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In-depth Feature:
Synthesis - Whats Next?
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in use
As I build my instruments I have the option to decide:
Where is this thing in the physical world?
What is it connected to?
What effect does that thing have on the sound?
What shape is it?
Does it amplify it or make it softer?
How?
All the time being able to the adjust all the parameters of the world around it and the effect other objects have on it. And I don't mean simply placing it in a nice reverb either, because I think effects units have a lot to answer for as well. We are still making music in a flat two dimensional space and its horrible!
I am also not necessarily playing this model from a keyboard. Perhaps I am wearing gloves with sensors and I am able to adjust all sorts of parameters by altering my virtual playing style, like point of impact, force of impact, length of impact, air pressure and audio shadows. In reality, everything makes a sound or has an impact on the space around it. So, I can make adjustments to my World in real time and even map an LFO to the entire model to create an earthquake!
I can look at an object's environment and decide where it is. For example a petrol explosion confined within the combustion chamber of an engine might share the same properties as an explosion taking place outside that environment but would sound very different without the constraints of the piston, crankshaft, cylinder head, valves and a hundred other factors.
All these factors and more, enough information so that the strike of a violin string with a bow or the lips of a flute player blowing down a tube can be defined... Everything... Starting with the acoustic space and working down to the finer details.
an invitation
We have to stop recycling music and sound and start using our resources (synthesiser designers) to create something fresh. My ultimate dream would be to be able to convincingly create virtual instruments that are simply not possible in the real World and waiting for manufacturers to build that synthesiser that actually does what it claims to do is getting boring.
Hopefully this article is a catalyst for someone to take a leap of faith and make something a bit different. Oh... And I am happy to beta test anything that comes even close to the above and pass comment.
Mark Tinley
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