From Booknews
Explores the physical modeling and analysis of the many sounds produced by humans, such as speech,
music, and walking. Cook (computer science, Princeton) describes the techniques of parametric
digital sound synthesis and their application in computer game development. Coverage includes
Fourier analysis, linear predictive coding, and the vibrations produced by a plucked string. The
CD-ROM contains 64 audio tracks. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR
From Amazon.com
***** It's a lot more than a cook book, August 29, 2002
Reviewer: Richard O. Duda from Menlo Park, CA USA
Are you a pretty good C++ programmer? Have you ever wanted to have your
computer output sounds like footsteps or musical instruments that (a)
sound real and (b) are continuously responsive to the user's control?
Did you discover that it was basically impossible to do it by stitching
together prerecorded samples, and you couldn't think of any other way to
do it?
If so, Perry Cook has written just the book you have been looking for.
In 250 pages, Cook explains everything, from the basics of digital
filtering to the major alternatives for generating sounds: additive and
subtractive synthesis, FM synthesis, and -- the real focus of the book
-- physical modeling. Not only that, the accompanying CD-ROM includes
lots of sound examples and the Synthesis ToolKit -- a pretty much
platform-independent set of C++ classes and algorithms for writing your
own code.
Not everything is perfect. Just as the first version of any program
contains some bugs, the first printing of any book that uses mathematics
contains some errors. In particular, typos in Appendix A could be very
frustrating if this is your first exposure to Fourier analysis. (You
might want to check Cook's web site for a promised list of errata and
code updates.) And don't let the fact that the book is short,
attractively produced, very well organized, unusually clear, and
entertainingly written lead you to believe that you can master it in a
weekend. Although Cook tries his best to make the underlying mathematics
unintimidating, there is no getting around the fact that there are some
rather deep concepts from wave physics and signals-and-systems theory
behind what he has to say.
The good news is that the effort is richly repaid. Not only will you be
able to write programs that can generate controllable sounds in real
time, but you will develop insight into how physical instruments produce
their distinctive sounds, and you will understand the basics of both the
standard and the most advanced techniques that have been developed to
model them. Highly recommended.
***** Not just another digital music book...., August 22, 2002 Reviewer:
A reader from USA
This book is useful, enlightening, and fun. It covers many cutting-edge
topics in lucid fashion, topics that can only be found otherwise in
academic journals. The computer code (in the book and on the CD-ROM) is
an invaluable resource for the ambitious reader, who can actually try
out or modify the techniques. The CD-ROM also provides examples of these
new techniques in action. Finally, the author's sense of humor comes
through often (this is not a stiff, boring book!).
As a "digital-sound-artist" and someone who teaches this stuff at the
university level, I highly recommend this book not only to those who
want to learn about the most recent work going on in sound synthesis,
but to those who want another perspective on more familiar topics (like
the basics of PCM, fourier analysis, basic digital filtering, etc....).
From Barnes and Noble.com
Brad Garton (garton@columbia.edu), indeed sitting in a room, September
11, 2002,
oh yeah.
This book is cool . Buy it for the CDROM alone if you
must -- the STK is an incredible code resource. Having it bundled with
an explanatory text is just plain fun. Physical modeling and waveguide
synthesis is waaay too underused in contemporary computer music. Maybe
this book will help to change this state of affairs. Digital Foley!
yeah! The diagrams are really cute, too.
Richard Duda, September 9, 2002, Real-time sound synthesis explained
Here is an ideal book for any serious programmer who is interested in
sound and who wants to write real-time programs that produce natural
sounding sounds (like footsteps or musical instruments) that respond
instantly to the user's control. Perry Cook has done an outstanding job
of assembling, organizing, and explaining all of the most effective ways
of doing this job. His primary focus is on physical modeling -- writing
procedures that mimic the essential mechanisms by which sounds are
produced in nature. In 16 well-crafted and remarkably lucid chapters, he
leads you through the basics of digital filtering to the cutting-edge
techniques for sound synthesis. All of these techniques depend on
digital signal processing. DSP is based on a small number of abstract
concepts (sampling, convolution, filtering, windowing, spectral
analysis) that are very powerful and not all that hard to employ, but
forbidding to the mathematically challenged. Although Cook includes the
necessary mathematics, he emphasizes what it all means. In addition, he
has included a CD-ROM that (a) lets you hear examples of the sounds
these procedures produce, and (b) includes a large and well-thought-out
set of C++ classes you can use to create your own programs. There are
some rough patches. Although I did not spot very many actual errors in
the book, certain parts (such as Appendix A) will be a challenge if this
is your first encounter with DSP. And don't let the fact that the book
is so clearly and entertainingly written make you think that you can
master it in a weekend. When you hit material that is new to you, be
prepared to read and ponder a sentence at a time. The good news is that
your efforts will be richly rewarded. In addition to acquiring the
ability to write programs that can generate dynamically-controllable
sound, you will gain an understanding of how different musical
instruments produce their characteristic sounds, and how these
sound-generating mechanisms can be modeled. Highly recommended.
Also recommended: Ken Steiglitz, "A Digital Signal Processing Primer"
(Addison Wesley, 1996); Udo Zo"lzer, "Digital Audio Signal Processing"
(Wiley 1997); J. Strawn (Ed.), "Digital Audio Signal Processing" (A-R
Editions, 1985).
A reviewer, September 7, 2002,
not just another digital music book.....
This book is useful, enlightening, and fun. It covers many cutting-edge
topics in lucid fashion, topics that can only be found otherwise in
academic journals. The computer code (in the book and on the CD-ROM) is
an invaluable resource for the ambitious reader, who can actually try
out or modify the techniques. The CD-ROM also provides examples of these
new techniques in action. Finally, the author's sense of humor comes
through often (this is not a stiff, boring book!). As a
'digital-sound-artist' and someone who teaches this stuff at the
university level, I highly recommend this book not only to those who
want to learn about the most recent work going on in sound synthesis,
but to those who want another perspective on more familiar topics (like
the basics of PCM, fourier analysis, basic digital filtering, etc....).
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