really unusual synthesis techniques - what have you used or come across?

[doctornash]

I'm on a quest to create as many free, wacky stand-alone synth applications as I can manage

Two I've already made available are:

Garble Marvel
Paint2Sound

Whilst creating them, I learned of two further synthesis techniques which I'd like to explore in future products:

Wave Terrain Synthesis
Bezier Synthesis

However, I'd like to hear about any other off-the-wall/bizarre synthesis methods/approaches you may have devised, used in available products or even seen or heard about

[RaeTheBastard]

me too bro

[bandcoach]

Karplus-Strong algorithm is cool and can be simulated with a damped sine wave in the positive domain, i.e. positive values of the wave only, each cycle acquiring a smaller amplitude value 'till it dies away. Removes many of the issues surrounding generating true random numbers and still creates a believable plucked sound.

[doctornash]

yep Karplus-Strong algorithm for plucked string simulation is an example of Physical Modelling synthesis, where one tries to mathematically model the various components which contribute to the sound, as they exist in the pysical world. For example if one is going for a flute, one would model the flute body (resonator), the reed and the act of blowing into the flute. In the next version of Flexibeatz (which I haven't released yet), I implemented a plucked string model based on Karplus-Strong, and a reasonably convincing saxophone. I recommend a great book by Perry Cook called 'real sound synthesis for interactive applications' in which he physically models all sorts of stuff like Tibetan prayer bowls, the sound of walking on gravel, water, blowing into a big jar that has a small neck etc The thing is though, some of the algorithms can get quite complicated and computationally expensive, to the extent that one has to question the whole value of doing it, as opposed to just going with a sample and be done with it. The Karplus-Strong plucked string algorithm though is elegantly simple and effective.