright 2006-2017 Queen Mary, University of London, except where +indicated in the individual source files. + +This work was funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research +Council through the OMRAS2 project EP/E017614/1. + +Sonic Annotator is free software; you can redistribute it and/or +modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as +published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the +License, or (at your option) any later version. See the file COPYING +included with this distribution for more information. + +Sonic Annotator may also make use of the following libraries: + + * Qt5 -- Copyright Digia Oyj, distributed under the LGPL + * Ogg decoder -- Copyright CSIRO Australia, BSD license + * MAD mp3 decoder -- Copyright Underbit Technologies Inc, GPL + * libsamplerate -- Copyright Erik de Castro Lopo, GPL + * libsndfile -- Copyright Erik de Castro Lopo, LGPL + * FFTW3 -- Copyright Matteo Frigo and MIT, GPL + * Vamp plugin SDK -- Copyright Chris Cannam and QMUL, BSD license + * Dataquay -- Copyright Breakfast Quay, BSD license + * Sord and Serd -- Copyright David Robillard, BSD license + +(Some distributions of Sonic Annotator may have one or more of these +libraries statically linked.) Many thanks to their authors. + + +A Quick Tutorial +---------------- + +To use Sonic Annotator, you need to tell it three things: what audio +files to extract features from; what features to extract; and how and +where to write the results. You can also optionally tell it to +summarise the features. + + +### 1. What audio files to extract features from + +Sonic Annotator accepts a list of audio files on the command line. +Any argument that is not understood as a supported command-line option +will be taken to be the name of an audio file. Any number of files +may be listed. + +Several common audio file formats are supported, including MP3, Ogg, +and a number of PCM formats such as WAV and AIFF. AAC is supported on +OS/X only, and only if not DRM protected. WMA is not supported. + +File paths do not have to be local; you can also provide remote HTTP +or FTP URLs for Sonic Annotator to retrieve. + +Sonic Annotator also accepts the names of playlist files (.m3u +extension) and will process every file found in the playlist. + +Finally, you can provide a local directory path instead of a file, +together with the -r (recursive) option, for Sonic Annotator to +process every audio file found in that directory or any of its +subdirectories. + + +### 2. What features to extract + +Sonic Annotator applies "transforms" to its input audio files, where a +transform (in this terminology) consists of a Vamp plugin together +with a certain set of parameters and a specified execution context: +step and block size, sample rate, etc. + +(See http://www.vamp-plugins.org/ for more information about Vamp +plugins.) + +To use a particular transform, specify its filename on the command +line with the -t option. + +Transforms are usually described in RDF, following the transform part +of the Vamp plugin ontology (http://purl.org/ontology/vamp/). A +Transform may use any Vamp plugin that is currently installed and +available on the system. You can obtain a list of available plugin +outputs by running Sonic Annotator with the -l option, and you can +obtain a skeleton transform description for one of these plugins with +the -s option. + +For example, if the example plugins from the Vamp plugin SDK are +available and no other plugins are installed, you might have an +exchange like this: + + $ sonic-annotator -l + vamp:vamp-example-plugins:amplitudefollower:amplitude + vamp:vamp-example-plugins:fixedtempo:acf + vamp:vamp-example-plugins:fixedtempo:detectionfunction + vamp:vamp-example-plugins:fixedtempo:filtered_acf + vamp:vamp-example-plugins:fixedtempo:tempo + vamp:vamp-example-plugins:fixedtempo:candidates + vamp:vamp-example-plugins:percussiononsets:detectionfunction + vamp:vamp-example-plugins:percussiononsets:onsets + vamp:vamp-example-plugins:powerspectrum:powerspectrum + vamp:vamp-example-plugins:spectralcentroid:linearcentroid + vamp:vamp-example-plugins:spectralcentroid:logcentroid + vamp:vamp-example-plugins:zerocrossing:counts + vamp:vamp-example-plugins:zerocrossing:zerocrossings + $ sonic-annotator -s vamp:vamp-example-plugins:fixedtempo:tempo + @prefix xsd: <http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#> . + @prefix vamp: <http://purl.org/ontology/vamp/> . + @prefix : <#> . + + :transform a vamp:Transform ; + vamp:plugin <http://vamp-plugins.org/rdf/plugins/vamp-example-plugins#fixedtempo> ; + vamp:step_size "64"^^xsd:int ; + vamp:block_size "256"^^xsd:int ; + vamp:parameter_binding [ + vamp:parameter [ vamp:identifier "maxbpm" ] ; + vamp:value "190"^^xsd:float ; + ] ; + vamp:parameter_binding [ + vamp:parameter [ vamp:identifier "maxdflen" ] ; + vamp:value "10"^^xsd:float ; + ] ; + vamp:parameter_binding [ + vamp:parameter [ vamp:identifier "minbpm" ] ; + vamp:value "50"^^xsd:float ; + ] ; + vamp:output <http://vamp-plugins.org/rdf/plugins/vamp-example-plugins#fixedtempo_output_tempo> . + $ + +The output of -s is an RDF/Turtle document describing the default +settings for the Tempo output of the Fixed Tempo Estimator plugin in +the Vamp plugin SDK. + +(The exact format of the RDF printed may differ -- e.g. if the +plugin's RDF description is not installed and so its "home" URI is not +known -- but the result should be functionally equivalent to this.) + +You could run this transform by saving the RDF to a file and +specifying that file with -t: + + $ sonic-annotator -s vamp:vamp-example-plugins:fixedtempo:tempo > test.n3 + $ sonic-annotator -t test.n3 audio.wav -w csv --csv-stdout + (... logging output on stderr, then ...) + "audio.wav",0.002902494,5.196916099,68.7916,"68.8 bpm" + $ + +The single line of output above consists of the audio file name, the +timestamp and duration for a single feature, the value of that feature +(the estimated tempo of the given region of time from that file, in +bpm -- the plugin in question performs a single tempo estimation and +nothing else) and the feature's label. + +A quicker way to achieve the above is to use the -d (default) option +to tell Sonic Annotator to use directly the default configuration for +a named transform: + + $ sonic-annotator -d vamp:vamp-example-plugins:fixedtempo:tempo audio.wav -w csv --csv-stdout + (... some log output on stderr, then ...) + "audio.wav",0.002902494,5.196916099,68.7916,"68.8 bpm" + $ + +Although handy for experimentation, the -d option is inadvisable in +any "production" situation because the plugin configuration is not +guaranteed to be the same each time (for example if an updated version +of a plugin changes some of its defaults). It's better to save a +well-defined transform to file and refer to that, even if it is simply +the transform created by the skeleton option. + +To run more than one transform on the same audio files, just put more +than one set of transform RDF descriptions in the same file, or give +the -t option more than once with separate transform description +files. Remember that if you want to specify more than one transform +in the same file, they will need to have distinct URIs (that is, the +":transform" part of the example above, which may be any arbitrary +name, must be distinct for each described transform). + + +### 3. How and where to write the results + +Sonic Annotator supports various different output modules (and it is +fairly easy for the developer to add new ones). You have to choose at +least one output module; use the -w (writer) option to do so. Each +module has its own set of parameters which can be adjusted on the +command line, as well as its own default rules about where to write +the results. + +To get help on a specific writer, run Sonic Annotator with the -h +option followed by the writer name (e.g. "-h csv"). + +The following writers are currently supported. (Others exist, but are +not properly implemented or not supported.) + + * csv + + Writes the results into comma-separated data files. + + One file is created for each transform applied to each input audio + file, named after the input audio file and transform name with .csv + suffix and ":" replaced by "_" throughout, placed in the same + directory as the audio file. + + To instruct Sonic Annotator to place the output files in another + location, use --csv-basedir with a directory name. + + To write a single file with all data in it, use --csv-one-file. + + To write all data to stdout instead of to a file, use --csv-stdout. + + Sonic Annotator will not write to an output file that already + exists. If you want to make it do this, use --csv-force to + overwrite or --csv-append to append to it. + + The data generated consists of one line for each result feature, + containing the feature timestamp, feature duration if present, all + of the feature's bin values in order, followed by the feature's + label if present. If the --csv-one-file or --csv-stdout option is + specified, then an additional column will appear before any of the + above, containing the audio file name from which the feature was + extracted, if it differs from that of the previous row. To suppress + this additional column, use the --csv-omit-filenames option. + + To make the CSV writer emit the end time instead of the duration + (for features with duration) use the --csv-end-times option. + + To make the writer always emit end time or duration, even when the + feature lacks duration, by using the time of the following feature + as the end time, use the --csv-fill-ends option. + + The default column separator is a comma; you can specify a + different one with the --csv-separator option. + + * lab + + Writes the results into a tab-separated label file (.lab). + + This is equivalent to using the CSV writer with a tab separator and + the options --csv-end-times --csv-omit-filenames. + + It supports the --lab-basedir, --lab-one-file, --lab-stdout, + --lab-force, --lab-append, and --lab-fill-ends options, which all + behave similarly to their CSV writer equivalents. + + * rdf + + Writes the results into RDF/Turtle documents following the Audio + Features ontology (http://purl.org/ontology/af/). + + One file is created for each input audio file containing the + features extracted by all transforms applied to that file, named + after the input audio file with .n3 extension, placed in the same + directory as the audio file. + + To instruct Sonic Annotator to place the output files in another + location, use --rdf-basedir with a directory name. + + To write a single file with all data (from all input audio files) + in it, use --rdf-one-file. + + To write one file for each transform applied to each input audio + file, named after the input audio file and transform name with .n3 + suffix and ":" replaced by "_" throughout, use --rdf-many-files. + + To write all data to stdout instead of to a file, use --rdf-stdout. + + Sonic Annotator will not write to an output file that already + exists. If you want to make it do this, use --rdf-force to + overwrite or --rdf-append to append to it. + + Sonic Annotator will use plugin description RDF if available to + enhance its output (for example identifying note onset times as + note onset times, if the plugin's RDF says that is what it + produces, rather than writing them as plain events). Best results + will be obtained if an RDF document is provided with your plugins + (for example, vamp-example-plugins.n3) and you have this installed + in the same location as the plugins. To override this enhanced + output and write plain events for all features, use --rdf-plain. + + The output RDF will include an available_as property linking the + results to the original audio signal URI. By default, this will + point to the URI of the file or resource containing the audio that + Sonic Annotator processed, such as the file:/// location on disk. + To override this, for example to process a local copy of a file + while generating RDF that describes a copy of it available on a + network, you can use the --rdf-signal-uri option to specify an + alternative signal URI. + + * json + + Writes the results into JSON format following JAMS, the JSON + Annotated Music Specification. This writer is provisional as of + Sonic Annotator v1.1. + + * midi + + Writes the results to MIDI files. All features are written as MIDI + notes. + + If a feature has at least one value, its first value will be used + as the note pitch, the second value (if present) for velocity. If a + feature has units of Hz, then its pitch will be converted from + frequency to an integer value in MIDI range, otherwise it will be + written directly. + + Multiple (up to 16) transforms can be written to a single MIDI + file, where they will be given separate MIDI channel numbers. + + +### 4. Optionally, how to summarise the features + +Sonic Annotator can also calculate and write summaries of features, +such as mean and median values. + +To obtain a summary as well as the feature results, just use the -S +option, naming the type of summary you want (min, max, mean, median, +mode, sum, variance, sd or count). You can also tell it to produce +only the summary, not the individual features, with --summary-only. + +Alternatively, you can specify a summary in a transform description. +The following example tells Sonic Annotator to write both the times of +note onsets estimated by the simple percussion onset detector example +plugin, and the variance of the plugin's onset detection function. +(It will only process the audio file and run the plugin once.) + + @prefix rdf: <http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#>. + @prefix vamp: <http://purl.org/ontology/vamp/>. + @prefix examples: <http://vamp-plugins.org/rdf/plugins/vamp-example-plugins#>. + @prefix : <#>. + + :transform1 a vamp:Transform; + vamp:plugin examples:percussiononsets ; + vamp:output examples:percussiononsets_output_onsets . + + :transform0 a vamp:Transform; + vamp:plugin examples:percussiononsets ; + vamp:output examples:percussiononsets_output_detectionfunction ; + vamp:summary_type "variance" . + +Sonic Annotator can also summarise in segments -- if you provide a +comma-separated list of times as an argument to the --segments option, +it will calculate one summary for each segment bounded by the times +you provided. For example, + + $ sonic-annotator -d vamp:vamp-example-plugins:percussiononsets:detectionfunction -S variance --sumary-only --segments 1,2,3 -w csv --csv-stdout audio.wav + (... some log output on stderr, then ...) + ,0.000000000,1.000000000,variance,1723.99,"(variance, continuous-time average)" + ,1.000000000,1.000000000,variance,1981.75,"(variance, continuous-time average)" + ,2.000000000,1.000000000,variance,1248.79,"(variance, continuous-time average)" + ,3.000000000,7.031020407,variance,1030.06,"(variance, continuous-time average)" + +Here the first row contains a summary covering the time period from 0 +to 1 second, the second from 1 to 2 seconds, the third from 2 to 3 +seconds and the fourth from 3 seconds to the end of the (short) audio +file. + + +Automated build reports +----------------------- + + * Linux and macOS CI build: [](https://travis-ci.org/sonic-visualiser/sonic-annotator) + * Windows CI build: [](https://ci.appveyor.com/project/cannam/sonic-annotator)