Equipment

Synthesizers

A synthesizer (spelling var. synthesiser) is an electronic musical instrument designed to produce artificially generated sound, using techniques such as additive, subtractive, FM, physical modeling synthesis, or phase distortion to create sounds.

Synthesizers create sounds through direct manipulation of electrical currents (as in analog synthesizers), mathematical manipulation of discrete values using computers (as in software synthesizers), or by a combination of both methods. In the final stage of the synthesizer, electrical currents are used to cause vibrations in the diaphragms of loudspeakers, headphones, etc. This synthesized sound is contrasted with recording of natural sound, where the mechanical energy of a sound wave is transformed into a signal which will then be converted back to mechanical energy on playback (though sampling significantly blurs this distinction).

More on synthesizers:

	Sound basics
	Overview of popular synthesis methods
	Types of synthesizers
	Analog synthesizer era
	Electronic organs vs. synthesizers
	Microprocessor controlled and polyphonic analog synthesizers
	MIDI control & computers
	Frequency Modulation (FM) synthesis
	Samplers and sampling
	The physical modeling synthesizer
	Modern digital synthesizer era
	Software only synthesis
	Commercial synthesizer manufacturers
	Classic synthesizer designs

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