Song Editor Basics: Additive and Subtractive Synthesis
Posted by Unknown | Posted in
Additive and subtractive are two of the most common types of synthesis in use today. There are many other, very useful types of synthesis, but most synthesizers focus one of the two listed here.
Subtractive synthesis is the easiest to create and use, so most synthesizers are subtractive. I'll detail the differences between both types below.
Subtractive Synthesis
Subtractive synthesis is done by carving out a sound; that is, by present a wall of harmonics and taking away from it in order to produce a sound effect. This means starting a sound and then pushing it through filters, oscillators, and an envelope (like the ADSR envelope) in order to change it. The raw sound goes through all these filters and comes out "carved" into something new.
Subtractive synthesizers were originally developed in order to replace real instruments, but eventually became their own class of instrument. A potentially infinite number of sounds can be created with subtractive synthesis.
Additive Synthesis
This type of synthesis is trying to do the same thing as subtractive synthesis, but from a different standpoint. Instead of carving out a sound, you create it piece by piece, usually through the use of multiple sine waves. These sine waves put together can form any other type of waveform.
Harmonic structures are added together in order to form new shapes and sounds.
This doesn't change much in the long run, but some people might prefer additive synthesis since it gives direct control over the harmonics. Still, a square wave is going to sound the same in both types of synthesis.
Bonus: Other Types of Synthesis
Here's a small list of other kinds of synthesis you might encounter in your song editor:
- Frequency Modulation (FM)
- Wavetable
- Component Modeling
- Vector
- Phase Distortion
- Granular
- Linear Arithmetic
There may be others, but these are the types you're more likely to encounter on a day-to-day basis.
The best way to learn about these, of course, is to play around with them yourself. Have fun!
Comments (0)
Post a Comment