Eric Lindemann
Synful CEO

Letter to the People from Synful CEO, Eric Lindemann

I have been using music synthesizers for 34 years beginning with a large analog MOOG in 1970. I have been designing electronic music machines since 1981. For most of this time I found electronic music to be boring and inexpressive. My experience with samplers goes back to around 1983 and my first large sampler design was for a company called Waveframe in 1986. At that time I was already frustrated with the limitations of samplers. In 1987-88 I experimented for a while with physical modeling (some might know this type of technology as waveguides) but I abandoned that approach in 1988. I came back to the problem of music synthesis around 1996-1997 with a determination to do something about what I saw as the limitations of samplers and sample libraries. Synful Orchestra is the result. After 34 years, I believe it is the first music synthesizer with real expressive power.

Synful Orchestra is not a sampler or a sample library. Synful Orchestra is not a physical modeling synthesizer. I call the Synful technology Reconstructive Phrase Modeling (RPM). This is not a hype marketing term. Synful Orchestra with RPM really is new and different in the way it generates sounds.

I want to be able to play natural instrument sounds from a MIDI keyboard (or other controller or sequencer) using standard controls (Volume, Mod, Pitch-Wheel, Velocity) in a convincing expressive manner. I want this to be a musical experience without a lot of editing, pushing of special buttons, program changes, pushing special keys, applying special phrasing tools, etc (programming as we call it). When I play legato I want it to sound legato as it would on the instrument I am simulating. When I play staccato I want it to sound staccato.

Synful Orchestra is focused on imitating orchestral instruments. Future Synful products will focus on jazz, R+B, rock instruments and roll-your-own new instrument creation. I hope musicians and composers will enjoy using Synful Orchestra as much as I've enjoyed developing it. see Future Developments

Eric Lindemann

 

Eric Lindemann, Synful CEO

• 1998-2004 - Founds Synful, R+D on expressive music synthesis, Boulder, Colorado
• 1998-2002 - Designs advanced signal processing CPU for Cirrus Logic/Crystal, Boulder
• 1995-1996 - Develops music synthesizer software and hardware for Euphonics, Boulder
• 1992-1997 - Develops speech enhancement algorithms for the first fully-programmable digital hearing aid for GN Resound, Copenhagen, Denmark
• 1988-1992 - Designs Signal Processing Workstation for Pierre Boulez at IRCAM, Paris
• 1986-1988 - Designs sampling and signal processing engines for Waveframe, Boulder
• 1984-1985 - Designs sampling signal processor for Linn Drum, Los Angeles
• 1982-1983 - Designs large mixing console automation for movie studios, Los Angeles
• 1981-1982 - Receives National Endowment for the Arts grant for music composition. Designs interactive sound processor for grant. Los Angeles
• 1978-1981 - Plays studio keyboards in Los Angeles for film and TV scores, Star Trek Movie, Dallas, etc.
• 1974-1978 - Studies composition with Nadia Boulanger, Olivier Messiaen, Iannis Xenakis, Paris, France
• 1971-1974 - Plays keyboards and tours with 5th Dimension, Osmond Brothers
• 1967-1971 - Studies music composition and piano at USC, Los Angeles

Synful Patents

• Music Synthesizer Capable of Expressive Phrasing, US 6316710 B1

• Encoding and Synthesis of Tonal Audio Signals Using Dominant Sinusoids and a Vector-Quantized Residual Tonal Signal, US 6298322 B1

• Audio Signal Synthesis System Based on Probabilistic Estimation of Time-Varying Spectra, US 6111183