Request for Audio (RFA) — voice-take workflow #

A system for slowly replacing computer-spoken / synthesized vocals in /pop tracks with @jeffrey's own recorded voice, one note at a time.

The renderer already holds a precise per-note vocal score (every note has bar / beat / midi / duration / vowel). RFA turns that score into a punch-list of takes to record, captures them from the MacBook Neo mic, and feeds them back into the render — pitch-corrected and time-fit so an imperfect human take still lands on the score.

The loop #

renderer ──emits──▶ voice-takes/manifest.json   (every note that needs a voice)
                          │
            rfa.mjs ──reads──▶ for each note without a take:
                          │      • print the syllable + target pitch
                          │      • play count-in + reference tone
                          │      • record from the Neo mic (ffmpeg avfoundation)
                          │      • play back · keep / redo / skip
                          ▼
            voice-takes/<id>.wav     (the recorded take)
                          │
renderer ──on next render──▶ if a take exists for a note:
                                 WORLD-pitch + rubberband-fit it to the
                                 score note, mix it instead of synthVoice

Layout (per lane) #

pop/<lane>/voice-takes/
  manifest.json          # written by the renderer — the note punch-list
  <id>.wav               # one recorded take per note (id = "<bar>-<beat>")

id is "<bar>-<beat>" with . → _ (e.g. bar 4 beat 2.5 → 4-2_5). Stable as long as a note keeps its bar/beat slot.

manifest.json #

{
  "track": "marimbaba", "lane": "marimba",
  "bpm": 56, "beatSec": 1.0714, "barSec": 3.2143,
  "notes": [
    { "id": "4-0", "bar": 4, "beat": 0, "midi": 77, "note": "F5",
      "durBeats": 1.0, "durSec": 1.071, "startSec": 12.857, "vowel": "a",
      "hasTake": false }
  ]
}

rfa.mjs — CLI #

node pop/bin/rfa.mjs --track marimba              # walk every note missing a take
node pop/bin/rfa.mjs --track marimba --status     # punch-list: takes done / missing
node pop/bin/rfa.mjs --track marimba --only 4-0   # (re)record one note
node pop/bin/rfa.mjs --track marimba --device :1  # pick a CoreAudio input
node pop/bin/rfa.mjs --list-devices               # list avfoundation inputs

Per note: prints the prompt, afplays a guide (count-in clicks at the track BPM + a reference tone at the target pitch for the note's duration), records durSec + 1 s from the mic, plays the take back, then keep / redo / skip via stdin. Headphones recommended (no mic bleed); works without.

Renderer integration #

A take routes through the existing alignment pipeline:

• pitch — worldsing.py --note <noteName> (WORLD f0 replacement) clamps the take to the score pitch while keeping the voice timbre.
• time — rubberband -D <durSec> fits the take to the note slot.

Two modes (per render flag --voice raw|shaped):

• raw — take is only pitch-corrected + time-fit; jeffrey's actual voice, dry. This replaces the computer voice.
• shaped — the aligned take also runs through shapeVoice() (the highpass / lowpass / ring-mod / flanger vocoder chain) — the take becomes the synth instrument, jeffrey as the carrier.

Notes without a take fall back to synthVoice(). So the track is always renderable, and gets more "real" as takes come in.

Free-sample mode — one-shots, no score #

Not every "request for audio" is a sung note. --sample records an arbitrary one-shot — a rattle, a clap, a found sound — with no manifest and no pitch reference: hit Enter, perform, keep / redo.

node pop/bin/rfa.mjs --sample --track hellsine --name rattle [--dur 4]

The take is written to pop/<track>/samples/<name>.wav (silence-trimmed

• peak-normalized when a renderer loads it). It's how hellsine got its rattle — the one organic, sampled layer over the all-sine engine. The engine loads pop/hellsine/samples/rattle.wav if present (--rattle off|sparse|drive); absent it, the render stays pure all-sine.

Reuse across /pop #

Any lane whose renderer emits a voice-takes/manifest.json in this format works with rfa.mjs unchanged — it's the cross-lane "request for audio" workflow. A slab-menubar / menuband-tapes button can later be a thin trigger over rfa.mjs.