How to use math (and programming) in sound design?

[SteffenPL]

It is possible to use faust-vst and still get to the point of actually making music?
Or will each individual sound take very long to be created?

I'm not sure if I understand your questions. When you make your tools for creating music by yourself, of course there is a risk that you spent more time in making tools then music. In my case, I would estimate that I split my time half/half. But if you have fun while working on your tools, who cares?

And sharing your tools can make you a lot of friends (e.g. a lot of people are using the Mackie Control extension I wrote for Reaper).

Yes, you got the question right. I just wanted to make sure that it's not a hobby which pulls me inevitably away from actually making music. Something like half/half sounds good!

[DJ Warmonger]

FM synthesis is all bout maths. I made a few videos about explaining how to. And keep coming back to FM every now and then.

Euclidean rhythms, or polyrhythms are another applications of (simple) maths that helps being creative.

But other than that... music is about feelings, and feelings have no analytical solution

[SparkySpark]

Yes, you got the question right. I just wanted to make sure that it's not a hobby which pulls me inevitably away from actually making music. Something like half/half sounds good!

I think you mentioned that you might need to learn more about sounds and synths overall.

So perhaps start with easy frameworks to develop your own synths and effects? The MuLab DAW (mutools.com) comes to mind, as it includes MUX, which lets you create stuff really easily and which sounds great. Note that MuLab 8 is free atm.

Another option is the scripting engine from BlueCatAudio. I think it's the scripting code they use themselves for their plugins.

[garryO]

FM synthesis is all bout maths. I made a few videos about explaining how to. And keep coming back to FM every now and then.

(the link to youtube from your profile here didn´t work for me.)

watched all three FM videos, learned a lot, it´s a bit complicated though. Can i ask you some stuff, how to use the formulas and charts you showed?

[DJ Warmonger]

Could be always done better

Formulas explain what kinds of partials are generated from particular setup, and what is their power. The power can be dialed in or reduced by ear, so the "sound design" is all about the algorithm.

Partials can be harmonic or inharmonic, set to specific interval (like 3:2 or 10:7), starting from zero or from the middle of a spectrum, filtered or boosted. There are also possibilities for unison, pseudo-noise. All of these can be combined, or multiplicated with many operators.

the link to youtube from your profile here didn´t work for me

Screw KVR, they redirect to "user" instead of "channel" and don't let me enter full address

[garryO]

Could be always done better

yes, but at a high level it will be very much effort to do just a little improvment.

watched part 1 again, still don´t understand:

f=f0+-Km

f0 is frequency of carrier osc
m is frequency of modulator osc
f is frequency of added partial

but i have no clue what K is?? (what value to put in here?)

what exactly are the operators doing?

working with vital, but maybe other synth is easier/has more options for FM?

(for your link, maybe add it to signature, most people probably don´t check profile at all.)

[DJ Warmonger]

K can be any integer (for harmonics) or any real number (for inharmonics).

To make that work as intended your modulator should snap value to full integers and also have fine tuning. This is why dedicated FM synth is needed, and that's why I use Ableton Operator. FM8 also has it, as well as Massive X, Toybox FM synth. Dune 2/3 FM osc has kind of ratios stepped by 0.5.

[garryO]

ok so probably should try a dedicated FM synth.

thank you very much.

[SparkySpark]

So if you really want to hear some results within a not too great timeframe, this might be the place to start:

https://www.kvraudio.com/news/blue-cat- ... g-in-51041

I'd go with that or MUX, just to see what is of interest, before digging in with DSP, FM, the VST format etc.

[kingozrecords]

In My opinion, efficiency is the only math to worry about if you want excitement. Good luck.

[donbergamomarretijr]

Get max for live