
Learn sound theory with an acclaimed synth company - jantomes
https://sfree.life/sound-theory-toyota-vangelis-bastl-instruments-free/
======
acomjean
I had a dx7 in college. Its an FM synth, an from the little diagrams on the
top, it was fascinating. I could make my own sounds, but I never could get the
time to get programming (beyond detuning the sound and doubling it to make a
"fatter" sound, the dx7 had a gray matter mod chip). Lamentably in the 90s
information about this stuff was harder to come by, plus the 2 line led screen
to input things wasn't ideal.

You can see the top of the keyboard images here:
[https://soundprogramming.net/synthesizers/yamaha/yamaha-
dx7/](https://soundprogramming.net/synthesizers/yamaha/yamaha-dx7/)

But the internet abounds with sound making tools!

ableton has a synth basics online class/demo kind of thing:

[https://learningsynths.ableton.com](https://learningsynths.ableton.com)

visual programing sound machines in pd

[http://www.pd-tutorial.com/english/index.html](http://www.pd-
tutorial.com/english/index.html)

Also the GDC talk by the sound designer of doom (the new one). He's using sine
wave, and a bunch of effects boxes (some in parallel) to generate all those
sounds. There is also a sound morph tool they used to combine sounds with a
chainsaw sound... The talk starts a couple minutes in after a doom sound
trailer thing:

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U4FNBMZsqrY](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U4FNBMZsqrY)

~~~
munificent
You aren't alone. Almost no one could figure out how to program the DX7. Even
today with the resurgence of FM (Digitone, FM8, Volca FM, etc.), it's still
just a _really_ unintuitive way to build sounds.

That's not to say it's a bad, or powerful way, it's just really hard to build
a correct mental model of how changing parameter X will affect the sound in
the way you want.

~~~
fit2rule
Aphex Twin figured out how to program his:

[https://magpi.raspberrypi.org/articles/aphex-twin-
midimutant](https://magpi.raspberrypi.org/articles/aphex-twin-midimutant)

~~~
munificent
I can't tell if that's an argument in favor or against my claim. :)

If you have to have a brain like Richard D. James to grasp it, what hope is
there for us?

------
Piezoid
Julius O. Smith's online books about audio signal processing:
[https://ccrma.stanford.edu/~jos/](https://ccrma.stanford.edu/~jos/)

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snthd
Tangentially

[https://forum.bela.io/d/1277-c-real-time-audio-
programming-w...](https://forum.bela.io/d/1277-c-real-time-audio-programming-
with-bela-a-free-online-course)

>we just released a course on C++ Real-Time Audio Programming with Bela. This
is aimed at beginner to intermediate C++ users, so if you have so far been
using Bela with other languages and you are interested in tipping you toes in
C++, this is a great occasion. If you know your C++ stuff, you may still want
to check out some of the more advanced topics (ARM/NEON assembly, state
machines, fixed-point maths, timing, block-based processing).

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devin
For anyone interested in this kind of thing, definitely check out
Syntorial[1]. If you want to tune your ear, it's quite helpful. Also, if
you're interested in modular synths, you can tinker with VCV Rack[2] and
virtually patch modules. It's a great learning environment, and won't break
your bank like a modular synth habit will. Take it from me. ;)

[1] [https://www.syntorial.com/](https://www.syntorial.com/)

[2] [https://vcvrack.com/](https://vcvrack.com/)

------
geon
Harmony Explained: Progress Towards A Scientific Theory of Music

[https://arxiv.org/html/1202.4212](https://arxiv.org/html/1202.4212)

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12085844](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12085844)

~~~
main_gi
That article is one of the most deeply disappointing to me - even as a
composer who doesn't like traditional music theory. It starts with some
criticism of traditional music theory I agree with, then goes and...
reconstructs several aspects of traditional music theory anyway. Also has a
common case of worship of the harmonic series but then conveniently stopping
at stuff like 7:4, 7:5, and 7:6 ratios.

~~~
geon
I don’t agree. It doesn’t try to refute traditional music theory, but explain
_why_ it works.

------
throwaway6734
This site has been owned. Got a nasty popup on click

Edit: no longer appearing

~~~
steverb
Here's a link to the YouTube lecture just in case:

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ow2ZmBmDaNo](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ow2ZmBmDaNo)

