Design of a Customizable Timbre Space Synthesizer

This paper describes the use of a timbre space mental model to control a digital synthesizer. To create new sounds, our interface uses a morphing technique with the synthesizer´s presets. All presets are arranged in a bidimensional space that can be continuously explored by a performer in real time. To setup the interactive space, all preset sounds were analyzed using different spectral and cepstral descriptors. A perception based approach was considered for defining the interactive space. The space dimensions were selected after performing different timbre discrimination experiments. Experiments were aimed at maximizing the accuracy of the timbre space while controlling the number descriptors used. Finally, we discuss how our interface is a step towards customized exploration of sound synthesis.

Arce-Lopera, C. A., Gomez, D. (2013). Design of a Customizable Timbre Space Synthesizer, International Symposium on Computer Music Multidisciplinary Research (pp. 817-824)

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