Oscillators

SAW

A bright sawtooth VCO. One knob, one input, one output. The classic subtractive starting point.

What is a SAW?

A sawtooth voltage-controlled oscillator: one knob, one input, one output. Sawtooths are the densest of the classic synth waveforms - they contain every harmonic of the fundamental, declining at 1/n. Bright, buzzy, full of overtones for a filter to chew on. The default subtractive synthesis source. Anti-aliased via polyBLEP, so harmonics roll off cleanly at Nyquist instead of folding back as audible aliasing. The saw-only sibling of the full VCO; reach for that if you need FM, PWM, or sync.

In a patch

The canonical subtractive synthesis voice: SAW into a filter into a VCA, with envelopes shaping both filter cutoff and amplitude. Sweep the filter's cutoff and you get classic synth bass and lead tones. Two SAWs detuned a few semitones apart (e.g. one at -12, one at -12 with V/Oct from a tracked pitch source) make supersaw-style thickness. Patch into Mixer8 with a sine sub-bass for a layered tone. The TUNE knob (+/-24st) sets the octave/interval at V/Oct=0V; default is C4 (261.6Hz). Patch a sequencer or quantizer into V/Oct for melodies.

Inputs

V/Oct (cv) — Pitch input. 1V = one octave (1V/Oct standard). 0V = C4 (261.6Hz), 1V = C5, -1V = C3, etc. Patch a sequencer (SEQ8 row out), a quantizer, or a MIDI-In CV to play melodies. Add to TUNE: at TUNE=0, V/Oct=1V plays C5; at TUNE=+7, V/Oct=1V plays G5. Negative voltages drop pitch below C4.

Outputs

SAW (audio) — Sawtooth output, +/-5V audio. Anti-aliased via polyBLEP. Every harmonic of the fundamental is present, falling off as 1/n - bright, buzzy, the densest classic waveform. Patch into a filter for the canonical subtractive synthesis chain, or into Mixer8 to layer with other waveforms.

Controls

TUNE — Tune in semitones. Range +/-24 (two octaves up or down). Sets the pitch when V/Oct is 0V (default = C4 = 261.6Hz). Linear semitone scale - matches the full VCO's coarse knob exactly.

Inspired by

The sawtooth-only sibling of the full VCO. Sawtooths contain every harmonic in the series, falling off as 1/n - the densest classic waveform and the canonical subtractive synthesis starting point. Patch into a filter and sweep.

Doepfer A-110-4
Moog 921 (sawtooth voice)

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