Binary instruction synthesis

On the whole, loose modelling techniques tend to be very easy to implement, but their synthesis parameters are not straightforward to control because they bear little relation to the acoustic world. Computer technology also inspired a few loose modelling techniques, such as Walsh synthesis and synthesis by binary instruction. 

Synthesis by binary instruction is a curious technique developed in the 1970s at the Institute of Sonology in the Netherlands. This technique is commonly known as non-standard synthesis, but in this book we prefer to use the more specific term - binary synthesis - in order to distinguish it from other methods that could also be classified as non-standard for example, Walsh synthesis and sequential waveform composition (discussed in Chapter 5). 

Most synthesis techniques presented in this book have their roots, in one way or another, in metaphorical models seeking inspiration from the acoustic world. The great majority of systems for software s)mthesis actually bias the design of instruments towards this type of inspiration. The binary instruction technique diverges from this approach. It departs from the idiomatic use of low-level computer instructions, with no attempt to model anything acoustic. 

In essence, the technique resembles the statistical wavecycle synthesis technique introduced earlier, with the fundamental difference that here the breakpoints are deterministic, in the sense that the segments are defined explicitly rather than statistically. Despite the deterministic nature of the technique itself, its outcome is often unpredictable, but notwithstanding interesting and unique. Like the binary instruction technique discussed in Chapter 2, synthesis by sequential waveform composition is also commonly referred to as non-standard synthesis. Indeed, in order to work with this technique one needs to be prepared to work with non-standard ways of thinking about sounds, because its s)mthesis parameters by no means bear a direct relation to acoustics. 

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