Has Anyone Read This Book?
 

http://www.amazon.com/Dance-Music-Ma...=1YVAQYJTHXEEF

I want to learn sound design, and I wanted to know what people here thought of this book as a tool for doing so. I would like to learn what the different modules in my synth actually do, and how they work. For example, what is a filter envelope? How do the different parameters affect the actual sound? What should be modulated to acheive a given sound, and when to do it? That kind of thing. I find that the manuals that came with my Virus are sorely lacking.

try this tutorial:

http://virus.info/downloads.php4?pro...sktop&file=167

it's a great resource for those who want to create their own sounds. a spanish version can be found here, btw:

http://virus.info/downloads.php4?pro...sktop&file=258

hth, marc

This and similer forums can answer most of your questions but a little reading never hurts, Filter Envelope is similer to Amp Envelope which is used to create the more natural sounds of instruments. It consists of ADSR- Attack,Decay,Sustain,Release.> Attack - is after you hit the note how long it takes to rise to its peak. >Decay - is how long it takes to fall.>Sustain - is the level it will stay at till you release the note. >Release - is how long after you release the note it takes to be silent. Filter Envelope is used to mod the Filter and Amp Env. Mods the Volume.

If you can visualize a frequency spectrum or a waveform, they act as Sound shapers. It's like sculpting. You chip away bits and pieces and then polish :p
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Ford Escape Hybrid specifications

I think that my questions are more fundamental than that. For example, what does it mean to modulate the filter? What about the filter is modulated? What does that sound like? Why, and when, would I want to do that? And just what is an envelope, anyway? Is it non-cyclical time based manipulation of a parameter? I have found that just turning the knobs hasn't helped me to understand these things, so I am looking for a book that will explain it.

When you modulate the filter cutoff your modulating the frequencies being subtracted from the tone-Highpass-everything below the cutoff point is subtracted. Lowpass-everything above the cutoff point is subtracted and so on. Band pass Lets limited freq. through, Bandstop the reverse.But if the book helps let us know. Im a big fan of Future Music Magazine.

Ok, so is that what the filter envelope does, modulate the cutoff frequency? Is it like time-domain windowing?

Modulating means simply controlling. Modulating is a word you use when you want to sound like you are doing something important.

For example when you play your keyboard, you are modulating (controlling) the pitch. Simple as that.

Subtractive synthesis is simple as hell. Just avoid the fancy terms and voila. My best tip for beginners is that set your Virus to Init patch (only one saw oscillator with no filters and other crustings). Then just start to tweak one part at time. Check how the Amp envelope affects the sound, then reset back to init and move to filters, reset, etc. If you in addition to this experiment keep a Virus manual and that Virus sound design tutorial around, you'll learn subbtractive sound synthesis and Virus' architechture faster than you can say "orthorhombic crystal system".

That link didn't work for me for whatever reason but assuming it's the Guide to Programming Analogue Synths by Howard Scarr this is a really good resource for learning your way around the Virus. However, I found when reading this that Howard assumes you already know a bit about synthesis and he's just telling you how to apply this existing knowledge to using the Virus.

@ GrooveNinja - judging by your questions you're after something more basic and fundamental as was I at the time (and I'm still learning!).

Firstly, the book you referred to, The Dance Music Manual, is one of the best books I've ever come across.

How to Make a Noise is a classic:
http://noisesculpture.com/htman.html

Also there's a bunch of info here:
http://synth.freehostia.com/

I've also learnt a heap from reading the manuals for softsynths especially Native Instruments.

Also, I've been waiting for this to come out for ages now:

http://www.robpapen.com/dvd-sound-design.html

Does anyone know of anything like this that already exists?