Today's Top Stories:
 Purchase Alesis Fire Series Amp, Get FREE Pedal Board!
Purchase Alesis Fire Series Amp, Get FREE Pedal Board!
When you purchase any Alesis SpitFire, WildFire, CoolFire, BassFire or RoadFire guitar amps, Alesis will send you the CF-1 Combo Pedal Board (worth $99) for FREE! This is your opportunity to take advantage of flexible, great-sounding amps for just about every walk of life AND get a high-quality foot controller for FREE! Offer is good only until the end of the year so call us at 1-800-222-4700 today.
| Recent inSync News: |
| · |
Monday, November 15, 2004 |
| · |
Friday, November 12, 2004 |
| · |
Thursday, November 11, 2004 |
| · |
Wednesday, November 10, 2004 |
| · |
Tuesday, November 09, 2004 |
| · |
View Entire inSync Archive |
|
|
 |
Sign up to receive the weekly inSync summary by email each weekend!
|
|
 |
| Digital Synthesizer |
A synthesizer that uses digital signal processing (DSP) techniques to make sounds. The very earliest digital synthesis experiments were made with general-purpose computers, as part of academic research into sound generation. Perhaps the best way to begin to understand digital synthesis is to compare it to analog synthesizers. Modular analog synthesis uses voltage to perform its three primary functions. A voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO) produces a tone, which is shaped by a voltage-controlled filter (VCF). The amplitude of the resulting sound is processed by a voltage-controlled amplifier (VCA). (These basic building blocks can be rearranged in a variety of ways, but they still perform similar duties.) Digital synthesis replaces voltage with numeric representations of values; so at its most basic, a digital synthesizer uses a digitally controlled oscillator (DCO), filter (DCF) and amplifier (DCA).
However, the broader range of processing power available with DSP has allowed many variations of synthesis techniques to emerge that simply weren't possible with analog technologies. Early commercial digital synthesizers used simple hard-wired digital circuitry to implement techniques such as additive synthesis and FM synthesis. Other techniques, such as wavetable synthesis, physicalmodelingsynthesis and granular, became possible with the advent of high-speed microprocessor and digital signal processing technology.
Some digital synthesizers now exist in the form of "soft synth" software that utilizes conventional computer hardware for processing. Virtual analog synthesizers, whether in hardware or software form, are in fact digital synthesizers that emulate the behavior of analog circuitry. |
 View the Complete Glossary |
| Using keyboard shortcut presets from other DAWs in SONAR 4 |
Many of our computer recording clients tell us they often work on projects across software and hardware DAW platforms, frequently moving from one audio/MIDI recording program to another and even moving from Windows computers to Mac systems. For those who rely on keyboard shortcuts to speed their workflow this can result in a confusing array of shortcut keys from different applications, which is a lot to remember! SONAR 4 Producer and Studio Editions have introduced a new feature which should simplify your life if you've encountered this situation. It allows you to set up keyboard shortcuts that match other audio programs - even Mac programs - so you can use the same key sets you have already committed to memory.
SONAR 4 currently ships with presets for Cubase SX, Digital Performer, Logic, Nuendo, Pro Tools, Samplitude and Vegas. In addition, you can download a ZIP file with presets for Sound Forge and ACID at http://www.cakewalk.com/tips/oct04_sonar4keybinding.asp. You'll want to save the file to: Program FilesCakewalkSONAR 4 Producer Edition or Program FilesCakewalkSONAR 4 Studio Edition.
SONAR calls keyboard shortcuts "Key Bindings." Here's how to set up SONAR 4 to use the same Key Bindings as your other programs.
Step 1: Go to the Options menu, select "Key Binding" to open the Key Bindings options page. Here you'll find a complete list of keyboard shortcuts with their default assignments, which you can manually change to customize your computer or MIDI keyboard as you wish. But at the bottom right corner of the box is a button called "Import."
Step 2: Click on "Import."
Step 3: Here you'll find a list of program presets to choose from. Select the preset of the program that you want SONAR to emulate, click "Open", and then click "OK."
Now SONAR will use the same keyboard shortcuts as the program you've selected. And you'll be on your way to faster, more productive sequencing and recording! |
| View all 1,700+ Tech Tips |
|
