sound synthesis

Syllable breakdown

Dictionary meaning

the electronic or computational generation of audio signals from scratch using oscillators, filters, amplifiers, and modulation sources, as distinct from recording or sampling pre-existing sounds; major synthesis methods include subtractive synthesis (filtering harmonically rich waveforms), additive synthesis (building complex tones from sine wave partials), FM synthesis (using frequency modulation to create complex timbres, as in the Yamaha DX7), wavetable synthesis, granular synthesis, and physical modelling synthesis; synthesis is the technological foundation of the synthesiser — from Robert Moog's voltage-controlled designs of the 1960s to modern software synthesisers — and has fundamentally shaped the sonic character of electronic, pop, rock, film, and experimental music