- Paperback: 263 pages
- Publisher: Focal Press; 2nd Revised edition edition (5 Sep 2002)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0240516931
- ISBN-13: 978-0240516936
- Product Dimensions: 24.4 x 18.8 x 2 cm
- Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
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Amazon Bestsellers Rank:
788,189 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #9 in Books > Computers & Internet > Digital Music > Instruments > Keyboards
- #87 in Books > Music, Stage & Screen > Music > Digital Music > Recording Music
- See Complete Table of Contents
Computer Sound Design, Second Edition
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Product Description
Review
"Clear, readable and detailed without being wordy or heavy." Tony Thompson, Mighty Wight Productions Reviews of the previous edition: 'An extremely readable and comprehensive coverage of the audio synthesis domain. No high level maths required. The straight forward and lucid descriptions of each of the major synthesis approaches (and some of the more esoteric ones too) will empower the reader to get a deeper (and better) understanding of their synthesis instrument. The addition of several software synthesis applications makes this worth the price alone. New noises abound. As a MAX MSP user this was exactly what I needed to begin designing new synthesis instruments...great book.' A reader, Amazon.com ...an excellent source of ideas for creating innovative sounds for my mixes and multimedia works.' A reader, Amazon.com
Product Description
This comprehensive introduction to software synthesis techniques and programming is intended for students, researchers, musicians, sound artists and enthusiasts in the field of music technology. The art of sound synthesis is as important for the electronic musician as the art of orchestration is important for symphonic music composers. Those who wish to create their own virtual orchestra of electronic instruments and produce original sounds will find this book invaluable. It examines a variety of synthesis techniques and illustrates how to turn a personal computer into a powerful and flexible sound synthesizer. The book also discusses a number of ongoing developments that may play an important role in the future of electronic music making. Previously published as "Computer Sound Synthesis for the Electronic Musician", this second edition features a foreword by Jean-Claude Risset and provides new information on: the latest directions in digital sound representation; advances in physical modeling techniques; granular and pulsar synthesis; PSOLA technique; humanoid voice synthesis; artificial intelligence; and, evolutionary computing. The accompanying CD-ROM contains examples, complementary tutorials and a number of synthesis systems for PC and Macintosh platforms, ranging from low level synthesis programming languages to graphic front-ends for instrument and sound design. These include fully working packages, demonstration versions of commercial software and experimental programs from top research centres in Europe, North and South America. This book helps you to: increase your understanding of the major computer synthesis techniques with this accessibly written introduction; discover the latest developments and future direction of the field; and, try out a range of synthesis software for free - available on the accompanying CD-ROM.
Inside This Book
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First Sentence
Sound results from the mechanical disturbance of some object in a physical medium such as air. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index
Sound results from the mechanical disturbance of some object in a physical medium such as air. Read the first page
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Browse Sample PagesConcordance
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
12 of 12 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This is an excellent book and I found it ideal as a text book for sound synthesis courses. It covers a wide range of different synthesis techniques and the concepts are clearly explained with examples and useful diagrams. What I found most positive in this book is that it does not focus on any one system in particular (ie, it's not a user guide for a specific software). Rather, it surveys of a number of systems - commercial and public domain - including unusual ones for physical modelling such as Praat and CORDIS. Also there is a chapter of more advanced synthesis techniques using genetic algorithms and artificial intelligence, which makes it a nice addition to the norm. I only wished the book was longer, with more in-depth discussion on some of the many interesting examples. The CD-ROM has useful additional materials and tutorials.
5 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I found this book to be very uneven. A quick skim through the book and it looks very informative full of diagrams and code but when you get into the book you quickly find nothing is covered in any depth at all. The diagrams are rarely useful and often they are used as a substitute for clear concise writing. The code is next to useless as it is program specific and 4/5 lines of program specific code is useless.
After reading a chapter you rarely feel like you've learned anything. Computer Music Tutorial or Sound Synthesis and Sampling are much better books. Honestly this book is a loser don't know what Dr.John's talking about.
The opening chapter is good and the chapter on Physical Modelling is OK but outside of that it's no use.
After reading a chapter you rarely feel like you've learned anything. Computer Music Tutorial or Sound Synthesis and Sampling are much better books. Honestly this book is a loser don't know what Dr.John's talking about.
The opening chapter is good and the chapter on Physical Modelling is OK but outside of that it's no use.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
6 reviews
17 of 19 people found the following review helpful
Too broad, some misconceptions
8 Oct 2003
Format:Paperback
I was first impressed with Eduardo Miranda's book "Computer Sound Design" but as I read more, I realized that this ambitious survey of sound synthesis over-generalizes and even criticizes mature well-accepted techniques. Admittedly, the scope of the book is vast, but I can't help feel that the approach to most topics is far too cursory for the book to be more than a reference to other works.
I was very disappointed with chapter 3, "Spectrum Modelling Approaches" as it not only was a terse white-wash of spectral synthesis techniques, there were multiple instances of unfounded criticism for the rich field of spectral signal processing and its growing constituency of pracitioners. It would have been much more effective for Miranda to simply admit his lack of expertise in the area without providing false unfounded judgements.
15 of 19 people found the following review helpful
Most welcome and very helpful
21 May 2003
Format:Paperback
The book is designed to be very practical. It can serve as an introduction, but also as a clarification and reminder for the already experienced reader. The author provides the support necessary for finding one's own path in an extremely clear fashion, so that every step appears simple. The choice of topics includes important and neatly classified methods for sound modelling. At the end, the book ventures towards "the cutting edge" - applying artificial intelligence techniques and evolutionary computing for sound design, and taking into account the implications of parallel computing for sound synthesis: the author is himself conducting research in these promising fields, at the new frontier of computer music. The CD-ROM provides useful software as well as tutorials and examples.
Doing one's own thing with digital sound technology requires some effort indeed: but this effort is necessary to take advantage of vast potential resources in an original, personal and musical fashion, and this book should help in this worthwhile endeavor. I believe that Computer Sound Design - Synthesis Techniques and Programming" will play a useful role in the diffusion of knowledge and know-how on software synthesis, and greatly facilitate the approach of digital sound design.
7 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Excellent book!
18 May 2003
Format:Paperback
This is an excellent book and I found it ideal as a text book for sound synthesis courses. It covers a wide range of different synthesis techniques and the concepts are clearly explained with examples and useful diagrams. What I found most positive in this book is that it does not focus on any one system in particular (ie, it's not a user guide for a specific software). Rather, it surveys of a number of systems - commercial and public domain - including unusual ones for physical modelling such as Praat and CORDIS. Also there is a chapter of more advanced synthesis techniques using genetic algorithms and artificial intelligence, which makes it a nice addition to the norm. I only wished the book was longer, with more in-depth discussion on some of the many interesting examples. The CD-ROM has useful additional materials and tutorials.
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