Viewpoints on the History of Digital Synthesis
Julius O. Smith · 1991
Algorithm --------------------- VCO,VCA,VCF Some Music V Original FM Feedback FM Waveshaping Phase Distortion Karplus-Strong Figure 2: A taxonomy of digital synthesis techniques. Derivative techniques such as granular synthesis are yielding significant new colors for the sonic palette. It can be argued also that spectral-modeling and wavelet-based synthesis are sampling methods with powerful transformation capabilities in the frequency domain. "Wavetable T" denotes time-domain wavetable synthesis; this is the classic technique in which an arbitrary waveshape stored in memory is repeatedly read to create a periodic sound. The original Music V oscillator supported this synthesis type, and to approximate a real (periodic) instrument tone, one could snip out a period of a recorded sound and load the table with it. The oscillator output is invariably multiplied by an amplitude envelope. Of course, we quickly discovered that we also needed vibrato, and it often helped to add sever...