Each entry consists of the term which to used in this book, followed by the alternative names which can be used for that term. Techniques Chapters describe the main methods of producing and manipulating sound. Applications Chapters show how the techniques described can be used to synthesise sound and music, in the studio and in live performance. Analysis Chapter 9 provides analysis of the development of sound synthesis and some speculation on future developments.
Reference References, Glossary, Jargon and Index. About this book Chapter guide Chapter 1 Background This chapter introduces the concept of synthesis, and briefly describes j the history. It includes brief overviews of acoustics, electronics, digital sampling and musical instrument digital interface MIDI. Chapter 2 Analogue synthesis This chapter describes the main methods which are used for analogue sound synthesis: subtractive, additive, AM, FM, ring modulation, ringing oscillators and others.
Chapter 3 Hybrid synthesis This chapter shows the way that synthesis techniques changed from the primarily analogue electronic circuit designs of the s and s, to the predominantly digital circuitry of the s and s. Synthesizers whose design incorporates a mixture of both design techniques are included. Chapter 4 Sampling This chapter describes the three types of sampling technology: tape, analogue and digital.
Chapter 5 Digital synthesis This chapter looks at the major techniques which are used for digital sound synthesis: FM, waveshaping, physical modelling, granular, FOF, analysis-synthesis and resynthesis. Chapter 6 Using synthesis This chapter deals with the use of synthesis to make music and other sounds. Chapter 8 Performance This chapter looks at the ways that synthesizers can be used in live performance. Chapter 9 The future of synthesis This chapter attempts to place sound synthesis in a wider context, by describing the probable development of music, MIDI and computing in the future.
About this book Chapter section guide Within each chapter, there are sections which deal with specific topics. The format and intention of some of these may be unfamiliar to the reader, and thus they deserve special mention.
Examples These sections are illustrated with block diagrams of the internal func tion and front panel controls of some representative example instru ments or software, together with some notes on their main features. This should provide a more useful idea of their operation than just black and white photographs. Further information and photographs of a wide range of synthesizers and other electronic musical instru ments can be found in Julian Colbeck's comprehensive Keyfax books Colbeck, Details on some specific instruments can be found in Mark Vail's Vintage Synthesizers Vail, book, which is a collection of articles from the American magazine Keyboard.
Time line The Time lines are intended to show the development of a topic in a historical context. Reading text which contains lots of references to dates and people can be confusing. By presenting the major events in time order, the developments and relationships can be seen more clearly. The time lines are deliberately split up so that only entries relevant to each chapter are shown. This keeps the material in each individual time line succinct. Overall time line Chapters of this book do not represent a linear historical record, even though the apparent progression from analogue, via hybrid, to digital synthesis methods is a compelling metaphor.
Synthesis techniques, like fashion, regularly recycle the old and mostly forgotten with 'retro' revivals of buzzwords like FM, analogue, valves, FETs, modular, resynthesis and more. The overall timeline shown overleaf is intended to show just some of the complex flow of the synthesis timeline. Questions Each chapter ends with a few questions, which can be used as either a quick comprehension test, or as a guide to the major topics covered in that chapter.
The process of synthesis is thus a bringing together, and the 'making a whole' is significant because it implies more than just a random assembly: synthesis should be a creative process.
It is this artistic aspect, which is often overlooked in favour of the more technical aspects of the subject. Although a synthesizer may be capable of producing almost infinite varieties of output, controlling and choosing them requires human intervention and skill. The word 'synthesis' is frequently used in just two major contexts: the creation of chemical compounds and the production of electronic sounds.
But there are a large number of other types of synthesis. Video synthesizers, used to produce and process video signals. Colour synthesizers, used as part of 'son et lumiere' presentations. Speech synthesizers, used in computer and telecommunications applications. Sound synthesizers, used to create and process sounds and music. Word synthesizers, more commonly known as authors using 'word processor' software!
Synthesizers have two basic functional blocks: a control interface, which is how the parameters which define the end product are set; and a 'synthesis engine', which interprets the parameter values and produces the output. In most cases there is a degree of abstraction involved between the control interface and the synthesis engine itself. This is because the complexity of the synthesis process is often very high, and it is often necessary to reduce the apparent complexity of the control by using some sort of simpler conceptual model This enables the user of the synthesizer to use it without requiring a detailed knowledge of the inner workings.
This idea of models and abstraction of interface is a recurring theme which will be explored many times in this book Figure 1. The synthesizer provides a model to the user and maps this model to internal functionality. This type of abstraction is used in a wide variety of electronic devices, particularly those employing digital circuitry. Many members of the general public have unrealistic expectations of the capabilities of synthesizers.
The author has encountered feedback comments such as 'I thought it did it all by itself! Although synthesizer can be spelt with a 'zer' or 'ser' ending, the 'zer' ending will be used in this book. Also, the single word 'synthesizer' is used here to imply 'sound synthesizer, rather than a generic synthesizer.
Note that the production of a wide range of sounds by a synthesizer can be very significant. A 'synthesizer' which produces a restricted range of sounds can often be viewed as being more musically acceptable.
It can reuse existing sounds by processing them, or it can generate sound electronically or mechanically. It may use mathematics, physics or even biology; and it brings together art and science in a mix of musical skill and technical expertise. Used carefully, it can produce emotional performances, which paint sonic landscapes with a rich and huge set of timbres, limited only by the imagination and knowledge of the creator. Sounds can be simple or complex, and the methods used to create them are diverse.
Sound synthesis is not solely concerned with sophisticated computer-generated timbres, although this is often the most publicised aspect. The wide availability of high quality record ing and synthesis technology has made the generation of sounds much easier for musicians and technicians, and future developments promise even easier access to ever more powerful techniques.
But the technology is nothing more than a set of tools which can be used to make sounds: the creative skills of the performer, musician or techni cian are still essential to avoid music becoming mundane. The synthesis of sounds has a long history. The first synthesizer might have been an early ancestor of Homo sapiens hitting a hollow log, or perhaps learn ing to whistle. Singing uses a sophisticated synthesizer whose cap abilities are often forgotten: the human vocal tract.
All musical instruments can be thought of as being 'synthesizers', although few people would think of them in this context. A violin or clarinet is viewed as being 'natural', whereas a synthesizer is seen as 'artificial', even though all of these instruments produce a sound by essentially synthetic methods.
Recently, the word 'synthesizer' has come to only mean an electronic instrument that is capable of producing a wide range of different sounds. The actual categories of sounds which qualify for this label of synthesizer are also very specific: purely imitative sounds are frequently regarded as nothing other than recordings of the actual instrument, in which case the synthesizer is seen as little more than a replay device.
In other words, the general public seems to expect synthesizers The electronic piano is one example, where the same synthesis capability could be packaged in two different ways, and would consequently be sold separately to synthesists and piano players. This can be readily seen in many lowcost keyboard instruments which are intended for home usage: they typically have a number of familiar instrument sounds with names like 'piano', 'strings', 'guitar', etc.
But they also have sounds labelled 'synth' for sounds which do not fit into the 'naturalistic' description scheme. As synthesizers become better at fusing elements of real and synthetic sounds, the boundaries of what is regarded as 'synthetic' and what is 'real' are becoming increasingly diffuse.
This blurred perception has resulted in broad acceptance of a number of 'hyper-real' instrument sounds, where the distinctive characteristics of an instrument are exaggerated. Fret buzz and finger noise on an acoustic guitar and breath noise on a flute are just two examples. Drum sounds are frequently enhanced and altered considerably, and yet, unless they cross that boundary line between 'real' and 'synthetic', their generation is not questioned - it is assumed to be 'real' and 'natural'.
This can cause considerable difficulties for performers who are expected to reproduce the same sound as the compact disk CD in a live environment. The actual sound of many live instru- j ments may be very different from the sound that is 'expected' from the familiar recording that was painstakingly created in a studio. Drummers are one example: they may have a physical drum kit where many parts of the kit are present merely to give a visual cue or 'home' to the electronically generated sounds that are being controlled via triggers connected to the drums, and where the true sound of the real drums is an unwanted distraction.
Forms Synthesizers come in several different varieties, although many of the constituent parts are common to all of the types. Most synthesizers have one or more audio outputs; one or more control inputs; some sort of display; and buttons or dials to select and control the operation of the unit. It is usually not possible to change this significantly, and so the signal flow always follows a set path through the synthesizer. This enables the rapid patching of commonly used configurations, but does limit the flexibility.
Performance synthesizers form the vast majority of commercial synthesizer products. Conversely, modular synthesizers have no fixed interconnections, and the synthesis modules can be connected together in any way. Changes can be made to the connections whilst the synthesizer is making a sound, although the usual practice is to set up and test the interconnections in advance.
Because more connections need to be made, modular synthesizers are harder and more time-consuming to set up, but they do have much greater flexibility.
Modular synthesizers are much rarer than performance synthesizers, and are often used for academic or research purposes. Non-ideal interfaces are actually 1 very common.
The 'qwerty typewriter keyboard was originally intended to slow down typing speeds and so help prevent the jamming of early mechanical typewriters. It has become dominant and commercially, virtually essential! The music keyboard has also seen several carefully humanengineered improvements which have also failed to gain widespread acceptance.
Both performance and modular synthesizers can come with or with out a music keyboard. This book is not limited to any specific software and is general enough to apply to many different software instruments. The samples are normally stored in ROM memory using Martin Russ Sound Synthesis and Sampling is all about the principles of electronic musical instruments.
Power amplifiers, Lines and , pp, Line Illustrations, 20 halftones, Xmm, Paperback, 0. Theyare capable ofperforming complex musical materials and ideas, by controlling sending performance instructions to sound sampling and synthesis devices.
Computers andsequencers both hardware and software have the potential to give The book emphasizes physical modeling of sound and focuses on real-world interactive sound effects.
It is intended for game developers, graphics programmers, developers of virtual reality systems and traini. This book derives and discusses the current state of the art in physical modelling of musical instruments for real-time sound synthesis.
Sample -based synthesis is a key technique in imitation of other sound sources, which is something that many people want to achieve. The technological limitation historically was a lack of sufficient memory or other storage, Synthesizer Performance and Real-time Techniques. Oxford University Press.
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