Power Tools for Synthesizer Programming : The Ultimate Reference for Sound Design

Rating:
Summary: very good book
Review: I was really impressed by this book. It gives a very good background on synths/audio/nature of sound etc etc. It covers many issues. It will help newbies grasp the synth "language" very easy and quick

I have used synths for more than 10 years and i learned new stuff from this book. It is a "must" for beginners !!!

I wish that Mr Aiken will write a "ADVANCED" book on this...but as in really advanced in synthesizer programming

I can recommend this book to anyone interested in Synthesizers from beginners to advanced users.



Rating:
Summary: Not the "Ultimate" but pretty darned good.
Review: Power Tools for Synthesizer Programming is a handy reference resource for musicians who want to learn about the ins-and-outs of sound synthesis. While most of the information in the book can be obtained online and in music magazines, it's very convenient to have it all in one well organized, well written book.

Power Tools for Synthesizer Programming explains the processes behind all the major (and not-so-major) forms of synthesis, including subtractive, additive, granular, and wavetable. You get chapters on oscillators, filters, LFOs, envelopes, modulators, etc. The included audio CD gives handy examples of the phenomena being described (such as oscillator beating, aliasing, filter sweeps, etc.).

Although every chapter has one or two exercises at the end, it should be stated that this book is not a patch recipe book or primer in synthesis technique (despite the subtitle "The Ultimate Reference for Sound Design"--surely a subtitle contributed by the publisher's marketing department). The concepts and technology are explained in detail, but there is very little here by way of "tips and tricks."

Hopefully, Mr. Aikin will publish a sequel to this title that gives some hands-on instruction on how to produce specific types of sounds. There are literally hundreds of practical sound design questions that such a sequel could answer: How can I create a patch emulating the dynamics of a wind instrument? How can I make string patches sound more alive? How can I make really biting lead sounds? How are different drum and percussion sounds synthesized? I think a book that answered these and similar questions would sell very well indeed.

Rating:
Summary: A great place to start and finish
Review: This book shows you what you need to know to start programing your synth. Any synth! All you will have to do after reading this "easy to understand" book is start tweaking. Practice, practice, and more practice.