Synthesis and sound design book?

For fans of synths, pianos or keyboard instruments of any sort.

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Re: Synthesis and sound design book?

Post by soundbyter »

For synthesis - Roads' "Computer Music Tutorial"
For sound design - Sonnenschein's "Sound Design"
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Re: Synthesis and sound design book?

Post by Binks »

I found "The synthesizer cookbook" a very very good read for getting your head round the gritty nitty.
A lot of books these days are written on the computer musician basis and look at particular pieces of software and how to program them.
Also, depending on what synth your using, it may be that there's an "unofficial" guide to it (I know that yamaha had the joy of Ex fr their ex range" and I'm sure they're must be others)

I agree with the trial and error bit, but a good book as well, will help get results (or at least start experiments) that bit quicker
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Re: Synthesis and sound design book?

Post by busamania »

also I need some good tips and technics about sound designing and synthesis modelling.until now I have downloaded many e-documents and articles but they all are telling about mathematical or schematical structures for bowed strings and wind instruments.I throughly understood the theory but I need something more likely hardware based practical applications about modelling synthesis...I have KORG M3 with RADIAS board... :headbang:
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Re: Synthesis and sound design book?

Post by CraigCyril »

Designing Sound" explains the procedural approach to next generation real-time audio, for games, interactive applications and computer animation. Weighing in at 650 pages this extensive work is possibly the best value textbook published on the subject. "Designing Sound" is essential to all sound technology students and practicing sound designers.
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Re: Synthesis and sound design book?

Post by vinnyprez »

Synth Cookbook by Fred Walsh!
This helped me SO much...
I was lost in Massive, Thor, etc....

BIG BIG HELP!
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Re: Synthesis and sound design book?

Post by Martin Walker »

Just in case anyone gets confused looking for this, it's actually Welsh's Synthesiser Cookbook:

More details here: www.synthesizer-cookbook.com

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Re: Synthesis and sound design book?

Post by dubbmann »

gryfyx wrote: For further reading I'll recommend - 'Analysis, Synthesis, and Perception of Musical Sounds: The Sound of Music (Modern Acoustics and Signal Processing)' by James W. Beauchamp, which I had already mentioned in this thread earlier.

just for the record, beauchamp was professor of EE at my undergraduate alma mater (University of Illinois) and very competent, so i'm sure the book is quite good. he was also a true, utter, and complete bastard. he sold me a manual for $75 (in 1981 that was a lot of dosh to a poor student) to one of the very first digital synths which had been developed at UIUC but only after taking my money did he tell me that access to the synth was limited to his grad students. sneaky, lowdown, and underhanded about sums it up. come to think it, probably was a forewarning for my future experiences in graduate school and music ;-)

oh well.

ps: i suspect the bk is way more maths oriented than the OP is looking for. fourier analysis, bode diagrams, etc. then again, i could be wrong. i was about beauchamp back '81 ....

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Re: Synthesis and sound design book?

Post by Hanley »

My personal favorite is "Programming Synthesizers" by Peter Gorges. It's tough to find the English version, but it's well worth it if you do.
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Re: Synthesis and sound design book?

Post by djames123 »

This book 100%

...and was spam, so I deleted the link ;) MW

Seven links advertising the same book!! :protest:
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Re: Synthesis and sound design book?

Post by SEG »

Sound Effects Bible by Ric Viers
Applications of Digital Signal Processing to Audio and Acoustics
Creating music and sound for games - G.W. Childs
Designing Sound - Andy Farnell

good ones ;)
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Re: Synthesis and sound design book?

Post by Martin Walker »

SEG wrote:Sound Effects Bible by Ric Viers

I've got that one too - good read!

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Re: Synthesis and sound design book?

Post by Zukan »

I had one of the best books ever written but I can't remember what it was called?

The book covered basic repair procedures (soldering bus bars, cleaning contacts etc) and was a great resource for quickly accessing the various menu options on different synths.

I think it's this one: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Troubleshootin ... 0830639217

A little lateral, I know, but one helluva resource book to have.

I shall leave now. I'll pop back later to make sure you're all funky n' ting.
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