09.02.17 | Week 1. Blog Debrief

With the bulk of the homework out of the way since this course is a repeat, I don't have as much to go over as I would otherwise, although I did make a post documenting the Throwie lab.

The project proposal (still a few weeks out) I'm considering most strongly at this point is doing something with software-based FM synthesis, but using physical hardware for the input and output (ex. a MIDI keyboard and the sounds returned), likely using an Arduino as a mediator. Software is generally my proficiency over hardware, and software-based synthesis is something I have a (tangential) familiarity with that would serve as a jumping-off point.

More specifically, I feel like it would give me a frame of reference that would allow me to establish some deadlines and content quantities while still being able to realistically meet them by the end of the semester compared to something less familiar or more ambitious. Some elements of the project would also be an extrapolation of the "noise" project from the original semester, which was mostly hardware-based synthesis of a square wave combined with multiple forms of modulation.

Speaking of modularity, depending on which properties I could emulate using the software, I have a more significant level of familiarity with sound data from a DAW standpoint - MIDI parameters, common software synthesis variables (attack, decay, sustain, release, rate, high or low-pass filters, etc.) which would hopefully allow for a fairly versatile project demonstration (or demonstrations), such as synthesizing multiple "instruments" or using MIDI keyboard input and having its hardware-based parameters (ex. the amount the analog keys being pressed down equating to note velocity) translate directly through hardware as opposed to emulating them like you would in a DAW without analog input.

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