ABSTRACT
This chapter addresses how electronically generated waveforms are processed and synthesized into more complex forms, including the process of modulation which can entirely transform an audio signal from its original form to another. Synthesis is the ability to use the fundamental building blocks of sound to construct new sounds. The simplest form of sound synthesis is the combination of two or more sine waves into a more complex waveform. Additive synthesis was the method used by many of the earliest electronic music composers. Stockhausen’s first experiments with sine wave generators began as exercises in additive synthesis. All synthesizers, whether analog or digital, are comprised of several common building blocks. Laptop computers and software can essentially model and imitate the functionality of their voltage-controlled predecessors. The earliest analog synthesizers were monophonic, capable of outputting only one voltage at a time, conventionally the lowest key to be depressed at any given moment.
