onetonnemusic

Originally posted on Feb 23, 2003 by funnel

A synthesizer basically uses electronic means to generate sounds. An analogue synth is still electronic. The sound can sometimes be quite similar to those of traditional instruments, but more often synths are sought after for their weird electronic noises and facility for flexible sound creation. Synthesis means to create something out of separate parts.

Above: The Roland MC303 Groove Box

So how do they work? Most synths on the market have variations on the following components – filters, oscillators, voltage-control amplifiers… These all by varying means offer methods for the basic sound waves to be modulated and controlled. Often the presence of multiple filter banks
help to facilitate more interesting noises, or the creation of more organic noises.

There are several different kinds of common synthesis methods, subtractive, additive, wavetable, sample playback, physical modeling, FM synthesis, phase distortion, wave shaping, wave sequencing, VAST synthesis, granular synthesis. You can read more about these kinds of synthesis here http://tilt.largo.fl.us/faq/synthfaq.html at the excellent beginners synthesizer FAQ. For the sake of brevity, synthesis is all about the manipulation of sound electronically, to derive an audibly interesting result.

Above: The Kurzweil K-2000 Keyboard - (Kurzweil are generally
regarded as among the best keyboards made.)

Synths can be found inside all sorts of commercial music making hardware, soundcards, keyboards, sound modules, and rack units. The variety of hardware that has some form of synth hidden inside it is virtually limitless. More often than not, a musician will purchase a synth in a keyboard for performance, or get a synth in a rack module which will be hooked up to a trigger device – such as a keyboard. They then work with presets which they save to the synths memory (for saving of presets the most often used term is SysEX Dump) for performance. Hardware synths are generally expensive, but often have a distinct sound which some consider the somewhat hefty outlay a worthwhile tradeoff.

Above: The Roland Jupiter 4 Keyboard

There is however, another alternative – software synthesis. Which is fast becoming the most often used option. Usually costing much less than expensive and sometimes arcane hardware synths, software synths allow anyone with a computer to make music with. This has in a way democratized the music making process more than just about anything else – a basic computer can be setup fairly cheaply and the software can be picked up readily. A commonly used piece of hardware for performing musicians is the laptop – which are a viable alternative for those looking to cheaply build a portable performance setup.