Behringer PROTON - 21 Glossary

36 PROTON User Manual
21. Glossary
ADSR – Envelope generator with four stages: Attack, Decay, Sustain and Release.
A(S)R – Envelope generator with two or three stages: Attack, (Sustain) and Release.
Amplitude – The volume of a sound.
Arpeggiator – a part of the synthesizer which causes the notes of a chord to be played individually as an arpeggio according to settings.
Attack Time – The rst stage of the envelope. Specied as the time taken for the envelope to reach maximum level when keys
areplayed.
Attenuate – To reduce the level of a signal or modulation source.
Cent – Unit of measurement for tuning. One semitone is divided into 100 cents.
Cuto Frequency – The point at which the lter starts to cut frequencies.
Decay Time – The second stage of the envelope. Specied as the time taken for the sound level to drop from maximum to the sustain
level while the played keys are being held.
Digital Audio Workstation (DAW) – A computer based software package that allows the recording, editing and playing back of audio
and/or MIDI data.
Envelope Generator – Envelope generators can be used to contour the sound. Most commonly used to aect the amplitude (volume)
of the sound they can also be used on lters and to aect pitch.
Filter – Filters attenuate the frequencies above or below their cuto point, thus aecting the timbre of the sound.
Frequency – The number of cycles per second (Hz) that an oscillator runs at.
Hertz (Hz) – Unit of measurement for frequencies. 1 Hz is one cycle per second.
Invert – change to the opposite, so a positive becomes negative for example.
Keyboard Tracking – Use of the notes played on the keyboard to adjust another parameter, for example.
KiloHertz (kHz) – Common abbreviation for one thousand Hz.
Low Frequency Oscillator (LFO) – An oscillator that runs at a low speed and is used to modulate other parts of the synthesiser.
Musical Instrument Digital Interface (MIDI) – a protocol that allows musical instruments, other peripherals and DAWs to pass data
according to a dened standard.
MIDI Clock – a timing signal that is sent as part of the MIDI data.
MIDI Message – data transmitted from one MIDI device to another that constitutes an instruction.
Mix – The balance between two or more signals.
Modulation – The use of sources to control a parameter of a destination.
Monophonic – Only allowing one note to be played at a time.
Noise – A random sound comprising of all frequencies.
Note Priority – Determines which note is played when the maximum number is exceeded. Typically lowest, highest or last.
Octave – A measure of pitch.
Oscillator (Osc or VCO) – The basic sound source of the synthesizer.
Oscillator Sync – The process by which the cycle of one oscillator is synchronized to the cycle of another.
Output – Can refer both to the signal sent out from one part of the synthesizer to another, or to the physical sockets used to connect to
external equipment.
Parameter – A setting whose value can be changed.
Paraphony – When two or more oscillators are playing dierent notes, but feeding into the same lter(s), VCAs (etc) this is known as
paraphony.
Phase – The measurement in degrees of the time dierence between two waveforms or a waveform and a xed reference point.
Pitch Bend – Changing the pitch of a note up or down while it is being played.
Polychain – The linking of two or more monophonic synthesizers via MIDI to share note input polyphonically.
Portamento – The eect of ‘gliding’ the pitch between notes rather than changing instantly.
Pulse Wave – A wave similar to a square wave, but whose symmetry can be changed.
Pulse Width Modulation – The modulation of the symmetry of a pulse wave.
Rate – The speed at which an action takes place.