anderson@uwvax.UUCP (David P. Anderson) (02/27/85)
Alex Strong and Kevin Karplus invented a synthesis algorithm which generates a plucked-string sound with astonishing realism. It consists of loading a waveform table with random numbers, and, as each sample is output, replacing it with the average of it and its neighbor(s). The resulting filtering causes the initial noise (the "pluck") to decay the right way (high harmonics faster). Varying certain parameters causes it to sound like the string is being plucked closer to or farther from the bridge. It is real easy to implement this in hardware. Alex is working on a TTL board which will do >50 voices at once. One can also do it in software: I did a kludged-up version on an Apple/Mountain Music System which did only 1 voice but sounded very good. The algorithm was written up in Computer Music Journal about 2 years ago. David Anderson (...uwvax!anderson)