![]() In any event, how they sound to your ears is the most important factor.ĭigital waveforms on the other hand can be made to be perfectly shaped, or made in radical new shapes. This is part of what creates the unique character of analog waveforms. The shapes of the actual waveforms produced by synthesizers are often approximations of the standard waveforms and sometimes they don’t even look close to what they claim to represent. Sometimes this waveshaping from one to another can create a spike or glitch in the imposed waveforms. Typically triangle core oscillators tend to respond better to fast frequency modulation, while sawtooth core oscillators are easier to phase reset and generally have richer harmonics in their saw waves. This is where the terms triangle core and sawtooth core come from. In most analog oscillators, one waveform is produced, usually either a triangle or sawtooth wave, and then run through a waveshaper to alter the waveform into the other shapes. Here the slave oscillator trying to play a steady tone, but is forced to sync to another oscillator which changes in octave, then receives frequency modulation from an LFO. Each successive harmonic descends in amplitude, or volume, by half and this cascade creates the descending sawtooth shape. Therefore a sawtooth wave played at 100Hz will have harmonics at 200Hz, 300Hz, 400Hz and so on. Sawtooth waves are the most harmonically rich, because they have harmonics every integer above the fundamental. This can add brightness, complexity and texture to the sound. The other waveforms have added harmonics or overtones that take place above the fundamental. Sine waves represent the pure tone of a single frequency, which is called the fundamental. ![]() Sine, Triangle, Sawtooth, and Pulse (or Square) are the four most commonly utilized synthesizer waveforms. The shape of the oscillation determines the timbre or tone of the sound. #Osculator wave icon fullWe call one full fluctuation a cycle, or period, and refer to the shape that these oscillations take as a waveform. The rate of these fluctuations determines the frequency, or pitch of the tone, and this is tuned to produce the notes struck by the keys. ![]() If these cycles take place between 20 and 20,000 times per second they are audible to the human ear. Instead of moving back and forth like a guitar string, the oscillator cycles between positive and negative voltages. If you consider the fact that all of the sounds we hear are vibrations in air, oscillators are creating synthetic vibrations that become sound once connected to a speaker. They come in different shapes and can be produced by a variety of techniques to make your imagination audible. The raw sound source that spawns the diverse range of tones and timbres spewed by all synthesizers. ![]()
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