SimpleSynth: Mobile Music Synthesizer

Shah, Miraj

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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/110335 Copy

Description

Title

SimpleSynth: Mobile Music Synthesizer

Author(s)

Shah, Miraj

Contributor(s)

Moon, Thomas

Issue Date

2021-05

Keyword(s)

• Frequency Modulation Music Synthesis
• Real-time Embedded DSP
• Mobile System
• Android OS

Abstract

Since the early 1980s and the increase in popularity of electronic music, FM synthesis has become one of the staple techniques for electronic music synthesis in the industry. By varying several key parameters in the frequency modulation equation, one can produce unique and complex temporally evolving sounds with minimal computation. While modern techniques such as Wavetable synthesis or Waveguide synthesis are better at reproducing instrumental sounds, they either require direct sampling of musical instruments and storage in memory, or are computationally expensive. FM synthesis on the other hand is relatively inexpensive computationally, and requires no storage of presampled musical instrument sounds, making it ideal for many mobile platforms where memory is limited, and computation power is less than that of a proper computer. This thesis focuses on implementation of an open source Music Synthesizer Application for Android OS with FM Synthesis as the backbone. It goes into detail about the theory behind FM synthesis, how it can be utilized in conjunction with amplitude envelopes to emulate different instrument types, as well as methods for implementing pure FM synthesis with different waveform shapes while maintaining low latency, which is very important for real-time computing applications. The resulting Android OS application goes beyond just FM synthesis, and provides additional features such as multiple tone generators (called oscillators) for pseudo-polyphony, different amplitude envelope shapes to emulate different instrument types, as well as audio effects such as distortion, chorus, and echo-delay.

Type of Resource

text

Language

en

Permalink

http://hdl.handle.net/2142/110335

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