Ear to the Earth, October 2008

what is kyma

Kyma is the easiest to learn and most profound audio production system available today. Because of its superb sound quality, interactive processes, and the ease with which complex algorithms can run in real time, we view it as the best route towards professional problem-solving in sound design, post production, film scoring, game development, sound installations, live performance, research, and every other creative musical application.

As one example of its use, Ben Burtt used it in the sound design for Wall-e. He wrote: "The principle synthesizer I use is called the Kyma ... I found ways of using it to specifically do WALL-E and EVE’S voices ... " To have a look at a video in which he talks about the way he used it ... go here

For a lot more information, visit the Symbolic Sound website ... go here


Goal

Our goal in these workshops is to provide you with the skills and understandings you'll need to achieve immense creativity in working with sound.

Recent comments about the workshops:

" ... practically and technically informative but also gave me a better conceptual framework of Kyma and its creative uses for performance and composition." — Michael Monhart, composer, performer

"The EMF Kyma workshops helped me understand how deep the Kyma experience can get." — Ilker Isikyakar, editor, composer, sound designer

"I had been thinking of purchasing a Kyma system for years and Joel's Kyma workshop put me over the top. I placed my order shortly after the first class." — Troy Hermes, audio dubbing, mixer, sound designer

"I've been working with Kyma for the past year, but I still found the workshops to be invigorating. Besides picking up basics I missed on my own I learned concepts of Kyma and electronic music that are pure gold." — Doug Di Franco, sound designer, The Audio Department


The workshops

The Kyma workshops are organized in a sequence of three 3-hour sessions, each session limited to 5 participants. The first and second workshops should be taken in succession. The third workshop, which answers questions, explains advanced techniques, and in general brings it all together, can be taken anytime that it is offered.

Session 1

The Kyma paradigm & overview
- Sources, modifiers, combiners
- Sound browser
- How time passes (sound objects & timeline)

Kyma prototypes and how they work
- Signal flow editor
- Variables (hot / cold)

Controls and complex controls
- Event Values
- Expressions
- Single values
- Outputs from Sound Objects
- External sounds
- Range & Offset

Connecting and synchronizing sound objects
- Replace a single input by drag&drop
- To use the output of a sound object, copy&paste
- Replace one input in an input box is drag&drop to the box
- For parallel connections, replace holding down the option key
- Use the same name
- Constant
- Sound to Global Controller

Examples of time domain sound objects
- Sources: Oscillator, Noise, Generic Controller, Sample
- Modifiers: ADSR, Delay, Sample Cloud, Reverb
- Combiners: Mixer

Session 2

Spectral tools & the frequency domain
- Spectral Analysis
- Spectral Editor

Simple filters
- Low-, high- and bandpass filters
- Equalizers

Cross synthesis/complex filters
- Vocoder
- CrossFiltering

Analysis/Synthesis
- Analyzing, modifying, and regenerating spectra
- Example: MorphLiveToAnalyzedSpectrum

Session 3

The third session, which answers questions, explains advanced techniques, and in general brings it all together, can be taken anytime that it is offered, and any number of times, by anyone who has previously attended the first two sessions.


Get started

For schedules, fees, or other information ... click here and send