quoted 2 lines I am not a producer of music-however I am interested in learning about the> I am not a producer of music-however I am interested in learning about the
> algorithms and wave formations(sinewave??) that people often talk about
when
quoted 3 lines discussing the production of electronic music.> discussing the production of electronic music.
>
> I have printed out some stuff,but it is very confusing!
This is a pretty common problem with any electronic thing, since most
manuals and information is written in a way so that people who already konw
what's going on will know what's going on. This, of course, it pretty much
useless as far as the *actual processes*. It took me about 6th months to
find out what cutoff actually was.
anywho, common algorithms are as follows:
sawtooth wave: this is above the "center line" in a wave, and pretty much
looks like a basic sawtooth (straight up on one side, slanted going back to
the middle, and then back up (or down, depending on the previous). it
usually creates more of a buzz and very "acidic sounds." looks like
|\|\|\|\ kinda
square wave: this basically makes rectangles out of the soundwave. it looks
like a series of vertical lines connected at the ends, and they're opposite
the adjacent ones. looks kinda like |_|-|_| only with that middle line
being at the top (instead of the middle). these tend to sound pretty
smooth, and are usually smooth leads and pads, along with bass sounds that
don't sound "acidic" (often confused with sine basses)
triangle wave: it looks like \/\/\/\/\/\/ =) it sounds smoother than the
sawtooth, but more jagged than the square. bass sounds are rumbly, and
treble sounds tend to be squeakier (although they can all sound pretty
squeaky with the right effects).
sine wave: well it's a basic non-modulated wave. sounds very smooth, but
is a pain to work with because there aren't many effects you can apply to a
basic sine wave (usually just amplitude and frequency).
i have no clue how the actual oscilators on synths or whatever work to
create these, but these are the basic waveforms used by most synthesis. you
can also mix these and get a really wide variety of waveforms, which
probably explains a lot of the more complicated algorithms in "sound wave
technology"
they can all be modified by increasing/decreasing the amplitude (basically
the loudness), and the frequency (how close the peaks/dips are to each
other), which affects the pitch of the sound (if the "peaks" are more
compact, the pitch is higher, and if the wave is more stretched out, then
it's bassier). things like cutoff, delay, and other basic filters, simply
modify those waveforms overall shape (delay will stretch it out more at the
end, etc). in reality, all soundwaves are simply combinations of basic
waveforms like this, just to an extremely complex degree, which is why some
people claim to be able to make synths sound like real things (cos they *do*
sound like real things, only simpler).
well hopefully i answered some questions. =)
-derek
---------------------------------------------------------------------
To unsubscribe, e-mail: idm-unsubscribe@hyperreal.org
For additional commands, e-mail: idm-help@hyperreal.org