Beginner's references

Hello,

I've recently developed an interest in software music synthesis, and
five minutes of trying to comprehend sample code for a VSTi have shown
me that I desperately need to learn the principles of DSP in order to
get anywhere, and that I know nothing about it.

So, I have two questions: 1) Generally speaking, what math/physics
will I need to have under my belt? 2) Can you recommend any books to
start with?

Thanks in advance for your time.
-GbJ

gabriel.ben.jamin@gmail.com writes:

> Hello,
>
> I've recently developed an interest in software music synthesis, and
> five minutes of trying to comprehend sample code for a VSTi have shown
> me that I desperately need to learn the principles of DSP in order to
> get anywhere, and that I know nothing about it.
>
> So, I have two questions: 1) Generally speaking, what math/physics
> will I need to have under my belt? 2) Can you recommend any books to
> start with?
>
> Thanks in advance for your time.

Hi GbJ,

It probably wouldn't be a bad idea to have a look at the comp.dsp FAQ:

  http://www.bdti.com/faq/dsp_faq.htm

It has some "bibles of DSP theory" and other references that may be
useful.

The mathematics for DSP ranges, depending on what you need to do, from
basic algebra, trigonometry, and complex numbers through calculus,
probability, and random processes, and even up to real and complex
analysis and abstract algebra. However, you should be able to grasp 75
percent of DSP with a good grasp of algebra, complex numbers, and
trig.
-- 
%  Randy Yates                  % "The dreamer, the unwoken fool - 
%% Fuquay-Varina, NC            %  in dreams, no pain will kiss the brow..."
%%% 919-577-9882                %  
%%%% <yates@ieee.org>           % 'Eldorado Overture', *Eldorado*, ELO
http://home.earthlink.net/~yatescr

Apart from general books on DSP, you will find books specifically 
devoted to audio and music programming very useful. One of the best is 
"Elements of Computer Music" by F.R. Moore (loads of C code in that 
apart from everything else), and another one is "A Digital Signal 
processing primer" by Ken Steiglitz. no code, more maths, but always 
with reference to audio and music.

It is also a good idea to subscribe to the music-dsp mailing list:

http://music.columbia.edu/mailman/listinfo/music-dsp

and of course take a look at the musicdsp code archive too:

http://www.musicdsp.org/

If you are just starting out on dsp programming, doing a VSTi (or any 
real-time plugin) is almost certainly too much to take on. Better to 
start with simple commandline programs (use libsndfile to read/write 
standard soundfiles) that are easy to debug and modify; and only 
incorporate your code into a VST plugin when the dsp side is largely 
tested and working. Most of the code in a VST plguin (especially if 
there is a GUI) has nothing to do with dsp!

There is of course a ton++ of music-dsp code availoable on the net, 
especially in the large open source projetcs - Csound, PD, 
SuperCollider, CLAM, etc,  all of which have active mailing lists 
associated with them.

Richard Dobson




gabriel.ben.jamin@gmail.com wrote:
> Hello,
> 
> I've recently developed an interest in software music synthesis, and
> five minutes of trying to comprehend sample code for a VSTi have shown
> me that I desperately need to learn the principles of DSP in order to
> get anywhere, and that I know nothing about it.
> 
> So, I have two questions: 1) Generally speaking, what math/physics
> will I need to have under my belt? 2) Can you recommend any books to
> start with?
> 
> Thanks in advance for your time.
> -GbJ
>