This is an introduction to audio synthesis, both in theory and
in practice, using Pd (Pure Data) as a platform. Pd is free and you
can run it on Windows, Linux, or Mac OSX. You can get it at
https://msp.ucsd.edu/software.html
.
There are eight weekly assignments, due Fridays.
A final presentation is due at the regular final exam time, 3-6PM, Tuesday, March 21. Assignments are worth 10 points apiece and the final is worth 20.
Patches from class will gather on
https://msp.ucsd.edu/syllabi/171.17w/patches/.
Videos of lectures from an earlier year are avalable on
https://pd-la.info/pd-media/miller-puckette-mus171-videos/.
Screen videos of this year's classes are collecting here:
https://msp.ucsd.edu/syllabi/171.17w/movies/.
List of topics (about one per week):
Jan. 10-12. Making sinusoids and controlling their amplitudes and frequencies. Read chapter 1 of the book, particularly looking at the examples at the back of the chapter. Homework assignment 1 is due Friday, Jan. 20.
Jan. 17-19. Wavetables (Chapter 2). Homework assignment 2 is now due Wednesday, Feb. 1.
Jan. 24-26. Control and signal paths (chapter 3). Homework assignment 3 is due Friday, Feb. 3.
Jan. 13 - Feb 2. Polyphony and control strategies (chapter 4). Homework assignment 4 is due Friday, Feb. 10.
Feb. 7-9. Waveshaping and FM (chapter 5). Homework assignment 5 is due Friday, Feb. 17.
Feb. 14-16. Pulse trains and ring modulation (chapter 6). (Topic changed to audio analysis and more about abstractions.) Homework assignment 6 is due Friday, Feb. 24.
Feb. 21-23. Delays and delay effects: echos, comb filters, flangers, pitch shifters (chapter 7). Homework assignment 7 is due Friday, Mar. 3.
Feb. 28 - Mar. 2. Filters and filter design (Chapter 8). Homework assignment 8 is due Friday, Mar. 10.
Mar. 6-8. Fourier analysis and resynthesis (chapter 9)
Mar. 13-15. Classical waveforms (chapter 10) and miscellaneous: Gem and 3D graphics; audio analysis tools; networking; spooling sounds to/from disk.