Sound Creation and Manipulation UNIT 35 LO1
Acoustic Theory & Fundamental Sounds
The air that is produced from vibrations from a source is sound. Sound waves are many different waves projecting different frequencies together. Each of these are called a sine wave but together are called harmonics. Amplitude, frequency and wavelength produce different waveforms.
The distance between the highest point in one wave and the highest point in another wave is called wavelength. Wavelengths affect frequency either by being short (high frequency) or long (low frequency).
Frequency is just the speed of the vibration, the speed of the vibrations will then affect pitch to the human ear, this is measured in ‘cycles’ by the number of waves produced each second. The fundamental frequency is the lowest frequency able to be produced by the instrument being used, so as the harmonics are multiples of the fundamental frequency, the frequency will increase in multiples of hertz (Hz).
Within my own project, I used the first oscillator as a sine wave, because this is a pure tone that will sound clean when played to the ear, In my next oscillator i used a triangle wave as originally i used a square wave but this was not the sound i was looking for as it was to rough and the texture was thick, however the triangle wave gave the sound the strong, but clean sound i desired a sit has less edges.
Scott Hirsch said in his article 'Working with oscillators' - 'As we've discovered oscillators which are capable of generating sine, square, triangle and sawtooth wave forms are at the heart of a lot of synth instruments. In this movie, we'll see where they live and their favourite scents. And while we're still on the topic of additive synthesis, we'll look at some other tricks you can use when we combine oscillators. So let's open up a synth sequence in Logic Pro, Reason, and ProTools and we'll check out the oscillator section of synths in these programs. In Logic, the new retro-synth instrument has oscillators to make some of the wave forms we discussed.'
I decided to combine sine wave with triangle wave for my synth instrument. I didn't choose to use sawtooth or square wave as I felt that the sound was to rough for the instrument i wanted to produce.
The triangle wave share some close comparisons to the square wave, it does only contain odd harmonics and a main fundamental sound, however the triangle wave contain much less powerful harmonics however the harmonics in a triangle wave will sound much more smooth and faster as the shape has less edges.
This waveform is quite unique compared to the others as it can be in two different forms. As shown tot he right this waveform can either be a slow upwards ramp with a straight vertical drop creating similar to an right angle triangle, however this can also be inverted so the vertical side will be played first before the diagonal ramp.
By using the ES1 synthesizer on Logic pro, I was able to create my own sound from scratch using the elements provided by the program such as the Wave form, Filter Cut-off, Resonance and the Matrix alongside many other related elements. This has allowed me to construct the exact sounds I wanted to through ES1 and i was able to save the settings for these sounds in Patches.
When creating my first sound I particularly found interest in adjusting the Resonance level (I had kept it half way to create a quite whisper sound beneath my original Square wave), I then used the oscillator adjustment to use two different waveform, both of which were Square wave however I had originally used triangle wave but this sounded too soft for my desired sound.
I felt like my sound was becoming more of what my original expectation was however a few aspects made me experiment with other filters within ES1, this included the ADSR envelopes, and in articular the 'Glide' slider which allowed my sound to gradually build up volume and thickness.
Below, I have created a link to multiple Patches created by myself using ES1 aswell as a bounced MP3 audio of a patch.
https://coulsdonac-my.sharepoint.com/personal/td161293_student_coulsdon_ac_uk/_layouts/15/guestaccess.aspx?folderid=108b913ad031649d0a3ba18efb3ba0937&authkey=AZ-QzHryQuWf8Gb5Sm6d0i4&e=819f6690713e4e57929480b941497d38
ES1 Synthesizer
The synthesizer that I used to produce my sounds in logic was the ES1. I will state the features and limitations that the logic pro synthesizer contains and then I will compare these features to an advanced synthesizer that I was unable to use. Logic pro's ES1 synthesizer contains many useful parameter and features that assisted me in creating the exact sound I had desired which in most circumstances replicated a real life instrument. ES1 contains two Oscillator Waveform parameters (allowing me to choose between different waveform for example square wave, triangle wave, saw-tooth wave etc.), 1 sub oscillator, Filter parameter (this includes cut-off, drive, key and resonance), an ADSR Envelope (lower slider and upper slider), 1 low pass filter and resonance slider, global parameters, an amplifier and modulation envelope along with a decay slider, sustain slider, attack slider, glide slider and release slider. This synthesizer was very useful to me as I was able to generate realistic instrument sounds from scratch through use of the parameters. Additive and Subtractive synthesizers such as this work very well when trying to recreate an exact sound that you have in your thoughts however there are some limitations to this. As these synthesizers mainly differentiate sound through the oscillator parameters they are very important however this does require large amounts of RAM storage which is usually found in more expensive and powerful computer systems. This will assure that you can use the oscillators without any technical difficulties that may result in the program crashing and losing valuable work.
Mixfood ReMix Wavetable Synthesizer
I will compare the ES1 to the Mixfood ReMix Wavetable synthesizer, Wavetable synthesizers in general are found to be more advanced than the usual additive and subtractive synthesizer, this is mainly because of the storage of pre-sets as within a synthesizer such as ES1 all setting would have to be saved as a patch onto the hard-drive. As well as this there are considered to be much more powerful parameters allowing even more creative ownership over the sounds made. The Mixfood Remix also contains 3 Oscillator Parameters however comes with '250 carefully created, high quality wavetables and 100 perfectly looped stereo high quality waveform's'. This means that it will be much easier and quicker in Mixfood ReMix to find a desired sound than in ES1. Mixfood ReMix has a Mod Matrix with a total of 24 LFO's and 15 envelopes that give users full control over sounds created. There are also effects for each oscillator located in an effects bank, this includes Haas effect, third EQ, Flanger, Phaser, Chorus, Delay, Reverb and Lo-Fi. In addition to this there are also similar features to the ES1 of global panning, glide and velocity switches and a poly/mono/legato switch. Another main benefit to any music makers of the Mixfood ReMix in comparison to the ES1 would be the 500 patches included in the Wavetable Synthesizer.
References
https://shop.propellerheads.se/rack-extension/mixfood-remix-wavetable-synthesizer/
https://documentation.apple.com/en/logicstudio/instruments/#chapter=4%26section=2%26hash=apple_ref:doc:uid:TempBookID-ReplacedWhenAssociatingWithMessierRevision-43982ESO_SC_0825-1009236
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Triangle_wave.svg
Sine Wave-
Sine wave is the simplest waveform and also the origin of all the other waveforms, this is because it’s a simple, basic, isolated sound. A sine wave is incapable of involving any harmonics whatsoever. In a sine wave the frequency directly affects the pitch of the sound.
Square wave-
Unlike the sine wave, the square wave only contains odd harmonics, the fundamental along with these harmonics give the square wave the distinctive shape and rough sound. The square wave has two contrasting amplitudes, as shown in the picture below either high above the baseline or equally low below (why it may also be referred to as the symmetrical wave. Is the wave is not symmetrical above and below the bassline it will be a rectangular wave.
Triangle wave-
The triangle wave share some close comparisons to the square wave, it does only contain odd harmonics and a main fundamental sound, however the triangle wave contain much less powerful harmonics however the harmonics in a triangle wave will sound much more smooth and faster as the shape has less edges.
Sawtooth Wave-
This waveform is quite unique compared to the others as it can be in two different forms. As shown tot he right this waveform can either be a slow upwards ramp with a straight vertical drop creating similar to an right angle triangle, however this can also be inverted so the vertical side will be played first before the diagonal ramp.When creating my first sound I particularly found interest in adjusting the Resonance level (I had kept it half way to create a quite whisper sound beneath my original Square wave), I then used the oscillator adjustment to use two different waveform, both of which were Square wave however I had originally used triangle wave but this sounded too soft for my desired sound.
I felt like my sound was becoming more of what my original expectation was however a few aspects made me experiment with other filters within ES1, this included the ADSR envelopes, and in articular the 'Glide' slider which allowed my sound to gradually build up volume and thickness.
Below, I have created a link to multiple Patches created by myself using ES1 aswell as a bounced MP3 audio of a patch.
https://coulsdonac-my.sharepoint.com/personal/td161293_student_coulsdon_ac_uk/_layouts/15/guestaccess.aspx?folderid=108b913ad031649d0a3ba18efb3ba0937&authkey=AZ-QzHryQuWf8Gb5Sm6d0i4&e=819f6690713e4e57929480b941497d38
ES1 Synthesizer
The synthesizer that I used to produce my sounds in logic was the ES1. I will state the features and limitations that the logic pro synthesizer contains and then I will compare these features to an advanced synthesizer that I was unable to use. Logic pro's ES1 synthesizer contains many useful parameter and features that assisted me in creating the exact sound I had desired which in most circumstances replicated a real life instrument. ES1 contains two Oscillator Waveform parameters (allowing me to choose between different waveform for example square wave, triangle wave, saw-tooth wave etc.), 1 sub oscillator, Filter parameter (this includes cut-off, drive, key and resonance), an ADSR Envelope (lower slider and upper slider), 1 low pass filter and resonance slider, global parameters, an amplifier and modulation envelope along with a decay slider, sustain slider, attack slider, glide slider and release slider. This synthesizer was very useful to me as I was able to generate realistic instrument sounds from scratch through use of the parameters. Additive and Subtractive synthesizers such as this work very well when trying to recreate an exact sound that you have in your thoughts however there are some limitations to this. As these synthesizers mainly differentiate sound through the oscillator parameters they are very important however this does require large amounts of RAM storage which is usually found in more expensive and powerful computer systems. This will assure that you can use the oscillators without any technical difficulties that may result in the program crashing and losing valuable work.
Mixfood ReMix Wavetable Synthesizer
I will compare the ES1 to the Mixfood ReMix Wavetable synthesizer, Wavetable synthesizers in general are found to be more advanced than the usual additive and subtractive synthesizer, this is mainly because of the storage of pre-sets as within a synthesizer such as ES1 all setting would have to be saved as a patch onto the hard-drive. As well as this there are considered to be much more powerful parameters allowing even more creative ownership over the sounds made. The Mixfood Remix also contains 3 Oscillator Parameters however comes with '250 carefully created, high quality wavetables and 100 perfectly looped stereo high quality waveform's'. This means that it will be much easier and quicker in Mixfood ReMix to find a desired sound than in ES1. Mixfood ReMix has a Mod Matrix with a total of 24 LFO's and 15 envelopes that give users full control over sounds created. There are also effects for each oscillator located in an effects bank, this includes Haas effect, third EQ, Flanger, Phaser, Chorus, Delay, Reverb and Lo-Fi. In addition to this there are also similar features to the ES1 of global panning, glide and velocity switches and a poly/mono/legato switch. Another main benefit to any music makers of the Mixfood ReMix in comparison to the ES1 would be the 500 patches included in the Wavetable Synthesizer.
References
https://shop.propellerheads.se/rack-extension/mixfood-remix-wavetable-synthesizer/
https://documentation.apple.com/en/logicstudio/instruments/#chapter=4%26section=2%26hash=apple_ref:doc:uid:TempBookID-ReplacedWhenAssociatingWithMessierRevision-43982ESO_SC_0825-1009236
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Triangle_wave.svg
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