6. Oscillators & waveforms — building a sound from scratch
A synthesizer makes sound by generating a wiggle electronically. The thing that wiggles is an oscillator, and the shape of its wiggle changes the “color” of the sound:
| Wave | Sounds like | Vibe |
|---|---|---|
sine | a soft, pure whistle | smooth, gentle |
triangle | a softer flute-ish tone | mellow |
square | a hollow, retro video-game tone | buzzy, 8-bit |
saw (sawtooth) | a bright, buzzy blast | rich, aggressive |
inst lead = saw # a bright buzzy lead sound
inst pad = sine # a soft pure pad
Real name: oscillator and waveform. The waveform decides which extra hidden tones (harmonics) ride along with the main pitch — that mix of harmonics is the timbre (tone color), why a violin and a trumpet playing the same note still sound different.
✅ Live now:
saw(a.k.a.sawtooth),square,sine, andtriangle(a.k.a.tri). A pickablenoiseoscillator isn’t a wave you can name yet (the 808 drum samples already use noise internally for hats and claps).
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