home contact

Friday, October 10th, 2025 04:26 am

Synth Glossary

Attack:
The time taken for a sound to achieve maximum amplitude. Drums have a fast attack, whereas bowed strings have a slow attack. In compressors and gates, the attack time equates to how quickly the processor can change its gain....

more...




VCS3
Very early VCS3 (pre-Putney), note Oscillator 1 The original portable synthesizer introduced in 1969 had a solid Aformosia cabinet which housed the following modules interconnected by means of a matrix patchboard.

3 x Voltage Controlled Oscillators.
Noise Generator.
2 x Input Amplifiers.
Ring Modulator.
Voltage Controlled Low Pass Filter.
Trapezoid Envelope Generator.
Voltage Controlled Reverberation.
Meter.
2 x Stereo Output Amplifiers.
Joystick.

The VCS3 had:3 Voltage Controlled Oscillators, a Noise Generator, 2 Input Amplifiers, 1 Ring Modulator,1 Voltage Controlled Low Pass Filter,1 Trapezoid Envelope Generator, a Voltage Controlled Reverberation unit, 2 Stereo Output Amplifiers and a Joystick. Routing the various functions of the instrument was done via a small pin patchboard.

Hosted by Jesse Mullan