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.....was my trusty old (circa 1974) Minimoog synthesizer.
Once of the courses I took as an electrical engineering student at UB (before leaving the program) was ECE 303, Signal Analysis. It covered the creation and modification of electrical signals. It was the only EE course I did well in.
Essentially, a synthesizer's audio output is an electrical signal, generated by an oscillator and modified by a filter, with a frequency in the range of hearing (20 Hz - 20,000 Hz).
Many of the problems that were given to us in the class had a higher frequency range (i.e. radio waves). By visualizing the control panel of the Minimoog, I was able to figure out the problems.
It was also a practical way to apply the Fourier series. A regular, repeating waveform can be broken out to a sum of repeating sine waves at different frequencies. For example, a square wave -- that's the shape the signal takes when displayed on an oscilloscope -- is the sum of the odd harmonics at differing strengths (the nth harmnic is 1/n the strength of the root). And a sawtooth wave is the sum of all the harmonics at differing strengths (the nth harmonic is 1/n the strength of the root).
I illustate this in my synthesizer demos by selecting a sawtooth wave on the oscillator and setting filter resonance. This puts emphasis on a given harmonic. As I slowly sweep the low-pass filter control, the harmonics start cutting in, and the sound changes dramatically.
Music. Science. Mathematics. It all adds up. (No pun intended.)
Once of the courses I took as an electrical engineering student at UB (before leaving the program) was ECE 303, Signal Analysis. It covered the creation and modification of electrical signals. It was the only EE course I did well in.
Essentially, a synthesizer's audio output is an electrical signal, generated by an oscillator and modified by a filter, with a frequency in the range of hearing (20 Hz - 20,000 Hz).
Many of the problems that were given to us in the class had a higher frequency range (i.e. radio waves). By visualizing the control panel of the Minimoog, I was able to figure out the problems.
It was also a practical way to apply the Fourier series. A regular, repeating waveform can be broken out to a sum of repeating sine waves at different frequencies. For example, a square wave -- that's the shape the signal takes when displayed on an oscilloscope -- is the sum of the odd harmonics at differing strengths (the nth harmnic is 1/n the strength of the root). And a sawtooth wave is the sum of all the harmonics at differing strengths (the nth harmonic is 1/n the strength of the root).
I illustate this in my synthesizer demos by selecting a sawtooth wave on the oscillator and setting filter resonance. This puts emphasis on a given harmonic. As I slowly sweep the low-pass filter control, the harmonics start cutting in, and the sound changes dramatically.
Music. Science. Mathematics. It all adds up. (No pun intended.)
