Synthesizers and Subtractive Synthesis 1

Jean-Michel Réveillac has been a specialist in sound processing and synthesis for 35 years. He is an associate lecturer at the University of Burgundy, France, a consultant to media companies, and runs a sound restoration, mixing and transcoding studio.

• Preface xiIntroduction xvChapter 1 Sound Synthesis 11.1 The art of creating sound 11.2 Some reminders 21.2.1 Sound: a bit of theory 21.2.2 Intensity 41.2.3 Pitch of a sound 71.2.4 Timbre 91.2.5 The ear 101.3 Sound typology 211.3.1 Sounds and periods 221.3.2 Simple and complex sounds 231.4 Spectral analysis 251.4.1 The sound spectrum 251.4.2 Sonogram and spectrogram 271.5 Waveforms 281.5.1 Sine wave 291.5.2 Square wave 291.5.3 Rectangular wave 311.5.4 Pulse wave 351.5.5 Triangular wave 351.5.6 Sawtooth wave 371.6 Timbre 391.6.1 Transient phenomena 401.6.2 Range 411.6.3 Mass of musical objects 421.6.4 Classification of sounds 431.7 Sound propagation 441.7.1 Dispersion 441.7.2 Interference 451.7.3 Diffraction 481.7.4 Reflection 501.7.5 Reverberation (reverb) 511.7.6 Absorption 541.7.7 Refraction 551.7.8 Doppler effect 551.7.9 Phase and beat 571.8 Noise 581.8.1 White noise 591.8.2 Pink noise 591.8.3 Red noise 601.8.4 Blue noise 611.8.5 Purple noise 621.8.6 Gray noise 621.8.7 Other noise 631.9 History of sound synthesis 631.10 Conclusion 70Chapter 2 The Different Types of Synthesis 712.1 Subtractive synthesis 712.2 Additive synthesis 742.3 FM synthesis 782.4 Digital synthesis, sampling and wavetables 882.5 Physical modeling synthesis 902.6 Granular synthesis 932.7 Amplitude modulation synthesis 962.8 Phase distortion synthesis 982.9 Other types of sound synthesis 99Chapter 3 Components, Processing Techniques and Tools 1013.1 Oscillators 1013.1.1 Voltage-controlled oscillators 1023.1.2 Digitally controlled oscillators 1033.1.3 Digital oscillators 1043.1.4 Low-frequency oscillators 1043.2 Filters 1053.2.1 Low-pass filters 1063.2.2 High-pass filters 1083.2.3 Band-pass filters 1083.2.4 Band-stop filters 1103.2.5 Resonance 1103.2.6 Other filters 1113.3 The envelope generator 1123.3.1 Attack 1143.3.2 Decay 1143.3.3 Sustain 1153.3.4 Release 1153.3.5 Other parameters 1163.4 Amplifiers 1173.5 Sample and hold 1183.6 Ring modulator 1203.7 Waveshaping 1223.8 Special effects 1243.8.1 Pitchbend 1243.8.2 Glide 1253.8.3 Keyboard tracking 1263.8.4 Reverb and delay 1273.8.5 Phaser, chorus and flanger 1283.9 From monody to polyphony 1293.10 Controllers 1323.10.1 Modwheel 1323.10.2 Breath controller 1333.10.3 Expression switch and pedal 1333.10.4 Keytar 1343.10.5 Other controllers 135Chapter 4 Work Environment 1374.1 Materials 1374.1.1 ARP 2600 1384.1.2 The Minimoog 1474.1.3 The Behringer Neutron 1524.1.4 The Novation Bass Station II 1564.1.5 The Arturia MatrixBrute 1604.2 Software 1674.2.1 Native Instruments Reaktor 1674.2.2 VCV Rack 2 1684.2.3 Cycling ‘74 Max/MSP 1704.2.4 Pure Data 1714.3 Conclusion 173Chapter 5 CV/Gate and MIDI 1755.1 CV/Gate 1755.1.1 Overview 1755.1.2 Operation 1765.1.3 Note definition 1765.1.4 Operation of the gate (or trigger) 1805.2 Musical Instrument Digital Interface 1805.2.1 MIDI version 1.0 1805.2.2 MIDI Version 2.0 1815.2.3 Principle 1835.2.4 The hardware 1845.2.5 The software 1875.2.6 MIDI Control Change 1915.2.7 Examples of MIDI transmission 1945.2.8 MIDI implementation chart 1985.2.9 General MIDI standard 1995.2.10 The General MIDI 2 standard 2005.2.11 The GS format 2015.2.12 The XG format 2025.2.13 MIDI file structure 2035.2.14 An example of a MIDI file 2115.3 MIDI CV/Gate converters 213Conclusion 215Appendix 1 General MIDI 1 and 2 Instruments 217Appendix 2 MIDI Box, Merger and Patcher 235Glossary 237References 245Index 255