Karplus Srongos?

[Thorhead]

Seems like a tsunami has hit the Kronos thread....

 

I was just wondering if there are any demos or anything yet on the String Modeling engine and how it compares against VSTis.

 

Since I don't want to make thread only about this, feel free to share any other string modelers from software or hardware realm as well.

[Bernard]

Track 5 and 6 :

 

http://www.radikaltechnologies.com/accelerator_sound_examples.html

 

[video=youtube;8kCsRpV6sXk]

 

STR-1 Plucked String

Controllers Used: JS X- Pitch Bend, SW1- Harmonics, VJS -Y- Muting :

http://www.korg.com/Services/downloadScript/DownloadFile.aspx?path=services/downloads/mp3/kronos_demos/wav&File=Program_U-D000_Steel_String.WAV

 

 

STR-1 Plucked String, HD-1 Wave Sequencing

KARMA/Drum Track

Controllers Used: JS X- Pitch Bend, JS-Y- Harmonics, Knob 5, 6 & VJS- STR-1 Modulation:

http://www.korg.com/Services/downloadScript/DownloadFile.aspx?path=services/downloads/mp3/kronos_demos/wav&File=Combi_I-D019_Sunset_Split.WAV

 

 

STR-1 Plucked String, HD-1 High-Definition Synthesis

Drum Track

Controllers Used: JS +/- Y- Bend & Modulation

Tone Adjust: Pitch Stretching:

http://www.korg.com/Services/downloadScript/DownloadFile.aspx?path=services/downloads/mp3/kronos_demos/wav&File=Combi_I-A015_Metal_Morphosis.WAV

 

 

STR-1 Plucked String

Controllers Used: Ribbon- Filter/Amp, JS+Y- Modulation, VJS- Modulation, SW1- Portamento

http://www.korg.com/Services/downloadScript/DownloadFile.aspx?path=services/downloads/mp3/kronos_demos/wav&File=Combi_I-A007_Sonic_Sky_Scrapers.WAV

[Meatball Fulton]

It's Karplus-Strong.

 

Featured in some ESQ-1 waves, programming example in the DSI Evolver manual, also possible on Korg Radias and probably anything with tunable delay lines.

[Gribs]

Some people into modular synthesis will use modules with bucket-brigade delay (BBD) circuits like the Doepfer A-188-1 series of modules to incorporate Karplus-Strong synthesis into their modular synths. If you scroll down in the link I made there are some audio examples of this. Also you can search the MW forum for info/discussion on BBD modules and links to videos. These modules are not particularly good by themselves as analog delays (you need to filter out the clock signal) but are great for Karplus Strong and various signal processing/noise making effects.

 

There is a nice *free* book on advanced modular synthesis programming techniques on Professor James Clark's (McGill University) web page. That book has a chapter dedicated to physical modeling including Karplus Strong. The book uses the Nord Modular for examples and he has screen captures of patches from the programming GUI for his examples. When I first read through this material, I almost went and bought a Nord Modular on the spot, but then I realized (as the author points out in the introduction) that I have Reaktor already and can ... if desired ... implement the algorithms and do experiments there too. Then after going through all the examples in the Reaktor tutorials/manual and programming a couple basic synths myself, I decided that programming Reaktor is too much like doing my day time job and at this time I prefer to not do it (LOL). The chapter on physical modeling has links at the bottom to other info on the web from reliable sources.

 

Also for the more mathematically and technically minded:

Elementary Digital Waveguide Models for Vibrating Strings

It is really interesting to see that the course is an EE300 series class which means junior or senior year elective based on the Standford EE course list. I would have jumped on the opportunity to take a class like this when I was an EE student. If you have a very basic background in ODE/PDE and DSP (as in the traditionally required sophomore and junior class basics for EEs) then these class notes should read very nicely for you.

 

Native Instruments Reaktor has a new resonator module that enables digital waveguide style synthesis. Their "Prism" software synthesizer is based on it. I really like the thing. It makes some really cool sounds. In particular I find that I like it complementing (triggered by) a synth guitar, mixed in with the piezo bridge and magnetic pickups from my Godin guitar - sorta like an effect but different.

[realtrance]

It's Stanford.

 

The exciter/resonator model is highly applicable to string synthesis and physical modeling, but in many ways the basic principles are logical across the board for synthesis. All instruments have an exciter/"oscillator" and a resonator/"filter" that interact with each other in interesting ways. The particular knowledge behind Karplus-Strong is just one line of thought about this; plenty else to explore along these lines, not just confined to string synthesis or physical modeling. To some extent it's interesting to think about the logic of exciter/resonator even in the context of granular synthesis, which ostensibly operates on different principles.

[Gribs]

There are times I really wish I went to Stanford for graduate school. I got in but didn't go. I had a full fellowship at SUNY Buffalo and would have had to move to CA sight unseen and get a job as an EE or convince a prof to take me on as a RA in order to pay the bills. So I went to Buffalo instead.

[Meatball Fulton]

You went to Buffalo instead of Cali?

 

You must like snow a lot.

[Gribs]

Well I grew up in the Rochester, NY area, so it was close to home. Also I was an undergrad there and they offered a "presidential teaching and research fellowship" which meant no RA work and TA'ing one class per year with more money than a regular TA or RA. It was a good deal and I started on the PhD early by taking some grad classes in math to prepare for E&M theory work during my senior year (required by my PhD adviser). I received a great education from a respectable school and went on to a NSF-3M post-doc at one of the best centers for applied math in the USA (IMA.umn.edu).

[realtrance]

Gribs that really doesn't sound like a life choice worth regretting. One goes to grad school for the education, not the surfing and girls.

 

Meanwhile, California, like Cape Cod, is just a short airplane hop away, if you don't mind being groped by a fat old man on the way there and back, that is.