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TimewARP 2600 Getting Started Guide
5
Synth Glossary
Voltage-Controlled Oscillator (VCO) - simple sound wave generator.
Voltage-Controlled Filter (VCF) - a tone-shaping control. A typical EQ is really just a set of filters grouped together.
Filter Cutoff (FC) - the point at which a filter begins to reject frequencies. For instance, a low-pass filter will cut highs out of a signal beginning at a
certain point, only passing the low frequencies on.
Voltage-Controlled Amplifier (VCA) - a loudness control for a signal.
Voltage Processor (VP) - simple utility functions for mixing, inverting, and shaping signals.
Control Voltage (CV) - a voltage-varying signal sent from a controller device to control a synth parameter.
Low Frequency Oscillator (LFO) - a control voltage that works by generating subsonic lows that can be used to modulate a signal or other synth
parameters with a periodic oscillation, for instance to simulate phasing or warbling sounds.
Ring Modulator - used to create unusual sounds, it takes two signals (each with some frequency), and produces a signal containing the sum
and differences of those frequencies. These frequencies will typically be non-harmonic, so the ring modulator can create some very clangorous
or bell-like and “swooping” or “swooshing” sounds.
Envelope - the set of variations in how a specific sound attacks, decays, sustains and falls off from its onset to its complete fade-out.
Envelope Follower - A process that “listens” to a sound and tracks its amplitude envelope. You can use the resulting signal to control various other
synth parameters and effects, such as vibrato rate and depth, so that the effects intensify as the sound gets louder.
ADSR - “Attack-Decay-Sustain-Release” are the four controls used to contour the main amplitude variations in each sound’s envelope. These
control voltages can also be used to modulate filter cutoffs or other synth parameters. These can have less than four stages, such as an AR
envelope, or subdivide into more than four on some synths.
Feedback - by routing an oscillator’s output back to its own input, one can generate different kinds of distortion effects and other alterations of
the sound.
Resonance - the intensification of a sound created by increasing sympathetic vibrations, and usually generated around a filter cutoff frequency.
Sample and Hold (S&H) - A synthesizer module that outputs random control voltages periodically. The Sample and Hold Module captures a
frequency from a random waveform (noise) and outputs it as a control voltage for a defined period of time, and repeats this process endlessly.
Multiplier (Mult) - a signal splitter/combiner circuit.
Gate/Trigger - a circuit that “waits” for a threshold voltage to be reached before it will pass or cut signals.