ultimate newie starting DIY-ing

[rich]

physical/mathematical models.... erm, i hope someone corrects me on this
one, cos maths has never been my strongpoint, but arent the basic building
blocks of a synth (filters, amps, mixers, ring modulators etc) also the
building blocks of old style analogue computers? ie a mixer performs
addition, ring modulators/vca's perform four quadrant/two quadrant
multiplication,  low pass filters=integrators, differential input op amp
stages perform differentiation, etc? thus a patch can be viewed as a model
of a series of equations, with the various voltages etc representing the
numbers involved. I beleive that some industrial flow control style
processes still used analogue computers for this reason until recently,
hence the existence of some of the chips you can still get nowadays... ie
4quad multipliers etc .

I guess the model is meant to be that of a real, physical instrument...
oscillator=string, amp=tone chamber, filter = muting etc.... but thats
boring... if ya wanted to sound like that you'd play some kind of medeival
instrument like a guitar or drum, right? .... ;-)

----- Original Message -----
From: "Jim Patchell" <patchell at silcom.com>
To: "Eggbird" <egbert at teeselink.demon.nl>
Cc: <synth-diy at node12b53.a2000.nl>
Sent: Friday, October 13, 2000 3:03 PM
Subject: Re: ultimate newie starting DIY-ing


>
>
> Eggbird wrote:
>
> > Hi
> >
> > I am an ultimate newie in the DIY of synths. I and a school mate are
trying to
> > build an analogue synth for a school project on which we should spend 80
hours
> > of work.
> > To start we need some answeres to our questions:
> >
> > 1. What is the exact definition of an analogue synth?
> >
>
>     One that isn't digital....Ok, flip answer.  Circuits where the signals
are
> represented by voltages or currents.  A digital synth, the signals would
be
> represented by numbers.
>
> >
> > 2. On what physical/mathematical principle(s) is an analogue synth
based?
>
>     One thing for sure, you can come up with some really good questions.
That one
> I will have to pass on.  Not exactly one I have ever thought about.
>
> >
> >
> > 3. What are the functions of the different parts in a synth? (oscilator,
> > condensator, etc.) Mayby this question can be answered with a link to a
> > usefull URL. I would not bother you with such elaborate questions.
>
> Short answer:
>     oscilator-genereates the tones
>     filter-attenuates or acents portions of frequency spectra
>     amplifier-controls signal stregnth
>     envelope generator-generates control contours, generally for
controlling the
> filters and amplifiers
>     condensator....isn't that one of the components in a flux capacitor?
>
> >
> > That's it for this time,
> >
> > hope I can reach your level of discussion (about hydrogen balloons for
> > example!!)
>
>     After you have learned all about hydrogen balloons, it is then time to
> graduate to thermite.
>
>     -Jim
>
>
>