So I know I've already talked a little about synth and synths patches and made a few of my own but in this blog I'm going to talk about the history behind synthesis and the basics for beginners like myself!
One of the first experiments regarding synthetic music was in 1897 when prominent inventor Thaddeus Cahill created the Telharmonium or better known as the Dynamophone. This device pictured above weighed over 200 tons and used 'dynamos' to create alternating currents of different audio frequencies. Cahill Originally build the machine to create music over telephone wires however the signal was too strong. Basically the whole thing was a failure but from it sparked the imagination of creating electronic based music.
Fast forward to 1928 when the Theremin was invited by the soviet inventor Léon Theremin (left) and contains two metal antennae that's control oscillators on one side and the amplitude on the other. This is where it starts to sound familiar, oscillators are still the building blocks of modern day synths because what a synth without a generated frequency. Past the theremin was the Martenot (right) in same year (1928) and the Hammond keyboard in 1938 a staple of early electronic music. As electronic music got more and more advanced instruments got weirder and more importantly smaller and more convenient to use apart from a type of hardware that is still being used today, modular synthesizers. Modular synthesis began around the 1960s and are a crucial part of synth music history. Without going into too much detail modular synths use a multitude of modules usually starting with an oscillator to generate a frequency then that is linked through other effects and modules that change the signal completely ending up with something totally unique at the end. All of the module get linked together with patch leads and the signal eventually finds its way to a speaker where the final result is played out loud. The whole process is extremely fascinating and it's easy to get lost just looking at a machine like the Moog synthesizer below.
Fast forward all the way to modern day and almost everything is digital, though of course there are still people like California artist Emily Sprague who use modular synthesizers to create music using hardware rather than software. Public synth software didn't start till around the 90's when computers were entering the mainstream and a company in Germany created Audiosim in 1996. Audiosim was the first commercial synth software running on DOS and it contained 2 oscillators, 4 envelope generators, 2 LFOs and a self oscillating multi-mode filter. Compared to today's synth programs it's super basic but at the time was considered revolutionary.
Synthetic music has come a long way since 1897 and is now commonly used in a lot of popular music, film and game sound, almost anything seems possible with synthesis.
I've already mentioned a few key words that may be unfamiliar to people within synthesis such as an oscillator, LFOs, envelopes ect but let me break it down for you with the basics of synthesis as told by a junior audio engineer.
The basics of synthesis:
Oscillators and waves:
I'm sure you're all aware that sounds are in take form in waves hence the term sound waves. So to create an electronic sound you start with a wave or signal generated by an oscillator. An oscillator generates a repeated signal such as a simple sine wave pictured below.
Now I know this is really basic stuff but its the building blocks of synthesis. To change the shape of a sine wave you change the frequency and amplitude of the signal. Mixing different wave forms together makes things much more interesting. Where a sine wave has a specific frequency other basic wave forms contain a multitude of frequencies such as a saw tooth or square wave.
As you can see on the right saw tooth waves look exactly like you think they might. Sawtooth waves are made of multiple sine waves each quieter than the last at specific repeating intervals.
So for example this Sawtooth wave's initial or fundamental frequency is 100hz and ever 100 hz after that (200, 300 etc) is 1/3 of the amplitude. This turns a simple calm tone into a sharp buzz using whats called harmonics. Harmonics are the way that frequencies blend together to change the shape of a wave form. A simple example of this is the harmonies within instruments. Below is a graph of three instruments playing the same note. Each of their waveform is of course different of course because they all sound different to us right? This is how harmonics affects sound but that does that have to do with creating synths?
Well to try and recreate an instrument or sound using a synth you need to understand how to create similar harmonies to match your wave form to the one you're trying to recreate. How else can we change wave forms to make a different sound?
Filters and Envelopes:
To start making some unique synth patches you general want to start with filter and envelopes. Simply put filters are any devices that modifies a signal in anyway. Filters allow you to select a range of frequencies and either boost or cut said frequencies. As we know doing so can change your wave form significantly. A common example of filters are high and low pass filters. As per their name sake they either allow high or low frequencies to pass, Low pass filter cut high frequencies and High pass cut lows. It's a little backwards but it makes sense after a while. These can be used to focus your sound waves and eliminate frequencies you don't want to focus on our just limit your range of frequencies.
Envelopes are quite different to filters but are almost always used in synthesis. An envelope sets the speed at which your note is played and how long it lasts once released. In the example below you can see an envelope set up to have a build up at the start of the note, maintained lower than the start then it fade off after a short time. Enveloped drastically change the way your synth patch behaves and there is a lot to learn when playing around with one.
I hope you learned a bit about synth creation, don't forget to check out my other blog where I made a few synth patches myself and feel free to leave me a comment if you have any more questions.
References:
Digital Sound & Music. (2018). 6.1.1 The Beginnings of Sound Synthesis - Digital Sound & Music. [online] Available at: http://digitalsoundandmusic.com/6-1-1-the-beginnings-of-sound-synthesis/ [Accessed 1 Dec. 2018].
En.wikipedia.org. (2018). Software synthesizer. [online] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Software_synthesizer [Accessed Dec. 2018].
Kreitzberg, C. (2018). Why the piano and violin sound different when they're playing the same note? My teacher said because the amplitudes are different. Is it correct?. [online] Quora. Available at: https://www.quora.com/Why-the-piano-and-violin-sound-different-when-theyre-playing-the-same-note-My-teacher-said-because-the-amplitudes-are-different-Is-it-correct [Accessed 10 Dec. 2018].
Sievers, B. (2018). Synthesis Basics. [online] Beausievers.com. Available at: http://beausievers.com/synth/synthbasics/ [Accessed 1 Dec. 2018].
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