The SAFFRON Project

Why SAFFRON?

We bridge physics, electronics, and creativity. At SAFFRON we believe every artist deserves to grasp the fundamentals — electrons become voltage, voltage becomes sound, and sound becomes culture. We honor community spaces like Solar Culture while offering rigorous, hands-on training.

Creative Synthesis

Our flagship course explores electricity, acoustics, psychoacoustics, and synthesis methods (subtractive, additive, FM, granular). Tutorials and labs guide you from building signal chains in VCV Rack to composing with sequencers, mixing, and designing spatial soundscapes.

View full syllabus →

Get Oriented in Sound

You don’t have to wait to start learning. These resources, while not our own, map the terrain and offer clues to what you’ll master inside SAFFRON:

• Columbia–Princeton Electronic Music Center — oldest US electroacoustic hub; RCA Mark II, Babbitt, Ussachevsky, Luening.
• Curtis Roads — The Computer Music Tutorial (MIT Press) — canonical 1000-page reference for DSP, synthesis, perception, composition.
• Stanford CCRMA — research/teaching nexus for acoustics, DSP, spatial audio, instrument design.
• IRCAM (Paris) — European epicenter for spectral techniques, Max/MSP lineage, computer-assisted composition; see also ManiFeste festival.
• Carnegie Mellon — Music & Technology — where engineering, CS, and performance converge; HCI-driven instrument/synthesis design.
• Sound On Sound: Synth Secrets — 60+ deep technical installments from subtractive to FM and beyond.
• Julius O. Smith III — Physical Audio Signal Processing — free Stanford textbook on physical modeling, filters, and waveguides.
• Bob Moog Foundation — archives, schematics, education (Moogseum, Dr. Bob’s SoundSchool).
• Yamaha — FM Synthesis History — engineering + history from GS1/DX7 era; see also Chowning’s FM recollections.
• Herbert Eimert & WDR Cologne — documents from the German Elektronische Musik school and studio practice.
• CNMAT (UC Berkeley) — research in real-time DSP, timbre, sensors; birthplace of OSC.
• Inventionen Festival (Berlin) — long-running stage for electroacoustic and experimental works.

These references aren’t a replacement for structured study — but they help you glimpse how electricity and acoustics become art.

About Us

SAFFRON — Southern Arizona Fieldwork in Form, Resonance, Overtones, and Noise — is a collaborative initiative linking education, research, and practice. We host courses, curate resources, and cultivate community around synthesis and sound design.