THE COMPLETE SYNTHESIZER: A Comprehensive Guide By David Crombie (1984) Digitized by Neuronick (2001) TABLE OF CONTENTS TABLE OF CONTENTS...........................................................................................................................................2 PREFACE.................................................................................................................................................................5 INTRODUCTION ......................................................................................................................................................5 "WHAT IS A SYNTHESIZER?".............................................................................................................................5 CHAPTER 1: UNDERSTANDING SOUND .............................................................................................................6 WHAT IS SOUND? ...............................................................................................................................................7 THE THREE ELEMENTS OF SOUND .................................................................................................................7 PITCH ...................................................................................................................................................................8 STANDARD TUNING............................................................................................................................................8 THE RESPONSE OF THE HUMAN EAR.............................................................................................................9 FREQUENCY AND MUSIC ..................................................................................................................................9 TIMBRE.................................................................................................................................................................9 LOUDNESS ....................................................................................................................................................... 10 PERIODIC AND APERIODIC WAVESHAPES.................................................................................................. 11 ADDITIVE AND SUBTRACTIVE SYNTHESIS .................................................................................................. 11 RESONANCE .................................................................................................................................................... 11 WAVEFORMS.................................................................................................................................................... 12 THE SQUARE WAVE ........................................................................................................................................ 12 THE RECTANGULAR, OR PULSE WAVE........................................................................................................ 13 THE SAWTOOTH WAVE .................................................................................................................................. 14 THE TRIANGLE WAVE ..................................................................................................................................... 14 OVERTONES..................................................................................................................................................... 14 CHAPTER 2: THE SYNTHESIZER VOICE MODULE.......................................................................................... 15 INTRODUCTION................................................................................................................................................ 15 VOLTAGE CONTROL........................................................................................................................................ 16 THE CONTROLLER .......................................................................................................................................... 17 THE GATE PULSE ............................................................................................................................................ 18 THE VOLTAGE CONTROLLED OSCILLATOR ................................................................................................ 19 PHASE ............................................................................................................................................................... 19 THE SINGLE OSCILLATOR VOICE MODULE ................................................................................................. 21 THE SUB-OCTAVE SQUARE WAVE................................................................................................................ 21 PULSE WIDTH MODULATION ......................................................................................................................... 21 THE NOISE SOURCE ....................................................................................................................................... 23 AUDIO MIXER ................................................................................................................................................... 23 A TYPICAL SIGNAL GENERATOR BANK........................................................................................................ 24 THE FILTER....................................................................................................................................................... 24 FILTER RESONANCE....................................................................................................................................... 27 THE EFFECT OF THE FILTER ......................................................................................................................... 28 KEYBOARD TRACKING ................................................................................................................................... 29 THE AMPLIFIER................................................................................................................................................ 30 THE ENVELOPE GENERATOR........................................................................................................................ 30 THE LOW FREQUENCY OSCILLATOR (LFO)................................................................................................. 32 RANDOM. OR SAMPLE-AND-HOLD WAVEFORMS ....................................................................................... 33 PERIODIC VARIATION OF PITCH WITH TIME (LFO + VCO) ......................................................................... 33 PERIODIC VARIATION OF TIMBRE WITH TIME (LFO + VCF) -.................................................................... 35 PERIODIC VARIATION OF LOUDNESS WITH TIME (LFO + VCA) ................................................................ 35 APERIODIC VARIATION OF PITCH WITH TIME (ENVELOPE GENERATOR + VCO) .................................. 35 APERIODIC VARIATION OF TIMBRE WITH TIME (ENVELOPE GENERATOR + VCF)................................ 36 APERIODIC VARIATION OF AMPLITUDE WITH TIME (ENVELOPE GENERATOR + VCF)......................... 38 THE HIGH PASS FILTER (STATIC).................................................................................................................. 41 CROSS MODULATION ..................................................................................................................................... 41 RING MODULATION ......................................................................................................................................... 41 THE KEYBOARD AND PERFORMANCE CONTROLS.................................................................................... 42 PITCHBEND ...................................................................................................................................................... 42 MODULATION AMOUNT .................................................................................................................................. 43 2 THE WHEELS.................................................................................................................................................... 43 THE LEVER ....................................................................................................................................................... 43 THE RIBBON CONTROL .................................................................................................................................. 43 THE TOUCH STRIP........................................................................................................................................... 43 THE JOYSTICK ................................................................................................................................................. 43 PROPORTIONAL PRESSURE PADS............................................................................................................... 44 THE TOUCH SENSITIVE KEYBOARD ............................................................................................................. 44 PORTAMENTO AND GLISSANDO................................................................................................................... 44 CHAPTER 3: TYPES OF SYNTHESIZER...........................................................................................................