There are 2 primary ways to synthesize sounds – Signal Processing and Sampling. Different programs handle different processes.
The use of Signal Processing to build atom songs by creating and manipulating waveforms. There are advantages and disadvantages to open source vs for purchase. Open source has the obvious advantage of being free. The three I recommend here have been in development for many years. There is a well-developed community to turn to for help. Since these programs have been developed by individuals, some aspects are more developed than others. It depends on the interests of the developers. These programs tend to lack the bells and whistles that come with the for-purchase programs.
Using Samples is another option. These are short snippets of recorded sounds, sometimes synthesis based, sometimes real recordings can be used to build atoms songs. Programs often contain a bank of sounds that can be cut and pasted together. The frequency spectra can often be adjusted as well. These are good if you want to give a general idea of the atomic/sound connection. They won’t necessarily be an accurate representation of the atomic spectra.
- Purchase –
Amadeus – beginner/intermediate – My personal favorite program to create and analyze basic complex tones sounds is Amadeus. It is a mac based program, but it is relatively simple to use and can easily produce the needed waveforms. It’s not overly expensive either. This is especially useful in an educational setting. It has great analytical tools. The FFT’s are, by far, the best I have seen for programs in this category.
Logic – intermediate/advanced – available at the App Store –
Garage Band – beginner (standard software on Apple devices)
Max/MSP – intermediate/advanced (can be purchased separately or as part of a package with Ableton Live) – This is my 2nd favorite program to use. (note: PD and Max were originally developed by the same person and are similar in format)
Ableton Live – intermediate/advanced . (Ableton Live does comes packaged with a version of Max/MSP – Max for Live)
2. Open source –
Audacity – beginner/intermediate – Similar to Amadeus, but being open source, it’s free! Audacity is better for slightly more advanced work and has more signal processing options. I find its analytical tools to be bulky and clumsy – or absent altogether. But, as stated before, it is free.
SuperCollider – intermediate/advanced – code oriented programming. If you like writing code, this is a nice little program.
Pure Data (PD) – intermediate/advanced – object oriented programming. This has a bit of a learning curve, but is more intuitive to use once you get the hang of it.
Max for Live Plug-ins: These three are specific to granular Synthesis. there are many plug-ins available that will work with Ableton Live
Iota Geisterwelt Granulator II
Izotope: There are a variety of plug-ins available through this company that work well. For certain applications, my go-to plug-ins are those from Izotope. They work well with Amadeus and are relatively cheap. Although, Amadeus comes preloaded with Apple Audio Units (basic signal processing applications)
Atom Tones by Jill Linz is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.