TYPES OF SYNTHESIS

• Modular synthesis


  Synthesizers with patch cables allowing you to choose which oscillator, effect, or other module to use
• Moog's synthesizers


  • Designed to recreate acoustic sounds and became popular across various genres
• Wendy Carlos' album


  • "Switched-On Bach"
• Semi-modular synth


  Combines modular flexibility with built-in keyboards for easier playability
• Moog still produces semi-modular synths, but they have also released standalone devices that are not modular
• Modular synthesis


  • Allows you to pick and choose exactly which oscillator, effect, or other module will suit your needs
  • Patch cables are used to connect modules together, allowing you to choose which signals go where, leading to endless possibilities for creating unique sounds
• Modulation in modular synths

  • Allows for unconventional and atypical ways of modulating parameters
  • LFOs and envelope shapes are common modulation sources
  • Enables sending control signals to various parameters
• Wavetable synthesis


  Uses wavetables to access and reproduce periodic audio waveforms
• Wavetables


  • Can store a single cycle of a periodic wave or a collection of different waves in a lookup table
  • Waveshapes can range from simple to complex, including recordings or resampled audio
  • Wavetable positions can be manually changed or automated using an LFO
• Wavetable synthesis is less memory and CPU-intensive compared to complex synthesis techniques but achieves the same effect
• FM synthesis


  Involves modulating the frequency of one waveform (carrier) with another (modulator)
• Similar functionality to FM synthesis can be found in plugins like Serum, Fm8, Operator, Bazille, and DX7 V emulation
• Sampler/Sampling


  An electronic musical instrument that can record, playback and manipulate short recordings of sounds
• Pitch shifting


  Increasing or decreasing the frequency of the sound wave to change the pitch of sound
• Analogue sampling


  • Capturing sound in a way that represents all the possible frequencies
• Digital sampling


  • Using computers to translate sound into binary which approximates what we hear
• Multisampling


  Capturing multiple samples of the same sound at different velocities
• Velocity layering


  Different sounds depending on how fast (velocity) you press the key
• Sample rate


  Number of samples per second
• Bit depth


  Number of possible amplitude measurements
• Nyquist


  Minimum sample rate required to accurately represent a given frequency
• Sample manipulation


  • The ability to alter specific parameters in the sample, and therefore the sound produced (reversing, gapping, stuttering, pitch shift, time stretch and Phase invert)
• Red Book standard


  Specification the CD audio must fulfil: 16 bit, 44.1 kHz (satisfies Nyquist criteria)
• Mellotron developed


  1963
• Fairlight CMI developed


  1979
• EMU Emulator developed


  1981
• Zero crossing editing


  Cropping and putting two parts together where the waveforms are both at 0 to ensure they both match up, with no pressure change
• Sample zone


  Specific region of a sample assigned to a key or velocity range
• LFO


  Low frequency oscillator - controls frequencies under 20 Hz
• Mellotron


  • Electro-mechanical instrument that plays back pre-recorded magnetic tape when keys are pressed
• Songs using Mellotron


  • Wonderwall - Oasis
  • Strawberry Fields Forever - The Beatles
• Fairlight CMI


  • Digital synthesiser, sampler and digital audio workstation that feeds sound from a live mic or recording into a computer to be used at different notes via the keyboard
• Songs using Fairlight CMI

  • Babooshka - Kate Bush
  • Eureka - Robin Scott
• Synclavier


  • Early digital synthesiser, polyphonic digital sampling system, and music workstation that uses partial timbre method utilising frequency modulation and additive (harmonic) synthesis
• Songs using Synclavier


  • Beat It - Michael Jackson
• EMU Emulator


  • Series of digital sampling synthesisers using floppy disk storage, enabling musicians to sample sounds and record them to non-volatile media to be played back as musical notes on the keyboard
• EMU Emulator series produced

  1981-2002
• draw a sine wave
• draw a triangle wave

  
• draw a square wave