Synthesizer
A synthesizer (also synthesiser or synth) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis and frequency modulation synthesis. These sounds may be altered by components such as filters, which cut or boost frequencies; envelopes, which control articulation, or how notes begin and end; and low-frequency oscillators, which modulate parameters such as pitch, volume, or filter characteristics affecting timbre. Synthesizers are typically played with keyboards or controlled by sequencers, software or other instruments, and may be synchronized to other equipment via MIDI.
Quotes about the synthesizer
[edit]- I wanted to do an album with the sounds of the '50s, the sounds of the '60s, of the '70s, and then have a sound of the future. And I said, "Wait a second. I know the synthesizer. Why don't I use the synthesizer which is the sound of the future?"
- Giorgio Moroder in "Giorgio by Moroder" (2013)
- Synthesizers are the bedrock of modern electronic music. The relation of the sounds they make to the music of the day is something that's always fascinated me: could certain genres have happened without the specific sounds of a specific synth to drive them? Would some styles we have today never exist, or would other ways to create the effects, moods and vibes have been discovered? It's an unanswerable question, but what can be said is there are a number of influential synths that have played an absolutely fundamental role in modern music and some genres even depend 100% on one particular model of synth.
