Arturia CS-80V - 6 The Basics of Subtractive Synthesis; The 3 Main Elements; The Oscillator

ARTURIA – CS-80V – USER’S MANUAL
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6 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-80V constitutes the best illustration of
the enormous possibilities of subtractive synthesis.
6.1
THE THREE MAIN ELEMENTS
6.1.1 The oscillator or 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):
32,16,8,4,2 ; the highest number (32) brings the deepest tone, inversely, the
smallest number (2) brings the highest tone. – Secondly, the detune setting (detune
or fine tune) lets you tune the oscillator more precisely.
On the CS-80V, 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-80V, 4 waveforms are available:
 The saw tooth 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.