Introduction to Synthesis

Before choosing a method, learn how oscillators, filters and envelopes turn electricity into a playable timbre.

Related

TimbreSynthesizerMinimoogModern

The question

A synthesizer has no strings or bell, yet it can sound like brass, a voice or a struck plate. Before choosing a method, map the parts that make the sound and what each change does.

How it works

The shortest chain is oscillator, filter and amplifier, each pushed by an envelope or an LFO. The oscillator supplies a periodic wave and harmonics. The filter removes or emphasises a band. The envelope shapes level over time, and the LFO adds slow movement. Additive, FM, wavetable and granular methods swap the harmonic source and shaping for other algorithms; sample playback plays a recording. Every route ends at the same dimensions: spectrum, envelope, space and modulation.

Settings and what you hear

Change waveform and pitch and listen for a full or hollow harmonic set. Then move the cutoff and hear how quickly the top disappears. Finally change attack and release to read bow, pick or breath. Slight detuning widens the tone, and a short envelope robs bass of weight. Parameters cancel each other, so change one at a time.

What to listen for

On an electronic track, decide whether the lead is bright or dull, then whether the bass is round or hard. Last, hear whether the pad moves underneath. Separating these three layers is already listening along synthesizer dimensions.

Common misconceptions

That a synthesizer is just an electronic keyboard patch; that waveform alone decides timbre, when envelope and filter matter as much; that the more advanced method always wins, when most popular sounds come from subtractive synthesis and samples.

Sources

• Gordon Reid, Sound On Sound Synth Secrets — synthesis chain checked, not quoted
• Curtis Roads, The Computer Music Tutorial — synthesis methods overview checked, not quoted

Used for fact-checking only; all prose is original.