What about FM synths ? They seem even wackier to program.
FM is hard. Let the machines do the work. :)
https://www.factmag.com/2017/07/14/watch-aphex-twin-midimuta...
Subtractive synths explained (2011)
21–30 of 77 posts
Re: Subtractive synths explained (2011)
#22For those who are interested in this topic, I highly recommend checking out VCV Rack, an open source application that lets you build Eurorack-style virtual modular synthesizers: https://vcvrack.com/ I've been going down this rabbit hole lately and it's really fascinating.
Software modular synth is really good for learning about sound and signal. I use Alsa Modular Synth[0], which has its faults, but has a simpler interface than VCV Rack. I use it some times even to filter my voice when role-playing monsters on our online dungeons & dragons game (I love how easy these things are to do with JACK on Linux, used to do something similar in PulseAudio with LADSPA filters, but it was much mo…
Slightly off topic. I just added a link in that Wikipedia entry to the the Phone_connector_(audio) entry at the first occurrence of phone jack because I'd never seem that connector referred to by that exact phrase.
Back to the topic at hand. I've played with software gizmos, and recently picked up three secondhand units from the Korg Volca range. I'm not particularly musically talented, trying to change that over time, I find the physical controls way way way more intuitive.
Re: Subtractive synths explained (2011)
#23I got this from Brian Eno's Twitter feed: https://twitter.com/dark_shark/status/1122355076360572928
Imagine for a moment I'm a recommendation engine.
People who liked Brian Eno's twitter feed also liked...
Have you seen Reactable? http://reactable.com/
Re: Subtractive synths explained (2011)
#24This has been my favourite course to learn about Audio Synthesis; it's old school but has all you need to know, in a digestible format:
Re: Subtractive synths explained (2011)
#25For those who are interested in this topic, I highly recommend checking out VCV Rack, an open source application that lets you build Eurorack-style virtual modular synthesizers: https://vcvrack.com/ I've been going down this rabbit hole lately and it's really fascinating.
This winter I went down this rabbit hole and back up, trying to approximate some acoustic instrument sounds. I went through a succession of different workflows, spending a couple weeks on each. Workflow 1: feed a sawtooth oscillator through filters controllable with knobs. Eventually I realized that it will always sound mechanical, no matter how many filters you stack. That led to Workflow 2: feed a sawtooth oscillat…
FM synthesis can generate a very broad array of sounds. A lot of the time you get bad results but if you’re looking for something that can make all kinds of different sounds that’s one option. There are actually so many synthesis techniques, you should download some software synths and take a listen. Really fun stuff
Re: Subtractive synths explained (2011)
#26What about FM synths ? They seem even wackier to program.
FM is hard. Let the machines do the work. :) https://www.factmag.com/2017/07/14/watch-aphex-twin-midimuta...
Midimutant is an evolutionary resynthesis system. These have been around for about a quarter century but I think they've not proven very helpful.
There is another way to let the machines do the work: interactive evolution. Brian Eno thought of this in 1995 (among others): the system presents you with N candidate patches, you select the ones you like, and it uses your selections to think of N new patches to offer you. Basically it's assisting you in moving forward through the space of patches in search of interesting stuff without having to program them.
Interactive evolution works really well for FM, but systems which provide it are rare. And now for the self-promotion. As it so happens, I just presented a paper on this a few days ago on my system.
https://cs.gmu.edu/~sean/papers/evomusart19.pdf https://github.com/eclab/edisyn
Re: Subtractive synths explained (2011)
#27If anyone is interested in getting started playing with synths, AudioKit Synth One is a great free, open source synth for iOS: https://audiokitpro.com/synth. iOS is a pretty cool platform for starting to play around because the multi touch nature of a touch screen makes it more fun (IMO) than using a mouse to drag virtual knobs around.
Re: Subtractive synths explained (2011)
#28https://www.syntorial.com/ is pretty much the best way to not just learn the technical, but how each part sounds.
Came to say this. It’s amazing software
Re: Subtractive synths explained (2011)
#29Earlier quoted context omitted.
This winter I went down this rabbit hole and back up, trying to approximate some acoustic instrument sounds. I went through a succession of different workflows, spending a couple weeks on each. Workflow 1: feed a sawtooth oscillator through filters controllable with knobs. Eventually I realized that it will always sound mechanical, no matter how many filters you stack. That led to Workflow 2: feed a sawtooth oscillat…
FM synthesis can generate a very broad array of sounds. A lot of the time you get bad results but if you’re looking for something that can make all kinds of different sounds that’s one option. There are actually so many synthesis techniques, you should download some software synths and take a listen. Really fun stuff
I think FM synthesis is really underappreciated for modeling acoustic sounds. It really shines for mallet instruments, but also brass and woodwind and even plucked sounds like acoustic guitar. By making operators react differently to velocity and other modulation changes, you can create very expressive sounds. However, it requires quite some trial and error indeed.
Re: Subtractive synths explained (2011)
#30This is timely. I've been getting into music and spent a couple of hours fiddling with the Korg 15 emulator on my iPad.