[sdiy] Generating acyclic waveforms?

[Dave Manley]

Ian Fritz wrote:
> [...] if you add together
>
> Sin ((w+eps)t) + Sin (2wt)
>
> You do not get a steady repeating waveform.
I'm probably missing the big picture here because I haven't been paying 
attention since these long-winded discussions often devolve into a 
lesson in logic and pointless point-counterpoint style argument, or 
perhaps the thread has veered off topic as they are want to do, or 
perhaps I'm on a waffle rotating around your pancake, but isn't the 
whole point of the OP to not generate a steady repeating waveform, at 
least not on a cycle-to-cycle basis?  I assume the reason to try to 
create an acyclic waveform is to remove the sterile nature of a integer 
related harmonic structure, and produce a sound with, hopefully, 
interesting timbre and "movement".

It's not apparent to me how this can be done except through additive 
synthesis.  Jittering the reset time of a vco (or more simply adding 
modulation via a CV) on a per-cycle basis alters the period of the 
fundamental not the relationship of the partials, so that isn't a viable 
approach.

Did any of the classic additive synths allow the paritial frequencies to 
be non-integer multiples of the fundamental?  Did they allow the partial 
multipliers to vary over time?                                           

-Dave