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For those who are interested in this topic, I highly recommend checking out VCV Rack, an open source application that lets you build Eurorack-style virtual modu

For those who are interested in this topic, I highly recommend checking out VCV Rack, an open source application that lets you build Eurorack-style virtual modular synthesizers: https://vcvrack.com/ https://vcvrack.com/ I've been going down this rabbit hole lately and it's really fascinating.

gylterud 7y ago
Software modular synth is really good for learning about sound and signal. I use Alsa Modular Synth[0], which has its faults, but has a simpler interface than VCV Rack. I use it some times even to filter my voice when role-playing monsters on our online dungeons & dragons game (I love how easy these things are to do with JACK on Linux, used to do something similar in PulseAudio with LADSPA filters, but it was much more of a pain). That said, I got myself a Moog Mother-32[1] recently, which is a hardware semi-modular synth, and I found it much more musical than software alternatives. I could immediately create much more musical pieces than I could with the software – even though I have MIDI peripherals for the software and the software can create any module I can imagine. [0] http://alsamodular.sourceforge.net/ http://alsamodular.sourceforge.net/ [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mother-32 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mother-32
- pdkl95 7y ago
  > Alsa Modular Synth Another good option is SunVox; it's part modular synth, part tracker in a really cool UI. It includes a bunch of simple examples that demonstrate how to use the synth modules. http://www.warmplace.ru/soft/sunvox/ http://www.warmplace.ru/soft/sunvox/
- TheSpiceIsLife 7y ago
  Slightly off topic. I just added a link in that Wikipedia entry to the the Phone_connector_(audio) entry at the first occurrence of phone jack because I'd never seem that connector referred to by that exact phrase. Back to the topic at hand. I've played with software gizmos, and recently picked up three secondhand units from the Korg Volca range. I'm not particularly musically talented, trying to change that over time, I find the physical controls way way way more intuitive.
xtagon 7y ago
Since a lot of people here are technical, here's a fun tip: VCV Rack stores the rack as a (somewhat) human-readable JSON file. A couple of friends and I are experimenting with collaborating using Github and pull requests.
- infogulch 7y ago
  That's pretty cool. How well do merges work if two commits change the same file?
  - xtagon 7y ago
    I tried it and only ran into a couple of issues: 1. I was using VCV Rack on Windows, but I think my friend was not, so you may need to tweak Git's line ending settings 2. Some changes you just don't want to merge. The other person could have different audio output settings. There can also be rounding errors in the knob values so sometimes the values can be edited slightly even if they were 1.0 before, even if you don't think you changed them, which makes merges a little noisier. But `git add -p` made short work of cleaning that up. Edit: This is also assuming that you coordinate who takes turns editing at one given time - "ping pong" is easier than free for all.
cousin_it 7y ago
This winter I went down this rabbit hole and back up, trying to approximate some acoustic instrument sounds. I went through a succession of different workflows, spending a couple weeks on each. Workflow 1: feed a sawtooth oscillator through filters controllable with knobs. Eventually I realized that it will always sound mechanical, no matter how many filters you stack. That led to Workflow 2: feed a sawtooth oscillator through a convolution reverb that uses a custom impulse response. For impulse responses, use random sounds downloaded from the internet (like wood strikes), or mixtures of existing instrument sounds. But that felt limiting, so I moved on to Workflow 3: generate an impulse response wav file with Python, and use that in a convolution reverb to filter the sawtooth. This gave me some more interesting and configurable echoes, but then why start with an oscillator at all? So Workflow 4: write code to generate the sound on the fly, as a sequence of samples. This way I can mimic some nice properties of physical sounds, like "the nth harmonic has initial amplitude 1/n and decay time 1/n". Also I can get inharmonicity, smearing of harmonics (like in PADsynth algorithm), and other nice things that are out of reach if you start with periodic oscillators. If I could go back and give advice to my months-younger self, I'd tell me to skip oscillators and filters, and jump straight into generating the sound with code. You need to learn some math about how sound works, but then you'll be unstoppable. For example, here's a short formula I came up with a month ago for generating a pluck-like sound: https://jsfiddle.net/yd4nv5Ls/ https://jsfiddle.net/yd4nv5Ls/ It's much simpler than doing the same with prebuilt bricks. The whole experience made me suspect that there's an alternative approach to building modular synths, based on physical facts about sound (as opposed to either starting with oscillators, or going all the way to digital modeling of strings and bows). It would be similar to physically based rendering in graphics: for example, it would enforce a physically correct relationship between how high a harmonic is and how long it rings, and maybe some other relationship about what happens to harmonics at the start of the sound, etc. But I'm not an expert and can't figure out fully how such a synth would work.
- Synaesthesia 7y ago
  FM synthesis can generate a very broad array of sounds. A lot of the time you get bad results but if you’re looking for something that can make all kinds of different sounds that’s one option. There are actually so many synthesis techniques, you should download some software synths and take a listen. Really fun stuff

gylterud 7y ago

Software modular synth is really good for learning about sound and signal. I use Alsa Modular Synth[0], which has its faults, but has a simpler interface than VCV Rack. I use it some times even to filter my voice when role-playing monsters on our online dungeons & dragons game (I love how easy these things are to do with JACK on Linux, used to do something similar in PulseAudio with LADSPA filters, but it was much more of a pain). That said, I got myself a Moog Mother-32[1] recently, which is a hardware semi-modular synth, and I found it much more musical than software alternatives. I could immediately create much more musical pieces than I could with the software – even though I have MIDI peripherals for the software and the software can create any module I can imagine. [0] http://alsamodular.sourceforge.net/ http://alsamodular.sourceforge.net/ [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mother-32 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mother-32

pdkl95 7y ago
> Alsa Modular Synth Another good option is SunVox; it's part modular synth, part tracker in a really cool UI. It includes a bunch of simple examples that demonstrate how to use the synth modules. http://www.warmplace.ru/soft/sunvox/ http://www.warmplace.ru/soft/sunvox/
TheSpiceIsLife 7y ago
Slightly off topic. I just added a link in that Wikipedia entry to the the Phone_connector_(audio) entry at the first occurrence of phone jack because I'd never seem that connector referred to by that exact phrase. Back to the topic at hand. I've played with software gizmos, and recently picked up three secondhand units from the Korg Volca range. I'm not particularly musically talented, trying to change that over time, I find the physical controls way way way more intuitive.

xtagon 7y ago

Since a lot of people here are technical, here's a fun tip: VCV Rack stores the rack as a (somewhat) human-readable JSON file. A couple of friends and I are experimenting with collaborating using Github and pull requests.

infogulch 7y ago
That's pretty cool. How well do merges work if two commits change the same file?
- xtagon 7y ago
  I tried it and only ran into a couple of issues: 1. I was using VCV Rack on Windows, but I think my friend was not, so you may need to tweak Git's line ending settings 2. Some changes you just don't want to merge. The other person could have different audio output settings. There can also be rounding errors in the knob values so sometimes the values can be edited slightly even if they were 1.0 before, even if you don't think you changed them, which makes merges a little noisier. But `git add -p` made short work of cleaning that up. Edit: This is also assuming that you coordinate who takes turns editing at one given time - "ping pong" is easier than free for all.

cousin_it 7y ago

This winter I went down this rabbit hole and back up, trying to approximate some acoustic instrument sounds. I went through a succession of different workflows, spending a couple weeks on each. Workflow 1: feed a sawtooth oscillator through filters controllable with knobs. Eventually I realized that it will always sound mechanical, no matter how many filters you stack. That led to Workflow 2: feed a sawtooth oscillator through a convolution reverb that uses a custom impulse response. For impulse responses, use random sounds downloaded from the internet (like wood strikes), or mixtures of existing instrument sounds. But that felt limiting, so I moved on to Workflow 3: generate an impulse response wav file with Python, and use that in a convolution reverb to filter the sawtooth. This gave me some more interesting and configurable echoes, but then why start with an oscillator at all? So Workflow 4: write code to generate the sound on the fly, as a sequence of samples. This way I can mimic some nice properties of physical sounds, like "the nth harmonic has initial amplitude 1/n and decay time 1/n". Also I can get inharmonicity, smearing of harmonics (like in PADsynth algorithm), and other nice things that are out of reach if you start with periodic oscillators. If I could go back and give advice to my months-younger self, I'd tell me to skip oscillators and filters, and jump straight into generating the sound with code. You need to learn some math about how sound works, but then you'll be unstoppable. For example, here's a short formula I came up with a month ago for generating a pluck-like sound: https://jsfiddle.net/yd4nv5Ls/ https://jsfiddle.net/yd4nv5Ls/ It's much simpler than doing the same with prebuilt bricks. The whole experience made me suspect that there's an alternative approach to building modular synths, based on physical facts about sound (as opposed to either starting with oscillators, or going all the way to digital modeling of strings and bows). It would be similar to physically based rendering in graphics: for example, it would enforce a physically correct relationship between how high a harmonic is and how long it rings, and maybe some other relationship about what happens to harmonics at the start of the sound, etc. But I'm not an expert and can't figure out fully how such a synth would work.

Synaesthesia 7y ago
FM synthesis can generate a very broad array of sounds. A lot of the time you get bad results but if you’re looking for something that can make all kinds of different sounds that’s one option. There are actually so many synthesis techniques, you should download some software synths and take a listen. Really fun stuff