Spectral Synthesis – Introduction and Approaches
How to understand and use the spectrogram in a spectral synthesizer, demonstrated in Izotope Iris and Camel Audio Alchemy.
Spectral modeling synthesis or simply SMS is an acoustic modeling approach for speech and other signals.
SMS considers sounds as a combination of harmonic content and noise content. Harmonic components are identified based on peaks in the frequency spectrum of the signal, normally as found by the short-time Fourier transform. The signal that remains following removal of the spectral components, sometimes referred to as the residual, is then modeled as white noise passed through a time-varying filter. The output of the model, then, are the frequencies and levels of the detected harmonic components and the coefficients of the time-varying filter.
Intuitively, the model can be applied to many types of audio signals. Speech signals, for example, include slowly-changing harmonic sounds caused by vibration of the vocal cords plus wideband, noise-like sounds caused by the lips and mouth. Musical instruments also produce sounds containing both harmonic componenents and percussive, noise-like sounds when the notes are struck or changed.
Bugbrand modular studio jamming
Background info:
“Working on a track with my best bud Stefen Keen. Aka Unicorn Dream Attack aka chromedrone”
“Jamming in the studio with Paul Birken.”
Chip time: Defame & Nathan Monk [Circuit Bent Beats]
Defame and Nathan Monk present [Circuit Bent Beats]. A collaborative experimental project based around Defame sampling and chopping/looping sounds recorded by Monk through various circuit bent objects; kids toys, turntables, etc. The 5 song EP will be available 3.27.12 via audiorecon.net and defame.bandcamp.com.
New effect plug-in that turns any sound into melodic material
Sinevibes has announced the release of Reactive, its new AudioUnit effect plug-in that turns any sound into melodic material as previewed a couple of weeks back.
Reactive detects the input signal’s dynamic envelope, and converts it into pitch information via an eight-note keyboard matrix. The pitch and envelope are then simultaneously used to drive three distinct synthesizer engines featuring waveshape modeling, phase modulation, and subtractive with ring modulation. Sinevibes says that all this is easily accessible via a simple color-coded interface, and lets Reactive instantly create amazing new sounds – from synth and bass lines, pulsating drones, and stepped pitch glides, to glitches, blips, wobbles, and noises – which are all lively reacting to the input.
Sinevibes says that Reactive is great for:
- Using any sound’s dynamics to generate melodies, strums and arpeggios.
- Transforming rhythm and percussion parts into synth and bass lines.
- Creating unique instruments and effects in realtime out of vocal beat-boxing or even simple microphone tapping.
Reactive works with Logic, GarageBand, Live, Maschine, Studio One, ReNoise, Reaper, Bidule and other Mac software that supports AudioUnit effect plugins. It comes in 32/64 bit versions for both Intel and PPC, and requires OS X version 10.5 or later.
Pricing and Availability:
Reactive is available immediately for $29.
More information:
The Ghost of Faffner Hall “Thomas Dolby”
Thomas Dolby Explains Synthesizers on Kid’s Show
When Farkas buys a robot to help him get rid of the musicians of Faffner Hall on Make a New Sound Day, the gang borrows some parts from the robot to construct a synthesizer so they can make all kinds of new sounds. Fughetta doesn’t understand how a synthesizer works so the Wild Impressario turns to his best source, Thomas Dolby, to explain it to her.
80′s Retro Drummer – new collection of 80′s drum samples
Zenhiser has announced 80′s Retro Drummer, a collection of 80′s drum samples.
Fresh from the Zenhiser studio comes a 80′s drum kit that will simply blow you away. The attention to detail on these 80′s drum sounds is second to none and literally took us weeks to produce using the same concept and tricks that were used back in the 80′s by high end studios and producers. ’80′s Retro Drummer’ is a drum kit that not only sounds like it was created in the eighties but stands up against any modern drum kit.
Clocking in at just over 390 authentic 80′s drum sounds means this sample pack is an all in one pack for all producers and remixers. With styles and techniques used by some of the pioneers of the 80s including Phil Collins, Howard Jones, Depeche Mode, Simple Minds, Duran Duran, Human League, Tears For Fears, Art Of Noise, Steve Winwood and more this is a sample pack with a decade of pure 80′s drum history.
The sample pack is available to purchase for $30 USD.
Wired interviews Rebecca Allen: creator of Kraftwerk computer graphics
When Kraftwerk needed a video to match its electronic music nearly three decades ago, the band turned to Rebecca Allen, a pioneer in the field of computer art. Allen was the creative genius at the helm for 1986′s “Musique Non Stop,” one of the earliest examples of rendered 3-D graphics in a music video.
Creating the milestone video, which made Allen a major force behind the German band’s visual aesthetic in the ’80s, was a painstaking process that took nearly two years for Allen and her team at the New York Institute of Technology’s Computer Graphics Laboratory to complete.
“Nowadays you can pretty easily digitize a 3-D object,” said Allen in an interview with Wired. “Back then, it was a very crafted process. I would have to put little pieces of tape over the models…. Then you put it in this reference cube, and then point by point you’d digitize.”
Read whole article at Wired
A whole bunch of new videos from Image Line
Without really having the space to feature all the new videos that the guys behind FL Studio has launched on their Youtube channel – we at least tried to pick some of the best one for your enjoyment right here:
See here – http://www.image-line.com/documents/harmless.html
Get it here – http://www.image-line.com/documents/autogun.html
4294967296 (Four Billion Two Hundred Ninety Four Million Nine Hundred Sixty Seven Thousand Two Hundred Ninety Six) presets!
More here – http://www.image-line.com/documents/slicex.html
Performance by Electroconductor – http://www.electroconductor.com
More info here – http://www.image-line.com/documents/directwave.html
Casio XW-P1 Tutorial: Basic Navigation
In this video we take you on a quick tour of the front panel of the Casio XW-P1 Performance Synthesizer. Selecting Performances and Tones, making quick edits, using the arpeggiator and phrase sequencer. This is the first in a series of videos on the XW-P1.
Daniel Fisher plays the XW-P1 using a preset that he created. A quick tribute to Shine On by Pink Floyd
Dubstep Massive – new sound library by Industrial Strength Records
Loopmasters has introduced Dubstep Massive, a sound library by Industrial Strength Records.
It’s time for the Brooklyn sound collective to get dark and dirty with a hot source of fresh loops and patches for any modern Dubstep producer. Dubstep Massive features Bot Audio Loops and NI Massive Presets — it’s like having two packs in one.
This monster pack is loaded with tight drum loops, heavy baselines, and downright infectious synth melodies — All keyed and tempo-matched in 24-bit, 44.1kHz Acid Wav and Apple Loops.
With a mind-blowing set of 90 hard-hitting NI Massive patches, you’ll get Womps, Risers, Sub Drops, Chainsaws, Wobbles, Wubs and Talking bass sounds. We even included a handful of string and pad patches for Logic ES2 – Just listen for em in the Patch Demo!
Dubstep Massive is available to purchase for £23.95 GBP. The Massive patches are also sold separately for £14.95 GBP.
Full Zip Contains:
- 12 6Blocc Promo Samples
- 116 Bass Loops and Samples
- 07 Drop Riffs
- 262 Drum Samples and Loops
- 104 Effects Samples and Loops
- 12 ISR WAV Bonus files
- 74 Melodic Samples and Loops
- 06 Organ Donar Samples
- 123 REX2 Drum Loops
- 08 Soroka Flexi Track samples
- 05 The Swell Flexi Track Samples
- 57 Vocal Loops and Samples
- 04 Womps
- 443 Apple Loops
- 2 Battery Kits
- 2 EXS24 Kits
- 2 Maschine Kits
- 15 Kontakt Kits
- 5 Logic ES2 Kits
- 56 Masive Patches
- 21 Bonus ISR Patches
DATAMASKIN
