T
he synthesizer has evolved a
lot over the years. Starting
its life as a machine twice
the size of a standard living
room, like all modern technology it has
become more compact, more powerful,
and more versatile. Synthesizers
nowadays come in every size and form
imaginable: from the sm allest and most
basic dollar-store chiptune machines
to the massive walls of modular glory,
they all more or less follow the same
few basic principles.
Most synthesizers are built to
produce sound at its purest form,
and allow you to manipulate it in any
way you see fit. They start off with
something called an oscillator; this
generates a pure tone. It can be a
sine wave, square wave, sawtooth
wave, or anything in between. More
complicated synthesizers have more
than one oscillator, allowing you to
mix different waves together to create
new sounds and timbres. Next, the
oscillators go through a filter, which is
kind of like the tone control on your
guitar. It cuts or boosts different parts
of the sound wave depending on what
kind of filter it is, to further mold the
sound. Sometimes, filters can be set
to react to key strikes, so it can open
and close automatically, like an auto-
wah. Next, the sound goes through
an amplifier, which both amplifies the
signal and alters the volume and attack.
The amplifier can do volume fade-ins,
tremolo sounds, and even more.
So, what does this have to do with
guitars? Aren’t synthesizers for ‘80s
freaks and EDM producers? While
partially true, many guitar players have
been using synthesizers since their
inception. Pete Townsend famously
used his ARP 2600 on a massive
amount of The Who’s discography,
and David Gilmour was known to own
the EMS Synthi Hi-Fli, which was used
during the Dark Side of the Moon
sessions. Guitars and synths go hand
in hand and have been for some time
now. With the advent of the MIDI
pickup, guitarists have been able to
interface with modern digital synths
to create all manners of crazy and
unnatural tones. The problem with
those systems is that they essentially
force you to alter your guitar, which
you may not want to do if you have an
original 1964 Strat.
Enter the SY-300 Guitar Synthesizer,
the latest from the minds of the
Japanese sound geniuses over at
Roland. Roland has a good number of
years under their belt designing some
of the most sought after synthesizers
WORDS BY YOEL KREISLER
ToneReport.com
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