Listen to the synthesizer
Tip: press play to see the sound's live frequency spectrum in blue over the waveform.
How the synthesizer makes its sound
In the Hornbostel–Sachs system, which classifies instruments by how they produce sound, the synthesizer belongs to the electrophones: sound is produced or shaped electronically – synthesizers, the theremin and electric organs.
Its timbre – the colour that lets you tell it apart from other instruments playing the same note – comes from the mix of overtones its body and resonator emphasise.
From Wikipedia
A synthesizer (also synthesiser or synth) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis, and frequency modulation synthesis. These sounds may be altered by components such as filters, which cut or boost frequencies; envelopes, which control articulation, or how notes begin and end; and low-frequency oscillators, which modulate parameters such as pitch, volume, or filter characteristics affecting timbre. Synthesizers are typically played with keyboards or controlled by sequencers, software or other instruments, and can be synchronized to other equipment via MIDI.
Other electrophones
Questions people ask
Real questions from the Stack Exchange community – follow a link to read the discussion.
- Building a synthesizer with no prior experience · Electronics SE
- What 1968 Moog synthesizer was used in the Movie Apollo 11? · Music SE
- What's the difference between a synthesizer and a sequencer? · Sound Design SE
- Synthesizer patch - how to make a glassy sound · Sound Design SE
- Mathematically derived waveform vs. captured waveform from an analog synthesizer · Electronics SE
Frequently asked questions
What does a synthesizer sound like?
Listen to 3 recordings on this page. As one of the electrophones, its sound comes from the way sound is produced or shaped electronically.
What type of instrument is the synthesizer?
It is classified as electrophones (Hornbostel–Sachs 53).
Sources & credits
- Rock Your Synthesizer (Antti Luode) by Antti Luode – CC BY 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons
- Broken synthesizer and tired piano (Antti Luode) by Antti Luode – CC BY 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons
- Generative Digital Synthesizer Improv in a DAW 2 by Human Style – CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
- Wikidata Q163829 – CC0
- Wikipedia: Synthesizer – CC BY-SA 4.0
- Image by No machine-readable author provided. Fataltourist~commonswiki assumed (based on copyright claims). – Public domain