Real Python Podcast Episode #210 Title Artwork

Episode 210: Creating a Guitar Synthesizer & Generating WAV Files With Python

The Real Python Podcast

Jun 28, 2024 55m

What techniques go into synthesizing a guitar sound in Python? What higher-level programming and Python concepts can you practice while building advanced projects? This week on the show, we talk with Real Python author and core team member Bartosz Zaczyński about his recent step-by-step project, Build a Guitar Synthesizer: Play Musical Tablature in Python.

Episode Sponsor:

Bartosz shares how he had built an early prototype of the guitar synth using a different language. He describes recreating the Karplus-Strong algorithm in Python to create the plucked guitar sounds. We discuss teaching advanced Python concepts while guiding readers through constructing a complete project.

We also dig into reading and writing WAV files in Python, using Spotify’s pedalboard library, implementing Poetry in a project, and designing a file format for guitar tablature.

This episode is sponsored by Mailtrap.

Course Spotlight: Playing and Recording Sound in Python

In this course, you’ll learn about libraries that can be used for playing and recording sound in Python, such as PyAudio and python-sounddevice. You’ll also see code snippets for playing and recording sound files and arrays, as well as for converting between different sound file formats.

Topics:

00:00:00 – Introduction
00:02:04 – Reading and writing WAV files in Python
00:04:48 – What did you want to learn about the topic?
00:08:02 – Finding new ways to explain Python concepts
00:09:52 – Turning audio into plots and visualizations
00:12:11 – Using Python for synthesis and the guitar synth project
00:13:19 – What is your music background?
00:18:36 – Sponsor: Mailtrap
00:19:11 – First prototype of the project
00:22:23 – What does the project cover?
00:25:08 – Audio examples of the output
00:26:31 – Digging into the algorithm
00:31:40 – Convolution reverb
00:34:15 – Physical modeling and pedalboard
00:38:08 – Video Course Spotlight
00:39:31 – What Python concepts are you practicing?
00:41:11 – Using Python poetry
00:43:00 – Why use YAML for the TAB files?
00:46:13 – What does it mean to be a polyglot programmer?
00:48:37 – Potential upcoming Real Python resources
00:52:10 – How can people follow your work online?
00:52:30 – What do you want to learn next?
00:54:56 – Thanks and goodbye

Show Links:

Level Up Your Python Skills With These Courses:

Histogram Plotting in Python: NumPy, Matplotlib, Pandas & Seaborn

Playing and Recording Sound in Python

SimPy: Simulating Real-World Processes With Python

Simulating Real-World Processes in Python With SimPy

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