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View Full Version : Re: What is "Realtime Convolution and Modulation Synthesis"?


sTeeVee
July 13th 09, 05:41 PM
On Jul 12, 4:56*pm, Krid > wrote:
> >> In audio what this normally means is
> >> performing a frequency domain multiplication (as you would for a
> >> filter, say) in the time domain. *The effect is the same, but it can be
> >> done in near real time, rather than having to gather up a heap of
> >> samples, perform an FFT, do the multiplication and then an inverse FFT
> >> to bring it back to time domain.
>
> > Actually a convoultion is a very time-consuming calculation.
> > Mathematically you're mainly right with your statement, but ironically
> > for speeding up a convolution algorithm, it is transformed into the
> > frequency domain (via FFT) where convolution turns into mere
> > multiplication. After this multiplication is done, the result has to be
> > transformed back to the time domain via inverse FFT.
>
> > So a convolution algorithm is *more* hassle than an FFT, because the
> > sped up version of a "fast convolution" actually requires two FFTs. ;-)
>
> Damn! One really shouldn't post, when in a hurry.
>
> Not sure, if I understood you right. What you describe as *not* necessary
> actually *is* the classical method of a "fast convolution".
>
> What other, more clever, convolution algorithms are there, without the
> need for FFTs?
>
> Bye,
> Krid.
>
> --www.dirk-music.de- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -

As I recall, John Chowning from Stamford created "digital" FM that was
workable for musical applications. He tried to shop it around. Alonso
from Dartmouth (later became the Synclavier from New England Digital)
was the first one to "grab" it. Then, the forward-thinking engineers
from Yamaha came in and signed an exclusive deal with Chowning, with
the exemption of NED, for the use of digital multioperator frequency
modulation synthesis. See the following link, however it does not
contain the relationship with NED

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Chowning

Have fun,

sTEEVEE

philicorda[_7_]
July 13th 09, 07:16 PM
On Mon, 13 Jul 2009 09:41:28 -0700, sTeeVee wrote:


> As I recall, John Chowning from Stamford created "digital" FM that was
> workable for musical applications. He tried to shop it around. Alonso
> from Dartmouth (later became the Synclavier from New England Digital)
> was the first one to "grab" it. Then, the forward-thinking engineers
> from Yamaha came in and signed an exclusive deal with Chowning, with the
> exemption of NED, for the use of digital multioperator frequency
> modulation synthesis. See the following link, however it does not
> contain the relationship with NED

I think much of the credit should lie with Yamaha's engineers.
The reason no one else took FM up initially was because Chownings's
algorithms were too slow to be implemented in real time.

Yamaha found an equivalent method using no multiplies, just lookup tables
tables and addition. I believe it was Yamaha's fast FM maths patent
rather than Chowning's patents that kept FM proprietary, at least until
DSP technology caught up enough that people could use slower methods.

I've always though FM synthesis kinda obvious anyway. Modulating the
pitch of one oscillator from another is the one of the first things
people play with on analog modular synths. Finding a way to implement it
digitally in a cheap (at the time!) musical instrument, however, was
genius.