Needing research material for degree

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Chregg
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October 18, 11 6:30 AM (permalink)

Needing research material for degree

Im sitting a degree in audio engineering and for my research project, Im looking into how these software companies go about coding their software to emulate hardware , I have no knowledge of coding, so I am going to have to tread carefully with this, but Im prepared to do some experimentation my self with the hard ware at college (i.e running pure sines through the 1176, and examining the harmonic content of the processed sound and so on), but Im needing some kind of referencing material or white papers of some sort, Im prepared to e-mail the software companies my self, just need something to go on, any help in direction would be appreciated
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    space_cowboy
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    Re:Needing research material for degree October 18, 11 2:50 PM (permalink)
    Universal Audio does a circuit based emulation.  There was a great article in Sound on Sound maybe a year ago that went through UA, NI, Waves... and talked about the processes they used to replicate the sounds.

    To my knowledge, there is the circuitry emulation technique, wherein each resistor, transistor, capacitor, transformer ... is taken out and measured for its transfer response (and possibly impulse response) to see how it reacts to different voltages/currents and frequencies.  A virtual version of the hardware is then rebuilt exactly to the schematics.  

    To my knowledge, that is the most detailed way to recreate a vintage compressor, eq...

    The other method I seem to recall from the article was just a basic impulse response.  You put a short spike of voltage/current into a piece of gear then measure numerous parameters about what comes back out - the attack and decay versus the original, any points that distort either the frequencies or the amplitudes... much like impulse responses are made for reverbs. 

    Look up the SOS article.  BTW - if you are not a subscriber, you should be.  Best mag in the biz.  

    Some people call me Maurice
     
    SPLAT Pro lifetime, ADK 6 core 3.6Ghz with 32 GB RAM, SSD 1TB system drive, 3 3TB regular drives for samples, recordings and misc.  Behringer X Touch, UAD Apollo Quad.  2 UAD2 Quads PCI (i think - inside the box whatever that is), Console 1.  More guitars (40??) and synths (hard and soft) than talent.  Zendrum!!!
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    Moshkiae
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    Re:Needing research material for degree October 18, 11 3:29 PM (permalink)
    space_cowboy


    ...
    To my knowledge, there is the circuitry emulation technique, wherein each resistor, transistor, capacitor, transformer ... is taken out and measured for its transfer response (and possibly impulse response) to see how it reacts to different voltages/currents and frequencies.  A virtual version of the hardware is then rebuilt exactly to the schematics.  
    ...
    The other method I seem to recall from the article was just a basic impulse response.  You put a short spike of voltage/current into a piece of gear then measure numerous parameters about what comes back out - the attack and decay versus the original, any points that distort either the frequencies or the amplitudes... much like impulse responses are made for reverbs. 
    ...
    I imagine that the history of the synthesizer is a really good example, and how they started the tape loops to become echo, and such ... but I would think that the history of that would take massive volumes ... but going back to the nitty gritty of the Beaver and Krause days, as well as Stockhausen and many others ... and learn what they were doing, might be a really good lesson in this area.
     
    Heck ... look at an analog synthesizer? I'm not sure that I am on the same page for your question though.
     
    Code is very scientific, and I don't think that Synthesizers and "digital" equipment would have developed if the code behind it was not also improved and developed. But, if I am seeing it right, any code is simply a bunch of commands and instructions that would be asking the same manipulations as a knob, slider or pedal would, for example, plus anything else. These were very basic and "single" in the early days, and today, you can do a multitude of them together.  And of course, after a while you have a sphagetti bowl for code since there is so much of it and it's really hard to get a person to sit and say ... this goes here and then goes there and then goes here and there ... sort of like an electrical diagram, that you look at, scratch your head ... and go get some ice cream ... too much information!
    post edited by Moshkiae - October 18, 11 3:42 PM

    As a wise Guy once stated from his holy chapala ... none of the hits, none of the time ... prevents you from becoming just another turkey in the middle of all the other turkeys! 
      
    #3
    Chregg
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    Re:Needing research material for degree October 18, 11 5:52 PM (permalink)
    cheers guys, unfortunately i cant use SOS as a primary source of reference, but i read one of those articles earlier and booked maked the page, thats an interesting point about synthesisers too, ill get my self on the case with that, thanks again !!!!
    #4
    The Maillard Reaction
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    Re:Needing research material for degree October 18, 11 6:10 PM (permalink)
    Most dsp has been developed at universities and at think tanks for telecom industry.

    A lot of dsp is described in publicly available white papers.


    At the same time as dsp was being developed for contemporary use in digital processors people began using the same mathematical modeling techniques to continue to design analog circuits. Somewhere along the line "modeling" existing gear (as opposed to modeling new designs as prototyping) became something that interested engineers.

    You may be interested to learn about SPICE which is circuit modeling program for designers.

    With a interest specific to Windows or Mac plugins you will also need to learn about APIs for working with host applications and operating systems.


    A thing about dsp that I personally find very interesting is that the math is universal and applies to many different applications. For example; a dynamics compression filter works almost the same way on a photograph as it does on an audio stream. The point is that you will want to feel comfortable with mathematics in a big picture way before you delve into dsp... because it is all applied math.

    So, you'll need a firm grasp of mathematics and an up to date knowledge of programming... and then all the white papers you read should make perfect sense.

    :-)

    My guess is that your uni library has some of the white papers sitting on it's shelf. Remember, almost all dsp was developed for telecom and military communications... so don't waste a lot of time looking for answers in the sound recording department... head straight to the engineering wing.

    We used to have several heavy hitter dsp programmers who hung out here who really knew about this stuff... I think they all went over to the Reaper.

    Good luck.

    all the best,
    mike






    post edited by mike_mccue - October 18, 11 6:12 PM


    #5
    Chregg
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    Re:Needing research material for degree October 18, 11 6:32 PM (permalink)
    thats the thing mick, ill have to tread carefully with the dsp coding and try and brush on it, my lecturer said thats cool, but ive got a load of literature to read, and ill have to try and formulate how i do this, and my research methods of course, got the demo of synthmaker, so am gonna start ****ing with that too, and conduct what ever practical reasearch i can with the hardware at uni, thanks again !!!!!
    #6
    Brando
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    Re:Needing research material for degree October 18, 11 7:12 PM (permalink)
    Look here - lots of good stuff in Effects, Filters, and Synthesis Sorry if the link doesn't work, in which case, copy and paste -using Firefox and having forum issues. There used to be a lot of great information at Harmony Central, but it looks like it has been pulled/archived. Shame if so...... http://www.musicdsp.org/archive.php?classid=4

    Brando
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    #7
    Chregg
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    Re:Needing research material for degree October 19, 11 4:20 AM (permalink)
    cheers for that brando, was checking that web site out the other week there for anutha module im on but thanx for bringing it to my attention again, good man !!!
    #8
    ericyeoman
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    Re:Needing research material for degree October 19, 11 10:44 AM (permalink)
    To add to Mikes post, there's a free DSP book available here:
     
    http://www.dspguide.com/pdfbook.htm
     
    Hearf about it on the Reaktor forums, and some of the geniuses who frequent that site gave it the thumbs up.
     
    LOTS of maths though....

    CuBase, Ableton, Steinberg UR-22 MKII, i7-4790K 4.00 Ghz, 32Gb Corsair Vengeance Pro RAM, Windows 10. 
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    space_cowboy
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    Re:Needing research material for degree October 19, 11 11:55 AM (permalink)

    Some people call me Maurice
     
    SPLAT Pro lifetime, ADK 6 core 3.6Ghz with 32 GB RAM, SSD 1TB system drive, 3 3TB regular drives for samples, recordings and misc.  Behringer X Touch, UAD Apollo Quad.  2 UAD2 Quads PCI (i think - inside the box whatever that is), Console 1.  More guitars (40??) and synths (hard and soft) than talent.  Zendrum!!!
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    trimph1
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    Re:Needing research material for degree October 19, 11 12:06 AM (permalink)

    The space you have will always be exceeded in direct proportion to the amount of stuff you have...Thornton's Postulate.

    Bushpianos
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    Chregg
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    Re:Needing research material for degree October 19, 11 1:16 PM (permalink)
    thanks again guys !! yous rock !!!
    #12
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