Yamaha CS-80 User Manual download pdf (Page 52)

ARTURIA – CS-80V2 – USER’S MANUAL

7 THE BASICS OF SUBTRACTIVE SYNTHESIS

Of all forms of sound synthesis, subtractive synthesis is one of the oldest and still certainly one

of the most employed today.

It is this method that was developed toward the end of the 60’s on analog synthesizers like the

Moog

, ARP

, Yamaha

, Buchla

, Oberheim

, Sequential Circuits

(Prophet series),

Roland

, Korg

(MS and PS series) and many others. This concept of synthesis is still used on

most current digital synthesizers, complementing sample reading or wave tables, which have

progressively replaced the analog oscillators of the first synthesizers in the 80’s. The Yamaha

CS-80 or even your own CS-80V2 constitutes the best illustration of the enormous possibilities

of subtractive synthesis.

7.1

HE THREE MAIN ELEMENTS

7.1.1 The oscillator (VCO)

The oscillator (Voltage Controlled Oscillator) is the starting module (with the noise module

which is often classed among the oscillators) for the creation of a sound on an analog system.

It will generate the initial sound signal. We can think of the oscillator like a violin string that

once stroked or plucked, vibrates to create its sound.

The main oscillator settings are:

 The pitch determined by the oscillation frequency. You can set the frequency of the

oscillator with 2 controllers: first, the FEET selector (or “range” on other synthesizers)

which determines the fundamental frequency – it is expressed in feet it contains all of

the harmonics at decreasing volume levels in high frequencies): 16, 8, 4, 2; the

highest number (16) brings the deepest tone, inversely, the smallest number (2)

brings the highest tone. – Secondly, the detune setting (detune or fine tune) allows

you to tune the oscillator more precisely.

On the CS-80V2, the height settings (FEET) and detune (DETUNE) are found among the real time controllers above

the keyboard.

 The waveform which determines the harmonic richness of the audio signal. On the

CS-80V2, 4 waveforms are available:

o The sawtooth presents the richest audio signal of the 4 waveforms (it contains

all of the harmonics at decreasing volume levels in high frequencies). Its sound

is ideal for brass sounds, percussive bass sounds or rich accompaniments.

Time and spectral representations of a sawtooth signal

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Yamaha CS-80 User Manual Page 52