Has Anyone Read This Book?
 

http://www.amazon.com/Dance-Music-Ma...=1YVAQYJTHXEEF

I want to learn sound design, and I wanted to know what people here thought of this book as a tool for doing so. I would like to learn what the different modules in my synth actually do, and how they work. For example, what is a filter envelope? How do the different parameters affect the actual sound? What should be modulated to acheive a given sound, and when to do it? That kind of thing. I find that the manuals that came with my Virus are sorely lacking.

try this tutorial:

http://virus.info/downloads.php4?pro...sktop&file=167

it's a great resource for those who want to create their own sounds. a spanish version can be found here, btw:

http://virus.info/downloads.php4?pro...sktop&file=258

hth, marc

This and similer forums can answer most of your questions but a little reading never hurts, Filter Envelope is similer to Amp Envelope which is used to create the more natural sounds of instruments. It consists of ADSR- Attack,Decay,Sustain,Release.> Attack - is after you hit the note how long it takes to rise to its peak. >Decay - is how long it takes to fall.>Sustain - is the level it will stay at till you release the note. >Release - is how long after you release the note it takes to be silent. Filter Envelope is used to mod the Filter and Amp Env. Mods the Volume.

If you can visualize a frequency spectrum or a waveform, they act as Sound shapers. It's like sculpting. You chip away bits and pieces and then polish :p
________
Ford Escape Hybrid specifications

I think that my questions are more fundamental than that. For example, what does it mean to modulate the filter? What about the filter is modulated? What does that sound like? Why, and when, would I want to do that? And just what is an envelope, anyway? Is it non-cyclical time based manipulation of a parameter? I have found that just turning the knobs hasn't helped me to understand these things, so I am looking for a book that will explain it.

When you modulate the filter cutoff your modulating the frequencies being subtracted from the tone-Highpass-everything below the cutoff point is subtracted. Lowpass-everything above the cutoff point is subtracted and so on. Band pass Lets limited freq. through, Bandstop the reverse.But if the book helps let us know. Im a big fan of Future Music Magazine.

Ok, so is that what the filter envelope does, modulate the cutoff frequency? Is it like time-domain windowing?

Modulating means simply controlling. Modulating is a word you use when you want to sound like you are doing something important.

For example when you play your keyboard, you are modulating (controlling) the pitch. Simple as that.

Subtractive synthesis is simple as hell. Just avoid the fancy terms and voila. My best tip for beginners is that set your Virus to Init patch (only one saw oscillator with no filters and other crustings). Then just start to tweak one part at time. Check how the Amp envelope affects the sound, then reset back to init and move to filters, reset, etc. If you in addition to this experiment keep a Virus manual and that Virus sound design tutorial around, you'll learn subbtractive sound synthesis and Virus' architechture faster than you can say "orthorhombic crystal system".

That link didn't work for me for whatever reason but assuming it's the Guide to Programming Analogue Synths by Howard Scarr this is a really good resource for learning your way around the Virus. However, I found when reading this that Howard assumes you already know a bit about synthesis and he's just telling you how to apply this existing knowledge to using the Virus.

@ GrooveNinja - judging by your questions you're after something more basic and fundamental as was I at the time (and I'm still learning!).

Firstly, the book you referred to, The Dance Music Manual, is one of the best books I've ever come across.

How to Make a Noise is a classic:
http://noisesculpture.com/htman.html

Also there's a bunch of info here:
http://synth.freehostia.com/

I've also learnt a heap from reading the manuals for softsynths especially Native Instruments.

Also, I've been waiting for this to come out for ages now:

http://www.robpapen.com/dvd-sound-design.html

Does anyone know of anything like this that already exists?

The Dance Music Manual is great--it gets you going, has several hands on synthesis tutorials, talks about the subtle differences between, say, Dub/House/DnB/French House etc. It's good for learning the fundamentals, and like you said above the Virus' included synthesis tutorial download isn't really for beginners.

I learned most of what I know about synthesis when I got my first really knobby synth(the korg RADIAS). It helped me to see all the parameters without trawling through menus. I twist this knob and this sound comes out. the korg ms2000 is a great (cheap!) knobby synth to play around with to get the basics. The Virus Polar etc. are beauties but they send you back to the menu from time to time.

Think of each section like it's a separate 'guitar pedal'--the filter box/the mixer/the effects. The oscillators are the 'guitar'. Each of these separate modules plug into each other in different orders to affect the sound--explore each module on its own with the basic raw sound of the oscillators.

'Modulation' means invisible hands turning knobs. You grab the filter cutoff knob and sweep it. *Cool* But when your hands are busy you need some extra hands to do the sweeping/tweaking. Here come the envelopes and LFOs. Both are like invisible hands that twist the knobs for you while you play.

But until you know how the basic sound of the oscillators (guitar) is affected by the modules (pedals) you can't start letting invisible hands tweak for you.

anyway--the book will help a whole lot.

Thank you! That is very good to know. The book looks really good, but I couldn't tell if it would explain the fundamental theories of synthesis.

This book looks really intriguing, but I am hesitant about it because it appears to be written for specific software synthesizers, none of which I have. Is it worthwhile if all I have is a Virus? If so, then it seems to be exactly what I am looking for. Thanks!

Thanks! That's good to know. I am going to order that book this afternoon.

I re-read the sections in the manuals about the envelops, and with the information from the people here and a bit of experimentation, I understand the envelopes now. The filter envelope simply adds a bit to the cutoff of the filter for a short period of time after a key is struck. The amount added, the 'shape' of the envelope, is controlled by the various attack, decay, etc. parameters, as displayed in the "Cheese" section of the manual. The envelope controls only the cutoff, and it is a fixed, time based function that is tied to the key stroke. By the way, is there any way to make the envelope negative, i.e. subtract a bit from the cutoff frequency of a low-pass filter when the key is struck?

Haven't read the OP's suggested book. I have read this one however, I found it to be one of the most comprehensive books I've read.

The Computer Music Tutorial - Curtis Roads
http://mitpress.mit.edu/catalog/item...ype=2&tid=8218

;-)

Judging by the table of contents it's got a lot on the basics in there (good).

Published in 1996 - is the info it still current?

It's current enough to still be applicable in theory and fundamental's.

It's definitely worth having as reference to say the least.