WhySynth Controller
Part 5 - Construction
Now that I've described the design and operation of the control panel, this final post will show you how I went about constructing it.
Read more...WhySynth Controller
Part 4 - Operation
WhySynth follows the traditional synthesis architecture of oscillators being fed into one or more filters, followed by an amplitude control device. Each of these components are modulated by a combination of envelope generators and low frequency oscillators. In this post I'll explain how to use some of the unique features of these components that you might not find on most synthesizers.
Read more...WhySynth Controller
Part 3 - Architecture
The current architecture is very simple, a control panel that generates MIDI messages, WhySynth (hosted within jack-dssi-host) and a Ruby script to translate between MIDI and OSC messages.
Read more...WhySynth Controller
Part 2 - Designing the Controller
The appeal of analog synthesizers is hard to deny. Many of the sounds often associated with electronic music come from some combination of analog oscillators and filters. Huge basses, soaring leads and lush pads can easily be conjured from an analog synthesizer. One only needs to take a brief look of the synthesizer market, both hardware and software, to see the popularity of the analog synthesizer (or digital recreations thereof).
Read more...WhySynth Controller
Part 1 - Introduction
Software synthesis and mixing 'in the box' has made music production cheaper and more accessible than ever before. However, the typical computer interfaces of mouse, keyboard and monitor are poorly suited to the job of controlling a mixer or synthesizer in real-time.
Read more...