Consumer Electronics

TYPICAL GENERATORS

Periodic or cyclic waveforms sine, square, sawtooth, and triangle waves-form the backbone of electronic music generators (see Fig. 25.1). Most instruments (synthesizers) contain as many as several dozen oscillators, each capable of simultaneously providing some, and frequently all, of the basic waveforms. Each waveform has a distinctive sound quality all its own, an important feature in electronic music. It is necessary to have at least a basic understanding of overtones (harmonics) to understand why the waveforms have different characteristic sounds.

 

 

Fig. 25.1 These are the basic waveforms involved in the synthesis of ...