6 ms·

The Theory and Technique of Electronic Music (2006)

313 points by ofalkaed 2y ago

nonrandomstring 2y ago
The second best book about Pure Data, so I've heard. [ Yes Miller, that's fighting talk round here too :) ] Seriously, this is a very very good place to start learning audio DSP in general because you hit the ground running, making sounds you can compose actual music with right away.
- ofalkaed 2y ago
  What is the best book? Don't think I would call this about PureData, it just uses PureData for examples and the knowledge it provides is more general.
  - nyankosensei 2y ago
    I don’t know what the best book would be, but I found this extract from Andy Farnell’s book “Designing Sound” to be a very helpful introduction to Pure Data: http://aspress.co.uk/ds/pdf/pd_intro.pdf http://aspress.co.uk/ds/pdf/pd_intro.pdf Another useful book is “Loadbang - ProgrammingElectronic Music in Pd” by Johannes Kreidler. The 2nd edition is evidently out of print, but a free download is available here: https://www.wolke-verlag.de/musikbuecher/johannes-kreidler-loadbang/ https://www.wolke-verlag.de/musikbuecher/johannes-kreidler-l...
  - nonrandomstring 2y ago
    Of course Millers is the best book, I'm just joshing. He created the language. And I'd argue it's more than just a "language", it's a creative paradigm. What's more TTEM is still available for free download from World Scientific Press, whereas MIT allowed me only to make a subset of mine free. Another thing of note; Miller has carefully conserved the development of Vanilla Pd such that every example in his book (and mine) still work exactly as they did more than 10 years ago. How many languages can boast that stability?
deleted 2y ago
[deleted]
empath75 2y ago
This is a weird title for the book, because there's very little musical content in the book at all. It's about sound synthesis and signal processing. It's audio engineering, which is a nice skill to have for music making, but it's not music theory.
- jrajav 2y ago
  Experimenting with timbre and the nature of sound itself is absolutely musical. That's a big reason why people love to listen to many different kinds of electronic music in the first place (or things like heavily distorted guitars). Music is not just about combining 12TET pitches in different ways. Everything about the experience of music is open game for creative expression.
- deleted 2y ago
  [deleted]
- sbuttgereit 2y ago
  During my university studies, I took courses in electro-accoustic music composition. Significant amounts of time dealt with synthesis and signal processing because those were critical elements in these kinds of compositions. It's absolutely different than composition for traditional instruments in this regard because the sounds you are using to compose with are being created by the composer and much as are the notes, rhythms, and structure of the composition. So for me, the title makes perfect sense.
  - Rochus 2y ago
    The first sentence of the foreword brings to the point, what the book is about: "The Theory and Technique of Electronic Music is a uniquely complete source of information for the computer synthesis of rich and interesting musical timbres." Whereas tools like Max Mathews' (btw. the author of the foreword) MUSIC programs and their successors clearly separate music composition and instrument building (i.e. sound synthesis), later tools like Max, PD or SuperCollider are blurring this difference. Nevertheless the difference is still maintained by all institutions where electronic music is studied and performed (e.g. IRCAM).
piltdownman 2y ago
Finally, I get to reference one of the few kickstarters that were worth it. "Since it's first edition in 1972, Electronic Music: Systems, Techniques and Controls has been acknowledged as the definitive text on modular synthesis" For those who missed either of the kickstarter runs, there's a reprint due via Schneider's Berlin. https://schneidersladen.de/en/allen-strange-electronic-music-redux-2023 https://schneidersladen.de/en/allen-strange-electronic-music...
chaosprint 2y ago
One of the classics and must-reads in music technology. I read it over and over again when I was building: https://glicol.org/ https://glicol.org/ One of the motivations for building Glicol is to quickly let more people understand sound synthesis and music programming in the browser. also recommand: Designing Audio Effect Plugins in C++ by Will Pirkle Audio Effects Theory, Implementation and Application By Joshua Reiss, Andrew McPherson And all the books by JULIUS O. SMITH III https://ccrma.stanford.edu/~jos/filters/Book_Series_Overview.html https://ccrma.stanford.edu/~jos/filters/Book_Series_Overview...
- pomian 2y ago
  Your "on phone" or desktop synthesizer is amazing. Thanks for that. I shared with my more musical synth type friends. Your program reminds us, of how amazing music can be, with such a simple backbone. (Just as in the case of a harmonica or whistle, where a few notes, can invoke a range of emotions.) So easy to see the results of ones own experimentation.
- Rochus 2y ago
  Thanks for pointing to Glicol; this is amazing; looks like some kind of marriage of Chuck and Faust; or to which other language would you compare it? Just looked around a bit on the sites, but didn't see a language specification. Can you provide a hint, please. Is this some kind of master or PhD work, or just a hobby project?
  - chaosprint 2y ago
    it's one of my phd works. there was a conference paper but it seems that the database of the whole conf was gone... still you can find some philosophy here: https://github.com/chaosprint/glicol https://github.com/chaosprint/glicol the glicol-cli is also a relatively special work: https://github.com/glicol/glicol-cli https://github.com/glicol/glicol-cli
    - Rochus 2y ago
      Is there a link or copy of the conference paper or the PhD thesis?
_spduchamp 2y ago
There are so many resources around timbrel construction and manipulation, but never enough about the rhythmic domain. This book being another example. I've read Godfried Toussaint's book, and looking for more recommendations in this area. I've been tinkering with a cybernetic folk drumming project, and trying to create rhythms using oscillators, with beats triggered at zero-crossings, so I can build and manipulated patterns in real-time. (demo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yVlgPoTpL94 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yVlgPoTpL94) Results have been interesting, but perhaps not "good" in Toussaint's sense. I'm hoping to find a model that works better. Advice and pointers appreciated.
- qmmmur 2y ago
  Sounds like you might be interested in Mark Fell?
  - _spduchamp 2y ago
    Yup.
- chaosprint 2y ago
  McLean, Alex, Giovanni Fanfani, and Ellen Harlizius-Klück. "Cyclic patterns of movement across weaving, epiplokē and live coding." Dancecult: Journal of Electronic Dance Music Culture 10.1 (2018). McLean, Alex. "Algorithmic Pattern." NIME. 2020.
- ofalkaed 2y ago
  Creating Rhythms by Hollos and Hollos. I am not much of a fan of it but my expectations were high, the person who recommended it to me made it out to be exactly what I was looking for and it was not at all what I was looking for. It primarily focuses on things of Euclidean Rhythms ilk, simple to execute but can be quite effective. Despite not being what I was after I think I got my $10 worth.
  - _spduchamp 2y ago
    I too bought this book and was somewhat disappointed. Some of the algorithms seems too contrived and specific. (All the code is here: https://abrazol.com/books/rhythm1/software.html https://abrazol.com/books/rhythm1/software.html) I guess my wish would be a companion to Geometry of Musical Rhythm with lots implementations of code to demonstrate concepts. Euclidean Rhythm implementations seem to be everywhere, but there is SO MUCH MORE to cover. Still, I'm kind of stuck on this idea that there may be a way to map the discrete mathematics of this rhythm stuff into a continuous mathematics for more natural and fluid rhythmic expression. It's just a theory and a few experiments so far.
vunderba 2y ago
If anyone's interested in a more hands-on approach towards learning how to build patches from basic oscillators, etc., I can highly recommend Syntorial. https://www.syntorial.com https://www.syntorial.com
- brudgers 2y ago
  I recommend a Behringer 2600. The Arp 2600 was designed to facilitate learning synthesis. And hardware is a useful abstraction.
  - chaosprint 2y ago
    I would choose Korg instead. Support originality.
    - brudgers 2y ago
      Korg is not Arp. It paid a license fee for fifty year old brand named after a dead man. If the Korg is right for you, that’s cool with me. My B2600 sits on my desk. I don’t need a rolling case and I already have monitors for when I am not using headphones. In my opinion, Behringer designed a new more capable instrument and Korg made the 2600 Mini a less capable one by intent (missing everything that was on Arp’s keyboards) to avoid cannibalizing sales of the premium full size version. And, the Korg has a copy of the Moog ladder filter. [1] Lots of guitars are shaped like Stratocasters and Telecasters. Synthesizers.com sells knockoffs of Moog modules. Your DAW probably has a Rhodes VST or two. [1] When Alan R Perlman built the first 2600’s for Tonus (before changing the name of his company to “Arp”), he copied Bob Moog’s ladder filter. Moog sued for patent infringement. Perlman had to change the filter and that’s what most original 2600’s have.
aanet 2y ago
What a fantastic thread! Thanks for all the comments + resources. <3 <3
- deleted 2y ago
  [deleted]
aanet 2y ago
Apart from the Books quoted below (thanks!!) - are there video resources / tutorials / online courses that knowledgeable folks would recommend? Particularly on thery + praxis of state of the art? Many Thanks!!
- RossBencina 2y ago
  Re Theory and Praxis, Thor Magnusson's recent books come to mind: https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/sonic-writing-9781501313868/ https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/sonic-writing-9781501313868/ https://livecodingbook.toplap.org/ https://livecodingbook.toplap.org/
  - aanet 2y ago
    Thank you THANK YOU!! This is fantastic, esp. the Live Coding. I was looking for something like this. Immediately downloaded it. Gonna check Thor Magnusson book as well. <3
smoyer 2y ago
I have this book and used the ideas from it to create a synth using 12 GI AY-3-8910 chips for a total of 36 voices. Might have been 25-30 years ago. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Instrument_AY-3-8910 https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Instrument_AY-3-8910
aa-jv 2y ago
This was a classic, must-read book back in the day .. but these days, I think that Loopops Incomplete Guide of Electronic Music Ideas, Tips and Tricks is a better investment of ones time. Its just more broadly applicable and far more dense in terms of tooling and methodology. https://www.docdroid.net/3K4UL8i/loopop-toc-pdf https://www.docdroid.net/3K4UL8i/loopop-toc-pdf In general, screeds documenting the theory and technique of electronic music would be better served if their authors didn't orient the works around a particular tool or method - such as Puredata, in this case. Even those PD is indeed an extremely powerful tool, its not really all-encompassing when it comes to making Electronic Music - its a digital tool, and electronic music covers the gamut from analog to digital and beyond...
kazinator 2y ago
> Finally, a realizable filter, whose frequency response is always a continuous function of frequency, must have a frequency band over which the gain drops from the passband gain to the stopband gain; this is called the transition band. The thinner this band can be made, the more nearly ideal the filter. Perhaps ideal from some mathematical view, but musically, a brick wall filter could sound like shit where a lower order filter would be fine, because in that situation, you need a more nuanced blend of the range of frequencies than taking everything at 100% amplitude below the wall, and 0% above.

313 points by ofalkaed 2y ago

The second best book about Pure Data, so I've heard. [ Yes Miller, that's fighting talk round here too :) ] Seriously, this is a very very good place to start learning audio DSP in general because you hit the ground running, making sounds you can compose actual music with right away.

ofalkaed 2y ago
What is the best book? Don't think I would call this about PureData, it just uses PureData for examples and the knowledge it provides is more general.
- nyankosensei 2y ago
  I don’t know what the best book would be, but I found this extract from Andy Farnell’s book “Designing Sound” to be a very helpful introduction to Pure Data: http://aspress.co.uk/ds/pdf/pd_intro.pdf http://aspress.co.uk/ds/pdf/pd_intro.pdf Another useful book is “Loadbang - ProgrammingElectronic Music in Pd” by Johannes Kreidler. The 2nd edition is evidently out of print, but a free download is available here: https://www.wolke-verlag.de/musikbuecher/johannes-kreidler-loadbang/ https://www.wolke-verlag.de/musikbuecher/johannes-kreidler-l...
- nonrandomstring 2y ago
  Of course Millers is the best book, I'm just joshing. He created the language. And I'd argue it's more than just a "language", it's a creative paradigm. What's more TTEM is still available for free download from World Scientific Press, whereas MIT allowed me only to make a subset of mine free. Another thing of note; Miller has carefully conserved the development of Vanilla Pd such that every example in his book (and mine) still work exactly as they did more than 10 years ago. How many languages can boast that stability?

deleted 2y ago

[deleted]

empath75 2y ago

This is a weird title for the book, because there's very little musical content in the book at all. It's about sound synthesis and signal processing. It's audio engineering, which is a nice skill to have for music making, but it's not music theory.

jrajav 2y ago
Experimenting with timbre and the nature of sound itself is absolutely musical. That's a big reason why people love to listen to many different kinds of electronic music in the first place (or things like heavily distorted guitars). Music is not just about combining 12TET pitches in different ways. Everything about the experience of music is open game for creative expression.
deleted 2y ago
[deleted]
sbuttgereit 2y ago
During my university studies, I took courses in electro-accoustic music composition. Significant amounts of time dealt with synthesis and signal processing because those were critical elements in these kinds of compositions. It's absolutely different than composition for traditional instruments in this regard because the sounds you are using to compose with are being created by the composer and much as are the notes, rhythms, and structure of the composition. So for me, the title makes perfect sense.
- Rochus 2y ago
  The first sentence of the foreword brings to the point, what the book is about: "The Theory and Technique of Electronic Music is a uniquely complete source of information for the computer synthesis of rich and interesting musical timbres." Whereas tools like Max Mathews' (btw. the author of the foreword) MUSIC programs and their successors clearly separate music composition and instrument building (i.e. sound synthesis), later tools like Max, PD or SuperCollider are blurring this difference. Nevertheless the difference is still maintained by all institutions where electronic music is studied and performed (e.g. IRCAM).

piltdownman 2y ago

Finally, I get to reference one of the few kickstarters that were worth it. "Since it's first edition in 1972, Electronic Music: Systems, Techniques and Controls has been acknowledged as the definitive text on modular synthesis" For those who missed either of the kickstarter runs, there's a reprint due via Schneider's Berlin. https://schneidersladen.de/en/allen-strange-electronic-music-redux-2023 https://schneidersladen.de/en/allen-strange-electronic-music...

chaosprint 2y ago

One of the classics and must-reads in music technology. I read it over and over again when I was building: https://glicol.org/ https://glicol.org/ One of the motivations for building Glicol is to quickly let more people understand sound synthesis and music programming in the browser. also recommand: Designing Audio Effect Plugins in C++ by Will Pirkle Audio Effects Theory, Implementation and Application By Joshua Reiss, Andrew McPherson And all the books by JULIUS O. SMITH III https://ccrma.stanford.edu/~jos/filters/Book_Series_Overview.html https://ccrma.stanford.edu/~jos/filters/Book_Series_Overview...

pomian 2y ago
Your "on phone" or desktop synthesizer is amazing. Thanks for that. I shared with my more musical synth type friends. Your program reminds us, of how amazing music can be, with such a simple backbone. (Just as in the case of a harmonica or whistle, where a few notes, can invoke a range of emotions.) So easy to see the results of ones own experimentation.
Rochus 2y ago
Thanks for pointing to Glicol; this is amazing; looks like some kind of marriage of Chuck and Faust; or to which other language would you compare it? Just looked around a bit on the sites, but didn't see a language specification. Can you provide a hint, please. Is this some kind of master or PhD work, or just a hobby project?
- chaosprint 2y ago
  it's one of my phd works. there was a conference paper but it seems that the database of the whole conf was gone... still you can find some philosophy here: https://github.com/chaosprint/glicol https://github.com/chaosprint/glicol the glicol-cli is also a relatively special work: https://github.com/glicol/glicol-cli https://github.com/glicol/glicol-cli
  - Rochus 2y ago
    Is there a link or copy of the conference paper or the PhD thesis?

_spduchamp 2y ago

There are so many resources around timbrel construction and manipulation, but never enough about the rhythmic domain. This book being another example. I've read Godfried Toussaint's book, and looking for more recommendations in this area. I've been tinkering with a cybernetic folk drumming project, and trying to create rhythms using oscillators, with beats triggered at zero-crossings, so I can build and manipulated patterns in real-time. (demo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yVlgPoTpL94 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yVlgPoTpL94) Results have been interesting, but perhaps not "good" in Toussaint's sense. I'm hoping to find a model that works better. Advice and pointers appreciated.

qmmmur 2y ago
Sounds like you might be interested in Mark Fell?
- _spduchamp 2y ago
  Yup.
chaosprint 2y ago
McLean, Alex, Giovanni Fanfani, and Ellen Harlizius-Klück. "Cyclic patterns of movement across weaving, epiplokē and live coding." Dancecult: Journal of Electronic Dance Music Culture 10.1 (2018). McLean, Alex. "Algorithmic Pattern." NIME. 2020.
ofalkaed 2y ago
Creating Rhythms by Hollos and Hollos. I am not much of a fan of it but my expectations were high, the person who recommended it to me made it out to be exactly what I was looking for and it was not at all what I was looking for. It primarily focuses on things of Euclidean Rhythms ilk, simple to execute but can be quite effective. Despite not being what I was after I think I got my $10 worth.
- _spduchamp 2y ago
  I too bought this book and was somewhat disappointed. Some of the algorithms seems too contrived and specific. (All the code is here: https://abrazol.com/books/rhythm1/software.html https://abrazol.com/books/rhythm1/software.html) I guess my wish would be a companion to Geometry of Musical Rhythm with lots implementations of code to demonstrate concepts. Euclidean Rhythm implementations seem to be everywhere, but there is SO MUCH MORE to cover. Still, I'm kind of stuck on this idea that there may be a way to map the discrete mathematics of this rhythm stuff into a continuous mathematics for more natural and fluid rhythmic expression. It's just a theory and a few experiments so far.

vunderba 2y ago

If anyone's interested in a more hands-on approach towards learning how to build patches from basic oscillators, etc., I can highly recommend Syntorial. https://www.syntorial.com https://www.syntorial.com

brudgers 2y ago
I recommend a Behringer 2600. The Arp 2600 was designed to facilitate learning synthesis. And hardware is a useful abstraction.
- chaosprint 2y ago
  I would choose Korg instead. Support originality.
  - brudgers 2y ago
    Korg is not Arp. It paid a license fee for fifty year old brand named after a dead man. If the Korg is right for you, that’s cool with me. My B2600 sits on my desk. I don’t need a rolling case and I already have monitors for when I am not using headphones. In my opinion, Behringer designed a new more capable instrument and Korg made the 2600 Mini a less capable one by intent (missing everything that was on Arp’s keyboards) to avoid cannibalizing sales of the premium full size version. And, the Korg has a copy of the Moog ladder filter. [1] Lots of guitars are shaped like Stratocasters and Telecasters. Synthesizers.com sells knockoffs of Moog modules. Your DAW probably has a Rhodes VST or two. [1] When Alan R Perlman built the first 2600’s for Tonus (before changing the name of his company to “Arp”), he copied Bob Moog’s ladder filter. Moog sued for patent infringement. Perlman had to change the filter and that’s what most original 2600’s have.

aanet 2y ago

What a fantastic thread! Thanks for all the comments + resources. <3 <3

deleted 2y ago
[deleted]

aanet 2y ago

Apart from the Books quoted below (thanks!!) - are there video resources / tutorials / online courses that knowledgeable folks would recommend? Particularly on thery + praxis of state of the art? Many Thanks!!

RossBencina 2y ago
Re Theory and Praxis, Thor Magnusson's recent books come to mind: https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/sonic-writing-9781501313868/ https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/sonic-writing-9781501313868/ https://livecodingbook.toplap.org/ https://livecodingbook.toplap.org/
- aanet 2y ago
  Thank you THANK YOU!! This is fantastic, esp. the Live Coding. I was looking for something like this. Immediately downloaded it. Gonna check Thor Magnusson book as well. <3

smoyer 2y ago

I have this book and used the ideas from it to create a synth using 12 GI AY-3-8910 chips for a total of 36 voices. Might have been 25-30 years ago. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Instrument_AY-3-8910 https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Instrument_AY-3-8910

aa-jv 2y ago

This was a classic, must-read book back in the day .. but these days, I think that Loopops Incomplete Guide of Electronic Music Ideas, Tips and Tricks is a better investment of ones time. Its just more broadly applicable and far more dense in terms of tooling and methodology. https://www.docdroid.net/3K4UL8i/loopop-toc-pdf https://www.docdroid.net/3K4UL8i/loopop-toc-pdf In general, screeds documenting the theory and technique of electronic music would be better served if their authors didn't orient the works around a particular tool or method - such as Puredata, in this case. Even those PD is indeed an extremely powerful tool, its not really all-encompassing when it comes to making Electronic Music - its a digital tool, and electronic music covers the gamut from analog to digital and beyond...

kazinator 2y ago

> Finally, a realizable filter, whose frequency response is always a continuous function of frequency, must have a frequency band over which the gain drops from the passband gain to the stopband gain; this is called the transition band. The thinner this band can be made, the more nearly ideal the filter. Perhaps ideal from some mathematical view, but musically, a brick wall filter could sound like shit where a lower order filter would be fine, because in that situation, you need a more nuanced blend of the range of frequencies than taking everything at 100% amplitude below the wall, and 0% above.