Symbolic Sound Corporation
Encyclopedia
Symbolic Sound Corporation was founded by Carla Scaletti
and Kurt J. Hebel in 1989 as a spinoff of the CERL Sound Group at the Computer-based Education Research Laboratory of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
. Originally named Kymatics, the company was incorporated as Symbolic Sound Corporation in March 1990. Symbolic Sound's products are being used in sound design
for music, film, advertising, television, speech and hearing research, computer games
, and other virtual environments.
Kyma
, Symbolic Sound's main product, was one of the earliest commercially available examples of a graphical signal flow language for real time digital audio
signal processing. The Kyma Sound design language, based on Smalltalk
, continues to evolve and runs on several generations of DSP processing units.
The company has developed and commercialized several audio processing and synthesis techniques, including real time spectral analysis and additive resynthesis, audio morphing, aggregate synthesis, granular synthesis, and Tau synthesis. They have also developed algorithms for partitioning a signal flow graph to run on multiple parallel processors and multiple devices in real time.
Carla Scaletti
Carla Scaletti is an American harpist, composer and music technologist.-Biography:Carla Scaletti was born in Ithaca, New York. She graduated from the public schools in Albuquerque, New Mexico, then completed a bachelor's of music from the University of New Mexico, a masters of music from Texas...
and Kurt J. Hebel in 1989 as a spinoff of the CERL Sound Group at the Computer-based Education Research Laboratory of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
The University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign is a large public research-intensive university in the state of Illinois, United States. It is the flagship campus of the University of Illinois system...
. Originally named Kymatics, the company was incorporated as Symbolic Sound Corporation in March 1990. Symbolic Sound's products are being used in sound design
Sound design
Sound design is the process of specifying, acquiring, manipulating or generating audio elements. It is employed in a variety of disciplines including filmmaking, television production, theatre, sound recording and reproduction, live performance, sound art, post-production and video game software...
for music, film, advertising, television, speech and hearing research, computer games
Computer Games
"Computer Games" is a single by New Zealand group, Mi-Sex released in 1979 in Australia and New Zealand and in 1981 throughout Europe. It was the single that launched the band, and was hugely popular, particularly in Australia and New Zealand...
, and other virtual environments.
Kyma
Kyma (sound design language)
Kyma is a visual programming language for sound design used by musicians, researchers, and sound designers. In Kyma, a user programs a multiprocessor DSP by graphically connecting modules on the screen of a Macintosh or Windows computer.-Background:...
, Symbolic Sound's main product, was one of the earliest commercially available examples of a graphical signal flow language for real time digital audio
Digital audio
Digital audio is sound reproduction using pulse-code modulation and digital signals. Digital audio systems include analog-to-digital conversion , digital-to-analog conversion , digital storage, processing and transmission components...
signal processing. The Kyma Sound design language, based on Smalltalk
Smalltalk
Smalltalk is an object-oriented, dynamically typed, reflective programming language. Smalltalk was created as the language to underpin the "new world" of computing exemplified by "human–computer symbiosis." It was designed and created in part for educational use, more so for constructionist...
, continues to evolve and runs on several generations of DSP processing units.
The company has developed and commercialized several audio processing and synthesis techniques, including real time spectral analysis and additive resynthesis, audio morphing, aggregate synthesis, granular synthesis, and Tau synthesis. They have also developed algorithms for partitioning a signal flow graph to run on multiple parallel processors and multiple devices in real time.