Oscillators

What is an Oscillator?

An oscillator generates a repeating waveform – like a sine, square, triangle, or saw. It’s the core of most synth voices, producing raw audio that gets shaped, filtered, and modulated into music. You can think of it like a controlled vibration machine that makes electrical signals you can hear.

Different waveforms have different harmonic content. For example, a sine wave is pure and smooth, while a sawtooth is buzzy and full. Oscillators can also be modulated to create movement (like vibrato or FM) or combined to make more complex sounds.

Common Oscillator Types

  • Analog VCO (Voltage Controlled Oscillator): Often warmer, classic-sounding.
  • Digital Oscillator: Great for precise waveforms, wavetables, or weird stuff.
  • Wavetable: Lets you scan through a set of waveforms.
  • FM / Phase Mod: Advanced shapes with internal modulation. Technically, more than one oscillator is required to make these, as its a modulations between two sources.

Classic Waveforms

  • Sine: Pure tone, no harmonics.
  • Triangle: Soft and mellow, slight harmonic presence.
  • Square: Hollow, rich in odd harmonics.
  • Sawtooth: Bright, buzzy, full of harmonics.

Oscillators are where everything begins – but they’re also fun on their own. Sometimes just tuning two of them slightly apart and letting them beat against each other is a whole track waiting to happen.

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