Sound from a Virtual Planet

With the start of the 2008 Spring semester at Berkleemusic.com, I’m looking forward to the arrival of Absynth in my online course, Sound Design for the Electronic Musician. I spent the beginning of this year revising the course, and I’m excited by the educational opportunities Absynth will provide. So, what makes for a good teaching tool anyway? As with anything, we learn by doing, and you’ll learn from your experience with any electronic instrument. However, in my mind, a tool that’s particularly well suited to teaching is one that helps you make connections with larger concepts or principles. Absynth does that in a couple of useful ways: by using absolute values and providing time and frequency domain displays of waveforms.

Most synthesizers use arbitrary values for parameters. By arbitrary, I mean that a given value has no correspondence to an objective measure of a particular setting. For example, in Reason we can set a filter cutoff frequency to 85, but 85 what? Don’t we usually use Hz to describe frequency? As far as I can see, the values used for the parameters in Reason are totally arbitrary. By and large we’ve gotten used to this way of working with synthesizers and even in some effects processors. Take a look through your collection or virtual and hardware synths and see what you find.

Two things contribute to this, first is the legacy of analog instruments, which serve as the model for many current synthesizer designs. Back in the days of the Mini Moog, there were no display readouts of values. You used your ears and adjusted a parameter to taste. Any frequency values on analog gear is an approximation anyway, and it’s just not possible for a potentiometer to set a specific numeric value. Second, while the arrival of digital control and MIDI meant that absolute display of values like filter cutoff was more of a possibility technically, manufacturers often didn’t see the need. MIDI control has a range of 128 values in most implementations, so it can only address 128 specific values in any range. While a MIDI parameter value of 87 might correspond with a specific frequency, manufacturers often spared the user those details. Yamaha in it’s DX line of instruments was a notable exception here.

To my knowledge, the first synthesizer to fully implement absolute values for parameters was the Kurzweil K250, introduced in 1984.* Filter cutoff frequency was displayed as Hz, levels as dB, LFO rate as Hz, and time values, including envelope segment durations, in seconds. This made it a particularly powerful teaching tool, and it was a staple in the Berklee Music Synthesis Department labs for years, followed by the K2000 series. Absynth follows in this tradition by using absolute values for any parameter.

One synthesis concept that’s difficult for many students to grasp at first is the relationship of wave shape to spectrum. Early analog synths usually had two or three waveshapes available in their oscillator sections. With the arrival of digital oscillators and wavetables, synthesizers offered a greater selection of single cycle waveforms, however these were often displayed numerically. We see this in Reason’s Subtractor where waveshapes beyond the basic geometric staples are selectable by numbers 5 through 32. While a description of timbral characteristics can sometimes be found in the instrument’s documentation, we often don’t see the shape itself or the actual spectrum, the number and level of individual partials.

Waveform Display in Absynth

Spectrum Display in Absynth

As in most software instruments, Absynth has a number of waveforms available in it’s three oscillators. In addition, you can create and save your own waveshapes use the Wave Window editor. This unique editing environment lets the user select between the familiar time domain waveform display or a frequency domain display that shows the number, level and phase of individual partials. You use a pencil tool to simply redraw a waveshape in one window and the change in spectrum is displayed in the next. Conversely, when you change the level and phase of the displayed partials, you switch views and see a new shape. Pretty cool…

While Native Instruments boasts of many more exotic and even revolutionary features in Absynth’s promotional materials, absolute values and graphic displays are some of the basic features that make it a powerful tool for learning about sound. Hello Absynth…

Multi-segment Envelopes in Absynth

* While the Synclavier, Fairlight and perhaps other high-end systems incorporated absolute values, I’m thinking here of instruments that mere mortal, working musicians might be able to afford.

Fall 2006 brought a cornucopia of software updates for music production. If you’re a Mac user, that includes the long awaited new operating system, Leopard. A late November release of Live 7 capped a season where we saw the arrival of Logic Studio, Reason 4, NI Komplete 5 and Pro Tools 7.4. This onslaught raises the inevitable question for users of when to upgrade –what works or when will it? Although most of us involved with technology welcome change, but we are periodically reminded of the commitment we make to troubleshooting and learning new features. This past fall, that was a big one.

Out of nowhere, Logic Studio was announced in early September. After months of rumors about what would become of Logic, 10 DVDs held the answer. By this time, there’s a number of really good reviews out of Logic 8, but suffice it to say, this is an evolution, not a revolution. However, with Logic 8 shipping as a software suite with Soundtrack, Compressor, and Mainstage –a new performance application that hosts software synths and processors– at half the price of Logic 7, the update for users is a no-brainer. The install took forever, even without adding the lifetime’s worth of GarageBand loops that are included. But when all was said and done, Logic 8 ran like a clock and played nice with just about all the plug-ins it scanned –again another wait while the AU police did its gig.

I had a beta of Reason 4 over the summer, so when I finally got the release version in October, there were no surprises. Our friends in Stockholm release no software until its time and Reason remains the most stable piece of software I have ever used….period.

By the time Leopard was announced, my attitude was two down, bring it on. The new OS went on sale at 6:00 PM, I had it in my hands by 7:00, and at 9:00 my G5 tower studio computer rebooted to reveal shades of purple. I soon found out it was the color of envy… of all those who had the good sense to leave well enough alone. Leopard brought every single piece of music software to its knees, with the exception of standalone softsynths, and of course Reason. Times like this bring out my dark side…the fearless geek. As with any other vice, indulgence turned into another lost weekend….sorting through plug-ins and general troubleshooting.

OK, I knew Pro Tools wouldn’t work, but when the new Logic 8 crashed on every launch, I got nervous. Some people read mysteries, others chase down software incompatibilities, and it was off to the races for me. As Logic started, things seemed to bog down when I got to the Waves plug-ins. With a quick trip the Waves Website, I found that their line of plug-ins was not yet compatible with Leopard. So, once my Waveshell hit the trash, things got a bit further on start-up, but still no luck.

It seems that I never met a plug-in I didn’t like, and I install just about anything I come across. The problem is, they stay there. After sorting though all the demos and betas, I finally narrowed the field to a few likely suspects. Again, off to the trash; but still, no luck. One of the most reliable ways to start sorting out problem children in the plug-ins folder is to take them all out and open the application. With an empty Components folder, Logic opened without a hitch. The next step is the tedious task of closing the application, adding a plug-in, then opening. As long as Logic opened, I was in the clear. Instead of adding individual plug-ins, I went through families at a time. I was pleasantly surprised that my favorites were not at fault. After a bit of this low-level detective work, I found that the Melodyne Rewire plug-in, one that I had never actually used, was the culprit. Once Logic opened, all the other applications that had previously crashed, ran without a problem. Any program that was an Audio Unit host stalled on that one plug-in. (As of this writing, all current Melodyne plug-ins run under Leopard.

I might add that when installing Leopard, I chose to migrate my applications, settings, and preferences, and thankfully all of installs and the associated labyrinth of copy protection schemes remained intact.

So, was it worth it? Heck yes… Leopard is a really slick OS visually, and despite the hit you might expect the processor would take from the added graphic elements, the system runs smoothly, is very stable, and there is a noticeable improvement in the performance of some applications. At first glance, there doesn’t look to be any changes to Core Audio, but I wouldn’t be surprised if there were some goodies somewhere under the hood.

So, should you upgrade? Well, that depends. Here are a few thoughts on when to upgrade:

Tips for upgrading:

1. Do you need to? If you use a machine for billable work, be very cautious with upgrades. (If you’re a working pro, I probably don’t need to tell you that.) If you are working on projects that have deadlines, don’t do it.

2. If you have two machines, start with one, using it as a test platform, then transition to the other. I started with my studio machine, and since I had no looming deadlines, this made some sense, hence my somewhat cavalier attitude this time out. I use my laptop to run my life and since it’s a newer Intel machine, it can work for just about any project that comes up as a back up. I’ll update it when the dust settles.

3. If you think you’re ready to make the leap to a new OS revision, check manufacturers’ Websites for compatibility. Don’t forget any drivers you may need. Although many are now class compliant and need no additional drivers, this is not always the case. MOTU hardware requires driver software, and they are thankfully pretty quick to update.

4. If you’re updating an OS or a host application such as any DAW, check with the companies that supply the plug-ins you rely on for compatibility.

5. Weed through your plug-ins before running a new OS or software version. A bit of housecleaning will usually ease a transition. I always try to set aside time when I make major upgrades or revisions to clear out software and plug-ins that I don’t use.

6. Back up before you make any changes. Getting a new OS is like getting a heart transplant (or at least a bypass). You’re making a major change to the critical part of your system and stuff can happen. You never know exactly how compatible documents will be with new versions of software that authored them.

Happy New Year and have fun with all the new stuff that’s out there.