286 - Software Analog Effects

omega tau science & engineering podcast

Guest: Julian Parker Host: Markus Voelter Shownoter: Jochen Spalding

Effects devices are essential for electric guitars and keyboards because they shape sound and make it interesting; many classic devices exist. However, those are rare and/or expensive, plus, even if they are not, carrying them around on a tour costs money. This is why these hardware devices are simulated in software, and distributed as plugins for audio software. Native Instruments is a manufacturer of such software analog effects packages. In this episode I chat with one of their engineers, Julian Parker, about how this software simulation of the electronic hardware is done.

Introduction Julian Parker And What He Does

00:04:08

Julian Parker | Native Instruments | Perceptual and Numerical Aspects of Spring Reverberation Modeling | DSP | Traktor | Machine | Komplete 11 | Guitar Pedals | Tape based delay | Bucket-brigade device | [Paper] Acoustics and Modeling of Pickups

Black-Box Modeling

00:29:33

Black-box testing | White-box testing | Finite impulse response | Infinite impulse response | Low-pass filter | Fast Fourier transform | [Paper] Subjective and objective quality assessment of audio source separation | Convolution | Linear time-invariant theory | Error metric | Amp cabinet

White-Box Modeling

01:06:34

Digital waveguide synthesis | Digital Waveguides (Julius O. Smith - Physical audio signal processing) | Karplus–Strong string synthesis | Ordinary differential equation | Capacitor | Transistor | Inductor | Resistor | Diode | Kirchhoff's circuit laws | Even and odd harmonics | Don Buchla | Robert Moog | Feature extraction | Mathematica | C++ | Domain-specific language | Compiler | LLVM