Subject: Re: [linux-audio-dev] Some music made with Linux
From: David Olofson (david_AT_olofson.net)
Date: Sat Feb 21 2004 - 00:11:40 EET
On Friday 20 February 2004 21.27, Paul Winkler wrote:
> On Fri, Feb 20, 2004 at 02:34:54PM -0500, Pete Bessman wrote:
> > At Fri, 20 Feb 2004 18:23:52 +0100,
> >
> > David Olofson wrote:
> > > > Tricky. To get crunchy hard-rock guitar sounds like Pete's
> > > > (nice track pete!), you'll have to realistically emulate
> > > > palm-muting, which I've never heard in a synth. And how would
> > > > you control the amount of muting? Map it to a CC and play a
> > > > slider?
> >
> > Don't think realistic. Think like a synth. If I was a synth,
> > how would I play guitar?
>
> if I were a synth, I would not be able to play guitar, lacking
> fingers; but since I am myself, I can play guitar or synth
> depending on what I want ;-)
>
> I guess I misjudged the direction of the conversation.
> I do think it's interesting to think about realistic synth
> emulation of guitar, but not very practical - it's just so thorny.
> Palm-muting is just one of the many tricky issues.
> Think of the variables introduced by common picking techniques:
> at the least you have to consider stiffness of plectrum (or
> finger), force of pluck, and distance from bridge.
How about *recording* it instead of trying to emulate it? That is,
separate the excitation impulses from the string resonance, and use
that to drive a plucked string synth.
The next step would be to resynthesize the impulses. Not trying to
understand them or how they're generated; only replacing the sampled
audio impulses with something more compact, while still sequencing
them like percussion sounds or whatever.
> Much more practical, I think, is to do as you suggest:
> invent synth sounds that capture something of the character
> and attitude of a given guitar sound without trying to
> duplicate it sonically.
Yes, that would be the first approach, given that it's really about
creating something that sounds good. Starting out with emulation
might be a good way of "inventing" new, interesting synth sounds,
though.
In fact, I'm more interested in finding expressive synthetic
alternatives to guitars than I am in accurately emulating guitars, or
any other instruments for that matter. However, if I can't hear the
exact sound I want in my head, the best bet is to start with
something that can at least serve the same purpose as that yet to be
heard dream sound.
Or I can just hope that I'm lucky and accidentally run into the next
Holy Grail(TM) of sounds. ;-) (Electric guitar, distorted guitar,
TB-303 filter sweeps,... what's next?). Even then, the chances are
probably a lot better when doing something. Doing insane and/or
generally weird stuff probably improves the odds. :-)
//David Olofson - Programmer, Composer, Open Source Advocate
.- Audiality -----------------------------------------------.
| Free/Open Source audio engine for games and multimedia. |
| MIDI, modular synthesis, real time effects, scripting,... |
`-----------------------------------> http://audiality.org -'
--- http://olofson.net --- http://www.reologica.se ---
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