Literature, Scientific Papers and Analysis of Virtual Instruments

State your hypothesis (H0 or H1) and you'll get more specific responses.

Paj
8^)

Are you researching commercially available mainstream products or academic projects?

Perhaps this is something @jbuhler would be able to help with.

Paj said:

State your hypothesis (H0 or H1) and you'll get more specific responses.

Paj
8^)

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right now its about fundamental research, so everything regarding the creation of virtual instruments, with the focus on orchestral virtual instruments. That's the step before creating a specific hypothesis 8^)

S.M.F said:

everything regarding the creation of virtual instruments,

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That's a big topic with many sub-topics, it would help if you could narrow down the information you're interested in.

rhizomusicosmos said:

Are you researching commercially available mainstream products or academic projects?

Perhaps this is something @jbuhler would be able to help with.

Click to expand...

Both! The idea is to get an overview of all possibilities when creating a software instrument.

So for example Mark Vail in the book "The synthesizer" historically categorizes electronically created instruments by evolution of
a) Control
b) Sound
C) Performance
D) Interface
E) Composition

where he discusses how through inventions of electronical instruments different functionalities are explored and developed.(some inspired by acoustic instruments, some with new functionalities)

For example:
When creating the ondioline Georges Jenny experimented with Vibrato Control, After - Touch and Instrument Transposition. All functionalities that are very common in any modern software instrument.

But I cannot find any literature discussing or analyzing the functionalities and possibilities of virtual instruments within the last decade.

So basically I'm interested in everything regarding the creation of virtual instruments: concepts, recording and working with samples, combination of samples and synthesis, scripting etc.

https://thesamplinghandbook.com/
Amazon product ASIN 1138380857
There used to be a good site called TweakHeadz that had several good articles about sampling but it seems the site now redirects to an online store. However there is an archived version of the site that might contain some info you can use.

The AES digital library. I'm guessing you will have access via your institution.

Have you tried Google Scholar with basic search terms like "sample library"/"virtual instrument"? You get false positives but I found a couple of papers and theses that offer up citation and reference chains that would expand out into a reasonable list.

Works that I've read so far or I am currently reading:

The Synthesizer - Mark Vail (2014)
Sound Synthesis and Sampling - Martin Russ (2019)
Software Synthesizer : the definitive guide to virtual instruments - Jim Aikin (2003)
Designing Software Synthesizer Plug-Ins in C++ - Will C. Pirkle (2014)

and few scientific papers or magazine articles

It's all with the focus on Synthesis, because I couldn't find any books regarding sampled virtual instruments.

My focus is on sophisticated sampled instruments. So string libraries from orchestral tools, spitfire audio etc. would fall into that category.

There was a similar thread a few years ago that might help:


and a more fun-based one:


And some more:

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Here's a great, seminal paper on the Hyperorchestra, by Sergi Casanelles:

And in general you should check out academic journal-resources like MAMI:

And JSMG:

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Some practical-textbooky options:

Gilreath
Amazon product ASIN 0240814134
Huber
Amazon product ASIN 0367549980
McGuire/Matějů
Amazon product ASIN 0367362740
Pejrolo/Derosa
Amazon product ASIN 113880150X

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Some miscellaneous resources I used for my graduate creative research challenge grant:

History of the Fairlight

Basic Sampling Timeline

'Pre-Virtual Instrument' History

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Also, this very forum is a primary source! (Do some digging... probably 60+% of the libraries you are considering come from companies that got their start and/or early support from here, c. 2005 and on)

@S.M.F what exactly is your thesis on? Or are you not narrowed down enough to a topic yet?

I did a bachelor thesis myself. I spent 4 semesters in a self-directed study learning everything I could about the Beatles and their music, but my thesis was on the rather narrow topic of:
The Beatles’ Evolving Use of Vocal Harmony and Background Vocals as a Compositional Element

...And even this I felt was a bit broad (as I didn't have as much space/time to really dive in as deeply as I wanted to in ~50 double-spaced pages).

So, if you've not already narrowed down your topic here because you're not ready to, that's fine...but I would still artificially limit what you're trying to learn about at a given time and try to go deep into a few specific areas rather than broadly into that direction. The tidbits and hooks you find as you do your deep dives should influence the ultimate nuance of your direction.

When researching synthesis last year I came across the folks of Physical Audio, who release modelled synths and reverb plugins. They also regularly contribute to this project:


I also recommend you become a member of the IRCAM Forum and have a look around there. IRCAM is a Parisian institute that has meant a lot for the advancement of avant-garde music, including electronic music and the tools involved. I think you’ll be likely to find people there who are more intimately familiar with the academic side of the development of musical instruments.

Academic journals:

rhizomusicosmos said:

Are you researching commercially available mainstream products or academic projects?

Perhaps this is something @jbuhler would be able to help with.

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I’m indeed working on a book on VIs right now. Even finding basic things like release dates of libraries is surprisingly difficult.

jbuhler said:

I’m indeed working on a book on VIs right now. Even finding basic things like release dates of libraries is surprisingly difficult.

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Do you have a timeline for your release date?

jbuhler said:

I’m indeed working on a book on VIs right now. Even finding basic things like release dates of libraries is surprisingly difficult.

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Make sure to drop a pre-order link here Jim!

jbuhler said:

I’m indeed working on a book on VIs right now. Even finding basic things like release dates of libraries is surprisingly difficult.

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I fear that someday there is going to be a great setback wherein vast stores of knowledge simply disappear because no one had the good sense to write them down, a sort of apocalyptic Alexandria.

I fear the same. Day in day out I feel we're slowly devolving into Mike Judge's Idiocracy. Opinions are now "my truths” facts are now optional, and we burn books we don't like.

doctoremmet said:

Make sure to drop a pre-order link here Jim!

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When it’s ready I’ll be sure to let the forum know. The manuscript likely won’t be finished until summer 2023. The book will be theoretical and critical (in the academic sense of the term) in orientation rather than practical. A few bits have appeared (or will soon be appearing) as articles. Anyone interested can send me a PM and I can send PDFs of the articles.

Jett Hitt said:

I fear that someday there is going to be a great setback wherein vast stores of knowledge simply disappear because no one had the good sense to write them down, a sort of apocalyptic Alexandria.

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Clay jars+desert caves

Paj
8^)