Computer Sound Synthesis for the Electronic Musician (Music Technology)

Introduce computer sound synthesis techniques and synthesis programming to students, researchers, musicians and enthusiasts in the field of music technology.

Miranda examines a variety of synthesis techniques and illustrates how to turn a personal computer into a powerful and flexible sound synthesiser. The book also discusses a number of ongoing developments that may play an important role in the future of electronic music making, including the use of Artificial Intelligence techniques in synthesis software and parallel computers.

Computer sound synthesis is becoming increasingly attractive to a wide range of musicians. The sound processing power of the computer is increasing and any personal computer will soon be able to run software in real-time, capable of synthesising sounds using every possible technique.

The art of sound synthesis is as important for the electronic musician as the art of orchestration is important for symphonic music composers. Those who wish to create their own virtual orchestra of electronic instruments and produce original sounds will find this book invaluable.

The accompanying CD-ROM contains examples, complementary tutorials and a number of synthesis systems for PC and Macintosh platforms, ranging from low level synthesis programming languages to graphic front-ends for instrument and sound design. These include fully working packages, demonstration versions of commercial software and experimental programs from top research centres in Europe, North and South America.

Eduardo Reck Miranda is a researcher at Sony Computer Science Laboratory, and a renowned composer in his own right. He is one of the creators of the Computer Music Group (NUCOM) of the Brazilian Computer Science Society (SBC); he is also a member of the International Computer Music Association (ICMA), the Brazilian Electroacoustic Music Association (SBME) and the Audio Engineering Society (AES). He is on the editorial boards of Leonardo Music Journal, Organised Sound, and Contemporary Music Review.