Synthesizers - The Initialized (Init) State
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We saw that with physical modeling and some of the more experimental synthesis methods an initialized (start from scratch point) doesn't really exist. What would constitute the starting point? This makes a lot of sense since the controls you find on one physical modeled synth probably won’t line up perfectly with another. The way the sound is being generated and controlled changes based on the function and purpose of the instrument. Are we physically modeling a saxophone or the sound of rock hitting a string?
In the case of subtractive synthesizers you’ll find the basic building blocks every time in every synth. While some special FX and/or special features will vary from synth to synth fundamentally the sound is generated via the oscillators and filters. Pretty much every oscillator is capable of producing a basic saw wave. Every subtractive synth has a basic low pass filter you can open up all the way and every ADSR envelope can be set to a standard gate message. We’ll walk through the process of initializing several different “subtractive” synthesizers.