posted 19 October 2000 19:25            

I just thought I would pass along a few books that I have read lately. These are excellent discussions (frequently a little lite on the math for me) of all aspects of sound synthesis and psychoacoustics...

1. Computer Sound Synthesis for the Electronic Musician, by Eduardo Reck Miranda
Focal Press, 1998 -- one of the most complete collections of descriptions for the basic and some advanced synthesis techniques. Includes physical modeling, classical analog, waveshaping, wavetable, fm, granular, SMS, STFT, LPC, FOF, Vosim, etc. It includes a CDROM with many examples of sounds and running program code for Mac and PC. I found it particularly remarkable, however, that no mention was made of Kyma, although WigOut and TrikTraks from Arun Chandra of U.Illinois were mentioned. This book is light on the math...

2. A Digital Signal Processing Primer with Applications to Digital Audio and Computer Music, by Ken Steiglitz, Addison-Wesley 1996 -- a good book on the basics of resons, IIR, FIR, vocoding. Some math (pretty easy stuff!). Steiglitz is Associate Chair of the Computer Science Dept. of Princeton University. I gather that he is a well known name among computer music types...

3. Music, Cognition, and Computerized Sound - An Introduction to Psychoacoustics, edited by Perry Cook, MIT Press 1999. This is a collection of chapter written by some of the founding fathers of synthetic music. Little math, very fun reading, especially the sections on ambiguous sounds. Explains pitch, loudness, timbre perceptions. CDROM with example sounds. Authors include Max Mathews (one of the parents of CSound), Roger Shepard (i.e., Shepard Tones), John Pierce, Perry Cook, Daniel Levitin, Brent Gillespie, and John Chowning (father of FM synth).

4. The CSound Book, edited by Richard Boulanger, MIT Press, 2000. Very thick book on the workings of the CSound system for sound synthesis. Two CDROM's with sounds and program code. Not too mathematical, good discussion of various synth schems, i.e., granular, FOF, spectral morphing, effects processing, and plain old analog modeling. For the real details, though, you should get the C source code and peruse it -- all the mathematics are buried there...

Cheers,

posted 10 September 2003 16:28            

Anyone know some more excellent book suggestions?

posted 10 September 2003 20:04            

Depends on how heavy you are with math... But the defacto standard text reference, a.k.a., DSP Bible, is "Discrete-Time Signal Processing" by Oppenheim and Schafer, Prentice Hall. This is heavy hauling, but if you are comfortable with the math, it is an absolutely indispensible reference.

Cheers,

posted 10 September 2003 22:10            

quote:

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Originally posted by David McClain:

1. Computer Sound Synthesis for the Electronic Musician, by Eduardo Reck Miranda
Focal Press, 1998 [...]This book is light on the math...

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As is the recent second edition of this work, but, as a confirmed math-phobic, I say "Amen!" to that. Even then, the illustration of FM examples seems unnecessarily arithmetic to me. Am I the only one who finds these sorts of examples musically un-illuminating? At any rate, for those fellow odd birds who are drawn to electro-acoustic and computer music despite an utter lack of comprehension of, or interest in, higher mathematics, Miranda's book, Curtis Roads's Computer Music Tutorial, and Trevor Wishart's Audible Design remain both exemplary starting-points and references to which you will turn again and again.

posted 10 September 2003 22:13            

quote:

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Originally posted by David McClain:

1. Computer Sound Synthesis for the Electronic Musician, by Eduardo Reck Miranda
Focal Press, 1998 [...]This book is light on the math...

---

As is the recent second edition of this work, but, as a confirmed math-phobic, I say "Amen!" to that. Even then, the illustration of FM examples seems unnecessarily arithmetic to me. Am I the only one who finds these sorts of examples musically un-illuminating? At any rate, for those fellow odd birds who are drawn to electro-acoustic and computer music despite an utter lack of comprehension of, or interest in, higher mathematics, Miranda's book, Curtis Roads's Computer Music Tutorial, and Trevor Wishart's Audible Design remain both exemplary starting-points and references to which you will turn again and again.

posted 11 September 2003 06:35            

maybe it's this complete idiocy that's preventing me from finding where to buy Wishart's book... i've tried both Amazon as well as MIT press... anybody have any leads.

bumblingly yours,
taylor

quote:

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Originally posted by RXB:
At any rate, for those fellow odd birds who are drawn to electro-acoustic and computer music despite an utter lack of comprehension of, or interest in, higher mathematics, Miranda's book, Curtis Roads's Computer Music Tutorial, and Trevor Wishart's Audible Design remain both exemplary starting-points and references to which you will turn again and again.

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posted 11 September 2003 08:47            

did you check hi site out
http://www.trevorwishart.co.uk/publ_bks.html#AUD

you should be able to order it from any half decent bookshop, just give them the ISBN (Audible Design -- ISBN 095103137). I work in a bookshop so no probs for me By the way, if you dont know what to expect you might be disappointed, on the other hand I was really thrilled by this book, totally different to anything out there. Mainly focused around the processes available in the CDP software but still a great ideas workshop, cost 40 GBP though
http://www.bath.ac.uk/~masjpf/CDP/CDP.htm

posted 11 September 2003 09:47            

quote:

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Originally posted by CreepJoint:
Hi taylor,

did you check hi site out
http://www.trevorwishart.co.uk/publ_bks.html#AUD

you should be able to order it from any half decent bookshop, just give them the ISBN (Audible Design -- ISBN 095103137). I work in a bookshop so no probs for me By the way, if you dont know what to expect you might be disappointed, on the other hand I was really thrilled by this book, totally different to anything out there. Mainly focused around the processes available in the CDP software but still a great ideas workshop, cost 40 GBP though
http://www.bath.ac.uk/~masjpf/CDP/CDP.htm

Matt

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posted 11 September 2003 15:02            

quote:

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Originally posted by CreepJoint:
Hi, I have all the above mentioned books, except the DSP primer and agree theyre all excellent except for Eduardos book, unless you are totally new to electronic music this text is far too basic IMO.

Another great book in a similar vein to Computer Music Tutorial is "Computer Music:Synthesis,Composition and Performance" by charles Dodge.

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I agree that Miranda's book is straightforward and to the point, but that is one of its strengths, I think. I find it helpful to engage in "periodic review" from time to time, and Miranda's work is very worthwhile from that perspective, as well as from the perspective of the relative beginner. He also includes an interesting concluding chapter on AI, supercomputing, and other "cutting-edge" issues. There is a good critical review of the first edition of this book available at the Computer Music Journal Web site. It's interesting to note which of the reviewer's suggestions Miranda incorporated into the second edition of his book, and which he did not.

Dodge and Jerse's book is too math- and code-heavy for me. It does, however, contain some excellent and easily accessible chapters, especially the introductory material. Of course, all this is a matter of perspective. The point, I think, is to try to lead others to the books that will most benefit them according to their values, skills, and interests. Myself, I'm here advocating for the numerically challenged faction of Kyma users, and I'm glad to see that I'm not alone!

I have Microsound, but have only just skimmed through it. It looks intriguing, though, and I look forward to giving it the attention it deserves--not the least reason of which is that sample granulation is a huge part of my work.

posted 11 September 2003 15:09            

quote:

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Originally posted by taylor12k:
i may be odd, and i enjoy computer music despite my "utter lack of comprehension" of higher mathematics....

maybe it's this complete idiocy that's preventing me from finding where to buy Wishart's book... i've tried both Amazon as well as MIT press... anybody have any leads.

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I got my copy from EMF/CDeMusic at http://www.cdemusic.org/ . Note that it's quite expensive ($75.00), but it comes with a CD of illuminating examples from Trevor's work, as well as a separate booklet of graphic illustrations of the processes, and is worth every penny, I think.

posted 11 September 2003 15:37            

quote:

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Originally posted by SSC:
"i may be odd, and i enjoy computer music despite my "utter lack of comprehension" of higher mathematics.... "

The ear comprehends form, structure, and pattern. Mathematics seeks to represent and manipulate these same abstractions symbolically. One can come to an understanding of form, structure and pattern through multiple pathways--through the ear, through the eye, through physical manipulation, and through abstract symbol manipulation--perhaps best of all when through a combination of *all* of the above.
In other words, I don't find it at all odd that you appreciate and understand form and structure through audio signals! (But if you love sound, you will probably enjoy the mathematics as well! It's all 'structure and process' to me

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In addition to comprehending form, structure, and pattern, the ear--like all the sensory organs--seems to impose these qualities, as well--a fact well worth keeping in mind when discussing the efficacy of forms of representation. In the end, one must be pragmatic: Which forms of representation work best for a given individual? Of course, this approach does not mean that one oughn't to try to master new areas, especially if they are challenging, but I think, in the end, that we all have our own preferred way of representing information to ourselves, and, for efficiency's sake, it is better to understand and cater to our respective strengths and weaknesses. Speaking for myself, I learn music best through reading (verbal language), followed by empirical experimentation and demonstration (playing and listening). Others, I realize, learn best through non-verbal language representation (musical notation; mathematics; computer code), and some fortunate souls can engage with music equall well on all these levels. I envy tremendously those who learn in the second way, because the field of electro-acoustic and computer music is very much biased in their favor, but I see no reason to court perpetual frustration when my own method works reasonably well most of the time--although, when I need to assimilate information, it takes me rather longer to get up to speed! I also take consolation from the experiences of other non-mathematical musicians, such as former Genesis guitarist Steve Hackett. Hackett, in my view, is one of the finest and most original electric guitarists ever to play the instrument, but I recall his saying the following in an old interview: " No matter how hard I tried, I could never understand maths". When I see the following "helpful" illustration of of a second-order all-zero filter in Dodge and Jerse--y(n)+ aox(n) = a1x(n-1) =a2x(n-2)--I thank the Dark Gods for systems that encourage experimentation and offer direct feedback, such as Kyma, CDP, and Reaktor!

posted 16 September 2003 17:41            

quote:

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Originally posted by David McClain:
Depends on how heavy you are with math... But the defacto standard text reference, a.k.a., DSP Bible, is "Discrete-Time Signal Processing" by Oppenheim and Schafer, Prentice Hall. This is heavy hauling, but if you are comfortable with the math, it is an absolutely indispensible reference.

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Thanks David, maybe on a later stage, first the DSP Primer.

I'm also interested in a psychologic and philosophic approach to sound, any good books on these subjects?

So far on my list Spatial Hearing by Jens Blauert.

-Armand

posted 16 September 2003 20:16            

3. Music, Cognition, and Computerized Sound - An Introduction to Psychoacoustics, edited by Perry Cook, MIT Press 1999. This is a collection of chapter written by some of the founding fathers of synthetic music. Little math, very fun reading, especially the sections on ambiguous sounds. Explains pitch, loudness, timbre perceptions. CDROM with example sounds. Authors include Max Mathews (one of the parents of CSound), Roger Shepard (i.e., Shepard Tones), John Pierce, Perry Cook, Daniel Levitin, Brent Gillespie, and John Chowning (father of FM synth).

Not much in terms of philosophy, but very good in terms of psychoacoustics and how we perceive sounds, distance, loudness, pitch, timbre, scales, and the whole works. Sheppard's Tones are prominently discussed -- and these yielded the so called "Holy Tones" that I provided to the forum some time ago.

For philosophy of sound as it applies to music -- I have been reading Arnold Shoenberg's "Theory of Harmony". For a musical lughead like me (even though I played many instruments I had zero theoretical understanding..) it explains very well why chords work the way they do -- philosophically and psychologically. His writing is dense -- translated from German some many years ago. But this seems a worthy reference text as well.

Finally, as relates to sound production from real acoustic instruments we have Benade's "Fundamentals of Musical Acoustics". This does well to explain the important slight imperfections of tuning in real instrument harmonics -- why they sound real, and our synths don't...

Cheers,

posted 26 September 2003 14:21            

quote:

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Originally posted by David McClain:
Psychology of Sound....

3. Music, Cognition, and Computerized Sound - An Introduction to Psychoacoustics, edited by Perry Cook, MIT Press 1999. This is a collection of chapter written by some of the founding fathers of synthetic music. Little math, very fun reading, especially the sections on ambiguous sounds. Explains pitch, loudness, timbre perceptions. CDROM with example sounds. Authors include Max Mathews (one of the parents of CSound), Roger Shepard (i.e., Shepard Tones), John Pierce, Perry Cook, Daniel Levitin, Brent Gillespie, and John Chowning (father of FM synth).

Not much in terms of philosophy, but very good in terms of psychoacoustics and how we perceive sounds, distance, loudness, pitch, timbre, scales, and the whole works. Sheppard's Tones are prominently discussed -- and these yielded the so called "Holy Tones" that I provided to the forum some time ago.

For philosophy of sound as it applies to music -- I have been reading Arnold Shoenberg's "Theory of Harmony". For a musical lughead like me (even though I played many instruments I had zero theoretical understanding..) it explains very well why chords work the way they do -- philosophically and psychologically. His writing is dense -- translated from German some many years ago. But this seems a worthy reference text as well.

Finally, as relates to sound production from real acoustic instruments we have Benade's "Fundamentals of Musical Acoustics". This does well to explain the important slight imperfections of tuning in real instrument harmonics -- why they sound real, and our synths don't...

Cheers,

- DM

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Thanks again David, I look forward to get these books.

-Armand

posted 30 September 2003 17:04            

Has anyone read Miranda's recent "Computer Sound Design: Synthesis Techniques and Programming" (2002) ? http://website.lineone.net/~edandalex/sound-design-book.htm

From the contents it looks more or less like an update with chapter restructuring from "Computer Sound Synthesis ...". http://website.lineone.net/~edandalex/syntbook.htm

Regards,