Modular synthesis has its own vocabulary. Here are the words you will meet most, explained simply. No need to learn them all: come back here when a word stops you.
The basics
- Module: a small machine that does one thing: make a sound, filter it, move it, keep time… Each module has knobs, inputs and outputs.
- Cable: it connects one module’s output to another module’s input. You build an instrument by patching cables.
- Rack: the cabinet where modules sit, in rows.
- Patch: a set of modules and cables, with their settings. Your patch is your instrument (or your track) of the moment.
- Preset: a ready-made patch that comes with ModularSynth, to explore or to start from.
- Knob: a rotary control. Turn it by dragging up or down.
What flows through the cables
- Voltage: everything that goes through a cable is an electrical voltage (simulated here) that rises and falls. A sound is a voltage vibrating very fast; a modulation is a voltage moving slowly. That is why any output can drive any input.
- CV (control voltage): a voltage used to control a setting rather than to be heard: open a filter, raise a volume…
- Gate: an on/off signal, “on” as long as a key is held. It tells a module when the note starts and when it stops.
- Trigger: a very short pulse, like a drumstick hit: “now!”.
- V/Oct: the voltage that sets a note’s pitch. One more volt, the note goes up one octave.
Sound
- Oscillator (VCO): the module that makes the starting sound, a repeating wave.
- Waveform: the shape of that wave, which gives the sound its character. Sine (Sin): soft and round. Triangle (Tri): a bit brighter. Square (Sqr): hollow, like a clarinet. Sawtooth (Saw): bright and rich.
- Filter (VCF): it removes part of the frequencies. A low-pass filter keeps the lows and makes the sound darker; its Cutoff setting says where it cuts.
- Amplifier (VCA): it sets the volume, and can make it change.
- Envelope (ADSR): the shape of a note over time. Attack: the rise time. Decay: the fall. Sustain: the level held while the key is down. Release: the end, once the key is let go.
- LFO: a very slow oscillator you don’t listen to, but that moves a setting (vibrato, a breathing filter).
- Modulation: changing a setting with a voltage (LFO, envelope) rather than by hand.
Playing
- Polyphony, voices: playing several notes at once. Each note played uses a voice.
- Velocity: how hard a key is struck; it can make a note louder or brighter.
- BPM: beats per minute, the tempo.
- Sequencer: a module that plays a series of notes or hits by itself, on a loop.
- MIDI: the language of electronic instruments; it is how a keyboard sends its notes to the computer (see Keyboards and MIDI).
Each module also has its page, in the modules.