Glossary
A synthesizer glossary of the key sound-design terms at a glance.
- Oscillator (OSC)
- The starting point of sound. It generates waveforms (saw, square, triangle, sine) that provide the raw pitch and tone.
- Waveform
- The repeating shape an oscillator makes. Its harmonic content sets the tone — saw is bright, sine is pure.
- Cutoff
- The frequency where a filter starts carving. On a low-pass, lowering it darkens the tone; raising it brightens it.
- Resonance
- A boost of frequencies around the cutoff. Push it high for a whistling peak that can even self-oscillate.
- ADSR Envelope
- Attack, Decay, Sustain, Release — the curve loudness (or another value) follows while a key is held and released.
- LFO
- A low-frequency oscillator too slow to hear. Route it to pitch/filter/volume for vibrato, wah, or tremolo.
- Modulation
- Using one source (LFO, envelope, macro) to move another parameter automatically, bringing a sound to life.
- Unison / Detune
- Stack copies of a note (unison) and spread their pitch slightly (detune) for a thick, wide supersaw.
- FM Synthesis
- Rapidly modulating one oscillator’s frequency with another to create metallic harmonics — great for bells and e-pianos.
- Wavetable
- A dictionary of waveforms; scanning the WT position morphs the harmonics for an evolving, living tone.
- Reverb
- An effect that adds the tail of a space, giving a sound distance and a sense of room.
- Distortion
- An effect that deliberately clips the signal to add harmonics, thickness and aggression.
- Sub Oscillator
- A simple waveform one or two octaves below the main, adding weight to the bottom of a bass.
- Noise
- Pitchless noise. A touch adds wind/breath texture or an attack "chiff".
- Pulse Width (PWM)
- The duty of a square wave. Modulating it gives the thick, churning classic synth tone.
- Glide (Portamento)
- The time pitch takes to slide from one note to the next — used for bass slides in mono/legato.
- Hard Sync
- Force-resetting a slave oscillator’s phase to create sharp, tearing harmonics.
- Compressor
- Pushes loud parts down and quiet parts up to even out dynamics and tighten the attack.