Introduction to Synthesis Techniques Terms and Concepts
Waveforms
sine wave
rising sawtooth wave
falling sawtooth wave
pulse wave
square wave
triangle wave
random (sample and hold, noise)
Additive synthesis.
Oscillators
Voltage Controlled Oscillator - VCO
Overtones
Harmonics integer multiples of fundamental
Envelopes.
Voltage Controlled Amplifier VCA
ADSR Attack (time) Decay (time) Sustain (level) Release (time)
Subtractive Synthesis
Filters
Voltage Controlled Filter VCF
low pass
high pass
band pass
notch (band cut)
high/low shelf
parametric EQ
spectral envelopes
Other delay-based effects: chorus, flange, phasing, delay, echo.
Modulation
sub-audio rate - LFO
Unipolar, Bipolar
Carrier/Modulator
audio rate synthesis AM, FM, Ring Modulation, sidebands