Monday, July 7th, 2025 10:56 pm

Synth Glossary

Analog Synthesis:: This term is normally used to refer to the tradional synthesis model used by analog synthesizers in the 1970s. It is also known as subtractive synthesis. It involves oscillators, the outputs of which are mixed together and fed into a filter (where certain frequencies are subtracted) after which they are fed through an amplifier. The amplifier and filter are normally also driven by envelope generators....

The Roland SH-101 is a monophonic synthesizer, featuring a 2 1/2 octave 32-note (F-C) keyboard in a light, plastic case. It was designed as a strap-on synth with an optional modulation attachment that stuck out like a guitar neck. It can run on batteries and it came in a number of exciting colors. The SH101 was pre-MIDI, but it has CV (1 volt/octave cv) and gate inputs in the back. It features one VCO with separate levels for each waveform, saw, square, pulse, Pulse Width Modulation (PWM), and suboscillator. PWM can be set at one level or can be controlled by the EG or the LFO. The VCF is self-oscillating (resonant) and can be modulated by the envelope generator, the LFO and the keyboard (keyboard tracking). The Envelope Generator (EG) is ADSR and can be triggered by the gate or the LFO. The LFO can be set on triangle, square, random (sample-and-hold), and noise. The VCA can be controlled by the EG or the Gate. The SH-101 also features a very primitive arpeggiator and sequencer as well as portamento.