Spectral Fuzzy Sets and Markov Streaming for Granular Synthesis of Sound

This paper discloses a new technique for synthesising sounds, which combines the granular synthesis technique with Markov chains and fuzzy sets. Granular synthesis works by generating a rapid succession of tiny sounds, metaphorically referred to as sound grains. A key problem with granular synthesis concerns the control of the thousands of parameters to synthesise streams of sound grains. A handful of alternative methods have been proposed, most of which use simple probability functions to control the production of thousands of grains in time. We devised a new control method using fuzzy sets to define the spectrum of the grains and Markov chains to control the streaming of the grains. What differentiates our techniques from other granular synthesis techniques is that we provide a bottom-up control method that is embedded in the model itself; it operates directly at the waveform level. The paper details the foundations of the mathematical model and introduces a proof of concept implementation followed by commented examples of synthesised sounds. Our new technique is of particular interest for professionals in the music and multimedia technology industry working new synthesis techniques for producing novel types of sounds.