Sound & Music Projects for Eurorack and Beyond Explorations in Teensy® Microcontroller Technology

Open-source technologies have created new expressive opportunities by expanding the creative music palette into the realm of circuits and source code, democratizing the line between design and creative application. Sound & Music Projects for Eurorack & Beyond explores the intersection of music, computer science, and electronics in the context of Eurorack, a popular framework for mounting and interconnecting modular synthesizers. This book provides a practical path for musicians and other artists to envision and build custom electronic instruments using freely available software and a modest collection of tools and electronic components.

Hands-on projects are based on Teensy microcontrollers, a category of USB-based devices that are easy to program for a variety of music and sound-design applications including music synthesis, digital signal processing, and the Musical Instrument Digital Interface. Mini projects include a genetic step sequencer, interactive arpeggiator, custom effects unit, and synthesizers based on several typologies including frequency modulation, subtractive, additive, and granular synthesis.

Sound & Music Projects for Eurorack & Beyond is comprised of four sections that explore music synthesis and digital signal processing, the Musical Instrument Digital Interface, Eurorack concepts, and Eurorack projects. The text culminates with several custom Eurorack modules including an audio mixer, audio effects unit, MIDI to control-voltage converter and Eurorack synthesizer. Throughout the book, readers will develop relevant skills including microcontroller programming, circuit design, PCB design, and instrument fabrication in a building-block fashion that fosters experimentation and creative application.

Brent Edstrom is Amy M. Ryan Endowed Professor at Whitworth University. He is an author, composer, pianist, and music technologist. His publications include Arduino for Musicians and Recording on a Budget for Oxford University Press, and over 60 volumes for Hal Leonard Corporation's Jazz Piano Solos series. An avid programmer, his research explores the intersection of music, electronics, and computer science.

Preface
Part I: Explorations in Music Synthesis and DSP
Chapter 1: Light Synth
Chapter 2 : Wavetable Synthesis
Chapter 3: Creating a Synthesizer User Interface
Chapter 4 : FM Synthesis
Chapter 5 : Additive Synthesis
Chapter 6 : Granular Synthesis
Chapter 7 : Digital Signal Processing
Part II: Explorations in MIDI
Chapter 8: MIDI I/O
Chapter 9: Polyphony
Chapter 10: Interactive MIDI Arpeggiator
Chapter 11 : Genetic Step Sequencer
Part III: Eurorack Concepts
Chapter 12: Making Connections-Microcontroller I/O
Chapter 13: Powering Eurorack Modules
Chapter 14 : Building Eurorack Modules-Part I: Stripboard
Chapter 15: Building Eurorack Modules with PCBs
Chapter 16: Voltage Control, Gates, and Triggers
Part IV: Eurorack Projects
Chapter 17: Building a Eurorack Effects Unit
Chapter 18: MIDI to Control-Voltage Converter
Chapter 19: Building Eurosynth
Appendix A) Data Types
Appendix B) Primary Audio Objects
Appendix C) Using Polyphone to Create Custom Wavetables
Notes