Apple MainStage 3 Instruments - MainStage 3 Instruments
Apple MainStage 3 Instruments - MainStage 3 Instruments
Apple MainStage 3 Instruments - MainStage 3 Instruments
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••<br />
Hybrid analog and digital synthesizers: Some synthesizer designs feature digital oscillators<br />
that generate signals—using binary descriptions of waveforms. The digital oscillator signal is<br />
then sent to analog filters and amplifiers. The main advantage of this approach is that digital<br />
oscillators don’t drift in pitch, which is a common problem in analog oscillators.<br />
••<br />
Virtual analog: A virtual analog synthesizer is a digital synthesizer that mimics the architecture,<br />
features, and peculiarities of an analog synthesizer. The behaviors and functions of the<br />
oscillators, filters, and other modules that you would find in an analog synthesizer are<br />
emulated by computer algorithms.<br />
ES1 is a virtual analog synthesizer. Its virtual signal flow is that of a typical analog synthesizer, but<br />
all components and signal processing—the virtual oscillators, filters, and so on—are calculated<br />
by the central processing unit (CPU) of your computer.<br />
ES1 emulates some of the idiosyncrasies of particular analog circuits—in cases where they tend<br />
to sound nice—such as high oscillator levels overdriving the filter. Other analog synthesizer<br />
phenomena, such as slowly drifting out of tune (as the instrument heats up), are not simulated.<br />
Virtual analog synthesizers have other advantages over their analog counterparts as well. They’re<br />
programmable, which means that you can save sound settings; they can be automated, so you<br />
can record and play back fader and knob movements; and they are often multitimbral, which<br />
allows you to play different sounds at the same time, on different instrument channels. Aspects<br />
such as polyphony—the ability to play multiple notes—and velocity sensitivity are found in<br />
most virtual analog synthesizers but in very few analog instruments.<br />
Appendix B Synthesizer Basics 477