There are many ways to synthesize a musical tone.
Here are a few popular synth types you’ve probably seen floating around.
Subtractive: First we generate a harmonically rich buzz. Then we filter the buzz down to something pleasing sounding. This is where electronic synths started. Think Minimoog and the Juno 6.
FM: Modulate an oscillator’s frequency by another oscillator to generate wild timbres, then tweak work to tame that madness. Think 1980s. Think Stanford University patents and the Yamaha DX7.
Wavetable: Create sequences of stored waveforms. Play through the sequences at different rates, transitioning between them to create rich and rapidly evolving tones. Think Dubstep. Think PPG, Waldorf, Serum and Vital.
Granular: Chop up samples into tiny grains of sound that then get time-stretched, pitch-shifted, randomized to create textured evolving sounds. Think ambient, glitch, film soundtracks.
Additive: All sounds can be technically decomposed into pure sine waves components. That means theoretically, one can build up any sound from combinations of pure sine waves. Think Kawai K5000, FL Harmor and Sine Machine.
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