Newsgroup: it.arti.musica.strumenti.tastiere
Titolo: richiesta spiegazioni sintesi

Ok. E' giunto il momento di fare un po' di ordine nella mia testa.
Qualcuno può prendersi la briga di spiegarmi alcune differenze tra i
tipi di sintesi e di sintetizzatori. A naso sto iniziando a capire
quali sono i tipi di synth che lavorarono in un modo o nell'altro e
che sonorità possono ricreare, ma non so in realtà quali sono i
principi su cui si basa la sintesi (digitale, analogico, FM, che
vogliono dire in realtà?). Inoltre se una tastiera adopera controlli
analogici, vuol dire che anche la generazione dei suoni è tale?
Spero possiate aiutarmi a integrare quel poco che ho già capito
soprattutto seguendo i vostri thread. (riterrei molto utile a questo
scopo il progetto delle F.A.Q. dove si potrebbero già trovare alcune
risposte per i meno esperti).
Grazie.

 Grazie.
Pronti? Via
I synth si dividono grosso modo in due categorie: analogici e digitali.
I primi utilizzano dei circuiti che lavorano sulle tensioni, i secondi
invece solo sui numeri e calcoli che vengono poi tradotti in suono da un
convertitore D/A.
Gli analogici
Gli analogici utilizzano in gran parte la sintesi sottrattiva, cioè un
filtro sempre analogico che nella maggior parte dei casi taglia le
frequenza superiori (filtro passabassi o LPF da Low Pass Filter) a un
punto detto cutoff e che può enfatizzare la frequenza di taglio con la
risonanza. Questa è la sintesi sottrattiva che, essendo un concetto e
non una tecnologia, può essere applicato anche ai synth digitali. Dire
analogico non significa dire solo sintesi sottrattiva perchè gli
analogici più evoluti e i modulari possono produrre anche suoni in
modulazione di frequenza, modulazione d'ampiezza e sincronizzare il
ciclo della forma d'onda di un oscillatore con quello di un altro. Nei
modulari poi hai la possibilità di fare quasi tutto quello che vuoi. Di
nuovo queste non sono tecnologie ma concetti e infatti modulazione di
frequenza, sync e (in parte) modulazione d'ampiezza possono essere fatti
anche (e soprattutto) su synth digitali.
Tipico dei synth analogici sono i controlli in tempo reale dei parametri
attraverso manopole, interruttori e switch. Sui primi modelli i
controlli erano anch'essi analogici, dal Prophet 5 in poi è stato messo
un microprocessore che si incaricava di convertire il valore del
controllo in dati da memorizzare per creare memorie di patch. 
Quindi il fatto che ci siano manopole e cursori non indica a priori se
si tratti di un synth analogico o digitale. Per informazione oggi tutti
i controlli in tempo reale, compresi quelli dei synth analogici più
moderni, sono sotto gestione di un microprocessore che permette di
salvarne la posizione per memorizzare la patch.
Le tecniche di sintesi
Ricordando che alcune tecniche di sintesi possono essere utilizzate sia
da synth analogici e che digitali, queste di seguito sono le più frequenti
- Wavetable: vengono memorizzati dei campioni in ROM che vengono poi
"letti" dal sintetizzatore riproducendo il campione. E' tipico di tutte
le workstation e di moltissimi synth digitali. Non è ovviamente una
tecnica adattabile all'analogico dove la forma d'onda è prodotta da un
oscillatore controllato in tensione. Quando si può modificare il punto
di partenza della wavetable e scansire le forme d'onda memorizzate
attraverso una sorgenti di modulazione, si ha il caso della serie
Microwave di Waldorf  ripreso dal PPG Wave. Tale tecnica è stata
impiegata anche su Korg Wavestation, Ensoniq Fizmo, Ensoniq serie
VFX/SD/TS 
- Sintesi sottrattiva: come detto c'è un filtro per tagliare frequenze.
Quando le frequenze sono in gamma alta si parla di un filtro passabasso
(LPF), quando sono nella gamma inferiore il filtro è un passa alti
(HPF), quando sono combinati LPF e HPF si arriva al Band Pass Filter che
ha due cutoff, uno per le frequenze superiori e uno per quelle
inferiori. La versione classica è un filtro, analogico o digitale, passabasso.
- Sintesi additivia: poichè un suono può essere scomposto in un
determinato numero di armoniche secondo il teorema di Fourier, sarebbe
possibile ricomporlo sommando diverse armoniche a livelli differenti.
Tipico di Kawai serie K5 e K5000, Kurzweil K150 e K150 FS non
rintracciabile in Italia, ma anche del DX7. Il concetto di sintesi
additiva è generalizzabile anche su tutti i synth con più di un
oscillatore: basta usarne due con forme d'onda diverse per avere una
rudimentale sintesi additiva.
- Sintesi FM: il principio si basa sulla modulazione delle frequenza di
un oscillatore  usandone un altro con frequenza in campo audio. Usato su
tutta la gamma DX, SY77/99/TG77, SY22/TG33, FS1R di Yamaha, ma possibile
anche su synth analogici come modulari, Oberheim Matrix 12 e Studio
Electronics Omega 8
- Sintesi a distorsione di fase o con waveshaping: un parametro
dell'oscillatore può essere modificato da una funzione matematica. Casio
serie VZ per la modulazione di fase, e Korg 01W per il waveshaping
- Sintesi a modelli fisici: inzialmente concepita per emulare strumenti
acustici, secondo il concetto che il suono viene sintetizzato secondo il
comportamento dell'esecutore, è stata impiegata da Yamaha sulla serie
VL. Versioni a minore potenza per gli strumenti acustici si trovano su
Korg Prophecy e Z1, Yamaha EX5 e nelle schede che utilizzano SondiusXG.
I modelli fisici non sono una vera e propria tecnica, ma piuttosto il
tentativo di descrivere con algoritmi il comportamento e la struttura di
qualsiasi cosa esistente sulla faccia della terra, considerando il più
possibile le variabili in gioco e cercando di avvicinarsi come risultato
alle condizioni reali. Altra applicazione dei modelli fisici è
l'emulazione dei synth analogici in sottrattiva, tramite algoritmi e CPU
più o meno potenti, e si trova sui prodotti Clavia, Waldorf serie
Microwave II e Q, Roland JP8000, Korg Prophecy/Z1/MS2000, Yamaha AN1x,
Access serie Virus, synth Novation (escluso BassStation), Oberheim OB12
Naturalmente questa è una semplificazione piuttosto sommaria e non
prende in considerazione la possibilità che un synth utilizzi più
tecniche di sintesi combinate tra loro come per Kurzweil per esempio. 
Spero di esserti stato utile
ciao
LucA

 Spero di esserti stato utile
Dimmi che lo posso mettere nelle FAQ!!!
Daiiiiiiiii!!!!!
Gerolamo

 Daiiiiiiiii!!!!!
in effetti volevo aggiunge un ps proprio per lasciartele pubblicare
eheheh :-))
sono tue, mi basta che ci sia il nome dell'autore
ciao
LucA

 LucA
Ci sarà, certo.
Comunque prima ti contatto...
Gerolamo

Mah...esiste il sistema scovato dalla Clavia sul Nord3....tanti led a
raggera e controlli rotativi senza fine corsa...
--
Bye-by:
Stv
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ste...@inwind.it
 (Generic E-Mail)
s...@libero.it
 (Music E-Mail - SoundOnSound Recording Xtudio)
ste...@ondanomala.com
 (Ondanomala E-Mail)
http://www.ondanomala.com
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grazie a tutti voi.

Può essere utiele? Ciao Nicolò!
What is Vintage Synthesis?
Vintage Synthesis can best be described as emanating from synthesizers which
many people regard as outdated, but which still provide a wealth of sounds
often bearing little resemblance to realistic sounds. They are usually based
on some mathematical and electronic circuit principles which don't rely on
sampling (usually!) or software for their sound-generation. This is
essentially what makes them so unique and varied, and so sought after.
However contradictory this may seem, it is for this very s ame reason that
some of their sounds have become so cliche and overused. This can of course
be attributed somewhat to sampling itself - People just can't get enough of
vintage sounds so many have been sampled to death. Samplers seem lost
without analogue sounds from Roland's TR808 and TR909 drum-machines. People
still crave the sound of a Rhodes electric piano, or perhaps a harpsichord
(Yuk!!) - A bit strange for equipment which should be technically and
sonically far more advanced??!
Who could forget the Yamaha DX7 electric pianos? What about that Roland
TR808 cowbell, or the thumping TR909 kick drum? No self-respecting dance
music would be found dead without some of these sounds in their arsenal (or
at least samples of these sounds!?) Instead of sampling vintage synths,
wasting time and RAM, why not just buy one of them? The reason is simple -
You could if you were the Sultan of Brunei or Bill Gates! You're looking at
people trying to sell of an old TR909 machine for over $1200! The ir prices
have been blown way out of proportion by the huge demand for new (or is that
old?) sounds. Fortunately some manufacturers have picked up on this -
Novation with their Drumstation and Basstations, Roland with their MC-303
and JP-8000, Yamaha has their AN1x and EX synths, and Korg has the Z1 and
Prophecy, to name but a few. Here you may find offerings of vintage sounds
at prices comparable and sometimes lower than original vintage equipment,
with all the modern conveniences of MIDI and polyph ony. Make no mistake, I
love vintage sounds, but the sampling era has helped push some of them into
monotonous oblivion. A new approach to sampling these beasts is to emulate
them on a sampler or wavetable synth like the AWE. The severe complexity
involved in this process alone should at least rid us of many of the cliched
sounds, not to mention inventing some surprisingly new ones. So how do we
achieve this?
The Architecture of a Vintage Synth
Firstly, to understand exactly how to emulate vintage synthesizers on your
AWE, we need to take a look at the architecture of vintage synthesizers. How
do they generate their sounds and how are these sounds processed before
reaching their final output? The answer to these questions should provide a
fair idea of the basic building blocks required for emulating vintage synths
on the AWE. Now before you take the following paragraphs as gospel truth
about vintage synths, let me explain that I have ha d an extremely low
amount of exposure to real analogue synths. In fact, the only analogue beut
I ever played around with was the Yamaha CS5, so there! I am however
reasonably knowledgeable in sound-processing on synths and samplers, and in
terms of the workings of vintage synths. So, expect an error here or there,
but by all means correct me if you think I'm wrong.
Firstly, every synthesizer must have at least one oscillator. An oscillator
in the simple sense is a wave-generator, or the initial sound-generator if
you like. When you pluck a guitar string, the vibrations (oscillations) of
the string produce a sound. So too does a synthesizer produce oscillations,
albeit a lot more simple than those of a guitar string. Whether these
oscillations are generated by analogue circuitry, mathematical principles or
the physical plucking of a guitar string is immateria l - They are all
oscillators. Obviously the more oscillators available, the more creative
potential you have at hand. Luckily the AWE allows you to layer sounds and
process them individually, giving you several potential oscillators to work
with. Exactly how many are available I don't know, but since the polyphony
is around the 32 mark (30 or 31 I think), I would guess you have around that
many oscillators to work with.
Secondly, the oscillator must be passed through a filter with a cutoff
frequency. This changes the colour of the initial sound by removing and
accentuating certain frequencies present in the oscillated source - A bit
like the way the shape of your mouth changes an "eeeeee" to an "ooooooh".
This is a major part of analogue synthesis (subtractive synthesis), and the
AWE has a pretty good filter to work with.
Thirdly, this filter can be controlled by a Filter Envelope Generator. This
means that the intensity of the filter can be set to vary according to a
specific pattern over time (ADSR Envelope). This allows certain frequencies
to be dulled and accentuated at different levels over time. The AWE has this
feature too, but unfortunately this ADSR (see explanation later) envelope is
shared by both the pitch and filter of the AWE - you can only assign the
envelope to one or the other, but not both. What a pity!
Fourthly, the resulting sound must then be passed through an Amplitude
Envelope Generator, which signifies how the volume of the sound should
change over time. This determines whether your synth sounds like a flute or
a piano! How fast does the sound reach it's maximum volume (Attack)? How
slowly does this volume fade away after releasing the key (Release)? This is
most commonly referred to as the ADSR of a synth - Attack, Decay, Sustain
and Release. Obviously this feature is also on the AW E otherwise it would
sound like an organ.
Low Frequency Oscillators (LFOs) are then applied to the volume to create
tremolo effects, or to the frequency to create vibrato effects, and also to
filter properties ("Wah-Wah") of the resulting sound. The AWE has 2 LFOs :
One reserved for vibrato, tremolo and wah-wah ; the other for vibrato only.
Both can be programmed to kick in after a specified time (delay), which is
quite a useful feature also found in most other synths. An LFO is basically
the same as any other oscillator, except that it h as an extremely low
frequency which is inaudible as a sound to the human ear. The LFO effect can
however be heard as a change in the sound. Unfortunately the AWE (well, the
Vienna software at least!) only provides a sinewave LFO. The addition of
others (Random, square, sawtooth ... etc) will hopefully be implemented on
newer cards, but I wouldn't bank on it. Actually, the addition of other LFO
waveforms would be an extremely welcome addition to the sonic arsenal of the
AWE cards.
Oscillators - The Beginning of a Sound
Figure 1. Vintage Oscillators - The Main Waveforms
Sine
 Triangle
 Square
 Sawtooth
 Pulse-Width
 White Noise
A Sine wave is very smooth in character, and ultimately doesn't change much
when passed through a filter. This is due to the fact that a filter actually
smooths any wave in the direction of a sine wave. For example, a filter can
smoothe the squareness of a square wave so that it begins to emit the
characteristic smooth sound of a sine wave. The transformation is not
exactly from square to sine wave, but the similarity between a filtered
square wave and a sine wave is definitely noticeable. Consequ ently a sine
wave has a more limited use than other waveforms in vintage synthesis. It
can however be used for very low, throbbing bass sounds and analogue
percussion sounds like kick and tom drums.
A Triangle wave is slightly brighter than a sine wave, and is more
susceptible to a filter. It can be used for flutey sounds, very synthetic
cheap-synth sounds, and also extremely harsh, thumping bass drums, like
TR909 kicks put through a bit of distortion. Remember the Casio VL1 VL-Tone
keyboard? A mixture of triangle and square waves is the primary source of
it's sounds. El-cheapo, here we come!!
The Square wave is extremely bright, almost to the point of being quite
harsh. It can be used for very bright woody-flutey sounds, and is perfect
for synth-pop sounds. This is a great waveform for emulating Yazooish (can I
say this?!) sounds, and especially Depeche Mode sounds from their Speak and
Spell era. Remember that "psuedo-cowbell" sound from Soft Cell's "Tainted
Love"? Square waves! When filtered it can fit right up there in the mix with
real retro synths.
The Sawtooth is the crux of vintage synths. It can be harsh and grinding in
it's raw form, and used hand-in-hand with filters this is the epitome of
retro-pop. It can be used for synth-bass and various string sounds, and for
those sounds that I like to call the ZZZZZ sounds - Roland MC202 bliss!
Especially for those TB303 lovers out there, this is where the AWE can
become your resident TB303 master - Heavely filtered sawtooth sounds on the
AWE are TB303 heaven! This is sweep city!
The Pulse-width waveform is a modified Square wave and it doesn't vary much
therefrom. It's sound is easily identifiable though because it has a
square-wave sound with a more grungy edge to it. Generally it is a square
wave with the width of the pulses altered in some way, causing a
characteristic change in sound. It is often used as an alternative to the
Square wave because it is variable and provides more interesting basic
sounds, especially when filtering is used. I honestly haven't paid much a
ttention to this waveform mainly because I never wrote any routines to
generete them, and as far as I know Cool Edit doesn't generate them either.
Whitenoise is a high-frequency random waveform. There is no structure at all
to the waveform, except to say that it is a series of random pulses. In it's
simplest form it sounds like the hiss of a radio which is not tuned into a
station properly. There are different colours of whitenoise which can be
generated, like pink or brown noise. The reason why we use the term colours
as opposed to pitch is because whitenoise, being random pulses, doesn't have
a pitched waveform. It can however be altered q uite easily using a filter.
Whitenoise is used mainly in soundfx, as well as percussion instruments
requiring noise (snares, hi-hats ... etc). It can of course also be used in
the emulation of calliopes, steam-flutes, choirs ... etc.
By combining these oscillators together, as well as the filters, envelope
generators (EG) and LFO's on the AWE, quite complex sounds can be generated.
Since the AWE has all the aspects of a vintage synth, all we need do is
create the basic waveforms as shown in the diagram above, and then process
them through the AWE. A simple way of doing this is to use Cool Edit to
produce the waveforms, and then once we have these waveforms, the AWE has
the power to perform many of the other functions which vintage sy nths are
famous for.
Creating the Waveforms
The easiest way to create these waveforms is as I said before, to use Cool
Edit. It generates all the above waveforms, except the Pulse-Width waveform.
I won't go into detail as to how to create specific synth sounds, except to
say that you should as far as possible try and limit your waveforms to 11/2
to 2 cycle wavelengths (the diagram above shows single wavelengths). This
way you can loop the waveform and it will, despite its tiny size, give you
an accurate representation of the original sound . This means you can cut
your soundfont down to a fraction of the size you would normally encounter
with sampling, but still have a workable sound. The whitenoise is usually
the only exception to the 11/2 - 2 length rule because of its random
quality. You will have to determine the optimum loop length of a whitenoise
waveform yourself.
Although synth sounds are relatively simple to create, percussion sounds are
an absolute nightmare to synthesize. The basis for vintage percussion on the
AWE is a Sine Wave and Whitenoise. With these waveforms you can generally
create a whole TR808 drum machine. Let me start with a discussion of what
constitutes the basic structure of the main percussion sounds :
1) Bass/Kick and Tom Drums
The first sound emanating from a bass drum is the noise created by the pad
hitting the surface of the drum, creating a loud, very short click. This is
followed by the fading "hum" of the resonating drum cone. This hum goes from
it's original pitch to a slightly lower pitch, although due to the very low
frequency and the shortness of the sound this is often not consciously
heard. The reason for the pitch change is very simple ... When you first
strike the drum, the skin of the drum is initially tight but fades back to a
lower taughtness after being hit. This causes a drop in frequency because
the tighter skin has a slightly higher pitch, which lowers as the drum skin
returns to it's original taughtness. Depending on the makeup of the bass
drum, this effect may vary considerably, but it is generally not very
noticeable on a kick drum. Thus there are 3 qualities needed (the first two
being all important) :
a) The initial click as the pad hits the skin.
b) The fading resonating boom after being hit.
c) The lowering pitch.
a) and b) can be created in one go using a sine wave: Generate a sine wave
at about 70-100 Hz. Clip it so that it starts at a maximum waveform value
(as far away as possible from the zero crosspoint). Since the waveform
starts away from the zero-crosspoint, it makes a click sound when the wave
is output - This is the initial click of the kick drum. When looped beyond
this click, you will have the resonating drum boom sound.
You can also just layer a very quick decaying whitenoise wave to form the
initial click rather than altering the Sinewave as in above, but for TR
sounds this doesn't work well. The decreasing pitch can be obtained using
the AWE's pitch ADSR after the waveform has been successfully looped. Use a
quick lowering of the pitch with the ADSR to create the right sound. For a
TR808 kick, the above works perfectly, but for TR909 kicks the pitch ADSR
doesn't quite have the "oomph" it needs. The pitch envelope just doesn't
shift far enough for that sharp, heavy kick sound.
2) Tom Drums
The Tom drum has the same format as the bass drum except that the pitch is
higher and the decay time usually a bit longer. Also it is here that the
pitch change becomes more noticeable, as well as the drop in frequency. An
additional feature to the Tom scenario is to layer a very short whitenoise
wave at the start of the Tom, at a relatively low volume and low pitch.
Depending on how you filter and pitch this whitenoise, you can give the Toms
a bit of a grungy sound rather than the usual clean boom s ound. The TR808
Toms use this format. The TR909 toms are a little more complex - it sounds
as if there is more than one waveform at work there. You could also try
using layered sinewaves for Toms as well, in an attempt to introduce a bit
of inharmonic content into the sound. This might bring you closer to the
sound of TR909 toms. Also, bongos use a variation of the tom sound in
vintage synths.
3) Snare Drums
For this you need whitenoise and a kick drum (as above). A Snare is similar
to a bass drum, with the major difference being the noise generated by the
springs attached to the underside of the drum skin. Generally, use the above
bass drum at a higher pitch (since a snare drum is smaller than a bass drum)
layered with a looped whitenoise waveform decaying as desired. This is the
basic building block of your snare drum. You can filter the whitenoise to a
desired colour, and also layer more whitenoise at different frequencies to
vary the sound. I have found that higher frequencies (colours?!) of
whitenoise are the best for snappy snares like those of the TR808 and TR909.
You can create a whitenoise wave in Cool Edit, and then filter it with the
quick filter, pushing up the high frequencies and excluding the lower ones.
This generally gives the most impressive high-frequency whitenoise waveforms
rather than using the AWE's filter. Be careful not to over-filter the
whitenoise because this makes your snares s ound puny, which is awful unless
you're looking for vintage Casio/Yahama home keyboard drum sounds or
mini-pops (remember the Casio PT-68 or old Yamaha PSR keyboards). Also,
adding a bit of reverb to the snares can be quite effective, although the
same doesn't apply to chorus - it makes the snare sound very awkward.
4) Hats and Cymbals
For the hats, use heavely filtered whitenoise layered with an ultra-high
frequency sine, square or triangle wave. The volumes of the whitenoise and
high-frequency wave will have to be jiggled a bit, but generally the hats
sound better with the filtered whitenoise louder than the high-frequency
wave. If possible, use Cool Edit's Quick Filter to boost the highest
frequency and remove all lower frequencies in the whitenoise wave. The need
for the AWE's filter may not even be necessary if you use this method. In
fact, sometimes heavely filtered whitenoise doesn't need another
hi-frequency tonal wave layered alongside to make the hat sound convincing.
The cymbals are similar, except I find it better to use more than one
high-frequency wave and detune them. This improves the inharmonic quality
(as opposed to the hissy quality) of the cymbal. Also, you can layer a
slightly lower frequency whitenoise waveform with a very short decay to
imitate the actual striking of the cymbal.
5) Cowbells
Well, depending on what type of cowbell you're trying to emulate, you can
rely on some additive waveforms in the shape of square and triangle
waveforms, with the lower pitches of the additive wave set at volumes much
higher than the high-pitched ones. You can also add a very short decay
whitenoise wave as well. Basically, for a TR808 cowbell you could use a
mixture of square and triangle waveforms making up an additive waveform.
Layer a minimum of 2 of these in a Vienna Instrument, and set one with a max
volume and short decay, and the other at a much lower volume and longer
decay. This will give you the general shape of the 808 cowbell output, which
is a very sharp attack and decay, with no sustain and a longer release time.
General Vintage Considerations
When attempting to emulate vintage synths, it is important to note that
there are several ways of creating convincing clones. Some have already been
mentioned, but here is a more detailed list :
1) Chorus
There are two types of chorus which are most prevalent in modern synths and
samplers. One takes copies of the original sound and plays them
out-of-phase. This produces a richer and more evolving sound, which analogue
synths are often characterized by. You can simulate this on the AWE by
layering two identical sounds into one patch. The other method takes copies
of the original sound and outputs them at a slightly different pitch. This
produces an effect which is essentially identical to the first met hod.
Technically they are very different, but the effect on our ears is often too
similar to be noticed. I'm not sure which method the AWE uses, but in any
event it is an integral part of emulating vintage synths. My advice is to
use lots of chorus on synth sounds, but hold back on the percussion sounds.
Using chorus is an easy and effective way of getting that unstable quality
which analogue synths are renowned for, and the AWE has this in abundance.
The great thing about chorus is that it fattens u p the sound - essentially
making a single oscillator sound like a few oscillators.
2) Detuning
Ahhhhh, this is where we reach an important, often overlooked part of
analogue synthesis! Although chorus can sometimes achieve a detuned effect,
for really tearing vintage sounds, detuning is a must. Many vintage synths
have more than 1 oscillator per sound. Output these at slightly different
pitches and they simulate a chorus effect. Fortunately further detuning
allows wide variations in the pitches of these oscillators, and this can go
way beyond a chorus effect. If you're looking for acid licks then this is
your baby! The AWE allows you to layer many oscillators, so the effect of
detuning these can become monstrous at times! The method I frequently use is
to layer 2 or more identical oscillators in an instrument. Use similar ADSR,
filter and LFO properties for each of these oscillators. When I say similar,
use slightly different rates of attack and decay of filters, LFO speeds and
values ... etc. This will create a more evolving sound, almost to the point
of being ever-changing - an analogue necessity! Then use the AWE's fine tune
to detune some of these away from the base pitch. When the goose bumps
settle after hearing this effect at work, you'll know that you've got what
you wanted! If you don't detune enough then the effect won't be more than a
chorus. Of course using both detuning and chorus will bring tears to your
eyes, mark my words! You can of course utilise waveforms panned left and
right as well to give you that ever-changing sound. Heavy detuning can give
aggressiveness to your sou nds.
3) Filters
You're not going to get very far in your vintage quest without this, believe
me. Use it often and use it abundantly whenever possible. If oscillators are
the voice of an analogue synth, then this is the mouth through which it
speaks - literally! Opening and closing a filter is similar to opening and
closing your mouth when you talk - it cancels and emphasizes frequencies.
4) LFO'S
Here's another vintage necessity which must be used in abundance for strange
and off-the-wall sound FX. Subtle use is of course necessary too, and it
gives your sounds an animated feel.
So, to recap, some of the most important waveforms you could generate from
Cool Edit are :
Sine Wave
Square/Pulse Wave
Sawtooth/Ramp Wave
Triangle Wave
Whitenoise Wave
Modulated Waveforms - FM (Frequency Modulation), PD (Phase Distortion),
Ring-Modulation, AM (Amplitude Modulation).
Additive Waveforms
Generally speaking you can get away with just generating different 440Hz
waveforms at 16-bit, 32Khz, but to get really harsh basses from a sawtooth,
or that thumping quality of a TR808 kick, you really need to generate some
110Hz sounds as well. Also, try using lower sample rates like 22Khz or even
16Khz for some bass sounds or kick drums. This tends to filter out higher
frequencies and give the sound a meaty bass thump.
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