{"id":739,"date":"2022-02-28T11:16:51","date_gmt":"2022-02-28T00:16:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/x37v.com\/x37v\/?p=739"},"modified":"2022-09-27T10:39:01","modified_gmt":"2022-09-27T00:39:01","slug":"thx-deep-note-and-mc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/x37v.com\/x37v\/max\/thx-deep-note-and-mc\/","title":{"rendered":"Synthesising the THX Deep Note with Max and MC objects"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The addition of MC to Max 8 added some handy ways to organise audio signals. One of the simplest benefits is the ability to pack stereo channels together with mc.pack~ 2<\/code> and process each of the channels with only half of the number of objects taking up space in your patcher (filtering stereo signals would previously require multiple biquad~<\/code> objects for example). MC also opens up some helpful ways to think about additive synthesis voices, richness of sound, and polyphony, and simplifies the patching needed to realise certain kinds of synthesised sounds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One thing that is really wonderful about MC is the simplicity in which synthesised sounds can be made richer and fuller in the stereo space by modifying a group of oscillators’ frequencies and panning the individual ‘voices’.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many softsynths \u2014\u00a0such as Native Instruments\u2019 FM-8 \u2014 offer the ability to add more voices to \u2018fatten up\u2019 a sound.\u00a0 The addition of extra oscillators combined with a small amount of detune adds a fullness to the sound that \u2014 before MC came along \u2014 would have required a fair amount of patching to replicate in Max. With MC objects though, this can be accomplished quite simply with MC object messages like \u2018deviate\u2019 and \u2018spread\u2019 eg. deviate 0.1 0<\/code> (to produce random bias values ranging between -0.1 to 0.1 for each voice of an oscillator) and spread 0. 1.<\/code> (sent to the right inlet of mc.phasor~<\/code> to evenly spread the phase of a series of control oscillators, for example). Using these messages with objects like mc.sig~<\/code> can be useful ways to widen MC signals within the stereo space when mixing them to stereo with mc.stereo~<\/code> (or mc.mixdown~ 2<\/code>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Synthesising THX Deep Note using MC<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Several years ago, on the 35th anniversary of its first screening, THX Ltd. released James A. Moorer\u2019s score for the \u2018THX Logo Theme\u2019<\/a>. Commonly referred to as the THX ‘Deep Note’ the theme is an instantly recognisable musical motif<\/a> of swirling noise that coalesces into a D Major chord spanning 5 octaves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The score describes the THX Logo Theme as thirty voices at random pitches between 200Hz and 400Hz.  Each voice moves slowly and randomly for a short time before proceeding to a predefined target note. The idea lends itself beautifully to MC. [Source: https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/thxltd\/photos\/a.379994786929\/10155235575876930\/<\/a>]<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Building the THX Deep Note in Max is a great conceptual exercise, and drawing on the MC approach of thinking makes producing something like this quite straightforward. Here\u2019s an example of how it might be done.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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