Re: [LAD] Software sound

[W.Boeke] I definitely agree with the sentiment but it's not an easy task to purely digitally create timbres as rich, complex and pleasing as produced by analog, let alone physical (non-electronic) instruments. For example, analog op-amp or diode saturation is quite simple to realise and capable of producing anything from very smooth harmonic extension to screaming distortion. The digital equivalent needs to be oversampled, complicating things greatly. Another example is the stretching of the partials of a string with non-negligible stiffness. Wavetables need to be very large to create a similar spectrum, while waveguide oscillators need a very high order of allpass filters, again complicating things greatly. The numerous imperfections and nonlinearities in real instruments and the way they play all contribute similar effects, and while they may often be inadvertent and/or subtle, they are vital to sonic interest. You can of course eschew these and set out to find features unique to the digital realm (and there certainly are a few that have some appeal). Yet I think that there is a deep agreement between the way we perceive sound and the fundamental characteristics of physical oscillation, and that is of great importance for me personally (YMMV of course). Cheers, Tim