Wave shapes
Fundamental waveshapes have plenty of value but we need complexity and motion to stay interested
> To get your head around what is really going on with sample synthesis you need to step back a little and look at the fundamentals of what sound is, which is waves of pressure that hit the ear, which sends the data to the brain, which in turn tells us what the sound originally was. In most forms of synthesis we take maths-based wave shapes and change them, in various ways to get the results we want. A sine wave is very pure so no matter how much we affect it with filters andenvelopes, the sound is always very sine-like. Other waves are similarly pure and have tonal qualities that we know and love. Wavefolding adds complexity and is the end of the purity but also the start of the interest we can add to our sonic palettes. Samples are the next step as they offer very complex sounds that are in themselves the results of multiple waveforms layered and inherently affected by the conditions and environment they were recorded in.