Synthesis

Sound synthesis is ultimately making sound using hardware or software. There are quite a few important aspects to synthesis. Such as oscillators, waveforms, VCA, filters, envelops, and LFO’s.

An oscillator generates the original sound of your piece, the sound varies depending on the oscillation.

Oscillation is basically constructing a type of waveform. different sounds can be created depending upon the shape of the waveform.

Square wave- Hollow/raspy sound. Goes up fast to a particular amplitude, remains the same for a certain time period and drops fast.

Saw wave- Sharp tone. Goes up in a straight line from the lowest value to the highest value and then back to the original form.

Pulse wave- Variation of saw and a square waveform.

Triangle wave- sounds like somewhere between a saw and sine waveform.

Sine wave-Mild/soft tone.

Low Frequency Oscillator (LFO) is a unique type of oscillator. It Oscillates at extremely low frequencies that our ears can not hear it.

With the exception of the individual tuning on purpose to the standard hearing range. It is used specifically for modulation of other parts of the synthesizer.

Filters are a crucial part of sound design, there are a few types of filters used in synthesis. Low pass, high pass, band pass, and band notch/reject. New order used a moog source synth back in the 80’s to compose their bass synth.

A Young Person's Guide to the Principles of Music Synthesis. (n.d.). Retrieved August 20, 2017, from http://beausievers.com/synth/synthbasics/

Waveforms | The Synthesizer Academy. (n.d.). Retrieved August 20, 2017, from http://synthesizeracademy.com/waveforms/

Waveforms | The Synthesizer Academy. (n.d.). Retrieved August 20, 2017, from http://synthesizeracademy.com/waveforms/

Chesler, A. O. (2014, May 16). Moog Source Blue Monday. Retrieved August 20, 2017, from http://www.wiretotheear.com/2014/05/16/moog-source-blue-monday/