Example Materials: Synthesis and Sampling

The overarching goal of this semester is to break students away from dependence on presets by giving them both the technical understanding and the ear training to create their own sounds from scratch. Students begin by exploring the foundational components, structure, and signal flow of modern digital synthesizers, the common forms of synthesis, and how to construct classic and contemporary synthesizer sounds. In the second module they go deeper into synthesis and lay the conceptual groundwork for interactive audio by studying modular synthesis and composition techniques. The final module is their first introduction to programming: scripting custom GUIs and controls for original Kontakt instruments. The guides and assignments below are what they work from.

Module 1 — Foundations of Synthesis

Foundations of Synthesis — interactive series on StemShare

The module’s core reading, published on StemShare and free to read without an account: twenty articles that take each synthesis technique as a live, math-first demo you can play in the browser — oscillators, wavetables, additive, filters, modulation, ring and amplitude modulation, FM and multi-operator FM, sync, phase distortion, waveshaping, unison, Karplus–Strong, modal, granular, voice control, and choosing a technique. Start with What Is a Synthesizer?.

Audio Effects — Explained

Every effect understood as altering volume, frequency, or time, with video demonstrations of what each one does to a signal.

Module 2 — Modular Synthesis

VCV Rack: Example Patches

Example patches in VCV Rack so the ideas from the lab’s modular system can be explored at home for free.

Controlled Chaos: The Potential of “Randomness” in Modular Synth Patches

The essay that carries the module’s conceptual through-line to interactive audio: what “randomness” can mean in a patch, how machines produce sequences complex enough to sound random, and how to compose with systems rather than events.

Module 3 — Custom Sampling & Instrument Building

Kontakt: Building the CCC-C Piano

The flagship guide, 6,800 words plus a recorded build video. Composers build a complete custom Kontakt instrument from a provided set of piano samples: setting up the build folder; importing and auto-mapping samples; a development environment for KSP; an introduction to programming through Kontakt’s script language; a custom performance view with three mix layers (Clean, Bloom, Drone); round robins; and DAW automation. The document is written so that someone who has never programmed leaves with a working instrument and the mental model to build the next one.

Kontakt: Recreating Manther

The advanced build, 13,000 words: recreating the Malekko Manther analog monosynth as a Kontakt instrument from a provided sample set. Instrument setup and the resource folder; Sublime Text for KSP; a custom performance view with background, icon, and positioned controls; per-group volume; Kontakt’s modulation system; ADSR controls; a noise source; randomized sample start; a filter; further modulation and switches; and preparing the instrument for distribution (the .nkr resource file, sample compression). It ends with where to go next — the KSP reference, and what to build on your own.

Kontakt: Impact Lab

Build a custom percussion instrument centered on a signature impact, from entirely original sources: low, medium, and high sound types; at least two velocity layers that feel different rather than just quieter; at least three round robins on the primary layer; meaningfully named groups; a deliberate insert chain and one send/bus move; and at least one performance control scripted in KSP and exposed on a custom performance view. An open-book challenge — classmates, instructor, and the KSP reference manual all allowed.

The Semester

The week-by-week calendar: Fall 2026 syllabus & calendar.