Reddit reviews The Computer Music Tutorial (The MIT Press)

Buy a copy of this book immediately. If you want to know how to synthesize a sound, this book will be your best and most complete resource.

According to Curtis Roads' black bible of computer audio page 985:

> "The usual MIDI pich range begins in the infrasonic octave with key numbers 0 to 12. This octave spans MIDI C0 or 8.17 Hz up to MIDI C1 or 16.35 Hz. Key 60 represents MIDI C5 or 261.63 Hz (MIDI middle C). In many music theory texts, middle C (261.63 HZ) is usually considered to be C4; thus the MIDI name for octaves is nonstandard. In any case, not all manufacturers confirm to the pitch-naming scheme of MIDI. Some companies call key 60 C3, C4, or C5."

tl;dr - Note zero is C zero. Addition means note sixty is middle C.

Off the top of my head...

Wikipedia may be helfpul

Virt explains the history of FM synthesis in games and a little bit on how FM synthesis works here.

The Computer Music tutorial by Curtis Roads has a pretty in-depth explanation of FM synthesis which I happen to like a lot. Tons of other stuff in it too so it's worth the purchase

Haven't read, but I trust Gordon Reid and his Synth Secrets

I have some books on procedurally generating music.

• Virtual Music: David Cope
  
• Computer Models of Musical Creativity: David Cope
  
• The Computer Music Tutorial: Curtis Roads
  
  Not specific to video games, but more about computer generated music in general (or in theory if you prefer). David Cope is a pioneer of this stuff and Curtis Roads book is basically the bible of computer sound.
  
  Cool stuff - if you get something serious going I'd take a peak. Haven't invested as much time in this stuff as I would like to.
  
  Also - have a look at CSound

I enjoyed this book...
https://www.amazon.com/Computer-Music-Tutorial-MIT-Press/dp/0262680823
There is nothing wrong with learning what digital synths actually do... You should be able to judge a synth by the specs that developers give in the manuals (how well are they implemented is another question - some guy years ago released an uncommon granular synth that was complete garbage.)
NI licensed some of the these single cycle waveforms and sequenced them for their oscillators:
https://www.galbanum.com/products/architecturewaveforms2010
You can always build your pseudo-Massive with them in Serum, if you are after the oscillator sounds. But like I said, your original question doesn't make any sense.

If you want a general, but very broad (it's a huge fucking book ~1200pgs) overview check out The Computer Music Tutorial by Curtis Roads. If you have a strong math background and really want to get into the nuts and bolts of digital sound check out The Audio Programming Book by Richard Boulange. For something sort of in the middle Computer Music: Synthesis, Composition, and Performance by Charles Dodge. I took a two years of sound design / engineering at a UC campus. These were the three books we referenced most.

If you want something really intense and comprehensive you must look at The Computer Music Tutorial by Curtis Roads.

Yes, a random signal contains all possible frequencies (at all possible phases). When you use a noise generator, all it is is a random number algorithm scaled to the range of your audio output's bit depth. So at the simplest level in 16 bit audio you would have a random generator spitting out numbers between 0 and 65536 44,100 times a second. That's what white noise is, and it is easy to create this way.

You are trying to simulate noise using additive synthesis, which is helpful in that you might start to understand the transition from a discernible tone into noise. It is ultimately impossible to get real noise this way because you can't create an infinite number of oscillators.


>However the moment I tried it with aligned phases (as much as possible in max due to serial nature of messages) it wasnt noise anymore... because it started to "cycle". How come noise never starts to cycle? Adding a random phase disturbance completely changes the sound picture.


Noise doesn't cycle because it is completely random - all frequencies, all phases. What you're hearing in max is the artifacts of the process of max looking up the sine wave tables and sending all those signals to the DAC. This can only happen at a certain speed limited by your hardware. Like you said - the serial nature of messages. If we had a perfect machine that we could tell to generate oscillators for all audible frequencies at all phases, the sum of all of those signals would be a completely random signal. The limitations of your hardware are creating the artifacts in this case, not your brain.

>Adding 400 and 400.01 hertz yields a 0.01Hz beat tone, or, a slowly changing amplitude of the original wave. We perceive that as 400hz that shifts in volume, in reality is exchanging between 400 and 400.01 hertz frequency right?

When waves of any kind add together they create constructive or destructive interference. In that case we hear a pulsing sine wave. As the two get farther apart in frequency the pulsing will get faster and faster until you start to hear what's called a difference tone (which is a psychoacoustic phenomenon). Eventually, you'll start to hear them as an interval between two distinct tones. The pulsing, however, is not in your head - its those two waves interfering with eachother.

I can't really describe anything better than this, but there is a TON of work that's been done on these topics. Since I can't find my computer music bible, here's a bunch of wikipedia links:

White Noise
Difference Tone
Psychoacoustics
Masking

Computer Music Bible - This book is so worth the money. It was written for musicians by a musician and touches on every subject as well as pointing in the right direction for further reading on the subjects in it. Everything I learned came out of here. I wish I could teleport a copy to you because it is much better at explaining this than I am.

It seems like you want an intro that is intermediate in level rather than for absolute beginners, one that focuses on audio rather than general theory, and one that isn't primarily focused on projects.

I don't happen to know of a book that is an exact fit, but you might be interested in "The Audiophile's Project Sourcebook: 80 High-Performance Audio Electronics Projects"

http://www.amazon.com/Audiophiles-Project-Sourcebook-High-Performance-Electronics/dp/0071379290

But usually in order to really understand electronics, you have to deviate from your immediate goal, so a general electronics text might turn out to be the best of what's available out there.

One truly classic famous book is The Computer Music Tutorial by Curtis Roads: http://www.amazon.com/Computer-Music-Tutorial-Curtis-Roads/dp/0262680823

I consider this a must-read despite the fact that it is aging, and regardless of the fact that it is not purely schematic diagrams. The conceptual understanding of the general topic is more important than the medium that implements something.

These are a good start;

• The Computer Music Tutorial. This is essentially a bible of all things digital. Read it, cover to cover, even if you don't understand everything. Then read it again.
  
  
• The SuperCollider Book. SuperCollider specific but a great read and has some interesting techniques in it.
  
  
• The Music Machine. Not just this, but specifically anything from the Computer Music Journal. Your uni should have a subscription through JSTOR.
  
  
• Understanding Sound Organization. A bit arty but still interesting.
  
  
• The Art Of Noises. A great bit of old material, challenging traditional perceptions about noise.
  
  I'll look on my bookcase and post more good reads when I get the chance.