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Sculpture Tutorial: Getting Started with Sound Creation
This section contains information to assist you when starting to explore sound creation
in Sculpture. The creation of particular types of basic instrument sounds is discussed in
several sections. See Sculpture Tutorial: Creating Basic Sounds. For a more detailed look
at programming particular types of sounds, see Advanced Sculpture Tutorial: Programming
Electric Basses and Advanced Sculpture Tutorial: Programming Synthesized Sounds.
Given the flexibility of Sculpture’s synthesis core, you can take a number of different
approaches to sound design.
• If you’re the type who prefers to sculpt a sound from scratch—parameter by
parameter—you can.
• If you prefer to make use of Sculpture’s morphing capabilities to create new sounds,
you can also do this. See Randomizing Morph Points in Sculpture’s Morph Pad.
• If you’re a tweaker of existing settings, then it may be more your style to work with the
parameters that affect the entire instrument. See the Body EQ and Filter sections, plus
the Modulators, for example.
Whatever camp you fall into, you’ll be able to achieve new and hopefully interesting
results. Experiment and familiarize yourself with each approach. You will find that each
has its strengths and weaknesses, and that a combination of methods may strike the best
balance for your needs.
Starting with Default Settings in Sculpture
When you are programming a sound from scratch in Sculpture, the best approach is to
work on each component of the sound in isolation.
Obviously, if you’re just starting out with Sculpture, you won’t be familiar with the impact
of each parameter on your end results. Don’t worry about it; this and the other tutorial
sections provide pointers for creating particular types of sounds.
First, you’ll need a plain vanilla setting. When you first launch Sculpture, this is exactly
what you get—a default set of neutral parameters. Sonically this won’t set your heart
racing, but it will provide a starting point for all the examples in this chapter. This setting
is saved as the “#default” settings file. It is best to save a copy of this setting right away.
To save a default setting
µ
Open the Settings menu and choose Save Setting As, then enter the name you
want—maybe “neutral,” or “vanilla”—and click Save.
This setting can be reloaded as you work through the examples.
380 Chapter 14 Sculpture