TheAudioMasterclassMusicProductionandSoundEngineeringCourse

MODULE08MODELANSWERS

Subtractivesynthesis
Brieflydescribe'additivesynthesis'.
Anysoundcanbeanalyzedasacombinationofsinewaves.Itispossibleintheorythereforetoreconstruct
anysoundfromsinewavecomponents.Inpractice,thiswasimpossibleuntiltechnologydeveloped
sufficientlyinthe1990s,bywhichtimeothermethodsofsynthesishadbecomeestablished.

Whywassubtractivesynthesisdevelopedbeforeadditivesynthesis?
Subtractivesynthesisisaverymuchsimplertechnology.

Describetheharmonicstructureofanotefromastringorwindinstrument.
Anoteconsistsofthefundamentalfrequency,whichisthepitchthatisperceived.Inadditionthereare
harmonics,whicharewholenumbermultiplesofthefundamentalfrequency.Forinstance100Hz,200
Hz,300Hz,400Hz.500Hzetc.Thefundamentalfrequencyisalsoknownasthefirstharmonic.

Cansubtractivesynthesisaccuratelyimitatethesoundsofacousticinstruments?
Noitcannot,althoughitproducesanattractivesoundinitsownright.

Listthefourwaveformscommonlyusedinsubtractivesynthesis.
Sawtooth,square,pulse,triangle.

Whyisthesinewavenotusedasasoundsourceinsubtractivesynthesis?
Subtractivesynthesisworksbyfilteringharmonicsfromaharmonicallyrichwaveform.Sinceasinewave
hasnoharmonics,thereisnothingtofilter.

Describetherelationshipbetweenthesquarewaveandpulsewave.
Thesquarewaveisaspecialcaseofthepulsewavewherethehighvoltageandlowvoltagepartsofthe
waveformhavethesameduration.

Howmanynotescouldearlysubtractivesynthesizersplayatthesametime?
Onlyone.

Whatisthefunctionofalowpassfilter?
Toallowlowfrequenciestopassandcutouthighfrequencies.

Whichtypeoffilterismostcommonlyfoundinasubtractivesynthesizer?
Lowpass

Describe'cutofffrequency'.
Thefrequencyatwhichtheeffectofafilterstartstobecomenoticeable.Technically,thecutofffrequency
isthefrequencywherethelevelis3dBlowerthanthelevelinthepassband(thebandoffrequenciesthat

Module08ModelAnswers
thefilterpasses).

Describe'slope'.
Slopeistherateatwhichthedegreeofcutoffincreaseswithincreasing(inalowpassfilter)frequency.Ina
subtractivesynthesizer,thefilterwouldusuallyhaveaslopeof24dB/octave.Otherpossibleslopesare
6dB/octave,12dB/octave,18dB/octaveand30dB/octave.

Describe'resonance'.
Resonanceisaboostinthefilter'sresponsejustbelowthecutofffrequency.

Whyisvoltagecontrolnecessarytodesignaworkableanalogsubtractivesynthesizer?
Basicallysothatthecutofffrequencyofthefiltercanalwaysbeinproportiontothefundamental
frequencyofthenoteplayed.Itisalsoaconvenientmeansofcontrolfortheothermodulesofthe
subtractivesynthesizer.

WhatisaVCO?
Avoltagecontrolledoscillatorwhosefrequencyiscontrolledbyavoltageinput.

WhatisaVCF?
Avoltagecontrolledfilterwhosecutofffrequencyiscontrolledbyavoltageinput.

WhatisaVCA?
Avoltagecontrolledamplifier(orattenuator)whosegainiscontrolledbyavoltageinput.

WhatisanLFO?
Alowfrequencyoscillatorproducingasignalfromaround0.5Hzuptoaround20Hz.TheLFOisusedto
modulatetheVCO,VCForVCA.

Whatisan'envelopegenerator'.
TheenvelopegeneratorproducesavoltagesignalthatcontrolsthegainoftheVCA.

ExplainADSR.
Thesearethefourstagesoftheenvelopeproducedbytheenvelopegenerator:Attack:thetimetakenfor
thesoundtoreachitsfulllevel.Decay:thetimetakenforthesoundtofallbacktothesustainlevel.
Sustain:thelevelatwhichthesoundwillplayuntilthekeyisreleased.Release:thetimetakenforthe
soundtodieawayafterthekeyisreleased.

InwhatorderaretheVCO,VCFandVCAnormallyconnected?
VCOVCFVCA

NameanddescribethesoundproducedbymodulatingtheVCAwithanLFO.
Tremolo,wherethelevelofthesoundcyclicallyvaries.

NameanddescribethesoundproducedbymodulatingtheVCOwithanLFO.
Vibrato,wherethepitchofthesoundcyclicallyvaries.

Module08ModelAnswers
NameanddescribethesoundproducedbymodulatingtheVCFwithanLFO.
'Wahwah'(or'waawaa'),wherethehighfrequencycontentofthesoundcyclicallyvaries.

Whatis'oscillatorsynchronization'('sync')?
WheretwoVCOoscillatorsaresynchronizedsothatthesecondisretriggeredeverytimethefirststartsa
newcycleofitswaveform.Thiscanproduceaninterestingsoundwhenthesecondoscillatorisdetuned.

Whatisthenoisegeneratorusedfor?
Windandexplosioneffects,andasanothercomponentofmusicalsounds.

Whatis'pulsewidthmodulation'?
Wherethewidthofthepulsewaveformiscyclicallyvaried.

Whatisan'oscillatingfilter'?
WhereitispossibletoraisetheresonanceoftheVCFtoapointwherethefilteritselfstartstooscillate,
thusbecomingineffectanothervoltagecontrolledoscillator.

Whatis'sampleandhold'?
Thesampleandholdmeasurestheoutputvoltageofthenoisegeneratorperiodically,typicallytwicetoten
timesasecond,andsustainsthatvoltageuntilthenextmeasurement.Thisproducesavoltagesignalthat
variesrandomlyinastepwisemannerthatcanbeemployedusefullytomodulatethefrequencyofthe
VCOorcutofffrequencyoftheVCF.

Whatisa'ringmodulator'?
Adevicethattakestwoinputsignalsandcombinestheminsuchawaythatnonharmonicallyrelated
frequencies,andthereforenonmusicalfrequencies,areproduced.Itisusefulforharshsoundsandbelllike
sounds.

Whatis'portamento'?
Insteadofanewkeypressgeneratinganewvoltageinastepwisemanner,theoutputvoltagefromthe
keyboardglidestothenewvoltage,thustheVCOwillglidetothenewpitch.

Whatisanexternalinputusedfor?
ForprocessinganexternalsignalwiththeVCF,VCAandothermodifyingmodulesofthesubtractive
synthesizer.

Sampling
Whatisa'breakbeat'?
OnarecordorCD,abreakbeatisashortsectionofdrums,perhapsoneortwobars,thatcanbesampled
andloopedsothatitformsacontinuousrhythmtrack.Sometimes,thebreakbeatisnotlooped,sothatit
playsonlyonce.Sometimes,thereareotherinstrumentsbesidesdrumsbutingeneralthebreakbeat
shouldprovideagoodbackgroundforraporotherforegroundmusic.

Whatistheusualreasonforsamplingnotesfromamusicalinstrument?
SothatthesoundofthatinstrumentmaybeobtainedbyplayingaMIDIkeyboard.

Module08ModelAnswers
Howaresamplersusedforsoundeffects?
Threeexamples:
SamplesofthunderclapsandrumblesmaybeassignedtokeysonaMIDIkeyboardandplayedlive
duringatheatershow
Thesoundsoffootstepsaretobeaddedtothesoundtrackofavideorecordingtomatchthevisual
footstepsonthescreen
ATVgameshowhaspushbuttonsforthecontestantstoindicatethattheywanttoanswerthe
question.ThepushbuttonsareconnectedtoadevicethatgeneratesaMIDInoteonmessage
whichtriggersasamplestoredinasampler.

Describetheprocessoffindingandsamplingabreakbeatfromavinylrecord.
Settherecordinglevelonthesampler
Setthesampledurationtotheexpecteddurationofthebreakbeat,plusacoupleofsecondsmargin
Playtherecorduntilasuitablebreakbeatisheard
Backcuetherecordtoapointjustbeforethebreakbeat,sufficientfortheturntabletobeableto
comeuptospeed
Armthesampler
Playthebreakbeat
Topandtailthesample

Whensamplingnotesfromaninstrument,whyisitnecessarytosampleseveralnotes?
Ifonlyonenoteweresampled,thenitwouldsoundgoodwhenplayedatitsoriginalpitch,ornearbykeys
wherethetranspositionwasn'ttoomuch.Furtherawayfromtheoriginalpitch,itwillnotsoundlikethe
originalinstrument.Severalsamplesaretakenprobablyaroundthreeorfourforeachoctavesothatno
sampleisevertransposedtoofarfromitsoriginalpitch.

Whyshouldnotesfromaninstrumentbeconsistentintonalquality?
Iftheywerenotconsistent,adjacentkeysthattriggereddifferentsampleswouldsoundnoticeably
dissimilar.

Describetheprosandconsofsamplinganinstrumentwithorwithoutvibrato.
Iftheinstrumentissampledwithvibrato,thenitwillcapturethenaturalandrealisticvibratooftheplayer.
However,whenthenoteistransposed,thevibratowillchangeinspeed.Iftheinstrumentissampled
withoutvibrato,thenvibratocanbeaddedinthesamplerusingalowfrequencyoscillator.Thiswillbe
consistentinspeed,butwillnotsoundasnaturalasplayedvibratoonanyindividualnote.

Describetheterm'originalpitch'.
Thisisthepitchthattheinstrumentplayedwhenthesamplewastaken.Thesamplewillplaybackatthis
pitchwhenthecorrespondingkeyontheMIDIkeyboardisplayed.

GivethenamesofthetwowhitenotesadjacenttoC3onaMIDIkeyboard.
B2,D3

Whatdoesitmeanwhenthesampleris'armed'?
Itisreadytorecordwhentheaudiosignalpresentattheinputexceedsaspecifiedlevel.

Module08ModelAnswers
Listthethreewaysbywhichsamplingcanbeinitiated.
Audiotrigger
MIDItrigger
Manualtrigger

Whatis'toppingandtailing'('trimming')?
Removingunwantedaudioatthestartandendofthesample.

Whatisa'keygroup'?
AgroupofadjacentkeysontheMIDIkeyboardthatallplaythesamesample,orsamples,transposedin
pitchexceptfortheonekeythatplaysthesampleatitsoriginalpitch.

Whyisitnotagoodideatosetasamplingdurationofthirtysecondsifthesoundyouwanttosample
onlylastsonesecond?
Youwouldhavetowaitanother29secondswhilesamplingcompletes.Unlessthesamplerallowsthe
samplingprocesstobestopped,whichmanydonot,theonlyotheroptionwouldbetoabortthesample.

Howdoes'extract'differfrom'trim',asdescribedinthetext?
Thetrimmingoperationalwaysresultsinonesample.However,alongersamplecanbeusedasasource
fromwhichseveralshortersamplescanbeextracted.

Whatis'normalization'?
Adjustingthelevelofthesamplesothatitsloudestpointcomesuptothefullpeaklevelallowedbythe
sampler.

Whymightitbenecessarytoloopasample?
Whenasampleofanotefromaninstrumentisofinsufficientduration.Loopingallowsnotesofany
durationtobeplayed.

Whyarebreakbeatsnotloopedinthesampler?
IfatwobarbreakbeatwastobeusedaspartofaMIDIsequence,thenitwouldalmostcertainlybe
impossibletosetsuchanaccuratetempothattwobarsofthesequencelastedexactlythesametimeasthe
breakbeat.Thereforethebreakbeatwoulddriftincomparisontootherinstrumentsrecordedintothe
sequence.Itisbetterforthebreakbeatnottobelooped,buttriggeredeverytwobarsbythesequencer.

Whatisthedifferencebetweentimestretch,andthenormaltranspositionthatoccurswhenasampleis
playedawayfromitsoriginalpitch?
Transpositionresultsinachangeindurationofthesampleaswellasachangeinpitch.Timestretchonly
changesthedurationofthesample.

Whatare'velocityzones'?
Akeygroupmayhaveanumberofvelocityzonessuchthat,forexample,MIDIvelocities1to63triggera
softlyplayedsampleofanote;MIDIvelocities64to127triggeraloudlyplayedsampledofanote.

Describethetwotriggeringmodeslistedinthetext.
AsamplemaybesettoplayforthedurationbetweentheMIDInoteonandMIDInoteoff.Alternativelyit
maybesettoplayallthewaytotheend,howevershortthedurationoftheMIDInote.

Module08ModelAnswers
Whymightitbedesirableforthesampletoplayat'constantpitch'?
Thisisparticularlysuitableforpercussionsoundswheretranspositionisnotrequired.Ifconstantpitchwas
notset,eachsamplewouldhavetobetransposedaccordingtothekeytowhichitwasassignedtocorrect
itbacktoitsoriginalpitch.

Describethefunctionof'mutegroups'.
Iftwosamplesareassignedtothesamemutegroup,thentheycannotsoundatthesametime.Ifoneis
alreadysoundingandtheotheristriggered,thefirstwillceasetosoundandthesecondwillbeheard.A
commonuseisforopenandclosedhihatsounds,whichinarealdrumkitcanobviouslynotsound
simultaneously.

WhymightyouassignmorethanoneprogramtothesameMIDIchannel?
Tolayertwosoundssothattheyarebothheardatthesametime.Forexampleapianoprogramanda
stringsprogram.

Ifasamplerhas128Megabytesofmemory,whatisthetotalmaximumdurationofmonosamplesthat
canbestoredinthememory,atCDquality,approximately?
25minutes

Whatdoesitmeantosaythatasamplerhas'64voices'?
64samplescansoundsimultaneously.Ifaprogramlayerstwosamples,thenonly32notescanbeplayedat
thesametimeandallthesamplesbeheard.

Whyshouldasamplerhavelotsofoutputs?
Sothateachsampleormultisamplecanbeconnectedtoitsownchannelofthemixingconsole.(Thesame
isactuallytrueofmultitimbralsoundmoduleseachprogramshouldreallyhaveitsownoutputfor
optimumflexibilityinmixing.Unfortunately,fewmoduleshavethenumberofoutputsnecessary).

Whatcriteriaarenecessaryforthesuccessfulloopingofamonosamplewitharegularwaveform?
Samelevelandsameslopeatbothendsoftheloopsothatthereisnodiscontinuityinthewaveform.

Whatisa'crossfadeloop'?
Ifithasprovendifficulttofindgoodlooppointsthatworkwithoutobvious'cycling'ofthesound,then
portionsofthesampleatthebeginningandendoftheloopcanbecrossfaded.Unfortunately,thisisfar
froma'cureall'process.

Whyisitdifficulttoloopasampleofapianonote?
Becausethenotedecays,thereforethestartpointoftheloopwillbehigherinlevelthantheendpoint,
thuscontradictingthecriterionof'samelevel'.Thebestsolutionistouseashortloopclosetotheendof
thesamplewhereitwillbefairlyquietandhopefullynottoonoticeable.

Whyisitmoredifficulttoloopstereosamplesthanmonosamples?
Findingsamelevel/sameslopeinonesampleisdifficultenough.Inastereosample,youhavetosatisfy
thesecriteriawiththesamelooppointsintwosamples.Difficult.

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Module08ModelAnswers