WARNING

The Synthi
AKS
i s
an extremel y del i cate i nstrument
.
It has an enormous amount of
ci rcui try In i t for i ts
si ze, and i t i s essenti al
that, despi te i ts portabi l i ty
i t i s
not thrown around, as i t may
recei ve damage to
some of
the very del i cate ci rcui ts .
The machi ne i s
natural l y guaranteed, but i t Is
i mportant that, i n
order to
compl y wi th thi s guarantee,
that i t i s not
tampered
wi th i n any way. Some of the screws
are
auto-destructi ve, so that i f they
are removed, they
cannot be repl aced
. Therefore, great care
must be
taken i n
di s-assembl i ng the Synthi .
THE
SYNTHI
EDUCATIONAL
HANDBOOK
by
Peter Grogono
APRIL1972
ELECTRONICMUSICSTUDIOSOF AMERICANINC
460 WESTSTAMHERSTMASS
TEL( 413) 256-8591
l ef t - hand moni t or
speaker wi t h mut i ng
swi t ch.
Two vol t age cont rol l ed audi o
osci l l at ors wi t h
rect angl e, ramp,
and si ne out put s and shape
cont rol s, coveri ng more t han
t he
ent i re audi o range i n onp
sweep f romover 15XHz t o as
l ow as 1Hz.
Vol t age cont rol l ed sl ow
osci l l at or
(005- 500Hz) f or
vol t age cent ral and peri odi c
ef f ect s. t wo i ndependent
out -
put s
(rect angl e and ramp) wi t h
vari abl e shape cont rol .
t Vhi t e
noi se generat or
wi t h col our and
ampf i t nde cont rol .
1N- l e f rl t ers f or wi de
col our cont rol on each
out put .
St eno out put s wi t h
panni ng cont rol s .
Hal f hi nges on l i d t o
enabl e easy removal .
Ent i re keyhoard l i f t s
out
f or
easy pl ayi ng
.
Aut omat i c hal f t one
t hrough one oct ave
t ransposi t i on t ouch
pads .
Cl ock rat e cont rol f or
sequencer (i ndi cat ed on
met er).
St ereo headphones j ack.
Hi gh l evel out put s .
AC/ DC met er f or
preci se si gnal and
cont rol checks, and
sequencer memory
i ndi cat i on.
"Scope" out put f or
wavef ormmoni t ori ng.
Record/ Pl ay/ Hol d
sel ect pads .
2~oct ave pl ast i c- coat ed
t uneabl e t ouch
keyhoard wi t h
dynami c cont rol . Tot al
versat i l i t y wi t h no movi ng
part s
.
Faci l i t i es
socket
f or
si gnal and
power connect i on t o keyboard
or EMS modul es (e . g. pi t ch f o
vol t age
convert er, random
vol t age generat or) .
DC out put s f or vol t age
cont rol l i ng ext ernal
equi pment
.
St owage f or pat ch pi ns .
Prest opat ch f or i nst ant
pat chi ng
of a pre-
programmed sound (can
be made t o order) .
Li ne l evel i nput s f or
si gnal s or cont rol
vol t ages - e . g. t ape
recorders, f oot pedal ,
et c .
I nput s f or ai r or
cont act mi kes, gui t ars,
et c
.
Randomvol t age key.
AC power socket wi t h
vol t age range swi t ch
and i ndi cat or neon.
I ndependent t i mi n&
cont rol s f or real t i me
and
sequenced vol t age.
T56 hol e pi n panel . For
pat chi ng
any comhi na
l i on of si gnal s and
rol t ages . Wi t h pi ns .
Ni - D Mul t i f unct i on F I t er/
Osci l l at or wi t h vari abl e
response
and
vol t age cont rol l ed
f requency, gi vi ng sharp
resonant f i l t eri ng
t o st eep cut
l ow pass or pure si ne out put .
Transf ormerl ess hi gh
rej ect i on
I C ri ng
modul at or . For very
dramat i c t one t ransf ormat i on
or
oct ave spl i t t i ng
.
Three posi t i on
swi t ch-
speaker on(speaker mut e/
l ogger f rom
ext ernal
i nst rument
.
Envel ope shaper
recycl e i ndi cat or l amp.
Trapezoi d out put . DC
anal ogue of envel ops
shaper
f or cont rol l i ng
ot her ci rcui t s .
Envel ope shaper f or aut omat i c
or manual t i me
cont rol of
si gnal s (at t ack, on, decay and
of f t i mes al l
separat el y
adj ust ahl e)
.
Reverberat i on
wi t h
vol t age cont rol l ed
di rect / echo rat i o.
X- Y J oyst i ck f or
si mul t aneous
cont rol of
any t wo or more
devi ces.
J oyst i ck vol t age range
cont rol s and sequencer
on/ of f swi t ch.
At t ack
but t on f or preci se
manual i ni t i at i on of envel ope
cycl e . Conveni ent l y
pl aced f ar
one
hand operat i on wi t h
j oyst i ck .
Di gi t al sequencer and cl oak
l ogi c ci rcui t ry. Up t o 256
event s
cont rol l ed and st ored 6y
a compl ex of i nt egrat ed
ci rcui t s.
Envel ope shaper
t ri gger mode
sel ect or
f or
real t i me or
sequencer.
THE SYNTHI
EDUCATI ONAL HANDBOOK
Wee al so have Sound-houses,
where wee practi se and
demonstrate
al l Sounds, and thei r
Generati on. Wee have harmoni es
whi ch you
have not,
of Quarter Sounds, and
l esser Sl i des of Sounds.
Di verse
I nstruments of Musi ck l i kewi se
to you unknowne, some
sweeter than any you have;
Together wi th Bel l s andRi ngs
that
are dai nty and sweet . Wee
represent Smal l Sounds as wel l
as
Great and Deepe; Li kewei se
Great Sounds, Extenuate and
Sharpe;
Wee make di verse Trembl i ngs
and Warbl i ngs of
Sounds, whi ch i n
thei r ori gi nal l e
are Enti re. Wee represent
and i mi tate al l
Arti cul ate Sounds and Letters and the
Voi ces and Notes of Beasts
and Bi rds
. Wee have certai n Hel ps, whi ch
sett to the Eare doe
further the
Heari ng greatl y. Wee al so
have Strange and
Arti fi ci al
Echos' s, Refl ecti ng
the Voi ce many ti mes, and
as i t were Tossi ng
i t ; And
some that gi ve back the
voi ce l owder than i t cam, some
Shri l l er,
some Deeper; Yea some renderi ng
the Voi ce, Di fferi ng
i n
the l etters or Arti cul ate Sound,
fromthat they receyve,
wee
have
al so means to convey Sounds i n Trunks
and Pi pes, i n strange
Li nes, and Di stances. . .
. Roger Bacon "The New
Atl anti s" 1624
SYNTHI EDUCATI ONAL
HANDBOOK
CONTENTS
I ntroducti on 1
I
Usi ng your SYNTHI 3
I I Si mpl e Properti es of Sounds 11
I I I Techni ques of El ectroni c Musi c 26
I V The Keyboard and Sequencer 45
V Equi pment for El ectroni c Musi c - 54
VI Prestopatches 64
VI I Care and Mai ntenance 72
Gl ossary 75
Li st of Experi ments
1
Loudness Percepti on 14
2 Envel opes 14
3 Frequency Percepti on 17
4 Ti mbre Percepti on 18
5 Frequency Anal ysi s 21
6 Noi se 23
7
Fi l tered Noi se 23
8 Trapezoi d Vol tage 27
9 Vol tage Control 29
10 Chi mes
35
11
Reverberati on 41
12 Usi ng the Keyboard 48
13 Usi ng the Sequencer 52
14 Usi ng the Keyboard and Sequencer
together 53
15 Echo wi th Tape-recorder 56
16 I nput Devi ces 57
17 Battl e Prestopatch 65
18 Keyboard Prestopatch 65
19 Gui tar Prestopatch 69
Li st of- Di agrams
I - 1 The SYNTHI AKS
fronti spi ece
I I - 1
Tabl e of Sound I ntensi ti es 13
I I - 2 Tabl e of Envel ope Shaper Ti mi ngs 15
I I - 3 Envel ope Shaper Waveforms
16
I I - 4 Si ne Osci l l ator Shape Control 19
I I - 5
Square Osi l l ator Shape Control 19
I I - 6 Ramp
Osci l l ator Shape Control 19
I I - 7 Si mpl e WaveformSpectra 19
I I - 8
Col oured Noi se Spectra 24
I I - 9 Fi l tered Noi se Spectra 24
I I I - 1 Panni ng wi th the Envel ope Shaper 33. 1
I I I - 2 Ri ng- modul ator Spectra 33. 1
I I I - 3 Reverberati on i n a room 38
I I I - 4 Reverberati on Uni t 38
I I I - 5 Bl ock Di agramof SYNTHI Output Ampl i fi ers
44
I V- 1 Bl ock Di agramof Keyboard and Sequencer 46
V- 1 SYNTHI connected to a Stereo Ampl i fi er 58
V- 2 SYNTHI connected to a Stereo Tape- recorder 58
V- 3 SYNTHI i n a Si mpl e Studi o 61
I NTRODUCTI ON
Pri mari l y, thi s book i s i ntended to showyou howto'
use your SYNTHI AKS. Al though i t i s not a comprehensi ve
text-book, i t may al so tel l you somethi ng about the way i n
whi ch sounds are made or
al tered.
The SYNTHI AKS i s a Synthesi zer,
whi chmeans that i t i s
used to bui l d up or synthesi ze, sounds frombasi c tones . I t
di ffers fromother musi cal i nstruments i n that i t has no
characteri sti c
sound
of
i ts own, and i n order to use i t you
have to know
somethi ng about the nature of sounds so you can
bui l d your owncreati vel y
.
For thi s reason, we do not apol ogi se
for wri ti ng a book whi ch i s
educati onal
i ntone
.

We
hope
that
thi s
book wi l l be used i n school s whi ch have a SYNTHI AKS, and
we al so hope
i t wi l l be used by others, i n every fi el d, to
fami l i ari se
themsel ves wi th what a sound i s before they become
confused
by
a
mul ti tude of el ectroni c devi ces .
I n
the fi rst chapter, USI NGYOUR SYNTHI , we expl ai n how
the SYNTHI i s set up and
what the
control s
do. Unl ess you have
experi ence of el ectroni c
equi pment, you wi l l probabl y not
understand much of thi s
chapter, but you wi l l fi nd l ater on
when you have l earnt a bi t more about
the SYNTHI , that i t i s
a useful chapter for reference.
I n the other chapters, there are secti ons of
expl anati on
and experi ments
.
(The experi ments are wri tten i n i tal i cs for
cl ari ty) . The experi ments are . not i ntended to be compl ete:
rather they are starti ng poi nts for
the much more detai l ed
experi ments whi ch we
expect you
to do.
We want youto thi nk
of the SYNTHI as a ki nd of constructi onal set,
wi th whi ch you
can bui l d your own sounds . The "patches" we
provi de are not
compl ex, because we want to i l l ustrate howthe
SYNTHI works,
but when you have understood an i dea or techni que,
you shoul d
try
to
i ncorporate i t i nto your own patches .
Many of the
experi ments i n thi s book are more i nteresti ng
i f you can connect
your SYNTHI to an Osci l l oscope. An
osci l l oscope i s an el ectroni c
i nstrument whi ch shows the
vol tage i n a ci rcui t
vi sual l y,
on
a smal l screen rather l i ke
a tel evi si on screen. We do
not menti on osci l l oscopes much
because most SYNTHI
owners do not possess one; i f you do have
access to
an osci l l oscope you wi l l fi nd i t
very hel pful i n
understandi ng howthe SYNTHI works.
CHAPTER I : USI NGYOUR SYNTHI
Thi s
chapter descri bes the use
of
the SYNTHI , and al so
descri bes the devi ces i t contai ns. I t shoul d be read through
fi rst
of
al l (i t may seemrather abstract i ni ti al l y) and then
shoul d be used for reference l ater, when you are doi ng the
experi ments for the SYNTHI . Before doi ng any of
the experi ments,
make sure you have read
the next
secti on,
Connecti ng the SYNTHI .
Unl i ke most of the el ectroni c devi ces we are accustomed
to, whi ch perform
one functi on onl y (radi o and tel evi si on
recei vers for
exampl e), or
a
fewfuncti ons
(a
radi ogramcan pl ay
records and recei ve radi o programmes),
the SYNTHI
has very
many
functi ons. The SYNTHI contai ns a number of separate ci rcui ts
whi ch are connected by the user ; the knobs on the front control
the ci rcui ts and the patchboard (the bl ack square i n the l ower
centre) connects them. I f the SYNTHI l ooks compl i cated to you,
remember
that i t uses onl y si mpl e devi ces, and that compl ex
sounds ari se
fromthe use of several devi ces together .
Connecti ng
the SYNTHI
Power Suppl y
Before i t can be used at al l , the SYNTHI must be connected
to the mai ns. European model s are adj usted for
200-250VAC, and
North Ameri can model s for 100-130VAC. I f for any reason the
setti ng i s i ncorrect i t shoul d be al tered, usi ng the sl i de-swi tch
on
the front panel before connecti ng the SYNTHI . The SYNTHI
uses a transformer
desi gned
for
50-60Hz ACand must never be
connected to a
DCsuppl y.
Connect the SYNTHI to the mai ns suppl y wi th the l ead provi ded.
The earthi ng (ground) connecti on (green/ yel l ow) i s not
essenti al
and
may
be l eft unconnected i f two-pi n sockets onl y are avai l abl e.
Turn the POWER swi tch on and check that the mai ns i ndi cator
l i ght
gl ows red
.
Si gnal and
Control Connecti on
Other el ectroni c equi pment
i s connected to the SYNTHI by
the
j acks at the top of the panel . The
SYNTHI can be used as
an enti rel y sel f-contai ned
i nstrument, but i ts resources can
be expl oi ted more ful l y when
other equi pment i s used wi th i t .
I n parti cul ar, the bui l t-i n
l oudspeakers are very smal l and,
al though they are adequate
for moni tori ng purposes, an external
ampl i fi er and l oudspeaker systemshoul d be
used for
anythi ng
but
personal experi ments .
J ack pl ugs are al ways
connected as fol l ows:
Earth
(ground) goes to the body or shaft (when screened
cabl e i s used, thi s wi l l be the outer screeni ng) .
The "l i ve" connecti on goes to the top of the pl ug.
The headphone j ack must be used wi th
a stereo pl ug,
whi ch has an addi ti onal ri ng
on
i t
for
the
second "l i ve"
l ead.
I t
i s
best
to sol der al l wi res, but i f you cannot sol der
obtai n some j ack pl ugs (I grani c type) wi th
screwtermi nal s .
The functi ons and speci fi cati ons
of the J acks on the
SYNTHI
are
expl ai ned
here:
Stereo Phones :

Stereo (three wi re) j ack gi vi ng a two
channel si gnal sui tabl e for poweri ng a
pai r of stereo headphones
.
Level :

10V p-p
max i nto 50 ohms
Scope:

Amono Output (two wi re) connected to the
Meter Ci rcui t . I t i s sui tabl e for an
osci l l oscope
di spl ay,
and
i s
someti mes
connected
to
the SYNTHI i nputs
as
part
of
a
patch.
Level :

Devi ce dependent, 5V p-p
may
Si gnal Outputs:

These outputs are sui tabl e for a
power-
ampl i fi er or stereo tape-recorder .
Level :

2Vp-p max i nto 600 ohms
Control Outputs:

These outputs shoul d be
used when the
SYNTHI i s requi red to provi de a DC control
vol tage to another synthesi zer or vol tage
control l ed ci rcui t
. They
are
connected to
the Output Channel rows on
the Patchboard.
Level :

t5VDCmax i nto 1OKohms
Keyboard
:

Thi s
socket i s desi gned to connect the
SYNTHI to a SYNTHI
' K'
or
' KS' keyboard
and
other
SYNTHI modul es and shoul d not
be used for any other purpose.
Si gnal or
Control I nput :

J acks connected to the I nput Ampl i fi ers of
the SYNTHI . An external source wi th l i ne-
output, such as a pre-ampl i fi er or
tape-
recorder, shoul d be connected here.
Sensi ti vi ty
:

2. 5VACp-p
2. 5VDCi nto 50Kohms for
vol tage-control
Mi crophone I nput
:

These i nputs are sui tabl e for most forms
of l ow-l evel si gnal , as
produced by ai r
,

mi crophones,
contact mi crophones and
gui tars.
Sensi ti vi ty: 5mVACi nto 600 ohms
. The
Devi ces
The SYNTHI has a number of devi ces, each wi th i ts own
control s
on
the front panel . The bri ef speci fi cati ons bel ow
are i ntended for reference, and
do
not descri be the uses
of
the
devi ce.
Control refers to the functi on of the devi ce, i f any,
whi ch can be vol tage-control l ed. Matri x gi ves the i denti fi cati on
by di gi ts and l etters of the rows and col umns on the Patchboard
al l ocated
to
the devi ce.
Osci l l ator 1:

Audi o frequency osci l l ator wi th si ne
and
ramp waveforms. Manual control s for
frequency, shape of si ne output (mai nl y
even harmoni cs may be added), l evel of
si ne output, l evel of ramp output . The
outputs are mi xed at the Patchboard.
Range:

1Hz - 10KHz on di al
output :

si ne 2Vp-p
ramp 2Vp-p
Control :

frequency 0. 32 V/octave
Matri x:

3, I
Osci l l ator 2:

Audi o frequency osci l l ator
wi th rectangul ar
and tri angul ar waveforms.
Manual control
for frequency, shape, l evel s. Outputs are
mi xed at the patchboard.
Range:

1Hz - 10KHz on di al
Output :

square 2Vp-p
tri angl e
1-5Vp-p (symmetri cal posi ti on)
ramp 3Vp-p (extreme
posi ti on)
Control :

frequency
0. 32 V/octave
Matri x:

4, J
osci l l ator 3 :

Audi o and
subsoni c osci l l ator
wi th
rectangul ar and tri angul ar waveforms.
Manual control s for frequency, shape and
l evel s . Thi s osci l l ator may be run at
very l owfrequenci es for control
appl i cati ons.
Range:

0. 02X2 - 500Hz on di al
square 4Vp- p
tri angl e 3Vp- p (symmetri cal posi ti on)
ramp 6Vp- p (extreme posi ti on)
Control s:

frequency 0. 26 V/octave
Matri x:

5, 6, K
Noi se Generator :

Whi te and col oured noi se source. Manual
control
of
l evel and col our .
Output :

3Vp- p
Fi l ter/osci l l ator : Amul ti - purpose fi l ter, resonator
and
osci l l ator, wi th adj ustabl e bandwi dth (Q)
and frequency. Manual control of
frequency, mode and output- l evel .
Range:

5Hz - 10KHz on di al
Cut- off Rate: 18db/octave max
Q:

20 max
Control :

frequency 0. 2 V/octave
Matri x:

10, H, N
Ri ng, - Modul ator :

An advanced desi gn wi th hi gh i nput
rej ecti on. Manual control of output
l evel .
I nput
Level : 1. 5V p- pmax
Output :

6Vp- pmax
Rej ecti on:

- 50db
at
1. 5V i nput
Matri x:

13, E,
F
Envel ope Shaper :

A programmed vari abl e-gai n
ampl i fi er for
envel ope control .
Manual control s for
attack, on, decay and off ti mes, si gnal
output l evel and control output ("trapezoi d")
l evel . There
i s
al so a recycl e ("attack")
button by the
J oysti ck
.
Ti mi ng:

Attack 2ms - I s
on

0 -
2
. 5s
Decay 3ms - 15s
Off

l Oms - 5s
+
"off" posi ti on to
i nhi bi t recycl i ng.
Si gnal
Output :

5Vp-pmax
Control
Output :
Control :
Matri x:
t3VDC
Decay ti me 0. 4 V/octave
11, 12, D, L
Reverberati on
Uni t : Adoubl e
spri ng devi ce
wi th
del ays of 25ms
and 30ms.
Due
to the smal l cabi net of the
SYNTHI , acousti c feedback can occur when
the i nternal l oudspeakers are used and thi s
shoul d be avoi ded as far as possi bl e.
Manual control s for mi x and l evel .
Fl ax Reverb
Ti me: 2s
Output :

5Vp-pmax
Control :

Reverberati on ti me -2V for 0%, +2V for
100%mi x
Matri x:

14, G, M
J oysti ck:

Two manual control vol tages are provi ded
by movi ng the j oysti ck up or down or from
si de to si de. Manual range control s are
provi ded
.
Output :

2 x 1. 5VDC
Matri x:

15, 16
Meter :

Mul ti -purpose meter for moni tori ng,
checki hg and cuei ng. Swi tch for sel ecti ng
SI GNAL
or
CONTROL modes
.
I nput :

t1VDCi n Control Vol tage mode
4Vp-pi n Si gnal Level mode
I nput Ampl i fi ers:

Si gnal s and control s may be i nput to the
SYNTHI at l i ne
or
mi crophone l evel . Manual
control of sensi ti vi ty.
Sensi ti vi ty
:
2
x 2
. 5VAC si gnal
2
x 2. 5VDC control
2 x 5mVACmi crophone
Matri x
:

8, 9
Output Ampl i fi ers: Two output channel s wi th manual control
of l evel , fi l teri ng and panni ng.

I nternal
moni tori ng speakers wi th muti ng swi tch.
Outputs:

2 x 2Vp-pi nto 600 ohms si gnal
panned
2 x 10Vp-pi nto 50
ohms si gnal unpanned
2 x 5VDCi nto I OKohms unpanned
Control :

l evel 15dbl y average
Matri x:

1, 2, A, C, O, P
Si gnal Tri gger :

A si gnal sent to Channel 2 can be used to
tri gger
the Envel ope Shaper i f the Channel
2 muti ng swi tch i s
set to the mi d-posi ti on,
"Tri gger" .
Keyboard
:

30 Touch Contacts provi di ng
pi tch and
Dynami c Output . Sequencer
wi th 256 event
storage, and touch control s for Record,
Pl ay, i nstant Transposi ti on and random
note generati on.
Matri x:

8, 9, 16
Patchi ng
10
The devi ces i n the SYNTHI are not
connected i nternal l y.
Before the SYNTHI wi l l make any sound at al l i t must be
"programmed"
by putti ng pi ns i nto the Patchboard. Each pi n
connects the output of one devi ce to
the i nput of another .
Suppose you want to
connect the output of the Noi se Generator
to the i nput of the Fi l ter, for exampl e. Look
down the l abel s
at the l eft hand si de of the Patchboard
and you wi l l see that
row7
i s
l abel l ed "noi se" . Nowl ook
Patchboard
to
"fi l ter" at the top of
a pi n at
the i ntersecti on of the 7th
connect the two devi ces as
requi red.
si gnal travel l i ng
froml eft to ri ght
i t . meets the pi n,
and then travel l i ng up to the top of the
Patchboard al ong the 8th col umn
.
al ong the top of the
the 8th col umn: putti ng
rowand 8th col umnwi l l
I t hel ps to i magi ne the
al ong the 7th rowunti l
Latef i n thi s book, patches wi l l be descri bed
by
a
l etter
.
A - P and a
number 1 - 16. These refer to the col umn and row
respecti vel y
and for conveni ence they are i nscri bed on the ri ght
and bottomsi des of
the Patchboard: The pi n used i n the exampl e
above (Noi se to
Fi l ter) was H7.
The 30- way socket i n the spare pi n
reposi tory at the
bottomof
the panel i s connected to each rowand each
col umn
of
the Patchboard. I t i s used for "Prestopatches"
whi ch set
up any combi nati on of
pi ns i mmedi atel y.
CHAPTERI I : SI MPLE
PROPERTI ES OF SOUNDS
We are very accustomed to, heari ng sounds
. Ani mal s, bi rds,
peopl e, machi nery and natural events
make sounds. Peopl e i n
parti cul ar make compl ex sounds to communi cate
wi th each other,
and go to great l engths
to make i nstruments whi ch produce the
organi sed sounds cal l ed musi c.
Anythi ng that makes a soundwe
wi l l cal l a source of sound.
What
do sources of sound have i n common? The answer
i s
si mpl y that they move.

There are many di fferent ki nds
of move-
ment and
they gi ve ri se to many di fferent ki nds
of sound
.
Some
movements are obvi ous - a rock fal l i ng,
or waves on the beach.
But many
sounds are caused by ti ny vi brati ons whi ch
are not
vi si bl e to the unai ded
eye, such as the vi brati ons of a ti ny
bel l when
i t i s
ri ngi ng.
The reason that
we hear sounds i s that the movement of
the sound sources makes the surroundi ng
ai r
move,
and i t i s
the ai r movement that our ears dgtect . I nsi de each
ear there
i s a smal l mechani smwhi ch converts
vi brati ons of the ai r i nto
vi brati ons of a nervous membrane and
then i nto el ectri cal
vi brati ons
whi ch
are i nterpreted by the brai n.
Duri ng the l ast hundred years, men have devel oped thei r
own arti fi ci al ways of turni ng sound vi brati ons i nto el ectri cal
vi brati ons and vi ce versa. I t was by doi ng thi s that they were
abl e to send sounds over l ong di stances by usi ng tel ephones and
radi os, and to store themi n permanent formon phonograph
records and recordi ng tapes. Ami crophone
i s a devi ce whi ch
turns sounds i nto el ectri cal si gnal s, and a l oudspeaker turns
el ectri cal si gnal s back i nto sounds.
Loudness
Usi ng a l ogari thmi c scal e, whi ch means that we measure
reasonabl e. The rati o uni t we use i s named after Al exander
GrahamBel l : the Bel i s a l arge uni t, so i n practi ce we use
12
Loudness i s probabl y the most obvi ous qual i ty
of a sound
.
The vi brati ons i n the ai r cause changes
of pressure,
and
i t i s
these changes whi ch move
our eardrums . A l oud sound (for
i nstance, a ri fl e shot
as heard
by
the marksman) produces more
than
a hundred mi l l i on ti mes as much pressure on the eardrum
than
a qui et sound whi ch you can onl y j ust hear . I t i s
astoni shi ng that the ear can accommodate thi s enormous range
of
sound
l evel s : i magi ne a wei ghi ng machi ne that coul d wei gh
fl eas as accuratel y as el ephants
We
coul d
use a uni t of pressure to measure l oudness,
but there are two good reasons
for
not doi ng
so. One i s the
i nconveni ence of usi ng numbers whi ch vary over such a wi de
range (100, 000, 000: 1), and the other i s that i t does not agree
wi th our own i dea of l oudness
.
Most peopl e,
i f
asked, woul d
not guess than an orchestra pl ayi ng l oudl y produces
a thousand
ti mes as much sound as the same orchestra pl ayi ng softl y, and
a mi l l i on ti mes as much sound as a qui et conversati on.
rati os of sound power, we fi nd that the numbers are muchmore,
one-tenth
of a
Bel , whi ch
i s
cal l ed
a
deci bel and
i s abbrevi ated
db. Si nce the l ogari thmto, the base 10 of 2' i s 0. 301, when we
doubl e the sound power we add 0. 301 Bel s, or approxi matel y 3db.
Si mi l arl y, taki ng away 3db (often cal l ed a 3db l oss) means
hal vi ng the power . You
can
easi l y see that gai ns or l osses of
20db or 30db represent l arge
mul ti pl es
of smal l fracti ons of
the ori gi nal si gnal . We use Odb as a reference poi nt, someti mes
gi vi ng i t a defi ni te val ue and someti mes merel y usi ng i t as a
compari son. For i nstance, we mi ght say that mezzo-forte (mf)
i n
musi c
i s a
"normal " dynami c, and cal l
i t
Odb. Thenmpmi ght
be -3db and f -+-3db
.
I n the Tabl e, Fi g. I I -1, we have
defi ned
Odb to be the l evel of
the
qui etest sound that
can be heard, so
that a sound
at -3db (or any negati ve
val ue) woul d be
i naudi bl e, but we coul d have
started anywhere wi thout
affecti ng the accuracy of the
scal e.
Qui etest sound

0 db
Gentl e rustl e of l eaves

10 db
Whi sper at 4 feet

20 db
Qui et bedroom

35 db
Conversati on
at 12 feet

50 db
Busy offi ce wi th typewri ters

65 db
Al armcl ock at 3 feet

80 db
Heavy di esel l orry at
20 feet

90 db
Very
noi sy factory

100 db
J et ai rcraft taki ng off at 75 feet

140
db
Noon rocket taki ng off at 1000 feet

200 db
Fi g. I I - 1 : Tabl e of sound
l evel s
Experi ment
1
Turn
the SYNTHI on
and connect
i t (i f possi bl e)
to power
ampl i fi ers.
Connect
Osci l l ator 1 to
output
Channel 1 by
putti ng
a pi nat A3.

(I f you
don' t understand
thi s, re-read
the
secti on on
"patchi ng" i n
Chapter I . )

Set the
FREQUENCY control
of
Osci l l ator
1 to 7,
the SHAPE control
to 5, and
the LEVEL
control s
to 8 (si ne)
and 0
(ramp) . Set
OUTPUT LEVEL
1 to 7
(or to
a conveni ent
l i steni ng
l evel ) and
check that
OUTPUT
FI LTER
1
i s
set to 5
(central l y) .
By al teri ng
the LEVEL
control ,
observe that
the sound can
bemade i naudi bl e
or (i f
suffi ci ent
ampl i fi cati on i s
avai l abl e)
pai nful l y l oud.

By
al teri ng the
FREQUENCY
control note
that
the
l evel at whi ch
the sound
becomes i naudi bl e
depends on
the
frequency.
As wel l as
bei ng
l oud or soft,
sounds can be
l ong or
short .
Some
sounds are
conti nuous -
thei r l oudness i s
the same
al l the
and stop;
they are cal l ed
transi ent
i n
whi ch they
start and stop
i s very
i s
made up
al most enti rel y
of transi ent
ti me. other
sounds start
sounds,
and the
exact way
i mportant
i nmusi c,
whi ch
sounds.
Experi ment
2
0
14
Connect
Osci l l ator
1 through the
Envel ope
Shaper to
Output
Channel
1. The
i nput to
the Envel ope
Shaper i s
col umn D
and
i ts output
("env si gnal ")
i s row
12, so the
pi ns requi red
are
at D3 and
A12. Make
sure that
the Osci l l ator
and
Output Control s
are
set to gi ve
an audi bl e
si gnal ,
and turn the
Envel ope
Shaper
SI GNAL OUTPUT
control to
8.
Set the
ti mi ng control s
of
the Envel ope
Shaper
(l abel l ed
ATTACK,
ON, DECAY,
OFF) accordi ng
to the
tabl e, Fi g.
I I -2,
and
l i sten to
the di fferent
envel opes
. Graphs
of the
si gnal l evel
agai nst ti me are
shown
i n Fi g. I I -3
. I n case
(a) the
si gnal .
15
reaches i ts maxi muml evel i nstantaneousl y, stays there duri ng
the
ONti me, and fal l s i nstantaneousl y to zero where i t remai ns
duri ng the OFF ti me. I n (b), the si gnal di es away sl owl y
(
decays),
and i n (c) i t ri ses sl owl y (attacks) as wel l .
(c) has no ONti me because the note starts decayi ng as soon
as the attack i s compl eted (ON ti me woul d be shown as a fl at
top on
the
wave
form) . I n (d) the OFF ti me has been set
to
be i nfi ni te, but the Envel ope
Shaper can be reacti vated by
pressi ng the ATTACKbutton whi ch starts a newcycl e.

The red
l i ght on the front panel l i ghts up duri ng theATTACKand ON
parts
of
the cycl e. Experi ment wi th the ti mi ng
control s your-
sel f,
tryi ng perhaps to i mi tate vari ous i nstruments. Al ter
the frequency of the osci l l ator and l i sten to the di fferent
aural effect of the same envel ope at di fferent pi tches.
Adda pi n at B11 and set theMeter swi tch
to
CONTROL
VOLTAGE. The output at row11 i s not a si gnal but
a control
vol tage (of whi ch more l ater) -
and
i n thi s case i t i s the
vol tage used to control the si gnal output l evel
of
the Envel ope
Shaper . The Meter shoul d
move i n ti me wi th the Attack/Decay
cycl e - i f
i t
doesn' t, turn up the
TRAPEZOI DLEVEL control .
Fi g. I I -3 shows the way i n whi ch the l oudness
of
the sound
comi ng fromthe Envel ope Shaper changes wi th ti me, and i t al so
represents the vol tage comi ng fromthe Trapezoi d, whi ch expl ai ns
i ts name.
Fi g. I I -2: Envel ope- Shaper ti mi ng control setti ngs
for
Ex eri ment 2
Setti ng
: (a) (b) (c) (d)
ATTACK: 0 0 4 4
ON: 3 3 2 2
DECAY: 0 7 7 7
OFF: 5 0 0 10
db
0
-20
-40
-60
ON ;

OFF

ON

OFF
v
Fi g
.
I I -3: The Env el ope Shaper
V
+2
0
_2
16
( d) I nfi ni te
OFF ti me, cycl e restartedby Attack Button
The
graphs showti me hori zontal l y and output si gnal l ev el
v erti cal l y.
The l eft hand scal e i s db ( Odb i s maxi muml oudness) and
the
ri ght
hand scal e i s
the trapezoi d v ol tage. Fi g. I I -2 shows the control
setti ngs requi red to produce
the env el opes shown.
0 1 2
ti me
3
( a) I nstantaneous Attack and Decay
db
I I
~ON !DECAY OFF : ON `
I
'. DECAY V
0
1
,
f
+2
-201 I \
i
-40
-60
-2
0 1 2 ti me 3
( b) I nstantaneous Attack, StowDecay
I I ' I I ' I
' ATT, ' ON; DECAY OFF
I
i ATT I ON; DECAY I V
0 I
+2
-20
I I
0
-40
' . I
v I
i
-60
-2
0 1 2 ti me 3
( c) Fast Attack and Sl awDecay
db
I
ATT ~ ON; DECAY ;
OFF ~ ATT ~ ON V
0
m ~ I
+2
-20
I I v
Attack I 0
-40
I
i v
-60
0
1 2 ti me 3
17
FreANenc
Y
The
second obvi ous qual i ty of a sound i s i ts frequency.
Thi s i s bothmore compl ex and i nmany ways more i mportant
than
l oudness. More compl ex because most sounds have more thanone
frequency, andmore i mportant because we i denti fy sounds more
by thei r frequency structure thanby thei r l oudness
. Frequency
i s the rate
of
vi brati on of the sound
source, measured i n
(after Hei nri ch Hertz, the radi o pi oneer), whi ch means cycl es
per second,
and
i s usual l y abbrevi ated to Hz. You do not have
to sayHertz per second any more thanyou say
knots per hour
whental ki ng about a shi p' s speed. The "per second" and "per
hour" are part of the defi ni ti on
We hear di fferent frequenci es rather as we hear di fferent
l oudnesses, wi th a l ogari thmi c l aw. Whenthe frequency of a
sound i s doubl ed, we hear i t an
octave hi gher . 800Hz i s an
octave
hi gher
than400Hz and two
octaves hi gher
than200Hz
.
We canhear
sounds
over al most ten
octaves, from20Hz to 20000Hz,
and the ear
i s
most sensi ti ve at 4000Hz .
As
we get
ol der, our
abi l i ty
to hear
very hi gh
sounds di mi ni shes
and
onl y young
peopl e can hear
sounds
above
20000Hz.
Experi ment 3
Use the same experi mental set-up as i n Experi ment 1 .
Set
the SHAPE control
to
5.
Adj ust the
LEVEL control for
control . At very
al together (or i t
heard as separate
per second) and at very hi gh frequenci es i t becomes very thi n
and thendi sappears.

(I t may be i mpossi bl e
to
make the frequency
hi gh
enough usi ng the di al
al one.
J oysti ck to
extend the frequency
range as fol l ows:
put
a pi n
RAMP LEVEL control to zero, and the SI NE
a fai rl y l oud si gnal , andmove the FREQUENCY
l owfrequenci es the sound wi l l di sappear
may turni nto a seri es
of
cl i cks whi chare
sounds whenthey are sl ower than about 20
I f thi s i s so use the
at 116 and set the VERTI CAL RANGE control to 10, thenmove
the J oysti ck up and down to control the frequency. )
Experi ment 4
Use the same experi ment set-up as Experi ment 2.
that the sound gets "buzzi er" i n qual i ty.

By movi ng the
Most sounds contai n not one frequency but several , and
we tal k about frequency components.
Wi th the SHAPE control at 5, the sound from
Osci l l ator
1
8
1 i s al most "pure" . Turn the SHAPE control ei ther way and note
FREQUENCY control try to di scover
whether your range of heari ng
i s al tered by the
change
i n
tone. Move the pi n to B2 and l i sten
to the di fferent qual i ti es of "square" and "ramp" waveforms,
adj usti ng the SHAPE control and both LEVEL control s of
Osci l l ator
2.
The "buzzi er" qual i ty of the sound i n thi s
experi ment
i s due to the presence of extra frequenci es. The "pure" sound
i s a
vi brati on at a certai n frequency, f say, and the SHAPE
control
i ntroduces other frequenci es at 2f, 3f, 4f, etc.
Provi ded that
the newfrequenci es are si mpl e mul ti pl es (twi ce,
three ti mes, four ti mes,
etc. )
of
the ori gi nal frequency, we
hear onl y a si ngl e
note wi th a characteri sti c tone. The i ni ti al
frequency (f) i s cal l ed the fundamental and the other
frequenci es
are
cal l ed harmoni cs or overtones . The "tone" of
the note
i s
techni cal l y cal l ed i ts
ti mbre. I n the experi ment above, you
shoul d have
found that you coul d hear the Osci l l ator at l ower
frequency setti ngs when the
SHAPE
control was
moved, si nce al though
the fundamental became
i naudi bl e (l ess than 20Hz) the overtones
coul d sti l l be heard.
We wi l l nowdescri be two ways i n whi ch a sound can be
represented on a
graph. Fi rstl y, we can drawthe sound as i t
appears on an
osci l l oscope screen. What we are doi ng here i s
V
+2
0
-2
V
+2
0
V
+2
0
19
(a)

(b)

(c)
Fi g.
I I -4: Effect of SH
APE Control on Si ne Wave
n n
(a)

(b)

(c)
Fi a
.
I I -5: Effect
of
SHAPE Control on Souare Wave
Fi g. I I -6: Effect of SHAPE Control on Tri angul ar Wave
ti me
ti me
I n Fi gs. I I -4, I I -5 and I I -6,
(a) corresponds to a
SHAPE
setti ng
of
1, (b)
to a
SHAPE setti ng
of 5, and (c) to a SHAPE setti ng of 9.
freq (octaves)
(a) si ne wave
freq (octaves)
(bJ ramp wave
Fi g. I I -7: Spectra of three waveforms
freq (octaves)
(c) square
wave
0
0 0
-10 -10
-10
-20
-20 -20
pl otti ng a vari abl e whi ch changes wi th ti me: i t does not
matter
much,
whether we pl ot ai r-pressure, movement of the ear-drum,
posi ti on of the di aphragmof a mi crophone or the vol tage whi ch
the
mi crophone produces, because they al l l ook the
same
. The
vol tage i s most conveni ent, because the
osci l l oscope i s an
i nstrument desi gned especi al l y to pl ot a changi ng
vol tage.
Fi gs. I I -4 to 11-6 showthe waveforms that
we have heard so
far as they woul d
appear on an osci l l oscope screen. These
drawi ngs
cl ari fy the meani ng of the l i ttl e squi ggl es that you
can see on the front panel of the SYNTHI by the
Osci l l ator
control s, and al so expl ai n the names "square" and "ramp" whi ch
we have gi ven
to
the waveforms
.
By
l i steni ng to the sounds
and l ooki ng at the graphs
you
wi l l
l earn to associ ate a sound
wi th i ts waveform: note that the waveforms wi th the sharpest
corners have the hardest sounds. I f you have access to an
osci l l oscope, connect i t to the SYNTHI output or SCOPE j ack and
experi ment wi th the SHAPE control s whi l e watchi ng and l i steni ng.
The other way i n whi ch a sound i s represented on a graph
i s sl i ghtl y more di ffi cul t to understand, but
i t i s
often
more
useful .

Hori zontal l y we use a frequency scal e andverti cal l y
we use an ampl i tude scal e. Si nce thi s ki nd of graph has no
ti me axi s, i t does
not represent the
way a
sound change' s, but
onl y an i nstantaneous si tuati on
.
For reasons whi ch you wi l l
nowunderstand, both scal es i n thi s graph are l ogari thmi c: i n
fact, i t i s conveni ent to use octaves for the frequency scal e
and deci bel s for the ampl i tude scal e. . The resul ti ng graph i s
cal l ed the spectrumof the sound, and you wi l l see that the
spectrumof a sound i s anal ogous, to the spectrumof l i ght,
si nce we see
di fferent frequenci es
of
l i ght
as di fferent
col ours.
Nowwe wi l l l ook at the spectra of some of the sounds
we have been l i steni ng to; see Fi g. I I -7.

( a) shows the
spectrumof a pure sound whi ch has exactl y one frequency
component,
represented i n the graph
as a
si ngl e l i ne at that
frequency ( we have chosen 160Hz) .

( b) shows the spectrumof a
ramp waveformat the same fundamental frequency
( 160Hz) but
2
0
21
now
there are overtones at the frequenci es
of the harmoni cs
(320Hz, 480Hz, etc) . The harmoni cs
are equal l y spaced i n
frequency (each bei ng 160Hz
hi gher than the l ast) but appear
unequal on the l ogari thmi c scal e
of the spectrum. They al so
sound unequal musi cal l y:
the i nterval s between
harmoni cs are
an
octave, a fi fth, a fourth, a thi rd and
so
on,
and thi s
j usti fi es our use of a l ogari thmi c
scal e.

(c) shows the wave-
formof a square wave whi ch
has odd harmoni cs onl y (3x160=480Hz,
5x160=800Hz,
7x160=l l 20Hz, etc) . Thi s
i s a property of
al l
symmetri cal
waveforms.
There i s an i nstrument
whi ch di spl ays the spectrumof
a sound
di rectl y, rather as an osci l l oscope di spl ays the
wave-
form, but
i t i s compl i cated and expensi ve. However, the
SYNTHI
can be used to demonstrate the frequency structure
of a sound
acousti cal l y. Afi l ter i s a devi ce
whi ch al l ows some thi ngs
topass through i t but bl ocks others
. An oi l fi l ter i s a wi re
mesh whi ch al l ows oi l
to pass through i t but stops di rt, and
a food strai ner al l ows water and di rt
to pass through i t but
stops vegetabl es. I n sound
experi ments, a fi l ter i s used
to
sel ect or rej ect certai n frequency
components of the sound.
Acousti c fi l ters
can be made, but nowadays i t i s more
conveni ent
to fi l ter
an
el ectri cal
si gnal and l i sten to the resul t
wi th a
l oudspeaker .
Experi ment 5
Connect the Fi l ter to Output Channel
2 wi th a pi n at Cl o.
The Fi l ter shoul d be set to gi ve the
hi ghest possi bl e sel ecti vi ty
wi thout . resonati ng
as fol l ows: turn the RESPONSE control
to
about 5 and the LEVEL
al l the
way from1 to
RESPONSE up a bi t and
the
Fi l ter resonates (makes a pure
sound of i ts own: there i s
no i nput si gnal yet) over a smal l frequency
range, and then turn
the RESPONSE down a bi t . The
Fi l ter i s nowi n bandpass
mode,
control to 10.

Turn the FREQUENCY
control
10; i f there i s no sound
at al l , turn the
sweep the
FREQUENCYagai n.

Do
thi s unti l
whi ch i s to say that i t wi l l onl y l et through a narrowband
of frequenci es. The frequency at the centre of the band i s
control l ed by the
FREQUENCY
control
.
22
Nowput vari ous sounds i nto the Fi l ter and sweep the
FREQUENCYcontrol from0 to 10 to fi nd thei r frequency
components
.

Use as l owa setti ng for the source devi ce as
possi bl e because
the
Fi l ter i s most sel ecti ve
when i ts i nput
si gnal i s smal l . Api n at H3 enabl es you to anal yse a si ne-
wave (whi ch shoul d have no harmoni cs wi th the SHAPEcontrol at
5) or ramp, and movi ng i t to H4 enabl es you to anal yse a square
wave or ramp, or combi nati on of the two. Al though the audi bl e
resul ts
are
not qui te as cl ear as the graphs, the harmoni c
structure shoul d be apparent . You can conti nue
the
experi ment
wi th external sources,
usi ng the I nput Ampl i fi ers and a pi n
at
H8.
Much of the ori gi nal research i nto the frequency compon-
ents of sounds was carri ed out i n the ni neteenth century by
Hel mhol tz. He di d not have the advantages of modern el ectroni c
equi pment, and he made acousti c fi l ters whi ch serve the same
purpose as
the SYNTHI Fi l ter i n the experi ment above, usi ng
the actual sounds rather than thei r el ectri cal equi val ents .
Hi s fi l ters, nowcal l ed Hel mhol tz resonators,
were desi gned
for
maxi mumsel ecti vi ty, but al most any contai ner wi th one or
two hol es i n i t functi ons as a fi l ter as you can veri fy by
speaki ng i nto a
ti n can or al ong a tube. Al most al l musi cal
i nstruments
use resonators - i n fact, wi thout them, they woul d
be al most i naudi bl e. The body of a vi ol i n i s a resonator, as
i s the gourd on an I ndi an si tar .
The
tympanum
(kettl edrum)
i s
a resonator . Unl i ke an acousti c resonator, whi ch works at
one frequency onl y, the SYNTHI Fi l ter' s frequency can be
adj usted over the whol e audi bl e range.
An i mportant advantage of the sound . spectrumgraph over
the waveform
graph i s i ts abi l i ty to showthe characteri sti cs
of noi se.

"Noi se"
i s a col l oqui al termused for any sound whi ch
i s not del i beratel y organi sed for a purpose, as speech and musi c
23
are. But i t al so has a techni cal sense whi ch we wi l l defi ne
here: noi se i s a sound composed of al l frequenci es. we al so
make a di sti ncti on between whi te noi se whi ch contai ns al l .
frequenci es equal l y, and col oured noi se whi ch contai ns more
sound at some frequenci es than
others. As
wi th
"spectrum",
the words are chosen by anal ogy wi th l i ght :
a
mi xture
of
l i ght of al l frequenci es (col ours) i s whi te. Noi se i s caused
i n nature by many randomevents, and i s di fferent frompi tched
sounds whi ch are produced by steady vi brati ons
of
stri ngs,
membranes etc. The sea, wi nd, and di stant traffi c are exampl es
of noi se sources. The waveformof noi se, vi ewed on an
osci l l oscope, vari es constantl y, and i s not at al l l i ke the
steady pattern of a note. The most characteri sti c feature of
noi se
i s i ts
spectrumsi nce thi s shows the average energy
l evel s at di fferent frequenci es.
Experi ment - 6
Connect the Noi se Generator of the SYNTHI to output
Channel 1 wi th a pi n at A7.
Adj ust the Noi se
LEVEL control
so you
can hear the
noi se. Wi th the COLOURcontrol central , the noi se i s whi te
(make sure you have OUTPUT FI LTERChannel 1 set to 5) ; turni ng
the COLOURcontrol to the l eft emphasi ses l owfrequenci es,
and turni ng i t to the ri ght emphasi ses hi gh frequenci es.
See Fi g. I I - 8.
Note: the Noi se Generator requi res 10- 30 seconds to warm
up
after the SYNTHI has been swi tched on
.
Experi ment 7
Adj ust the Fi l ter to gi ve a narrowpassband as
i n
Experi ment 4. Connect the Noi se Generator through the Fi l ter
to
Output Channel 1 (H7, A10) .
freq (octaves)

freq (octaves)

freq (octaves)
(a)
COLOUR
at
0

(b) COLOURat 5

(c) COLOURat 10
Fi g. I I -8: Effect of COLOURControl on Noi se Generator
db
24
Fi g. I I -9: Effect of RESPONSE Cont rol on Fi l 1, ~rl Osc%ZZctor
db
db db
0
0 0
-10 ~
-10 -10
-20
-20 -20
0
0 0
-10 -10
-101,
-20 -20 / -201
freq (octaves)
r-
freq (octaves)
freq
1
(octaves) .
(a)
RESPONSEat 0 (b) RESPONSE
at
S (c) RESPONSE at 10
2 5
A "band"
of
noi se can nowbe sel ected by movi ng the
FREQUENCY control of the Fi l ter . The wi dth of the band can be
al tered by movi ng
the RESPONSE control , but
remember
that
above
a certai n setti ng of RESPONSE, the Fi l ter wi l l resonate,
generati ng an addi ti onal pure note i n the mi ddl e of the band
of noi se. See Fi g. I I -9
CHAPTERI I I : TECHNI QUES OF ELECTRONI CMUSI C
I n thi s Chapter we wi l l l ook at the ori gi ns and hi story
of El ectroni c Musi c, and the techni cal devel opments that l ead
to the SYNTHI , and then showhowthese pri nci pl es are
i ncorporated i nto the SYNTHI .
El ectroni c Musi c i s al most as ol d as el ectroni cs; wi thi n
a fewyears of the i nventi on of the radi o val ve, Dr Theremi n
was experi menti ng wi th an i nstrument pl ayed by a performer
who moved hi s hands around two aeri al s, and M. Martenot was
bui l di ng earl y versi ons of a keyboard i nstrument cal l ed the
"Ondes Martenot".

Both i nstruments are bui l t i n modi fi ed form
and used today.
The
i nventi on
whi ch
had the most profound
effect on el ectroni c musi c was
the
tape-recorder . Al though
phonograph records had been i n exi stence for a l ong ti me, and
some of the pi oneers of el ectroni c musi c had made consi derabl e
use of them, amore fl exi bl e medi umwas needed. Wi th tape, i t
became possi bl e to edi t, mi x, superi mpose and performother
i mportant processes very
much
more easi l y
than
wi th di scs.
The probl emnowbecame one of control : a wel l -equi pped
studi o of the ni neteen-fi fti es (and there were very few) mi ght
have an assortment of osci l l ators and fi l ters, but very
l i mi ted techni ques for "performi ng" on them. A composi ti on
woul d be real i sed very l abori ousl y by recordi ng the requi red
sounds, often one note at a ti me, and edi ti ng the resul ti ng
tapes
unti l the
composi ti on
was compl ete.
The next step was to make more devi ces to control the
exi sti ng ones. The fl exi bi l i ty of a modern studi o i s determi ned
l ess by the sound-produci ng devi ces themsel ves than by the
control l i ng equi pment . The SYNTHI uses the powerful techni que
of vol tage control ,
and
al so an enti rel y newand sophi sti cated
method of sequenci ng, or pl ayi ng a number of notes i n successi on
wi thout i nterventi on fromthe pl ayer . The most advanced modern
studi os use a di gi tal computer, whi chmay be regarded i n thi s
appl i cati on
as a very advanced sequencer .
27
Vol tage Control
So far,
wi th one excepti on,
the si gnal s whi ch we have
used i n
the SYNTHI
have
been
anal ogous to sounds
; that
i s, the
si gnal coul d be taken to an Output Ampl i fi er at any stage i n
the
process
and
be
heard. The
excepti on was at the end of
Experi ment 2 when we watched the Meter move i n ti me wi th the
Attack/Decay cycl e: wi th the pi n at Bl l we can read the vol tage,
but i f we move i t to Al l , connecti ng Trapezoi d to Output Channel
1,
there i s no sound. Thi s i s not because the si gnal i s of a
di fferent ki nd, but because i ts frequency i s too l owto be
heard. Al though such si gnal s are' no use for maki ng sounds,
theymay be very useful for control l i ng other devi ces,
and they
are cal l ed control vol tages for thi s reason.
Experi ment 8
Connect
Osci l l ator
1
to
the Fi l ter
(H3),
the Fi l ter
to
the Envel opeShaper
(D10), and the Envel ope Shaper
to
Output
Channel 1 (A12) .

Use theMeter to di spl ay the Trapezoi d vol tage
(Bl l ) and adj ust the Envel ope Shaper ti mi ng control s for a
medi umcycl e
about 2
seconds
l ong. Turn the TRAPEZOI DLEVEL
control up so that the Meter sweeps across most of the scal e
(the Meter swi tch shoul d be
set
to CONTROL
VOLTAGE) . Nowuse
the Trapezoi d vol tage to affect three di fferent vari abl es of
the sound:
1

Use the Trapezoi d to control the frequency of the
Osci l l ator wi th a pi n at 111. The pi tch swoops i n ti me
wi th
the Attack/Decay cycl e. The FREQUENCY control of
the Osci l l ator sti l l has an effect, but nowi t onl y
al ters the average
frequency.
2

The Trapezoi d wi l l control the fi l teri ng i f
the
pi n i s
moved to
Nl l . Once agai n, i t i s the frequency
of fi l ter-
i ng whi ch i s control l ed and thi s can be very useful i n
i nstrumental si mul ati on.
28
The Trapezoi d
can be used to control
the Output l evel .
Si nce the Envel ope
Shaper i s al ready control l i ng
the
Output l evel of
Channel 1, put a pi n at C10,
whi ch takes
the Fi l ter output
to Channel 2, bypassi ng the
Envel ope
Shaper . Put another pi n
at Pl l , and Channel 2
l evel
i s now
control l i ng
of
phase"
versa.
control s,
fromone
si de to the other .
I t may be necessary to
set the
TRAPEZOI DLEVEL
control to 8 or 9 to achi eve
thi s effect .
See Fi g
. I I I -1.
wi l l fl uctuate
because the Trapezoi d
i ts l evel . Note that
the two channel s are "out
- when one i s l oud,
the other i s soft, and vi ce
i n fact,
wi th sui tabl e adj ustment of
the ti mi ng
i t i s possi bl e
to make the sound appear
to move
I n some
el ectroni c musi c systems,
great care i s taken
to
di sti ngui sh si gnal s
and control s. I n
the SYNTHI there i s no
such
di sti ncti on, and the
resul t i s a consi derabl e
economy i n
wi ri ng and number
of devi ces . Any
vol tage may be used
ei ther
to produce
a sound or to
control a devi ce. Al l we
can say i s
that vol tages
wi th very l ow (often
subsoni c) frequenci es
wi l l
more often be
used for control ,
and vol tages of hi gher
(audi bl e)
frequenci es wi l l normal l y
be used as sounds
.
i f you l ook at
the top of the Patchboard,
you wi l l see
that the i nputs are
di vi ded i nto two secti ons
Si gnal I nputs
and
So far
we have used the Si gnal
I nputs mostl y,
and we wi l l
nowl ook at
the Control I nputs i n
more detai l ; we
wi l l refer to
a Control I nput
by the l etter i n the
correspondi ng
at
the bottomof
the Patchboard, I , J ,
etc. The Control I nputs
do
not provi de any
newfuncti ons, but
they do enabl e the manual
control s to
be al tered
automati cal l y. They do
not overri de the
Manual
Control s, but add
thei r own effect to
them.
Control
I nputs .
I , J , K: Vol tages
i n these
col umns control the
frequenci es of the
three osci l l ators
. The range-of
vol tage control i s
greater than
that provi ded by
the knob. osci l l ators
1
and 2 have the same
sensi ti vi ty, so they
can be set to
a
gi ven i nterval , say a
fi fth apart, and
that i nterval
29
L
:
M:
N:
O, P :
Experi ment 9
wi l l be mai ntai ned as the frequenci es are changed by
the same vol tage. There are no "forbi dden" combi nati ons
on the SYNTHI - an Osci l l ator can control i ts own
frequency, or the osci l l ators can be connected i n a
ri ng, control l i ng one another .
Thi s col umn control s
the
decay ti me of
the
Envel ope
Shaper ; +2Vl engthens the l ongest decay ti me
(knob
set to 10) by about 50%to 25 seconds .
Thi s col umn control s the proporti on of reverberated
si gnal mi xed wi th di rect si gnal when the Reverberati on
Uni t i s used. I t can be swi tched on and off rapi dl y,
permi tti ng
unusual
effects .
Thi s col umn control s the frequency of the Fi l ter . As
wi th the Osci l l ators, the effecti ve frequency range of
the Fi l ter i s i ncreased by vol tage control .
These two col umns control the si gnal l evel of Output
Channel s 1 and 2 . When they are i n use i t wi l l often
be necessary to adj ust the OUTPUT LEVEL control s to
bal ance the channel s correctl y.
I n thi s experi ment we gi ve a si mpl e exampl e of the use of
each vol tage control i nput . I t i s a useful exerci se to bui l d
more el aborate patches fromthem, tryi ng to di scover more i nter
esti ng sounds . We do not gi ve control setti ngs i n detai l , but
l eave i t to you to
di scover useful
combi nati ons of control s .
(a)

Patch: A12, D3,
14.
Osci l l ator 2
i s
used
to control
the frequency
of Osci l l ator 1 . A good vi brato i s
obtai ned
wi th
Osci l l ator 2 control s at 3, 5, 0, 1.
w
0
SYNTHI Dopesheet
E. M. S. ( London) Ltd.
Descr i pti on: Exter nal Connecti ons
Name: EXPERI MENT 9 ( c)
Sheet
Patch
Star t
End:
Notes: S
0
FI LTERI OSC
OF
~606- 71
I l k
0
RI NGMOD
OSCI LLATOR1
0
ENVELOPE SHAPER
00000
OSCI LLATOR2 Exter nal
Patch
SI GNALS CONTROLS REVERBERATI ON
0
J
O
C
C
E
>
ow
V >
co",-
~~
J
o
00
_o
E
C14
a) E' N
M
CD
- 0
CU
w- N
r
Ed-, Ek
OSCI LLATOR3
chan
1
1
I NPUT LEVEL
out 2
2
0- 7m
)IN ( : $) 0
osc 1 . 3
00
L
66-
osc 2 4
-
osc r u . . 5
NOI SEGENERATOR FI LTER 3
N
OUTPUT
noi se
6 RANGE
i nputs 1
_
00
~
0
2 9
f i l ter .
10
tr apezoi d 11
- - - -
env si gnal 12
CHANNL1 OUTPUT CHANNEL 2
r i ng mod .
13
r ever b 14
000
sti ck ` - '
15
I 16
ABC DE F GHI J K LMNO- P
3 1
( b)

Patch: A12, D4,
J 7, J l l . Osci l l ator 2 i s control l ed
by
Noi se
and
Trapezoi d. The Noi se LEVEL control
can be
adj usted
to gi ve an al most pure tone or a wi de
range, of
col oured noi se.
( c)

Patch: A13, E5, F3, I 5, X15, K16.
Thi s i s a more
compl i cated patch than we have used before, and
i t i s
i l l ustrated
on
a Dopesheet .
Osci l l ator 3 i s control l ed
by the J oysti ck, and
i s ri ng-modul ated wi th Osci l l ator 1
to produce "pl ucked" sounds. The other
J oysti ck output
control s the frequency of Osci l l ator 1 ( X15)
so
both
the repeti ti on rate and the
pi tch of the notes can be
al tered i n "performance" . The
J oysti ck gi ves good
manual control
of
any
two parameters of the sound, and
a use can be
found for i t i n practi cal l y every patch.
( d)

Patch: A12, D7, L6. Set the Envel ope Shaper control s
to 0, 5, 0, 0, 10 and the Noi se COLOUR to 5 and LEVEL
to 10. Osci l l ator 3 ( i ni ti al l y at 5, 6, 0, 6)
control s
the
Decay ti me and hence the cycl e durati on of the
Envel ope Shaper .
( e)

Patch: A14, E5, F3, G13, M5
Osci l l ator 1 : 5, 5, 8, 0
Osci l l ator 3 : 5, 5, 5, 0
Ri ng-modul ator : 10
Reverberati on: 7, 10
Correctl y set up,
thi s patch can produce a sound
resembl i ng
a short rol l on a pi tched drum. Wi thout
the pi n
at M5, whi ch i s control l i ng the reverberati on
mi x, i t i s merel y a bl ur . Thi s patch i l l ustrates
the
val ue of control l ed reverberati on.
( f)

The patch i s shown on the
Dopesheet .

I t i l l ustrates
another way of maki ng a dul l sound
froman unmodi fi ed
Osci l l ator i nto an i nteresti ng
musi cal ti mbre, i n thi s
case by control l i ng the Fi l ter frequency
wi th Osci l l ator
3 and the Trapezoi d_
33
( g)

Patch: A3, C12, D3, 011.

Thi s patch moves
the sound ( i n
thi s exampl e i t i s Osci l l ator 1, but i t coul d be
any sound)
fromone channel to the other . I t depends on the fact that
the Trapezoi d output i s i nverted, so that the Channel
control l ed by the Trapezoi d i s l oud when the output of the
Envel ope Shaper i s
l oud, and vi ce versa.
Modul ati on
When a si gnal i s modi fi ed i n some way by another si gnal ,
we
say
that the fi rst i s modul ated by the second. The most
common forms of modul ati on i n conventi onal musi c are smal l
fl uctuati ons i n
the ampl i tude or frequency of a note. Both
ki nds
of
fl uctuati on general l y have a frequency of 5 - 1OHz
and a proporti on of 2 - 5%. I t i s conveni ent to
di sti ngui sh
between ampl i tude modul ati on by
cal l i ng the fi rst tremol o and
the second vi brato. Unfortunatel y, thi s conventi on i s not
al ways adhered to: for exampl e, vi ol i ni sts
tal k about vi brato
( frequency modul ati on produced by al teri ng the l ength of
the
stri ng wi th one fi nger) , fi ngered tremol o ( same but wi th two
fi ngers) , and bowed tremol o ( ampl i tude modul ati on produced
by bowi ng) .
Experi ment 9( a) showed howvi brato i s obtai ned
wi th the SYNTHI , usi ng
Osci l l ator 2 to modul ate Osci l l ator 1.
Thi s can be made i nto a demonstrati on of
tremol o by movi ng
the pi n at 14 to 04, so that Osci l l ator
2
i s
control l i ng the
l evel of Output Channel 1.
The mathemati cs of ampl i tude modul ati on i s
not hard i f
you knowsome tri gonometry. Suppose we
have a pure si ne
A, wi th ampl i tude a and frequency f, so that
A =a. si n ( 2rrft)
Then suppose that the ampl i tude i s
di sturbed by a smal l
si gnal
B=b. si n ( 2Trgt)
tone,
db
0
-20
-40
-60
V
+2
0
-2
db
0
-20
-40
-60
( a) Envel ope Shape Output Level
( b) Envel ope Shaper Trapezoi d Vol tage
Fi g. I I I -1: Panni ng wi th the Envel ope Shaper andTrapezoi d Vol tage
freq ( octaves)
( a) Spectrumof C
( 261Hz)
ti me
( c) Output Level of Ampl i fi er control l ed by Trapezoi d
ti me
ti me
Fi g. I I I -2: Spectra of C, Eandthei r Ri ng Modul ati on products
33. 1
freq( octaves)
( c) Spectrumof
ri ng-modul ati on
of Cand E
so
that
the apml i tude modul ated
si gnal ,
A1,
i s gi ven by
Al ={a
+
b. si n( 2Tr gt) }

. si n( 2Tr f t)
=

a. si n( 2Tr f t)

+
b. si n( 2Tr gt)

. si n( 2Tr f t)
=

a. si n( 2Tr f t)

+~b
. cos{ 2Tr ( f - g) t }
+
~b. cos{ 2Tr ( f +g) t }
I n most cases of ampl i tude
modul ati on, b
i s l ess than a and g
i s l ess than f .
I f thi s i s so, we can
anal yse the modul ated
si gnal A1
i n
the
f ol l owi ng way:
a. si n( 2Tr f t)
i s
the
or i gi nal si gnal
~b. cos{2Tr ( f - g) t}
i s a smal l er si gnal ( b<a)
at a
sl i ghtl y l ower
f r equency
~b. cos{2Tr ( f +g) t}
i s another smal l er
si gnal wi th a
sl i ghtl y hi gher
f r equency
f +g.
Thus we have i ntr oduced two
si gnal s wi th newf r equenci es,
above and bel owthe or i gi nal .
These ar e cal l ed si debands
.
The al gebr a f or f r equency
modul ati on i s mor e compl i cated
and the si debands pr oduced
cannot be f ound by el ementar y
tr i gonometr y. The
expr essi on f or the si gnal A f r equency
modul ated by Bi s-
A1 =
a. si n( 2n{f +b. si n( 2Tr gt) } t]
Ri ng- modul ati on i s a thi r d ki nd of modul ati on
whi ch i s
of ten
used i n el ectr oni c musi c . The si gnal s f ed
to a r i ng-
modul ator
ar e mul ti pl i ed, and the r esul t
i s
much
r i cher i n
over tones than ei ther of the i nput
si gnal s . To see why thi s
i s, consi der two pur e tones A and B,
wi th ampl i tudes a and b,
f r equenci es
f and g, so
A =
a. si n
( 2Tr f t)
B=
b. si n( 2Tr gt)

,
Then the
r i ng- modul ated si gnal , C, i s gi ven by
C=A. B
=ab. si n( 2Tr f t) . si n( 2Tr gt)
=~ab. cos{2Tr
( f - y) t}
+
~ab. cos{2r
( i +g)
L
34
3
5
That i s, the resul t
i s a sound wi th two frequency components
of equal ampl i tudes and frequenci es
whi ch are the sum
f+g
and
di fference f-g of the ori gi nal
frequenci es . I f we put. i n
a more compl ex sounds wi th
more than one frequency component,
al l the frequency components
of each sound wi l l i nteract i n
thi s way and
many newfrequenci es wi l l be produced. Fi g. I I I -2
shows the
spectra of two sounds each wi th two overtones, the
fundamental s bei ng at mi ddl e Cand
at
E
a
thi rd
above.
Fi g. I I I -2(c) shows the spectrum
of
the
resul t of ri ng-
modul ati ng these two sounds, and
i t has ei ghteen di fferent
frequency components.
The
resul t of ri ng-modul ati on i s someti mes harsh because
many of the new
frequenci es are not rel ated si mpl y to each
other .
However, i nstruments such as bel l s and chi mes have
resonances
whi ch al so are not rel ated i n a musi cal way, and
the ri ng-modul ator can be used to si mul ate them, al though i t
i s usual l y sti l l necessary to fi l ter out some of the new
sounds whi ch i t i ntroduces.
Ex eri ment 10
The patch and control setti ngs for thi s experi ment are
shown i n the Dopesheet . The Keyboard i s used to provi de a
pi tch`vol tage at I nput Channel 1, and I nput Ampl i fi er 1 LEVEL
shoul d be adj usted accordi ngl y. The tuni ng of Osci l l ators 1
and 2 i s cri ti cal si nce very smal l changes i n thei r
rel ati ve
pi tches wi l l produce sounds of wi del y varyi ng ti mbre.

The
sound can be made
to
gi ve deep bel l sounds or l i ghter chi me
sounds by adj usti ng the Fi l ter FREQUENCY.
SYNTHI Dopesheat
E. M. S. ( London) Ltd.
Descr i pti on:
Exter nal Connecti ons :
Name: EXPERI MENT 10
Sheet ;
Patch
Star t :
FI LTERI OS RI NGMOD
End:
Notes:
g
_
) Go
9
-
OSCI LLATOR1 ENVELOPE SHAPER
8
r j _
) 7N
60
Z. ~ 4 9
OSCI LLATOR2
-
Exter nal
Patch:
SI GNALS CONTROLS REVERBERATI ON
~-
7
I a ~ I I
5 *6 p
o
> j a;
` ~
Q
a~
OZ a;
+ r
p
E Nd
<mv = . - NM
Q)
v =- N
OSCI LLATOR. 3
out chap
12
1 _I NPUTLEVEL
7 05 ( t
osc 1 3 ~ I
0
osc 2
osc
;
~"
: C~: ~
5
~_~
NOI SEGENERATOR OUTPUTFI LTER 3
N
noi se
_
MON'
. -
.
6
7
RANGE
i nputs
1 8
0 0 ~L@__~A7 0
, .
f i l ter ~~~_
9
10
0
.
0
-
tr apezoi d "No 0
11
CHA14NELl - - - - -
env si gnal =MEMOS 12
OUTPUT CHANNEL
- -
2
r i ng mod-
13
14
( 6)
r e_v er b
~
:
i sti ck
r f -
15
A B C DE F GH I J K L MNOP
. 37
Reverberati on
When a source i n a l arge
roomor
hal l
stops produci ng
sound, the sound we hear does not cease abruptl y, but conti nues
to echo round the
roomf or a short ti me. Thi s i s cal l ed
reverberati on. I n
assessi ng
the
reverberati on ti me of a
parti cul ar room, we make a l oud abrupt sound, and measure the
ti me
taken f or i t to decay to one-mi l l i onth of i ts ori gi nal
i ntensi ty. The ti me depends on f requency,
so
the measuri ng
devi ce must use a burst of whi te noi se (someti mes
a pi stol
shot) or a sound wi th many f requency components
.
Acl assroomhas a reverberati on ti me of at most 1 second:
a l onger ti me woul d make speech hard to understand. A smal l
hal l f or chamber musi c has a reverberati on ti me of 0. 9
to
1. 7
seconds,
and
a
l arge hal l f or
orchestral musi c may be f rom1. 5
to
2. 5
seconds. Cathedral s
and
l arge churches have l ong
reverberati on ti mes - as much as 8 seconds - and are sui tabl e
onl y
f or choral
and
organ musi c wri tten f or them.
El ectroni c musi c i s i n some ways l i ke i nstrumental musi c
recorded i n a, roomwi thno reverberati on at al l .

I t may be
i nteresti ng musi cal l y but i t i s dul l and l i f el ess to l i sten to.
Havi ng constructed el ectroni c
anal ogues of acousti c osci l l ators
and
f i l ters
and
so
on,
to compl ete
the
pi cture we ought to
si mul ate reverberati on. But there i s a di f f i cul ty because
reverberati on i nvol ves l ong del ays, whi ch are di f f i cul t to
produce wi th purel y el ectroni c techni ques. There are vari ous
ways of getti ng round thi s probl em. The best i s to use a
soundproof roomwi th a l oudspeaker and a mi crophone i nsi de i t ;
the l oudspeaker makes noi ses, and the mi crophone detects the
noi ses di rectl y, and al so the reverberati on f romthe wal l s of
the room. A good al ternati ve i s to use a l arge
steel pl ate
wi th transducers
on
i t ; one transducer
i s
si mi l ar to a
l oud-
speaker but i t makes the pl ate move rather than the ai r around
i t, and the other
corresponds to
the mi crophone but i t i s
desi gned to pi ck up vi brati ons of the pl ate. The pri nci pl e i s
that echoes f romthe edges of the pl ate are si mi l ar i n
nature
to echoes i n a room.
i nput
ampl i fi er
Fi g. I I I -3: Reverberati on
i n a Hal l
Fi g.
I I I -4: Spri ng
Reverberati on Uni t
l evel control
38
output
39
Unfortunatel y, we coul d not bui l d ei ther
a roomor a
l arge
steel pl ate i nto your SYNTHI , but we di d
manage to fi t
i n two smal l spri ngs, and these
provi de an effecti ve i mi tati on
of reverberati on i n a smal l space.
Once agai n, two trans-
ducers are used and si gnal s are
sent al ong the spri ngs by the
fi rst and col l ected at the other
end by the second. Two
spri ngs are used rather than
one to si mul ate the compl ex
"mul ti pl e echo"
nature of l i ve reverberati on; the del ays are
sl i ghtl y di fferent
so
that
the echoes do not rei nforce one
another
. I n the SYNTHI , the spri ngs have del ays of
approxi -
matel y
25 mi l l i seconds and 30 mi l l i seconds, the ti me taken
for sound to travel 23 feet and 27
feet respecti vel y.
I n the SYNTHI ,
the amount of reverberati on can be
al tered by the
Reverberati on MI X control . A l arge amount of
reverberati on (MI X at 7 - 9) i s a very dramati c
effect but i s
sel dom:requi red.

I t i s often much more effecti ve
to gi ve a
dry sound a l i ttl e "l i fe" wi th
reverberati on MI X at 3 - 5.
I t i s usual l y best to patch the Reverberati on
Uni t l ast i n a
chai n of devi ces, si nce pl aci ng
i t earl y i n the chai n can make
the fi nal sound muddy, but someti mes
thi s effect can be
expl oi ted,
as
i s shown
i n Experi ment 11.
Not e: Unl i ke
any of the other SYNTHI devi ces, the Reverberati on
Uni t uses a mechani cal l i nk whi ch i s subj ect
to external
vi brati on
.
Thi s has two effects: the fi rst i s that
when reverberati on i s used, the SYNTHI i s sensi ti ve
to
mechani cal shocks of vi brati on, whi ch wi l l be pi cked up
by the spri ngs and ampl i fi ed.
The other i s that the
sound of the moni tor l oudspeakers
may be pi cked up i n
the
same way, resul ti ng (at worst) i n feedback and
howl i ng. I t i s therefore best to avoi d hi gh l evel s of
reverberati on when the i nternal l oudspeakers are bei ng
used.
c
SYNTHI Dopesheet
E. M. S. ( London) Ltd.
Descr i pti on
Exter nal Connecti ons
Name:
EXPERI MENT 11
Sheet ;
Patch
Star t
End:
Notes: S
FI LTERI OSC RI NGMOD
( : 6)
OSCI LLATOR1
ENVELOPE SHAPER
2
9 0 3 9
OSCI LLATOR2 Exter nal SI GNALS
CONTROLS
_REVERBERATI ON
W20
-) 7N
Patch:
5~
o
o' c
E >
a'
> i t'
o
1~
01
A
E
- 1 ( D I D
Z_ tV
`~ '
NM' 0 -
I NPUTLEVEL
OSCI LLATOR3
1
1
outchan 2
2
0
0 00
osc 1 e 3
00 osc 2 * 4
osc r v 5
NOI SE- GENERATOR
3 N
6 RANGE
_OUTPUTFI LTER
noi se ~ 7
~
Ed-
C_ - ) 7 . 1
Sk
0
i nputs 2
9
0 0
f i l ter 10
tr apezoi d " 11
envsi gnal 12
CHANNL1 - - OUTPUT- - CHANNEL 2
r i ng mod 13
r ever b
14
0 0 0
sti ck i
A
16
A BC DE F GHI J K L MN0 P
41
Experi ment 11
The patch and control setti ngs are shown i n the Dopesheet .
The
sound i s rather uni nteresti ng wi th
no
reverberati on (MI X
at 0) but can be gi ven a haunti ng qual i ty by i ncreasi ng the
MI X unti l the opti muml evel i s found.
Thi s patch i s l i kel y to cause howl i ng
i f
the experi ment
i s performed usi ng the i nternal
l oudspeakers.
Level Control s and Mi xi ng
Every devi ce on the SYNTHI has an output l evel control .
At fi rst, i t may seemunnecessary to have, say, four di fferent
l evel control s i n a chai n
of four devi ces, but i n fact they
are al l i mportant . I n order
to achi eve the best possi bl e sound
from
a
S~' NTHI ,
i t i s i mportant that at each poi nt i n a chai n
of
devi ces
the l evel shoul d be correctl y adj usted. I t i s not
possi bl e to defi ne a set
of
hard and
fast rul es for setti ng
l evel s, but
we wi l l gi ve some general gui des .
Fi rstl y, the l evel
shoul d remai n as constant as
possi bl e through the chai n
of
devi ces
. I f at any stage the
l evel i s hi gh, the next devi ce may di stort . Level s can be
checked, by
patchi ng
each
devi ce i n turn to ei ther an Output
Channel or the Meter .
Some devi ces requi re speci al treatment . The
Fi l ter
wi l l produce more dramati c effects
i f
the
si gnal fed to i t
has a very
l ow
l evel , and the Ri ng Modul ator wi l l "break
through" (i n fact si gnal s wi l l go strai ght through to the
output, usual l y di storted) i f the si gnal i s l arger than
about 1 . 5V p-p.
The
Reverberati on Uni t i s capabl e of gi vi ng
very good resul ts,
but
i t shoul d not be overl oaded, especi al l y
at hi gh setti ngs of the MI X control .
Mi xi ng i s the combi nati on
of
two si gnal s i nto one.
I n Osci l l ator 1 and 2 the two waveforms are mi xed, so each
osci l l ator has
two l evel
control s
but onl y one output . Other
devi ces can be mi xed i n the SYNTHI by the si mpl e expedi ent of
putti ng several pi ns i n one col umn. Control vol tages as
wel l
as si gnal s can be mi xed, and thi s faci l i ty i s often used
;
for
exampl e, when addi ng vi brato. Cl earl y, when two si gnal s are
mi xed both the absol ute and rel ati ve l evel s are i mportant .
Panni ng
42
Avery l owl evel at any stage shoul d be avoi ded, si nce
the next stage wi l l have to be set at hi gh gai n whi ch may add
to the noi se l evel .
I t i s obvi ous that wi th two l oudspeakers a sound can be
made to-come fromone or the other . I t i s not qui te so obvi ous
that the sound can be made to come fromany poi nt i n between
them, by sendi ng a proporti on of the sound to each channel .
I n the earl y days of stereo recordi ng, whi ch depends on thi s
fact,
there was
a great deal of di spute about whether i t was
necessary to have phase di fferences between the l oudspeakers
as wel l .
The answer
i s
compl i cated, but roughl y speaki ng, our
ears
make good use of any i nformati on they can get, and
di vi di ng
the sound proporti onal l y works suffi ci entl y wel l for
most purposes .
Panni ng ( a word probabl y borrowed fromthe fi l m
i ndustry) means movi ng
the sound fromone si de to the other .
I n the SYNTHI thi s can be done manual l y, usi ng the
PAN
control s
on
the Output Channel s, or automati cal l y usi ng the Envel ope
Shaper
and Trapezoi d ( see Experi ment 9( d)) . The PANcontrol s,
whi ch enabl e
two sounds to be moved i ndependentl y between the
l oudspeakers, make
the SYNTHI a true stereophoni c machi ne,
not
si mpl y a two channel machi ne.
43
Asi gnal whi ch
i s faded sl i ghtl y and
si mul taneousl y
gi ven
more reverberati on
seems to recede i nto
the di stance.
Usi ng thi s fact and
si mul taneousl y panni ng the
si gnal gi ves
effecti ve three
di mensi onal control .
Note: The PAN
control s are onl y
operati ve when external
ampl i fi ers are used. To
cl ari fy thi s poi nt, refer
to
Fi g. I I I -5, whi ch i s a
functi onal di agram
of
the
Output
Channel s .
Output Fi l ters
The Output Fi l ters
are i ncorporated i n the Output
Ampl i fi ers,
and they are a ki nd of "tone control " . They
shoul d be used for maki ng fi nal adj ustments to the sound,
and al so for matchi ng the SYNTHI to power ampl i fi ers
connected to i t or to the acousti cs of the room. These
control s shoul d be returned to the central posi ti on before
setti ng up a newpatch.
A

Si gnal I nputs
44
Output
Ampl i fi er 1
Channel 1
LEVEL
PAN
1"~M
Output
Ampl i fi er 2
Channel 2
LEVEL
PAN
0
Control
I nput
for
Level
Loudspeaker 1
Phones 1--~

1 1

Phones 2
(Output to Patch)
Si gnal Output
1
Letters (A,
C, 0, P) and numbers (1, 2) are Patchboard
connecti ons.
Fi g. I I I -5: Bl ock
Di agramof Output Ampl i fi ers
P
Control I nput
for
Level
Loudspeaker
2
a
(Output
to Patch)
Si gnal Output 2
45
CHAPTER
I V: THE KEYBOARDANDSEQUENCER
Note: Thi s chapter descri bes
the use of the el ectroni c
touch-keyboard and the di gi tal
sequencer whi ch are
part
of
the SYNTHI
AKS. I t does not appl y
to the EMS
keyboards DKO
and DK1, or to the EMS Sequencer
64.
As we have seen al ready,
i t i s often easi er
to
make' a
pi ece of el ectroni c equi pment
than i t i s to devi se a
way of
control l i ng
i t . However compl ex a synthesi zer
we make, per
formances on i t are ul ti matel y l i mi ted by
the pl ayer' s
abi l i ty to turn knobs . We can onl y
extend the power of the
synthesi zer by maki ng i t easi er
to pl ay.
The SYNTHI AKS
uses a touch-keyboard engraved wi th
a
pi ano-l i ke scal e of bl ack and
whi te notes . Al though
i t i s
possi bl e to pl ay tunes on
thi s keyboard as i f i t was a one-
fi nger organ, we shoul d thi nk
of i t more as an addi ti onal
devi ce for provi di ng two
control vol tages whi ch may be
connected to any of the
vol tage control l ed devi ces i n the
SYNTHI
. As a speci al case, we
may
choose
to control the pi tch
of an osci l l ator and the l oudness of an
ampl i fi er i n order to
pl ay tunes, but thi s i s onl y one
appl i cati on.
The Sequencer
i s a speci al formof storage uni t .
When
the Sequencer i s recordi ng, any
key touched wi l l cause a
control
vol tage and
a ti me to be stored.
.
Later, when the
sequence i s
pl ayed
back, each vol tage reappears at the
appropri ate ti me
after the begi nni ng of the sequence. The
Sequencer i s rather
l i ke a tape-recorder (whi ch
al so has record and pl ayback functi ons)
but as i t i s compl etel y el ectroni c, the
pi tch and speed of a
sequence can be changed i ndependentl y,
and there i s no "rewi nd" .
The Sequencer can onl y be used
to record notes fromthe touch
keyboard;
i t
wi l l
not record other i nstruments or vol tages
.
The l argest number of events
that can be stored i s 256.
the SYNTHI AKSKeuboard and Se
4 7
Functi onal Descri pti on
Fi g. I V-1 i s a si mpl i fi ed bl ock
di agramof the Keyboard
and Sequencer . The dotted l i nes
represent the l ead whi ch
j oi ns the Keyboard uni t to the SYNTHI
proper .
The Keyboard generates
three vol tages: pi s a vol tage
whi ch depends
on
whi ch
key i s touched, and i s cal l ed the
pi tch
vol tage; d
depends on howhard i t was struck and
i s cal l ed the
dynami c
vol tage, and t i s a tri gger vol tage
to fi re the Envel ope
Shaper . The pi tch about may be adj usted
by the REALTI ME PI TCH
SPREADcontrol , and determi nes the
i nterval (tone, semi tone,
quartertone, etc) between
each contact . The dynami c vol tage
i s an i nverted trapezoi d whi ch
i s normal l y used to control an
output ampl i fi er
.
The
tri gger i s swi tched so that the Envel ope
Shaper can be control l ed
ei ther by the Sequencer or by the
keys bei ng
touched; thi s swi tch i s on the extreme
ri ght of
the
Keyboard control s. The RANDOMkey pl ays a note
at random
when i t i s touched and i s connected to the pi tch vol tage
l i ne.
When the Sequenncer i s recordi ng,
i t recei ves pi tch and
tri gger si gnal s and passes them
strai ght through so you can
hear what you
are
recordi ng. The
SEQUENCERPI TCHSPREADcontrol
enabl es
you to tune the Sequencer i ndependentl y of the
Keyboard.
The Sequencer
sends
the
di rect or recorded pi tch vol tage
to
rowl 6 of the Patchboard so that sequences can
accompany
pl ayi ng.

(The verti cal RANGE control must be swi tched
to
zero and onl y hori zontal movements of the
J oysti ck are effecti ve
when the Sequencer i s used. ) The
TONE and SEMI TONE rai se the pi tch
when they are touched.
tuni ng, and
i t i s
onl y
(12 notes per octave) ;
pi tch 7 notes, and the others 4, 2 and 1
notes respecti vel y
.
contacts marked FI FTH,
THI RD,
vol tage fromthe Sequencer
The pi tch
change depends on the
as stated when the tuni ng i s chromati c
for other
tuni ng, the FI FTHrai ses the
The Sequencer has a cl ock, and the durati on of the
sequence depends on the speed at whi ch the cl ock i s runni ng.
I n order to achi eve preci se ti mi ng, you shoul d run the cl ock
at the
fastest rate
you can wi thout the sequence bei ng
too
short for your requi rement . The durati on i s adj usted by the
SEQUENCE LENGTHcontrol on the l eft of the Keyboard, and the
durati on of the sequence i s read fromthe Meter as descri bed
bel ow. The SEQUENCE LENGTHcontrol determi nes the maxi mum
possi bl e l ength of the sequence: you determi ne the actual
l ength
of
the sequence by pressi ng the
PLAY
contact when you
have fi ni shed recordi ng.
The Sequencer provi des another output whi ch- i s connected
to the Meter when the l atter i s swi tched to CONTROL VOLTAGE.
Thi s i s a readi ng of the Sequencer cl ock; i t i s zero at the
begi nni ng of the sequence, and moves to the ri ght, reachi ng
maxi mumdefl ecti on at the end of the sequence. The Sequencer
i s al ways
recycl i ng, whether i t
i s
i n record
or pl ay
mode,
and the
Meter
i ndi cates
i ts posi ti on i n
the cycl e. The Meter
shoul d be used to
adj ust the
sequence durati on before recordi ng
as descri bed i n
the next experi ment . The
Meter can sti l l be
used to measure control vol tages wi th reasonabl e accuracy
si nce a pi n i n the Meter col umn wi l l overri de the Sequencer
output .
Experi ment 12
Thi s experi ment i s i n two parts: ( a) descri bes a
si mpl e appl i cati on of
the Keyboard al one,
and
( b)
shows
how
the Sequencer i s used.
i nvol ve pl ayi ng tunes.
For si mpl i ci ty, both experi ments
48
To use the Keyboard al one, patch D3, A12 ( Osci l l ator 1,
Envel ope Shaper, Output) . We are usi ng the pi tch
vol tage from
the Keyboard
to control Osci l l ator 1
frequency, so put a pi n at 18. Si nce the pi tch vol tage
comes through I nput Ampl i fi er l , turn I NPUT
LEVEL 1 to
49
7 and adj ust the osci l l ator
to gi ve a reasonabl e pi tch
and
l oudness. The Envel ope Shaper knob on the Keyboard
shoul d be set to REALTI ME.

When you touch a contact,
the ATTACKl amp wi l l l i ght, and
i f the Envel ope Shaper
i s correctl y set, you wi l l hear
a
note.
To tune the Keyboard, touch contacts
an octave apart
al ternatel y (not
together - the Keyboard can onl y pl ay
one
note at a ti me) and adj ust the REALTI ME PI TCH
SPREADcontrol unti l the two notes are an octave apart .
Al ter the Osci l l oscope FREQUENCY and Envel ope
Shaper
control s to obtai n notes
of
di fferent regi ster and
durati on.
The dynami c vol tage fromthe Keyboard
i s connected to
row9 (I nput 2) . An extra pi n can
be
put
at 09 for
l oudness control
or at L9 for decay control . I f you
patch reverberati on (remove
A12 and substi tute G12,
A14) then
you can control i t fromthe Keyboard (M9) .
Pl ay
random
notes
as
wel l :
they can be i nterspersed i n
a mel ody i f desi red.
(b)

To use the Sequencer, patch D3, A12 agai n, and
put the
pi tch vol tage pi n at 116. The ENVELOPE SHAPER
control
on the Keyboard shoul d be turned
to SEQUENCER (si nce
, thi s
i s
where the
. tri gger pul ses wi l l come from) and
the verti cal RANGE
control shoul d be set to zero (there
i s a swi tch at that posi ti on) . Set the Meter mode
swi tch to CONTROL VOLTAGE.
The
Meter wi l l be movi ng sl owl y across the scal e to the
ri ght, and resetti ng at the end of i ts travel . Thi s
represents the maxi muml ength of your sequence, and you
shoul d adj ust the SEQUENCE LENGTHcontrol on the
Keyboard so
that
the ti me i n whi ch the Meter moves
across i s a l i ttl e l onger than the tune whi ch you wi sh
to pl ay. Record your tune as fol l ows:
Touch
RECORD
.

The Meter wi l l move to zero, i ndi cati ng
that the
sequence i s ready to begi n, and wi l l wai t .
unti l you start pl ayi ng.
Pl ay your tune.
Touch PLAY. Thi s wi l l make the
Sequencer pl ay the tune
fromthe begi nni ng and then repeat
i t i ndefi ni tel y.
I f you use the
Sequencer to pl ay a repeated pattern
(such as anAl berti
bass fi gure) i t i s i mportant to
touch PLAY
qui ckl y after the l ast note, or there wi l l
be
a gap before the sequence starts agai n each ti me
round.
Once stored, a sequence wi l l
pl ay i ndefi ni tel y. You
can al ter i ts pi tch wi th the transposi ti on
contacts
(FI FTH, THI RD, etc) or Osci l l ator 1 FREQUENCY,
and i ts
tempo wi th the SEQUENCELENGTH
control .
Some practi ce i s requi red
to
use the
Keyboard and
Sequencer effecti vel y. The Sequencer
stares the begi nni ng
and end of each note,
so
the
l ength of ti me for whi ch you
hol d a note down
shoul d be used expressi vel y. I t i s i mportant
to set the
SEQUENCERLENGTHcontrol correctl y: i ncompl ete
storage or apparent ti mi ng errors may occur i f
i t i s too l ong
or too short . Agood l ength for recordi ng a sequence
i s 25
seconds. After recordi ng, a 25
second sequence can be vari ed
from2 seconds up to as l ong as 4 mi nutes
. You shoul d l eave
a smal l gap after the l ast note i n the
sequence, or you may
record a "bl i p" . When pl ayi ng, the PLAY
contact can be used
to reset the sequence to the begi nni ng,
and a sequence can be
cued by rel easi ng the PLAY contact . Fortunatel y,
i t i s very
easy to re-record a sequence by
touchi ng the RECORDcontact
agai n, so start wi th a si mpl e tune and
try to obtai n a perfect
recordi ng of i t .
50
5 1
Tuni ng
the Keyboard
When you touch a note of the
Keyboard, you are actual l y
generati ng a number . The number
i s i n 5-bi t bi nary form(i n
whi ch formi t i s very easi l y
stored by the Sequencer) and i t
i s l ed to a Di gi tal
to Anal ogue Converter whi ch turns i t i nto
a vol tage. Thi s
vol tage has one of 30 val ues, dependi ng on
whi ch note
you touched, and the range
of vol tage i s al tered by
one of the SPREAD
control s . The effect of thi s
i s
that
rather
than tuni ng every note, or one parti cul ar
note, we tune by
i nterval .
When the Keyboard i s tuned conventi onal l y,
the
vol tage range i s about 0. 85V
for
the
whol e Keyboard, or 0. 32V/
octave whi ch i s correct for SYNTHI
Osci l l ators 1 and 2. I f
we tuned i t to 1 . 6V, we woul d have
a 5 octave range and each
note woul d be a whol e tone apart ; i f
we tuned i t to 0. 42V we
woul d have a quarter tone scal e
coveri ng a tenth. Once we
have establ i shed
a "spread" or range, for the Keyboard, we
onl y have to tune one parti cul ar note
to a parti cul ar frequency
for the whol e keyboard
to be i n tune.
The
procedure for tuni ng the SYNTHI Keyboard
i s as
fol l ows
:
Tune the
Sequencer by patchi ng A3, 116 and adj usti ng
the SEQUENCER PI TCHSPREADcontrol for
a
perfect
octave (or
other i nterval i f you can hear i t better) . Then
choose one
note, for exampl e concert A = 440Hz,
pl ay i t, and adj ust
Osci l l ator 1 to the desi red pi tch.
The procedure for the Keyboard
i s essenti al l y the same
but for one poi nt . The
Keyboard pi tch vol tage i s taken through
I nput Ampl i fi er 1
to row
8
of the Patchboard and so the Keyboard
range i s effected by the l evel
of the I nput Ampl i fi er . I t i s
si mpl est to preset the I NPUT
LEVEL to 7 and then not to al ter
i t so l ong as the Keyboard i s i n use. The
Keyboard can now
be tuned wi th the KEYBOARD
PI TCHSPREADcontrol i n the same
way as the Sequencer .
The next experi ment shows you how
to
accompany
a
sequence.
The
Sequencer i s used to control osci l l ator 1, and the Envel ope
Shaper i s dri ven by the Sequencer tri gger . When a sequence has
been recorded, the Keyboard can be used to accompany i t usi ng
Osci l l ator 2 . The dynami c vol tage fromthe Keyboard i s si mi l ar
to the control vol tage produced by the Envel ope
Shaper
but
wi thout ti me control s; here i t
i s
used
to
control the l evel
of
Output
Channel 2 .
Experi ment 13
5 2
The Sequencer uses Output Channel 1 . The
si gnal path i s
connected wi thpi ns at D3, A12 and the pi tch control
uses one
pi n
at 116. On the SYNTHI , adj ust
osci l l ator 1, the Envel ope
Shaper, and Output Channel 1, and set the verti cal RANGE
control
to zero. On
the
Keyboard, set the ENVELOPE SHAPER
knob
to
SEQUENCER. Record
a sequence as i n Experi ment 12 and
then turn Channel 1 LEVEL control down whi l e you set up the
accompani ment patch.
Connect Osci l l ator 2 to Output Channel 2 (C4) and adj ust
the l evel s so that the sound i s j ust i naudi bl e
at mi d-range
frequenci es
.
Add a pi n
to
J 8 for pi tch
control
and
another at
P9
for
dynami c control . Turn I NPUT LEVEL
2 up to 10 (the
I nput Ampl i fi er i s ampl i fyi ng the dynami c control si gnal ) and
notes
touched on
the
Keyboard shoul d be audi bl e. The onl y
control of the envel ope of each note i n thi s mode i s the
rel ati ve l evel s of I nput Ampl i fi er 2 and Output Ampl i fi er 2,
but i t i s possi bl e to obtai n a range of sounds froma
.
staccato
"pi ng" to a l egato "organ" sound. Nowby turni ng up Output
Channel 1 LEVEL agai n, you can accompany the sequence.
The ti mbre of ei ther voi ce can be enri ched by usi ng
other devi ces. You shoul d set up the experi ment as descri bed
and then i mprove the ti mbres wi th fi l teri ng, ri ng-modul ati on,
reverberati on, vi brato, etc.
53
Fi nal l y, we descri be a fewways of usi ng the Keyboard
wi thout usi ng the Envel ope Shaper or dynami c vol tage.
Experi ment 14-
( a)

PatchA13, E3, F8, 28.

Thi s uses the ri ng- modul ator
predecessor
.
( b)

Move E3 to E7. Thi s i s a "drum" sound whi ch
can be
used as part of a patch for pl ayi ng
tunes
.
( c)

The Keyboard and Sequencer can be used as a control
for many SYNTHI patches.

Try "pl ayi ng" the Chi mes
descri bed i n Experi ment 12, for exampl e.
to produce a short, staccato envel ope. An i nteresti ng
feature of thi s patch i s that the l oudness of each
note depends on the i nterval between i t and i ts
CHAPTERV: THE SYNTHI ANDOTHER
DEVI CES
Ampl i fi ers
Al though the SYNTHI has i nternal
ampl i fi ers and l oud-
speakers, these are onl y
i ntended for moni tori ng, and i n
demonstrati ons or concerts the
SYNTHI shoul d be connected to
a stereo
power ampl i fi cati on system. The SI GNAL OUTPUTS
on
the SYNTHI
provi de si gnal s whi ch are sui tabl e for most
ampl i fi ers. They shoul d be connected
to the
AUX
or
RADI O
sockets on a
pre-ampl i fi er or i ntegrated ampl i fi er,
or they
may be
connected di rectl y to the l i ne-i nput
of a power
empl i fi er . DONOT use tape-head or pi ck-up
i nput sockets on
the ampl i fi er because they are
i ntended for much smal l er
si gnal s.
Ampl i fi ers and
l oudspeakers are desi gned to produce
speech and musi c. You shoul d
al ways bear i n mi nd that the
SYNTHI can produce
sounds whi ch do not occur i n speech or
conventi onal musi c, parti cul arl y
l arge si gnal s at very hi gh
and
very
l ow
frequenci es, whi ch can damage l oudspeakers
.
I f the
l oudspeaker i s di storti ng badl y or ratti ng, you
shoul d
turn the l evel s down or di sconnect the SYNTHI
i mmedi atel y.
Fi g. V-1 shows a SYNTHI connected
to a stereo ampl i fi ca-
ti on system.
Tape Recorders
54
Al though the SYNTHI
i s
an excel l ent
i nstrument for l i ve
performance, a tape-recorder
i s essenti al i f el aborate
el ectroni c composi ti ons are to be
real i sed, and two tape
recorders are better sti l l . The
outputs of the tape-recorder
can be connected
to
the
HI LEVEL i nputs of the SYNTHI , and
the
SI GNAL OUTPUTS of the SYNTHI to the AUX or RADI Osockets
of the
tape-recorder . Fi g. V-2 shows a SYNTHI connected
to
SYNTHI Dopesheet
E. NI . S. ( London) Ltd.
Name: EXPERI MENT 15 ( b)
Sheet :
Patch
Star t :
End:
Notes :
CHANNEL1 - - OUTPUT- - CHANNEL 2
Descr i pti on:
ENVELOPE SHAPER
A B CD E F GH I J K L MN0 P
Exter nal Connecti ons :
REVERBERATI ON
I NPUTLEVEL
RANGE
a stereo
tape-recorder ; l ater i n thi s
chapter we
wi l l
l ook
at ways of connecti ng
more than one tape-recorder .
Wi th
a tape-recorder you can record several sounds i n
successi on and
then edi t the tape to make a composi ti on. By
al teri ng the speed of the tape-recorder between recordi ng and
pl ayback
you can change the speed and the pi tch of sounds.
I f the tape-recorder has a
separate pl ayback head you can
produce the i nteresti ng echo effects
descri bed i n Experi ment
15.
Experi ment 15
56
Connect the
AUXor RADI Oi nput of the tape-recorder
to
the SYNTHI ' s
SI GNAL OUTPUT, and the l i ne-output of the
tape-recorder (whi ch must come froma separate
pl ayback head)
to the
HI LEVEL I NPUT.
(a)

Patch
:
A12, G8. Any sound presented on I nput
Channel 1
(for exampl e, a note fromthe
Keyboard) wi l l be gi ven
a combi nati on of reverberati on
and si mpl e echo whi ch i s
more effecti ve than
ei ther separatel y.
(b)

Thi s i s
a fai rl y compl i cated set up and we
showi t i n
a Dopesheet . Each ti me the echo returns
fromthe tape,
i t
i s ri ng-modul ated by a si ne-tone
fromthe Fi l ter .
Si mpl e pri mary sounds are best,
and the Dopesheet shows
short notes provi ded by Osci l l ator
1. Thi s patch i s
capabl e of rather beauti ful
sounds i f some care
i s
taken to get the l evel s adj usted
opti mal l y.
on the Dopesheet
were obtai ned froma
tape-recorder
whi ch had been l i ned up to
gi ve the same l evel
at i ts
output as i t recei ved at i ts
i nput .
The setti ngs
5
7
Mi crophones
and I nstruments
As wel l
as maki ng i ts own sounds,
the SYNTHI i s abl e
tomake dramati c
transformati ons of
sounds fed to i t . The
MI C500 ohm
i nputs are sui tabl e
for most ai r-mi crophgnes,
contact-mi crophones and el ectroni c
i nstruments such
as organs
and gui tars
. Before connecti ng
anythi ng to the MI C
sockets,
turn the
I NPUT LEVEL
control s to 0, then
pl ug the devi ce i n
and
sl owl y turn up the
I NPUT LEVEL to a
sui tabl e setti ng.
I t
i s best to patch
the I nput Ampl i fi er
strai ght through to
the
Output Channel (pi ns
at A8, C9) and
make sure that a
cl ear undi storted
sound i s obtai nabl e
by di rect ampl i fi cati on
before attempti ng
treatments. Al ternati vel y,
send the si gnal
to the Meter (pi n
at B8, or B9, Meter
swi tch to SI GNAL
LEVEL)
and adj ust the I NPUT
LEVEL control s for
a maxi mumi ndi cati on
of 4 - 7.
I f the si gnal i s to be
taken to the Fi l ter
or Ri ng-
Modul ator
i t shoul d be set to
a fai rl y l owl evel (3
on the
Meter)
for best resul ts.
For each newsound, i t
i s best to try out
each SYNTHI
treatment by i tsel f
fi rst, and then to
try more el aborate
transformati ons usi ng
several devi ces.
Experi ment 16 descri bes
howto try out the
effect of i ndi vi dual
devi ces, and
Experi ment
17 demonstrates
more compl ex effects
.
Experi ment
16
Amono si gnal i s
present at I nput Channel
1 (row8)
and i ts
l evel has been set
as descri bed i n the
text above.
Patch: A10, H8.
Thi s fi l ters the sound;
the Fi l ter may
be
control l ed manual l y
or automati cal l y.
For exampl e,
control i t wi th
Osci l l ator 3 (N5
or N6) .
Patch: A12,
D8. The Envel ope
Shaper can fade the
sound
i n vari ous ways. Try
each of the fol l owi ng
wi th
vari ous setti ngs of the
Ti mi ng Control s.
S. i gna-

Aux
Outputa I nputs
000
0000
SYNTHI
Fi g
.
V- 1 : The SVNTHI connected
to
a
Steneo
Ampti 6
. i en
Stereo Tape- teconden
Aux
I nputa
Si nrat
Outputs
Mml
00 00
Steneo
Ampt. i 5i . en
" ' 0000
0000
0000
M
0
0000000
a e
Li ne
Outputs
Hi - . teve
. t
I nputb
58
toudspeakend
toudapeake)ca
F . i g
. V- 2: The SYNTHI
connected to a
Stereo Tape- necondex
59
Automati c: wi th OFF ti me at 7
or l ess
the Envel ope
Shaper
wi l l recycl e i mmedi atel y.
Manual : wi th the OFF ti me at 10, a newsoul d wi l l be
produced whenever the ATTACKbutton by the J oysti ck
i s pressed.
Threshol d Tri gger : put a pi n at C8, connecti ng the i nput
si gnal to Output Channel 2, and put the ri ght-hand
l oudspeaker swi tch
to
TRI GGER. The Envel ope Shaper wi l l
recycl e whenever the i nput si gnal reaches the tri ggeri ng
threshol d. Thi s can be used to gi ve i nstruments' an
enti rel y di fferent envel ope wi thout
affecti ng thei r
ti mbre.
Patch: A14, G8. Thi s adds reverberati on to the sound.
The opti mumsetti ng of the MI Xcontrol wi l l depend on
the nature of the i nput si gnal .
Patch: A13, E8.

The Ri ng-modul ator requi res another
i nput before i t
wi l l
do
anythi ng.

To ri ng-modul ate
wi th a si ne-wave, patch E10
and
turn
the Fi l ter RESPONSE
to 10 so the Fi l ter resonates . Try the other Osci l l ators
( E3, E4, E5 or E6), Noi se ( E7) and al so ri ng-modul ate
the sound wi th i tsel f ( E8) and expl ai n the resul t by
referri ng to "Modul ati on"i n Chapter I I I .
SYNTHI Peri pheral s
There are three speci al purpose
uni ts manufactured by
EMS for use wi th the SYNTHI or other el ectroni c musi c
These are descri bed bri efl y bel owbut come wi th thei r
detai l ed descri pti ons .
equi pment .
own
Pi tch
to Vol tage
Converter
60
Thi s devi ce i s rather modestl y named, si nce i t
wi l l
not onl y convert a pi tch to a vol tage, but wi l l produce
another vol tage proporti onal to the ampl i tude of the si gnal
(envel ope fol l owi ng), and a tri gger pul se (for the Envel ope
Shaper) as wel l . I t i s therefore possi bl e
to make the SYNTHI
accompany a l i ve i nstrument i n
tune (or i n paral l el harmony,
an octave l ower for exampl e) and wi th correct
rhythm, but
wi th an enti rel y di fferent ti mbre and envel ope
. I nverted
vol tage
outputs are avai l abl e to the SYNTHI can al so
accompany
i n contrary moti on, or be l oud when the l i ve i nstrument i s
qui et
.
Random
Vol tage Generator
The RandomVol tage Generator
can be used for a number of
effects apart frompl ayi ng
randomtunes.

One of the probl ems
of el ectroni c musi c i s that the sounds are
often too regul ar,
or mechani cal , and a smal l randoml y
fl uctuati ng vol tage, used
to provi de
vi brato or tremol o, for exampl e, can do a
l ot
towards
maki ng an exci ti ng "l i ve" sound.
Ei ght Octave Fi l ter
Bank
Thi s uni t compri ses ei ght fi l ters
tuned to fi xed
frequenci es an octave apart . I t enabl es very
subtl e modi fi ca-
ti ons to he made to the ti mbre of the sound,
and
i s
useful
for el i mi nati ng unwanted components, such as humor noi se,
wi thout degradi ng the musi c content of the si gnal . The
i ndi vi dual output fromeach fi l ter i s avai l abl e whi ch greatl y
i ncreases the fl exi bi l i ty of
the Fi l ter Bank
as
wel l as maki ng
i t more useful educati onal l y.
Fi g
. V-3:
Btock D. i agnam
o6
SYNTHI
Studi o
A
C
6

x

2

M. i x en
000000
000000
DO
r
Mon. i toni ng
Loudepeakena
tHf
~~ tt
2
S
. i gnat SVNTHI
S
. i gnat
G
I nputa I nputa
3
H
0000
4
0000
0000
O
Tx. i g
gen
I nput
Keyboand I I
I I I I I I I I
Se. teet Tni ggen made
Tape-neeo, %den.
1
T
5
J
6
00 00
Tape-neeonden 2
K 1
L
C
w
l e
8
00 00
9
Pi tch-Vottag
00
0 :
e
;
1 0
1 1
RandomVottage
DO 000
1 2
1 3
8
Oct
N
F. i tteh
Ba
nk
-{0000
00~'
1 4
0
1 5
P
1 6
Steneo Revenb
++++++"" "
N, ws+

~RJ "i ~i 0y) y
o s yi o,

~

s
W1 i l
. 4.
i
AMore Advanced
Studi o
62
You wi l l have
real i sed by nowthat the
SYNTHI i s a very
versati l e i nstrument
. I t i s not an
exaggerati on to say that
wi th
a SYNTHI , a stereo
ampl i fi er, two
tape-recorders, and
some or al l
of the EMS peri pheral s,
you woul d have
a comprehensi ve
modern el ectroni c
musi c studi o. . There
are many peopl e i nvol ved
i n the
producti on of el ectroni c
sounds for concerts,
adverti si ng,
fi l ms and
theatre sound effects
wi th fewer resources than
thi s.
I t i s vi rtual l y
i mpossi bl e to say exactl y
howal l these
devi ces shoul d be connected,
because thi s wi l l
depend on the
parti cul ar appl i cati on.
Al l studi os
of
any
compl exi ty therefore
have a patchfi el d,
whi chusual l y
consi sts of a number of j ack
sockets, wi th pl ug-l eads
to connect them
. EMS recommend a
Patchboard, as used
i n the SYNTHI ,
because they are more compact,
more rel i abl e,
and easi er to use.
EMS wi l l provi de a 16x16
matri x, whi ch
i s suffi ci ent for many
appl i cati ons, or a 60x60
matri x
( as used on the SYNTHI
100) for l arger studi os.
A
60x60 matri x i s
equi val ent to a
patchfi el d wi th 3600 sockets
.
Fi g. V-3
i s a bl ock di agramof
a very fl exi bl e studi o
bui l t
around a 16x16
Patchboard usi ng the
fol l owi ng equi pment :
SYNTHSAKS
6 - 2 Stereo Mi xer
Stereo Power
Ampl i fi er
2 Moni tor
Loudspeakers
2 Stereo
Tape Recorders
E. M. S.
Pi tch to Vol tage Converter
.
E. M
. S. RandomVol tage Generator
E
. M. S. Ei ght Octave Fi l ter Bank
2
Reverberati on Uni ts
The audi o
si gnal connecti ons of each
devi ce are taken to
the patchboard. The EMS
peri pheral s produce
control vol tages
whi ch can onl y
useful l y be taken
to
the
SYNTHI . Afour
posi ti on
swi tch sel ects the
devi ce to tri gger the
Envel ope Shaper :
63
1 Keyboard
2 Pi tch to Vol tage Converter
3 Random
Vol tage Generator
4 Attack Button
Mi crophones
can be connected to the mi xer, the SYNTHI , or the
tape-recorder . Ttro reverberati on uni ts are used
i n addi ti on
to the uni t i n the SYNTHI because reverberati on i s i mportant
i n el ectroni c musi c and external uni ts, preferabl y usi ng steel
pl ates, wi l l gi ve superi or resul ts.
The
photograph
(faci ng page 62) shows the l arge el ectroni c
musi c studi o used
by EMS for devel opi ng thei r products. Both
the SYNTHI AKS and the l arger
SYNTHI
100
are shown,
as
wel l as
the computers used for di gi tal control .
CHAPTERVI : SYNTHI PRESTOPATCHES
I n
thi s
Chapter
we descri be the three Prestopatches
provi ded wi th
the SYNTHI : howthey work, and howthey are used.
I n each of the Patchboard pi ns there i s a resi stor .
when you put a pi n i nto the Patchboard,
you are j oi ni ng
two
devi ces i n the SYNTHI wi th
thi s resi stor . Al l the devi ces
connected
to the Patchboard are al so connected to the 32-way,
socket
by the spare pi n store, and so a pl ug can be pre-wi red
wi th resi stors formi ng a patch and pl ugged i n. Apl ug
made i n
thi s way i s cal l ed a Prestopatch.
APrestopatch onl y contai ns the pi n posi ti ons, not the
setti ngs of al l the control s. Any
Prestopatch i s therefore
i ncompl ete wi thout a Dopesheet whi ch
shows
howthe
control s
shoul d
be set .
The
Dopesheet shoul d al so showwhi ch control s
shoul d be changed to gi ve parti cul ar
effects.
EMS wi l l make up Prestopatches to your own speci fi cati on.
Send a Dopesheet wi th your patch cl earl y marked on i t and we
wi l l provi de a Prestopatch wi red for your patch.
PRESTOPATCH1 : BATTLE
Natural l y, the
fi rst thi ng to do when tryi ng a Presto-
patch for the fi rst ti me i s to pl ug i t i n, set the control s
and l i sten to i t . For the Prestopatch to be of any real
val ue, however, you must understand howi t works
you can al ter the control s constructi vel y rather
random.
64
i n order that
than at
Experi ment
17
Pl ug i n the
Battl e Prestopatch and set up the control s
as i n the Dopesheet .
Patterns of expl osi ve sounds shoul d
emerge
fromboth channel s; the texture can be al tered
wi th
Osci l l ator 3 SHAPE
control and the J oysti ck.
Try and understand fromthe
Dopesheet howthe Presto-
patch works: the pri nci pl e
defi ce chai n i s Noi se, Fi l ter (H7),
Envel opeShaper (D10), Output
1 (A12), Reverberati on (G12),
Output 2 (C14) . The
Osci l l ators and J oysti ck are used
to
control Decay,
Reverberati on, Fi l teri ng, and Osci l l ator
frequenci es
. Di scover the functi on of each devi ce by
al teri ng
i ts control s.
You can al ways add pi ns to a Prestopatch,
by i nserti ng
themi n the Patchboard i n the usual way. See
i f you can
enhance the Battl e Patch by
i ntroduci ng newcontrol s or
devi ces.
PRESTOPATCH2: KEYBOARD
The
Keyboard Prestopatch i s used to obtai n
a vari ety
of
effects
fromthe Keyboard and Sequencer; you wi l l
probabl y
not use al l the effects at the same ti me, and
you wi l l need
to adj ust the control s to get effects
i ndi vi dual l y.
Experi ment 18
Pl ug i n the Keyboard
Prestopatch and adj ust the control s
.
Thepatchworks i n the fol l owi ng
way: the Sequencer
control s
Osci l l ator 2 (J 16) whi ch i s connected
to the Envel ope Shaper
(D4), Fi l ter (H12), Reverberati on
(G10) and Output Channel 1
(A14) . Osci l l ator 3
control s the Fi l ter to provi de
a tremol o
SYNTHI Dopesheet Descr i pti on: Exter nal Connecti ons :
E. M. S. ( London) Ltd.
Name: BATTLE
Sheet
PRESTOPATCH
Adj ust these contr ol s your sel f
Patch:
Star t :
FI LTERI OSC RI NGNI OD
End:
Notes: S
0
OSCI LLATOR1 ENVELOPE SHAPER
0 4 0 7 0 0 9 0 0
OSCI LLATOR2 Exter nal
Patch:
SI GNALS CONTROLS _REVERBERATI ON
4 0 9 ~ ~ 1 0 ~
O
C
E N
Qm
. . -NMa - N
_OSCI LLATOR3 I NPUTLEVEL
chap
1 1
out 2
2
3
00 1 1

q
osc 1 . 3
00. W
osc 2 . 4
osc r u 5
3 "
NOI SEGENERATOR OUTPUTFI LTER
noi se
6
RANGE
1 ~
9 5 5
i nputs
2 9
.
Ti l ter ~ ~ 1 0
tr apezoi d ~ 1 1
- - - -
env si gnal 1 2
CHANNL1 OUTPUT CHANNEL 2
r i ng mod 1 3
r ever b 1 4
0
sti ck H
I

-1 1
"
1 ]
1 5
1 6
A BC D E F GH I J K L MNOP
67
effect (N5) .

The
Sequencer
al somakes a drumsound
usi ng the
Ri ng Modul ator
(E7, F16) whi ch
i s mi xedi nto the
Reverberati on
Uni t
(G13) . The Keyboard
control s
osci l l ator 1 (C3) usi ng
the
dynami c vol tage
to provi de an
envel ope (P9) . A vi brato
i s
provi ded by
osci l l ator 3 (I 6) .
Fi rst, tune
the Sequencer by
turni ng Channel 2 LEVEL
down and
adj usti ng SEQUENCER
PI TCHSPREAD. Then
turn Channel
1 LEVEL down
and use REALTI ME
PI TCHSPREADto tune the
Keyboard.
Fi nal l y,
pl ay both at
once and tune them
together wi th
osci l l ator 1 and Osci l l ator
2 FREQUENCY
control s.
Nowrecord a sequence
as descri bed
i n Chapter I Vand
then accompany i t .
Fi ne out
whi ch control s affect the
sound i n an i nteresti ng
way; the fol l owi ng
are the most
i mportant .
Osci l l ator
1 LEVELS

- sound
fromoutput Channel 2
Osci l l ator
2 LEVELS

- sound
fromOutput Channel 1
Osci l l ator 2 SHAPE

-
quasi - phasi ng effect
Osci l l ator 3 SQUARE

-
fi l teri ng
Osci l l ator 3 Tr_i ang

- tremol o
Ri ngModul ator LEVEL -
percussi on
Trapezoi d
LEVEL

- reverberati on
Hori zontal
J oysti ck

- decay
PRESTOPATCH3: GUI TAR
Thi s Prestopatch i s capabl e
of provi di ng
a vari ety of
effects froma si ngl e i nput .
Al though i t i s desi gned
for use
wi th an el ectri c gui tar, i t can
be used wi th any sui tabl e
i nput,
i ncl udi ng el ectroni c organ
or mi crophone.
00
SYNTHI Dopesheet
E. M. S. ( London) Ltd.
Descr i pti on: Exter nal Connecti ons :
Name: KEYBOARD PRESTOPATCH
Sheet :
Patch
Adj ust these contr ol s your sel f
Star t :
" End:
Notes: S
FI LTERI OSC
Wk
I
RI NGMOD
D
OSCI LLATOR1
4 ~
~
~
x
ENVELOPE SHAPER
0 0
~ ~
I
) *
R!ver b
OSCI LLATOR2 Exter nal SI GNALS CONTROLS REVERBERATI ON
Phase Mi x
Patch
1 5 o
a
o
~ (
~ - - 2
. .
o
6
_OSCI LLATOR3 1 1 _I NPUTLEVEL
FA F- qw1 k Wd I N
out chan 2
2 20
4
osc 1 0 3
osc 2 o 4
Fi l ter Tr emol s
sc r u
~
5
-
3 N
6
RANGE NOI SEGENERATOR OUTPUTFI LTER
noi se 7 7
Ed 1 0 1OF- 21
i nputs 2
9 "
0
fi l ter ~ 1 0
tr apezoi d 1 1
env si gnal 1 2
CHANNL1 - - - OUTPUT- CHANNEL 2
r i ng mod i 1 3
r ever b 1 4
0 0
sti ck`- '
i
o
1 1 5
6
A B C D E F GH I J K L MNOP
Experi ment 19
I t i s best
to
establ i sh l evel s
fi rst
by
connecti ngthe
gui tar
or other i nstrument to I nput Channel 1 and patchi ng i t
di rectl y
to
the
output (A8) . For most i nstruments, the mi cro
phone i nput wi l l be most sui tabl e, but i f the i nstrument
overl oads
the mi crophone i nput (so the i nput Ampl i fi er Control
has to be kept ri ght down to avoi d di storti on) then the LI NE
i nput
shoul d be used.
Put i n the Prestopatch and set up the control s
.
The
effects possi bl e wi th thi s patch i ncl ude fi l teri ng, panni ng,
reverberati on, re-envel opi ngand octave-spl i tti ng, and
the
patch works as fol l ows: the si gnal comi ng
i nto
the
SYNTHI
goes to
the Ri ng
Modul ator (F8), and Fi l ter (H8) ; the Fi l ter
goes
di rectl y
to Output
Channel
(A10) and al so to the Envel ope
Shaper (D10) and Reverberati on Uni t (G10) . The Envel ope
Shaper and Reverberati on uni t provi de the outputs
to
the
other channel (C12, C14), and the Ri ngModul ator
i s fed back
i nto i tsel f (A13, E13) . Osci l l ator 1 LEVEL control s the
panni ng together wi th, I nput Level 2 (the Prestopatch
i ncor-
porates a connecti on fromOsci l l ator 1 to I nput
Ampl i fi er 2
whi ch enabl es an i nverted control
vol tage to be obtai ned) .
Osci l l ator 3 Square LEVEL control s reverberati on,
and Tri ang
LEVEL
control s
fi l teri ng.
The Trapezoi d LEVEL control s al so
fi l teri ng, and the Envel ope
Shaper si gnal LEVEL control s the
re-envel oped sound.

The
J oysti ck control s rate of panni ng
hori zontal l y and range
of fi l teri ngverti cal l y.

The Ri ng
Modul ator
provi des an octave spl i tti ngeffect, produci ng
a
note an octave l ower than the one fed to i t, and shoul d
be
set up approxi matel y
as fol l ows: Set Ri ngModul ator LEVEL
at
8 and put the Bass control on the gui tar
to
ful l .
Thi s patch i s capabl e of many dramati c
effects.
Experi ment wi th i t and note down setti ng whi ch
you fi nd useful
i n performance. Here are the
most useful control s:
V
O
SYNTHI Dopesheet
E. M. S. ( London) Ltd.
Descr i pti on:
I f thi s patch i s set up wi th pi ns, an exter nal patch l ead
Exter nal Connecti ons :
Name: GUI TAR
Sheet :
Patch:
PRESTOPATCH
j oi ni ng SCOPE to
* Adj ust these
HI LEVEL I nput 2
contr ol s your sel f
wi l l be r equi r ed .
Star t
End:
Notes: S
FI LTERI OSC RI NGMOD
*0
OSCI LLATOR1
~
panni ng
0 4
ENVELOPE SHAPER
o 6 0
fi l ter Et Vchop
OSCI LLATOR2 Exter nal SI GNALS CONTROLS
0
05 UAN
0
Patch:
7
L_
p
CL
2
C
.
~>a) 0" " v
>~
>
( D
a)
. .
0
6
REVERBERATI ON_
E Na)
Qm
~; r -
. - NCV) 'D w- N
_OSCI LLATOR3
'
1
1 _I NPUTLEVEL
out chan 2
FAF- WE
6
L4-
osc 1 3
1
-
r ev er b fi l ter
2 osc r uc 5
i n m t
3
NOI SEGENERATOR OUTPUTFI LTER-
noi se
6
RANGE
00Lo- -m
i nputs
2 9
9
.
fi l ter 1 0
tr apezoi d 1 1
- -
env si gnal 1 2
CHANNEL 1 - - OUTPUT CHANNEL 2
r i ng mod 1 3
r ev er b 1 4
00
sti ck
Y 1 6
A BC D E F GH I J K L MN0P
Osci l l ator 1 l evel
Osci l l ator 2 l evel
Osci l l ator 3
Trapezoi d l evel
Ri ngModul ator l evel
J oysti ck hori zontal
J oysti ck verti cal
-
wi dth
of panni ng
- vari ati on i n re- envel opi ng
- reverberati onand fi l teri ng
- fi l teri ngsynched wi th re- envel opi ng
- octave spl i tti ng
- rate of panni ng
- range
of
fi l teri ng
CHAPTER
VI I
:
CARE
AND
MAI NTENANCE
spi ndl es are nyl on,
sl i ghtl y f or
a
f i rmf i xi ng.
I f
more of the correct pattern, or
sui tabl e
f or a
1/ 4"
spi ndl e can
so that the whol e potenti ometer
at once bef ore an i nternal wi re
The Synthi coul d hardl y be easi er to mai ntai n, because
the sol i d state ci rcui try i s desi gned
to
run wel l
wi thi n i ts
capaci ty, even under condi ti ons of el ectri cal
mi suse, and there
are no mechani cal parts except the
J oysti ck. But the f ol l owi ng
general poi nts may be hel pf ul :
J ACK SOCKETS
These are of standard pattern, and extra j ack pl ugs can easi l y
be obtai ned. However
there are some non-standard si zes on the
market, and no pl ugs shoul d be used i f they are a
very
ti ght
f i t or on the contrary move too f reel y i n the socket .
They
shoul d push home wi th a f i rmcl i ck
and have very l i ttl e l ateral
pl ay
when
i n posi ti on
.
J OYSTI CK
The grease i n the control sl ots may eventual l y dry out,
parti cul arl y i f the studi o i s kept i n
a warm
pl ace.
To servi ce,
remove the bottompanel , and take of f the
red cover pl ate of
the
J oysti ck
. Caref ul l y
cl ean the sl ots and bal l j oi nt, and
re-l ubri cate
wi th a l i ttl e Vasel i ne' of si l i cone grease. Do
not al l owany grease to touch the potenti ometers and take
care
not
to cross-thread the sel f -tappi ng screws when repl aci ng
the cover .
KNOBS
I f knobs become l oose, sl acken of f the set screw
reset at
ei gher maxi mumor mi ni mumposi ti on, and
ti ghten f i rml y. The
and i t i s normal
f or the screwto bi te i n
knobs are l ost, we can suppl y
i n an emergency any knob
be used. I f knobs are wrenched
becomes l oose, attend
to i t
i s broken. Take
of f the back,
73
hol d
the potenti onmeter frombehi nd and ti ghten the nut
fi rml y.
I f the wi res are al ready di spl aced check that none
are
broken and resol der i f necessary
.
METER
I f
the poi nter does not read zero when the studi o i s off,
the
zero can be adj usted wi th the smal l perspex screwat the
bottom
of the di al
.
PANELS
Avoi d
any abrasi ve cl eaner, and never use strong sol vents l i ke
acetone,
tri chl orethyl ene or petrol (gasol i ne, benzi ne,
essence) .
The best cl eaner i s methyl ated spi ri ts (al cohol ),
but
paraffi n (kerosene) or turpenti ne can be used, though they
tend
to l eave an oi l y deposi t and often an unpl easant smel l
.
Use
wax penci l to mark the panel s i f you wi sh to do so, rather
than
l ead, parti cul arl y hard l ead, pensi l
.
Do not use bal l
poi nt,
whi ch may l eave a permanent i ndentati on i n the fi ni sh,
or
fi bre-ti pped pens, whi ch often contai n an i ndel i bl e stai n
.
STORAGE
Sol i d
state devi ces di sl i ke sustai ned heat
.
Hever l eave the
SYNTHI
i n a seal ed car i n summer sun, or i n a si mi l ar si tuati on
.
For
l ong termstorage choose a cool , dry posi ti on
.
I f i t i s
not
used for a very l ong ti me (a matter of years) there may
be
troubl e wi thel ectrol ypti c capaci tators when i t i s swi tched
on
agai n, and the best i nsurance agai nst thi s i s to run the
studi o
for a fewhours at l east every fewmonths
.
DON' T
connect unknown i nputs wi th the i nput l evel control s
wi de
open
.
Take parti cul ar care whenconnecti ng val ve
(tube)
dri ven equi pment to the SYNTHI
.
DON' T
overrun devi ces constantl y for hours on end i f the out-
puts
are not connected, thi s can happen wi thout the
user
. knowi ng
.
The safest course i s to remove pi ns
when
the studi o i s fi ni shed wi th for the ti me bei ng
.
DON' T
connect unknown mai ns suppl i es wi thout checki ng
.
DON' T
DON' T
DON' T
i nterconnect j acks at
the back
of
the studi o wi thout
thi nki ng careful l y fi rst . Parti cul arl y take care i f
you connect the Keyboard J ones Socket, because of
the
danger of short-ci rcui ti ng
the suppl y rai l s .
grossl y
overrun the i nternal speakers, whi ch may be
damaged and gi ve unrel i abl e resul ts
thereafter . For
any audi ence appl i cati on, connect to
external power
ampl i fi ers and concert speakers .
conti nue to use the studi o i f unexpl ai ned
noi ses, heat
or smel l s occur . Stop and i nvesti gate.
Hi nts and Suggest
i ons
I f you set up a patch and there i s no
sound, check
the fol l owi ng:
1 The
power
suppl y l amp i s l i t .
2 The speaker muti ng
swi tches
are
up.
3 Level s on
al l devi ces, and the Output l evel s are
suffi ci entl y hi gh (typi cal l y
5-8
for
Sources, 7-10 for
Treatments, but there are no "rul es") .
Check i nput
Ampl i fi er l evel s i f usi ng external devi ces.
4 Osci l l ators are not runni ng subsoni cal l y.
(Bel ow
Frequency setti ng 3 for Osci l l ators 1 or 2, or 6 for
Osci l l ator
3 . )
5 Noi se
Generator needs 20-30 seconds to start up.
6 Envel ope Shaper
Off Ti me may be set, too hi gh for
automati c recycl i ng (try pressi ng the Attack
Button) .
7 Check the
patch by swappi ng pi ns: the pi ns are rel i abl e
but occasi onal l y di rt i n the hol es of the matri x board
can prevent
contact
or
damage a pi n.
8 The Output
Ampl i fi ers can be cut off al together by a
l arge control
vol tage i n rows 0 and P.
74
7
5
GLOSSARY
AC
Al ternati ng Current . Current whose di recti on
i s
conti nual l y
changi ng, normal l y at a defi ni te frequency ( q. v. )
Ampl i tude
The maxi mumi nstantaneous val ue of a current ( q. v. ) or
vol tage ( q. v. ) duri ng a hal f cycl e of al ternati ng current .
Hi gh ampl i tude peaks can occur i n a
general l y
l owl evel si gnal .
Attenuate
Make smal l er
.
The opposi te of
ampl i fy.
An attenuator i s
usual l y a network of resi stors ( q. v. )
Audi o
e. g. a-frequency, a-output . Wi thi n the audi bl e range.
El ectri cal si gnal s
whi ch woul d be audi bl e
i f
converted i nto
sound. Compare vi deo -
the
pi cture si gnal s i n
TV.
Bandwi dth
The wi dth of a stated range or bank of frequenci es, descri bed
by i ts l ower and upper l i mi ts ( e. g. a B of 100Hz-800Hz, or
of three octaves upwards from100Hz) . May refer to a band
whi ch i s
bei ng rej ected froman otherwi se fl at response ( q. v. ) ,
or an accepted band ( as i n the SYNTHI fi l ter) .
Beat
i n i ts audi o
sense a phenomenon caused by two frequenci es so
cl ose that the di fference tone i s obserfed as a
throb
or
pul se
- e. g. 250Hz
and 252Hz woul d produce
a
beat
of
2Hz or one
every hal f second.
Capaci tance (- tor, - ti ve)
(C)
The amount of el ectrostati c storage avai l abl e
i n an i nsul ator
(di el ectri c)
separati ng two cl osel y adj acent conducti ng
surfaces.
Measured i n
Farads (usual l y mi croFarads) . A
Capaci tor i s a
devi cepossessi ng
Capaci tance, and i s Capaci ti ve (general
rul e
for properti es
and devi ces) . A frequency sensi ti ve component
wi th many uses.

The el ectri cal
equi val ent of compl i ance.
Current (I )
El ectri cal
fl ow, expressed i n Amperes of mi l l i Amperes
. A
current cannot fl ow
wi thout a potenti al gradi ent, or vol tage,
to i mpel i t .

The amount of fl owdepends on thi s vol tage
and
on the resi stance
offered to i t (see Resi stance)
dB
Deci bel s, or tenths of Bets. A l ogari thmi c
rati o uni t, used
to
express gai n or l oss of power or vol tage,
ei ther
i n
a
si ngl e devi ce
or a compl ete equi pment . Doubl e the power
=
a
gai n of
3dB.
DC
Di rect Current, or
current whi ch al ways fl ows i n- the same
di recti on.
Di fferenti ati on
Degradati on
of waveform(q. v. ) when
the ti me constant (q. v. )
ci rcui t i s
much shorter than the cycl e ti me of
the
waveform
.
Causes e. g.
sharpeni ng or spi ki ng of a square waveform.
Earth
(see Ground)
76
Equal i sati on
(someti mes
Compensati on) . Non- l i near ci rcui t to correct the
response (q. v. ) when a
devi ce
or
si gnal i s al so non- l i near .
A
di sc, for exampl e, has a progressi ve bass
cut i n i ts recordi ng
characteri sti c, and thi s must be corrected by a bass- boosti ng
equal i ser on
pl ayback. There are certai n agreed i nternati onal
tape equal i si ng
standards. See Li near .
7 7
Frequency
The
number of ti mes every second that an al ternati ng
current
or sound repeats i tsel f . The hi gher the frequency
the
hi gher
thepi tch. Expressed i n Hertz (Hz) or Ki l ohertz (KHz) .
Gai n
see dB.
Ground
(i n UKoften Earth) .

The neutral return rai l of most
el ectroni c
ci rcui ts, used as a reference and regarded as 0 vol ts. The
metal parts of the VCS3, the screens of cabl es etc, are
al l
connected to Ground, whi ch may or may not be actual l y connected
to the Earth vi a the house wi ri ng system.
Harmoni c
(someti mes Parti al or
Overtone) . The natural seri es resul ti ng
fromany obj ect vi brati ng at
.
a defi ni te mai n
frequency (the
Fundamental ) . The harmoni cs occur at 2, 3, 4 etc ti mes the
fundamental frequency. Thei r presence or, absence and thei r
rel ati ve ampl i tudes determi ne the ti mbre of a note, and certai n
waveforms have known harmoni c contents, a useful fact for the
composer .
Hz
see Frequency
I mpedance (Z)
The total apparent resi stance (q. v. ) of a ci rcui t at a gi ven
frequency. I n fact the vector sumof the resi stances and
reactances (q. v. ) i n the ci rcui t . Expressed i n ohmns.
I nductance (- tor, - ti ve)
(L)
The magneti c effect of a current .
capaci tance (q . v. ) and when
(q. v. ) are equal the resul t
bei ng used i n the desi gn
of
Devi ces
l i ke tape
heads
depend on i nductance for thei r operati on.
Expressed i n Henrys.

The el ectri cal equi val ent of mass.
Level
Someti mes synonymous wi th ampl i tude (q. v. ) but by no means
al ways. I n practi cal audi o terms, hi gher l evel means l ouder .
Someti mes used, however,
to
mean
same as fl at,
e. g.
a fl at
response or l evel response (q . v. ) meani ng the same at al l
frequenci es.
Li ne
(mostl y UKi n
thi s sense) . I n an audi o system, the mai n si gnal
output(s) fromthe mi xi ng system, di stri buted to ampl i fi ers,
tape recorders etc. as requi red. I t i s normal l y at a standard
agreed l evel and at 600 ohms i mpedance (q. v. ) .
Li near
Not curved,
havi ng a strai ght l i ne characteri sti c, but not
necessary l evel . A strai ght si ded ramp waveformshows a
l i near
i ncrement of vol tage. An i deal fl at response (q . v. ) i s l i near,
but most are non- l i near .
Acts opposi tel y from
capaci ti ve and i nducti ve reactance
i s resonance, resonant LCci rcui ts
some
osci l l ators
and
fi l ters.
Modul ati on
one
si gnal modi fi ed at the frequency of another, and vi ce
versa, normal l y i n one parameter (q . v. ), such as frequency
or ampl i tude,
but someti mes more than one. The termi s
someti mes used to descri be control l ed panni ng fromone speaker
to another (spati al
mod), and phase (q
. v. )
modul ati on
can
al so occur . A
perfect ri ng modul ator i s a pure mul ti pl i er,
the resul t bei ng the i nstantaneous product of
the
two i nput
vol tages. When the equati on i s worked out for two si nusoi dal
(q. v. )
i nputs, onl y two frequenci es remai n, the sumand the
di fference of
the i nputs.
78
79
Ohms
see I mpedance, Reactance,
Resi stance
Osci l l ator
A ci rcui t whi ch can onl y ri ng or resonate at one frequency,
wi th a regenerati ve ampl i fi er to keep the osci l l ati ons conti n-
uousl y goi ng. I n a vol tage control l ed osci l l ator, the
effecti ve resonant frequency of the ci rcui t i s al tered by
appl yi ng
a vol tage to i t
.
Parameter

'
Any
characteri sti c of a devi ce whose al terati on wi l l affect
the performance of that devi ce.

The most rel evant parameters
of e. g. an osci l l ator are the frequency, the waveform( q. v. )
and the l evel , but a compl ete l i st woul d i ncl ude everythi ng
el se about i t, such as ci rcui t detai l s, power suppl y,
physi cal l ayout, whi ch must al l be known to descri be the
osci l l ator exactl y.
P-P
( Peak-to-peak) .

The vol tage found by measuri ng a waveform
( q. v. )
verti cal l y fromthe hi ghest posi ti ve peak to the l owest
negati vepeak. Twi ce the peak vol tage, and more than twi ce
the r . m. s . ( q. v. )
vol tage.
Phase
The ti me rel ati onshi p of two al ternati ng currents. Two
waveforms that start
thei r cycl e
si mul taneousl y are
i n
phase
( but wi l l onl y remai n so i f the frequenci es are the same) .
Exactl y opposed waveforms are
1$0 degrees out
of
phase,
and al l l ags or l eads of one wave over the other are si mi l arl y
measured as an angul ar di fference.
Potenti ometer
Ori gi nal l y what i t says
-
a devi ce for measuri ng potenti al or
vol tage. Now
normal l y any three-termi nal
vari abl e
resi stor -
i . e. the two
ends
of
the resi sti ve
track pl us
the
wi per
whi ch
sl i des al ong i t .
Reactance ( X)
The effecti ve resi sti ve effect of a capaci tor ( q. v. ) or
i nductor ( q
. v. ) .
Not i n fact the same as resi stance, because
frequency dependent
and phase
shi fti ng, but measured i n ohms
as i f i t were resi stance. See I mpedance
.
Resi stance ( tor, -ti ve) ( R)
The el ectri cal equi val ent of fri cti on. Expressed i n ohms
or Ki l ohms, but unl i ke capaci tance and i nductance not
frequency dependent . The rel ati onshi p between resi stance,
vol tage, ( q. v. ) and current ( q. v. ) i n a ci rcui t i s governed
by Ohm' s Law, whi ch states that I ( Current) =V ( Vol tage) I R
( resi stance) . Thi s si mpl e formul a
( i n
i ts three forms) can
be used to make many deducti ons froma speci fi cati on,
and
I mpedance ( Z) may be substi tuted for R i n the expressi on
where appl i cabl e. Uni ts are Amps, Vol ts and Ohms, so
al l owance must be made for e. g. mi l l i Amps or Ki l ohms.
Response
The output l evel of a devi ce compared wi th i ts i nput at al l
frequenci es. I f
the output/i nput
rati o
remai ns constant the
response i s fl at or l evel . A part of the spectrummay be
speci fi ed, as hi gh frequency response.
80
r . m. s .
Root Mean Square. A method of rati ng an AC vol tage to
i ndi cate i ts power capabi l i ti es at a gi ven current . 230
VACr . m. s . wi l l do the same amount of work as 230 VDC, al though
i ts actual vol tage i s al most never 230V ( four ti mes per cycl e
i nstantaneousl y) . Arri ved at*by squari ng sampl es of the
i nstantaneous vol tage and taki ng the square root of thi s.
For exampl e, mai ns at 230 VACr . m. s . has a peak vol tage of
325, or 1. 414 x the r . m. s . val ue. Pea
k
to peak vol tage i s
twi ce thi s amount, or 650
.
81
Si ne
(Si newave, Si nusoi dal , Si nus) . The shape of a waveform
contai ni ng one frequency onl y, or si mpl e harmoni c moti on
i n
the
case of
mechani cal movement, .

The graphi cal

'
representati on of
the
si ne of
an angl e through 360 degrees.
The output of an
i deal al ternator, an i deal osci l l ator or an
i deal tuni ng fork. Any waveform,
however compl ex, can i n
theory be
reduced to a col l ecti on of si newaves of di fferent
frequenci es, ampl i tudes and phase.
Ti me Constant
When a capaci tance (q. v. ) i s charged through a resi stance
(q. v. ),
the product of thei r val ues (CR) gi ves the ti me taken
for
the
capaci tor
to reach 63. 2%of i ts fi nal charge.
I mportant i nformati on i n
many
ci rcui ts.
See Di fferenti ati on.
Tol erance
The desi gn l i mi ts of a devi ce or ci rcui t . A resi stor wi th
10%tol erance may be as much as 10%hi gher or l ower than i ts
nomi nal val ue. The cl oser the tol erance speci fi ed for a
component or system, the more costl y i t usual l y i s.
Vol tage
El ectri cal pressure
.
Before current can fl owi n a ci rcui t
a potenti al di fference must exi st, and the current fl ows i n
an attempt to equal i se thi s
di fference.
For
the
rel ati onshi p
between- vol tage, current and resi stance, see Resi stance.
Waveform
The shape of an al ternati ng current, usual l y descri bed as i t
l ooks when graphi cal l y represented or di spl ayed on an osci l l o-
scope. Thus ramp, square, si nusoi dal waveform. Any waveform
can be anal ysed to yi el d i ts harmoni c (q
. v. )
content .