Re: [motm] JH thinks analogue/physical modelling
2002-11-06 by elhardt@att.net
Moe writes: >>Are you (JH) thinking about tuned feedback/delay lines under voltage control ala Ron Berry's stuff? Now THAT'S what would be the killer jewel in the MOTM crown! I want several!!!<< There are many pieces of gear floating around out there that already do this. I have three different digital delays: Lexicon PCM-41, Deltalab Effectron, Roland SDE-3000, and they all have voltage control of the delay time. In addition the Roland brings the feedback loop to the outside world so you can patch in whatever you want, such as filter dampening. I just pulled my SDE out of the rack two days ago in preparation to see how well I can get it to track the keyboard. So look around at your current gear and you might already have something that does this. Also since I'm in the middle of my research to make another push forward in synthetic violin/cello realism, I've also searched around for out the ordinary software that might aid in realistic acoustic modelling. Here's a couple of interesting ones: 1) "Spectral Delay" by Native Instruments. I've downloaded the demo and played around with it. If you want the most sophisticated formant filtering around, this will do it in realtime with any audio input. You can adjust the levels of 160 frequency bands across the audio spectrum from zero to full volume. You can mimic the sound of just about any resonant body with this. I've been considering buying it just for this feature alone. 2) "Tera" by VirSyn. This is a software virtual analog synth, but with extra stuff there for physical modelling. It includes a controllable delay line specifically for physical modelling. It also has two 128 pole filters that allow you to draw complex formants right on screen, and you can morph between the two if you want. Even beyond this there is a three band parametric formant filter. 3) "Tassman" by Applied Acoustics. Also a software virtual analog synth with extras for physical modelling. It's been around for a little while. And as long as we're on the subject, the latest Keyboard magazine gave a tip on how to make a parametric EQ pluggin act like a wah-wah pedal, but this same tip can basically turn any parametric EQ into a parametric formant filter much like Polyfusions old module. This could be more useful than a fixed filter for some things. Tip: Using a stereo parametric EQ, split a signal and run it through both halves, then invert the output of one channel and mix the two together. Now raise the bands you want on just one channel (and set band freqs and width too) and you will only hear the audio from those bands, because the inverting process will cancel out all other audio. I tried it with an analog parametric EQ and it works quite well. It gives you much more extreme tone shaping than using a parametric EQ hooked up in a conventional way. -Elhardt