Native Instruments Absynth 5 Reference Manual page 182

This column is subdivided into seven smaller groups, each of them serving a specific purpose.
We'll start from the top and make our way to the bottom of the list, so let's begin with the
first group:
•
Acoustic – Electric – Analog – Digital: These four Attributes define the instrumental source.
Let's assume you've clicked on Bass in the Instrument column; you can then distinguish
among Acoustic basses (e.g., an upright bass), Electric bass (e.g., a picked rock bass),
Analog Bass (e.g., a typical subtractive synth bass sound) and Digital bass (e.g., an FM
bass sound). Of course, depending on your choice in the first column, not every attribute
will fit. If you chose Flute, you will probably only be using Acoustic, Analog or Digital.
Note that every sound should belong to exactly one of the four types; i.e., a sound should
not be Analog and Digital.
•
Synthetic – Sample-based: This pair of Attributes describes the sound's technical aspects,
as it can be important to know if a sound was generated by some form of synthetic syn-
thesis technique or through sampling. If a sound is Synthetic you will have the option of
accessing many, if not all parameters that constitute the sound. If a sound is Sample-
based you'll most likely not be able to change the sound's origin, but the sound might
not use as much CPU. If you want to add "real" acoustic instrument Sounds to the
Database, you'll probably want to select this Attribute. Synthetic also refers to patches
that use samples, but have such heavy processing that the sample is perceived as an
oscillator (ABSYNTH's sample and granular mode are good examples of this). Note that
a sound is always either Synthetic or Sample-based (but not both).
•
FM – Additive – Granular – Physical Model: These four Attributes specify the audible per-
ception and/or synthesis technique of the sound. Note that an Attribute like FM does not
necessarily mean that the sound uses the actual technique of frequency modulation, but
it clearly sounds like FM. Let's assume you are looking for a typical FM bass sound. This
sound could be produced by actual frequency modulation, or by using a sample. If you're
sure you want "true" FM synthesis, you would check Synthetic, and then you can be
confident that your FM Bass was generated using this technology.
ABSYNTH 5 Reference Manual – 182