How does an analog synth work?

A classic analog synth creates sound in a few stages connected one after the other. Synthifon follows the same principle (called subtractive synthesis: you start with a sound full of overtones and remove what you don’t want).

1. Oscillators – create a tone. The waveform gives the basic character.
2. Mixer – blends the oscillators, the sub oscillator and noise.
3. Filter – cuts away bright (or dark) frequencies. This is where the character is shaped.
4. Amp (VCA) – controls the volume.
5. Effects – saturation and echo.

Two kinds of modulators turn the knobs for you automatically:

• Envelopes (ADSR) – start every time you press a key: Attack (up), Decay (down), Sustain (level while you hold), Release (after you let go). One controls the filter, one controls the volume.
• LFO – a slow wave motion that gives vibrato, wah-wah or tremolo.

Try this

1. Choose Init, hold a note and slowly turn Cutoff. That’s the filter opening and closing.
2. Raise Reso and turn Cutoff again – hear how it starts to whistle.
3. Set Amp env A to one second: the note now fades in softly.
4. Set Osc 2 Fine to 0 and then to 20 – hear how the sound gets wider.

MIDI keyboard

Connect the keyboard (USB) and start the synth – in Chrome/Edge you’ll be asked to allow MIDI. Velocity, pitch bend, mod wheel (vibrato) and sustain pedal work right away. Right-click a knob and then turn a knob on your keyboard to link them.