Author: Patrick McCormick

Categories
Common Synthesizer Controls Sound Design and Production Concepts

Detune

Detuning is the process of slightly shifting the pitch of one or more oscillators within a patch (a sound configuration) away from the main pitch in a synthesizer. Smaller amounts, like a few cents (a unit of measurement for pitch), or more significant amounts, like a semitone or more, can be used to accomplish this.

By making a single sound appear as though multiple voices are playing at once, detune can be used to give a sound a sense of thickness or width. It can also give a sound a sense of motion or animation.

Depending on the synthesizer, detuning can be done globally or individually across each oscillator. Others may use a pitch offset or frequency offset feature to create the same effect. Some synthesizers have a “detune” knob or parameter that can be adjusted.

Detune can also be applied in different ways:

Categories
Common Synthesizer Controls

Portamento/Glide

Portamento, also known as glide, is a feature on a synthesizer that allows for a smooth transition between pitches when playing a melody. When portamento is activated, a note’s pitch will gradually change from one pitch to the next rather than spiking. The Portamento time, which can be changed on the synthesizer, controls how quickly the pitch shifts between notes.

As it mimics how a musician would naturally slide their fingers between notes on a traditional instrument like a guitar or saxophone, portamento can give an expressive and human-like performance. It can also give a melody a sense of continuity and flow.

Others may have a “portamento time” parameter that can be adjusted to control the speed of the glide. Some synthesizers have a dedicated “portamento” or “glide” knob or button that can be used to enable or disable the feature. Depending on the playing style, some synthesizers have different types of portamento, such as legato portamento and staccato portamento, which alter how the notes glide.

Portamento is a flexible and expressive feature that can give a synthesizer performance a distinct personality and human-like quality. It can be used in a wide range of musical genres, including retro synth pop and avant-garde electronic music.

Categories
Common Synthesizer Controls Sound Design and Production Concepts

Octave Control

A synthesizer’s octave control is a feature that enables the user to change the sound’s pitch up or down by one or more octaves. The frequency of a note is doubled or halved in an octave, a musical interval that spans 12 semitones (the space between two notes on a piano).

The pitch of a sound can be changed to match the key of a song or to add tension or dissonance to a melody using an octave control. By gradually changing the pitch up or down, it is also possible to give a sound a sense of motion or animation.

Many synthesizers have an octave control, which may be a knob, a button, or a switch, allowing the user to alter the sound’s pitch in steps of one or more octaves. Some keyboard controllers also have an octave control that can be used to adjust the pitch of an attached hardware synthesizer or a software synthesizer.

Overall, the octave control is a straightforward but practical feature that can be used to add character and depth to a sound and give a synthesizer patch a sense of motion and animation. Both the creation of music and live performances can benefit from it.

Categories
Uncategorized

Grains

In granular synthesis, a grain is a small, individual sound segment used as the building block for creating new sounds. Usually, only a few milliseconds to a few hundred milliseconds long, grains are very brief audio snippets. They are frequently taken from longer sound files, like recordings of musical instruments or natural sounds.

These tiny sound particles are combined, layered, and processed in various ways to produce new sounds in granular synthesis. The grains can be altered in real-time using different parameters like amplitude, panning, and filtering and being played back at various speeds and pitches.

Granular synthesis can be used to produce a variety of sounds, from the sounds of conventional instruments to more experimental and abstract sounds. The method is renowned for its capacity to create intricate and dynamic textures and its innovative sound manipulation.

A granular synthesizer may use a live audio input, samples, or even a combination of the two to implement granular synthesis in various ways. The grains may be produced in real-time or in advance. The grains can be played back in several ways, including random order, specific order, or in a loop.

In granular synthesis, grains are the basic building blocks of sound, and manipulating them is the secret to producing distinctive and intricate tones.

Categories
Uncategorized

Index

In wavetable synthesis, a wavetable is a collection of pre-recorded sound samples, usually stored in a digital format. Any sound source, from a short sine wave to a sophisticated recording of an instrument or a soundscape, can be used for these samples. Each entry in the table that contains the samples represents a different point in the waveform. The index is used to choose the wavetable’s starting point for the waveform when a sound is produced.

A variety of sounds can be produced from a single wavetable by modulating the index over time. For instance, a steady, unchanging tone will be produced if the index is moved slowly through the table. The sound produced, however, will be more complex and dynamic with changes in harmonic content and overall character if the index is moved quickly through the table.

In addition, various wavetables can be used to produce multiple sounds. For instance, a wavetable with piano sound samples will sound different from a wavetable with synthesized sound samples. Wavetable synthesis is a potent tool for sound synthesis and design because of its adaptability.

In conclusion, wavetable synthesis plays a particular sound by indexing a table of sound samples to a specific position. Various sounds can be created by modulating the index over time, and various wavetables can be used to produce various sounds.

Categories
Uncategorized

Motion

Motion control in wavetable synthesis refers to the capability to change the wavetable index’s position over time to produce movement or evolution in the sound. A low-frequency oscillator (LFO), an envelope, or even a keyboard controller can be used to modulate the index to accomplish this.

For instance, changing the index position over time using an envelope can result in a sound that varies from state to state. The sound can be made to cycle by modulating the index with an LFO at a slower rate. The player can create expressive and dynamic performances by changing the index position in real time with a keyboard controller.

Motion control also enables the real-time fusion of various wavetables with a unique index position to produce more complex sounds. Wavetable interpolation, a method that allows seamless changes between different wavetables, creates a more dynamic and varied sound.

The ability to change the wavetable index’s position over time to produce movement or sonic evolution is known as motion control in wavetable synthesis. It can be accomplished by modulating the index with various control signals, like an envelope, an LFO, or a keyboard controller. It also enables the creation of more complex sounds by combining multiple wavetables.

Categories
Uncategorized

Patch Cables

Synthesizer patch cables are cables that are used to connect different components of a modular synthesizer. They route audio signals, control voltages (CV), and gate signals between different modules.

Individual modules, such as oscillators, filters, and envelopes, make up modular synthesizers. These modules can be connected in various ways to produce numerous sounds. Patch cables are used to connect one module’s output to another’s input so that a signal can travel between them.

To help distinguish between audio and CV signals, the cables typically have 1/8″ or 3.5 mm mono jacks on either end. Additionally, they vary in length and can be found in a variety of styles, including braided patch cables, ribbon cables, and cables with multiple colors.

In conclusion, patch cables for synthesizers are the cables used to connect the various parts of a modular synthesizer. They allow signals to flow between various modules and a variety of sounds to be produced. They route audio signals, control voltages, and gate signals between various modules.

Categories
Common Synthesizer Controls

Pitch Shifter (Wheel)

A synthesizer’s pitch shifter wheel is a control that enables the user to alter the pitch of the sound the synthesizer is producing. The real-time implementation allows dynamic and expressive changes in the sound’s pitch. A variety of effects, including harmonies, octave shifts, and original sound compositions, can be produced by pitch shifting. Others may use a similar control, like a joystick or ribbon controller, to achieve the same effect. Some synthesizers have a dedicated pitch shift wheel.

Categories
Common Synthesizer Controls

Modulation Wheel

A synthesizer’s modulation wheel, also known as a mod wheel, is a control that enables the user to alter the amount of modulation being applied to the sound being produced by the synthesizer. Modulation, which can produce various effects such as vibrato, tremolo, and pitch bend, is the process of using one signal to control or affect another signal. The modulation wheel can make expressive changes to the sound in real-time and is typically situated to the keyboard’s left. The same effect can be produced on some synthesizers using a modulation lever or button. Depending on the synth, the modulation source and destination can change. An LFO modulating the pitch or the filter cutoff is one example.

Categories
Common Synthesizer Controls Sound Design and Production Concepts

Unison

Unison is a feature that allows multiple voices (or oscillators) to play the same note simultaneously, which can create a thicker and more complex sound. This can be used to create a variety of sounds, from subtle thickening to aggressive and complex sounds, by layering multiple voices, each with the same pitch and characteristics.

Depending on the synthesizer, the number of voices in unison can vary, and some synths might let the user adjust the number of voices, the degree of detuning, and the stereo spread. The amount of detuning determines how far each voice is from its original pitch, which can result in a more organic and natural sound. A more expansive and immersive sound can be produced by adjusting the stereo spread, which determines how widely the sound is dispersed across the stereo field.

A classic synth sound, reminiscent of the fat analog synth sounds from the 1980s, can be produced using the Unison feature, frequently found on virtual analog or digital synthesizers. Additionally, it can build intricate and changing soundscapes or give a straightforward melody depth and movement. Some synths let you play multiple notes at once, and each note will start a new voice, increasing the synth’s polyphony.

In conclusion, the Unison feature layers different voices to give the sound more depth and complexity. The number of voices, degree of detuning, and stereo spread can all be changed. It is an effective tool for producing a variety of sounds, from traditional synth sounds to intricate soundscapes.