NORD MODULAR G2 V1.1
12. Synthesis basics: The filter
Page 207
pitch of the synchronized oscillator (Oscillator 2), this will be perceived as a change in timbre, rather than
in pitch.
This leads to a spectrum with deep resonances at Osc2’s harmonics, like this:
If you go even further and let the pitch of the synchronized oscillator vary continuously, for example from
an LFO or envelope, you will change the harmonic content of the sound in an interesting and very char-
acteristic way.
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The filter in a synthesizer is used to remove or emphasize frequencies in a spectrum. A filter is a bit like
an amplifier (a volume control) that is applied differently to different parts of the spectrum. For example,
a filter might make low frequencies louder, while at the same time making high frequencies weaker. Ap-
plying such a filter would make a sound have more bass and less treble.
Let’s imagine a sound with a spectrum where all harmonics are available at full level. It would look like
this:
Let’s now pass this spectrum through a
lowpass
filter (this type of filter is discussed in more detail below).
The filter has a characteristic, which can be drawn as a curve.
