The USSS Tools

The USSS Tools are designed and maintained by Professor Adrian Moore to aid the composition of electroacoustic music in PureData.

Off

Sonic Art: An Introduction to Electroacoustic Music Composition

Adrian Moore (2016). ±¬ÁÏTV Sound Studios. A tutorial book for all students of sonic art contextualising a number of toolkits made at the sound studios. Published by Routledge. 

The toolkit requires additional libraires to be installed using Deken (pd>help>find externals)

Sonic Art: An introduction to electroacoustic music composition. Download explaining some of the ussstools. This free-to-view chapter is from a very early edition of the text. Many new updates including multi-channel tools have been added to the book. 

Although there is no accompanying CD, the vast majority of the audio examples used come from the .

The USSS tools with Mac M1/M2 

The ussstoolskit should work with the following installed from Deken (find externals):

  • cyclone
  • else
  • freeverb~
  • Gem
  • hcs
  • iemgui
  • iemlib
  • zexy
  • lyonpotpourri

In addition, if you want to use the spectral shaping tool 'shapee' you'll need to download and manually extract into your externals folder the fftease package from . You may need to get entangled with your computer's security settings to allow these to run. 

Using the USSS tools with Pure Data Vanilla (Windows)

Such are the developments in that it's best to get the latest pd and then install the libraries from the list below via Deken (Help>find externals). You have to be a little careful to find the right version. 

This screen capture shows the external libraries required to run the USSS tools. Click on the picture to get a fuller view. The central box is file>preferences>path - you may need to add all of these manually but do it once and it's done for ever. The box on the far right at the bottom is file>preferences>startup. This is also necessary. 

  • Gem
  • ceammc
  • creb
  • cyclone
  • else
  • fftease
  • hcs
  • iemgui
  • iemlib
  • vstplugin~
  • zexy
  • freeverb~

These were all downloaded by using Deken BUT be super careful to get the right set for your OS and 64/32bit etc. If you are running into problems, do give me an email (a.j.moore@shef.ac.uk).

Short video clips supporting the USSS tools

Numerous people walking around inside a bright white spacious building (The Wave). In the forefront, a person points to the left, navigating the space with the other person.

Experience Sheffield for yourself

The best way to find out what studying at Sheffield is like is to visit us. You'll get a feel for the atmosphere, the people, the campus and the city.