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March 5, 2012 6:39 PM   Subscribe

Online Modular Synth. Peter van der Noord has used Flash to create an extensive virtual modular synthesizer that runs in a browser.
posted by not_that_epiphanius (34 comments total) 60 users marked this as a favorite
 
That looks great. If only I knew what I was doing, I wouldn't be making random squeaky noises. Making music escapes me no matter which tools I use. *sad trombone sound*
posted by unliteral at 6:45 PM on March 5, 2012 [1 favorite]


How curious that you should mention it, but the only sound I can get it to synthesize is a sad trombone!
posted by DoctorFedora at 6:46 PM on March 5, 2012 [2 favorites]


Does anyone know of a good introduction to how these things, in general, work?
posted by thelonius at 7:12 PM on March 5, 2012


One thing I only noticed now: he doesn't seem to have the essential 'filter' modules working yet, which seriously limits my ability to get the 'wah wah wahhhh' of the sad trombone to work. Which makes the need for the sad trombone even more dire.

An early software modular was Sync Modular, which is now free, and still fun to play with. It provides some examples which would help with the infinitely long project of getting started with modulars.
posted by not_that_epiphanius at 7:20 PM on March 5, 2012


Can you link to a design? The default system is ridiculosuly complex.

I tried hooking a clock up to the note sequencer, and then hooking that up to a sound out, but it didn't seem to do anything.

You can get it to make noise by hooking a sine wave up to a sound out.

Oh wait. If you mouse over the inputs, it will tell you what the input 'does'


On the first nub on the sine wave out it says

"0.2 V octave: "Signals that are scale to one 0.2v/octave range (which is what the sequencer generates)"

And, if you hook the output of the sequencer up to a sine wave osc, and then hook the output of the sine wave osc up to a sound out, you can play notes.

However, if you want chords, you'll need multiple sequencers....
posted by delmoi at 7:23 PM on March 5, 2012


Does anyone know of a good introduction to how these things, in general, work?

yes
posted by bongo_x at 7:23 PM on March 5, 2012 [9 favorites]


Here's a very thorough series on the subject of synthesis.
posted by not_that_epiphanius at 7:25 PM on March 5, 2012 [2 favorites]


thanks!
posted by thelonius at 7:39 PM on March 5, 2012


Oh, I finally figured out that "VCA" means "Voltage Control Amp"
posted by delmoi at 7:49 PM on March 5, 2012


If you have an iOS device then Nanostudio is a wonderful tool to learn the ins and outs of electronic music.
posted by Sebmojo at 7:50 PM on March 5, 2012 [1 favorite]


Oh man... if you plug multiple similar sine waves into the same thing, you get these horrible interferance noises. I have the exact same signal going into two impots on a mixer and it sounds like crap
posted by delmoi at 8:01 PM on March 5, 2012


Does anyone know of a good introduction to how these things, in general, work?

Yes: How to Make a Noise by Simon Cann.
posted by Ratio at 8:10 PM on March 5, 2012 [3 favorites]


Oh, I finally figured out that "VCA" means "Voltage Control Amp"

VCF is filter
VCO is oscillator
posted by bongo_x at 8:13 PM on March 5, 2012 [1 favorite]


man, won't have time to play with this for awhile, but it looks great. thanks for sharing.
posted by sleepy pete at 8:27 PM on March 5, 2012


I have a very simple patch which might be instructive to a novice. Feel free to memail me with an email addy I can send it to.
posted by not_that_epiphanius at 8:30 PM on March 5, 2012


A warning at this point that some additions I made were not saved with the 'File > save patch' option.
posted by not_that_epiphanius at 9:01 PM on March 5, 2012


Yeah without filters, you're missing the subtractive part of subtractive synthesis. Also missing envelope control, too, unless i'm missing it.
posted by empath at 9:16 PM on March 5, 2012


(still pretty neat, though)
posted by empath at 9:16 PM on March 5, 2012


Interesting proof of concept, but its design is still too limited to do most of the interesting things that modulars are known for... inexplicably, almost none of its modules take CV in, which makes it close to useless.
posted by Spacelegoman at 9:36 PM on March 5, 2012


I clicked this thread with my teeth clenched, expecting to find a bunch of elitists rolling their eyes at a dumbed-down toy, but then I saw mostly everyone having fun with it and learning stuff, and my heart was warmed.

Good links have already posted to further educational material, especially the SOS article. I hope this kind of thing inspires some people to play around with synths! You can find a whole bunch of free and non-free software synths, including subtractive, FM, physical modelling, wavetable, additive, workstation plugins, standalone programs, etc -- by browsing the database at KVRAudio. I swear by it when looking for new and unusual stuff.
posted by jake at 9:55 PM on March 5, 2012 [1 favorite]


Is there something similar available as an open source programmable api'/framework/tool?
posted by joost de vries at 10:03 PM on March 5, 2012


Very neat. Too effin neat...

I'd kill for an actual Noord keyboard though...until that time, I guess this flash app will have to do.
posted by Skygazer at 10:37 PM on March 5, 2012


Is there something similar available as an open source programmable api'/framework/tool?

There are some nice answers to an AskMe question I posted earlier, but briefly I'd suggest PureData for a GUI-ish approach, or csound, supercollider or ChucK if you're okay with programming. I personally like ChucK a lot, though development on that has been stalled for a while.
posted by vanar sena at 11:15 PM on March 5, 2012 [1 favorite]


Great post. Cheers.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 11:38 PM on March 5, 2012


I have no idea what I'm doing with this thing and I'M HAVING FUN
posted by Spatch at 1:00 AM on March 6, 2012 [1 favorite]


When HTML5 can do this, I'll be willing to start listening to the people who say Flash is dead.

Very nice.
posted by le morte de bea arthur at 1:13 AM on March 6, 2012 [1 favorite]


delmoi: "However, if you want chords, you'll need multiple sequencers...."

Send the sequencer signal to three different transpose objects. Transpose one by zero, the next by 4 semitones, the next by 3 semitones (or seven from the original). Send each to its own oscillator. This will make a major chord out of sine waves.

delmoi: "you plug multiple similar sine waves into the same thing, you get these horrible interferance noises. I have the exact same signal going into two impots on a mixer and it sounds like crap"

It may be clipping, turn the mixer way down and see if that helps. If they are sine waves of close but not identical frequencies, push the frequencies closer together to get a chorus effect, or further apart to get a chord.

empath: "without filters, you're missing the subtractive part of subtractive synthesis"

You can make a ghetto filter by combining two or more nearly but not totally identical delays at different amplitudes. This is actually how real digital filters are made (except they do a bunch of things with the delays we probably can't do with this app: all the delays read from a single delay line for efficiency and the delays are usually real short - like under 10 samples long, and they use tricks like feedback and phase inversion).
posted by idiopath at 3:15 AM on March 6, 2012 [3 favorites]


Is there something similar available as an open source programmable api'/framework/tool?

PureData.

Download it here
.

Here is a rudimentary synth.
posted by univac at 4:03 AM on March 6, 2012 [1 favorite]


Pure Data is much lower level (it assumes you know that multiplying a signal by a fixed constant will scale the amplitude, so it provides no "volume control" object, for example). There are also alsa modular synth, beast, galan and spiral synth modular for Linux, which are closer to this app in abstraction level (similarly more accessible to the beginner, less flexible to the expert than something like PD)
posted by idiopath at 10:14 AM on March 6, 2012


When HTML5 can do this, I'll be willing to start listening to the people who say Flash is dead.

The only thing Flash is doing is making it work on a web site, which is why I didn’t really play with it, and it’s Flash. There are hundreds of things like this you can download and there aren’t all slow and Flash-y. It’s cool that someone figured out how to make this, but why do I need it on a web site?
posted by bongo_x at 12:51 PM on March 6, 2012 [1 favorite]


The only advantage to it being on the web is zero install footprint.
posted by empath at 1:20 PM on March 6, 2012


>why do I need it on a web site?

To load samples with a URL? Try that in Reaktor.
posted by not_that_epiphanius at 3:20 PM on March 6, 2012


here's another flash audio thingy
posted by juv3nal at 5:33 PM on March 6, 2012


Filter modules have been added. Woohoo!
posted by not_that_epiphanius at 4:13 PM on March 8, 2012 [1 favorite]


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