Hardest Sounds to Synthesize?

[piRoN]

can nail the TIMBER

I applaud you, good sir.

[CS_TBL]

ooh.. pan flute.

That brings back childhood memories when I was growing up in a music shop in the early 80's. Next to our shop there was a cheese shop, but looking back to that era, I'd wonder who sold more cheesy c**p..

So, there were those big Eminent organs with had all these white, green and red square light emiting buttons directly above the keys, on those Grand Theater models, I"m sure you know which one.. with the white/orange push buttons everywhere. And just like 'Girl From Ipanema' there was this other evergreen that every potential customer had to endure.

I just hacked that together in less than an hour. Made completely with "you know what"..


http://infinitemsx.org/dump/panflutecheese.mp3

As for human voice, actually all these text 2 speech applications do a decent job, and Vocaloid isn't complete c**p either.

[CS_TBL]

Is there any logical reason why that player keeps 'Buffering'?

[soundwave106]

I understand that those sounds are kind of hard to get down as a perfect replication or emulation, but what I'm talking about are fundamentally hard sounds to even come close to doing on a synthesizer.

I can honestly think of no instrument that is difficult to reproduce in a sort-of manner on a synthesizer. Sample-based synthesis will take you a long way.

In terms of reproducing the nuances of a good performance, almost *any* acoustic instrument cannot be reproduced 100% on a synthesizer. Some can be reproduced better than others -- pipe organs are incredibly good these days, for instance. Most woodwinds, not hardly. Brass tends to be cringe-worthy, if you want it to be thought of as real sounding.

Since the main interaction with the synthesizer is a keyboard ala a piano or organ, this isn't surprising. You flat out cannot do some of the techniques you can do on string-based instruments, woodwinds, brass, etc. on the standard interface.

[rhino]

can nail the TIMBER

I applaud you, good sir.

timber - (music) the distinctive property of a complex sound (a voice or noise or musical sound); "the timbre of her soprano was rich and lovely"; "the muffled tones of the broken bell summoned them to meet"
(from The Free Dictionary - by Farlex)

I stand corrected. The accuracy of things dug up on the web is a c**p-shoot.

corrected. thanks.

[Automatic Gainsay]

can nail the TIMBER

If you spell it that way, you're probably mispronouncing it. :/

[Distorted_Frequency]

The hollow, woody, pan pipe sound. It's not so simple as Square Wave and Noise. I have been trying for a total of six hours and its still sounds dissociated, like two sounds ontop of each other, not one smooth "whoot" sound. It's killing me lol

Rob

This might be a good one I've not tried to do before and might give a go at it too...

Got a soundclip of a good one to use for comparisons?

The one that I am specifically attempting to recreate is Chromeo - Way Too Much. I overall enjoy any sound coming out of P-Thuggs Synths.

Another sound that I can't figure out is the vowel like sounds in this DEVO song @ 1:15



and this Chromeo song @ 1:05

[EmptySet]

I can't believe that no one has mentioned trying to synthesize the famous THX sound:

http://www.engadget.com/2005/05/27/musi ... thx-sound/

Also, despite being described to death (on VSE and elsewhere), it is quite challenging to synthesize a believable recreation of RUSH's Tom Sawyer synth sounds. I guess it has something to do with his precise collection of equipment that makes it so challenging to do with other gear.

[Pro5]

Everyone knows it's the Bassoon!



@2:45 if you don't want to watch it all.


(and just in case anyone on here hasn't seen it before and is confused, it IS a comedy spoof and it WASN'T really made in the late 70s/early 80s)

[Powelly]

Everyone knows it's the Bassoon!



@2:45 if you don't want to watch it all.


(and just in case anyone on here hasn't seen it before and is confused, it IS a comedy spoof and it WASN'T really made in the late 70s/early 80s)

I actually laughed

[cartesia]

As for human voice, actually all these text 2 speech applications do a decent job, and Vocaloid isn't complete c**p either.

As far as I'm aware the only ones that don't sound like robotic imitation humans are sample based sets (the most advanced having phonetic samples, or sometimes combinations of 2-3 sounds in a single sample)

I mean.. I know you can *understand* it.. but it's like.. a robotic sounding piano would not be accepted as a piano in this 'hardest sound to synthesise' thing

[Micke]

As far as synthesized oboe and clainet sounds are concerned, Nyle Steiner's attempts on the Apocalypse Now soundtrack are
quite convincing I'd say:




Another very good example of an autenthic sounding Oboe/English horn, programmed on an analog synth, can be heard in track #5 of Trevor Jones' Mississipi Burning soundtrack (1988). Couldn't find any audio clip from this piece on youtube though. I was told by Dave Lawson (who played the synths on numerous Trevor Jones scores) that he used his Oberheim OB-1 for the sound and that
the filter was controlled with a foot pedal.

[Micke]

I can't believe that no one has mentioned trying to synthesize the famous THX sound:

http://www.engadget.com/2005/05/27/musi ... thx-sound/

Well, electronic music pioneers Beaver & Krause already did it way back in 1969, and as far as I'm concerned
their analog version of the "deep note" sounds richer than the one you posted. You can hear it at the end of this clip:

[nathanscribe]

There's a breathy pad used in the background of OMD's 'Statues' that I have never been able to get close to. My thoughts on what it is change each time I go back to it - probably some blend of organ (Farfisa?) and Prophet, but whatever it is, I can't copy it...

[garranimal]

I can't believe that no one has mentioned trying to synthesize the famous THX sound:

You just need a nice fat layered string patch w/ one octave apart on the oscillators, then dial in a generous amount of portamento. Throw down, say, a C-major chord in the upper and two C notes in the bass/lower. The initial mess will eventually converge in characteristic THX fashion.

Human voice

I was pre-occupied trying to emulate the VP-330 choir sound using a polysynth. Not yet successful, but to get in the ballpark it requires at least 3 or 4 instances of a bandpass filter set a specific formant frequencies w/ sawtooth oscillators set at an octave apart. If your synth doesn't get killed by polyphony, finding a suitable chorus effect to dress up the sound usually falls short of that beautiful Roland BBD quad-ensemble.