The synth voice

Waveforms you can see

A waveform is a recipe of harmonics.

Shape and spectrum

Pick a wave: one cycle on top, its harmonics below.

Try it

  • Find the wave with only one harmonic
  • Find a wave with odd harmonics only
  • Find the wave with every harmonic
More on this

A waveform is a recipe of harmonics. Its shape on a scope and its bars on a spectrum are two views of the same sound.

Pick a wave. The top shows one cycle; the bars below show its harmonics, each a whole-number multiple of the note.

The sawtooth has every harmonic, each at 1/n of the first: bright and buzzy, the classic start for strings and brass patches. The square has only odd harmonics at 1/n: hollow. The triangle has only odd harmonics at 1/n²: they fall away fast, so it sounds close to a sine.

These are ideal shapes. Analogue and virtual-analogue oscillators round the corners a little, which softens the very top.