good but could be more mathematical | Sound Synthesis and Sampling, Second Edition (Music Technology) |...

An excellent resource for sound synthesis | Sound Synthesis and Sampling, Second Edition (Music Technology) | Martin Russ

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	• Sound Synthesis and Sampling, Second Edition (Music Technology) Martin Russ Focal Press, 2004 - 464 pages average customer review:based on 8 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

EXCELLENT - couldn't put it down

A friend gave me the loan of this book when I asked some questions about synthesis. I read it twice before I reluctantly gave it back. After that I order my own copy from amazon. I really love this book. It is so well written. Enjoyable and informative. There is no maths and everything is explained in a simple fashion. I would like to see a series written by these two authors going into further detail on each of the types of snthesis covered.
I'd thoroughly advise it to anyone especially Music Technology students or Computer Music students.

good but could be more mathematical

I like this book 'bout being very concise and detailed about the various synthesis processes, but a bit more mathemtics could get some of my curiosities fulfilled. The theory is excellent and understanding the different synthesis types is a breeze; the flowcharts are intuitive and diagrams are detailed. I love the presentation of each topic, and the humour of the author while reading it. A great starting point for music technology enthusiasts but no advice on programming synths or using advanced software like reaktor, so it could be more expansive on some perfomance and programming areas. Overall great reading value.

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An excellent resource for sound synthesis

I need to jump in a correct a few faulty opinions surrounding this book. This is not "Synthesizers for Dummies" or anything like it. It's a book on electronic sound synthesis and the science behind it. You'll find diagrams, graphs, some easy math, and some technical terms. An understanding of the physics of sound helps. Basically, you'll find what you would expect to see in a text book, which is what this is. If you want to fool around with some presets on your synth without getting into designing your own sounds, this is not what you're looking for.

However, if you're looking to get into sound design or you want to tap the real power of your synthesizer, this is a great resource. The first edition came before computer synthesis hit the mainstream, so the focus is on hardware synthesizers, but that is not to say that you can't apply all the lessons in here to computer synthesis. I've built a number of the examples in PureData (the open source Max/MSP) and I regularly have students draw from the diagrams in my Intro to Sound Synthesis class.

I've found that while this book wasn't made exclusively for computer sound synthesis in the way that Curtis Roads' excellent Computer Music Tutorial is, students are far less intimidated by this. The writing style is (contrary to what Altoidboy would have you believe) not overly dry and jargon is not really a problem. I mean, if you consider "low frequency oscillator" to be jargon, then I guess this book is full of it. However, that's like reading a medical text book and then complaining that words like "spinal cord" and "frontal lobe" are jargon. My students have never complained.

Obviously, your main choice is going to be between this an the Computer Music Tutorial. Both are excellent and comprehensive, and both have different strengths. If you're primarily concerned with hardware synthesizers or you want something accessible, I'd go with "Sound Synthesis and Sampling". If you're leaning more towards computer sound synthesis, the CMT is probably better. Other differences include much more coverage of experimental techniques and newer developments such as granular synthesis in the CMT. "Sound Synthesis and Sampling" is much stronger in the classic synthesis techniques (additive, subtractive, AM, FM, etc.).

Again to counter Altoidboy's review, there's is a wealth of practical content here. It's not as simple as following step-by-step instructions (now move the button marked "VCO" to the number 5), but this is ultimately a much better way to learn. Rather than blindly following directions that you don't understand, Russ shows you why things do what they do. Then, you can apply this knowledge to any synthesizer, not just the one used as an example.

This book is a classic and one that I would recommend to anyone interested in sound synthesis. Don't be scared off by negative reviews - just understand that this is a serious book with serious info.

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yesterday today tomorrow

I got into computer music with Sonar and using only software synthesizers I opened up a whole new universe of sound. This book will help you on your way. A little history not much math but a lot of help. If you intend to follow this path give this book a read!

Sound Synthesis and Sampling provides a comprehensive introduction to the underlying principles and practical techniques applied to both commercial and research sound synthesizers. This second edition has been rigorously updated throughout and includes a new chapter on performance, examining how synthesizers have become embedded within more sophisticated musical performance instruments.

Martin Russ highly readable and non-mathematical approach makes the subject accessible whatever your level of experience. The book features:
· Detailed illustrations to aid your understanding
· Topics presented in bite-size sections within each chapter
· Additional notes in the margin to reinforce important points
· Examples of representative instruments and software
· Time lines showing the development of a topic in its historical context
· Questions at the end of each chapter for checking your comprehension
· A glossary for quick reference
· A jargon guide to demystify the varied terminology

As such, the book is particularly suitable for students of music technology, audio engineering, acoustics, electronics and related courses. Musicians, engineers and multimedia specialists will also want to keep a copy to hand for reference.
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* Suitable for students of music technology at all levels
* Questions are provided at the end of each chapter to aid learning
* Features a new chapter on performance

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