In this chapter we're going to explore the physical modeling synth in Logic Sculpture. Sculpture is my favorite instrument in Logic. It's capable of creating really rich, evolving textures and organic sounds that are both synthetic and surreal, all at the same time. So, it's very cool. Sculpture uses component modeling synthesis, which is also referred to as physical modeling, to generate sound. The physical modeling in Sculpture enables you to create virtual models of an acoustic instrument, such as violin, kalimba, or guitar, and you can model aspects such as the length of the neck, the material of the instrument, and material of the strings, even the size of the body.
In addition to the physical properties of the instrument, we can also determine how and where it's played. So, it could be softly bowed or plucked, and all kinds of other types of articulations as well. Sculpture functions differently than other synthesizers in that every aspect of sound generation and sound shaping interacts with everything else. So, in other words, small changes can sometimes completely alter the sound. At first, Sculpture can seem unpredictable and at times confusing, but it certainly rewards experimentation, and it's capable of creating some the most expressive synthesized sounds I can think of.
So, let's take a look at the interface of Sculpture. So, the top two thirds of the interface is the sound engine, and then beneath that we have the Modulation section, and we have our MIDI Controller assign section down at the very bottom. So, taking a look at the sound engine, the basis of our sound is going to be the string, so that's this green line here. And so can choose the material of the string right here with this Materials pad. And then we have three different objects. So, Object 1, 2, 3 and right now they're stacked on top of each other on the string, and they can be used to excite or disturb the vibration of the strings.
The whole sound-generation area is really happening right here. So, from there the sound goes to the Pickups. So, here's Pickup A, here's Pickup B and so there're much like electric guitar pickups in the sense that they pick up the string vibration, and from there it goes to the Amplifier envelope, so that's over here. The output of the Amplifier envelope then goes to the Waveshaper, so that's where you can saturate and distort the sound, add more harmonics, and from there the signal goes to the filter. So, here's where we can shape the sound by carving out harmonics and reducing certain frequencies.
After that, the signal goes to the delay, so here's the built-in delay, and then it goes to the Body EQ. Body EQ can mimic the resonant characteristics of a number of different instruments. The output of the Body EQ then goes to the Level control here in the amplifier section, and the last stage of the signal flow is the limiter. So, this just limits the dynamics and the output so you don't get clipping and things like that. So, in terms of modulation, we've got extensive modulation in Sculpture. So, there's two LFOs, a Jitter generator, vibrato, have Velocity controls, and we can use MIDI controls as well.
In the center, we have this Morph pad and Morph envelope, where we can seamlessly transition between different object settings and different material settings. It's very cool! Over to the right, we have a Control envelope where we can control the shape of the envelope using a MIDI controller, or it can function more like a normal envelope as well. So, now we've taken a quick tour of the interface of Sculpture. Let's listen to what Sculpture sounds like in action. So, I have a musical example here with several instances or Sculpture that are creating all the synth sounds and textures and so on.
So, let's listen to it. (music playing) So, as we can hear, there's a lot of cool sound-generation possibilities with Sculpture.
In the next video, let's explore how to adjust the physical characteristics of the string using the Material pad.
Author
Updated
3/14/2012Released
11/9/2011Virtual Instruments with Logic Pro will be updating on a monthly basis, eventually covering all the virtual instruments in the application. Look for the latest movies here and on the lynda.com blog.
- Setting up Logic Pro for using virtual instruments
- Configuring MIDI controllers
- Composing with virtual instruments envelopes
- Tweaking the overdrive and chorus
- Creating movement with LFOs (Low Frequency Oscillators)
- Understanding FM synthesis basics
- Changing the timbre and shifting the formants of the vocoder
- Constructing custom sampler kits
- Exploring the tonewheel organ, electric piano, and Ultrabeat drum synthesizer
Skill Level Intermediate
Duration
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Introduction
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Welcome2m 17s
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1. The ES M Monophonic Synthesizer
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Using the oscillator3m 4s
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Composing with the ES M5m 49s
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2. The ES E Ensemble Synthesizer
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Selecting a waveform2m 9s
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Using the Vibrato/PWM dial2m 15s
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Composing with the ES E6m 43s
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3. The ES P Polyphonic Synthesizer
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Composing with the ES P8m 23s
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4. The ES1 Software Synthesizer
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Tweaking the filter6m 36s
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Creating movement with the LFO14m 18s
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Composing with the ES19m 20s
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5. The EFM1 FM Synthesizer
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Getting started with EFM11m 51s
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Setting the carrier pitch2m 56s
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Adding movement with the LFO2m 59s
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Composing with the EFM110m 17s
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6. The EVOC 20 PolySynth
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Composing with the EVOC 2012m 45s
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7. ES2
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Getting Started with ES23m 33s
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Series or Parallel?6m 34s
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Composing with the ES210m 26s
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8. EXS24 Sampler
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Getting Started with EXS243m 29s
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Composing with the EXS249m 5s
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9. EVB3 Tonewheel Organ
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Using the EVB3 effects5m 43s
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Composing with the EVB311m 27s
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10. EVP88 Electric Piano
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Getting Started with EVP882m 46s
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Selecting a piano model1m 17s
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Musical example6m 37s
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11. EVD6 Electric Clav
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Getting Started with EVD62m 29s
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Using the EVD6 Effects5m 24s
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Composing with the EVD69m 27s
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12. The Sculpture Modeling Synthesizer
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Sculpting with the filter7m 37s
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Understanding the Body EQ6m 34s
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Employing the Morph Envelope9m 48s
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Composing with Sculpture10m 52s
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13. Ultrabeat Drum Synth and Step Sequencer
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Shaping with the envelopes7m 21s
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Building a kick drum8m 18s
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Synthesizing a snare drum8m 31s
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Creating a hi-hat4m 34s
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Utilizing the side chain9m 2s
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Composing with Ultrabeat14m 13s
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14. Klopfgeist
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Conclusion
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What's next?1m 12s
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Video: Getting Started with Sculpture