Tutorial - Analogue Synthesis for beginners

You've probably got a soft synth. In fact, you may Six Waves
well have half a dozen - there are lots of them out ...and the differences between them
there on the net. But if, for some reason, you
haven't got one yet, you'll be overjoyed to find at
least two - including Atom and SynC Modular - on
our CD. The big question is, how do you program a
synth to create all those luvverly phat, filter
sweepy sounds? Or, indeed, those thin, weedy,
nose-pickin' sounds?

Most soft synths - and many hardware synths, too, for

that matter - use analogue synthesis to generate their
sounds. In fact, the digital synthesis methods used by
many digital synthesizers are based on the principles of
analogue synthesis, and a basic grounding in analogue
will help you understand how most synths work. The sine wave produces a simple pure tone with no
harmonics.
It's not difficult. Well, okay, we'd be the first to admit
that some of it can get pretty hairy, but then so can
crossing the road. In this feature we'll explain the basics
which will give you enough information to tweak the
sounds in an analogue synthesizer and create new ones
from scratch. A very good way to understand what the
controls we're going to talk about do, is to load a soft
synth and tweak the parameters as we describe them.
The combination of reading with practical examples will
make the process much easier to understand. So fire up
that digital noise machine and let's get synthin'!

The three stages The triangle wave produces a tone similar to the sine,
Synthesis is about the creation of sound, and whichever but a little less 'round' as it contains a few harmonics.
way that sound is put together, it will have three main
elements - pitch, tone (or timbre) and loudness.
Analogue synthesis is essentially a three-stage process:

Tone generation > tone shaping > volume shaping

The pitch side of the three elements is created when the

sound is played from a keyboard or via a sequencer
when the system receives a note message telling it what
pitch to play.
In analogue synthesis, raw sounds are generated with an
oscillator, tonal shaping is performed with a filter, and
volume is controlled by an envelope generator. We'll look
at each of the stages in turn and see how they fit into the
big picture. The square wave is made up from odd numbered
An oscillator is a device for generating waveforms. In harmonics and sounds hollow.
older analogue synths they were regular or cyclic
waveforms such as sine, triangle, square and sawtooth,
but computer-based oscillators can generate all sorts of
weird and wonderful wave shapes.

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Tutorial - Analogue Synthesis for beginners

You can hear the differences between waveforms

because they each have a distinct sound which is
determined by their harmonic content. Each wave is
based on a fundamental frequency which is the actual
pitch we hear. A tone which consists only of the
fundamental is a sine wave and sounds very pure, almost
flute-like, because it has no harmonics.

Harmonics, sometimes called partials, are frequencies

which are higher than the fundamental and which give a
sound its tonal colour. The relationship between the
fundamental and its harmonics can be simple or very
complex. A square wave, for example, contains only odd-
numbered harmonics, each with a volume level
equivalent to its own number in the series. The third As more odd harmonics are added, the squre wave
harmonic is a third the volume of the fundamental, the becomes increasingly more square in shape.
seventh is a seventh the volume and so on. Square
waves have a hollow, clarinet-like sound.

A sawtooth or ramp wave contains all the harmonics,

again at their reciprocal volume level as in the square
wave described above. This type of wave generates a
very rich, brassy sound. Triangle waves sound a little like
sine waves but have a few harmonics. Pulse waves are
also common and sound nasal, like an oboe. There are
also noise generators which contain a full range of
frequencies and which sound like... noise!

Most oscillators have a pitch control which lets you set

the basic pitch of the output. It usually works like an The sawtooth ramp contains all harmonics and sounds
octave up/down control. The note information from a rich and brassy.
keyboard or sequencer is added to the oscillator's basic
pitch to create notes.

Harmonics, sometimes called partials, are

frequencies which are higher than the
fundamental and which give a sound its
tonal colour.

Noise is a combination of many frequencies and sounds,

er, noisy.

Playing with resonance in atom:

Make that sucker squeal!
Get Atom for free from Muon...
One feature of the resonance control in many
analogue synths is that if it's cranked up very
high, it can feed back on itself. We can produce a
similar effect with Atom. Click on File in the Atom rack,
select Load Bank and load the MuonAtom.fxb file which
came with the program.

Use the Prog button to select Prog 16,

ElecPiano2, which we'll totally transform. Use the
Param buttons to select Resonance and then use the
dial to crank this right up to 100 percent. Set EnvMod
to around 50 percent but do experiment with this
value as it can totally alter the sound.

Now, using the Param buttons and the dial, set

Cutoff to between 15 and 50 percent
(experiment) and set the VCO Bal to 0-100. The sound
you hear very much depends on the pitch of the notes
in the loop. Try notes in the C2-C3 range. You can
fiddle with the VCF parameters too.

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Tutorial - Analogue Synthesis for beginners

Fab filters Body shaping

The waveforms are our raw material. We obviously don't We now have a tone which has been filtered to produce a
want every sound we produce to sound like a square wave different sound to the original waveform. The next stage
or a sawtooth wave, so we use a filter to change it. is to shape its loudness contour, or envelope as they say
If you've dabbled with digital audio, you'll be familiar with in Blyth. This determines the volume of the sound during
EQ effects. These are filters designed to cut or boost a its production. It can vary considerably between sounds
specific frequency band. A filter in a synth does much the and plays an essential part in giving a sound its own
same thing. The two main controls in a filter are the cutoff individual character.
frequency and resonance (sometimes known as Q and, less
often, emphasis). The cutoff frequency determines the
When you hit a woodblock, for example, its volume
point at which the filter starts filtering.
immediately rises to full and then just as quickly dies
There are several types of filter. Far and away the most away. Press a key on an organ and the volume rises to
common is the low pass filter. As its name suggests, this full volume, stays there as long as you hold down the
passes the lower frequencies while filtering out the higher key and then drops quickly when you release it. On a
ones. The point at which it starts filtering is the cutoff point piano the sound starts as soon as you press a key but
determined by the cutoff control. Its general result is to then dies away gradually, even with the key held down.
reduce the high frequency content, making the sound more String sounds take a little longer to reach full volume
bassy. (okay, we're talking fractions of a second, but our ears
can tell the difference) and a short while to die away.

The high pass filter works the other way around and filters
- or attenuates, if you're a techy synthesist type - the low All these are examples of volume envelopes, and
frequencies. Its general result is to remove the lower although some may appear quite complex, we can
frequencies, thereby making the sound thinner. duplicate most natural envelopes quite accurately using a
four-stage envelope generator. The four stages are called
There's also the band pass filter which passes a band of attack, decay, sustain and release, and envelope
central frequencies while filtering those above and below it, generators are often called ADSR generators after the
and the band reject or notch filter which filters the four phases. Here's what they do:
frequencies in a central band, leaving those above and
below. ● Attack: This is the length of time required for the
sound to reach its initial maximum volume.
If the cutoff frequency is set extremely low in a low pass
Obviously it will be very short for a percussive
filter, the filter won't pass any sound at all. The same if it is
sound.
set high in a high pass filter. Think about that for a
● Decay: This is what happens immediately after a
moment and you'll see it makes sense.
sound hits its maximum volume level in the
The resonance control is interesting. It boosts the attack phase. It's the time taken for the volume
amplitude (that's volume to us normal folks) of the to reach a second volume level known as the
frequencies around the cutoff point. As the resonance is sustain level.
increased, the boosted band becomes narrower. ● Sustain: This is not a length of time but a
Resonance, particularly if it can be varied in real-time volume level at which the sound sustains after
during the production of a sound, can create all sorts of the decay phase. In most sounds is it lower than
interesting wah effects. the attack volume, but it could be the same or
even higher. Usually, it's the volume at which a
Notice that all these filters remove harmonics from the sound plays while a key is being held down. This
main waveform. Some forms of synthesis construct a phase can, theoretically, last forever - or at least
sound from the ground up by adding waves together (this until you get tired of holding down the key.
is known, naturally enough, as additive synthesis), but ● Release: This is the final phase, again measured
analogue synthesis starts with a sound rich in harmonics in time, and is the time it takes the volume to
and chips bits off. It is, therefore, sometimes called reduce to zero.
subtractive synthesis.
Just to confuse matters - but only slightly - a sound does
not have to have all four phases. A woodblock, for
example only has an attack phase and a decay phase. An
organ has an attack phase, a sustain phase and a release
phase but no decay phase. As well as ADSR generators,
some synths, such as SynC Modular, have an AD (Attack/
Decay) generator.

ADSR: The four phases of an ADSR envelope.

Notice how they relate to a key being pressed.

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Tutorial - Analogue Synthesis for beginners

Modular Synthesis:
They're back, and this time they're soft!

Back in the 70s and early 80s, modular synthesizers were

very much in vogue. They included Roland's System 700
and the smaller 100M system, and there were several Moog
Modular systems. The common perception of a modular
synth is a wall-filling bank of synth modules with spaghetti
wires plugged into every orifice - and that is exactly what
these instruments look like.
What makes a modular synth modular is that it consists of
individual modules - easy, innit? Unlike performance or
hardwired synths (as virtually all keyboard-based synths are
today), the modules are not connected internally and need
to be physically linked in order to make a sound.
Connections are usually done with jack plug cables, and a
sound-producing configuration is known as a patch. Hence
It's modular and it synthesizes sound. Its a
the term patch is still used today to mean a 'sound', and the
modular synthesizer!
linking cables are called patch chords.
It's difficult to use a modular synth unless you know exactly
what you're doing, because the modules must be connected Many soft synths are modular - Native Instruments'
in specific ways to produce a sound. For example, if the Generator, Audio Architect, and the SynC Modular
keyboard's gate output (which basically triggers a note) is synth on this month's CD are but three examples.
not connected to the envelope generator, and that's not There are also a few modern hardware module synths
connected to the amplifier, you won't hear a thing. With a in production, but most of those are very expensive.
hardwired synth, everything is pre-connected so there is So in this case, as in so many others, soft is definitely
usually always some sound at the output, making it easier cheaper.
to change the sound by twiddling a few controls.

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Tutorial - Analogue Synthesis for beginners

Building blocks
Using just these three building blocks - oscillator, filter
and envelope generator - it's possible to create a huge
range of sounds, both natural-sounding and artificial. In Four Filters...
many synths, including Atom, the modules are already And we 'aint talking coffee...
connected (or hardwired, to use the correct terminology),
which means you only have to fiddle with the modules'
parameters in order to create sounds. In other synths,
such as SynC Modular, they're not, which means they
have to be connected using virtual patch chords before
you get any sound at all.

Obviously, synths of the hardwired variety are easier to

use, but modular synths are much more flexible and
capable of producing a greater range of sounds. You will
need to read the instructions to learn exactly how to
connect the modules, but essentially, the bits go together
as follows, in modular as well as hardwired synths...

The oscillator starts the ball rolling by generating a

waveform. This is fed into a filter which changes its tone, A Low Pass filter passes the low frequencies and
and this is fed into the output amplifier. The volume the attenuates the ones above the cutoff point.
amplifier produces is controlled by the envelope
generator.

That set-up is essentially all you need to create a simple

analogue synthesizer. But we don't just want to give you
that!

Most analogue synths have several oscillators, filters and

envelope generators, plus many modules of other sorts
to boot. But no matter how many modules you add or
how you patch them together, the basic signal path stays
the same: Oscillator > filter > amplifier. Let's look at
a couple of more advanced configurations.

Pushing the envelope A high pass filter passes the high frequencies and
attenuates the ones below the cutoff point.
If we use an envelope generator to control the
amplitude, can we also use it to control a different
module? Yes, we certainly can. Let's take a simple
woodblock-type envelope which goes straight up and
comes straight down again. What would happen if we
plugged this into a filter so it controlled the cutoff
frequency? Yes, the cutoff frequency would follow the
same pattern. If the cutoff frequency had been set to a
mid point, for example, the envelope would raise it on
the way up and lower it on the way down creating a filter
sweep effect. The filter would open as the sound
increased in volume and close as it decreased in volume
making the sound brighter on the way up and then
filtering out the harmonics on the way down. Hmm,
getting interesting, eh?
A band pass filter passes the high frequencies on either
side of the cutoff point and attenuates the ones further
What if we had two envelope generators - one to control
away.
the amplitude and the other to control the filter? We'd
have independent control over them both. Most synths,
including Atom, have at least two envelopes which can
be used for this very purpose.

Here's another thought: could it be used to control pitch?

Yes indeedy! Plug it into the oscillator and the pitch will
shoot up and then drop down, creating a sort of whistle
effect. These are very simple examples which you will be
able to create with any modular synthesizer. Hardwired
synths may not be as flexible, and although most will
allow you to route an envelope to the filter, not all will
allow you to route it to the oscillator, for example.

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Tutorial - Analogue Synthesis for beginners

Using just these three building blocks -

oscillator, filter and envelope generator -
it's possible to create a huge range of
sounds, both natural-sounding and
artificial.

The band reject or notch filter filters out the frequencies

around the cutoff point and passes the ones further away.

Making 'backwards' sounds in Atom

Synthesis in reverse
Get Atom for free from Muon...
You've probably heard sounds played backwards.
The main feature of such sounds is the way the
volume envelope works. Most sounds start off loud and
gradually get quieter. A backwards sound does the
reverse. Select Prog 15, ElecPiano1.

Set VCA Rls to 10, which is as low as it can go. Set

VCA Sus to 0 and VCA Dcy to 1. The output will
depend on the notes and their duration, but this has set
up a volume envelope that will drop very quickly as
soon as it reaches the end of its attack phase.

Experiment with the attack phase. Try a setting of

600 and experiment with settings around 300-900.
Longer settings will sound more 'backwards', but if it's
too long and the notes are short, the sound won't reach
a decent volume and you won't hear anything!

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Tutorial - Analogue Synthesis for beginners

How low can you go?

Let's look at one more module. This is probably the
most common additional module to be found in an
analogue synth - the LFO. No, this is not a Low Flying
Object but a Low Frequency Oscillator. As its name
suggests, it's an oscillator that vibrates at a frequency
way below our range of hearing. It could be set to
oscillate a few times each second or even once a minute.

The choice of waveforms in an LFO are often the same

as in an oscillator. The two main controls in an LFO are
depth and frequency. The frequency determines how
quickly the LFO runs and the depth is the amplitude of
the wave.

LFOs are most often applied to the oscillator to

modulate the pitch. Using a sine wave, for example, the
pitch will rise and fall regularly up and down. With a Increacing the resonance boosts the volume of the
frequency setting of around seven cycles per second, frequencies around the cutoff point. The higher the
the result will be a musical vibrato. Crank the depth up, resonance, the more prominent those frequencies
however, and it will turn into a siren! If a square wave become.
was used instead of a sine wave, the pitch would
oscillate between two pitches, rather like a trill. Select a Plug the LFO into the filter and you'll get a variety of filter
noise waveform and pitches will be generated at sweep effects. That's our quick look at the basics of
random. The depth setting here would determine the analogue synthesis. There are lots of other synthesis
upper and lower limits of the pitch range. modules for both hardware and software synths and most
of them can modulate each other - it's all rather
incestuous! The more complex and involved the
If you're wondering whether the LFO could be applied to modulations, the more complex and sonically interesting
other modules, you're way ahead of us. Plug a gently- the resulting audio output will be. But the basic audio
oscillating sine wave into the amplifier and the result routing from oscillator to filter to amplifier remains the
will be tremolo. Tremolo is to volume what vibrato is to same.
pitch. There - you've just mastered the essentials!

The rise, fall and rise again of the

analogue Synth:
Into the digital and beyond...

Analogue synthesizers use analogue circuitry to generate their sounds. It may seem like a quaint idea in this age of
digital chips, but that's the way it was in the dark ages. Analogue circuitry is not as stable as digital circuitry and
synths often went out of tune, although this often created a 'warm' effect much beloved by analogue synth
enthusiasts.
When digital synths arrived there was much rejoicing. The circuits were rock solid so tuning did not drift and
manufacturers could put more features on a chip than were possible with analogue designs. However, this soon lead
to a proliferation of over-complex parameters, multi-level menus, small LCD displays, and buttons which had several
functions. For this reason, many users never even attempted to tweak the sounds or create a new ones.
Digital synths also lacked hands-on controls. The filter, for example, couldn't be adjusted on the fly because it was
hidden behind a menu. So manufacturers brought out synths with twiddly bits, such as Roland's JD-800.
The new music and the new musicians of the 90s demanded more hands-on control, not to mention fat, sweepy
noises, so the old analogue synths of yesteryear were resurrected and exchanged hands for unfeasibly large sums.

As computers grew in power, it didn't long for a few astute programmers to realise that an analogue synth could be
programmed in software. So that's what they did and a whole new genre of music software was born. Even though
soft synths look and work like analogue synths, they are actually digital (software's digital, see). But being software,
it's easy to add extra modules and features, and soft synths, being endlessly redesignable, have the potential for
even more mind-blowing complexity than digital synths. Now that's progress!

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