The Yamaha AN1x Synthesizer mailing list

Jim,

>Just wondering...the white noise generator, since it isn't melodic,
>there a way to combine it with the voice that doesn't just sound
>like noise tacked on?

Sometimes, you WANT noise tacked on to the sound, to give it an edgier 
feel.  A good example is that pulse behind the song in "Special" by Garbage.

When you want to more melodic sound, try setting the filter to BPF, and 
setting the Resonance fairly high -- but not to the point of 
self-oscillation.  Of course, this means that any other waves in the sound 
also get a BPF "bath," so you might want to use a dual configuration, and 
give the noise generator its own filter and EG's.

>Another thing...could someone explain...is the AN1x a subtractive synth? 
>Can someone give me the whole description of what type of synth this is? I 
>read at a lot of the synth sites about generic types...additive, 
>subtractive, etc. an am not sure.

The AN1x is a digital "physical modeling" synthesizer that emulates an 
analog subtractive instrument.  (Whew!)  Normally, subtractive synths use 
waveforms that are rich in harmonics like sawtooth and square/pulse, and 
then use filtering to remove unwanted harmonics.  Additive synths, OTOH, 
tend to use sine waves only, as they are trying to go in the other 
direction -- creating complex waves out of the sum of their harmonics, and 
all harmonics can be expressed as sine waves.  (It is possible to use 
complex waveforms in additive synthesis, but the results are often 
difficult to manage.)

>Also is the FM in the AN1x different than the Fm Yamaha came out with on 
>the earlier models mentioned in the literature on synths in general?

The AN1x also has the ability to create FM synthesis, although the 
combinations (algorithms) provided are extremely simple, when compared to 
an FM-only synth.  Most FM synths use sine waves only, although the Yamaha 
TX-81z allowed waves with "medium" harmonic density, as well as sine waves.

Regards,

-BW

--
Bruce Wahler
Design Consultant
Ashby Solutions"
www.ashbysolutions.com
CloneWheel Support Group moderator
978.386.7389  voice
978.776.0096  fax
bruce@...