From: "Alexey R. Studnev" Newsgroups: rec.music.makers.synth Subject: SUM: Additive synths in the world Date: 30 Jan 1996 15:58:44 +0300 Organization: ITC Orgtechdiagnostika Distribution: su Reply-To: studnev@techdiag.msk.ru NNTP-Posting-Host: root@news.demos.su X-mailer: dMail [Demos Mail for DOS v1.23] X-Return-Path: news.demos.su!kremvax.demos.su!techdi!techdiag.msk.ru!studnev Hi, everybody ! :In article i wrote: : Hi,everybody ! : Does anybody know about any ADDITIVE SYNTHESIS SYSTEMS ? : - i mean classic synthesis, where lot of sinusoids are summed up with : individual envelopes of amplitude and frequency? : As i know , NO commercial synth is now based on this technique ... : however, it is seemed to be interesting and i am intended to use this : techique in my own sound system. : Any info and ideas are good... : Thanks : Alex Good, i had mistaken ! Three (3) synths is claimed to be designed specially for implementing ADDITIVE. Thank you all, who made me to know this ! What is ment under the additive synthesis: 1. Individual EG for pitch and amplitude for every partial; 2. Real - time control over envelopes of pitch and amplitude of every partial ( or sine generator ) - no software for additive - to - sampler can do this; 3. Number of partials per voice - relatively large ( >60 ) to generate all garmonics of sound by addition of sines. Pluses and minuses of ADDITIVE are well known and not discussed here - inspite of i am intended to design the mashine to be fourth in the list below. Here is a list of :::: ADDITVE SYNTHS :::: 1. Synergy II+ George writes: .. The first attempts at additive were the GDS and the Synergy. Michael McInnis summed them up very well. mgod@earthlink.net writes: ... Your best bet is to find a Synergy II+ and an old Kaypro. The Synergy was a pure additive system, 32 sine waves. I've used one on and off for 13 years, as has W.Carlos. A keyboard tech here in LA has mine at the moment mmcinnis@biddeford.com (Michael S. McInnis) writes: ... You could try to find a used Synergy II+, which was a system distributed by Crumar in the US during the eighties, long since out of production. It used a CP/m computer for programming the synthesis engine which I believe had 32 sine or triangle wave Osc with very complex amplitude & frequency envelopes. It also included some phase modulation capability & it would interpolate between two complete sets of envelopes based on velocity. Patrick Paulson writes: I have an album called 'Digital moonscapes' by Wendy Carlos (the same person who did 'Switched on bach' as Walter Carlos). The liner notes indicate that this is additive synthesis performed on GDS/Synergy synthesizers by Digital Keyboards. The date is 1984, CBS Records, M39340. 2. Kawai K-5m ad329@freenet.hamilton.on.ca (Chris Cracknell) writes: ... I've got a Kawai K-5m which I still have trouble figuring out. Only twice have I ever been able to make it sound exactly the way I wanted it to. One was a bass sound, the other was a Vox Continental sound. George writes: ... the Kawai K-5, and its module version, the K-5m. 128 additive harmonics, but no separate envelope for each harmonic like on the K-150. It generates custom waveforms additively, then plugs them into a sample-based-synthesis architecture, with only 2 pitch and 4 amplitude envelopes per voice. (True additive needs to have a separate amplitude and, preferably, pitch envelope for every partial.) $300 - $250 mmcinnis@biddeford.com (Michael S. McInnis) writes: The Kawai K5 was compromised by a lack of comprehensive frequency envelopes which are needed for serious additive synthesis IMHO. Bob Weigel writes : The Kawai K5m, now discontinued, is the only decent product ever released with this capability to my knowledge. It's not extremely audiophilic, but it does make some killer sounds, and they can be had for $250 in rack mount sometimes. 3. Kurzweil K-150 George writes: ...Then it was the Kurzweil K-150. Called "Fourier Synthesizer." I bought one a week ago, so details are still sketchy, but in general, the FS model (there is also playback only one) is an additive machine with 64 harmonics, 16-voice polyphony, and an output frequency of 10 kHz max. To program it you need an Apple IIe or later with a MIDI interface and the Sound Lab software. Currently $300 - $250 not counting the computer.