Clavia Nord Lead 2X User Manual page 84

11. Synthesis basics: The oscillators and waveforms
The height of each line represents the amplitude of each harmonic.
If you understand the principle, you also understand that if the harmonics with high numbers have a high
amplitude, the sound will be perceived as bright.
Let's take a look at some common waveforms and their spectra.
In the illustrations below, only some of the first harmonics are displayed. In reality, waveforms like these
have an infinite amount of harmonics.
S S S S
A A A A W W W W T T T T O O O O O O O O T T T T H H H H
The Sawtooth wave has a simple spectrum. All harmonics are present in the wave, in proportional values.
As you can see, the high harmonics have a fairly high amplitude, which makes this waveform sound bright.
T T T T
R R R R I I I I A A A A N N N N G G G G L L L L E E E E
The triangle wave does not have very strong harmonics. Furthermore they only appear at odd harmonic
numbers. The first fact makes the tone pure, a bit like a flute, and the second fact gives the sound a slightly
"hollow" character.
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NORD LEAD 2X V1.0x