[sdiy] Buchla many-sinewave module

[Aaron Lanterman]

On Sat, 25 Mar 2006, Paul Perry wrote:

> The thing is, keeping all the oscillators in tune is trivial. I mean, 
> you can go DCO. The BIG problem, is having 'just enough' difference from 
> the exact theoretical frequency, to make things interesting. Consider 
> how the overtones change on a single guitar string after it is plucked. 
> The idea that all one needs for additive synthesis is enough sinewaves, 
> is doomed to sterility.

Indeed! I have a DK Synergy and have spent hours playing the Wendy Carlos 
sounds - the key to getting it to sound alive is the Synergy had separate 
amplitude and pitch envelopes, 16 stage - very interesting things happen 
in the frequency envelopes to match a reality of acoustic instruments, 
which is the partials usually aren't all perfectly tuned harmonics; they 
evolve over the course of the sound. The fact that Carlos did that all by 
ear is astonishing.

The K150 has a lot more oscillators than the Synergy, but the DK has much 
less flexible frequency programming facilities.

- Aaron

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