16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
An excellent resource for sound synthesis, November 11, 2007
I need to jump in a correct a few faulty opinions surrounding this book. This is not "Synthesizers for Dummies" or anything like it. It's a book on electronic sound synthesis and the science behind it. You'll find diagrams, graphs, some easy math, and some technical terms. An understanding of the physics of sound helps. Basically, you'll find what you would expect to see in a text book, which is what this is. If you want to fool around with some presets on your synth without getting into designing your own sounds, this is not what you're looking for.
However, if you're looking to get into sound design or you want to tap the real power of your synthesizer, this is a great resource. The first edition came before computer synthesis hit the mainstream, so the focus is on hardware synthesizers, but that is not to say that you can't apply all the lessons in here to computer synthesis. I've built a number of the examples in PureData (the open source Max/MSP) and I regularly have students draw from the diagrams in my Intro to Sound Synthesis class.
I've found that while this book wasn't made exclusively for computer sound synthesis in the way that Curtis Roads' excellent Computer Music Tutorial is, students are far less intimidated by this. The writing style is (contrary to what Altoidboy would have you believe) not overly dry and jargon is not really a problem. I mean, if you consider "low frequency oscillator" to be jargon, then I guess this book is full of it. However, that's like reading a medical text book and then complaining that words like "spinal cord" and "frontal lobe" are jargon. My students have never complained.
Obviously, your main choice is going to be between this an the Computer Music Tutorial. Both are excellent and comprehensive, and both have different strengths. If you're primarily concerned with hardware synthesizers or you want something accessible, I'd go with "Sound Synthesis and Sampling". If you're leaning more towards computer sound synthesis, the CMT is probably better. Other differences include much more coverage of experimental techniques and newer developments such as granular synthesis in the CMT. "Sound Synthesis and Sampling" is much stronger in the classic synthesis techniques (additive, subtractive, AM, FM, etc.).
Again to counter Altoidboy's review, there's is a wealth of practical content here. It's not as simple as following step-by-step instructions (now move the button marked "VCO" to the number 5), but this is ultimately a much better way to learn. Rather than blindly following directions that you don't understand, Russ shows you why things do what they do. Then, you can apply this knowledge to any synthesizer, not just the one used as an example.
This book is a classic and one that I would recommend to anyone interested in sound synthesis. Don't be scared off by negative reviews - just understand that this is a serious book with serious info.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
good but could be more mathematical, August 31, 2005
I like this book 'bout being very concise and detailed about the various synthesis processes, but a bit more mathemtics could get some of my curiosities fulfilled. The theory is excellent and understanding the different synthesis types is a breeze; the flowcharts are intuitive and diagrams are detailed. I love the presentation of each topic, and the humour of the author while reading it. A great starting point for music technology enthusiasts but no advice on programming synths or using advanced software like reaktor, so it could be more expansive on some perfomance and programming areas. Overall great reading value.
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6 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Dense and far-reaching material - excellent resource, June 21, 2002
If you have interest in finding out exactly what's happening with the sound as you twiddle those knobs, this book is an excellent choice. The author does a fine job of presenting an extraordinary amount of material - you will learn real, in-depth background about acoustics and synthesis techniques. I find myself constantly referring to this book when I am in my studio.
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