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Digitally-Controlled Analog Subtractive Sound Synthesis

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SYNƎTH subtractive music synthesizer ASIC project.

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

Professor

Christoph Studer

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