evanlivingston

For days I've been working on a patch to synthesize random timbres. Currently I'm at a point where I'm generating random partials with random ADSR envelops (thanks to MSP tutorial number 7. But I'm really only getting something that sounds like a lot of different sine waves, even if I set the higher partials to have lower volumes inversely proportional to their number etc...

I'm not after random "instrument" or "realistic" timbres, just genuinely different sounds.

Reading up on timbre it seems many instruments have partials whose frequencies waver, though I don't know by how much or where that fits in the ADSR.

Does anyone have any tips for randomly producing some serious timbres, sometimes sounding like instruments, other times sounding purely synthetic?

synthesizing-random-timbres

'm not after random "instrument" or "realistic" timbres, just genuinely different sounds.

i am still impressed by the X.FM~ patch in the examples folder. the presets are interesting but that "random" button is what keeps me coming back. that patch is a perfect example of how diverse fm synthesis really is. the clear, modular construction makes it easy to understand and butcher. on top of all that, c74 took the time to make block diagrams and thorough documentation.

its worth noting though that this patch uses buffers of waveforms stored in tiny aif files.

i am still impressed by the X.FM~ patch in the examples folder. the presets are interesting but that "random" button is what keeps me coming back. that patch is a perfect example of how diverse fm synthesis really is. the clear, modular construction makes it easy to understand and butcher. on top of all that, c74 took the time to make block diagrams and thorough documentation.
its worth noting though that this patch uses buffers of waveforms stored in tiny aif files.


Are you familiar with Quantized Modulation synthesis? The algorithm is very similar to FM, but with the modulating oscillator(s) quantized to a HFO [phasor~] via [sah~]. It's capable of some very very choatic timbres, which can also be tamed in a number of ways; I'll post a didactic patch if you're interested.

I would recommend looking into Dynamic Stochastic Synthesis, Iannis Xenakis' technique for (ideally) synthesizing all possible timbres between white noise and a sine wave without using additive synthesis. It's a good starting point for what is possible and, more importantly, what isn't with this kind of synthesis.

Hey guys , thanks for the responses. I'll look into everything.

It's actually Xeankis' stochastic processes that got me interested in creating this timbres in the first place so I'll be sure to check it out.

Hey guys , thanks for the responses. I'll look into everything. 

It's actually Xeankis' stochastic processes that got me interested in creating this timbres in the first place so I'll be sure to check it out.


synthesizing random timbres