Synthesis in Five Knobs
Oscillator, filter, resonance, envelope, LFO: the five ideas behind nearly every synth sound, with the MicroFreak as the example.
Synths look scary because of all the knobs. Most sounds come from just five ideas.
1. Oscillator: the raw sound
This makes the tone. Saw waves are bright and buzzy, square waves are hollow and video-gamey, sine waves are pure and soft. On the MicroFreak, the oscillator type knob jumps between whole families of sounds. Start with the basic shapes before the wild ones.
2. Filter cutoff: the brightness
Turn it down and the sound gets darker and muffled, like music through a wall. Turn it up and it’s bright again. This is the single most expressive knob on any synth.
3. Resonance: the “squelch”
Boosts the frequencies right at the cutoff point. A little adds bite; a lot makes that rubbery acid squelch. Sweep the cutoff with resonance up and you’ll hear why the 90s loved it.
4. Envelope: the shape over time
How the sound starts, holds and fades (Attack, Decay, Sustain, Release). Short attack and decay = plucky. Long attack = swelling pad. Point the envelope at the filter and every note opens up and closes, which is the classic “wow”.
5. LFO: the wobble
A slow, invisible wave that moves another knob for you. LFO on pitch = vibrato. LFO on filter = wub-wub. LFO on volume = tremolo.
Homework
Pick one preset you like. Turn each of these five things one at a time and say out loud what changed. That’s how you learn to hear synthesis.