This drone represents the fourth in my series of FM synthesis experiments. It has a variable high frequency buzz, not unlike a typical evenings chorus of cricket calls, and an underlying low frequency drone that that throbs gently throughout the duration of the audio. This selection was made from a pool of randomized sounds. It was edited out of the surrounding audio but not processed in any way other than the processing that was randomized within the instrument.
High and Low Frequency Drone
Here is the third sound in my installment of FM synthesis experiments. Once again I’m using artificial selection to simulate a genetic algorithm. In this case I selected a rhythmic sound out of a large collection of randomized sounds then repeated the two bar loop four times to create an eight bar pattern based on the sample. To me it sounds like some sort of high tech laboratory equipment being operated.
One quick note. I will be out of the country from Friday, November 7 through Wednesday, November 12, 2008. On Friday, November 7 I’ll be posting my 100th consecutive sound, and want to continue the trend while I’m out of the country. So, I’ll be scheduling a series of entries based on these FM synthesis experiments to post automatically while I’m away.
Mendelian Inheritance
This is the second in a series of FM synthesis experiments I am conducting with the X.FM instrument that is included as an example in MaxMSP. This sound was generated by randomizing the parameters in the instrument. I selected it because is has a nice artificial insectoid quality to it which is why I selected a photograph I took of a large dragonfly while camping at Nils Westdal’s bachelor party last September.
Insectoid
I created this bouncy reverberated sound with an FM synthesis virtual instrument called X.FM which is one of the example “patches” within the famous Cycling ’74 produced integrated development environment Max 5. The X.FM patch is a complete fully featured virtual instrument and can be played with a MIDI controller or by tapping a keyboard “object” with the mouse. The instrument is capable of a broad variety of sounds which can easily be illustrated by randomizing the parameters and then listening to the results.
Bouncy FM Patch
This atmospheric effect is a continuation of the experiment from yesterday involving the Flying Waves VST. This time I loaded up a sample of air bubbles being blown into a glass of water. The original sound can be heard here. I also ran the output through an analog modeling delay and then recorded the results as I manipulated the pitch and volume. The result is a wet, atmospheric, psychedelic texture of ambiance. The next step I might would be to sweep the panning or apply some processing to spread the stereo spectrum since the output at this stage is still in mono.
Dub Delayed Atmospheric Bubbles