Would-be killer features: oscilloscope, frequency diagram

[Gambler]

I've just bought a couple of books about music production. One of them was Welsh's synthesizer cookbook. It heavily uses frequency diagrams (amplitude plotted against frequency). So a thought occurred to me: a killer feature for a high-end modern synth would be ability to visualize the output of a patch on the screen. I could do that with oscilloscope, but that's extra hardware I don't need. Even better, a synth could integrate signal over time to compile a frequency diagram. This would be extremely useful in analyzing and simulating various sounds.

[tpantano]

I've just bought a couple of books about music production. One of them was Welsh's synthesizer cookbook. It heavily uses frequency diagrams (amplitude plotted against frequency). So a thought occurred to me: a killer feature for a high-end modern synth would be ability to visualize the output of a patch on the screen. I could do that with oscilloscope, but that's extra hardware I don't need. Even better, a synth could integrate signal over time to compile a frequency diagram. This would be extremely useful in analyzing and simulating various sounds.

*COUGH Native Instruments Razor *COUGH*

Even FM8 has a final waveform diagram.

[Synthoid]

I think he was referring to a hardware synthesizer, not software... but I could be wrong.

[Bald Eagle]

If you were building a hardware synth you wouldn't need to include an oscilloscope or any other screen on the synth itself. I would collect raw data in the synth and transmit it to a pc over USB for visualization and further analysis. It could be transmitted in real time or possibly stored to an SD card and transmitted after the performance.

[OpAmp]

Hi,

Meanwhile we wait for a hardware synth with these capabilities and if you don't want to spend money on an oscilloscope, you can consider the following FREE piece of software: Visual Analyser 2011. (http://www.sillanumsoft.org/) It is a (+/- realtime) software oscilloscope and spectrum analyser in the same package, visualising the signal on the audio line-in of your PC. At first sight it looks quite technical, because it was intended for broader use than analysing music.

I used it successfully before to learn about waveforms, spectra and filters of my mKXL. Getting a stable waveform view however is a bit difficult when it becomes more complex (because the trigger point triggers several times within one period of the waveform- but there are workarounds).

Have fun.

[tpantano]

I think he was referring to a hardware synthesizer, not software... but I could be wrong.

I feel like it'd be fairly useless as a feature (an oscilloscope) though it could be really cool just aesthetically. A harmonic spectrum display as mentioned would be more useful though I'm not sure such a thing can be done with analogue hardware on the cheap unless it were additive; obviously digital hardware would have an advantage in this.

[Gambler]

I was thinking about hardware-based VAs. It's true that in real analog synth it wouldn't be worth extra circuitry, but in a VA you could simply plot or analyze data before it is sent to AD converter. (Similarly, when you capture data via inputs, you could route it to the visualizer.)

Visual Analyser looks interesting, thanks.

[SanderXpander]

If you have a Kronos and an iPad you could do this very simply. I think it sounds more useful than it is though.

[Gambler]

If you use a DAW instead of Korg's products it's even simpler. :/

...

I don't see how visualization of sound can be "not useful" in a tool that does sythesis and postproduction.

If I have a sample that I want to recreate using native engines, having its sonogram and the sonogram of my output would be enormously helpful. It also would allow people to discuss sounds in a better, more objective and mature way. We would speak about frequency peaks, rather than something "sunding plasticky".

[Timo]

I have my synths routed into Wavelab specifically to use its scopes on the ASIO live input - I literally always use oscilloscope and spectrum analyser (FFT), occasionally phase meter too, in realtime when editing sounds from Virus/Radias/Moss.

It completely changes your way of understanding synthesis and the way you go about making or imitating sounds.

However FFT needs a large chunk of computation to analyse audio in realtime, in addition to the need for it to be sufficiently detailed, displayed and refreshed at a high frame rate for it to be usable. Same with oscilloscope output. Additionally I think only a minority of people would actively make use of them - most people just stick to using presets let alone programming sounds. So I think commercially it would be an expensive addition for such a limited market.

Especially when you think they don't even include aftertouch these days, despite everyone wanting it!

Would be great, though.