EMUSIC-L Digest Volume 65, Issue 15 This issue's topics: Newbie Asks Questions (3 messages) Your EMUSIC-L Digest moderator is Joe McMahon . You may subscribe to EMUSIC-L by sending mail to listserv@american.edu with the line "SUB EMUSIC-L your name" as the text. The EMUSIC-L archive is a service of SunSite (sunsite.unc.edu) at the University of North Carolina. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Date: Thu, 9 Jun 1994 15:34:32 EDT From: "william.b.fox" Subject: Newbie Asks Questions question: 1. I am a novice when it comes to programming my synth. (I have a M1 and a T3, both by korg). I would love for someone to tell in simple english what certain things mean. Like what the hell is an occillator and how does it affect the sound? 2. What VDF? you know stuff like this. Anybody Out there. I need some info on how to program my M1 and T3. The manual just doesn't do for me. (sorry japanese manual writers!:) I know how to adjust fx and how to make new combinations and adjust velocity, but the other stuff like EG? what the hell does it do and how does it affect the over all sound? I can hear the sound the difference, but I am a graphic artist, and I want to know what does to the whole picture. 3. the reason I wany to know all this is simple. I love those R&B analog sounds from the 70's, and want to be able to program these sounds in my M1 and T3. For example the group Jodeci uses a bass sound that has a great fx when you do a glissando. It's like a weird nasty dirty analog sound. I love it. Now how in the hell do you do that. 4. can anybody recommend a book I can download? peace out Jaydawg947 aka Jody (404) 593-9621 or (404) 656-0664 -------------------------------------------------------- The beginning of knowledge begins with the question: I do not know. ..............DATA, TNG Hi Jaydawg947, aka Jody, > The beginning of knowledge begins with the question: I do not know. > ..............DATA, TNG Got me where I live. ST contains many concepts to ponder. You don't have to agree with them all, just recognize that this is TV at its best. 1. ... what [] is an occillator and how does it affect the sound? ... An oscillator is the thing (hardware and/or software) that MAKES sound. Its waveform, or shape, determines how it sounds. Sinewave is a pure tone, i.e., a single frequency. Any deviation from this adds other frequencies for more spectral interest. 2. What [is a] VDF? I need some info on how to program my M1 and T3. ... the other stuff like EG? VDF is probably a filter. Filters remove a range of frequencies from a sound. Low Pass Filters (LPF) reduce the strength of high frequencies; makes a sound warmer or duller. High Pass Filters (HPF) cut low frequencies; makes a sound lighter, less full bodied. Band Pass Filters (BPF) cut high and low frequencies, leaving the middle; sounds nasal if centered at the correct frequency. Band Reject or Notch Filter passes all frequencies but those in the middle. Anybody have a good description of how this sounds? EG is an envelope generator. Adjustments can be (not all are included on every EG) delay, attack, decay, sustain, release. Some EGs' parameters are specified in terms of rates instead of times. An EG is a controller that lends its shape to a sound's intensity over time (VCA - voltage controlled amplifier), a sound's frequency content over time (changing a LPF's cutoff frequency letting more, and then fewer frequencies through), or to another controller's intensity over time (vibrato or pitch changes of varying amounts instead of a constant amount). Check your local music store for books and videos on programming your M1 and T3. Try also a (college) bookstore. Look for basic emusic books while you're at it. Uncle Joe - I haven't checked to see if there's a FAQ on this stuff. If there isn't one, feel free to use this as a starting point for one. Bill Fox wbf@aloft.att.com ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 9 Jun 1994 16:55:44 EDT From: Jody Mayfield Subject: Re: Newbie Asks Questions > The beginning of knowledge begins with the question: I do not know. > ..............DATA, TNG Got me where I live. ST contains many concepts to ponder. You don't have to agree with them all, just recognize that this is TV at its best. 1. ... what [] is an occillator and how does it affect the sound? ... An oscillator is the thing (hardware and/or software) that MAKES sound. Its waveform, or shape, determines how it sounds. Sinewave is a pure tone, i.e., a single frequency. Any deviation from this adds other frequencies for more spectral interest. 2. What [is a] VDF? I need some info on how to program my M1 and T3. ... the other stuff like EG? VDF is probably a filter. Filters remove a range of frequencies from a sound. Low Pass Filters (LPF) reduce the strength of high frequencies; makes a sound warmer or duller. High Pass Filters (HPF) cut low frequencies; makes a sound lighter, less full bodied. Band Pass Filters (BPF) cut high and low frequencies, leaving the middle; sounds nasal if centered at the correct frequency. Band Reject or Notch Filter passes all frequencies but those in the middle. Anybody have a good description of how this sounds? EG is an envelope generator. Adjustments can be (not all are included on every EG) delay, attack, decay, sustain, release. Some EGs' parameters are specified in terms of rates instead of times. An EG is a controller that lends its shape to a sound's intensity over time (VCA - voltage controlled amplifier), a sound's frequency content over time (changing a LPF's cutoff frequency letting more, and then fewer frequencies through), or to another controller's intensity over time (vibrato or pitch changes of varying amounts instead of a constant amount). Check your local music store for books and videos on programming your M1 and T3. Try also a (college) bookstore. Look for basic emusic books while you're at it. Uncle Joe - I haven't checked to see if there's a FAQ on this stuff. If there isn't one, feel free to use this as a starting point for one. Bill Fox wbf@aloft.att.com<<<<<< yo bill, This is the best answer yet. This is a great starting point. Since you are a trekie I am going to send the ferengi rules of aquisition. They are great to live by. Also, on more on programming. Can you draw out a physical model using these concepts. You know, like a flow chart? peace lo ve soul Jody Mayfield (404) 656-0664, (404) 593 9621 Jaydawg947@aol.com ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 10 Jun 1994 08:49:01 EDT From: "william.b.fox" Subject: Re: Newbie Asks Questions Jody Mayfield says: > yo bill, This is the best answer yet. This is a great starting point. Thank you and you're very welcome! Joe's answers were good, too. His admiration of your desire to do your own programming is most likely echoed by the respect many on this list have for roll-your-own types. > Since you are a trekie I am going to send the ferengi rules of aquisition. > They are great to live by. Thanks, I'm looking forward to receiving the rules. But I'm merely a treker, not a full blown trekie. (I.e. you won't ever find me in uniform outside my bedroom unless it's Holloween!) ;-) > Also, on more on programming. Can you draw out a physical model using these > concepts. You know, like a flow chart? Another (in)famous "ASCIImatic" should do the trick. Here's the basic emusic paradigm: |------------| |--------| |-----------| | oscillator |-------->| filter |--------->| amplifier |-----> to mixer |------------| |--------| |-----------| Be aware that I've only shown the audio path: an oscillator makes a sound, a filter alters the sound's spectrum, and the amplifier gives it the amplitude shape (volume envelope). In the old analog days, these would typically be VCO, VCF, and VCA (where VC means voltage controlled). Today, these are often all digital, but the concepts are the same (DCO, DCF, DCA), only the control methods are different. Controllers like Envelope Generators (EG), Low Frequency Oscillators (LFO), Modulation Wheels, the Keyboard, Noise, Sample/Hold, audio oscillators, and more (I'm sure) are used to control these three basic building blocks. Example 1: LFO to a VCA to control the oscillator; Vibrato! That's a slow frequency modulation (FM) of the oscillator. The intervening VCA controls how much FM is applied, i.e., how far the frequency deviates from the unmodulated oscillator. Of course, something like an EG or mod whell must control the VCA to determine the FM mod amount. Example 2: EG to a VCA to control the amplifier. See Joe's ADSR explanation. Using keyboard velocity to control the intervening VCA gives velocity sensitivity to the sound's volume. Example 3: Keyboard position (or MIDI note number) to control the filter's cutoff frequency. Higher notes on the right of the keyboard open up the filter for a brighter sound. Lower notes on the left close down the filter for a warmer sound. Example 4: the EG and VCA that controls the amplifier also controlling the filter will make louder sounds brighter than softer sounds. See you in the gamma quadrant! Bill Fox wbf@aloft.att.com ------------------------------ End of the EMUSIC-L Digest ******************************