Csound

AMPLITUDE AND RING MODULATION

Introduction

Amplitude-modulation (AM) means, that one oscillator varies the volume/amplitude of an other. If this modulation is done very slowly (1 Hz to 10 Hz) it is recognised as tremolo. Volume-modulation above 10 Hz leads to the effect, that the sound changes its timbre. So called side-bands appear.

Example 04C01.csd

<CsoundSynthesizer>
<CsOptions>
-o dac
</CsOptions>
<CsInstruments>

sr = 48000
ksmps = 32
nchnls = 1
0dbfs = 1

instr 1
aRaise expseg 2, 20, 100
aModSine poscil 0.5, aRaise, 1
aDCOffset = 0.5    ; we want amplitude-modulation
aCarSine poscil 0.3, 440, 1
out aCarSine*(aModSine + aDCOffset)
endin

</CsInstruments>
<CsScore>
f 1 0 1024 10 1
i 1 0 25
e
</CsScore>
</CsoundSynthesizer>
; written by Alex Hofmann (Mar. 2011)

Theory, Mathematics and Sidebands

The side-bands appear on both sides of the main frequency. This means (freq1-freq2) and (freq1+freq2) appear.

The sounding result of the following example can be calculated as this: freq1 = 440Hz, freq2 = 40 Hz -> The result is a sound with [400, 440, 480] Hz.

The amount of the sidebands can be controlled by a DC-offset of the modulator.

Example 04C02.csd

<CsoundSynthesizer>
<CsOptions>
-o dac
</CsOptions>
<CsInstruments>

sr = 48000
ksmps = 32
nchnls = 1
0dbfs = 1

instr 1
aOffset linseg 0, 1, 0, 5, 0.6, 3, 0
aSine1 poscil 0.3, 40 , 1
aSine2 poscil 0.3, 440, 1
out (aSine1+aOffset)*aSine2
endin


</CsInstruments>
<CsScore>
f 1 0 1024 10 1
i 1 0 10
e
</CsScore>
</CsoundSynthesizer>
; written by Alex Hofmann (Mar. 2011)

Ring-modulation is a special-case of AM, without DC-offset (DC-Offset = 0). That means the modulator varies between -1 and +1 like the carrier. The sounding difference to AM is, that RM doesn't contain the carrier frequency.

(If the modulator is unipolar (oscillates between 0 and +1) the effect is called AM.)

More Complex Synthesis using Ring Modulation and Amplitude Modulation

If the modulator itself has more harmonics, the result becomes easily more complex.

Carrier freq: 600 Hz
Modulator freqs: 200Hz with 3 harmonics = [200, 400, 600] Hz
Resulting freqs:  [0, 200, 400, <-600->, 800, 1000, 1200]

Example 04C03.csd

<CsoundSynthesizer>
<CsOptions>
-o dac
</CsOptions>
<CsInstruments>

sr = 48000
ksmps = 32
nchnls = 1
0dbfs = 1

instr 1   ; Ring-Modulation (no DC-Offset)
aSine1 poscil 0.3, 200, 2 ; -> [200, 400, 600] Hz
aSine2 poscil 0.3, 600, 1
out aSine1*aSine2
endin

</CsInstruments>
<CsScore>
f 1 0 1024 10 1 ; sine
f 2 0 1024 10 1 1 1; 3 harmonics
i 1 0 5
e
</CsScore>
</CsoundSynthesizer>
; written by Alex Hofmann (Mar. 2011)

Using an inharmonic modulator frequency also makes the result sound inharmonic. Varying the DC-offset makes the sound-spectrum evolve over time.
Modulator freqs: [230, 460, 690]
Resulting freqs:  [ (-)90, 140, 370, <-600->, 830, 1060, 1290]
(negative frequencies become mirrowed, but phase inverted)

Example 04C04.csd

<CsoundSynthesizer>
<CsOptions>
-o dac
</CsOptions>
<CsInstruments>

sr = 48000
ksmps = 32
nchnls = 1
0dbfs = 1

instr 1   ; Amplitude-Modulation
aOffset linseg 0, 1, 0, 5, 1, 3, 0
aSine1 poscil 0.3, 230, 2 ; -> [230, 460, 690] Hz
aSine2 poscil 0.3, 600, 1
out (aSine1+aOffset)*aSine2
endin

</CsInstruments>
<CsScore>
f 1 0 1024 10 1 ; sine
f 2 0 1024 10 1 1 1; 3 harmonics
i 1 0 10
e
</CsScore>
</CsoundSynthesizer>


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