Celebrate the capstone patch and preview the subtractive, FM, wavetable, and granular synthesis paths that build on the same harmonic foundations.
In the world
The techniques in this course cover the foundations every working additive synthesist has internalised. What comes next is the specialist layer on top.
You now understand additive synthesis from first principles: the harmonic series, the Fourier promise, spectral shaping, per-partial envelopes, the inharmonic escape from integer ratios, the tremolo/ring-mod continuum, and perceptual loudness. Any sound, any waveform, is a sum of sines, and you have built them with your own hands.
The Advanced Additive sequel (paid) will cover the specialist territory: FFT resynthesis from recorded sound, phase vocoder time-stretching, spectral morphing trajectories between target spectra, modal physical modeling of real objects, per-partial LFOs for animated inharmonic timbres, and multi-operator hybrids that blend additive with FM.
Free courses coming next on Synths.pw: subtractive (east and west coast), FM, wavetable, and granular. Each one builds on the ear you have trained here. In the meantime, the same modules you used in this course live in the main Webrack. Open an empty rack and experiment. You know how every knob works now.
Did you know?
Karlheinz Stockhausen predicted in 1972 that one day any sound imaginable would be buildable from sine waves in real time. It took 50 years of hardware progress, but you just did exactly that - in a browser tab.