Sound Design Toolkit

The Sound Design Toolkit (SDT) is an open-source (GPLv3) framework for ecologically founded sound synthesis and design. Think of it as a virtual Foley-box! It can simulate various acoustic phenomena arising from solid interactions (e.g. collision, rubbing, rolling, scraping), liquids (e.g. dripping, streaming water), gasses (e.g. explosions, blowing wind), and machines (e.g. combustion engines, electric motors). The library consists of physically informed sound synthesis models, audio processing algorithms and analysis routines.

The SDT is mainly aimed at research and education in Sonic Interaction Design (SID), but it's been successfully used in musical contexts as well.

The SDT sound synthesis algorithms have been implemented according to three main points:

1. auditory perceptual relevance;
2. cartoonification, i.e. simplification and exaggeration of the underlying physics in order to increase both computational efficiency and perceptual clarity;
3. parametric temporal control, which ensures appropriate, natural and expressive articulations of sonic processes.