Books and Resources on Digital Audio Synthesis and processing

[Rusde]

Hey,

 

I'm a programmer and hobbyist musician and would love to combine the two, but I need some help finding a starting point.

 

I want to get into the nitty gritty programming of how a computer works with sound e.g. how computers take in a digital signal and play around it, how to synthesize sound digitally and how sound can be processed and outputted to different systems. my end goal is being able to create my own sound processors and make a simple DAW for my own use...

 

what are some great pieces of resources and books that can help me get involved in coding my own sound processing systems.

 

any help is greatly appreciated

[Rusde]

Thank-you for all the suggestions.

 

I have found many of them helpful and have decided to collate them into a post and close the thread, hopefully this helps anyone else who wants to follow me down the same path.

 

The Audio Programmer: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCpKb02FsH4WH4X_2xhIoJ1A

 

has an incredible anthology of video tutorials detailing how to produce and process audio signals and many easy to use IDE and libraries.

 

 

The Scientist and Engineer's Guide to
Digital Signal Processing: https://www.dspguide.com/ch4.htm

 

Great resource getting into the nitty gritty of Digital Signal processing, really helped me debug some of my logic errors in my code. suggested by @lucretius

 

`Understanding Digital Signal Processing' by Richard G. Lyons:  http://www.iro.umontreal.ca/~mignotte/IFT3205/Documents/UnderstandingDigitalSignalProcessing.pdf

 

Great resource that talks about the natural science that comes into play when processing digital signals. suggested by @yamamoto2002

 

'Designing Digital Circuits' by Jonathon Turner:  https://www.arl.wustl.edu/~jst/cse/260/ddc.pdf

 

Talks more about the construction of signal processing circuits, my studies focus more on how to code programs to use these circuits but very much appreciate the help from @Rocky Bennett

 

 

 

 

 

[yamamoto2002]

23 hours ago, Rusde said:

Hey thanks for replying

 

just to clarify, I'm most interested in how computers process the sound once it is stored in it's local database. Like how VST plugins work. I'm not really interested in off the shelf DAW set ups I'm more interested in challenging myself to create my own digital sound processors and synthesizers. I'm well trained in C++, Java and Python but honestly just don't know where to start when coding for I/O digital sound capture and processing.

 

thanks again for replying loon forward to talking more about this subject

 

Download VST audio plug-in SDK and read its document and example program.

 

Search with keyword something like

sample-based synthesis
physical modeling synthesis
analog modeling synthesizer

frequency modulation synthesis

 

Or use Max/MSP to visually design your computer sound synthesizer

 

My recommendation of DSP book for starter is `Understanding Digital Signal Processing' by Richard G. Lyons

[Rocky Bennett]

Hello,

As a computer engineer I can address a couple of your questions, but other folks here are much more knowledgeable to address other points that I will not touch on.

 

1. Computers do not "work with sound," they process information.

 

2. Computers "take in a digital signal and play around with it" through very simple IO circuits, digital interfaces that connect through cables to other hardware. The information is processed by either software or hardware or a combination of the two. This allows the computer to connect to "other systems"which can be hi fi or audio equipment, or studio mixing equipment.

 

3. You say that your end goal is to create a sound processor. Does this mean that you are an audio engineer and you plan on designing a DAC or are you a computer engineer and plan on creating the a new chip or circuit board?

 

Your dialog is certainly very interesting and it provoked me to post here at the forum which I have not done in months.

 

Rocky Bennett

[Rocky Bennett]

Just one quick note after rereading this very interesting thread. The OP clearly indicates that he is interested in putting together a simple DAW. This might not be the best forum for talk and advice about building a DAW, which is specifically related to recording music. This forum is more or less dedicated to the high fidelity reproduction of recorded music.

 

Also, you can buy all of the parts to put together a DAW off the shelf at your local music store, you do not have create a sound processor which would require many years electrical study in order to do. All of my neighborhood music stores carry every single piece of hardware necessary in order to put together a DAW (except the computer itself) in any price range from just a few hundred dollars to several thousand dollars. It is a fun hobby and you can make your investment back in just one evening.

[Rusde]

Hey thanks for replying :)

 

just to clarify, I'm most interested in how computers process the sound once it is stored in it's local database. Like how VST plugins work. I'm not really interested in off the shelf DAW set ups I'm more interested in challenging myself to create my own digital sound processors and synthesizers. I'm well trained in C++, Java and Python but honestly just don't know where to start when coding for I/O digital sound capture and processing.

 

thanks again for replying loon forward to talking more about this subject

[Rocky Bennett]

It certainly sounds like you are ambitious. But as I have mentioned earlier,  computers do not process sound, they process digital information. This is a very crucial point that you need to understand before you begin your pursuits.

 

Also I have studied the design of microarchitecture related to designing processors, and it takes years of electronics research to get to the point that you can design circuits. But that is not the problem. Once you get the circuits designed to your specifications, then you must physically build them. This could literally take millions of dollars to be able to build circuits. If that is your plan, then you are in the wrong forum.

 

You can buy pre-built synthesizers, you do not have to design and build one from scratch. Yamaha and other brands have been in the business forever and they build custom synthesizers to a customer's request. It might cost in the neighborhood of $30,000 or more for one of these, but it is a fraction of the cost of designing and building one yourself.

 

The same with IO hardware. Yes it is possible to design and build your own IO hardware, but then again that could take years and cost millions of dollars. If that is your goal, you are in the wrong forum. Off the shelf hardware might cost less than $100,00 and perform exactly the way you program it to perform. Again, the call is yours.

[lucretius]

https://www.dspguide.com/ch4.htm

 

Try googling DSP processing or DSP software. I'm not an expert in this area, so cannot help further.

[Rocky Bennett]

^^^^^ Very good link to a very good book that I have read. It should provide the OP with a starting point to see what he is dealing with.

[Rocky Bennett]

Here are a couple of very basic books that will get you going in the right direction. I own the physical copies of these books, but these links will give you a basic understanding.

 

 

https://www.arl.wustl.edu/~jst/cse/260/ddc.pdf

 

 

https://the-eye.eu/public/Books/For Dummies/Electronics for Dummies (ISBN - 0764576607).pdf

 

 

It is important to understand that the products that you can buy off the shelf will accomplish everything that you need, but these books will provide you with the basics to design them yourself.

 

Also, once you design a circuit, getting it into manufacture could cost more money than you can imagine. But here is the info that you requested.

 

Rocky Bennett

[Rusde]

Cheers all for the suggestions I will look into them all!

[bobbmd]

@Rusde 'the complete guide to high end audio' by robert harley- i have the 5th edition might be a newer one