SYNTHESIS MODULES

BY: ANDRS FERNANDO REGALADO BUCHELI

INTRODUCTION
Hello my friends, my name is Andrs F. Regalado Bucheli and this lesson is about the usage of the 5 most important synthesis modules: Oscilator, Filter, Amplifier, Envelope and LFO. This modules are very important, cause most of synthesis breaks down to these five modules and just various ways of connecting them. Synthesis is better known as modular synthesis, because theres theses simple building blocks that connect together. English is not my mother language but i will try to do the best i can with this presentation. I hope you enjoy the lesson and good luck to everyone in this last week. Regards Andrs F.

SYNTHESIZERS
The analogical synthesizer is an electronic musical instrument that generates sounds with some systems that we will see in this presentation. This systems are purely analogic in the electronic sense. This useful and wonderful device was invented before the advent of digital technology we know now.

 1964 Moog invents the modular synthesizer.

BRIEF HISTORY OF SYNTHESIZERS I

As electronic technology advances, mainly the transistor, it becomes posible to construct more sophisticated sound generators. Thus Robert Moog, in collaboration with a musician named Herbert Deutsch, develops the first VCO and VCA controlled by voltaje. A year later Moog develops the VCF controlled filters, low pass and high pass, the ADSR envelope generators and the memory keyboards.
In October of that year, Moog presented at a convention of Audio Engineering Society, his paper entitled Modules for electronic music controlled by voltaje

ELEMENTARY SYNTHESIZERS BLOCK DIAGRAM

BRIEF HISTORY OF SYNTHESIZERS II

Three years later, Moog Music Inc. produced a complete line of very versatile modules and easy to use to produce sounds. In 1968 Walter Carlos introduces the concept of laboratory electronic music and surprised the staff with his version of Bachs Brandenburg concert and gets a big hit with his album Switched on Bach, a prodigious display of electronic virtuasity playing J.S. Bach music.

THE CONTROLLER KEYBOARD

The keyboard is the most popular controller for all type of synthesizers. This is a source that supplies proportional voltages to the key is pressed. In polyphonic synthsizers, most modern it is posible to get several control voltajes, one for each key pressed. They keyboard can aslo provide other control voltajes, such as the speed of keystroke or pressure on it, which increases the expresive posibilities of the synthesizer. For operation of the set of modules, the keyboard provides various control signals. A trigger pulse, each time a key is pressed, which is used to start the envelope generators. A voltaje step of equal duration to the time the key is pressed, which generates maintenance signals and ADSR generator relaxation. A discrete voltage level corresponding to the key pressed, thereby 1V corresponds to a difference of an octave. A control signal, which lets you generate a slide between two notes. An analog memory that maintains the tension of the last key pressed.

THE VOLTAGE CONTROLLOED OSCILLATOR VCO

This is the basic sound source of the synthesizer. The frequency of the generated signal is obtained as the algebraic sum of the control voltages applied to its inputs. In the Synthesizers VCOs with normalized exponential response of 1V/octave are usded. It has several waveforms, sine, sawtooth, triangle, square, and each gives a quirky and different sound type given the different harmonic content they have.

THE AUDIO MIXER

Is a device that allows the combination of a number of input signals in the desired proportions so as to obtain another signal which is the combination of those.

THE ENVELOPE GENERATOR ADSR

ADSR stands for attack, decay, sustain, release, and it refers to four areas of the amplitude characteristics of a control signal. ADR areas refer to times, while S refers to a level. These generators will control both the amplitude envelope of the sound signal and the response of the filter.

THE VOLTAGE CONTROLLED FILTER VCF

The filter is an element that allows the passage of certain frequencies of the input signal, and is the electrical equivalent of the traditional resonators of the acoustic instruments like violin case, which gives the characteristic sound of the instrument. This filter can be configured in several modes, low pass, high pass, band pass and band reject, according to the effect we want to emphasize or weaken of the basic wave generated by the VCO. The characteristic parameters of a filter are cutoff frequency, from which the response is half, and the slope of the filter which determines the attenuation of successive harmonics of the input signal.

THE LOW FREQUENCY OSCILLATOR LFO

Generally consists of several independent voltage-controlled oscillators, with various waveforms each, and which are located in the low frequency range, up to about 20Hz. Its output can be used both to control the amplitude, tremolo, such as frequency, vibrato, in the VCOs, obtaining varied sonorities.

THE NOISE GENERATOR

They typically provide white and pink noise, as well as a random but adjustable in certain parameters control voltage output. These three signals are used to produce unconventional sounds similar to the natural, from the sea to thunder and the hiss of air.

REFLECTION
Synthesizers are very interesting devices from the point of view of electronic engineering and from the point of view of music and there is a lot of analog and digital signal processing a person can design and experiment with. I think possibilities are infinite and only the human creativity puts the limit. I admire so much people like Les Paul, Leo Fender, Robert Moog, Epaminondas Stathopoulo, Leon Theremin and all that wonderful people that contributed to the develep of music. I just want to have the opportunity to pay a loving tribute to all this with this last presentation. I hope you enjoyed this lesson my friends and my best desires for you in your future life.

Peace and Love my friends.

Andrs