Project Ideas

• Study of related fundamental topic such as
  • Acoustics
  • Waves
  • Mechanics
  • Algorithms for string synthesis
  • Algorithms for wind synthesis
  • Digital filter design
  • Wave digital filters
  • Modal analysis and synthesis
  • Finite-element modeling (and the like)
• Working problems in a related textbook
  (especially one addressing holes in your background)
• Literature survey on topics in musical acoustics such as horns, reeds, pianos, etc.
• Programming project in the Synthesis Tool Kit (STK) (see ccrma.stanford.edu for download)
• Programming project in pd (``Pure Data'')
• Make your own DSSI / LADSPA plugin
• Programming project using sfront
  (MPEG-4 Structured Audio development tool)
  
• Study of numerical requirements for high-quality musical instrument simulation
• Sound synthesis algorithm development
  • Karplus-Strong algorithm and variations
  • Waveguide synthesis
  • Commuted waveguide synthesis
  • Frequency-domain string simulation
  • Waveguide mesh simulation of membranes and acoustic spaces
• Effects algorithms
  • Reverberation
  • New delay effects
• Comparison of string simulation by difference-equation and digital-waveguide methods
• Analysis
  • Modal analysis of a guitar or violin body
  • Calibration software for waveguide synthesis
  • Identify tube-amplifier transfer characteristics

Making your own DSSI / LADSPA Plugins

Recommended free software:

• Planet CCRMA conveniently installs
  • jack sound server
  • rosegarden music sequencer (nice DSSI host)
  • DSSI plugins (/usr/lib/dssi/)
• dssi-0.9.1 -- Contains DSSI spec, examples:
  • trivial_synth.c -- good starting point for writing a new plugin
  • less_trivial_synth.c -- adds an editor GUI
  • trivial_sampler.c -- sampling synthesis
  • jack-dssi-host -- example plugin host (see ghostess below)

• WhySynth -- Sean Bolton's latest DSSI synth plugin

• ghostess -- Sean Bolton's extension of jack-dssi-host to provide GUI editor support -- nice simple host for testing and debugging of a new plugin in gdb

• See jos sysadmin blog for more things to consider installing beyond Fedora Core 4 and Planet CCRMA.