Introduction to Computer Music: Volume One

5. Important analog synthesis terms

The following chart lists important terms for the study of analog synthesis. Many of these same terms and concepts are equally valuable for digital synthesis and signal processing.

Voltage control
Voltage-controlled modular synthesizer
Subtractive synthesis
Waveforms (sine, triangle, sawtooth, pulse)
Spectra
Pulse width
Duty cycle
Square wave
White or pink noise
VCO-voltage-controlled oscillator
VCA-voltage-controlled amplifier
VCF-voltage-controlled filter
Envelope Generator
ADSR
AC Control Voltage
DC Control Voltage
Patch
Basic patch
Attenuator
Offset

Gate
Modulation (frequency modulation, amplitude modulation, filter modulation)
Subaudio-rate modulation:
   Vibrato (subaudio-rate frequency modulation)
   Tremolo (subaudio-rate amplitude modulation)
Audio-rate modulation
Ring Modulation
Sample and hold
Filters:
   Cutoff Frequency (c.o.f.)
   Q
   Resonance
   Formants
   Bandwidth
   Passband
   Stopband
   Lowpass, Highpass, Bandpass, Notch filter types
   Cascade or series filter network
   Parallel filter network
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