could anyone in the know as breifly and as simply as possible tell me how a moog snyth works? its for a college project on synths. cheers
Can you rephrase your question a little more specifically please ?
ok well, am i right in thinking that generally there made up of filters and tube and stuff? i basically want to brief explanations of the vital components and what they do. and how the knobs that you turn actually change the sound. i know its a little vague but i dnt have much know;edge to go on
Digital or analogue? try looking up ‘synthesizer’ in the dictionary!
Try the Voyager Manual:
http://www.moogmusic.com/manuals/vgrman_3.pdf
for a brief introduction to the major components of an analogue synthesizer.
These components are the essential building blocks of all synths, not just Moog, and not just analogue.
could anyone in the know as breifly and as simply as possible tell me how a moog snyth works? its for a college project on synths. cheers
In the 1960s, Bob Moog wrote an article on how you could take a variety of standard electronic devices and put them together to make a musical instrument. There was almost immediately a “race” to come up with the first musical instrument synthesizer, and there has been a debate as to whether it was Moog or Perlman (ARP) or Don Buchla (I think) came out with the first official synth.
One of the most important aspect of Dr. Moog’s paper was the notion that all of the parts could be controlled by voltages. For example, each key of a keyboard could be made to generate a specific voltage and an oscillator (see below) would respond by producing different frequencies in association with the key that is pressed.
Another important aspect was the use of two electrical paths. One is for audible sounds. The other is for triggering things to happen.
The technology used in most analog synthesizers (including Moog synthesizers) is known as subtractive synthesis. It is made of basic electronic modules strung together:
- Sound Sources—primarily either an oscillator which produced one of the basic elemental tones known as a sine wave, triangle wave, sawtooth wave, and/or rectangle wave (all of which can be modified) or a “noise generator” which produces large numbers of frequencies simultaneously
- Filters—These eliminate certain frequencies from the sound sources. There are basically three types, one that removes high frequencies, one the removes low frequencies, and one that removes bands of frequnecies from within the audible sound spectrum. Where the frequencies are cut off (“shelving”) and the amount of emphasis (“Q”) at the point of the cutoff are adjustable.
- Amplifiers–increase amplitude of audio signals
- Envelope generators (EG)–The devices were vital to the design of the synthesizer. They produce different voltages over predetermined times. On the original Moogs, this was called an ADSR, meaning that 4 voltages were produced over time. You could adjust the amount of the voltage and the delay between each of the four steps. Other synthesizer makers used 2 step EGs while others used ones with more steps. The ADSR–attack, decay, sustain, release–could be used to control an amplifier. With a short attack and release, the note played is more stacatto. With longer ones, the tone slowly comes up to volume and then slowly fades out. The same EG adjustments could be used to control the filter, allowing the timbre of the tone to change over time. EGs can also control oscillators to create rapidly changing pitches when a key is pressed.
Those are the basic modules of a synthesizer. Others include:
Mixers: to let you blend oscillators and noise sources before or after other modules
Sequencer: to let you prepare a set of voltages to control pitches or any other device which cn be voltage controlled.
Inputs: which allow other instruments (including voice) to use the filters, amps, and EGs to modify the instruments’ sounds
Ring Modulator: had two audio signals modify each other leading to musically usable sum and difference tones
Sample and hold: EG that sends random voltages and holds them, giving the effect of a random sequencer
Glide: Allows voltages to slowly change or “ramp.” When used on a keyboard, for example, it sounds as if the notes are sliding from one pitch to another rather than jumping from one to the next.
Trigger Delay: delays the time before a trigger signal starts something
Low Frequency Oscillator: Generally used to create slow changes over time
I hope this helps
mate thats excellent. helped me alot