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Synthesizers: What Are They and What Do They Do? Essay

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Synthesizers can create all sorts of bizarre noises, from realistic sounding violins and cellos to distorted out of the world sounds almost all programmed by hand. They come in many different sizes, from portable keyboards to humongous mainframes. They are in music, movies, TV shows and just about anything nowadays. Synthesizers are an amazing tool for musicians, with the steep learning curve they come with, can really benefit any one that could understand them.
What is a Synthesizer? A Synthesizer is a “musical instrument that is capable of producing a wide range of different sounds” (Russ 4) from “simple resources” (430). There are two main types of synthesizers: analogue and digital. Analogue synths use “voltages and currents …show more content…

Release is the final part of an envelope; it controls how long the sound stays after letting off the key. Finally, the last part of a basic synthesizer is the amplifier. It controls the “loudness of the waveform” (404). There are many more features synthesizers could have, but these are the basic essentials needed for a great synth.
There are two main types of synthesizers: analogue and digital. Analogue synths use voltages and currents directly represent both audio signals and any control signals (71).
The History
Synthesizers have been around for long time, it is not just a recent technology. In the late 19th century, “American inventor Thaddeus Cahill acquired a patent for his instrument known as the Telharmonium, or Dynamophone” (“A Brief History”). The Telharmonium weighed “200 tons” and is “driven by 12 steam-powered electromagnetic generators” (“A Brief History”). Played in “real time using velocity-sensitive keys, it could generate several different sounds” (“A Brief History”). In 1919, “Russian inventor Leon Theremin created the Theremin, played without even touching the instrument” (“A Brief History”). To play it, the player must wave their hands in an “electrostatic field between two antennae” and the instrument would “gauge proximity of their hands” then used this “information to generate sound” (“A Brief History”). During the “1930s in Berlin, Friedrich Trautwein

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