| A music synthesizer makes sounds by using an | | | | non-synthetic instruments, but also to create |
| electrical circuit as an oscillator to create and vary | | | | sounds that absolutely cannot be played by |
| the frequency of sounds in order to produce | | | | anything but a music synthesizer. That is because |
| different pitches. As long as the pitch is within the | | | | a music synthesizer is well-suited to delicate |
| range of frequency that can be heard by a | | | | manipulations of its oscillators. Nevertheless, it's a |
| human ear, it's known as a "musical pitch" (so a | | | | lot easier for a synthesizer to create entirely new |
| dog whistle wouldn't count) as a musical pitch. You | | | | sounds than to mimic the sounds of acoustic |
| can use a keyboard to vary these pitches at | | | | instruments because the waveforms of acoustic |
| discrete intervals that correspond to the notes on | | | | instruments are so complex. Interestingly, once |
| the musical scale. If you put several oscillators | | | | complex sound that synthesizers so far have |
| together, you can combine several pitches to | | | | been very bad at reproducing is the human voice |
| create a "chord". | | | | (although improvements are being made in this |
| OK, we've got pitch down (at least in a very | | | | technology). |
| simple sense). How do you vary the tone of a | | | | The entire electronic music scene would be |
| particular pitch? That is done by playing a given | | | | virtually impossible without the use of |
| pitch with waveforms of different shapes | | | | synthesizers (no doubt some wish it were). |
| (common waveforms include sine, square, | | | | Nevertheless, the number of sounds that a |
| sawtooth, and triangle waveforms). Since the | | | | musician has to work with has been exponentially |
| harmonic structure of these waveforms differ, | | | | increasing in recent decades, and we have only |
| our ears interpret them as different tones. The | | | | scratched the surface of the creative possibilities. |
| sound you will hear can also be modified by | | | | Imagine the consequences if a machine was |
| voltage-controlled amplifiers (VCA) and | | | | invented that could generate 100,000 hitherto |
| voltage-controlled filters (VCF). | | | | unknown colors? |
| Synthesizers are able to only mimic the sounds of | | | | |