Direct digital synthesizer
Direct Digital Synthesizer (DDS) is a type of frequency synthesizer used for creating arbitrary waveforms from a single, fixed-frequency reference clock. Applications of DDS include: signal generation, local oscillators in communication systems, function generators, mixers, modulators,sound synthesizers and as part of a digital phase-locked loop.
Overview
A basic Direct Digital Synthesizer consists of a frequency reference (often a crystal or SAW oscillator), a numerically controlled oscillator (NCO) and a digital-to-analog converter (DAC) as shown in Figure 1.
The reference oscillator provides a stable time base for the system and determines the frequency accuracy of the DDS. It provides the clock to the NCO which produces at its output a discrete-time, quantized version of the desired output waveform (often a sinusoid) whose period is controlled by the digital word contained in the Frequency Control Register. The sampled, digital waveform is converted to an analog waveform by the DAC. The output reconstruction filter rejects the spectral replicas produced by the zero-order hold inherent in the analog conversion process.
Digital synthesizer
A digital synthesizer is a synthesizer that uses digital signal processing (DSP) techniques to make musical sounds. This in contrast to older analog synthesizers which produce music using analog electronics and samplers which play back digital recordings of acoustic, electric or electronic instruments.
History
The very earliest digital synthesis experiments were made with general-purpose computers, as part of academic research into sound generation. In 1975, the Japanese company Yamaha licensed the algorithms for frequency modulation synthesis (FM synthesis) from John Chowning, who had experimented with it at Stanford University since 1971. Yamaha's engineers began adapting Chowning's algorithm for use in a commercial digital synthesizer, adding improvements such as the "key scaling" method to avoid the introduction of distortion that normally occurred in analog systems during frequency modulation, though it would take several years before Yamaha were to release their FM digital synthesizers.
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