make music now Super synths!
Super
On the DVD
TUTORIAL FILES
Synth presets and software
demos to go with our
walkthroughs await you in
the Tutorial files and Demo
software folders (with the
exception of Sculpture)
WAVEFORMS:
A GUIDE
SAWTOOTH WAVE
A sawtooth wave has a rich,
gritty sound that makes it
ideal for brass and strings. If
your sound needs to really
stand out, this might be a
good place to start.
SQUARE WAVE
Square waves exhibit a sort
of ‘hollow’ quality. Great for,
say, an oboe or an expressive
lead sound.
TRIANGLE WAV
Triangle waves are mellow, but
not as simple as sine waves.
They make a good option for
smooth pads or subtle,
whistling leads.
SINE WAVE
Sine waves are simple – they
consist of a fundamental tone,
with no additional harmonics.
Sine waves make good
modulators for FM, and can be
stacked and tuned for simple
additive synthesis. If you need
to fill out a bass sound, a
sine wave makes an
acceptable sub-oscillator.
5 The feature-packed PolyIblit certainly
qualifies as a super synth – and it’s
absolutely free!
028 | COMPUTER MUSIC MAY 2005 TUTORIAL
CMU86.t_super 028
synths!
Improve your sound design skills with our comprehensive
guide you to the six main forms of synthesis…
Subtractive synthesis
A
s our story begins, we find
ourselves hurtling backwards
through the fabric of time and
space, to an era of vacuum tubes and
voltages, when the lay-public's
exposure to electronic music was
limited to the warbling Theremin that
accompanied the grainy flying saucers
appearing at the local matinee.
However, in academic circles
musicians were drawing upon military
equipment to produce new timbres. An
oscillator’s pitch was governed by
twiddling a knob, and musical passages
were created by splicing tape recordings
of tones together in the desired order.
In America, a boffin by the name of
Donald Buchla had the idea of building
an electronic device to alleviate the
tedium of splicing bits of tape together
to create a musical progression. Less
than a year later, a Theremin aficionado
named Robert Moog had the idea of
adding a traditional chromatic keyboard
to an oscillator. The huge modular
synths that
followed were
restricted to
studios and
labs. Very
few
musicians
would drag
such a
monster
onto the
stage. A
portable
solution
was
needed,
3 All the big-name sequencers come with
subtractive synths bundled these days. Cubase
SX has A1, a powerful beast with Waldorf filters
and it came in the shape of the
Minimoog, which refined the most
useful of the Moog modular system
components into a fixed-path
instrument. This led the way for
nearly every subtractive synth to
follow. Even our own CM-101 plug-
in owes its basic design to the Mini.
Far-out frequencies
Subtractive models such as the
Minimoog remain by far the most
popular synthesizers on the market.
Subtractive synthesis forms the basis for
SUBTRACTIVE SYNTHESIS FORMS
THE BASIS FOR MOST OF OUR
SAMPLERS AND WORKSTATIONS
most of our samplers and workstations,
and even a great many effects
processors. It’s a common
misconception that the term applies
only to traditional analogue synths:
it applies to any form of synthesis
in which a filter is used. You could,
for example, describe Native
Instruments’ Kontakt sampler as having
subtractive qualities.
Basically, a subtractive synthesizer is
based around one or more oscillators
that produce harmonically rich
waveforms. On its own, an oscillator
simply emits a constant and steady
signal, with no obvious beginning or
end. The real work is done later in the
signal path.
Being the most important part of a
subtractive synth, any such instrument’s
merit is judged on the quality of its
onboard filter. There’s a wide range of
filter types, some or all of which will be
available on any given synth. The low-
pass filter is the type that was seen on
the original Minimoog and is certainly
the most ubiquitous of all filters. As the
name implies, it attenuates the high
frequencies, while allowing the low
frequencies to pass through. A cutoff
knob or slider controls the frequency at
which this attenuation starts, and there’s
often a ‘resonance’ function as well.
Sometimes referred to as ‘Q’, resonance
emphasises the frequencies
immediately surrounding the cutoff
4/4/05 1:11:28 pm
 Super synths! make music
Q&A focus
now

point, resulting in the familiar ‘squelch’
sound that’s often associated with
analogue synths.
Other important features to look our
for on analogue synths are envelope
generators and at least one LFO (Low
Frequency Oscillator). The envelope
generators determine how the sound is
shaped over time. Does it fade in slowly,
or is it sharp and percussive? The four-
stage envelope, or ‘ADSR’, is the sort
you will most likely encounter. This gives
you access to the attack, decay, sustain
and release segments of the sound.
Modern software instruments often have
vast, multistage envelopes that can be
used to create extremely complex
rhythms and textures.
Equally useful, the LFO is a very slow
oscillator that can be used to modulate
other parameters. With it you can,
among other things, create slow,
sweeping sounds, or add vibrato.
Soft simulation
Creating a convincing software analogue
synth seems to be an obsession for
many software developers, and the
market is rife with the fruits of their
labours. Some developers just copy the
signal path of the inspiring originals,
while others get right down to the
component level, modelling filters,
envelope response and more.
It’s easy to see why this is the case.
Analogue synths sound great and are
very easy to use. Because they produce
sounds of limited complexity, there’s a
clarity to them that makes them stand
out in a mix. It’s no wonder, then, that
they’re often the first choice for
thumping basses and searing leads.
Sequencers and arpeggiators
We love sequencers here at Computer
Music. Nothing gets our toes tapping
like a pumping, percolating pattern of
pounding pulse waves. But before the
software sequencers came to be,
musicians had very few choices when it
came to pre-programmed performance.
Most modular manufacturers offered
sequencer modules: these featured
between eight and 24 steps, each of
which could be tuned to a different
voltage and used to drive the pitch of
an oscillator, a filter, or just about
anything else you could think of.
Despite the fact that tuning such a
sequencer required no small amount of
patience, the potential for live
interaction really was tremendous.
Another option was the arpeggiator,
which was built into many synthesizers
back in the day. An arpeggiator is a sort
of automatic sequencer, but instead of
pre-programming the individual pitches,
patterns are determined by the chords
being played. Hold down a C major triad
and the arpeggiator happily pumps out
C, E and G notes in a given order. You
might have selectable directions (up,
down, up then down, and random being
the most common), and sometimes you
could tell the synthesizer which octaves
to play in.
The arpeggiator is such a useful and
easy to operate performance tool that
it’s no surprise to see it's made a
comeback in recent years. Most
modern sequencers offer an
arpeggiator of some sort, as do many
software synthesizers. Their relentless
and robotic timing gives them obvious
appeal to composers of dance and
electronic music.

STEP BY STEP Getting analogue with Reason’s Subtractor synth

1 2 3
Let’s go over some of main functions of subtractive Activate Oscillator 2 by clicking the LED next to its As you can hear, there are a lot of high frequencies we
analogue synthesis using Reason’s Subtractor. You can name. Select a square wave as we have here and can shape. We can use filters, LFOs, envelopes, etc, but
find most of same functions on any decent virtual (and, reduce the Octave parameter to 2, so that Oscillator 2 for the moment let’s use the filter. Change the filter Type
indeed, physical) analogue. Here, we’ve called up a Subtractor. is playing at a lower pitch than Oscillator 1. Now, in the Filter to a classic Moog-style LP24 (Low-Pass 24dB). Reduce the
Play a few notes of the default patch – it’s just a sawtooth section, turn the Freq value up all the way, so that nothing is cutoff (Freq) to 22 and raise the Resonance to 48. Play some
wave with very little of interest to it. >> being filtered out. >> notes – hear how we've filtered out most of the high end? >>

4 5 6
Underneath the Filter section is the Filter Envelope. Now, let’s get LFO 1 in on the action. In the LFO 1 We’ll use the Mod Envelope to fade from one oscillator
Let’s use this to control the filter cutoff. Increase the section, select the random waveform. Under Dest to the other. Use the following settings: Oscillator Mix –
amount to 127. It would be nice if the filter opened up (destination), choose F Freq. Click on the Sync button to 0, Mod Envelope Dest – Mix, Attack – 96, Decay – 127,
and settled down gradually, so set the Attack segment (A) to sync the LFO to your project’s tempo, and adjust the Rate Sustain – 81, Release – 127. Making sure the Mod Envelope
73 and the Decay (D) to 91. The Sustain (S) can be around 47, knob until it shows a value of 1/8T (eighth-note triplets). Set Amount is up full, play and hold your chord. Hear how
and the Release (R) 92. Play and hold a chord. >> the Amount to 36. Play and hold a chord. Very nice! >> Oscillator 2 fades in? Nice work.

TUTORIAL MAY 2005 COMPUTER MUSIC | 029

CMU86.t_super 029 4/4/05 1:11:36 pm

 make music now Super synths!

FM synthesis
Frequency Modulation synthesis is a complex beast, but learn how to
use it in the right way and you can have all kinds of fun…
sound generation when you can
juxtapose them against your favourite
samples. For 20 years, there were no
such alternatives.
It’s therefore easy to understand why
FM (for Frequency Modulation) synthesis
made such a splash when Yamaha
unleashed the DX7 in 1983. There were
a lot of reasons for the success of that
particular instrument: it offered an
astounding 16 voices of polyphony, cost
less than two grand and came with
those mysterious MIDI sockets on the
back. Yet there can be no doubt that the
main reason it was a smash hit was
because of its sound. And what a sound
it was! Glassy glockenspiels, plucky
instruments are a lot easier to use.
Having access to a far greater display
area means that more parameters can
be displayed simultaneously. It’s
considerably easier to see the
relationship between different elements
of the sound. Plus, most developers
have added a few familiar subtractive
functions to their FM instruments, which
makes tweaking a sound much easier.
Smooth operators
FM synthesis derives its power from a
relatively simple idea: if you modulate
the frequency of one signal (the carrier)
with the frequency of another (the
modulator), the result is a tone rich in

I
1 Four operators fuel discoDSP’s fabulous t might seem hard to believe, but basses, delicate harps and – oh yeah – harmonics. Altering the amplitude and
FM synth, along with some subtractive
parameters and loads of quality presets there was a brief period of time that electric piano. Hardly the sort of frequency of the modulating oscillator
when analogue synthesis was buzzwords that would drive a modern can vary this tone. An FM oscillator
deemed passé. By the beginning of the ad man into palpitations, but at the (traditionally nothing more complex than
80s, most synthesists had had their fill time, this stuff was a revelation. We’d a simple sine wave) combined with the
of controlled voltages; for two decades had a bellyful of ‘warm’ and ‘fat’. amplifier and envelope stages is
we'd been inundated with electronic referred to as an ‘operator’. The more of
music that consisted of little more than The stuff of legend these operators you have, the more
filtered waveforms. Oh sure, a good There are probably more myths and complex the sounds you can create.
sound designer could wring something misconceptions about FM than any The original FM synthesizers came in
akin to a passable brass, organ or string other form of synthesis. For example, it’s both ‘6-op’ and ‘4-op’ configurations.
sound from his analogue synth, but the reputed to give a thin or cold sound, yet The different carrier and modulator
basic sound would still be recognisably a knowledgeable programmer can whip combinations are called ‘algorithms’ in
JARGON BUSTER analogue. Now, before you start up a bass sound on even the most the vernacular of FM. They were initially
3SIDEBANDS
When one frequency is
composing angry letters to the editor, try modest FM instrument that could punch hard-wired at the factory, but today’s
modulated by another frequency, to understand that analogue synths holes in concrete. Witness the second- software versions usually leave such
the results consist of the carrier have regained popularity because we hand demand for the diminutive DX100, decisions up to the user. Needless to
frequency plus additional
frequencies. These additional now have many more options. It's easier which was snapped up by dance music say, you can create some very complex
frequencies are called sidebands. to appreciate the qualities of analogue mavens for that very reason. sounds with a full six operators, though
FM is also supposed to be hard to a four-operator model is no slouch
program, and to a certain extent, that either, and is a bit easier to program.
RM, AM… ahem might be true. It's certainly difficult to Because the operator envelopes can
Although FM synthesis is often thought of as a strictly digital process, it’s actually a adjust to after using nothing but control the frequency content of the
technique that was once common among those with access to large modular analogue synthesis. There’s no need for sound, there's no need for filters. The
systems. You can still find an FM function on many hardware and virtual analogue filters, for instance, and the unusual skilled sound designer can achieve a
instruments, and although usually restricted to only a pair of oscillators, you can rate/time-based envelopes are a bit similar effect with clever programming.
still get some good clangorous tones from them.
FM isn’t the only option for clanging, metallic sounds. Somewhat akin to FM are intimidating after all those ADSRs. It isn’t all unfamiliar terrain. FM
the techniques of amplitude modulation and ring modulation, and though these However, FM’s reputation for difficulty synths do make use of LFOs, velocity
two are often confused, they are in fact different yet related processes. comes from the fact that the original FM and a good many other control sources
Amplitude modulation is a technique by which two signals are combined, one instruments had minuscule displays that will be familiar to the analogue
modulating the amplitude of the other. This often results in the production of
inharmonic sidebands in addition to the original signal. Like FM, AM is a good
and only a single data slider. They were programmer. And, as stated previously,
source for synthesizing tuned percussion. the first synths with multiple menus and today’s models give you filters, effects
Ring modulation, on the other hand, produces only the sum and the difference pages upon pages of parameters. Even and the like for a ‘quick fix’. In fact,
of the original signals at the output stage. None of the fundamental frequency will the most basic functions would appear coupled with these subtractive
be present. Therefore, ring modulation is best used when you wish to create a
tedious seen in that light. It’s no wonder parameters, it isn’t too hard to make an
sound that has no discernible pitch. It is especially useful for metallic tones and
special effects. the DX7 quickly gained a false FM instrument sound like an analogue
reputation as a ‘preset machine'. synth, although that'd be missing the
Fortunately, today’s software FM point of these incredible machines.

030 | COMPUTER MUSIC MAY 2005 TUTORIAL

CMU86.t_super 030 4/4/05 1:11:42 pm

 Super synths! make music
Q&A focus
now

STEP BY STEP Time to operate with FM7

PRO TIP
IGNORING THE SINES
If you have only a 4-op instrument, you
might try using waveforms other than
the traditional sine waves. Yamaha
recognised this potential in their
venerable TX-81Z module. Samples can
make interesting carriers and
modulators as well.

1 2
Just as the DX7 was the grandad of hardware FM synths, so NI’s Bring Operator F’s level up to around 40 using the level slider. You
spot-on clone, FM7, is the king of software FM instruments. Grab can hear that it’s a plain old sine wave. Now click on the
your FM7, and initialise the edit buffer, as we have here. Click on Envelope button to switch the display to Operator F’s envelope.
Matrix in the display so you can see your routings. Activate Operators C, Set the Frequency Ratio to a little over 3.9900, and the Offset to -0.30.
D, E and F, and make sure you’re on the page for Operator F. >> Copy the envelope shape you see in the screenshot. >>

5 FM is a great source of drum sounds, as

proven by the Bang percussion plug-in,
included in Cycling ’74’s Mode bundle

3 4
Let’s start shaping an attack segment. Click on Operator E, and Next, increase the levels of Op C and D to about 50 and 60,
set its Ratio to 11.0012 and its Offset to 0.30. Increase the respectively. You can watch the effects your changes have on the
Velocity as shown, and copy our envelope. Switch to the Matrix waveform itself in the Waveform display at the upper right hand
and click and drag in the square above F until it says 20. Increase Op E corner. Play some notes, and you should be hearing something far more
to 62 and make it feed back onto itself, but with a value of 48. >> complex than your initial sine wave! >>

PRO TIP
DRUMS AND PERCUSSION
For drum and percussion sounds, try
creating algorithms with only one or
two carriers and lots of modulators.
There’s a lot of inharmonic stuff that
happens in the attack segment of a
percussive sound, so the more
modulators, the better!

5 6
Let’s give the envelopes for Op C and D a bit of sustain. Offset Feeling experimental, we’ve added two more Operators and
the two by .30Hz. Adjust the Ratio of one to 0.9889 and the created envelopes for them in order to modulate our other
other to 1.0011. Play some notes. You should now hear a operators. We’ve also panned Ops C and D a bit to add depth.
typical FM timbre. >> You can customise the sound to your own taste.

TUTORIAL MAY 2005 COMPUTER MUSIC | 031

CMU86.t_super 031 4/4/05 1:11:46 pm

 make music now Super synths!
PRO TIP
ATTACK FORMATION
The attack segment of a sound is
responsible for much of its character.
Take the time to get that right and
you’re half way there.
ADDITIVE SYNTHESIS IS LIKE A
DELICATE BLENDING AND LAYERING
OF COLOUR TO PRODUCE A PAINTING
5 Vertigo sounds so good it makes our
heads spin! Additive synthesis and
resynthesis to die for
032 | COMPUTER MUSIC MAY 2005 TUTORIAL
CMU86.t_super 032
Additive synthesis
Time to get scientific as we explore the scientific world of Additive
Synthesis. Don't worry, it's not as scary as it sounds…
A
s the name implies, additive
synthesis is the exact opposite
of subtractive synthesis – in
more ways than one. Whereas
subtractive synthesis is based around a
filter hacking away at a complex
waveform, with additive the sound is
built up bit by bit, waveform upon
waveform. You might compare
subtractive synthesis to chipping away
at a large granite block in order to
produce a sculpture. Additive synthesis,
on the other hand, is more like a
delicate blending and layering of colour
to produce a painting. The former
produces an immediate, rough result by
battering away with brute force, while
the latter demands time, patience and
considerable knowledge of the physics
of sound to achieve acceptable results.
Let’s get the physics part out of the
way first. No, don’t turn the page – we’re
only going to go over the basics behind
this admittedly arcane synthesis
method. The theory behind it all is that
every sound in nature can be broken
down into a huge number of sine waves
of varying frequency and amplitude.
These frequencies are called ‘partials’.
Some of them might have a harmonic
relationship to the fundamental tone,
while others won’t. Sounds of any
complexity will be a
combination of both. For
example, the sound of a
plucked string will have a
lot of inharmonic material
at first, but will then settle
into a primarily harmonic
sustain segment.
You’ve probably heard
a sine wave. It’s about as
exciting as gravel. As you
might imagine, it takes
loads of the things to
build up any
PRO TIP
MAKE SOME NOISE
If a sound has a lot of noise in it (the attack of a
drum or flute, for instance), don’t be afraid to
use a noise generator as a cheat. Why spend
the time painstakingly sculpting something you
can get with the click of the mouse?
Samples reborn
Patching an additive synthesizer can
be tedious in the extreme. Say you
have an instrument capable of
generating 128 partials; if you have
even a simple ADSR-style envelope for
the amplitude and another for the
amount of detuning or pitch, then that
equates to a whopping 1024
parameters to tweak at the oscillator
stage. Ouch!
However, since every sound can
be broken down into its constituent
sine waves and their associated
envelopes, wouldn’t it be great if there
were some way of examining a
sample and reproducing it
automatically? Indeed it would, and
many additive synthesizers can do
just that, using a technique called
resynthesis. Through this, the user has
access to the very building blocks of
the sonic universe. Want to apply the
envelopes of a plucked string to the
harmonics of the human voice? It's
easily done!
You’re thinking there must be a
catch, right? Well, yes, there are two
of them. Resynthesis requires serious
computation, and most resynthesis
algorithms offer results that are, at
best, hit and miss. Some work best
with atonal rhythmic material, others
with short, musical tones. It all
depends on the algorithm.
Still, it can get you in the ballpark.
Resynthesis makes a great way to
mangle a sample, but it makes an
even better starting point for your own
additive explorations.
PRO TIP
TEMPLATES
Lots of additive instruments give you the ability
to save waveforms you’ve created. Use these to
build a library of templates for similar tones. For
instance, you might have a template for
plucked strings that can be a starting point for
a banjo, harp or guitar.
recognisable tone. In fact, it takes
hundreds, if not thousands, to even
approximate a natural timbre, although
you might be able to bluff it with
dozens, depending on the sound.
Wendy Carlos built up a vast library of
additive patches for her synthesized LSI
orchestra using only a handful. Still, with
each sine wave requiring an
independent oscillator and at least one,
if not two envelopes (one for amplitude,
the other for pitch), the technological
demands of even a rudimentary additive
instrument can be high, to say the least.
Soft machine
Very few hardware synth manufacturers
were ever willing to take a chance on
additive synthesis, as most keyboard
players wouldn't take the time or effort
required to delve into the depths of
additive sound design. Occasionally, a
company like Kawai would throw an
additive instrument into the ring, but
these were rare. Such instruments might
be coveted today, but they never made
a significant dent in the retail world.
Luckily the overhead demands on
software developers are a bit more
conducive to taking chances. This has
ushered in a renewed interest in
additive synthesis. Just as is the case
with FM soft synths, the extra visual real
estate offered by the computer monitor
helps to ease the tedium of patching
additive synthesizers. Plus, the power
offered by the average CPU is more than
enough to foot the bill for hundreds of
partials. Software additives such as
Camel Audio’s Cameleon 5000 and
DiscoDSP’s Vertigo allow the user to
draw partials in with the mouse, and
have a few analogue subtractive
parameters built in for easy tweaks.
Yet additive is never going to be as
easy or give the instant gratification of
subtractive synthesis. To master additive,
you have to be willing to make a
commitment; but if you do, the musical
rewards can be considerable. Additive
synths are capable of producing timbres
of incredible subtlety, depth and
movement, and anyone serious about
their synthesis should take a look at this
remarkable method of sound creation.
4/4/05 1:11:52 pm
 Super synths! make music
Q&A focus
now

STEP BY STEP Adding it up with Cube

1 2 3
When it comes to additive synthesis, it doesn’t get Click on the Edit button for Source A. Make sure the Return to the Edit window for Source A and, using your
better than VirSyn’s mighty Cube 1.5. This monster synth Partial button is highlighted in the central display area. mouse, remove all of the partials except the very first
allows you to combine up to four additive sources and As you can see, there are a lot of partials, all with equal one, as we have in this screenshot. Play some keys. Do
blend them together. It’s easy to use and does resynthesis, amplitudes. It isn’t a terribly attractive sound. Before we you recognise it? It’s our good old friend the sine wave.
too. We’ll start by creating an initialised patch – click on the continue, go to the envelope display, and reduce the Attack Remember that the sine wave consists only of the
disk icon, and choose Clear Preset from the menu. >> segment of the volume envelope. >> fundamental, and that’s what you're hearing. >>

4 5 6
You can call up a basic preset source if you need to, Instead, though, we’ll do it the academic way. A full- In the natural world, high frequencies tend to decay
but let’s draw our own for fun. Using the mouse, draw blown additive synth will have amplitude envelopes for much more rapidly than low frequencies. We can
in a sloping set of partials, as shown. Play some notes. each partial, and Cube is no exception. This may sound approximate this phenomenon by drawing in shorter
As you can hear, we now have a far more complex waveform, like hard work, but it really isn't. Click on the Decay button decay times for the upper harmonics. Just as you did with the
rich with harmonics. If we were using a subtractive synth, this beneath the Partial display. As you can see, there’s a decay partials, use the mouse to draw in the decay times. It’s
would be a good sound to throw through the filter! >> setting for each partial, and they’re all cranked right up. >> starting to sound like a plucked stringed instrument. >>

7 8 9
As we’ve mentioned, additive synths don’t need filters. Since we don’t want to resort to a filter, we can’t rely on Finally, click the Pan button to access the pan position
You may be wondering how you achieve the same sort ‘shortcuts’ like filter envelopes. However, we can alter of the individual partials. Another benefit of additive
of effect in an additive that you get from a resonant the attack stage of every single partial, so it’s an easy synthesis is that we can place each partial in a different
filter. No problem! A resonant filter simply emphasises a matter to create motion in our sound. In fact we can create position in the stereo spread. Copy the screenshot roughly to
certain group of frequencies. We can do this in additive far more complex sounds this way. Let’s use a slower attack create a dramatic stereo image. Obviously this is just the
synthesis by drawing in a resonant peak, as shown. >> on the partials we used to create our peak in the last step. >> basics, but you can see that additive really isn’t that scary.

TUTORIAL MAY 2005 COMPUTER MUSIC | 033

CMU86.t_super 033 4/4/05 1:11:56 pm

 make music now Super synths!
PRO TIP
MIND YOUR MONITORS!
Carefree modular patching can be
hazardous to your ears and your
monitors. If you don’t know what you're
doing (or simply feel the need to
experiment), keep the volume levels
down. It's easy to accidentally patch a
loud and uncontrollable sound.
JARGON BUSTER
3WHITE NOISE
In the world of synthesis, white
noise is what you get when you
hear all frequencies
simultaneously. It’s that familiar
synthetic ‘wind’ sound that you
hear often from analogue synths.
1 Dig as deep as you like with the
undisputed king of software modulars,
Native Instruments’ mighty Reaktor
IF YOU WANT TO CREATE
SOMETHING COMPLEX AND
CONVOLUTED, MODULAR IS THE WAY
034 | COMPUTER MUSIC MAY 2005 TUTORIAL
CMU86.t_super 034
Modular synthesis
Meet our flexible friend, the modular synth. If you want complex
sounds and a huge amount of control, this one's your boy…
A
h, the modular synthesizer. The
very words evoke visions of
massive front-panels buried
behind a tangle of patch cables,
incandescent lamps winking frantically
in time to pulsating sequences, and
vast fields of knobs and switches
controlling barely tamed electrons. In
the early days of electronic music,
synthesis was limited solely to these
great, lumbering machines. They
towered above their shadowy players,
sometimes on-stage, but more often in
the studio. All of the familiar hardwired
analogue instruments that followed
were merely compromised variations on
the big modulars. In fact, the first
Minimoog designs were nothing more
than a few modules from
Moog’s flagship modulars,
brought together in a
more cost-effective and
portable package.
And while such
compromises might have
resulted in some fantastic
instruments, nothing
compares to the flexibility
of a modular machine.
Sure, most hardwired
synths offer enough
modulation options to
keep all but the most
tireless synthesist busy, but the truly
adventurous sonic explorer will
eventually reach the limitations of the
standard three-oscillator design.
Before the music software revolution,
modular synthesis required more than
just the desire to step outside of the
prefabricated signal path. It required
money, and a lot of it. A hardware
modular will set you back many
thousands of pounds for even the
smallest of systems.
As with every other area of music
production, though, computers have
changed everything. Not only are
software modulars more affordable
than their hardware counterparts,
but, in most cases, they’re far
more powerful too. With a
hardware modular, you’re limited
by what you can afford, or what
you can make room for. With a
software modular synth, you’re
limited to what your CPU can
handle. Want another oscillator?
Just right-click and call it up. Software
modulars come with a huge
complement of modules, too, which you
can rearrange at will.
All mod cons
So what’s the big deal about modular
synthesizers? Most non-modular
synthesizers feature a basic signal path,
comprising two or three oscillators, a
filter, a couple of envelopes, an LFO and
an amp. You might get a noise
generator and the odd effect processor
thrown in. Maybe you can do some re-
routing of the signal path using a
modulation matrix, but you’re limited to
the components that came with the
synth. If the allotted number of
oscillators and envelopes isn’t enough,
well, you’re out of luck.
With a modular system, you
determine how many oscillators, filters,
LFOs, and envelopes are enough. What’s
more, you make the routing decisions.
Plumbing the depths
There are a wide variety of modular
synths available. Some, like the Moog
Modular V from Arturia, are modelled
closely on the instruments of the past,
providing you with a selection of
modules that you can patch together
as needed. The modules themselves
are complete.
There is another sort of modular
available, though, that takes advantage
of the unprecedented power and
flexibility of software. These are the
modular ‘environments’ like NI's
Reaktor, Applied Acoustics’ Tassman
and Jeff McClintock’s SynthEdit. These
programs allow you to get deep inside
the process, right down to the lowest
1 Vaz Modular has just about every module you
could ever dream of, and it sounds good enough
to fool even the most finicky analogue fan
Maybe you’d like an envelope after
each oscillator, but before the filter? Or
maybe you’d like to modulate the filter
resonance with an oscillator’s frequency.
It’s entirely up to you. A modular system
provides you with the building blocks,
and it’s up to you to make something
out of them. When creating a patch on
a modular instrument, you’re not just
tweaking a few parameters, but
designing the instrument itself to suit
your particular needs.
Modular synthesis is not for the
fainthearted. It requires some foresight
and dedication. When you’re in the heat
of inspiration and just need a quick
bass sound, it might be better to turn to
a fixed signal path instrument. However,
if you want to create something
complex and convoluted, then modular
is the only way to go.
level of design. You decide how many
knobs to put on the front panel, or how
many stages the envelope module
should have. You’re in control of the
design of the modules themselves.
On the surface, these programs are
as easy to use as traditional systems,
but if you choose to take full control,
they can offer unparalleled sonic power.
They’re not to be approached lightly,
however. Some of them, such as
Cycling ’74’s MAX/MSP or C-Sound, are
more accurately described as
programming languages rather than
musical instruments. If you have what it
takes to dig in, though, you may never
need to buy another synth again.
4/4/05 1:12:02 pm
 Super synths! make music
Q&A focus
now

STEP BY STEP Patch building with the Moog Modular V

1 2 3
When it comes to modular synthesizers, Moog It’s up to you to remove the patch cords from the patch To start with, drag a cable from the sawtooth output of
instruments have traditionally ruled the roost. Now, you (the Moog simply copies the previously selected patch an oscillator to the input of an envelope module. Some
probably don’t have a IIIc looming in front of you, but to a new one). Do so by right-clicking the connections of the MMV’s envelopes have built-in VCAs, which
you can get very close with Arturia’s Moog Modular V. So and selecting Remove connections from the menu. We want makes life a lot easier. Play some notes. Don’t worry, the
close, in fact, that Bob Moog himself put his name on it. to start afresh in order to follow the signal flow more easily. oscillator is already connected to the keyboard! You can play
Create a new preset by right-clicking (Shift+click on Mac). >> It’s easy to get lost on a big modular! >> about with the ADSR settings of the envelope, if you like. >>

4 5 6
Let’s build a simple two-oscillator synth. Connect Play some notes. Not very interesting, is it? Let’s Set the decay (D) time of Envelope 1 to 25ms, and set
another oscillator to the mixer section and make sure modulate the filter cutoff with an envelope. Connect the up a short attack, no sustain, and a long release time.
its level is up a bit. Use whatever waveform you like. output of Envelope 1 to one of the filter’s Mod inputs. Make sure the main VCA envelope has a longer decay
Now, connect the first output of the mixer to the input of a VC Reduce the filter cutoff to around 400Hz, and crank the mod than that of Envelope 1. Add some squelch by increasing the
Low Pass Filter module. You can select from various filter input level up all the way, as shown. This is done by clicking resonance a bit. Try a value of about 9. We’ve now got a pretty
modules by clicking on the module’s name. Finally, connect on the outer edge of the Mod input and turning it. >> nice bass sound. >>
the output of the filter to the VCA input. >>

7 8 9
It’s a good sound, but it isn’t specifically ‘modular’, so Feeling brave? Connect the Random output of an LFO to Finally, connect the sawtooth output of the other LFO to
let’s get crazy with the patch cords. First, connect the the input of Oscillator 1, and increase the modulation. the resonance input of the multimode filter. Adjust the
output of the White Noise Generator to the input of the Right-click on the second filter to bring up a Multimode modulation amount to 0.38. Set the LFO rate to around
waveform outputting from the second oscillator. Increase the Filter. Select HP mode. Disconnect the first filter from the VCA 1Hz. You might want to lower the volume of the entire
pitch range of the oscillator, and crank up the modulation and reroute it through the filter, as shown. Set the cutoff of the instrument before you try it out. If all went well, you should
input you just patched into, as shown. >> filter to about 145Hz, and the resonance to about 9. >> have a spooky, pulsing sound.

TUTORIAL MAY 2005 COMPUTER MUSIC | 035

CMU86.t_super 035 4/4/05 1:12:07 pm

 make music now Super synths!
3 Acoustically modelled sitar?
You’d better believe it –
NuSofting’s EMM Knagalis serves
up a spicy stringed drone
PRO TIP
BREATH CONTROL
A breath controller is a MIDI device
that can be used to add expression.
It’s held between the teeth and senses
the force of the air being blown into
them. If you don’t have a synth with a
BC input, you’ll need an adapter. A
breath controller can bring a modelled
flute, brass or even violin patch to life.
5 Tassman lets you roll your own
modelled instruments. Acoustic, electric,
and analogue – they’re all here
Last year’s models
If physical modelling is all about
simulating complex acoustic
instruments, then why are there so
many ‘modelled analogue’ synthesizers
on the market? We often ask ourselves
that very question! The idea of using
cutting edge technology to emulate
something as relatively simple as an
analogue synth is a bit like building a
036 | COMPUTER MUSIC MAY 2005 TUTORIAL
CMU86.t_super 036
Physical Modelling
Time to decode the workings of physical modelling – it requires skill and
a good head for maths, but master it and you'll be rewarded…
S
ynthesis isn’t just about electronic
bleeps, fat basses and squelchy
lead lines. For many sound
designers, it’s also about exploring
new aural landscapes and discovering
fantastic, alien instruments that
have never existed outside of the
imagination. For others, it’s an academic
affair, a search to better their
understanding of acoustics by trying to
recreate the response of real
instruments through artificial means. For
these people, voltages simply won't do.
Undoubtedly, a few of them might turn
to additive synthesis, but the fact is that
additive is time consuming and
laborious at best.
So what do you do if you want to
create sounds from the ground up, but
need something complex
enough to simulate the
real-world behaviour of an
acoustic instrument?
The answer could lie
in the synthesis
technique known as
physical modelling.
Adding it up
Physical modelling is a
process by which the
properties of a physical
teleportation machine to go down the
pub for a pint. However, there are some
good reasons for doing it. First off, many
vintage analogue synthesizers had an
unpredictable nature about them that’s
hard to capture in, say, a sample.
Modelling is obviously ideal for the job.
Also, a real analogue synthesizer can be
expensive and cumbersome, the vintage
instrument are simulated through the
use of complex mathematical formulae.
Some of us here at cm are old enough
to remember using a simple program to
create plucked string simulations for the
old Ensoniq Mirage. That program
(which, by the way, took up no more
than a few pages of code) was based
upon the popular Karplus-Strong model.
It was not a real-time process, and it
sounded like… well, let’s just say that
our 8-bit guitar samples got more use.
Physical modelling technology has
matured considerably since. Software
versions of plucked-string instruments
abound, and there are a few PM
AN ACOUSTIC INSTRUMENT
REQUIRES A PRACTICED, SKILLED
PERFORMANCE TO SOUND GOOD
percussion synths out there as well.
Applied Acoustics’ Tassman is probably
the finest example of the technology
currently available, offering a completely
modular environment in which users
can create their acoustically modelled
instruments from the ground up. That
product has spawned other AAS
instruments, such as the Lounge Lizard
electric piano and the soon-to-be-
released String Studio.
Anyone versed only in analogue
synthesis will find modelling technology
cryptic, to say the least. A modelled
instrument will centre on a combination
of ‘exciters’ and ‘resonators’. An exciter
is something that sets a resonating
object in motion. A plectrum (or pick) is
jobs are a nightmare to maintain, and
very few manufacturers would be
prepared to take the risk of trying to
market a new one. Those who do make
the real deal charge an arm and a leg
for their instruments. And no matter how
hard you try, they just don’t fit onto your
hard drive.
That said, not all virtual analogue
an exciter, as is a bow, a mallet or a
burst of air across a reed. A guitar string
is a resonator. So are a hollow tube and
a drumhead. The cavity of the guitar’s
body is also a resonator. By creating
facsimiles of a plectrum, a string and a
hollow body, we can come up with a
pretty convincing acoustic guitar sound.
Experience required
Unfortunately, physical modelling is not
as simple (!) as just doing the maths. An
acoustic instrument requires a
practiced, skilled performance to sound
good, and so does an acoustically
modelled instrument. This may be their
downfall: not many electronic musicians
are willing to put in the time to become
skilled performers with a folder full of
modelled instruments. Plus, without the
performance factored in, the factory
presets that come with a modelled
instrument may not do it justice. We’ve
heard a lot of people complain that
sampled acoustic sounds are more
realistic than their modelled
counterparts. This may be so, but we
suspect that it comes down to the fact
that a quality modelled instrument
needs to be played. Modelled
instruments are capable of significantly
more realism than static, two-
dimensional samples, but you have to
excite them before they will excite you.
instruments are real physical models.
Many of them use a set of sampled
waveforms to drive their oscillators,
rather than generating the waveforms
mathematically in real-time. They might
be modelled after analogue
synthesizers, but they aren’t physical
models of that synthesizer, if you know
what we mean.
4/4/05 1:12:16 pm
 Super synths! make music
Q&A focus
now

STEP BY STEP Getting excited with Sculpture

1 2 3
With the limitless possibilities of physical modelling, Play a few notes on your keyboard. Even the default Return to the default setting. A Sculpture string can be
something as simple as a plucked string can yield setting is remarkable in its responsiveness and realism. excited by up to three different objects. The default
countless new and unusual timbres. Logic Pro 7 users That’s not a sample you’re hearing, but a string sound patch has only one, and that’s good for a start. See the
have access to one of the most elegant PM synths ever made mathematically modelled in software. Listen to some of the Material Pad in the centre of the instrument? You can use this
in the form of Sculpture. Open an instance of it on an Audio presets, and notice how they respond to velocity. It’s to change the sort of material that you’re synthesizing. Drag
Instrument track. >> something special, and no mistake. >> the ball about a bit and hear the results. >>

4 5 6
Note that when you drag the ball, you can see the You should now be hearing a sweet, tuned bell tone. Be Let’s have a play with the Excite/Disturb Object. This is
values of two parameters changing. One is Inner Loss, sure to play the notes at both low and high velocities. the exciter that sets the string in motion. Anything that
the other is Stiffness. Inner Loss is essentially a sort of Note the Media Loss slider on the left side of the excites a resonator can do so with varying levels of
dampening of the string. Drag the ball towards the middle- Material Pad. Turn that up while playing some notes. This intensity, and that’s where the Strength parameter comes in.
right of the Material Pad until you have an Inner Loss value of controls how much the surrounding environment dampens Play some notes while adjusting this slider to get an idea of
0.48 and a Stiffness value of 0.71. >> the sound. Bring it back down to 0.30. >> the effect, then set it to 0.36. >>

7 8 9
To the right of the Strength knob is the Impulse button. The Variation control has different effects, depending Activate Object 2. This can be used to further affect the
Click on this to reveal a menu of excite models. on what model you’ve chosen. In the case of the Strike response of our string. Just as you did before, open the
‘Impulse' models a short impulse excitation. Listen to model, variation affects the stiffness of the mallet or menu to choose the Mass excitation model. This
how the various models affect the sound. Not all of them will hammer’s felt. The great thing about modelling is that you can simulates having additional mass attached to the string. Play
sound good with all settings. Choose Strike from the menu. automate a function like this, so that the material changes as some notes while adjusting the Strength knob, and hear how
This is a mallet or hammer model. >> you play. Try doing that with a real hammer! >> it adds subtle inharmonic overtones.

TUTORIAL MAY 2005 COMPUTER MUSIC | 037

CMU86.t_super 037 4/4/05 1:12:21 pm

 make music now Super synths!
JARGON BUSTER
3MUSIQUE CONCRETE
A tape-based form of
composition. In the days before
sequencing and sampling,
sounds and tones of different
pitches were recorded to lengths
of magnetic tape, then cut and
spliced together in the desired
order. Sounds familiar, doesn’t it?
3OFFLINE PROCESSING
Processes that require more
computational power than is
available are often performed
offline. This simply means that
the effect is rendered as audio
and not calculated in real-time.
GRANULAR SYNTHESIS ENTAILS
BREAKING A SOUND UP INTO TINY
PARTICLES OF SHORT DURATION
1 Granulab has everything you’d ever
expect from a modern granular synth,
except the inflated price
038 | COMPUTER MUSIC MAY 2005 TUTORIAL
CMU86.t_super 038
Granular synthesis
Granular synthesis allows you to really get inside your sound, by
breaking it down into tiny particles that you can mess with…
G
ranular synthesis is real cutting-
edge, high-tech, ultra-modern
stuff, right? Actually, no. It might
surprise you to learn that the basic
theory that fuels granular synthesis has
been around for many years. Decades
even. The method by which sound can
be broken down into tiny grains goes at
least as far back as 1947, when a
British physicist by the name of Dennis
Gabor suggested the possibility of a sort
of ‘sonic quantum’. This idea influenced
avant-garde composer Iannis Xenakis to
attempt an early form of granular
synthesis using tape-splicing
techniques. Recordings were
made to the tape, which was
then cut into tiny segments and
rearranged out of order.
It began to get interesting
when a man named Curtis Roads
began to experiment with
computer-generated granular
synthesis. It was a very slow
process, often taking weeks to
create a short
monaural segment.
Yet the seeds were
sown. It wasn’t long before
the first real-time granular
synthesis was realised by
Barry Truax. This momentous
event occurred in 1986 and
marked the beginning of the
wider availability and
understanding of granular techniques
among electronic musicians.
Particles of power
As we alluded to above, granular
synthesis entails breaking a sound up
into tiny particles of very short duration
(generally only a few milliseconds).
These particles, or grains, can then be
separated, rearranged and played back
as a new timbre. The result is often very
Graintable
manners
Introduced in version 2.0 of
Propellerhead’s Reason software
studio, Malström draws upon a new
twist on granular synthesis called
‘graintable'. A hybrid between a
granular synth and a wavetable synth,
Malström is capable of rich, evolving
timbres reminiscent of the Waldorf
Microwave series.
What is graintable synthesis? Well,
perhaps we should talk a little about
wavetable synthesis. Contrary to
popular misconception, wavetable
synthesis is not simply ROMpler-style
sample playback; it actually involves
scanning a complex series of
waveforms stored in memory.
Waveform selection is determined by
the start and end positions within the
wavetable. By using a controller such
as an envelope to change these
values in real-time, you can create
everything from long, evolving textures
to violent timbral shifts.
Malström uses a granular variant
of wavetable synthesis. It looks and
behaves not unlike a classic
wavetable synth, but uses more
esoteric granular techniques to get
you there, and then spices up the
stew with subtractive elements.
Regardless of the nomenclature,
or what's going on beneath the
surface, Malström is one of the best
things about Reason.
5 Malström combines granular and wavetable
synthesis to create one amazing synth
unearthly indeed. The source material
can be any sound at all. It could be a
sample, a synthesized waveform, or
even an audio input.
Every granular synth or sampler will
be different, but common parameters
you can expect to control are grain
density and duration, and sometimes
offset or jitter of things like start time,
panning, pitch and amplitude.
There are quite a few granular synths
out there, and a surprising number of
them are free. This is perhaps due to
their prominence in academic circles,
where research, not profit, is the guiding
force. If you’re in the mood to try
something new, but are strapped for
cash, you could do worse than Rasmus
Ekmun’s Granulab 1 for Windows.
There’s a shareware version with a bit
more oomph, but even the freeware
version is impressively feature-laden.
Grab it at http://hem.passagen.se/
rasmuse/Granny.htm.
Another Windows freebie worthy of
note is Nicolas Fournel’s Granulator.
With MIDI control and the ability to
import audio, not to mention a simple,
easy-to-follow interface, Granulator will
have you up and running in no time.
If you’re more inclined towards
graphical programming environments,
then check out PD from www-crca.
ucsd.edu/~msp/software.html. This is
an incredibly deep, low-level toolkit for
creating your own sonic widgets,
including granular instruments. Heady
stuff, for sure, but it won’t cost you a
penny. Mac OS X, Windows and even
Linux users are catered for.
There are also many commercial
products that make use of granular
synthesis. We’ve covered CrusherX in
cm before, and it’s still a worthy
investment for the experimentally
inclined sound designer. Find out
more at www.crusher-x.de.
In addition, many of Native
Instruments’ offerings have
granular capabilities tucked
away under the hood. Kontakt
makes use of the technique in
its sampling engine, while
Absynth uses granular sampling as
fodder for way-out sound sculpture.
Reaktor, of course, offers plenty of
granular modules that you can patch
together to make custom contraptions.
Speaking of which, Windows users
can also use Ross Bencina’s
Audiomulch, a cracking modular VST
host with a brace of built-in modules,
including some granular effects.
Download a time-limited beta from
www.audiomulch.com. cm
4/4/05 1:12:29 pm
 Super synths! make music
Q&A focus
now

STEP BY STEP Grain surgery with Absynth

1 2 3
Native Instruments’ Absynth 3 can do just about Click on the Patch tab to navigate to the Patch editor. Click in the field just below the Mode field. This is
anything. Subtractive, FM and even simple additive Click on the Mode setting and select Granular from the where you load your sample. We’ve provided a choir
synthesis are all here, so it should come as no surprise menu of available options. You won’t hear anything yet, sample in the Tutorial files folder on the cover DVD.
that it also does a nice line in granular synthesis. Open because we haven’t given Absynth anything to work with. >> Load that in and click on the circle next to the sample field to
Absynth and initialise the sound by choosing New from the select stereo playback. >>
File menu. Once again, let’s start with a sine wave. >>

4 5 6
Play some notes to hear the sample. If you listen At the top of the Mod parameters is one marked The density of the grains is set with the Dens
carefully, you’ll notice that, unlike a traditional sample, Time %. This governs the playback rate of the sample. parameter. The more grains you have, the thicker the
the duration of the granulated sample does not Have a play with it by dragging the up/down arrows. sound will be. A setting of 8 will allow you to make
change as it is played across the keyboard. This is one of the Since this is a fairly even sound, you won't hear too much of a classic ‘grain clouds’, but will also eat up a bit more CPU.
most commonly used features of granular synthesis. Of difference until you get to the very lowest speeds. At 0, We’ve decided it’s worth it – no cycles will be spared in our
course, we want to make unusual sounds, so click on the playback is frozen on the first sample. You could approximate quest for the bizarre. >>
Mod tab to see the granular oscillator’s parameters. >> Reason's Malström by adjusting the sample start playback. >>

7 8 9
Let’s take a look at the Grain Size function. This Half the fun of granular synthesis is in the random Finally, we’ve levelled some chaos at the pitch of the
controls how small the individual grains are. Very playback of grains. Here, we’ve set the r time to 100. grains by setting the r freq parameter to 17. We’ve also
low values will produce something very unlike the This will affect how often each grain is played back. increased the size of the grains to 1625. We now have
original sample – a sort of thick, noisy sound. But hey, if We’ve also imposed randomness on the amplitude of the a sound reminiscent of our vocal sample but far more
we wanted something like the original sample, we’d have grains by setting the r amp value to 69. >> unusual. Try playing with Absynth’s other functions to further
used a sampler! >> enhance your patch.

TUTORIAL MAY 2005 COMPUTER MUSIC | 039

CMU86.t_super 039 4/4/05 1:12:34 pm