This chapter covers
- New physical modeling instrument unit generators, such as
- Wind instruments, including clarinet, brass, and flute
- Better stringed instruments, including mandolin and sitar
- Rigid objects, including metal/wood bars and glass
- Particle models, like maracas, tambourines, and wind chimes
- Voice acoustics and vocal models in ChucK
- UGens for classic analog and digital synthesizer sounds
In this chapter you’ll expand your arsenal of unit generators, covering many self-contained instrument UGens. We say instrument because these UGens make sound in response to frequency, noteOn, noteOff, messages, and other parameters, depending on the type of model implemented. By the end of this chapter, you’ll be able to build a band to play Indian classical music automatically.
You’ll learn to use and make sound with models as diverse as clarinet, brass, flute, mandolin, sitar, marimba, maraca (shakers), and voice. We’ll touch on the physics of those instruments and what differentiates individual members within a particular instrument family. We’ll also look at the acoustics of the human voice and how to model that using ChucK UGens. We’ll also cover UGens that can be used to make sounds reminiscent of classic analog and digital synthesizers, organs, and more. It’s especially cool to be able to make these classic analog sounds in ChucK, because you can exploit the power of computer programming to control and compose with them.