Explain the usage of the 5 most important synthesis modules: Oscillator, Filter, Amplifier, Envelope, and LFO

Introduction
We came to the Final Week of the Course and I must said that Loudon Stearns did a good job to introduce us to the various aspect of Music Production. It is kinda a bit sad to say goodbye now as there are definitely more stuffs that we can learn. And definitely I will be getting my hands on some gear to do some editing myself.

The topic I choose this week is "Explain the usage of the 5 most important synthesis modules: Oscillator, Filter, Amplifier, Envelope, and LFO" and as before, I will be using material from the course lectures.

Overview
The 5 important synthesis modules are the Oscillator, Filter, Amplifier, LFO and the Envelope. And they are depicted in the picture below 

Overview

Oscillator

The oscillator, otherwise known as the voltage controlled oscillator, generates sounds based on geometric waveforms. The sounds its generates gets it by the shape as shown below : 

Waveform

For instances, a square wave is squarish. Examples of sound generated by a square wave includes the clarinet. The sawtooth waveform is a sawtooth. Example includes a guitar where the guitar string is plucked and released. The important aspect is that these shapes gets modulated over time and hence their pitch and frequency changes over time. 

Oscillator

The diagram above shows how the oscillator would change over time via a sawtooth waveform. 

Filter

Filters are happening everyday in our lives. An example of filter is the throat as your vocal and the mouth as the filter. As you change the shape of your mouth, the sound sounds different even though the sound is produced at the same pitch and frequency.

There are mainly 4 types of filter in the synthesizer. The low pass filter, the high pass filter, the band pass filter and the band stop filter.

Low Pass Filter

The low pass filter basically allows the low end of the sound to pass. There will be a cut off frequency at which the sound level will drastically decreases.

Low Pass Filter With Resonance

Low Pass Filter can be amended to add resonance. The resonance emphasis the harmonics of the sound. 

High Pass Filter

The high pass filter cuts off the low ends of the sound. This is very useful in eliminating surrounding noises such as your CPU fan, your breathing etc.

 Band Pass Filter

The band pass filter is useful in emulating the frequency of the voice. 

Band Stop Filter

The Band Stop Filter generally creates a notch hollow frequency. 

Amplifier

The third part of the filter is the amplifier, otherwise known as the voltage controlled amplifier. This is defined by the envelope show here : 

Envelope

The envelope is generally defined by 4 things, the ADSR, or The Attack, The Decay, The Sustain and The Release.

The Attack, or Attack Time is the time the sound gets from 0 to 100% within the specific timeframe. 

The Decay Time is the time the sound gets from 100% to the sustain level within the specific timeframe.

The Sustain Level is the level at which the sound is at a steady state.

The Release Time is the time the sounds stays from the sustain level to 0 within the specific timeframe.

The Amplitude Envelope

There are several types of different amplitude envelope as shown below :

 

Low Frequency Oscillator 

The Low Frequency Oscillator is a modulator that is cyclic in nature. It is termed low frequency as the frequency it uses is usually lower than the range of the human hearing. It is used to control the destination such as an oscillator and is useful to mimic vibratos. In every LFO, there are 3 parameters that will be used. 1) The Source, 2) The Destination, 3) The amount of modulation.

An FLO in action

The picture above shows a triangle waveform as the source, with the oscillator as the destination and the amount of modulation at 1.21Hz.

Reflections

It most probably has been a tough 6 weeks for me as I am a working adult and there are lots of works and everyday commitment that I do while I am working. But I am glad I have pushed through and made it here. Although there is still the Final Exams. I hope you have enjoyed the course as well and learn somethings along the way. Thank you for reading through and I do apologise for my grammer. It is not perfect. 

Wish You Well In Your Musical Journey!