MOTM

At 8:42 AM -0700 10/19/01, alt-mode wrote:
>
>> Another module might be a tintinnabular audio source, in order to produce
>> metallic sounds without having to use a large number of modules.
>
>Mark, I'm not familiar with "tintinnabular audio sources."
>Can you tell us more?

Tintinnabular audio sources were discovered during the Bronze Age after
someone accidentally dropped the first bronze container.  Later,
self-actuated devices were developed for bovine telemetry, and to announce
the presence of reindeer and large Christian buildings.  Modern
tintinnabular audio sources are used to summon school children and regulate
boxing tournaments.

While most tintinnabular audio sources used in music are made by Turkish
people, they can also be synthesized electronically.  Typical methods use
amplitude or frequency modulation.  Similar sounds can also be produced by
combining the output of a large number of oscillators -- the 808 and 606
use an oscillator bank built from a hex schmitt trigger.  In a similar
fashion, one could use harmonic synthesis -- modulating the amplitude of a
number of sine waves (one for each "harmonic").  While both harmonic and FM
synthesis are usually implemented digitally, it is much easier to produce a
sound that follows a scale than trying use a ring mod or frequency shifter.
It depends on what you are trying to do.  While it's not that difficult to
make single tintinnabular sounds using filter FM (the MOTM 410 is
surprisingly good at this) or some other method on an analogue synth,
trying to synthesize a realistic set of tuned bells is almost impossible,
imho.

Another method used in analogue drum machines is a "swing type VCA" which
modulates the output of an oscillator with an envelope.  This produces a
jagged damped waveform not unlike the output of a ring mod through a
separate enveloped modulated VCA, except from what I can tell, it saves
parts by using the same "multiplier" for both functions.  I'm sure there
are other methods.