The Rhythm Ferret is a dedicated tool to speed up the usually labor intensive task of slicing and adjusting a sound region to match a specific time grid. It is especially useful for drum tracks, either to match a different tempo, or to adjust a slightly out of tempo performance.

It is not limited to this use though, as it supports both percussive and note type detection, and can be used on melodic material too.

Accessing the Rhythm Ferret

The Rhythm Ferret window can be accessed by Right clicking any audio region, then Name_Of_The_Region > Edit > Rhythm Ferret.

Once the window is open, selecting any region will make it the focus of the Rhythm Ferret's detection, hence allowing to process multiple regions sequentially without reopening the window each time.

The window itself is made of:

• a "mode" selection
• some parameters for this mode
• an operation selection, that for now only allows to Split regions.

The "Mode" selection

As the Rhythm Ferret is able to detect both percussive hits and melodic notes, it is important to choose the best suited mode for the considered material, so that Ardour can perform the detection with the greatest accuracy :

• Percussive Onset will detect the start of each hit based on the sudden change in energy (= volume) of the waveform
• Note Onset will detect the start of each note based on the changes in the frequency domain.

The Percussive Onset mode

In this mode, only two parameters are active:

Sensitivity (%)

The proportion of the samples that must exceed the energy rise threshold in order for an onset to be detected (at frames in which the detection function peaks). This roughly corresponds to how "noisy" a percussive sound must be in order to be detected.

Cut Pos Threshold (dB)

The rise in energy amongst a group of samples that is required for that to be counted toward the detection function's count. This roughly corresponds to how "loud" a percussive sound must be in order to be detected.

As those parameters are very material-related, there is no recipe for a perfect match, and a good peak detection is a matter of adjusting those two parameters by trial and error, and trying using the Analyze button after each try.

Vertical grey markers will appear on the selected region, showing where Ardour detects onsets as per the parameters. This markers can be manually adjusted, see bellow.

The Note Onset Mode

In the Note Onset mode, more parameters are active:

Detection function

The method used to detect note changes. More on this bellow.

Trigger gap (postproc) (ms)

Set the minimum inter-onset interval, in milliseconds, i.e. the shortest interval between two consecutive onsets.

Peak threshold

Set the threshold value for the onset peak picking. Lower threshold values imply more onsets detected. Increasing this threshold should reduce the number of incorrect detections.

Silence threshold (dB)

Set the silence threshold, in dB, under which the onset will not be detected. A value of -20.0 would eliminate most onsets but the loudest ones. A value of -90.0 would select all onsets.

The Detection function, used in Note Onset mode to choose the mathematical strategy used to detect the note changes, is user-selectable:

Energy based

This function calculates the local energy of the input spectral frame

Spectral Difference

Spectral difference onset detection function based on Jonhatan Foote and Shingo Uchihashi's "The beat spectrum: a new approach to rhythm analysis" (2001)

High-Frequency Content

This method computes the High Frequency Content (HFC) of the input spectral frame. The resulting function is efficient at detecting percussive onsets. Based on Paul Masri's "Computer modeling of Sound for Transformation and Synthesis of Musical Signal" (1996)

Complex Domain

This function uses information both in frequency and in phase to determine changes in the spectral content that might correspond to musical onsets. It is best suited for complex signals such as polyphonic recordings.

Phase Deviation

This function uses information both energy and in phase to determine musical onsets.

Kullback-Liebler

Kulback-Liebler onset detection function based on Stephen Hainsworth and Malcom Macleod's "Onset detection in music audio signals" (2003)

Modified Kullback-Liebler

Modified Kulback-Liebler onset detection function based on Paul Brossier's "Automatic annotation of musical audio for interactive systems" (2006)

Ardour defaults to Complex Domain, which usually gives good result for harmonic material.

Manual adjustment

Using the Rhythm Ferret consists usually in finding the right parameters to split the audio, by adjusting them and clicking the Analyze button. Each time an analysis is run, Ardour erases the previous results, and creates grey markers on the region according to the parameters. Those markers can be manually dragged with the LEFT mouse button to adjust their positions.

Once the markers are suitably placed, the second button in the down hand side of the Rhythm Ferret window allows to Apply the operation. At the moment of writing, only the Split Region is available, which will split the region at the markers.

Those regions can then be manually aligned, or have their sync points set to the closest grid (as per the Grid settings in effect), by selecting all the regions, and using the RIGHT click > Selected Regions > Position > Snap position to grid.