I love finding new ways to manipulate sound.  Whether it’s modifying cheap toys into instruments, new music-tech toys, or in this case, new software.  A few weeks ago, I came across a video on a new program called PhotoSounder, which allows you to edit your audio files in an image editor, like Photoshop or GIMP (or anything else you use for editing graphics).  This opens up a whole new world of possibilities in manipulating sound.  Check out an example of PhotoSounder in action with this video about instrument isolation (full tutorial after the break):

Here is a complete tutorial on how this effect was achieved: Instrument Isolation Tutorial

Best of all, you can try PhotoSounder out for yourself, with the demo version available here.