-ORIENTED

Tutorial
WALKTHROUGH
PART 16
SAM AARON
Sam is the creator of Sonic Pi. By day he’s
a research associate at the University of
Cambridge Computer Laboratory; by night
he writes code for people to dance to.
sonic-pi.net
ADDITIVE
SYNTHESIS
Did you know you can design sounds on Sonic Pi? Sam Aaron shows us how...
&&
You’ll
Need
> Raspberry Pi
running Raspbian
> Sonic Pi v2.9+
> Speakers or
headphones with
a 3.5mm jack
> Update Sonic Pi:
sudo apt-get
update && sudo
apt-get install
sonic-pi
T
hi i the firt o hort erie o rtie
on how to ue oni i or ound deign.
e e te ui tour o numer o
dierent tehniue vie or you to rt your
own uniue ound.
he firt tehniue we oo t i ed dditive
ynthei. hi my ound ompited ut i
we epnd eh word ighty the mening pop
right out. irty dditive men omintion
o thing eondy ynthei men to omine
thing in thi e ound. dditive ynthei
thereore men nothing more ompited thn
omining eiting ound to rete new one.
hi ynthei tehniue dte very ong
time or empe pipe orgn in the idde ge
hd ot o ighty dierentounding pipe whih
you oud ene or die with top. uing out the
top or given pipe dded it to the mi ming the
ound riher nd more ompe. ow et ee how
we n pu out the top with oni i.
Simple combinations
et trt with the mot i ound there i the
hume puretoned ine wve
synth :sine, note: :d3
ow et ee how thi ound omined with
ure wve
synth :sine, note: :d3
synth :square, note: :d3
otie how the two ound omine to orm new
riher ound. oure we dont hve to top there
we n dd mny ound we need. owever
we need to e reu with how mny ound we
dd together. ut ie when we mi pint to rete
new oour dding too mny oour wi reut in
mey rown. imiry dding too mny ound
together wi reut in muddy ound.
Blending
et dd omething to me it ound itte righter.
e oud ue tringe wve t n otve higher or tht
high right ound yet ony py it t amp 0.4 o it dd
omething etr to the ound rther thn ting it over
synth :sine, note: :d3
synth :square, note: :d3
synth :tri, note: :d4, amp: 0.4
ow you n try reting your own ound y
omining two or more ynth t dierent otve nd
mpitude. o note tht you n py round with
ynth opt to modiy eh oure ound eore it i
mied in or even more omintion o ound.
Detuning
o r when omining our dierent ynth weve
ued either the me pith or withed otve. ow
might it ound i we didnt ti to otve ut inted
hoe ighty higher or ower note et try it
detune = 0.7
synth :square, note: :e3
synth :square, note: :e3 + detune
we detune our ure wve y . note we
her omething tht perhp doent ound in tune
or orret d note. owever we move
oer to it wi ound e nd e out o tune the
pith o two wve get oer nd more imir. ry it
or youre hnge the detune: opt vue rom 0.7 to
0.5 nd iten to the new ound. ry 0.2 0.1 0.05 0.
h time you hnge the vue te iten nd ee i
you n her how the ound i hnging. otie tht ow
detune vue uh 0.1 produe rey nie thi
ound with oth ighty dierent pithe interting
with eh other in intereting oten urpriing wy.
ome o the uitin ynth redy inude detune
option tht do ety thi in one ynth. ry pying with
the detune: opt o :dsaw :dpulse nd :dtri.
60 February 2017
raspberrypi.org/magpi