Syllabus

Class: Digital Synthesis Techniques

Term: Summer 2023

Instructor: Fede Camara Halac

04.04.23 week1 - Pure Data Basics

Intro to the class. Installing pd. Configuring Pd. Making and saving a patch. The 5 objects in pd: object, message, number, symbol, comment. The sinusoid. Order of execution. Hot and Cold inlets. Simple math exercises. Pd objects: unpack, trigger, +, -, *, /, print

11.04.23 week2 - The Digital Signal

Sound. Digital Audio Signals. Sample. Sampling rate. Resolution. Differences between audio and control signals. Pd objects: osc~, dac~, adc~

18.04.23 week3 - Frequency and Amplitude

Frequency and amplitude control. The Nyquist Theorem. Aliasing Pitch-frequency relation: MIDI / Herz (Hz) Dynamics-amplitude relation: Decibels (dB) / RMS amplitude The famous "click" sound: signal discontinuities. Pd objects: line~, line, mtof, ftom, dbtorms, rmstodb

25.04.23 week4 - Wavetable Synthesis

classic waveshapes: sawtooth, cosine, triangle, square Reading from / writing to arrays Pd objects: tabosc4~, phasor~, clip~, abs~, wrap~, array

02.05.23 week5 - Sequencing and Envelopes

How to make a counter. How to make a sequencer. ADSR envelopes Subpatches and abstractions Pd objects: metro, sel, float, bng, tgl, sliders, del

09.05.23 week6 - Filters and Substractive Synthesis

Different configurations: series, parallel, combined Substractive synthesis basics: VCF Preparing for midterm Pd objects: hp~, lop~, bp~, noise~, vcf~

16.05.23 week7 - Interfacing with MIDI

Preparing for midterm B.Y.O.C. (bring your own controller if you have one) Connecting and using a MIDI controller/keyboard Voice management and polyphony Pd objects: send, receive, notein, noteout, makenote, clone, poly

23.05.23 week8- Class midterm presentations

Midterm: make a substractive synthesizer like this one

30.05.23 week9 - Granular Synthesis

Loading, Reading, Writing wav files Basic granular synthesis Pd objects: soundfiler, tabread4~, tabplay~

06.06.23 week10 - More Synthesis Techniques

Classic synthesis spectra: Amplitud modulation. Frecuency modulation (FM synthesis). Phase modulation. Ring modulation Waveshaping. Chebychev polynomials Pd objects: cos~, external: js

13.06.23 week11 - Delay Networks

Recirculating Delay Networks. Variable delays. Algoritmo Karplus-Strong. Pitch shifting Echo and Reverb Pd objects: rev3~, delwrite~, delread~, delread4~

20.06.23 week12 - Signal Analysis

Basic Fourier Transform concepts. Signal Analysis. Spectrum. Partials. Amplitude analysis. Pd objects: env~, sigmund~, bonk~, rifft~, rfft~

27.06.23 week13 - Guest presentation

TBD

04.07.23 week14 - Noises and space

Randomness. Probability. Walks and Markov Chains. Stereo panning. Equal-amplitude panning. Point-source localization. Quadraphonic panning. Multichannel signals. Pd objects: noise~, mod, random, moses

11.07.23 week15 - Final projects presentation

Final project: design and make a sonic experience using Pd and some techniques shown in this seminar

This is our last meeting of the semester, so let's have some vegan gluten-free pizza and enjoy each other's sonic explorations!