[cdp] Re Zigzag query

[Archer Endrich]

Dear Peter,

I have tested the command line given in your query about ZIGZAG and 
received a different error message stating that parameter 2 was out of 
range.  Then "can't close output sf-soundfile:  can't truncate SFile."

Perhaps the difference in the error messages relates to the nature of 
the input soundfile.  Mine was 4.9 seconds long (and mono).  Unless 
using Soundshaper on PC, it would have to be mono. Only Soundshaper has 
behind the scenes scripting to handle stereo inputs when the CDP 
software doesn't normally allow them for a given program.

The command line given was in fact incorrect.  Mode 1 of ZIGZAG's basic 
command is:

mode start end dur minzig

and processes randomly within the soundfile, "starts at file start, ends 
at file end".  Times can in fact be specified *within* the length of the 
soundfile, e.g. for a 5 second soundfile, start can be 1.0 and end can 
be 2.5.   'dur' means the desired length of the output soundfile, and 
'minzig' means the minimum length of a segment.  The minimum value for 
'start' is 0.031.

Thus, for my 4.9 second soundfile, the following command ran OK:

extend zigzag  1  bellaebtob.wav  bz.wav  1  2.5  10  0.2

Times from 0.1 to 4.7 also worked.  'end' at 4.8 did NOT work: error 
message said that the maximum value for 'end' was 4.799864. Apparently, 
the program needs a bit of headroom at the beginning and the end.

As usual with a segmentation program, smaller values reduce 
recognisability, and larger values increase it because more of the 
original sound is heard in each segment.

I hope this reply is useful.

Archer