What exactly does a synthesiser do?

skysmom65

A device that generates sound by creating waveforms electronically (such as subtractive or FM synthesis) or from stored samples of musical instruments (wave table synthesis). Although rudimentary electronic instruments were developed as far back as the 1920s, it was Robert Moog (pronounced "Mogue") who popularized the synthesizer in the 1960s. The term itself was coined after his devices, which were the first to combine an electronic (piano-style) keyboard with extremely flexible sound creation capabilities. In the 1970s, the Minimoog portable synthesizer was widely accepted. See MIDI and speech synthesis. OR: Machine that electronically generates and modifies sounds, frequently with the use of a digital computer, for use in the composition of electronic music and in live performance. The synthesizer generates wave forms and then subjects them to alteration in intensity, duration, frequency, and timbre. It may use subtractive synthesis (removing unwanted components from a signal containing a fundamental and all related overtones), additive synthesis (building tones from signals for pure sine-wave tones), or other techniques, most importantly whole-sound sampling (digital recording of sounds, usually from acoustic instruments). The first synthesizer was developed c. 1955 by RCA. Compact, commercially viable synthesizers, generally with pianolike keyboards, were produced in the 1960s by Robert Moog (born 1934), Donald Buchla (born 1937), and others. With transistor technology, these soon became portable and cheap enough for practical performance use, and such instruments became fixtures in rock bands, often displacing electric pianos and organs. http://www.answers.com/synthesiser Dec 08 06, 10:51 PM

zbeckabee

Synthesizers are different: they don't create direct sounds, but only electric signals. Without loudspeakers or headphones attached to the synthesizer, it will not be able to make anything even remotely audible - well at least nothing apart from the clicking of the keys. This is really not very far from how your CD-player works: it doesn't make direct sounds either, only electric signals that are turned into sounds by your stereo speakers or your headphones. Synthesizers are usually equipped with a piano style keyboard. Each key of the keyboard is actually a switch by which the user can switch electronic circuits on and off. Keyboards are by far the most popular input devices, but the user can also choose to use mouthpieces, strings, guitar-like devices, drum pads or a computer to control the synthesizer. Synthesizers are extremely versatile instruments. They can be made to imitate any other instrument - from reed instruments to drums. But the true power of the synthesizer is its possibility to create completely new, yet unheard sounds - even if not all of these sounds are useful for musical purposes. http://hem.passagen.se/tkolb/art/synth/intro_e.htm Dec 09 06, 4:02 AM

TheuntouchablE

Synthesisers are used in Physics also. In the unti "Optics". Weird, but they do. Dec 09 06, 10:32 AM