Cymbal synthesis in Gen ?

Arabrab's icon

Anyone know how this could be done in Gen?
http://www.mcld.co.uk/cymbalsynthesis/

brendan mccloskey's icon

This is just off the top of my head Barbara; are you asking if the actual Supercollider code can be 'ported' into Gen's codebox, or are you looking for a more subjective interpretation of the synthesis algorithm in gen? Either way, there are plenty of contributors here (not me sadly) who could help you with the first approach. As for the second, have you played with the gen examples in your Cycling74 folder? I would make the filters and envelopes in gen, then randomise the key parameters and put the whole thing inside a poly~. As long as the voice patch is simple, Max should be able to cope with 100 voices.

Sorry not to be more specifc; that is a good explanation of sound synthesis you found, by the way.

Brendan

brendan mccloskey's icon

in fact, I might have a stab at this later this evening . . .

Arabrab's icon

Thanks, Brendan!!!

brendan mccloskey's icon

. . . . it may take a little while longer; resonant filters aren't as simple to implement in gen~ as I presumed - but still doable.

djlbe's icon

I tried resonators~ from CNMAT and a reson~ inside a poly but it's hard to set, I get better results with resonators~

brendan mccloskey's icon

Hi Barbara
I've had some success with building a resonator in gen~, and sticking to the SC code in the link you provided I have something "like" a cymbal, but I am having just a little trouble applying exponential curves (to things like the random distribution of centre frequencies and the decaying of higher frequencies - in fact what I have so far sounds nothing like a cymbal tbh).

I'll post a patch soon

Brendan

brendan mccloskey's icon

Back again Barbara.

Attached is a zip file with my sketches so far. The gen~ patch is a simple resonator, with [noise~] and [onepole~] LPF outside it, all wrapped up in a 100 voice [poly~]. Nowhere near a cymbal sound, but as far as I can go at the moment. If you need an explanation of how to build LPF/HPF in gen~, that is simple. And there's also a description of curving functions, for the frequency distribution and LPF/HPF filter envelopes (for my own learning!). It becomes apparent that these are the key parameters in cymbal synthesis; even from Dan Stowell's concise description, cymbals are almost chaotic. 'Shimmer' is key.

HTH

Brendan

barbara.zip
zip
Arabrab's icon

Oh Thanks Brendan , is a different approach and can be very useful.
: )