MU3616 Final Project Nathan Sarachick

MU3616 Final Project Nathan Sarachick

For my MU3616 final project I used Max to program a basic digital synthesizer and various other digital effects to go along with it. The project includes the synth, a metronome, a delay, a looper, and an EQ.

The synth works by taking MIDI input from a MIDI controller and converting it to a frequency, which is then converted to digital audio. There are nine sliders that can be used to change the relative gain values of each frequency in the harmonic series to allow the user to create different timbres on the fly. The user is also able to set the attack speed of the notes.

The metronome simply uses the tempo object in max to create a specific pulse set by the user. There are controls for tempo, time signature (beat divisions + number of beats), as well as settings to pan the metronome sound and set the volume.

The delay effect utilizes the tempo set by the metronome and some math to convert beats to milliseconds. I used the tapin and tapout objects in max to create the effect. Settings include the feedback time, the volume of delayed signal, and a control for the dry/wet mix.

The looper uses a simple max buffer object to record an amount of time set by the user (up to ten seconds). The playback speed and volume can also be set.

Finally, the EQ is simply an interface for the user to apply different band filters onto the audio signal. It also allows for the saving of presets.

If I were to revisit this project in the future I would like to add the ability for the user to manually set/change the order of the effects chain. The gate~ object in max would be potential way to do that.

Video

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File:Final Project Video.mp4