Customer Reviews

Sound Synthesis and Sampling, Second Edition (Music Technology)

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

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.

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.

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.

A friend gave me the loan of this book when I asked some questions about synthesis. I read it twice before I reluctantly gave it back. After that I order my own copy from amazon. I really love this book. It is so well written. Enjoyable and informative. There is no maths and everything is explained in a simple fashion. I would like to see a series written by these two authors going into further detail on each of the types of snthesis covered.
I'd thoroughly advise it to anyone especially Music Technology students or Computer Music students.

I got into computer music with Sonar and using only software synthesizers I opened up a whole new universe of sound. This book will help you on your way. A little history not much math but a lot of help. If you intend to follow this path give this book a read!

I bought this book when I first started on my Music Technology degree... I'm now just finishing my final year project, and I have to tell you... this book has been a fantastic help. Quite a lot of what is contained within is more information than I've needed personally, but if you have a real interest in the nitty-gritty of sound synthesis, then this is the book for you. Fantastic. You can hear how this book has helped my band by visiting www.groovedealer.com and checking out our mp3s. Also, we have free soundfonts available for download... so come check us out.

I was disappointed by this book. It is 100% theory and history of synthesis, written in a typical pedantic British style of writing (sorry, Brits) with 0% actual practical content. It's a mix of a bit of synthesis history with a bit of acoustics describing how these things make sound. But it seems to miss the point, and one could learn more just by playing a synthesiser for an hour than learning this book from cover to cover. If you're investingating this book with an eye towards learning how to program synths or better understand them, I think you'll be disappointed. It spends a lot of time discussing the pioneers (DX7, etc.) but doesn't even mention some of the most important synths of the day (Waldorf, Virus) and there's only a brief mention of softwaresynths (Reaktor, Reason) and none of softsamplers (Unity, Giga, etc.)) I think this book misses the mark; it fills your head with facts and figures but doesn't give you much that's actually useful. Sorry fellas.

PERCHE' LO VOGLI