Computer Sound Design: Synthesis Techniques and Programming

Rating:
Summary: Fantastic introduction to sound synthesis
Review: As a musician with no experience of computer programming I found this book an ideal introductory text. It encouraged me to try out synthesis programming for myself and create new sounds beyond the presets that come with commercial products. Highly recommended.

Rating:
Summary: Badly Explained
Review: I have a good few books on the subject of synthesis and I was attracted to this book because it is one of the MUSIC TECHNOLOGY series(which are usually very good) and has a CD. The contents page promised a lot and looked like just what I wanted. The book unfortunately is not very good. It is confused, confusing and ultimately futile.
A quick flick through the book and it looks good, bits of code and diagrams and you think "Could this be the good stuff?". After reading it for a short while you quickly realize it is not. The code all relates to individual programs on the free CD. There is never enough code to be of any use at all. 4 or 5 lines of code for one program and another 4 or 5 for another then a diagram. There are a lot of graphs and diagrams but these generally do not explain the topic and just seem to be placed there to explain away the lack of clear concise writing.
All that said the first chapter on the BASICS are very good and some of the software is very good especially CHRUSHER!Live. Overall though it is a very frustrating book. Instead I recommend SOUND SYNTHESIS and SAMPLING (Music Technology Series)
by Martin Russ, Francis Rumsey. This is a very good book on the various synthesis methods. Although it does not promise what this book does. What is does promise it delievers. A good grounding in the basics of the more common form of Synthesis.

Rating:
Summary: Too broad, some misconceptions
Review: I was first impressed with Eduardo Miranda's book "Computer Sound Design" but as I read more, I realized that this ambitious survey of sound synthesis over-generalizes and even criticizes mature well-accepted techniques. Admittedly, the scope of the book is vast, but I can't help feel that the approach to most topics is far too cursory for the book to be more than a reference to other works.

I was very disappointed with chapter 3, "Spectrum Modelling Approaches" as it not only was a terse white-wash of spectral synthesis techniques, there were multiple instances of unfounded criticism for the rich field of spectral signal processing and its growing constituency of pracitioners. It would have been much more effective for Miranda to simply admit his lack of expertise in the area without providing false unfounded judgements.

Rating:
Summary: Too broad, some misconceptions
Review: I was first impressed with Eduardo Miranda's book "Computer Sound Design" but as I read more, I realized that this ambitious survey of sound synthesis over-generalizes and even criticizes mature well-accepted techniques. Admittedly, the scope of the book is vast, but I can't help feel that the approach to most topics is far too cursory for the book to be more than a reference to other works.

I was very disappointed with chapter 3, "Spectrum Modelling Approaches" as it not only was a terse white-wash of spectral synthesis techniques, there were multiple instances of unfounded criticism for the rich field of spectral signal processing and its growing constituency of pracitioners. It would have been much more effective for Miranda to simply admit his lack of expertise in the area without providing false unfounded judgements.

Rating:
Summary: Most welcome and very helpful
Review: The book is designed to be very practical. It can serve as an introduction, but also as a clarification and reminder for the already experienced reader. The author provides the support necessary for finding one's own path in an extremely clear fashion, so that every step appears simple. The choice of topics includes important and neatly classified methods for sound modelling. At the end, the book ventures towards "the cutting edge" - applying artificial intelligence techniques and evolutionary computing for sound design, and taking into account the implications of parallel computing for sound synthesis: the author is himself conducting research in these promising fields, at the new frontier of computer music. The CD-ROM provides useful software as well as tutorials and examples.

Doing one's own thing with digital sound technology requires some effort indeed: but this effort is necessary to take advantage of vast potential resources in an original, personal and musical fashion, and this book should help in this worthwhile endeavor. I believe that Computer Sound Design - Synthesis Techniques and Programming" will play a useful role in the diffusion of knowledge and know-how on software synthesis, and greatly facilitate the approach of digital sound design.

Rating:
Summary: Fantastic introduction to sound synthesis
Review: This is a great book. As a student of music technology, I found it most useful to support my course work. It is great for taking a more in-depth look at specific techniques and systems that are not covered in class. I particularly like the granular synthesis section and the variety of software provided on the CD-ROM.

Rating:
Summary: Good source of new ideas
Review: This is a great book. As a student of music technology, I found it most useful to support my course work. It is great for taking a more in-depth look at specific techniques and systems that are not covered in class. I particularly like the granular synthesis section and the variety of software provided on the CD-ROM.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent book!
Review: This is an excellent book and I found it ideal as a text book for sound synthesis courses. It covers a wide range of different synthesis techniques and the concepts are clearly explained with examples and useful diagrams. What I found most positive in this book is that it does not focus on any one system in particular (ie, it's not a user guide for a specific software). Rather, it surveys of a number of systems - commercial and public domain - including unusual ones for physical modelling such as Praat and CORDIS. Also there is a chapter of more advanced synthesis techniques using genetic algorithms and artificial intelligence, which makes it a nice addition to the norm. I only wished the book was longer, with more in-depth discussion on some of the many interesting examples. The CD-ROM has useful additional materials and tutorials.