Monday, January 24th, 2022 03:24 am

Synth Glossary

Envelope:: An envelope generator generates a signal that changes through the length of a sound, normally to control the loudness of that sound. An example of its use is to control the volume of a piano sound. It creates a signal that goes from low to high very quickly (the loud bit when the key is pressed), then goes down slowly as the sounds gets quieter. They are also used to drive other parts of the synthesizer, for example the filter....

"In 1974, EMS introduced the Synthi 100, designed for those who didn't need a portable system. As [designer, Dave] Cockerell put it, 'You had to take walls down to get it into studios.' The Synthi 100 was originally based on three VCS3s, and grew from there to encompass 12 oscillators and associated filters, envelopes, etc. It also had a three-track monophonic digital sequencer and two 64X64 patch matrices. The Synthi 100 sold for around Ł10,000 (US $25,000), which limited the number of units sold, but it was the only thing Britain ever produced that could compete with the modular systems from American manufacturers. One Synthi 100 went to the BBC Radiophonic Workshop, which does electronic music and sound effects for a myriad of TV programs, including Doctor Who.