Common Lisp Music (CLM) Tutorials

These tutorials are designed to explain in detail some of the more common synthesis methods, with reference to the software package, Common Lisp Music (CLM) written by Bill Schottstaedt. They were originally written as course materials for classes at CCRMA, Stanford University, and had specific reference to the NeXT platform.

In the current version some of the code examples have been updated to take account of recent changes to CLM syntax, as well as removing specific references to the NeXT platform - thus making them more 'generic'.

It is assumed throughout that the reader has access to a working LISP image with CLM (and optionally Common Music (CM)) already installed. The source code for both of these packages is available free of charge by anonymous ftp from CCRMA

The tutorials are not intended as a complete and comprehensive text on CLM, but, when used in conjunction with existing documentation, should serve as a practical and - hopefully - easy to understand guide.

Table of Contents

The Basics

• A Template for DEFINSTRUMENT
• Code Example 1: A Simple Sine-Wave Instrument
• Compiling Instrument Definitions
• Calling Instruments with WITH-SOUND
• Code Example 2: Sine-Wave Instrument with Envelope Control
• Error Messages and Debugging
• Documentation

Additive Synthesis (1/2)

• Introduction
• Example 1: Three-Oscillator Additive Synthesis
• Some Calls to the add-synth Instrument
• Refinements to the Three-Oscillator Instrument
• Example 2: attack- and decay-time independent of duration
• Some Calls to the add-synth2 Instrument

Additive Synthesis (2/2)

• Vibrato
• Example 3: Three-Oscillator Additive Synthesis with Vibrato
• Some Calls to the Add-Synth-Vib Instrument
• Frequency Envelopes
• Arrays in LISP
• Complete Additive Synthesis with Amplitude and Frequency Envelopes
• A Few Example Calls to the Complete-Add Instrument
  

Frequency Modulation Synthesis (1/2)

• Introduction
• Phase Increment
• Example 1: Simple Sine-Wave Instrument with Phase-Increment
• Some Calls to the constant-phase-inc Instrument
• Example 2: Sine-Wave Instrument with Enveloped Phase-Increment
• Some Calls to the enveloped-phase-inc Instrument
• Example 3: An Implementation of 'Simple' FM
• Some Calls to the fm Instrument

Frequency Modulation Synthesis (2/2)

• Introduction
• The Rule of Thumb Method of Calculating the Position of Sidebands
• Simulation of a Drum Sound using FM
• Example 1: FM Drum With One Carrier/Modulator Pair
• Some Calls to the drum Instrument
• Simulation of a Tubular Bell Sound Using FM
• Example 2: Tubular Bell Instrument With 3 Carrier/Modulator Pairs
• Some Calls to the tubular-bell Instrument

Sound Processing (1/2)

• Introduction
• Enveloping: Example 1: Simple Readin Instrument with Envelope Control
• Some Calls to the simple-readin Instrument
• Reversing: Example 2: Simple Readin Reverse Instrument with Envelope Control
• Some Calls to the reverse-readin Instrument
• Sampling Rate Conversion: Example 3a: Basic Sampling Rate Conversion
• Some Calls to the basic-sr-convert Instrument
• Sampling Rate Conversion: Example 3b: `Upmarket' Sampling Rate Conversion with Enveloping
• Some Calls to the sr-convert-env Instrument
• Granulation: Example 4: Time Expansion without Changing Pitch
• Some Calls to the expand-sound Instrument

Sound Processing (2/2)

• Introduction
• Reverberation Basics
• The Comb Filter
• Example 1: A Comb Filter Instrument
• Some Calls to the comb-filter Instrument
• The All-Pass Filter
• Example 2: An All-Pass Filter Instrument
• Some Calls to the all-pass-filter Instrument
• Effects Using Variable-Length Delay Lines (1): The Movable Comb Filter
• Example 3: A Movable Comb-Filter Instrument
• Some Calls to the movable-comb-filter Instrument
• Effects Using Variable-Length Delay Lines (2): Flange
• Example 4: A Flange Instrument
• Some Calls to the flange Instrument
• More On Reverberation
• Example 5: John Chowning's Reverb Instrument
• Some Reverberated Soundfiles
• Some Interesting Papers on Reverberation

  Physical Modelling

  • Introduction
  • The Karplus-Strong Plucked StringAlgorithm
  • Example 1: The Karplus-Strong Plucked String
  • Some Calls to the plucked-string-k-s Instrument
  • Example 2: The Plucked String with a Primitive Dampening Capability
  • Some Calls to the plucked-string-k-s-2 Instrument
  • Extensions to the Karplus-Strong Algorithm
  • Perry Cook's Slide Flute: A Simple Flute Physical Model
  • Example 3: Slide-Flute
  • Some Calls to the slide-flute Instrument
  • Some Refinements to Slide Flute
  • Example 4: A Modified Slide-Flute
  • Some Calls to the slide-flute2 Instrument
  • References

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