Sound Design Theory: 8 Types of Audio Synthesis

[@adv8nturenick]

Great quality video. Presentation is spot on. 👍

[@Geopholus]

This is seriously one of the best tutorials on synthesis I have seen so far. Very straightforward, accurate, and to the point.

[@Woochia]

Thanks a lot!

[@albertbaarsma]

I think this as well

[@sampound9236]

amazing vid!! slave and master oscillator is crazy though

[@yeahboiii5828]

Man, you underrated as fuck, you deserve more subs, your theory videos are great.

[@DJMRAsingh]

7:22: The reason fast LFO (audible range) starts creating harmonics is that it starts affecting the individual cycles of the carrier’s signal, effectively adjusting its wave shape.

[@pablodemorais9320]

criminally underrated channel. keep up the good work

[@victornoagbodji]

🙏 🙏 🙏 😸 outstanding work!! this has to be the most comprehensive i have seen on youtube. i know bits and pieces from here and there but you put all of this together in one video!!

[@longroads_5571]

These tutorials are seriously decent, high quality content.

[@1075Marijavera]

Around August and september of last year i was lookin for good sound design vids but didnt find any. Glad i found this one now. The algorithm has blessed me

[@lexiray1111]

This is excellent. I am lucky to have stumbled upon this series.

[@Woochia]

Thanks! Glad you like it :)

[@s1gnal_]

Highly informative, visually pleasing, and straight to the point! I've been producing music for a while, and even I had a couple of "aha!" moments. The only thing to note is you forgot to distinguish between Linear and Exponential FM Synthesis - the first examples were of exponential FM, whereas everything from the DX7 to Dexxed uses linear FM. Hard Sync could've also used the (stereo-)typical Sawtooth + pitch enveloped Squarewave example, but that's just me being a big nerd. :D Good stuff, either way!

[@Woochia]

This is just the type of nerding I love! But I agree, for FM synthesis I thought about making a follow-up video to explain linear, exponential and through-zero FM as well. But now that there are shorts, that might be a good topic for shorts!

[@s1gnal_]

@@Woochia Shorts would be a fantastic idea!

[@cybergwen]

Two more types I'm kind of missing in this video are phase modulation and physical modeling. It's interesting to me how wavetables and granular synthesis are something in the middle between traditional synthesis and sample playback. They wouldn't exist without samples, yet they produce unique new sounds.

[@MaurizioGiri]

Actually, he already quoted phase modulation, the DX7 is not FM, it is PM (despite how Yamaha advertises it). Any major instrument that claims to be FM (DX7, Ableton Operator, NativeInstruments FM8) uses phase modulation and not FM. Probably they use the wrong definition because they think it's sexier ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[@Mossbotmusic]

and Spectral Synthesis!

[@TachyBunker]

There's also spectral synthesis, physical modeling, fractal additive synthesis, inharmonic (streched timbre) synthesis, etc...

[@spindash64]

​@@MaurizioGirisupposedly, it's because the functional output of PM is nearly identical to "True" FM, with only minor edge cases

[@polycrystallinecandy]

@MaurizioGiri Bitwig has both true FM (FM-4) and PM (Phase-4). They behave quite differently

[@descrisleuthy]

Thank you for making this video! I've been learning music production on my own and I'm just so grateful to learn from amazing free educational content like this on KZbin :)

[@kalesyps764]

prefect refresher

[@dalinwaldo]

amazing amazing amazing you explain everything soooo easy! compared to how complex some people do it! Also fun fact DX7 was indeed famous for its "FM" - but it was actually phase modulation - but u probably already knew that ^___^ But many thxx really really props for your way of explaining all this in such a sort video -- you'd make a gr8 teacher! :D

[@anang7300]

Great value content. Thank you !

[@Dareyouhow]

Fine example of masking at 9:38, listen to the timbre of his voice while that peak is there (looks about 500hz I think) VS a couple seconds later when the ring modulation shifts it away and suddenly his voice fills out a lot more

[@danielpirone8028]

Very well done! Excellent resource

[@Taylor370z]

As someone who is extremely dependent on visual learning to full understand concepts. I can't thank you enough for this tutorial. I've learned more in this vid than like 10 years of tweaking knobs guessing what's happening lol.

[@Woochia]

Haha awesome! Thanks a lot 😁

[@makscee]

Wow, thank you for a great video, didn't expect to learn so much! I might finally know what to do with my volca modular haha

[@2112jonr]

Good video, thank you. Not so sure about AM and definitely not hard sync. No one every talks about either, though to your credit you did make that point about hard sync.

[@amandembla7109]

COULD NOT WAIT FOR 11:12

[@salmonsandwich3183]

wow. super informative. This is essential for Minilogue XD owners. especially the first half

[@carbonfeather7372]

Great video! Thanks for what you are doing

[@izokzu4851]

nice explanations !

[@JohnPaulBuce]

Have to rewatch this

[@vj7248]

Great description of each synthesis type. You manually setting up each synthesis in that modular rack helped alot. Also explaining the use cases for each. Of course, you could technically make any sound with whatever, but there's a clear function for each type. So it's great knowing those patterns. I didn't even know about Hard Sync or how WaveShaping could be used in that way. Very cool! 😎

[@Woochia]

Thanks! Glad you liked it. If you want to see more about waveshaping, I have a full video just on that. And I might as well make a part 2 of it soon

[@lathryx]

I can't believe this content is free to me. 🤯🔥

[@Woochia]

Enjoy! 😂

[@PendelSteven]

0:20 You explained it well. Because of this, sometimes it is called Harmonic instead of Additive. Or Spectral. There may be subtle difference between them... Reply then. I'd like to include S&S, Sample & Synthesis, a more general term for what is called Linear Arithmetic Synthes in Roland's D50. S&S is also the method to generate the sounds in the Korg M1, it is Yamaha's AWM(2), Ensoniq called it Cross Wave Synthesis and Kawai Digital Multi Spectrum. Arguably we have Kontakt now, but the hybrid S&S is subtly different. I mean, Spectrasonics calls it Omnisphere :) And then there's Physical modeling... Which is partly Rhizomatic Plasmonic.

[@Woochia]

Thanks! I'll check out all that :)

[@mikilin3705]

This is very helpful! Thank you so much!

[@sebastianvega8915]

Man loved your video, you really are a great teacher!!!!

[@Jakester88]

Great video!

[@agv1771]

straight to the point , clear like water

[@squishmusic]

Im binge-watching all of these! Gr8 stuff. Hoping to uncover more knowledge on using mod-matrix in synths...

[@mittwochsan3850]

very nice summary! thank you!^^

[@Amistriotis]

Many thanks for putting these things together! This is great!

[@aqphen5341]

Clean explanations Very constructive and well built ! And free Thanks a lot 🙌

[@RogerioValgode]

Wow. This was the first video I found that explain this to me with true simplicity 🔥👍

[@AndresRojasMusic]

Great explanation 💯

[@LucaskrillHC]

11:11 One cool thing about waveshaper is that if the input is a (perfect) sawtooth wave then the output is the distortion waveform

[@drhextube]

Easier explanation: Ring modulation = modulator * carrier Amplitude modulation = abs(modulator) * carrier (where abs = absolute value, i.e. flip negative values to positive)

[@Woochia]

Well put

[@wolfgang4468]

Again, just excellent! Rarely have I seen such great educational content, not to mention your "by-the-way" hints and mini-workshops like the one from 15:07. One question: Granular II requires Ableton Live *Suite* incl. Max for Live, or is there a way to use it with Ableton Live Standard?

[@wolfgang4468]

@@Woochia Just had a look: Max for Live is 145 €. Still cheaper than buying the Suite.

[@robertswartz3010]

Thanks for the great video!

[@BohanMusic]

Super Helpful！Thank you！

[@Etrehumain123]

Thank you so much, I was so confused with AM and FM

[@vanity_.]

Quality content 👍

[@hdsubstance1]

Super brilliant!

[@leinexkeith291]

10:53 one of the best freebies!

[@aakashchakrabarty4262]

Hey from where did you got that max4live device which pops up at 11:15 ?

[@weltering]

This is the best synth tutorial ever.

[@aevai]

Amazing video! Thank you

[@auehate]

That was excellently explained! super compact

[@kentinjivek]

Juste parfait 💯

[@adv8nturenick]

Nice tutorial, thank you

[@sandrainthesky1011]

Well done! Very clear and concise video!

[@Woochia]

Thank you :)

[@Excalibur32]

No idea what's going on or how I got here but I like the funni sounds

[@Nathanaelsun22]

EXCELLENTLY EXPLAINED WOW SO CLEAR!!!

[@MichaelGaidamaka]

Bravo!

[@AaezZzze]

Vraiment excellent 😉

[@EBBn4CHAN]

I learned a SHIT ton from this video. Thanks man

[@liviou2004]

Hard Sync is not a specific synthesis method. It is a technique used in old substractive analog synths (Minimoog, Arp Odyssey, etc...), and in many current analog and virtual analog substractive synths.

[@Woochia]

I agree. I just wanted to include it here to explain what it is and show what it sounded like.

[@JeffyG]

Great video! I’m rediscovering NI FORM which is really a granular synth that was way ahead of it’s time. It’s interesting that NI never uses the term “grains” or “granular” in their marketing. 😊

[@Woochia]

Oh I don't know this one. Sound interesting!

[@telumatramenti7250]

FM and Wavetable are my 2 favourites. But if I had to choose I'd probably stick with FM. If you have a decent multiple multi-timbral 6-8 operator, multiple voice FM synth you can go a long way stacking voices to create practically any sound possible. There aren't that many good hardware FM synths out there, definitely nothing in the "budget" range. But it really pays off to save up and get that one FM synth whose ergonomics you are most comfortable with. And if you don't want to or cannot spend this much, - there are many great sounding FM DAWs, FM8 by Native Instruments being my personal favourite. It's programable XY pad will give you a world of possibilities for dynamic sound.

[@leinexkeith291]

1:44 Exactly like in Sytrus

[@HaharuRecords]

17:04 are you kidding me,. I love to know how you do the Basses..😳🙏

[@Woochia]

I would take a kick and put it in a sampler. Then I would loop a tiny part of the kick to get just a few waveform cycles and start from there :)

[@lounge_by_sturdt8984]

Thank you.

[@Ange1Monty]

como podría hacer un modulador fm en vcv donde la entrada sea el micrófono de mi headset?

[@elcidleon6500]

Are you familiar with Video Game sound chips? I'm trying to make sure if the SNES is a sampler or a wavetable synthesis? As far as I know, it uses a ADPCM tech, has envelopes, a FIR filter, unfortunately a Gauss filter, and some other quirks. The Mega Drive/Genesis uses 6 four operator channels, DAC, and a chip with three square channels with a noise channel. You talked about FM with this video and I'm familiar with it.

[@AndresRojasMusic]

@@Woochia yeah, the SNES simply uses recorded samples but hella compressed

[@Van_Verder]

Super helpful, Thx!

[@peterwan816]

I would like to know if sound Synthesis is the same as audio synthesis? plz could you help me with this one, they sound similar but I don't want to risk that difference in 1 word when searching for information.

[@xxamulyaxx]

Wow, just wow

[@robertsabharwal9787]

Good video.

[@BigMTBrain]

Excellent! Curious... is Physical Modeling considered its own style of sound synthesis, or does it fit into one or more of the other categories?

[@Woochia]

I'd say that's its own kind of synthesis. Though in a way, it uses these other kind of synthesis (like, it uses filtering for the simulation of the body, which is subtractive synthesis)

[@BigMTBrain]

@@Woochia Agreed, with both points.

[@dvamateur]

How about phase modulation (i.e. distortion), when the readout speed of a single-cycle waveform is modulated? How about bringing up the filter modulation (a.k.a. growl) into the the audio range? How about bringing up the pulse width modulation into the audio range? By the way, the granular "synthesis" you explain here, seems more like a DSP algorithm than a synthesis. Ditto for the wavetable scanning, which is similar to wave sequencing, which is is not really a synthesis, unless you bring up the scan speed into audio range and end up with new sidebands. And since you call waveshaping a synthesis, then you can call everything a synthesis. Distortion, phasing, flanging, etc. These are simply DSP algorithms that modify the waveforms. In my opinion, synthesis has to do with single-cycle wave generation. For that, additive, FM, PD, and subtractive synthesis are sufficient methods. And if you think about it, subtractive synthesis eventually collapses all waves into sine wave. So, when you start opening up the filter, you are adding the harmonics back. You can consider that an additive synthesis macro. So whether you call something and additive and subtractive synthesis, it really just a point of view. Anyway, all these "synthesis" methods are just shortcuts to achieve same results, a desired waveform or a frequency spectrum. All in all, sound is nothing more than amplitude changes against time, which is an amplitude modulation. And that's what every single sound is: amplitude modulation.

[@anshuksahu9207]

IM hhErE FoR SciENCE

[@rederickfroders1978]

Oh hey thats me!🤡

[@ifwsedm]

. @Woochia Yo! Nice explanation of all the types of synthesis and, I am so many thankful for the good examples and key tips :D So... I got a question, is Hard Sync a type of 'synthesis' which is referred or seems like in explain as, the significance of phase in sound design as its the main type of constructive/destructive kinda type of interferences? I think I am done w/ this haha if you have a second to respond to me, I would be really grateful witheet :) So many thanks anticipated lol

[@Woochia]

Hard sync is not really considered as a type of synthesis, or at least I don't think so. Hard sync doesn't give a lot of options to create a new waveform (not as much as other types of synthesis like waveshaping or additive synthesis). Though it's a way to modify the sound by using only the oscillators, that's why I wanted to include it here.

[@paulhazel]

Very nice. Thank you.

[@ReckDemon]

Great work and effort. I subbed! Can you tell me which meters you used at 1:15? Is it Ableton EQ? What about the other on the right? See you for the next one!

[@ReckDemon]

@@Woochia Genius! I'm only using software synths and I tend to understand and learn visually better. That's so helpful. Thank you forever!

[@RemitheDreamfox]

Just a heads up that your AM Synthesis bookmark for the video is broken Fantastic video though, 10/10, brain grew many wrinkles

[@quadracycle4000]

3:02 RetroAhoy, is that you?

[@agv1771]

thanks

[@Oi-mj6dv]

Man whats that wave visualizer you are using? Its incredibly useful too also be able to see what you are doing rather than going only by ear

[@AlvaroALorite]

What oscilloscope do you use?

[@Anamnesia]

Is Hard Sync anything like Cross Modulation? I have an X-Mod parameter on my Roland JX-8P but I could never visualise what it was doing...

[@Woochia]

Not sure this is hard sync but it could be. Cross modulation means that one oscillator modulates a parameter of another oscillator. Usually it modulates the pitch, so this is more FM synthesis, but it could be modulating the volume of the other oscillator, which would be Am synthesis at this point

[@Пердун-ж9ч]

what's the name of the app where you make your own sounds?

[@Пердун-ж9ч]

@@Woochia not the editor; by that I didnt mean Ableton (Fl, Cubase and others). I mean where you were making your own synths

[@Пердун-ж9ч]

@@Woochia thx man

[@letlhogonolomasebe5598]

Eish I wish I had ur sound intuition....I'm still trying to learn fourie series and transformation and apply it in audio signals more special music....My vision is to be sound engineer and build any desired sound with synthesizer .I'm still learn electronic engineering via Utube how to build LPF,HPF,BAND REJECTand band pass using LCR...limter using diode and resistors...I can see ur integrating electronics engineering in music...please advice me how can I have knowledge like u

[@Woochia]

Damn I would love to know electronics and be able to build my own components of a synth!

[@ghifardebs6728]

nice. what do you use to visualise the waveform you produce.(e.g at 1:35 beside the spectrum)? is it a plugin ?

[@Woochia]

It's a free max4live device called "visualiser". I got it from the max for live website.

[@Cr1z4n63L]

9:49 f(x) = sin(1/x) !

[@minaunohf6062]

What Synthsoftware are you using ? :)

[@boogs8112]

I am pretty sure it's VCV rack

[@jobedosan]

I don't speak or understand English so we'll, I don't know if you say the Name of the plugin you use in the video, can you give me it's name ?

[@Woochia]

The one with whites modules is VCV rack, then I use Ableton's stock modules and Serum

[@Woochia]

Also, if you prefer a text version of this tutorial, you can find it on my website woochia.com

[@themeofsuddenroundabout]

i find it very weird that granular is supposed to be a type of synthesis. it's sample playback. it doesn't synthesize anything, it effects something. it's an audio effect. but yeah, the name kinda stuck.

[@amandembla7109]

Nobody told me what you just explained.

[@blendertutorialdotnet]

What program do you use for the graphic animations?

[@blendertutorialdotnet]

@@Woochia Amazing work!

[@cheapnoise9014]

Sais-tu si un synthétiseur qui mélange des formes d'ondes basiques (saw, square, triangle) avec des samples? Je connais les Roland D-50 d'autrefois mais le prix et l'entretien sont beaucoup trop élevé.

[@cheapnoise9014]

@@Woochia Merci beaucoup. Donc, ce programme devrait fonctionner sur le NTS-1 également?

[@josephwright5921]

Pick up a Roland D05 module. It is a boutique module that Roland issued about 3 years ago. Get one quickly because prices are going up and supply is limited. It is the same engine as the D 50.

[@amandembla7109]

SUBSCRIBED

[@shahikalakar]

4:27

[@nesofearth]

🔥

[@imSachdeva123]

👍👍👍

[@lexiray1111]

👏

[@nitroanilinmusic]

It's so rare to find someone speaking about FM Synthesis the way it should be spoken about. (That is, with harmonics instead of just showing us the waveforms)