Microsound

Rating:
Summary: Strange Sound Effects, but not Musical
Review: "Microsound Synthesis" seems to be a new and useful music synthesis technique, so I buy this book. But when I look at the book in the first place, I noticed that there has many unfamiliar nouns and technical terms, even in DSP or electronic music fields. Listening is believing: then I listen to the CD attached carefully (with 68 tracks). All sounds (synthesis / process) are very strange, and not musical at all. May be it is good for certain Movie sound EFX, but definately not for extensive Musical applications.

My conclusion: From the CD demo, I reasonably believed that Microsound technique is still in its earliest development stage (if the works can be continued).

Rating:
Summary: Microsound - the ultimate guide in granular synthesis.
Review: Curtis Roads has been working with Granular Synthesis since 1972, following the work of Iannis Xenakis and Dennis Gabor. His decades of research and computer programs in this field have educated and inspired all electronic musicians who work within the particle synthesis field. My first introduction to Granular synthesis was Roads' article from a 1978 issue of the Computer Music Journal entitled 'Automated Granular Synthesis of Sound'.

Microsound marks a milestone in granular synthesis and contains a huge amount of information, relating to it and other forms of particle synthesis, some of which were a direct result of Roads' own research (eg glisson synthesis). The book contains a full history of particle synthesis going back to the early philosophies aroused by the debate of whether sound is a particle or wave, right through to his own recent experiments and instruments. It gives full details on how to work with granular synthesis and also contains a CD full of examples, including some very historically significant pieces of music.

The writing style is easy to follow, including a few humourous anecdotes - well I found them humourous, Roads probably found them frustrating at the time, although I am sure he smiles about it now :)

There are a couple of minor quoting errors, but they do not misconstrue the meaning and are not noticeable unless you are going through the book with a fine tooth comb (like I did).

For anyone interested in working with sound at a low (microsound) level, this is a MUST READ book!

To any reviewers who do not understand all of the terms used, perhaps you should re-read Microsound and also any literature written on this topic in the last 30 years.