Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Subtractive Synthesis
Creating your own synthesizer patch is the first step towards creating your
own signature sound.
Patches that you’ve created will help your tracks to stand out and you
might even surprise yourself with what you come up with!
There are a few key components to any subtractive synthesizer. These are:
* Oscillator
* Filter
* Amp
* LFO
These elements form the key attributes of the sound that you’re working to
produce. Once you understand each of these components, then building
new patches is easy.
WHAT IS SOUND?
We all hear sounds, but what are these invisible forces that we interpret as
audio?
Sounds are pressure waves that move through the air. They hit our ears,
causing our eardrums to move in and out, in response to changes in
pressure. We then interpret these changes as sounds.
WHAT IS AN OSCILLATOR?
You can get different colours of marble to use. These are your oscillator’s
waveforms. Think of the waveforms as your different “colours”, some are
“lighter” and some are “darker”. Waveforms are expressed by the way they
oscillate between their minimum and maximum value (or amplitude).
There are four main types of oscillators that we find in modern synths.
These are:
* Sine
* Sawtooth
* Square
* Triangle
SINE
A Sine wave is one of the most basic waveforms. Its edges are smooth, like
ripples in a pond, with no sharp changes.
This produces a smooth, mellow sound. Sine waves are often used to
recreate pipe sounds, like a flute or an organ, or for smooth pads.
SAWTOOTH
The next waveform is the Sawtooth, named as it looks like the teeth on a
saw. Sawtooth waves have very sharp points and abrupt changes, which
create a strong “buzz” sound.
It’s these harmonic frequencies that make Sawtooth waves sound rich and
full, great for powerful synth bass and lead sounds!
These two waveforms sit at opposite ends of the sound spectrum, from
sharp changes in amplitude (Sawtooth), to smooth gradual changes (Sine).
SQUARE
Square waves have a sound that is rich in harmonics, that is not as “buzzy”
as a Sawtooth, but not as smooth as a Sine. They have half as many
harmonic frequencies as a Sawtooth does, which repeat every second cycle.
TRIANGLE
Triangle waves lie between a Square wave and a Sine wave. Similar to a
Square wave, they contain the odd harmonics of the original frequency.
However, the volume of these harmonics drops much more quickly.
This causes the waveform to look and sound much closer to a Sine wave,
but still retain some of the “buzzing” quality of a Square wave.
There are a few different kinds of filters, but most synths rely on two key
ones – a Low Pass Filter (LPF) and a High Pass Filter (HPF).
The Low Pass Filter allows the low frequencies to pass through, cutting off
the high frequencies and creating bass sounds. The High Pass Filter does
the opposite. Turning the CUTOFF knob shifts the point at which the filter
starts to act on the sound.
A filter does not just stop the sound abruptly, it slopes down from the
original volume. The Slope is measured in decibels (dB) per octave, which
is why you might see a -12dB or -24dB filter on a synthesizer. The higher
the number, the steeper the slope and the stronger the filter.
Along with the Cutoff, the other key part of a filter is the RESONANCE.
Most filters have a Resonance or Q control. Resonance occurs when the
sound in the same range as the cutoff frequency is routed back to the filter,
creating feedback.
At very high levels, this feedback can cause the filter to self-oscillate and
generate a Sine wave. Turning up the Resonance results in brighter and
harsher tones around the cutoff frequency and can be used for a range of
techniques including to “squeal” the synth, or create a classic wah effect.
While less common, you also sometimes get BANDPASS and BAND
REJECT (or NOTCH) filters. A Bandpass is a combination of both a High
and Low Pass, leaving only the central part of the audio unfiltered. Band
Reject is the opposite, leaving the higher and lower frequencies unfiltered.
The next step in the chain is the AMPLIFIER, also called a VCA (Voltage
Controlled Amplifier). This controls the volume of the sound. Since we
started with a pure waveform, we need be able to control the level that’s
coming out it.
Most VCA sections also have a volume ENVELOPE. This further sculpts
the tone, shaping the waveform to create the sound that we’re looking for.
Envelopes are broken into four parts:
* Attack
* Decay
* Sustain
* Release
The drum has a sharp, sudden increase in volume (Attack), with almost no
Sustain and quite a short Release time.
This is the core of creating your sound, but what about that other section
that is on most synths, the LFO?
Rather than using an LFO to create a tone, you can use it to manipulate
other parameters. Think of it as automatic knob twiddling.
LFOs have a RATE control that change the speed at which it oscillates and
DEPTH controls for each parameter that you can affect on the synth.
These depth controls allow you to set the LFO to twiddle your chosen
parameter by varying amounts, in a positive or negative direction.
Many synths include controls to set the LFO to PITCH (which creates
Vibrato), VOLUME (which creates Tremolo) or FILTER CUTOFF.
Having the LFO control filter cutoff is a highly popular synthesis technique
used to modulate tone and can be used to create the wah-wah sound
mentioned earlier. At extreme amounts, it can produce a “wobble” that is
popular in dubstep basslines.
By using subtractive synthesis and the three basic blocks of VCO, VCF and
VCA you can carve out almost any type of sound. Then, using LFOs and
Envelopes you can give that sound movement and shape. Happy twiddling!
RELATED ARTICLES
SYNTHWAVE, SCI FI AND THE IMPORTANCE OF SOUND DESIGN
LEARN HOW TO PROGRAM A SYNTH IN 7 EASY STEPS
NICK RHODES ON THE ROLAND SYNTHS THAT DRIVE DURAN
DURAN
If you enjoyed this article and want to learn more, find out where you can
go and check this product out for yourself.