An Introduction to Music Technology

Chapter 12: Synthesis Techniques

Examples and Resources

Additive Synthesis

Simple additive synthesis examples [45 sec. YouTube video]—1) harmonic partials built up one by one and then played as one note (sawtooth), and 2) inharmonic partials built up one by one and then played as one note (bell-like)
Additive synthesis short musical phrases [50 sec. YouTube video]—1) a harmonic tone is played, then split between the left and right speakers, then the individual partials glissando, and finally the original tone comes back together; 2) an inharmonic note is struck like a bell, then the same partials are played top to bottom, and finally a short musical phrase utilizes both articulations.

Subtractive Synthesis

Subtractive Synthesis Examples [1 min. YouTube video]—Two subtractive synthesis examples: 1) White noise is filtered by bandpass filters, first with very wide bandwidths and then a second and third time with smaller bandwidths, yielding a whistle-like tone; 2) A buzzy tone with equal amplitude partials, then filtered with bandpass filters whose center frequencies match vocal formants (spectral peaks).

Talk Box

A Talk Box Sampler [1.25 min. YouTube video]—several examples of a talk box in popular music (covered under Fair Use).
Peter Frampton GEICO commercial (YouTube)
Exerpt of Peter Frampton guitar solo (YouTube)
Stevie Wonder talk box solo (YouTube)
The Talk Box FAQ (includes audio examples)

Vocoder

A Vocoder Sampler [1.5 min. YouTube video]—several examples of a vocoder in popular music (covered under Fair Use).
Vocoded Kennedy [ 30 sec. YouTube video]—A Vocoder example (using Reason's BV512): 1) A short excerpt of a speech by President John F. Kennedy, 2) A chord on a synthesizer pad, 3) Kennedy's voice shaping the spectrum of the synth chords. In Reason's terminology, the synth chords are the "carrier" and Kennedy's voice is the "modulator".
Vocoder Reason example—Reason file and audio file necessary to create the JFK example.
Reason Vocoding 101 including some history and theory
BV512 tutorial—article in Sound On Sound magazine
Images of classic analog synth vocoders

Frequency Modulation Synthesis

Basic FM Examples [1.25 min. YouTube video]—1) from vibrato to complex tone—a 325 Hz sine wave (carrier) starts with a vibrato of 5 Hz (modulator), as the vibrato increases, a complex tone develops until it arrives at a harmonic spectrum with a fundamental of 65 Hz; 2) same as before but focused on the ending where the harmonic spectrum develops; 3) a 325 Hz carrier and 65 Hz modulator starts with no modulation amount (0 index of modulation) and increases with each note until a harmonic spectrum with a 65 Hz fundamental is heard. Here the spectrum is always harmonic, but the sidebands grow as the index of modulation increases.
Stria (1977) by John Chowning [5 min. YouTube video]—classic electronic music composition that uses FM extensively.
Turenas (1972) by John Chowning [10 min. YouTube video]—classic electronic music composition that uses FM extensively.
Origins of FM Synthesis [4 min. YouTube video]—oral history by John Chowning his discovery of FM synthesis.
John Chowning, FM Synthesis, and the Invention of the DX7 by Max Alper
Interview with FM inventor John Chowning by Paul Lehrman from Mix Magazine
An Introduction to Frequency Modulation from Sound On Sound magazine
An Introduction to FM by Bill Schottstaedt (quite technical)

Physical Modeling Synthesis

Physical Models in Csound [15 sec. YouTube video]—Short musical example featuring simple physically-modeled instruments including a drum, a clarinet, a flute, and a bass guitar. Coded in Csound by Hans Mikelson; Csound files can be found here. [audio]
Physical Modeling Synthesis in Logic's Sculpture [1.5 min. YouTube video] —Examples of physical modeling in Logic's Sculpture synth: 1) a simple melody played using different struck materials, 2) a simple melody played using different ways of activating the material.
Performance by Matt Traum using the Morrison Digital Trumpet (MDT) on Yamaha VL70-m phyiscal modeling synth—notice the natural performance features of the patches like the falls and shakes of the trumpet patch and the breaking up of the saxophone patch in the upper register
Perry Cook's dissertation on vocal synthesis (from the mid-1990s)—includes some fun audio examples
Audio examples that accompany Perry Cook's book Real Sound Synthesis for Interactive Applications—many are synthesized using physical modeling

Granular Synthesis/Processing

Granular Synthesis/Processing Examples [1.5 min. YouTube video]—1) a voice recording following by that same recording granulated altering both timing and pitch; 2) voice-like tones made from sine wave grains—the sine wave frequencies match vocal formant frequencies and the pitch is determined by the time between the grains; 3) a vocal tone create by a special granular synthesis method, FOF, that was designed for vocal synthesis; 4) a cloud of drum-sample grains where the time between the grains is initially uneven (asynchronous) and becomes even (synchronous) generating a pitch.
Grain Poem: Blackbird Fly [6 min. YouTube video]—an electronic piece by Dan Hosken based on a poem of the same name by EJ Graff. This piece uses granular synthesis/processing extensively using primarily voice samples.
Grain Clouds: Alchemy: Visions [ 6 min. YouTube video]—an electronic piece by Dan Hosken. This piece uses granular synthesis/processing extensively using primarily drum samples.
Grain Dance: Nuremberg Improvs [1 min. YouTube video] and Perceivable Bodies (excerpt) [1 min. YouTube video]—in each of these videos, sound files are granulated and the speed through the voice recording is controlled by the amount of a dancer's movement and the pitch of the voice recording is controlled by a dancer's height. This can be done because the pitch of the soundfile within the grain can be controlled independently from the time between grains and the start-time of the grain in the sound file.
GranularSynthesis.com has many useful resources including a brief description of the technique, a list of granular synthesis (GS) software, excerpts of several avant-garde pieces that use GS, a video introdcution to GS featuring Curtis Roads, etc.
Granular Synthesis, a brief overview by GS pioneer Barry Truax
Granulation of Sampled Sound, a brief discussion of granular processing in his work by Barry Truax