Amplifier:
To control the volume of a sound in the
synthesizer, the signal is passed through an “ampli-
fier” circuit. The amplifier can raise or lower the
height of the waveform, thereby raising or lowering
the sound volume.
Amplitude Modulation:
The change of the signal
level. If an LFO modulates an amplifier envelope, this
results a periodic rise and fall in the sound, it is called
tremolo. One of its variant is the ring modulation,
where the modulation happens at audio frequency
thus creating a disharmonic spectra.
Attack:
In case of ADSR envelope it defines the time
taken for the sound to achieve the maximum
amplitude.
Arpeggiator:
A software or hardware device that
plays a pre-programmed series of notes. It accepts
incoming chords and breaks it up into notes in a
defined order, octave range, direction, speed, etc.
Analog-to-Digital Converter (ADC):
A circuit or hard-
ware peripheral that converts audio from an analog
signal of constantly fluctuating voltages to a digital
string of ones and zeros.
Band Pass Filter:
Filter that removes or attenuates
frequencies above and below the frequency at which
it is set. Frequencies within the band are empha-
sised.
Bit-depth:
One of two main specifications that define
digital audio quality (the other is sample rate). Bit-
depth defines how precisely a sound's dynamic range
is represented. Also called bitresolution or bit-rate.
BPM:
The pace of music measure by the number of
beats occuring in 60 seconds.
Cent:
It is the 1/100th fraction of a semitone
Chorus:
An effect in which multiple copies of a signal
are played together slightly out of time to create a
shimmering effect.
Clipping:
The unpleasant thumping or clicking noise
made when a digital signal exceeds the capacity of
an audio device, reaching 0 dB.
Control Change:
A set of different MIDI messages in
order to influence the parameters of a sound
generators.
Cutoff:
The frequency at which a filter starts to work.
Digital-to-Analog Converter (DAC):
A device that con-
verts audio from a digital, numeric representation to
an analog signal of constantly fluctuating voltages.
Envelope:
A device that changes a basic setting by
the desired amount at specified time intervals. Enve-
lopes are commonly used to alter the filter and
amplifier settings along the time-axis (ADSR curve).
Equalizer:
Device for selectively cutting or boosting
selected parts of the audio spectrum.
Effect:
A common term for a variety of treatments
that alter sounds. Common effects are e.g. reverb
and chorus.
Filter:
A device that removes specified frequencies
from a signal.
Flange:
An effect that generates a swirling sound by
adding a slightly delayed copy of the signal in which
the copy's delay time fluctuates.
Frequency:
Refers to the number of times per second
that a sound wave's cycle repeats, with a greater
frequency resulting in a higher perceived pitch; also
used as shorthand for describing sound waves in
audio by their pitch.
Frequency Modulation (FM):
A method of altering a
waveform by changing (or modulating) the signal's
frequency. The best-known musical example is vib-
rato, which involves slight changes in frequency over
time.
Fundamenal:
The lowest tone of a harmonic series.
Any sound comprises a fundamental plus harmonics
and partials at a higher frequency.
General MIDI (GM):
An extension of the MIDI specification that
assigns an additional set of 128 sounds. General MIDI establishes
a definite set of program number assignments for a wide variety
of common synthesizer sounds and also standardizes the
instrument sounds for MIDI song disks and sequencers.
8
NORD MODULAR G2 SERIES - VOL. 01. - Club Life
USER GUIDE •
www.samplerbanks.com
studio
APPENDIX – GLOSSARY
