PRODUCER’S GUIDE

Simulating the real world of sound and beyond, these top instruments make their mark with their in-depth control sets and jaw-dropping anything-is-possible sounds

Imagine you had an instrument that could change its size, shape, and material while you play it: that’s the goal of physical modelling synthesis. Various kinds of synthesis can mimic acoustic instruments, but while subtractive synthesis might use resonant filters to create something akin to a piano or violin, the results are unlikely to fool even a casual listener. Physical modelling goes much further.

This kind of synthesis pushes the mathematical side of things to the max, using complex algorithms to emulate not just the sound of an acoustic instrument, but the way they’re physically played as well. The results are uncannily realistic.

But why, you might wonder, would we use synthesisers to simulate real instruments when you could just use a sampler? The answer is versatility. Physical modelling can be used to create realistic versions of existing instruments, or it can be used to make new hybrid instruments that couldn’t possibly exist in real life. It’s a powerful combo that has attracted legions of fans among sound designers and musicians alike.

In this article, we’re going to take a look at the basic concepts, terminology, and workflow of these instruments. Once you have a hang of the fundamentals, and put in a little work, physical modelling synths can become one of the most useful tools in your arsenal.

Getting real

Physical modelling synths build off the same principles as other synths you might have used, and when you first open one up, you’ll probably see recognisable elements inside, such as filters, envelopes, and LFOs.

What’s different about these instruments is the way they generate sound. To get a sense of what’s going on, just think about how an acoustic instrument operates; we might have a string to vibrate and produce sound waves, a guitar pick to start the vibration in motion, and the body of the guitar to provide extra resonance. Physical modelling employs algorithms to simulate each step in this process, creating a virtual version of the acoustic instrument. Of course, each modelling synth is different: some might focus entirely on strings, some on percussion, or others on woodwind instruments.