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.