Digitally-Controlled Analog Subtractive Sound Synthesis
From iis-projects
Contents
Short Description
Analog subtractive sound synthesis has been widely used in music production since the 1960s, with popular synthesizers from Moog Music, Sequential, ARP Instruments, etc. In recent years, building such music synthesizers became accessible and affordable as companies, e.g. Sound Semiconductor [1] or Coolaudio [2], manufacture specialized analog integrated circuits (ICs) for subtractive sound synthesis.
The goal of this project is to build a monophonic subtractive synthesizer using off-the-shelf components from Sound Semiconductor [1]. The synthesizer should include one or multiple oscillators, a voltage-controlled filter, and a voltage-controlled envelope, all of which are controlled via MIDI (short for Musical Instrument Digital Interface) using a Raspberry Pi and digital-to-analog converters (DACs). The student(s) will first familiarize themselves with the ICs from Sound Semiconductor and then, manufacture a printed circuit board (PCB) that implements the subtractive synthesizer. Finally, Raspberry Pi software must be developed in order to control the synthesizer's parameters in real-time.
Due to the global chip shortage, the project heavily depends on the availability of integrated circuits by Sound Semiconductor [1]. This means that the student must discuss the project with the advisor long before the project start.
[1] http://www.soundsemiconductor.com/index.html
[2] https://www.coolaudio.com/
Status: Available
- Looking for 1-2 Semester/Bachelor/Master students
- Contact: Christoph Studer
Prerequisites
- PCB design experience
- Experience with Raspberry Pi
- Strong interest in music and audio signal processing
Character
- 40% Analog circuit development
- 20% PCB design
- 40% Raspberry Pi integration