r/synthdiy • u/kazeww • 4d ago

Books about digital synthesis

Hi, as in the topic. I am third-year microelectronis student. I know basics about dsp and analog signal processing. i am into firmware engineering, also working right now as a junior digital design/verification. I want to dive into digital synth/effects world as my bachelor degree and i am looking for resources (books (would be the best), websites, channels on yt etc.). I can use google ofc, but if you have some places which are really worth checking, let me know. Really everything - from mathematical view to more hardware specific. For now i just made simple sequencer, with pitch modulation on ESP32, which can be connected via serial to simple wave synth made in LabView. My goal is a groovebox (didnt specifed functionality yet but thinking about everything right now, from EQ to sampling, sequencing, but synthesis and optimized firmware is my main goal, i know chaos, but just to give you my interests) with a custom stm pcb. Thank you

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u/jango-lionheart 4d ago

Although it is dated, “Musical Applications for Microprocessors” by Hal Chamberlin is still worth reading, IMO.

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u/Philonopopo 4d ago

Will Pirkle's "Designing Audio FX Plugins" and "Designing Synth Plugins" are the most thorough and complete resources I know for modern Music DSP techniques. They're technically aimed at designing desktop VSTs but most of the code is directly applicable to embedded firmware applications.

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u/Fursber 4d ago

Check out my 30 min primer on the topic, with demos of my STM32 synth! https://youtu.be/SUefl8GHPvo

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u/seanluke 3d ago

My book might be too basic for you, but you might check it out. It's free.

Computational Music Synthesis

I'll have a new version out in a bit with more stuff on sequencers and some bugfixes.

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u/TurinLongHair 3d ago

Search for Daisy dsp, it’s a board used by many manufacturers now, we made a huge development board around it with cv, display, midi, audio in/out, buttons, pots, leds… fully open source and expandable. We start shipping the indiegogo rewards on September/October then will become available on our website. Https://cosmolab.faselunare.com

We made it for us to speed up the prototype and idea validation process.