Music Gizmo

Analog synthesizers have regained some degree of popularity in recent years, as electronic dance music has become more widespread and successful. Although analog technology has become replaced by cheaper digital modeling technology with more features, the goal of VA (virtual analog) synthesis is to be able to recreate the warmth and nuances of the highly variable analog circuits of yesteryear. The ability of digital components to accurately model is the subject of great debate and beyond the scope of this article, but a general consensus is maintained that they are becoming more and more difficult to tell the difference between.

With that in mind, the assumptions that this article works under include the following: That you possess an analog or virtual analog synthesizer with at least one oscillator (VCO), a low pass filter with resonance (LPF) and key tracking (also called key follow on some models), one or more standard ADSR-type envelope generators (EG) that can be routed to affect amplitude, filter cutoff frequency, and preferably pitch, and a white noise source. Even with such a relatively limited palate of sound-sculpting tools, a large number of exciting sounds can be achieved.

Furthermore, these articles will make the following assumptions about the default settings (an initialized patch, if you will) of your synth in the interest of consistency. First, the oscillator footage (or octave) should be an intermediate setting (16′ or 8′). The filter should be wide open (all the way up so as to let all sound pass through unaffected) with no resonance. The envelope(s) should have zero attack, decay, and relase with %100 sustain. With these parameters adjusted to the preceding values, most basic synth sounds can be easily realized.

In this article we will examine classic analog percussion sounds similar to the drum machines and synths of the 80’s through modern techno and house music. Let’s start with a basic snare-type sound. Use a relatively mellow waveform such as a triangle wave, blended with however much white noise is appropriate to your ears. The key here is to find a good ratio between the sound of the shell of a snare drum (the oscillator) and the crack of the “drum head,” which is approximated with noise. Keep the filter open for now. Set the amp envelope to have zero attack and sustain and quick decay (a third or less) with a little bit of release. These parameters can be adjusted, depending on whether you are going for a more or less realistic sound.

This should put you comfortably within the realm of the classic Roland drum machines of the 80’s, which used ringing oscillators excited by a noise source to achieve their classic sound. For a more Kraftwerk-esque thwipp-type snare, use the filter in conjuntion with an envelope with similar parameters to the amplifier EG. Set the filter cutoff frequency fairly low with resonance to taste (try at every setting, but watch your speakers and ears at high resonance settings!). Use a healthy amount of envelope modulation to keep the transient bright, with a more muted decay. Now you can make some sweet synth-pop snares.

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The most commonly used electronic instruments are synthesizers, so-called because they artificially generate sound using techniques such as additive, subtractive, FM and physical modeling synthesis to create sounds. Synthesizers are used for the composition of electronic music and in live performance.

A brief history

The first electronic sound synthesizer, an instrument of awesome dimensions, was developed by the American acoustical engineers Harry Olson and Herbert Belar in 1955 at the Radio Corporation of America laboratories at Princeton, N.J. The information was fed to the synthesizer encoded on a punched paper tape. It was designed for research into the properties. Dr. Robert Moog introduced the first practical commercial modern music synthesizer with his Moog synthesizer. This instrument used a series of tone generators with keys that would adjust the pitch of the tone generators. The first digital synthesizers were academic experiments in sound synthesis using digital computers.

A brief discussion on electronic sound synthesizer

The word synthesis means to produce by combining separate elements. Thus, synthesized sound is sound that a musician builds from component elements. A synthesized sound may resemble a traditional acoustic musical timbre, or it may be completely novel and original. This characteristic is common to all synthesized music. Electronically-generated music has not only generated its own totally separate field of music, but several sub-genres. An electronic music synthesizer is capable of creating sounds that are quite unlike any other instrument known to mankind. Creating and using electronic synthesizers and related sound equipment involves considerable aspects of electrical engineering, physics, and math. Using synthesizers to create music is a field where all of these seemingly disparate branches of knowledge come together to produce what is quite possibly the most elegant fusion of art and science currently known to humanity.

Important features of Electronic sound synthesizer

Some of the most important features which are responsible for creating heavenly music from an electronic sound synthesizer are Oscillators, Filters, Envelope, Amplifier and Equalizer.

Oscillators - An oscillator is simply a circuit that generates a repeating electrical wave, like a sine wave, square wave, or saw tooth wave. The oscillator is sometimes called a VCO. An oscillator on a synthesizer usually allows varying the pitch, volume, and shape of the wave to make the tone sound different.

Filters - A filter is a processing element that does something with a sound, usually eliminating part of a sound. The filter on a synthesizer is sometimes called a VCF. It might eliminate sounds of a certain pitch or volume while allowing other sounds to pass through.

Envelope - The envelope generator is most commonly used to control the amplitude or volume of the sound, by routing it to the control input of the VCA. It is even used to control the timbre of the sound, by routing it to the control input of the VCF.

Amplifier - The amplifier can raise, or lower the height of the waveform, thereby raising or lowering the volume of the sound. To control the volume of a sound in the synthesizer, the signal is passed through an amplifier circuit.

Equalizer - An equalizer is a tool which allows you to selectively amplify or attenuate certain frequency ranges of sound.

About the Author: Victor Epand is an expert consultant for guitars, drums, and synthesizers. You can find the best marketplace for guitars, drums, and synthesizers at these 3 sites: guitars, bass guitar gears , drums, drum sets, drum kits, and electronic sound synthesizers, keyboards.
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A string synthesizer is also commonly known as a guitar synthesizer, or guitar synth. It is any one of a number of systems originally conceived to allow a guitar player to play synthesizers. There are two main types of string synthesizers. One outfitted with real guitars as an additional gear to actuate a synthesizer. The other one are guitar like MIDI controllers. Both types have their advantages and disadvantages. MIDI guitar is often used as a synonym for the field of guitar synthesis or for a string synthesizer, but MIDI is not involved in every case.

By tradition, the synthesizers have a keyboard interface that allows a human to play the instrument. However, a human interface does not necessarily need to be a keyboard. At the same time human interface is also not necessary. This is because the synthesizers produce sound electronically, thus any sort of input device can actuate them. In this case a string synthesizer provides an interface, which is familiar to the instrument player.

To make the job of the player easy, a few manufacturer of effects unit market string synth pedals. These effects use a variety of techniques to make the stringed instrument sound more like a synthesizer, but they are not really the stringed instrument.

However, the earliest string synthesizers were based on real and actual string instruments. Top music instrument production brands like Roland, App, Axon, Ibanez, Casio and Yamaha manufactured the string synthesizer. Roland however remains the pioneer in this context.

The properties or the components of a string synthesizer are as followed. However, these components may be integrated or modularized in different ways.

A stringed instrument. The instrument can be electric as well as acoustic, for example, an acoustic guitar.

A divide pick up is also known as the hexaphonic pickup. This provides six distinct outputs, one for each string.

A converter, which determines the pitch coming from each of the strings, transmits this information to a synthesizer.

A synthesizer, which generates the intended note.

In some string synthesizers the hexaphonic pickup may be a separate component, which can be mounted on almost any string instrument. The hexaphonic pick up is sometimes built into the instrument as the part of the original guitar. The earlier string synthesizers required the musicians to use a proprietary string instrument, which was designed with an incorporated hexaphonic pickup. Much later manufacturers developed the line of pickups, which allowed the pickups to be mounted onto any guitar.

Today, several guitar manufacturers offer their guitar models with integrated hexaphonic pickup and preamp system, which is compatible with any guitar synth hardware.

Usually a cable connects the hexaphonic pickup to the converter. This allows the player or the guitarist some more freedom of movement, along with being creative with the converter.

The timbres of the guitar and synthesizers can be blended together at any ratio, enabling the musician to play guitar alone, guitar and synthesizer, or synthesizer alone. As a guitarist if you are using a hexaphonic pick up as separate component you can use any guitar and be creative.

About the Author: Victor Epand is an expert consultant for guitars, drums, and synthesizers. You can find the best marketplace for guitars, drums, and synthesizers at these 3 sites: guitars, drums, drum sets, drum kits, and string synthesizers, string keyboards.
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